Keir Starmer vows crackdown on pro-Palestine marches after being booed at Golders Green

Sir Keir Starmer has told anyone marching under a ‘Globalise the Intifada banner at pro-Palestine marches is supporting the murder of Jewish people.

It came after he was met with boos and jeers during a visit to Golders Green this afternoon.

The Prime Minister was in north London to meet the Jewish community following yesterday’s stabbing attack, which left two people injured.

The suspect being questioned by police over the Golders Green terror attack has been named as Essa Suleiman, according to reports, as Sir Keir Starmer urged the public to ‘open their eyes to Jewish pain’.

The Prime Minister said those attending pro-Palestine marches standing ‘alongside people who say ‘globalise the intifada’, you are calling for terrorism against Jews’.

Intifada is an Arabic word for a rebellion or uprising. The second intifada was a major uprising by Palestinians against Israel and its occupation in 2000.  

Sir Keir Starmer said at a press conference: ‘Take the marches that happen regularly across Britain.

‘Of course, we protect freedom of speech and peaceful protest in this country, but if you are marching with people wearing pictures of paragliders without calling it out, you are venerating the murder of Jews.

‘If you stand alongside people who say, “globalise the Intifada”, you are calling for terrorism against Jews, and people who use that phrase should be prosecuted.

‘It is racism, extreme racism, and it has left a minority community in this country scared, intimidated, wondering if they belong.’

It came hours after he was met with a vitriolic reception by crowds when meeting with the Jewish ambulance service Haztola in Finchley Road.

There were also heckles of ‘Keir Starmer, Jew harmer’.

Sir Keir then held a meeting with Jewish officials behind closed doors, prompting further chants of ‘if you are prime minister, come talk to us. Show your face’ from the crowd.

The meeting lasted around an hour before Sir Keir left the scene in his motorcade.He was again met with jeers including shouts of ‘coward’.

Speaking to Metro at the scene, a protester called Chaim, 24, said: ‘We are angry, we feel ignored.The police on the front line are great.Starmer has been useless, poor leadership and just words of support come from his mouth and nothing changes.’

Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, 76, were injured in yesterday’s incident, which is being treated as terror.

A 45-year-old British national, who came to the UK as a child from Somalia, was arrested.

It has emerged the man suspected of carrying out the attack was previously referred to Prevent – the government’s counter-extremism programme.

Scotland Yard said a referral was made in 2020 and was closed in the same year.

Earlier today, Sir Keir held a roundtable with representatives including Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley in Downing Street.

He said: ‘I do think there’s a wider duty on all of us in terms of confidence in the criminal justice system to be able to deal with appalling attacks like this, to show that it can act in a swift, agile and visible way.

‘I look forward to a discussion with you as to how we make that happen.’

Speaking exclusively to Metro, the mum of Shloime Rand described him as a ‘gentle soul’.

She said she’d been at his bedside while he is recovering in hospital, adding he was in the area to attend a religious studies class.

She added: ‘The Jewish community needs more protection for the danger we face.’

Reform leader Nigel Farage attended Golders Green on Thursday morning.

When asked by Metro if he had a message for the Jewish community, he said: ‘My message is very simple.Everything will be done, and must be done, to make sure you can live your lives freely in this country like everybody else, but the government needs to act.’

He said ‘there’s going to have to be’ when asked if the community needs extra police and security.

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