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zarah sultana
'No Red Carpet' for Israel's Herzog: UK Urged to Arrest 'Genocide President' in London
"The only reason to welcome this man into our country," said one critic, "is to immediately facilitate his transfer to The Hague to be tried for war crimes."
Sep 10, 2025
Thousands of people turned out in London Tuesday to call for the arrest of visiting Israeli President Isaac Herzog—who is the subject of criminal complaints alleging incitement to genocide and crimes against humanity—and to denounce UK complicity in the annihilation of Gaza.
Demonstrators rallied outside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's office in central London, where they waved Palestinian flags and chanted messages including, "Keir Starmer, you can't hide, we charge you with genocide!" and, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!"
"Herzog's presence here is an insult to every Palestinian who has lost their home, their family, their life," said Amina, a 34-year-old protester holding a sign that read, "Stop the Genocide in Gaza."
"Starmer must act now—arrest Herzog and show the world that the UK stands against war crimes," she added.
Zarah Sultana—a member of Parliament (MP) who recently quit Starmer's Labour Party and joined with fellow former Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn and others to launch the Independent Alliance—told protesters that Herzog has "dehumanized an entire population and openly called for their extermination."
"This Labour government is complicit, is enabling genocide," she added.
Later on Tuesday, protesters gathered outside the InterContinental London Park Lane Hotel, where Herzog was reportedly staying, calling him the "genocide president" and chanting, "Free Palestine!" and "No justice, no peace!"
While not targeted by the International Criminal Court—which last year issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza—Herzog is the subject of criminal complaints filed in Switzerland last year by the advocacy group Legal Action Against Genocide "for incitement to genocide and crimes against humanity."
Days after the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023 that left more than 1,100 Israelis and others dead—at least some of whom were killed by so-called "friendly fire" and under the intentionally fratricidal Hannibal Directive—and around 250 people kidnapped, Herzog suggested that every Palestinian man, woman, and child in Gaza was a legitimate target.
"It is an entire nation out there that is responsible," Herzog told reporters on October 13, 2023. "It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not being aware, not involved. It's absolutely not true. They could have risen up. They could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza."
That same month, Ezra Yachin—a 95-year-old veteran of the Zionist terror militia Stern Gang who allegedly took part in the 1948 massacre of more than 100 Palestinian civilians at Deir Yassin—delivered a motivational speech to troops about to invade Gaza, urging them to "wipe out [Palestinians'] memory, their families, mothers, and children."
Herzog hailed Yachin's speech as "a wonderful example to generations of soldiers."
When the International Court of Justice (ICJ)—which is currently weighing a genocide case against Israel filed by South Africa—issued its January 2024 order for Israel to avoid genocidal acts in Gaza, Herzog's October 13, 2023 comments were listed second in a series of "dehumanizing" statements by Israeli officials who were possibly inciting genocide.
Tuesday's protests against Herzog followed a demonstration earlier in the day outside the Defense and Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms fair at Excel London at Royal Victoria Dock, where thousands of people rallied against UK complicity in Israel's genocidal war and famine.
Israel's 705-day onslaught has left at least 237,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing. Hundreds of thousands of Gazans are starving due to Israel's "complete siege" and engineered famine, and around 1 million Palestinians are facing ethnic cleansing under a US-backed plan to conquer, occupy, and resettle Gaza.
UK leaders have come under fire for cracking down on anti-genocide protests, including by banning the group Palestine Action and arresting hundreds of people who have publicly voiced support for the organization.
Condemnation of Herzog's visit was not limited to the streets of London. In the House of Commons, Scottish National Party Leader Stephen Flynn told fellow parliamentarians that "Gaza is a graveyard."
"Gaza is a graveyard...What does it say of this Prime Minister that he will harbour this man whilst children starve?"SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn criticises the PM's decision to host Israel's president later today. #PMQs
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— Holyrood (@holyroodmag.bsky.social) September 10, 2025 at 5:34 AM
"But rather than end arms sales, extend sanctions, and stand by international law, the prime minister will today welcome into his home.. the man who called for the collective punishment of the Palestinian people, and who signed the artillery shells that destroyed their homes, their families, and their friends," Flynn said.
