I attended the Palestine protest in Colchester today. With it being to commemorate The Nakba, I was in two minds about attending. The protest talked about how Jews moved to Palestine during the British mandate in large numbers after the horrors of The Second World War. But, it failed to address the issue that Jews have faced over 2000 years of persecution and were forced out of Palestine/Israel. This included mass murder in York and the expulsion of Jews later. It is because of acts like this that I think the state of Israel should exist.
But the reason I attend the protests is because the oppression of Muslims and Christians in Gaza and The West Bank should not continue. Israel is engaging in a process of Ethnic Cleansing and this should not be funded by the west. The protest was interrupted briefly by one man who left, probably because of his daughter. As he left he shouted about Christianity, but he is probably not aware that it is Israel who is oppressing Christian’s.
David Baddiel once wrote a book Jews Don't Count but sadly, it appears that for many in the West, Muslims don’t. All lives matter equally, be they Jewish, Muslim, Christian basically any or no religion. But some value the lives of one religion as being more important than others. The big mistake that has been made is in not appealing to the American Christian lobby. If they knew how Israel is evicting Christians from The West Bank, Israel would not be funded.