Former UK Home Secretary accuses: "The failure to stop hate marches has made anti-Semitism fashionable"
Suella Braverman, the former British Home Secretary, claims in an interview with Zman Yisrael that the failure to ban the pro-Palestinian marches after October 7, 2023, has made anti-Semitism fashionable. She calls Rishi Sunak a 'coward' and accuses him of refusing to act. Braverman links the policy to the attack on the Manchester synagogue and the rise in anti-Semitic incidents.
Suella Braverman, the former British Home Secretary and now a spokesperson for the Reform UK party, claims in an interview with Zman Yisrael that Britain's failure to ban the pro-Palestinian 'hate marches' that began after October 7, 2023, directly contributed to the rise in anti-Semitism. She calls former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak a 'coward' for refusing to back her tough stance. Braverman notes that the protests have been ongoing for three years and that the protesters understand they have defeated the authorities. In her view, the result is that anti-Semitism has become normal and accepted. She links the governmental failure to the attack on the Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester in October 2024, where two worshippers were killed. In her new book, Braverman reveals struggles with Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, who she says showed resistance to acting against the marches. She describes how she begged Sunak to intervene, but he refused. The article cites data from the Community Security Trust, according to which 1,926 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in the first half of 2026 – the second highest number in a half-year period. Braverman is appalled by what she calls a 'moral distortion' in which Israel is perceived as the aggressor despite being the victim of brutality on October 7.