He has newly posted a pertinent commentary on this year's anti-Israel activity in Manchester, (more here), the British city which, of course, once played a seminal role in the Zionist movement in Britain (think Sieff, think Weizmann).
Writes Semple, inter alia:
'Who are these people who march through our cities, shouting “Palestine will be free; from the river to the sea”? For a start, most of them have no connection with Gaza, east Jerusalem or the so-called West Bank. No, they are a rag-bag of Marxists, anarchists, professional protesters, converts to Islam, third-generation British Muslims, and immigrants from north Africa and southwest Asia.
In 2014, the city of Manchester in England became the focal point of the third intifadists who clashed with the police and the local Jewish population.
Anti-Semitism is now a significant problem for the Manchester Jewish community, which has faced an unprecedented wave of abuse and intimidation. I have lived in a number of English-speaking countries but never have I witnessed a spectacle as shameful as the mass invasion of Manchester by boycotts, divestments and sanctions (BDS) campaigners....
Weekdays in King Street saw twenty to thirty people on each side, holding up Israeli and Palestinian flags while debating each other across the picket line. Sometimes this was peaceful and civilised. Sometimes it exploded into anger. The BDS mob pretended not to be anti-Jewish but then poured out thousands of conspiracy theories about Jews and Israel, reminiscent of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Jews were called Nazis; they were called dirty pigs; they were called murderers; they were even called Christ killers.
On weekends, hundreds of Jews gathered to defend Kedem from much larger crowds of BDS people, who took over one of Manchester’s main thoroughfares, Deansgate, and invaded dozens of other streets in the city centre. The loud speakers came out. Third intifadists chanted mantras like “We love Hamas” and “Free free Palestine”. Nothing from their side was original. Our side, the Friends of Israel, gave passionate and reasoned speeches in defence of Israel and Kedem. We sang songs. They chanted hate. Manchester Jews sang “Hatikva” and “God Save The Queen.”. Third Intifadists continued to chant slogans like “Brick by brick, wall by wall, Israeli apartheid’s going to fall.”
The BDS crowd kept shouting “Free Hamas” in between incidents of physical abuse and the occasional Hitler salute. One Muslim protester foolishly declared on camera that he loved Hitler. Another gleefully said that Israeli Jews should go back to Poland and Hitler “where maybe they’ll find another Hitler.”....'(Photo credits: 1-4, Manchester Evening News; 5, Joel Goodman for ibid.)
Be sure to read the whole of David Semple's post, here
