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As Israel-Hamas war flares, chaos grips Britain with Braverman sacked | Israel-Palestine conflict News<\/p>\n
Glasgow, United Kingdom \u2013<\/strong> Suella Braverman has been sacked from her role as the United Kingdom\u2019s home secretary after she called pro-Palestinian protesters \u201chate marchers\u201d, adding to a sense of chaos in Britain as war flares anew in the Middle East.<\/p>\n Prime Minister Rishi Sunak dismissed the populist politician on Monday, after days of speculation over her future.<\/p>\n The hard-right Conservative has never hidden her disdain for Britain\u2019s supporters of the besieged people of Gaza. Her sacking is understood to be linked to her article in The Times last week, in which she accused the police of being tougher on far-right activists than pro-Palestinian demonstrators.<\/p>\n Sunak\u2019s office did not approve the final text of the article, which The Times itself has described as \u201cinflammatory\u201d.<\/p>\n In previous weeks, she had also told police that waving a Palestinian flag could become a crime \u2013 which also saw her accused of meddling.<\/p>\n \u201cHistorically, governments in the UK, like others across the world, have used moments of crisis to launch attacks on all of our civil liberties \u2013 often starting with those who are already marginalised,\u201d the British civil rights group Liberty said at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cWe saw this in response to 9\/11 and the 7\/7 bombings, with the creation of new and broad offences around \u2018glorifying\u2019 terrorism and the extension of the period for which terror suspects could be held without charge.\u201d<\/p>\n Braverman\u2019s dismissal \u2013 and the surprise return of ex-Prime Minister David Cameron to politics \u2013 are being mocked by observers as signs of a government in crisis.<\/p>\n Cameron, premier between 2010 and 2016, now holds the role of foreign secretary after James Cleverly replaced Braverman.<\/p>\n While the government is in a state of flux as Sunak\u2019s cabinet reshuffle gathers pace on Monday, tensions between communities are rising, and rights groups are raising the alarm about a possible crackdown on free expression.<\/p>\n This past weekend, hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in London in solidarity with Gaza, marshalled by a heavy police presence, as a small number of far-right groups staged counter-protests.<\/p>\n The rally came about a month after Israel began shelling the Gaza Strip, in response to Hamas\u2019s unprecedented incursion into Israel. More than 1,200 Israelis and 11,000 Palestinians have been killed.<\/p>\n Britons sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinians have accused UK political leaders and academic institutions of pursuing a campaign to restrict \u2013 or even silence \u2013 shows of support for the beleaguered enclave.<\/p>\n On Saturday, some 300,000 supporters of Gaza took to the streets of London in defiance of Britain\u2019s Conservative Party-led government, which has pledged unwavering support for Israel\u2019s actions and views with scepticism pro-Palestinian support.<\/p>\n The rally took place on Armistice Day \u2013 the annual commemoration marking the end of World War I \u2013 which Braverman condemned as an \u201cunacceptable\u201d act of desecration. Sunak cast the demonstration as \u201cdisrespectful\u201d.<\/p>\n Protesters including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop the War Coalition and Muslim Association of Britain set off from London\u2019s Hyde Park, before ending at the US Embassy.<\/p>\n Exclusion zones were imposed around the city\u2019s war memorial, the Cenotaph.<\/p>\n Chants advocating for Gaza included \u201cfree Palestine\u201d, \u201cceasefire now\u201d and \u201cfrom the river to the sea, Palestine will be free\u201d.<\/p>\n More than 100 people were arrested on the day, mostly counterprotesters.<\/p>\n Accusations that Britain\u2019s political establishment is trying to crack down on freedom of speech on Gaza also extend to the main opposition Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer.<\/p>\n Like Sunak, he has supported Israel\u2019s bloody onslaught as its \u201cright\u201d to self-defence.<\/p>\n Last month, one of Labour\u2019s largest constituency branches in Scotland saw office bearers resign their posts en masse after accusing the party, odds-on to win the next UK general election, of silencing debate on the crisis.<\/p>\n Nine officials at the Glasgow Kelvin Constituency Labour Party (CLP), in Scotland\u2019s central belt, stood down in protest after a directive was issued by the party\u2019s UK and Scottish general secretaries saying, \u201cany motions\u201d about Gaza would be \u201cout of order and should not be debated at party meetings\u201d.<\/p>\n Labour Party House of Lords peer, Baroness Pauline Bryan of Partick, was among those to quit.<\/p>\n She lamented the \u201creluctance [by Labour officials] to allow [CLPs] to express their support for the people in Gaza\u201d and expressed concern about how the party would deal with other such debates \u2013 on Palestine or anything else \u2013 in the future.<\/p>\n The left-wing peer also disagreed with Starmer\u2019s decision to suspend Labour MP Andy McDonald after he referenced \u201cfrom the river to the sea\u201d during a speech at a pro-Palestinian rally last month.<\/p>\n \u201cAndy McDonald is an extremely well-respected MP,\u201d she told Al Jazeera. \u201cI think people will be shocked and horrified if he\u2019s not reinstated very, very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n British academia has also become embroiled in the conflict, with universities and university bodies accused of bowing to government pressure.<\/p>\n On October 31, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a national funding agency investing in science and research, suspended\u00a0its Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) advisory group\u00a0following a\u00a0letter of complaint by Michelle Donelan, the science secretary, who accused some members of \u201csharing some extremist views on social media\u201d.<\/p>\n Among her allegations was \u201cthe amplification\u201d of a tweet on X by one group member, which, she wrote, \u201ccondemns violence on both sides but makes reference to Israel\u2019s \u2018genocide and apartheid\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n Yesterday, UKRI responded to a letter from Secretary of State, Michelle Donelan. Now we are publishing that response and the Terms of Reference for the review we are setting up. pic.twitter.com\/RjZypgnbVK<\/a><\/p>\nOpposition accused of silencing debate<\/h2>\n
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