Starmer: If you stand alongside people who say ‘Globalise the intifada’, you are calling for terrorism against Jews

JTA – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said people who use the phrase “globalise the intifada” should be prosecuted, describing the popular pro-Palestinian chant as a call for “terrorism against Jews” in the wake of a terror attack in a heavily Orthodox neighbourhood of London. 

“Of course, we protect freedom of speech and peaceful protest in this country,” Starmer said during an address on Thursday. “But if you are marching with people wearing pictures of paragliders without calling it out, you are venerating the murder of Jews. If you stand alongside people who say, ‘Globalise the intifada’, you are calling for terrorism against Jews, and people who use that phrase should be prosecuted.” 

Starmer’s remarks, which came a day after two Jewish men were stabbed in London’s heavily Jewish Golders Green neighbourhood, marked a notable denunciation of pro-Palestinian slogans by the British leader. 

As he visited the site of the attack on Thursday, Starmer was met with boos and chants, including “Keir Starmer, Jew Harmer”, from protesters accusing his government of failing to adequately combat antisemitism. 

“It is racism, extreme racism, and it has left a minority community in this country scared, intimidated, wondering if they belong,” he said. “So I say again, this government will do everything in our power to stamp this hatred out. We will strengthen our security and protect our Jewish community. But I also call on everyone decent in this country to open their eyes to Jewish pain, Jewish suffering, and Jewish fear.” 

The phrase “globalise the intifada” is defended by its supporters as a call for solidarity with Palestinians but criticised by many Jews as an invocation of violent Palestinian uprisings that killed roughly 1 000 Israelis. 

In the wake of the deadly antisemitic terror attack on a Chanukah celebration in Australia, police in London announced that they would begin arresting pro-Palestinian protesters who invoked the phrase. Police in Manchester, England, where a man attacked a synagogue on Yom Kippur, also made the policy change. 

In February, that policy, which drew widespread criticism, led to the arrest of British LGBTQ activist Peter Tatchell, who was holding a sign with the phrase on it at a pro-Palestinian march in London.