The "Marches for Palestine" have to stop

and stop now. There must not be a "halt for now" but a "stop now". Those organising the "protests" have been permitted to hold march after march at enormous cost to taxpayers. Yes, it does cost taxpayers. The police presence costs. The disruption to business, to traffic and more all cost all of us. 

The organisers have been permitted to spew their messages of "support" for over two years now. They have encouraged the anti-Semitic views that so alarm many others. 

Please do not misunderstand me in any way. What has happened in Gaza is wrong, very wrong. It amounts to war crimes. Those crimes have been committed by others. They have not been committed by the Jewish people here. My own (and very reliable) sources tell me that the vast majority of Jews here do not support what Netanyahu and his government are doing. The few that do support him are apparently keeping very quiet about it. They would be condemned by the local Jewish community and that view is reflected in all such communities across the country. 

The present vile mess in the Middle East arose out of a group of terrorists using the most horrific means at their disposal to do harm. They were seeking power for their own ends. They are still attempting to do that. They are now doing it with the support of the international community.  Yes, I know many of you will argue with that but Hamas wants control. It has two aims as far as I can see. The first of these is to wipe Israel off the map and all Jewish people everywhere with it. The second is to have complete control over the area that would then be called "Palestine".  

The leaders of Hamas will then see themselves as being rich and even more powerful than they now are. They "care" for the people of Gaza by force. A truly free and fair election would see them lose control. They cannot afford for that to happen.

And perhaps things are not much better on the other side. Netanyahu is facing serious corruption charges. He has somehow managed to delay and delay his trial. He has openly demanded it be permanently halted. His hold on power is fragile. He relies on a group of religious extremists who make demands that breach not just the laws of Israel but international law. 

Yes, all those things are cause for deep and serious concern. We should be concerned by them but asking people who live here, who were born here and live, work and pay taxes here to be responsible for that is wrong. To hate them so much you turn a gun on them is despicable. It harms all of us. 

These are the same people who often quietly volunteer in the community, who mow the lawn of an elderly neighbour, who take another shopping, who mind the children and who share excess produce from their gardens. They may or may not go to synagogue but, in this country, you can be almost certain they know someone who is a survivor of the Holocaust. They have to live with that in the past. They do not need it in the future.

When some of our politicians are foolish enough to join marches across one of our iconic landmarks in support of "Palestine" and our government "recognises Palestine" we need to ask what they are really doing. Palestine does not yet exist. It may one day but a country needs recognised borders. There are none. It needs a single stable government. It has none. It needs a single army to defend itself. It has none. There need to be recognised means which provide the services people need for day-to-day life. There are none. 

Those things may come and it is the right of people to aspire to those things. They will not come about by protesting in marches that cause more anger, hatred and distrust.