First request for UK pro-Palestine protest came during October 7 attack

The Met Police have revealed that the first request for a national demonstration against Israel came on October 7 2023 at 12:50pm – just hours after the Hamas attack began.

New documents, released following a freedom of information request, show that the force was first notified of the intention of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) to organise marches while the IDF was still fighting to expel terrorists from southern Israel.

“The MPS were contacted on Saturday 7 October at approximately 12.50pm via telephone call and informed of the intention to protest, the MPS committed this to our systems on the same day and are satisfied being contacted by telephone was a sufficient means in which to notify the MPS as the event was taking place 7 days after notification,” the report said.

The assault on October 7 began at 6:30am and, by 12:50pm, Hamas militants were still actively killing and kidnapping civilians from the Nova music festival, Kibbutz Be’eri, Kfar Aza, and several other communities along the Israeli border with Gaza.

At 8:32am the IDF began mobilising its army reserves and two hours later, IDF fighter jets began conducting air strikes on the Gaza Strip. It was not until October 8 that Israel declared itself to be in a state of war and not until October 9 that Israel ordered a “complete siege” on the Gaza Strip, cutting off electricity, water, food and fuel from entering.

The Met report on the timing of the protest notification also stated that they were advised of the march by an organiser speaking on behalf of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign group.

Ben Jamal, the PSC’s director, has since been charged with breaching police conditions during one of its latest demonstrations.

In response to the report, activist group Stop the Hate UK wrote on X: “We thought the PSC couldn't surprise us. But even for them this is a new low. A couple of hours into the most brutal attack against Jewish people since the Holocaust - and while the attack was still ongoing - they were busy organising a national protest against the victims.”

Dave Rich, head of policy at the Community Security Trust (CST), wrote: “It’s hard to comprehend that while Jews around the world watched with horror as a pogrom took place in Israel on Oct 7, the ghouls at PSC saw the exact same images and thought ‘let’s have an anti-Israel demo’”.

Russell Langer, director of public affairs at the Jewish Leadership Council, also commented on the Met Police report, writing on X: “12.55pm on October 7th was when I finally found out my family had been rescued from the house set on fire hours earlier by Hamas. Many others were still being killed and kidnapped. 5 minutes earlier, those who hate Israel were making their plans to march against the victims.”