Why the ‘hate marches’ must not be banned

Two things can be true at once. One, that those regular, relentless ‘pro-Palestine’ demos that pose as rallies for peace are hotbeds of Jew hate. Two, that banning the so-called hate marches would do nothing to solve Britain’s anti-Semitism crisis.

The question of what to do about the hate marches has inevitably resurfaced in the wake of the Golders Green atrocity in which two Jewish men were stabbed in a suspected terror attack. Although this was merely one incident in a sustained campaign of terror that has been waged against Britain’s tiny Jewish community since 7 October 2023, pretending there is no problem is no longer sustainable.

Keir Starmer, who once accused critics of the marches of ‘sowing hatred and mistrust’, said last weekend that there may be ‘instances’ where it is appropriate to prevent Palestine marches from taking place. ‘Tougher action’ would also need to be taken, the UK prime minister said, against chants such as ‘globalise the intifada’. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, meanwhile, has called for a ‘moratorium’ on the demos, which she says are ‘used as a cover to promote violence and hatred against Jews’.

At this stage, to pretend that these protests and the movement behind them are totally unproblematic is to engage in wilful blindness. This is a movement that embraces chants calling for ‘intifada’ (referencing violent terror attacks against Israeli Jews) and the erasure of the world’s only Jewish state (‘from the river to the sea’). The Arabic war chant ‘Khaybar, Khaybar, ya yahud!’, threatening the slaughter of Jews, is also a staple on these so-called peace marches. On every demo of a certain size, you will see placards proudly displaying overt anti-Semitism, usually branding ‘the Zionist entity’ as demonic, its leaders as the puppeteers of world affairs, and Jews as bloodthirsty baby-killers.

What’s more, the right to protest is not absolute. Not every restriction placed on a protest is an attack on free expression. Central London would struggle to function if police were not able to impose some conditions on the location, frequency and duration of demos, and to ensure protests are not used as thinly veiled forms of intimidation. Nor should the ‘right to protest’ be extended to otherwise illegal activity, whether that’s blocking roads, or engaging in vandalism or violence.

Even with those caveats, though, it is always better to err on the side of free expression – to allow people to express views that society finds offensive or objectionable. Hateful, bigoted and even fascistic speech should not be silenced by the state, either by bans on certain protests or by making arrests for hate speech. Whenever the authorities are empowered to police ‘hate’, there is no telling what it could soon become illegal to say or protest against. In a nation where over 30 people are already arrested every day for ‘grossly offensive’ speech online, the police hardly need any more encouragement to limit people’s expression.

It’s not as if the British authorities aren’t already cracking down on some pro-Palestine protesters. Take the Labour government’s proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist group, which makes it illegal to say, ‘I support Palestine Action’. There is no doubt that Palestine Action is a genuinely menacing outfit. Four of its activists were found guilty today of criminal damage, one of grievous bodily harm for shattering a police officer’s spine with a sledgehammer. But we must make a sharp distinction between words and violence. And even the threat of arrest and prosecution under the Terrorism Act has not deterred pro-Palestine types from declaring their support for Palestine Action. At least 2,400 arrests had been made as of November 2025 following Palestine Action’s proscription, the main achievement of which has been to make martyrs out of scumbags.

We should, of course, note the outrageous double standards of those who only ever pipe up about free expression when it involves the right to yell for intifada. Green Party leader Zack Polanski, who cheered the state’s persecution of comedy writer Graham Linehan, has accused Starmer of threatening ‘authoritarian restrictions’ on protest. But the flaming hypocrisy of the anti-Israel zealots does not invalidate their right to speak their minds, no matter how hideous the content.

The only way to challenge bigotry is by confronting it head on, by exposing it to sunlight, by defeating it politically. A moratorium on the hate marches may seem like a quick, easy fix, but it doesn’t begin to scratch the sides of the hatred that is now festering in our midst.

The task of challenging the new anti-Semitism is far, far too important to be left to a police crackdown.

Fraser Myers is deputy editor at spiked and host of the spiked podcast. Follow him on X: @FraserMyers.