On the 100th day after Hamas launched a fatal attack, a large number of individuals gathered in central London to show their support for Israel.
On Sunday, during the rally at Trafalgar Square, President of Israel Isaac Herzog expressed gratitude to King Charles through a video message. He also acknowledged the presence of Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir Starmer.
Rally attendees passed through bag checks, barricades, and police and security personnel before entering the square. Many held up posters featuring the faces of the hostages and others bearing the message “100 days in hell”.
Some brandished versions of the flag used by Iran before the 1979 revolution, with a sun and lion in the centre, which one man said represented opposition to the Iranian government.
According to the Metropolitan police, a small number of counter-protesters from the Neturei Karta group assembled on a traffic island located at the southern part of Trafalgar Square.
The initial report stated that a man had been arrested for forcibly taking a sign from the group and destroying it. However, in a revised statement, the Metropolitan Police clarified that the man was instead “detained but not ultimately arrested” after reviewing CCTV footage which showed he was not the individual responsible.
A man was arrested for allegedly committing a racially motivated public order crime after shouting anti-Semitic remarks from a car that was passing by.
Suella Braverman, the ex-home secretary, was present at the protest and expressed her support for Israel to the PA Media news agency. She stated, “I am here to show solidarity with Israel. It has been 100 days since innocent individuals were captured by Hamas terrorists and it is imperative that we bring them back home immediately.”
Herzog expressed in his video that despite efforts to intimidate and silence us, we have bravely and boldly spoken out with conviction and enthusiasm. This is evident not only within the Jewish community, but also among all levels of British leadership who uphold the truth.
“On behalf of the state and citizens of Israel, I express my gratitude to everyone. I extend my thanks to His Majesty King Charles III and Prime Minister Sunak, as well as the UK government and opposition leader Starmer and his colleagues.”
Several other speakers spoke at the rally, such as Tzipi Hotovely, the Israeli ambassador to the UK, Eric Pickles, the UK’s special envoy for post-Holocaust issues, and Labour MP Christian Wakeford.
Family members of those still being held captive also addressed the protest. Yarden Bibas, aged 34, was seized on October 7th with his 32-year-old wife Shiri, and their two young children Ariel, aged four, and Kfir, who was only 10 months old at the time of the abduction.
According to PA Media, Eylon Keshet, Bibas’s cousin, stated that being held hostage could potentially be a fatal situation for Kfir.
Hotovely expressed gratitude to “London” for providing unwavering support over the last 100 days. She acknowledged that approximately 130 hostages are still in captivity and stressed that they are enduring a never-ending nightmare. She also reiterated her plea for their prompt release.
Source: theguardian.com
