Last night’s US strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites have crystallised the most important element of Israel’s military action over the past week. Israel may, initially, have acted alone but it was not acting only for itself; it was acting on behalf of the West – and of everyone who understands why Iran could not be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon.
But the US strikes have also had a second order impact here in Britain. They reinforce the dividing line between those who support the West and those who – to be blunt – are our enemies.
That dividing line has been obvious for many months, but some people have yet to have grasped that it even existed, let alone who stood beyond it. For the past twenty months since the Hamas massacre of 1200 Jews on October 7 2023, the so-called Free Palestine marches have been the most vocal expression of the dividing line, with tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of people marching alongside chants such as “globalise the intifada”, and myriad placards supporting Hamas and Hezbollah. Signs and chants, in other words, eulogising terror and the murder of Jews.
Despite this, there have been some people of good faith who have rejected the label of Hate Marches and who have argued that the majority of those present were simply protesting over the war in Gaza, a legitimate (if misguided) stance. That view of the marches is no longer possible.
After yesterday’s Hate March in London, it is simply impossible for anyone to deny, or even query, the nature and aims of the demonstrators. Yesterday saw the usual symbols and chants of hate but with a new addition: Iranian flags being waved alongside placards with a picture of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the banner message: “Choose the right side of history.”
Other banners read: “Free Palestine, hands off Iran” and “Support Palestine Action” – hours after the soon-to-be-proscribed group sabotaged RAF planes at Brize Norton.
Of course they did. Because support for the clerical-fascist Iranian regime is axiomatic to the mindset of those who have taken to the streets since October 7.
Remember, the first march took place on October 14 2023, before a single Israeli soldier had entered Gaza. And, as the Telegraph revealed, the first call from the march organisers to the police requesting permission was on the afternoon of October 7 2023 – while the massacre was still in progress. The marches have never been about “defending” Palestine or Gaza. They are simply the excuse.
As yesterday’s displays of support for Iran showed, the marches are in reality about the West, and a pathological hatred of the society in which the marches live. There has rarely been a more straightforward example of “my enemy’s enemy is my friend”. If Hamas kills Jews, good on Hamas. The Jew is, after all, the archetype of the evil West in this mindset, and Israel its national expression.
If Iran resists the Jews and the West with its proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, stand with Iran. If it builds a nuclear weapon to confront the Jews and the West, protect Iran (an outlook which, rather gloriously, led the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament to shriek its outrage at the greatest single act of nuclear disarmament in history). If Iran is attacked by the Jews, stand with Iran.
Now the US – the Great Satan – has done more than express vocal support for Israel: it has joined in. And now the dividing line between the West and its enemies – rather, its enemies within – is even clearer.
Last night’s US strikes against Iran’s nuclear sites have crystallised the most important element of Israel’s military action over the past week. Israel may, initially, have acted alone but it was not acting only for itself; it was acting on behalf of the West – and of everyone who understands why Iran could not be allowed to possess a nuclear weapon.
But the US strikes have also had a second order impact here in Britain. They reinforce the dividing line between those who support the West and those who – to be blunt – are our enemies.
That dividing line has been obvious for many months, but some people have yet to have grasped that it even existed, let alone who stood beyond it. For the past twenty months since the Hamas massacre of 1200 Jews on October 7 2023, the so-called Free Palestine marches have been the most vocal expression of the dividing line, with tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of people marching alongside chants such as “globalise the intifada”, and myriad placards supporting Hamas and Hezbollah. Signs and chants, in other words, eulogising terror and the murder of Jews.
Despite this, there have been some people of good faith who have rejected the label of Hate Marches and who have argued that the majority of those present were simply protesting over the war in Gaza, a legitimate (if misguided) stance. That view of the marches is no longer possible.
After yesterday’s Hate March in London, it is simply impossible for anyone to deny, or even query, the nature and aims of the demonstrators. Yesterday saw the usual symbols and chants of hate but with a new addition: Iranian flags being waved alongside placards with a picture of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the banner message: “Choose the right side of history.”
Other banners read: “Free Palestine, hands off Iran” and “Support Palestine Action” – hours after the soon-to-be-proscribed group sabotaged RAF planes at Brize Norton.
Of course they did. Because support for the clerical-fascist Iranian regime is axiomatic to the mindset of those who have taken to the streets since October 7.
Remember, the first march took place on October 14 2023, before a single Israeli soldier had entered Gaza. And, as the Telegraph revealed, the first call from the march organisers to the police requesting permission was on the afternoon of October 7 2023 – while the massacre was still in progress. The marches have never been about “defending” Palestine or Gaza. They are simply the excuse.
As yesterday’s displays of support for Iran showed, the marches are in reality about the West, and a pathological hatred of the society in which the marches live. There has rarely been a more straightforward example of “my enemy’s enemy is my friend”. If Hamas kills Jews, good on Hamas. The Jew is, after all, the archetype of the evil West in this mindset, and Israel its national expression.
If Iran resists the Jews and the West with its proxies Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, stand with Iran. If it builds a nuclear weapon to confront the Jews and the West, protect Iran (an outlook which, rather gloriously, led the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament to shriek its outrage at the greatest single act of nuclear disarmament in history). If Iran is attacked by the Jews, stand with Iran.
Now the US – the Great Satan – has done more than express vocal support for Israel: it has joined in. And now the dividing line between the West and its enemies – rather, its enemies within – is even clearer.