"What does it say of this prime minister that we will harbor this man while children starve?" Flynn asked.
Zack Polanski, a member of the London Assembly and leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, said Tuesday in a statement that "welcoming a potential war criminal to the UK is another demonstration of how this Labour government is implicated in the ongoing genocide in Gaza."
"A refusal to detain Herzog can be seen as a contravention of the Geneva Convention, which makes clear that states have legal responsibility for preventing the targeting of civilians," Polanski added. "When this is breached, individuals must be prosecuted, and this should be applied to Herzog."
Critical media also decried Herzog's visit, with the pro-independence Scottish newspaper The National on Wednesday running the front-page headline, "Starmer Rolls Out Red Carpet for Genocide."
Tomorrow's front page 📰Starmer rolls out red carpet for genocide
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— The National (@scotnational.bsky.social) September 9, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Writing for Middle East Eye, British author, political commentator, and Labour politician Ali Milani noted Wednesday that "Starmer has... described the actions of Herzog's government as 'appalling, counterproductive, and intolerable.'"
"To say one thing in Parliament about Israel's actions, and then to roll out the red carpet for Herzog, would not only endorse the impunity granted to Tel Aviv over Israeli crimes in Gaza; it would also shred the credibility of Labour's foreign policy," he argued.
"There should be no red carpet. There should be no ministerial meetings. Instead, there should be accountability," Milani added. "The only reason to welcome this man into our country is to immediately facilitate his transfer to The Hague to be tried for war crimes."
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Far-Right UK Riots Spark 'Stand Up to Racism' Counterprotests
"The majority of people in Britain abhor Robinson and the far right," says one joint statement. "We are the majority, they are the few."
Aug 07, 2024
From Birmingham, Brighton, and Bristol, to Liverpool, London, Newcastle, and Northampton, counterprotesters gathered across the United Kingdom on Wednesday to decry far-right riots and attacks against immigrants and Muslims.
Since the weekend, far-right protesters have targeted mosques, libraries, and even a hotel housing asylum-seekers—responding at least in part to online disinformation about the suspect in a deadly stabbing attack on a children's dance class. The demonstrations and expectations they would continue Wednesday evening drew anti-racists to the streets in several U.K. cities.
"The far right are spreading racism, Islamophobia, and hatred," says a Stand Up to Racism statement published in the Daily Mirror Wednesday and signed by actors, artists, drag performers, journalists, labor leaders, musicians, peace advocates, and members of Parliament—including Jeremy Corbyn, an Independent, along with Labour's Diane Abbott and Zarah Sultana.
The statement calls out far-right activist Tommy Robinson as well as political figures in the United Kingdom—including MP Nigel Farage of Reform U.K. and former Conservative Home Secretary Suella Braverman—and across Europe, emphasizing that "racism and Islamophobia in Parliament is leading to racism and Islamophobia on the streets."
Despite Labour's unpopularity under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the party last month ended 14 years of Conservative rule at the national level with a landslide electoral victory. While Starmer has condemned the recent far-right riots, critics including Sultana have called on him and other British to explicitly denounce the attacks as Islamophobic.
"All those who oppose this must join in a united mass movement powerful enough to drive back the fascist. The majority of people in Britain abhor Robinson and the far right," the new joint statement says. We are the majority, they are the few. Britain has a proud history of defeating fascists and racists. We can defeat them again. We must Stand Up to Racism, Islamophobia, and antisemitism."
In response to such calls, as The Independent reported Wednesday, "up to 25,000 protesters, some chanting 'hate not welcome' and 'refugees welcome here,' gathered in towns and cities like Walthamstow, Finchley, Birmingham, Newcastle, and Blackpool as nearly 100 far-right rallies failed to materialize."
As Sky News detailed:
In Birmingham, several hundred anti-racism protesters—some carrying signs such as "no place for hate" and "bigots out of Brum"—gathered outside a migrant center in the Jewellery Quarter.
