This is a Facebook Post by David Collier that has been reposted here
A couple of days ago a small group of Jewish people held ‘Kaddish’ for Gaza in Parliament Square. I have little interest in attacking the kids who turned up. An aggressive political stance in this situation can be self-defeating. I don’t want to place dividing walls between myself and them. For the most part, I want what they want, and the differences between us are down to ‘who is to blame’, ‘what can be done’, and ‘the nature of the enemy we face’. These are opinions not goals and I’d rather talk to them than alienate them.
I went through the list of those that attended. About forty in all. Most have signaled affiliation with Jewdas or Yachad. As is always my way, I am not in this for a naming and shaming exercise. At the time the ‘Kaddish’ was called, the organisers did not know that at least 53 of those who were killed belong to terrorist organisations. I get it. These groups, especially Jewdas, like sticking two fingers up at the establishment. This type of action is edgy, it suits the type of political action students like this engage in, and it will annoy their parents. It ticks all the boxes of what young rebels do.
At a certain point it became clear that this event would recite the names of more than 50 terrorists. And when this became clear, then giving them such recognition becomes no different than seeing anti-Israel groups honour terrorists by creating picture montages on the steps of SOAS during the stabbing intifada. Honouring people that either killed or wanted to kill Jews. Those montages were sick and roundly condemned and so should this be.
Which brings me to the leaders of this event. Those who come up with the idea, promoted it, and then led Jewish youth into performing an action that was both shameful and an insult to Israelis and Jews worldwide who have been victims of terror attacks. As soon as it became clear that the vast majority of fatalities on the Gaza border were not random at all, then the event should have been called off.
It wasn’t called off. And those leaders who advertised it, like Amos from Yachad either continued to promote it or just fell silent. Not one, not a single one, came out and said it was no longer a good idea. Not everyone present was a naive kid. And here is the problem. Once all possible legitimacy for the action had fallen away those responsible for the event still went ahead with it. Not one showed the slightest sign of ethical or moral leadership. It became Ideology above all, an issue of not backing down, which is an dangerous stance for any group to have, whether on the left or right of the spectrum. It is certainly not a lesson we need to be teaching our children.
So those people who organised this event should be named and shamed. Where possible, any community responsibility or legitimacy they have should become limited at best or removed completely. If our community organisations have ties with them they should be cut. They said kaddish for Hamas terrorists. There is no reason we should just silently accept the unacceptable.
Israel Advocacy Movement took video of the event, it’s unclear if the the thug shouting at the group was brought by them.
What’s also interesting to note is that one of the people reading out the names of the dead was at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign demonstration outside the Israeli embassy on the 11th of May. We tweeted about some of the things that were going on at the demonstration earlier.
What is it about @PSCupdates and supporters of Assad and Hezbollah? The below is from outside the Israeli embassy last Friday, because it makes perfect sense to protest the killing of Palestinians by supporting a dictator perpetrating genocide pic.twitter.com/e7vXNIbZW4
— Hurryupharry (@hurryupharry) May 16, 2018
