24 Mar 2023; MEMO: Hundreds of people gathered outside Downing Street today in the British capital, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met his British counterpart Rishi Sunak.
The protest was called for by the Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB), Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Stop the War Coalition, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Muslim Association of Britain (MAB).
Since the start of the year, 90 Palestinians – including 17 children and one woman – have been killed across the Occupied Palestinian Territories. With this year being one of the bloodiest for Palestinians in decades, state-sponsored terrorism – such as the recent pogrom in the Palestinian village of Huwara – symbolise a reality whereby thesecurity of Palestinians is increasingly coming under threat.
With Netanyahu at the helm of these developments, the PFB said it was "shocked that he is being welcomed with open arms to the United Kingdom. Netanyahu not only has a long history of human rights violations against Palestinians – including the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank, the bombing of Gaza, and the construction of a Separation Wall – but has also been singled out for criticism by Israelis themselves."
There have been calls for the UK to cancel Netanyahu's visit on the basis of his move towards growing authoritarianism and anti-Palestine racism.
"Amidst these developments, the UK – rather than welcome Netanyahu with open arms – should be issuing an arrest warrant for him for the war crimes he has committed against the Palestinian people." said Zaher Birawi, chairman of the PFB.
