UK: activists to stage 'Israel apartheid' protest as Netanyahu visits for talks

Small group of protesters with ‘End Israeli apartheid’ banner will be outside Downing St on Thursday afternoon as Israeli PM visits for talks with Rishi Sunak

One activist in a Netanyahu face mask will brandish an ‘I ❤ apartheid’ sign, while another protester in a Sunak mask will look on impassively

Amnesty International UK activists will stage a protest against Israeli apartheid outside Downing Street on Thursday afternoon as the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the UK for talks with Rishi Sunak. 

A small group of activists will hold aloft placards and a six-foot banner saying “End Israeli apartheid” at the gates of Downing Street at 3:00pm, with protesters wearing t-shirts with the same anti-apartheid message.

One activist will also don a Netanyahu face mask and hold a home-made sign saying “I ❤ apartheid”, while another activist in a Rishi Sunak mask will be seen looking on impassively.

Last year, Amnesty published a major report showing how the Israeli authorities’ treatment of the Palestinians amounts to the international crime of apartheid, with massive seizures of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, the forcible transfer of Palestinian people from their land, drastic movement restrictions, and the denial of nationality and citizenship to Palestinians in Israel.

Since the formation of a new Israeli government under Netanyahu in December, there has been a sharp deterioration in an already poor human rights situation in Israel and in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, yet the UK has made few public statements on the growing crisis and refrained from substantive criticism of the Israeli authorities. 

 

Amnesty UK’s chief executive Sacha Deshmukh has written to Rishi Sunak ahead of the visit raising concerns about the UK’s commitment to international justice given its tacit acceptance of Israel’s decades-long occupation and annexation of Palestinian territory.

Details of protest

WHO: Amnesty activists

 

WHAT: protest with ‘End Israeli apartheid’ banner, placards, t-shirts, and Netanyahu and Sunak face masks 

 

WHERE: gates of Downing Street, London SW1A 2AA

 

WHEN: Thursday 23 March 2023, at 3:00pm