The need for the vigil as strong as ever
March 2026
Middle East violence continues. Over 1,000 dead as Lebanon attacked. Al Jazeera reports over 1,500 dead in Iran with many injured and 18 killed in Israel. The economics effects promise to be catastrophic with many economies under great strain if the hostilities continue. Killing continues in Gaza where the death toll is put at 72,268.
Violence in the West Bank is increasing and some suggest it is because the world’s attention is focused on the current hostilities in Iran and the closure of the straight of Hormuz. This enables Palestinian villages to be attacked by settlers. There is however, an interesting report in Haaretz who say that JD Vance, the American vice president, ‘castigated Benyamin Netanyahu’ over the increased settler violence since the Iran war started. Trump promised action to the Arab nations about this violence but does not appear to have done anything.
Lebanon is under attack including the capital Beirut. The Defence minister Israel Katz is quoted in the Jewish Chronicle as saying: “hundreds of thousands of residents of southern Lebanon who evacuated northward will not return south of the Litani River until security for the residents of the north [of Israel] is ensured“. It would appear from some statements from Israeli politicians and military people that the occupation of southern Lebanon may be permanent: “the Litani [river] must be our new border with the state of Lebanon, just like the ‘Yellow Line’ in Gaza and like the buffer zone and peak of the Hermon in Syria,” Katz added, in reference to the current IDF deployment to Gaza and the Israeli presence in southwestern Syria.
Golders Green violence
Four ambulances belonging to Hatzolah in Golders Green were set on fire and destroyed on 23rd March causing immense distress to the Jewish community in the area. The reasons for the attack or who committed the crime is unknown at present and the police are investigating.
Salisbury vigil
People are still disturbed by the continuing violence, the attacks on Iran by Israel and the US, and how the conflict is widening. There was strong attendance at the latest vigil. Deaths, including many civilian deaths and starvation, continue in Gaza, the war has spread to Lebanon and Iran as already noted. Although we do not know the precise objectives of the Iranian attacks, there were speeches by President Trump and other senior cabinet members which suggested regime change was one hope. This does not look likely now.
120 vigils and no sign of the local MP Mr John Glen and no mention of them in his weekly column in the local paper. In a letter to the Salisbury Journal (19 March) he said he was a ‘proud member’ of the Conservative Friends of Israel group.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Jewish Chronicle, Haaretz, Middle East Eye, Guardian
A video of the vigil can be seen here – courtesy of Peter Gloyns.
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 
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