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  "path": "/news/keir-starmer-pro-palestine-marches-banned-protect-jewish-community",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-02T20:40:15.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "Keir Starmer strikes back at Labour leadership mutiny and urges party colleagues to remain 'united'",
    "University of Edinburgh slammed for platforming pro-Palestine speaker who likened Zionists to Nazis",
    "Flag-raisers offer to install free flagpoles on patriots' homes after activists rip banners down",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nSir Keir Starmer has suggested pro-Palestine demonstrations could potentially be banned, owing to their effect on Britain's Jewish community.\n\nWhen questioned about whether he favoured stricter policing of language at marches, or wanted some protests halted entirely, the Prime Minister responded: \"I think certainly the first, and I think there are instances for the latter.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nHe emphasised his desire for \"tougher action\" against demonstrators using specific phrases at pro-Gaza rallies.\n\nHe stated that those attending marches bear responsibility for challenging chants such as \"globalise the intifada\" - a phrase critics interpret as inciting violence against Israelis, and Jews more broadly.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\"When you see, when you hear some of those chants - then clearly there should be tougher action in relation to that,\" he added.\n\nThe Prime Minister's comments follow Wednesday's knife attack in Golders Green, where two Jewish men were stabbed in an incident subsequently classified as terrorism by police.\n\nThis week, the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre elevated the UK's terror threat level to \"severe,\" indicating an attack is \"highly likely.\"\n\nStephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions, said: \"Recent events, including the appalling attack on members of the Jewish community in London, come against a deeply troubling rise in antisemitic incidents across the country.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nMetropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley warned that British Jews now face the greatest threat in their history following recent attacks targeting their community.\n\nSir Keir called for a \"whole of society response\" to combat rising antisemitism, alongside \"further powers\" for policing demonstrations.\n\nJonathan Hall KC, the Government's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, had already called for a \"moratorium\" on pro-Palestine demonstrations, arguing it was \"impossible\" for such marches not to \"incubate\" antisemitism.\n\nThe Stop The War coalition rejected this characterisation, posting on X: \"There is no threat whatsoever to the Jewish community from these marches, and in fact they are attended by thousands of Jewish people often in a Jewish bloc and are completely safe - which they wouldn't be if these were antisemitic marches.\"\n\n### LATEST DEVELOPMENTS\n\n\n\n\n  * Keir Starmer strikes back at Labour leadership mutiny and urges party colleagues to remain 'united'\n  * University of Edinburgh slammed for platforming pro-Palestine speaker who likened Zionists to Nazis\n  * Flag-raisers offer to install free flagpoles on patriots' homes after activists rip banners down\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nMichael Coulston, a Palestine Solidarity Campaign organiser, believes a ban would be used as “an attack on friendly and safe marches”, and to clamp down on political protest.\n\nHe said: “I think the authorities will always try to use any excuse to try and prevent protest and to prevent any kind of dissent.”\n\nMr Coulston was speaking at a demonstration on Saturday billed as a “March to put Palestine on the ballot in the local elections”, involving around 50 protesters who took part in a protest through Lewisham, south-east London.\n\nHe said: “I think the language thing is a complete red herring. I have never heard language being used by marchers which was particularly offensive.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nSir Keir maintained his commitment to civil liberties, whilst acknowledging the need for boundaries.\n\n\"I will defend the right of peaceful protest very strongly and freedom of speech. I have defended those principles all my life and I will continue to do so. And so I'm not stepping back from that one bit,\" he said.\n\nConservative leader Kemi Badenoch earlier attacked the Prime Minister for failing to take sufficient action against antisemitism.\n\n\"Enough with the platitudes, we need action. We need to shame people who think antisemitism is acceptable,\" she declared.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nSir Keir also condemned Green Party leader Zack Polanski as \"disgraceful\" and \"not fit to lead any political party\" after he reposted online criticism of officers who detained the Golders Green suspect.\n\nMr Polanski, who also faced rebuke from Sir Mark Rowley, has since apologised for \"sharing a tweet in haste\".\n\nThe alleged perpetrator, Essa Suleiman, 45, faces charges of attempting to murder Shloime Rand, 34, and Norman Shine, 76, during Wednesday's attack.\n\nBorn in Somalia, Suleiman arrived in Britain legally as a child during the 1990s, and is additionally charged with the attempted murder of Ishmail Hussein at a Southwark property earlier that day.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "Keir Starmer suggests pro-Palestine marches could be BANNED to 'protect Jewish community'"
}