British Palestinians feel unable to speak openly about Israel’s war on Gaza, according to Sara Husseini, director of the British Palestinian Committee. Speaking ahead of Saturday’s national march in London marking the 78th anniversary of the Nakba, she said many fear wearing Palestinian symbols at work or displaying Arabic jewellery and keffiyehs in public.
“We have many documented reports of Palestinians and allies being silenced or punished for wearing Palestinian symbols, watermelon pins, or speaking about the genocide,” Husseini said. “Many colleagues across all kinds of sectors feel they are being gaslit while friends and families are being massacred back home.” She described the period as the darkest chapter for Palestinians since 1948, with cruelty towards those from Gaza or with family there.
Despite her fury at successive British governments, Husseini praised the solidarity shown by ordinary Britons, calling mass pro-Palestine marches a source of emotional survival. “What we’ve seen is hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people of conscience from all walks of life and all backgrounds who have marched, signed petitions, written to their MPs and protested our government’s complicity in Israeli war crimes,” she said.
A recent UNRWA report said 111 Palestinians, including at least 18 children and seven women, were killed by Israeli forces in Gaza in April alone, bringing the total Palestinian deaths since the war began to 72,619. An estimated 700 Palestinians have fled to the UK, requiring specialist nutritional support due to starvation. Husseini rejected descriptions of protests as “hate marches”, calling them “a protest against the most hateful acts possible: war and genocide.”
