LONDON — Over 200 people rallied outside government offices at Whitehall Dec. 3 to protest the brutal violence and rape Hamas thugs meted out to women during their Oct. 7 pogrom in Israel. Many pointed to the failure of most women’s organizations in the U.K. to denounce the horrific assaults and the fact that it took 57 days for the United Nations women’s organization to express “alarm” and say it would “investigate.” Hamas has publicly claimed responsibility for what it did, posting videos of attacks online.
“The Iranian regime is behind Hamas. As an Iranian and a Muslim my responsibility is to stand behind you,” Mattie Heaven, a Conservative Party councilor in Coventry, said. “This is everybody’s fight,” said Nimco Ali, Somali-born campaigner against female genital mutilation.
“This is a very important rally,” Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, deputy mayor of Jerusalem, told the crowd. “It raises the voices of women still in captivity.”
Communist League members and supporters, wearing signs defending Israel’s right to exist as a refuge for Jews and condemning the Iranian-backed terrorist group’s anti-Jewish and anti-woman assaults, met many participants who had taken part in the huge national Solidarity March Against Antisemitism the previous week.
Many protesters appreciated the participation of the Communist League and several visited the CL table with its display of books by revolutionary leaders. Four subscriptions to the Militant and a French-language edition of The Jewish Question by Abram Leon were sold.
A number of people took flyers for the next Militant Labour Forum in London, “Defend Israel’s right to exist as a refuge for Jews! Oppose US/UK rulers’ moves to force Israel to give up the battle to defeat Hamas.”