Civil society groups have slammed Prime Minister Keir Starmer's threat to crack down on pro-Palestinian protests, describing it as an attack on democratic rights and warning against conflating British Jews with the actions of the Israeli government.
Starmer told the BBC on Saturday that he would support banning demonstrations in some instances and demanded "tougher action" against people who use some slogans, including "globalise the intifada".
The government has come under renewed pressure from pro-Israel advocates to ban the protests after two Jewish men were stabbed in the London suburb of Golders Green on Wednesday.
A 45-year-old Somali-born British national been charged with three counts of attempted murder after committing several attacks in the capital, including against a Muslim man in Southwark.
"In the wake of the horrific antisemitic attack in Golders Green, politicians and the media have rushed to falsely characterise the marches for Palestine and to call for them to be suppressed," the Palestine Solidarity Campaign said in a statement.
"These calls dangerously conflate Jewish people with the state of Israel and peaceful political protest with unconnected violent acts. We utterly reject both."
Pro-Palestinian protesters have held regular demonstrations in London since October 2023, when the Israeli military began its genocidal war on Gaza.
Hundreds of thousands of people, among them thousands of Jewish activists, have attended the rallies to express outrage at the Israeli government's destruction of Gaza and occupation of the West Bank.
Following the attack, the government's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall, called for a "moratorium" on the protests, claiming it was "impossible" for them not to "incubate" antisemitic language.
Critics allege that the phrase 'globalise the intifada' is antisemitic and claim it inspires attacks against Jews. Some pro-Palestinian advocates use the phrase to express support for resistance against the Israeli occupation. Intifada is an Arabic word meaning "uprising" or "shaking off".
The Stop the War Coalition called Hall's statements "unacceptable" and said the push to ban the protests is part of a broader agenda to clamp down on democratic rights.
"The aims to criminalise the protests, which reflect majority public opinion in this country, or worse, to connect them with racist or terrorist attacks being carried out against Jewish people, are scurrilous and should be rejected," the group said in a statement.
London police chief Mark Rowley also weighed in, telling Good Morning Britain on Friday that he is "really troubled" by the protests.
"Many of these marches set out with an intent to march near synagogues, and every single time we have put conditions on to prevent that," he said.
Ryvka Barnard, deputy director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, rejected Rowley's comments, calling them "dishonest and frankly dangerous".
"None of our marches or proposed march routes has ever targeted a synagogue or even directly passed one along its route, and the Met police knows that," she told The New Arab .
"It’s shocking that Rowley would make such dishonest and reckless comments in a moment when his police force should be focussed on protecting vulnerable people."
The Metropolitan Police has been approached for comment.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign is planning to hold a large demonstration in central London on 16 May to mark the anniversary of the Nakba, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven from their land by Israeli forces.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch renewed her calls for a ban on Palestine protests in a BBC interview on Sunday but expressed support for the far-right Unite the Kingdom rally led by far-right anti-Islam activist Tommy Robinson.
Since coming to power, the Labour government has introduced new powers to curb the protests. Legislation passed last month allows police to ban demonstrations based on their "cumulative impact", a move that human rights groups have criticised for curtailing democratic rights.
Last year it proscribed the direct-action group Palestine Action , leading to the arrest of thousands of peaceful protesters under terror laws.
"It's strange that Keir Starmer and Jonathan Hall have learned nothing from the political disaster of proscribing Palestine Action. Attempts to ban peaceful opposition to genocide will always backfire," said a spokesperson for Defend our Juries, which organises the protests in support of Palestine Action.
"Anyone sincerely concerned to address the rise in antisemitic attacks should consider the false and cynical conflation of Israel's genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity with Jewish identity," they told The New Arab .
"Such a conflation misdirects rightful fury against the criminal Israeli government into wrongful and hateful prejudice against Jewish people."