Home secretary Suella Braverman has condemned the pro-Palestine rallies held across the UK in recent weeks as “hate marches”.
In her strongest attack yet on Palestinian supporters, the cabinet minister said the protests about Israel’s bombardment of Gaza had featured “a large number of bad actors” behaving in “utterly odious” way.
Ms Braverman also suggested she wanted the Metropolitan Police and other forces should do more to crack down on the scourge of antisemitism.
She said: “We’ve seen now tens of thousands of people take to the streets following the massacre of Jewish people – the single loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust, chanting for the erasure of Israel from the map.”
Making no attempt to distinguish between the majority of peaceful protesters and those calling for the “erasure” of Israel, she said: “To my mind there is only one way to describe those marches – they are hate marches.”
Asked if she though the chant “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” was antisemitic, she said the police were operationally independent, but added: “The police must take a zero tolerance approach to antisemitism.”
She said the protests featured “a large number of bad actors who are deliberately operating beneath the criminal threshold” – adding that some were behaving in a way that was “utterly odious”.
It adds to pressure on Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley after criticism his force has failed to take action against protesters calling for “Intifada” – an uprising – and chanting “from the river to the sea”.
Ms Braverman has previously branded the slogan antisemitic and claimed that it is “widely understood” to call for the destruction of Israel, but pro-Palestinian protesters have contested this definition.
Suella Braverman chaired Cobra meeting with Rishi Sunak
No 10 has expressed concerns over the chant “from the river to the sea” – describing it as “deeply offensive” to many, amid growing controversy surrounding the rhetoric used in recent pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
Sir Mark has said his officers will be “ruthless” in policing and enforcing the law at protests – but said there could only be prosecutions when the law is broken, calling for “sharper” tools to deal with extremism.
Michael Gove’s department is understood to be reviewing the definition of extremism. Separately, Ms Braverman is thought to be examining potential changes to terrorism legislation to change some definitions in existing laws.
Asked if she was willing to make changes, as the Met chief suggested, Mr Braverman said: “We get our laws under review, and if there is a need to change the law … I will not hesitate to act.”
The home secretary also said she agreed with Sir Mark that there was “accelerated terror threat” and said it was vital for the government “keeping a close eye” on the developing situation – but no change in the threat level.
Police officers clash with protesters on Whitehall on Saturday
Rishi Sunak and Ms Braverman chaired an emergency Cobra meeting with police and security chiefs at No 10 on Monday morning.
Mr Sunak asked police and security agencies at the Cobra meeting to conduct tabletop exercises to simulate a response to potential counter-terror or public order scenarios, a No 10 source said.
The threat level currently stands at “substantial” in England, Wales and Scotland, meaning an attack is likely. It has been at that level since February last year when it was lowered from “severe”, meaning an attack is highly likely.
Sir Mark raised concerns about “state threats” from Iran, amid reports security chiefs are worried that the country is trying to provoke unrest in Britain.
“This is a particularly challenging time – an overlay of threats. When you’ve got state threats from Iran, you’ve got terrorism being accelerated by the events, and hate crime in communities,” the Scotland Yard chief told Sky News.
Meanwhile, education minister Robert Halfon, who is Jewish, told Times Radio that hearing the “river to the sea” phrase being chanted was “horrific” and “scary”, adding: “It’s frightening for Jewish people in England at the moment, you know.”
The minister said he had Jewish students “are having Palestinian flags draped over their cars” and had some people “knocking on doors saying ‘we know where you live’.”
He pointed to Community Security Trust figures which suggest antisemitic incidents had gone up by over 400 per cent since the 7 October terror attack by Hamas.
