Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine is committed to freedom and justice for the Palestinians. We also continue to call on our government to stop arming Israel and to end all its links with the Israeli state – diplomatic, commercial, sporting, cultural, and otherwise. Our government is acting on behalf of Israel through all the Israeli lobbyists who have direct access to the Prime Minister, Home Secretary, Met Police, and security forces. Our government is relentlessly building up to war and wasting vast amounts of money on unnecessary nuclear submarines and fighter planes, while cutting disability benefits and threatening the future of any comprehensive welfare state.
We will not be distracted by shameful and pathetic government attempts to ban our protests and proscribe our organisations. We will not be deterred – as the government clearly wishes to – from speaking out, taking to the streets, and supporting actions. For example, we will continue to support the full range of actions and protests that people are taking against the arms firms that are providing Israel with its weapons of genocide. Whether this is by lobbying, demonstrating, or direct action, all are legitimate forms of protest – all in order to do what our government fails to. Whatever we do, they will call anyone who continues to support the Palestinian people “terrorists” in the same way they have justified killing everyone in Gaza by calling everyone “terrorist”. Those who are arrested or charged with breaking the law should be able to use defences that they are trying to prevent the far greater crimes that Israel perpetrates (as recognised by the international courts) – and that our government is complicit in assisting. The delays in receiving court hearings and the prolonged detentions in prison are unacceptable – we continue the demand to “drop the charges not the bombs.” People also cannot be penalised, in the future, for supporting any particular organisation in the past.
Who we are, as individuals, and what organisation we are in, together, is less important than what we do. We will therefore continue to promote the voices of Palestinians, shamelessly ignored by much of our so-called free press and other media. We will continue to organise Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions activities – just as we have succeeded in cutting the ties with Israeli arms firm Elbit, with which recruitment agency IO Associates and landlords Fisher German had; we have succeeded in closing down the Elbit factory in Oldham; we have helped to end Puma and AXA’s involvement with Israel, and Barclays Bank’s investment in Elbit. We will continue to stand with the Palestinian resistance.
Action is the antidote to despair, and we will continue to act/take action in support of Palestine.
Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine
7th July 2025
