The first speaker at the rally in Pall Mall was Palestinian journalist Ahmed Alnaouq from We Are Not Numbers, who said: ‘78 years ago they came and they killed us. They drove us out of our homes, they killed my family.
‘Today we say enough! We will return. All of Palestine will be free from the river to the sea. The Nakba 78 years ago was a catastrophe not just to the Palestinians but to the world.’
Apsana Begum, Labour MP, said: ‘The government continues to sell arms to Israel. It must be stopped. We see crackdowns on our rights to protest. We marched today to show that we will not be divided and we remember that none of us are free until all of us are free.’
Rafeef Ziadah, a Palestinian poet, said: ‘I’m a refugee from occupied Palestine. Everyone from four generations here today is holding keys to their homes. The Nakba poetry is every name we refuse to forget.
‘We still teach each other to say the name Palestine, the name of our home. People can still choose to care for each other. Poetry is how doctors came here straight from their shift, poetry begins when we love each other. Poetry is thousands of voices together.’
Unison general secretary Andrea Egan said: ‘When I was elected 16 weeks ago, I promised that Unison will be at the forefront of the struggle for Palestine. Unison is the largest union in the country and it’s our responsibility to fight for Palestine. Ban trade with Israel fully, end arms sales. The ruling class scapegoats and demonises the Palestinian struggle, the far right despises our movement. We stand on the other side, hand in hand for justice.’
Ismail Patel, from Friends of Al Aqsa, said: ‘There are over 200,000 of us here today, ten times the number on the far right demonstration. The British government continues backing Israel dropping bombs on Palestine. We say today, not with despair but with confidence and determination, that the Nakba must end and Palestine must be free.’
Fran Heathcote, the PCS general secretary, said: ‘I’m here for justice, peace and against the far right. Thousands of Jews are here with us today here in this march. You are welcome. My union PCS with nearly 200,000 members is for BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) against the state of Israel. Stop the arms sales and atrocities. On the anniversary of the Nakba 78 years ago we say the Palestinian people have not given up and neither will we.’
Faris Amer from the Muslim Association of Britain said: ‘Israel has killed over 20,000 children in Gaza and they are beginning to do the same in Lebanon, but we will not allow it. We have learned from history that just as empires are disintegrating they carry out their worst atrocities.’
Diane Abbott MP said: ‘We’re here for justice for Palestine, against racism of all kinds. We will continue to march until we see justice for Palestine. Day after day we are fighting fascism, racism and anti-semitism and we won’t stop.’
Lindsey German from Stop the War said: ‘These are not hate marches they are love marches. Gaza was bombed again today. We stand against racism, we know what racism looks like. We won’t pay for increased defence spending. We say to the Labour government you’d better change course now.’
Zara Sultana MP said: ‘78 years ago hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven from their homes. Britain made the Nakba possible through the Balfour Declaration. When Keir Starmer is sent packing from Downing Street, his next stop must be The Hague.
‘They have failed to intimidate us because our movement is bigger and stronger than theirs. Andy Burnham voted for the Iraq War, he joined Labour Friends of Israel. He’s not for us. We’re fighting for the return of all Palestinian people to their homes.’
Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said: ‘Today the far right have been given the Freedom of London, a poisonous environment. Politicians are trying to silence and intimidate teachers. We have in our schools people who are fighting for a decent future. I pledge that we will win.’
Daniella Abrahams said: ‘I’m a Roma migrant fighting the second and third generation of Roma genocide. Fascism does not sleep, it wakes anew. When I was 10 years old, a neighbour said to me: “You’re going to die you dirty gypsy, you’re going to die. The problem is racism and fascism does not rest.
‘We must stand together we can make a difference to the future. I say Apres Roma – Rise Up Roma but we also say not just Roma Rise Up – People rise up against racism and fascism.’
Weyman Bennett from Stand Up to Racism said: ‘We should be in central London, we are the majority. Racists are scumbags. Ask us what is oppression!’
Ragad Al Tegriti from the Muslim Association of Britain said: ‘Nakba is not history. What began 78 years ago continues. Every system based on oppression collapses eventually, so now is the Israeli demise.’
Holocaust survivor Steven Kapos said: ‘The Palestinian people are constantly being humiliated by Israel and its enablers. The entire world is forced to witness the genocide. We cannot tolerate it anymore, we must insist not in our name. I was in Hungary when they brought in the compulsory wearing of the yellow star. I was seven years old. 15 members of my family died in Auschwitz.
‘Is the direction of travel in Europe today towards right wing authoritarianism ending in a new genocide? The majority of Jews the world over do not support Israel and its genocide. We support Palestine.’
Claire Lejeune, French Assembly member, said: ‘78 years ago the Nakba started. Never again. There is nothing they can do to stop justice asserting itself. It will come and it will win.’
Jeremy Corbyn MP said: ‘This is yet another Nakba anniversary demonstration to mark when three quarters of a million Palestinians were brutally driven out of their homes. Today, the greater Israel plan goes on with brutal settlers driving people out of their homes again. The new Nakba is trying to happen but we will never give up to the far right. We say this is a march of all faiths and religions. Your message of hate and abuse will not succeed. Your hatred will not build one council house. We are united in anti-racism and peace around the world.’
Hala Hamina from Gaza said: ‘I am wearing a beautiful Palestinian dress. This beautiful dress was hand stitched by five sisters from Gaza. They were killed early on in the genocide. Yesterday, Israel killed eight people. We’re here for the 9,600 kidnapped, imprisoned, tortured, Palestinian prisoners, unfortunately sexually abused prisoners in Israeli jails. Violence creates law, law protects violence. On Palestinian refugee camps Palestinians are tortured. We must all join the Global Red Ribbon Campaign. We demand immediate release of all Palestinian prisoners.’
Talia Wooding from the Jewish Bloc said: ‘Jewish artists for Palestine are fighting. My Judaism is rooted in justice. The violence that saw my grandmother’s entire family massacred in the Holocaust is the same as that which killed tens of thousands in the Gaza genocide. It’s the far right at work again. We will not allow it to succeed, we will fight and we will win. We have nothing to lose but our chains.’
Sophie Bolt CND general secretary said: ‘The world is at a crossroads. We’ve seen Trump’s genocidal threat to wipe out Iran’s 93 million people. We will see the rogue states buried. This Labour government is actively supported genocide, handing over bases to Trump to wage war. They denigrate and smear our movement but we will never ever stop protesting until Palestine is free.’
The final speaker was Peter Leary, deputy director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, who said: ‘We will not be silenced. Today is our commitment. In the Nakba, 500 Palestinian villages and towns were destroyed. Starmer doesn’t want our movement but Palestine was on the ballot in last week’s elections and he lost. They want a world where genocide is normalised and continues. The world that we are building is a world built on justice and founded on justice, where Palestine is free.’
