Around 250 people raged outside the Israeli embassy in London on Wednesday night. The emergency protest came after the assault on Palestinian people living in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank earlier this week. 

The assault by the Israeli state claimed the lives of at least 12 Palestinians. And on Wednesday, the Israeli military launched air strikes near al-Baydar, west of Gaza City.

Protester Ravi told Socialist Worker that he attended the demonstration to “support the Palestinians and protest against oppression”. “Thousands of Palestinian children have been killed since 2000 by the Israeli state, and it can’t even be estimated how many have been abused and traumatised,” he said. 

“The Israeli state doesn’t care, it acts with impunity, and Britain and the rest of the West are complicit in the terror.” 

School student Sham added that he was “horrified” seeing the footage of Palestinians fleeing their homes. 

“It was shocking what the Israeli state does.” Sham added that in her school students are furious about the violence of the Israeli state. 

Protesters held placards that read, “London stands with Jenin,” and chanted, “Long live Palestine, long live Jenin.” 

The crowds heard from speakers from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Corbyn told the crowd he had voted against a bill to stop public bodies from supporting Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS). It passed its second reading by 268 to 70 in the House of Commons on Monday.

He told the crowd, “This bill signals now only the government’s disregard for the Palestinians that it gives a special mention to. It also is a way to curtail free speech. 

Ravi added that the new anti-boycott bill was “very worrying.” “Even those who don’t support Palestinians are worried about this bill,” he said. “They are worried it could be used against any attempt to boycott repressive regimes. 

“It’s scary, but it’s part of the Tories’ attempts to get rid of dissent along with new anti-strike and anti-protest laws.”