Safety and security advice is being issued to protestors attending an anti-apartheid demonstration in London this month after pro-Israeli Jewish groups were accused of inciting hatred by describing the event as a “virus”.

In the article published last week The Jewish News called the annual Al-Quds Day demonstration in support of racial justice for Palestinians “a virus returning to London after a two-year hiatus”.

The publication quoted the Community Security Trust, an organisation that operates as a UK charity, ostensibly to monitor anti-Semitic attacks and providing security to Britain’s Jews but which has links to Israel’s notorious spy agency, Mossad, and is a key instrument in demonising and delegitimising supporters of Palestinian rights. The CST said the Al-Quds Day rally has “long been one of the most extreme anti-Israel rallies in the UK”.

In recent years, the increasing incitement of hatred against the event has led to an upsurge in harassment and intimidation of protestors by an alliance of far-right activists and Zionist organisations.

A possible massacre was only averted at the 2017 Al-Quds Day rally when the far-right terrorist Darren Osborne who had been incited by online articles against Muslims failed to breach the police cordon to attack demonstrators and changed his choice of target to Muslim worshippers at Finsbury Park Mosque.

In 2018 and 2019, a known Zionist extremist with ties to an outlawed Jewish terrorist group in the US threatened on social media to shoot protestors who took part in the demonstration.

Also in response to the incitement, IHRC has published guidance to help protect demonstrators.

IHRC chair Massoud Shadjareh said, “The racism of the Zionists should reinforce our determination to challenge the apartheid state of Israel and should inspire us to work harder to end the system of racial domination. Zionists regularly refer to Palestinians as viruses and vermin so it is not surprising to see such language being transported to the UK and used against young innocent men, women and children.”

The Al-Quds Day demo has taken place in London for over 40 years without a single arrest. The demonstration is scheduled for Sunday 24th April. Participants will assemble outside the Home Office (2 Marsham St, London SW1P 4DF) at 3pm, before marching to Downing Street, where they will hear speeches by prominent anti-apartheid guest speakers. More details are published here.

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