A large group then marched into the center of the city, with no signs of any far-right groups in the area.
Meanwhile,
"counterprotesters are outnumbering anti-immigration protesters in Brighton tonight by about a hundred to one," and chanting, "Fascist scum, off our streets," according to Brighton and Hove News.
BBC News reported that "thousands of people gathered in Old Market in Bristol to counter a rumored anti-immigration rally," specifically, "claims on social media that protestors were planning to target an immigration lawyer's business premises."
"Bristol is a very vibrant and a welcoming city," a man who is originally from Gambia named Habib told the BBC. "Bristolians would not allow anybody to bring chaos into Bristol... I'm gonna join the Bristolians to stop what's going to happen tonight."
"Like the old saying goes—divided we fall, together we stand," he said. "I think standing here together tonight is very significant."
The crowd in Bristol chanted, "Say it out loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here," a message repeated by signs carried in the English city and beyond it. Their posters and banners also forcefully denounced racism and fascism.
"In Liverpool they held banners such as 'Nans Against Nazis,' 'Immigrants welcome. Racists not,' and 'When the poor blame the poor only the rich win," The Guardian reported. "An elderly man with a portable speaker resting on his walking frame played John Lennon's 'Give Peace a Chance' on repeat."
In the city known as the birthplace of The Beatles, counterprotesters were protecting the Asylum Link building, according to The Liverpool Echo. Addressing the crowd, Ewan Roberts, who manages the center thanked everyone for coming out "even when you weren't asked" and declared that "the people are stronger when they are united."
Counterprotesters came together in multiple locations across London, with some chanting, "When fascists attack, we fight back."
In Walthamstow, a town in an outer London borough, Clara Serra López told the BBC that "England wouldn't be anything without immigration."
"I'm here because I am an immigrant, a European immigrant, which comes with a lot of privilege," the demonstrator added. "It is quite an important time for white British and white immigrants to show up for the ones that might be really fearful to come here."
As ChronicleLive reported:
Thousands of people gathered in Newcastle's West End on Wednesday evening in a counterprotest in moving scenes outside The Beacon on Westgate Road. The crowd is estimated to have exceeded 3,000 as locals vowed to stand up to the far-right. Demonstrators held up signs reading "Geordies are of all colours" and "We love our West End".
One attendee of the counterdemonstration vowed: "This is a peaceful protest. We will defend our community."
"We were expecting big numbers of people, but you do have to see it to believe it. It makes me so happy to have seen so many here," Madina Mosque Imam Ali Asad, who attended the Newcastle demonstration, told the outlet. "It makes me happy to see the fact that this is beyond race or religion. It's about community."
In Northampton, footage shared on social media showed counterprotesters dancing on Kettering Road.
There were also demonstrations in cities including Sheffield and Southampton. In the latter, "around 50 far-right demonstrators turned up," according to The Telegraph, "but their chants were drowned out by around 400 counterprotesters who sang 'there are many, many, many more of us than you.'"
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UK Labour MP Says Right-Wing Politicians, Media Fueled Xenophobic Mob Attacks
"There are politicians and there are journalists who have played an active role in fanning the flames of hate and division, and we are seeing that play out," said Zarah Sultana.
Aug 05, 2024
As British Prime Minister Keir Starmer covened an emergency security meeting on Monday to respond to violent attacks on immigrant and Muslim communities that have spread across the United Kingdom in recent days, progressive MP Zarah Sultana said the crisis—fueled by rampant disinformation and xenophobia—must serve as a reckoning for politicians and journalists who have "fanned the flames" of hatred for years.
Sultana, who represents Coventry South in the House of Commons, appeared on ITV's "Good Morning Britain" to discuss the violent riots that have taken place in at least a dozen cities across the U.K. in recent days, mostly in England, with far-right protesters attacking mosques, libraries, and a hotel housing asylum-seekers.
The attacks have been in response to disinformation that has pinned the blame for a deadly stabbing attack on a children's dance class in Southport, England last week on undocumented immigrants. The suspect was born and raised in the U.K., according to police.
