A growing number of British politicians fear for their safety over their positions on the war between Israel and Hamas, Reuters reported today (Wednesday).
Reuters spoke to more than 10 British politicians who spoke on the condition of anonymity and said that they have been subjected to increasing abuse related to the war.
One Labor MP said that he began to fear for his safety within 10 minutes of expressing support for the State of Israel as he faced shouts and accusations from anti-Israel activists in his district.
“It feels like it could just need one spark to flip from someone giving you tuppence (criticism) in the street to escalating to actual violence,” the MP stated, adding that the police had advised him to take measures to protect himself such as installing a partition at his office.
Another MP said he was considering installing a saferoom in his home.
The report comes one week after the genocidal slogan ‘From the River to the Sea,’ along with other anti-Israel messaging, was projected onto the famous Big Ben clocktower, without any police reaction, in London during a Parliamentary debate on resolutions calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Parliamentary Speaker Lindsay Hoyle upended normal procedure during the session by allowing the largest parties to present their amendments to an SNP resolution calling for a ceasefire. Hoyle claimed later that he was motivated to do so by the threats MPs faced on the issue of the Israel-Hamas war, rather than dealing with the threats.
Following the incident in and outside of Parliament, Jewish Tory MP Andrew Percy said that he feels safer in Jerusalem than on the streets of London due to the rise in antisemitic incidents and demonstrations in the UK since October 7.
MP Percy said, “I was in Israel last week, meeting with friends and survivors and hostage families, and I actually felt safer in Israel than I do in this country at this moment in time.”
Percy declared that “Nobody in this house has any business, agency at all in telling the state of Israel where it is able to operate to seek to rescue hostages who are being raped by Islamic terrorists who hold them!”
He warned that the threats against MPs meant that if Parliament debated resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza again, “members will not vote with their hearts because they are frightened and they are scared.”
“What do we expect?!” he asked. “For months I’ve been standing up here talking about the people on our streets demanding death to Jews, demanding Jihad, demanding intifadas as the police stand by and allow that to happen!”
Earlier this month, MP Mike Freer announced that he would be leaving politics after years of death threats, in part due to his support of Israel.
“As you can imagine this has not been an easy decision,” the Conservative politician wrote in a letter announcing that he would not seek reelection as MP for the Finchley and Golders Green sections of London.
Last month, Freer’s office was targeted in an arson attack damaging three floors at the back of the building.
Freer also narrowly escaped murderer Ali Harbi Ali, who went on to kill Tory MP Sir David Amess in 2021. Before killing Amess, Ali had visited Freer’s consistency office.
Report: British MPs fear for safety over Gaza war | Israel National News – Arutz Sheva
