The official Black Lives Matter Twitter account has said: “As Israel moves forward with the annexation of the West Bank, and mainstream British politics is gagged of the right to critique Zionism, and Israel’s settler colonial pursuits, we loudly and clearly stand beside our Palestinian comrades. FREE PALESTINE.” However, the move sparked a debate from people on social media.
This is in connection with a move by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to extend Israeli sovereignty over Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
Responding to the tweet, a spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism told The Times of Israel that BLM “should embrace solidarity from Jews and should aspire to be a movement against racism that unifies people and achieves lasting change, not a movement that spreads hatred and achieves lasting division.
You cannot fight prejudice with prejudice.”
One angry Twitter user said: “You’re alienating your Jewish and Israeli allies in the BLM cause by writing this.
“We should all be advocating for peace & a peace plan, not one people or the other. Please think about that.”
Former Brexit Party MEP Lance Forman said:
“You say that British politics is “gagged of the right to critique Zionism”. No it is not!”
Your tweet is hypocritical, antisemitic and racist. Withdraw it.”
Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, tweeted: “I can’t stop thinking about this. It’s irresponsible, disappointing and dangerous to post something like this to thousands of followers who sincerely want to fight racism.
“Gagged”? Gagged by whom? The insinuation is depressingly clear. You can’t fight racism with racism.”
BLMUK replied to the criticism saying: “We said it: The UK is not innocent. We MUST be able to hold states accountable for their actions. Whether that’s Britain, the US, China or Israel. No state is above critique. Israel’s occupation of the West Bank is illegal under international law.
“For Israel to move annex it on 1st of July is an affront, and it is heartbreaking that Britain is shielding such horrific actions.”
Meanwhile Actor Laurence Fox has been asking questions of senior figures and organisations such as the Premier League, John Boyega, Gary Lineker and more about whether they continue to support BLMUK in light of their comments. Gary Lineker replied he doesn’t support this statement but he does support BLMUK’s overall aims.
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Lead Correspondent | David Clews is the Lead Correspondent for UNN, with over 20 years of political/campaigning experience and a wealth of social media and communication skills David gets to the heart of what is really important to the real people of the UK.
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