"Un-British Protests": Starmer Tells Students to Shun October 7 Rallies
Sir Keir Starmer has told students to stay away from demonstrations marking the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks, branding them "un-British" and a "total loss of empathy and humanity".
Quoted by The Times, the prime minister warned that parts of Britain had grown "indifferent to antisemitism", which he called "a profound threat to our nation and its values." He said those who celebrate or excuse violence against Jews "show a total lack of humanity" and urged police to use the "full force of the law" against anyone calling for harm.
"Let me just spell that out for a moment," Starmer wrote. "People on our streets calling for the murder of Jewish people they have never even met, for something they are not responsible for. A total loss of empathy and humanity — not in some faraway land but right here in the heart of our country.
"And today, on the anniversary of the atrocities of October 7, students are once again planning protests. This is not who we are as a country. It's un-British to have so little respect for others."
More than a dozen university protests are planned across the UK — including London, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Bristol — to mark two years since the Hamas attacks that killed 1,200 civilians and saw 251 taken hostage.
Many events are being held under banners such as "honour our martyrs" and "two years of resistance". At Glasgow University, a five-hour "Justice for Palestine" event will "honour our resistance"; while Goldsmiths and Queen Mary University are advertising "nights of remembrance and resistance".
The protests come just days after two Jewish men were killed outside a Manchester synagogue in what police are treating as a terror attack.
Wes Streeting, the health secretary, added that medical regulators were "completely failing to protect Jewish patients", saying the General Medical Council had allowed doctors making antisemitic remarks to avoid punishment. He promised an overhaul of the body to "restore public trust".
Starmer concluded his piece with a plea for empathy and solidarity, warning that "many Jewish schoolchildren now feel compelled to hide their uniforms", and that in some primary schools "children are practising bomb drills".
"We must always stand ready to fight antisemitism," he wrote. "Because when hatred is normalised, humanity itself is diminished."