"Rather than saying, this is the result of political decisions made by consecutive governments, people have blamed and scapegoated minorities."
Sultana said that the violent attacks in cities including Blackpool, Leeds, and Manchester "shouldn't be a surprise," considering the years the British government—led for 14 years by the Conservative Party until the Labour Party won last month's elections—has spent pushing anti-immigration policies and demonizing asylum-seekers, with the help of national news outlets.
"There is decades of work by the right-wing press and by politicians who have fanned the flames of this hate," said Sultana in a panel discussion that also included journalists from The Daily Mail. "When we look at the role that media outlets like GB News has played, that The Daily Mail has played... There are politicians and there are journalists who have played an active role in fanning the flames of hate and division, and we are seeing that play out."
Andrew Pierce of The Daily Mail took issue with Sultana's remarks, demanding that she provide examples of anti-Muslim news stories in the paper.
The lawmaker did so after the broadcast, posting an image of 16 front pages from the outlet, including ones that asked "how many more" migrants the U.K. can take, referred to asylum-seekers as "illegals," and claimed that migrants are taking the majority of jobs in the U.K. and sparking a "housing crisis."
Sultana added that former Home Secretary Suella Braverman referred to refugees arriving in the U.K. as an "invasion" and far-right Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said in May that British Muslims do not share "British values."
"So when we look at the complicity," said Sultana, "there's a lot of mirrors that people have to be looking into."
Sultana also implored politicians and the British media to explicitly refer to the riots over the weekend as Islamophobic, noting that Prime Minister Keir Starmer and others have denounced the attacks as racist but have not clearly expressed solidarity with the Muslim communities that have been targeted.
"Naming it as Islamophobia is really important because that allows us to shape our response," said Sultana. "If we're not identifying what is happening, the language that is being used and what this is about, we're not going to be able to address this fundamentally."
"Why is there such controversy around calling it Islamophobia?" asked Sultana after "Good Morning Britain" host Ed Balls dismissed her concerns, displaying what the lawmaker called "sneering contempt."
The interview took place a week after three children were killed and 10 were injured in a knife attack in Southport. The 17-year-old suspect, Axel Rudakubana, was born and raised in Britain, according to authorities, who took the unusual step of making his identity public to counter disinformation that quickly spread online and fueled riots that first began in Southport the day after the crime.
The first riot included anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant demonstrators throwing bricks at a mosque in the town, setting cars on fire, and damaging a convenience store.
The authorities' decision to disclose the suspect's identity did not stop the violence from escalating over the weekend, with rioters setting a library on fire in Liverpool, burning books, and attempting to block firefighters from putting out the flames on Saturday.
In Rotherham, an anti-immigration mob broke into a hotel housing asylum-seekers and attempted to set the building on fire while blocking exits.
Nearly 150 people were arrested for taking part in the attacks, and Starmer warned Sunday that "those who have participated in this violence will face the full force of the law."
"This is not protest. It is organized, violent thuggery," said Starmer.
BJ Harrington, the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for public order, said in a statement Sunday that "disinformation is a huge driver of this appalling violence and we know a lot of those attending these so-called protests are doing so in direct response to what they've read online."
"Often posts are being shared and amplified by high profile accounts. We're working hard to counteract this," added Harrington. "They won't win."
While calling on the government and media to directly confront the Islamophobia that has been fomented in the U.K. in recent decades, Sultana said the new Labour government should also correct the austerity policies that have caused unrest and scapegoating of immigrants and Muslim communities.
"The economic system which has allowed inequality to exacerbate in this country, has brought down living standards," said Sultana. "Our communities have faced the brunt of Tory austerity, and what has happened on the right-wing side of politics, in the media and in politics, is that migrants, Muslims, and trans people have been blamed for people not being able to access council housing, not being able to get [National Health Service] appointments, not being able to find school places for their kids. Rather than saying, this is the result of political decisions made by consecutive governments, people have blamed and scapegoated minorities."
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