Israel supporters rally in London against UN resolution

A small rally was held in central London yesterday to protest the British government’s support for United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemned Israeli settlements.

An estimated 200-300 people attended the rally, which was organised by the UK Zionist Federation and received backing from the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council.

Speaking to the gathering near the Houses of Parliament, Board of Deputies’ President Jonathan Arkush denounced Resolution 2334 as a “disgrace”, “full of outrageous falsehoods” and “amoral”, and its passing as “detestable” and “shameless”.

Arkush, who has previously claimed that “every country can be subject to criticism”, flatly rejected that East Jerusalem is occupied territory, the international legal consensus.

Referring to areas of illegal Israeli settlement inside the West Bank, such as Gush Etzion and in Hebron, Arkush stated: “I do not accept that land ethnically cleansed of Jews has any right to be treated as belonging to the ethnic cleansers.”

Arkush said he had written in the name of the Board of Deputies to Prime Minister Theresa May about his “anger” that British diplomats had “sunk to such depths”. He urged the government to identify the officials responsible and repudiate their advice.

Other speakers included well-known right-wing commentator Douglas Murray, as well as former British colonel and well-known Israel supporter Richard Kemp.

Kemp told the audience that the resolution was part of “an international conspiracy against Israel”, adding that “what we’ve done in endorsing UNSC Resolution 2334 is to endorse some of the principles of the Holocaust.”