UK terror watchdog urges 'moratorium' on pro-Palestine marches
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Thu, 04/30/2026 - 12:58
Jonathan Hall made the comments following stabbing of two Jewish people in Golders Green
Protesters wave Palestinian flags as they march past Harrods department store during a march organised by the Palestine Coalition in central London, 28 March (AFP)
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The UK's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall, has called for a "moratorium" on pro-Palestine marches because of recent antisemitic attacks in London.
A 45-year-old Somali-born British national was arrested on Wednesday afternoon after two Jewish men in Golders Green, aged 34 and 76, were stabbed in a London neighbourhood with a large Jewish population. Both are expected to make a full recovery.
The Metropolitan Police have said they believe the incident was connected to a separate "altercation" in south-east London a few hours beforehand.
Police said the suspect has a "history of serious violence and mental health issues" and had been referred to the Prevent counter-extremism programme in 2020.
Speaking on Times Radio after the incident, Hall said: "We are now at a point at which the government starts to need to start to take more risks as to what it’s prepared to do.
"It’s not simply enough to offer thoughts and prayers and to support the police investigation."
Hall added: "It pains me to say this, but I think we may have reached a point where we need to have a moratorium on the sorts of marches that have been happening.
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"It’s clearly impossible at the moment for any of these pro-Palestine marches not to incubate within them some sort of antisemitic or demonising language."
In response, the Stop the War coalition criticised Hall's remarks as "unacceptable".
The coalition said: "We condemn unequivocally these attacks, as we do all forms of anti-semitism and racism. No one should be attacked for their race or religion.
"However, the attempts by Hall, sections of the media and some politicians to connect such attacks with the Palestine marches are wrong."
Stop the War added: "These marches are supported by many Jewish people who attend. They are not the ‘hate marches’ described by right-wing politicians but expressions of solidarity and support for those under attack.
"The aims to criminalise the protests, whichs reflect majority public opinion in this country," the organisation said, "or worse, to connect them with racist or terrorist attacks being carried out against Jewish people, are scurrilous and should be rejected."
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Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Wednesday: "The antisemitic attack in Golders Green is utterly appalling."
On Thursday the government announced that a further £25m will be spent on increasing security for Jewish communities.
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There has been a large surge in antisemitic attacks in recent months, including numerous arson attacks and incidents investigated by the Metropolitan Police as antisemitic hate crimes in the past month.
Hall's comments come as the government has been accused of clamping down on pro-Palestine protests. In January three pro-Palestine protesters were charged for allegedly chanting "intifada" at a demonstration.
This came after the Metropolitan and Greater Manchester police forces announced in December they would arrest people for chanting "globalise the intifada" or holding placards displaying the phrase.
Pro-Palestine activists have strongly denied that "globalise the intifada" is antisemitic or a call for violence, and British Jews have been prominent in pro-Palestine marches in the UK.
Intifada comes from the Arabic root word nafada, which means "to shake off" or "to rise up", and translates to "uprising".
Meanwhile the government is appealing a High Court judgement that its ban on direct-action group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation was unlawful.
On Wednesday, Hall noted in his annual report that the banning of Palestine Action exposed “real uncertainty” over whether serious damage to property alone should qualify as terrorism.
The law's broad wording could without clearer limits risk pulling protest activity into terrorism policing, even where there is no intent to harm people, Hall said.
"There is no legal authority on what 'serious damage to property' means," Hall wrote, saying the definition could extend beyond violent attacks to acts such as criminal damage, depending on how courts interpret the threshold.
While he said it was unthinkable to remove property damage entirely from the legal definition of terrorism, he suggested lawmakers could narrow the test, for example by requiring a risk to life, a national security dimension or exclusion for non-violent protest.
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