Palestinian Flags Flood Liverpool

May 16, 2021

Yesterday hundreds of protesters took to the streets to show solidarity with the Palestinian people. Yesterday was also the anniversary of the ‘Nakba’ (Arabic for ‘catastrophe’), when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forcibly removed from their homes and land to make room for the creation of the new nation of Israel.

The protest was organised by Merseyside Stop The War and supported by Liverpool Friends Of Palestine, Liverpool Trades Council, Merseyside BLM alliance and Merseyside Pensioners Association.

Since the Conservative government was elected in May 2015 the UK has licensed over £400 million worth of arms to Israeli forces. The actual level of exports will be significantly higher, as there have also been 43 Open Licences in this period. The arms industry is corrupt and unstable but the government subsidises it. This means we as tax payers are conscripted into supporting the merchants of death that have visited so much misery on the Palestinians for decades.

The speakers at the rally called for an end to oppressive actions of the Israeli apartheid state and condemned the mainstream media for it’s bias against Palestinians.

Yesterday a block in Gaza destroyed by the Israeli air strike also housed the offices of the Associated Press (AP) news agency. Here’s a statement from its president and CEO, Gary Pruitt:

” We are shocked and horrified that the Israeli military would target and destroy the building housing AP’s bureau and other news organizations in Gaza. They have long known the location of our bureau and knew journalists were there. We received a warning that the building would be hit.

This is an incredibly disturbing development. We narrowly avoided a terrible loss of life. A dozen AP journalists and freelancers were inside the building and thankfully we were able to evacuate them in time.

The world will know less about what is happening in Gaza because of what happened today.”

One Liverpool MP, Ian Byrne spoke at the rally and called for an end to arm sales to Israel. Kim Johnson MP sent a message of solidarity.