We held our 75th vigil on Saturday 10 May and there were 40 in attendance: the numbers are steady with new people each week. The crisis in Gaza goes from bad to worse with huge parts of the area annexed by Israel. Over 52,000 are dead. We repeated the ‘pot’ theme to echo the scenes of people desperate for food after 70 days of the blockade. We shall be back next Saturday 17th.
Nakba Event 15 May
Salisbury Concern for Israel Palestine are holding an event this week to remember Nakda, when thousands of Palestinians were driven from their homes and villages in 1948. Join Team Nakba and SCIP as we reflect on the Nakba of 1948 and subsequent events in Israel/Palestine. With Canon Jonathan Herbert, Iman Mahmoud, Miranda Pinch, Hilary Bond and the Dean of Salisbury (representing all the Abrahamic traditions).
Takes place in All Saints Church, Watersmeet Road, Harnham’ Salisbury, SP2 8JH
7.00pm for 7.30pm. Simple refreshments available and Zaytoun Fairtrade produce on sale.
We are pleased to attach the minutes and news of the group’s activities thanks to group member Lesley for the work in preparing them. There is a list of future events at towards the end and if you are thinking of making contact, one of those would be a good opportunity. We shall be at People in the Park in Elizabeth Gardens, Salisbury on Saturday 17th from around 10:00 all day.
We were in Salisbury market square on Saturday 3rd, with our market stall. Thanks to group members Tony, Fiona, Rose, Eddie, Andrew, Val, Lesley and Peter for turning out to help. New photo added (5.v)
The seventy third vigil took place yesterday 26 April with at one point 40 in attendance. It is surprising that this has kept going with good support. A feature this time was a lot of photographs taken by passers by. The situation in Gaza goes from bad to worse with all aid cut off and starvation likely. Scenes of people clamouring for food is shocking especially as many are children. Unwra and World Food Programme say their stocks of food are exhausted. The Israeli government says adequate food and medical supplies are being allowed in but Hamas are stealing them. As journalists are not allowed in it is difficult to verify but this seems very unlikely.
There was a demonstration in Tel Aviv on Thursday last week on Holocaust Memorial Day to remember the 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis. But it took on a different meaning for some Israelis who are concerned about the killing of thousands of people in Gaza which has now passed 51,000 with more dying in daily strikes. Many women staged a demonstration holding empty cooking pots to symbolise the starvation of people in Gaza.
For some Israeli politicians this is deliberate policy. As Haaretz has reported:
Israeli lawmaker Moshe Saada of PM Netanyahu’s Likud party said in an interview on Channel 14 that it’s Israel’s “duty” to starve Gazans. Criticizing the IDF chief, who reportedly said he does not intend to follow such a policy, Saada said, “I do intend to starve the Gazans – that’s our duty. Our duty is to expel the Gazans.” (Image: Israel National News)
Vigil 74 – change of approach
Next Saturday’s vigil – number 74 – will be in a different form. Attendees are asked to bring an empty cooking pot of some kind (steel, aluminium), to echo the protest Israeli women took in Tel Aviv last week.
Situation in Gaza goes from bad to worse. No end in sight. 51,000 dead
April 2025
This Easter weekend, Christians celebrate the resurrection and it is a national holiday. People take the opportunity to relax over the weekend. Not far from where the events being celebrated, the situation in Gaza goes from bad to worse. Around 51,000 are now dead the great majority of whom are women and children. The ceasefire has ended and since then, 1,650 have been killed in bombing by the IDF. Food, fuel and humanitarian aid has been cut off and water supplies are precarious.
In addition to the destruction of vast swathes of the territory, Israel has now annexed a further 10% by creating 1 km wide ‘buffer zones’ around it. Reuters reports that around 20% of the land has been seized by Israeli forces. Within these zones, properties have been demolished. No one is allowed into these zones without risk of death. Armoured bulldozers have systematically levelled one home after another. Combat engineers have laid explosives and triggered controlled demolitions inside once bustling factories. IDF forces have torn up and denied Palestinians any access to the fertile farmland that once sustained lives and livelihoods. The map shows the huge extent of these zones:
‘witnessing forced destruction and displacement‘
Within Gaza itself, the situation goes from bad to worse. A spokesperson for Médecins sans Frontières said we are “witnessing in real time the destruction and forced displacement of the entire population of Gaza.” There appears to be no likelihood of peace talks taking place.
Undoubtedly, Netanyahu feels emboldened in his actions following the statement by President Trump that Palestinians should be removed from Gaza and the area developed as a ‘Riviera of the Middle East’ effectively amounting to ethnic cleansing. He was the first foreign leader to visit the White House following Trump’s election for the second time.
A positive sign is the reporting of events in Gaza in a more robust fashion by UK media. Efforts at balance has meant unsupported claims by Israel sources were treated as fact. Destruction of hospitals and other facilities were because they were ‘Hamas control centres’ with seldom any evidence that they were (indeed, has there been any evidence that they were?). An internet search reveals almost no substantive evidence to support the claims. Israel has refused access to foreign journalists meaning claims could not be verified on either side. Even words lost their meaning. Hamas seized 250 ‘hostages’ on October 7th which is true. In exchanges, it is reported that ‘hostages’ were exchanged for ‘prisoners’ from Israeli gaols. Since many of the ‘prisoners’ had never been charged let alone tried, had been held without access to lawyers and in locations unknown to the Red Crescent or their families, how is that different from being a hostage?
The UK government has at last begun to toughen its language and David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, has recently said Israel’s decision to block aid is ‘unacceptable, hugely alarming and very worrying’. It also suggests the county is breaking international law, the first time it has acknowledged this.
Vigil
On Easter Saturday, the 72nd vigil was held in Salisbury with over 30 attending. Two American visitors to the City from California spent time with us.
Board of Deputies of British Jews write open letter criticising Israel’s actions
April 2025
UPDATE: 24 April
The Deputies who wrote the letter to the Financial Times face disciplinary action which seems to indicate there are many tensions in the British Jewish community over the war in Gaza in which over 51,000 have now died. The vice-chair has been suspended. All those who wrote are subject to the complaints procedure according to a statement by the Board. The Board has received ‘multiple complaints’ it said from the public and Deputies.
This is a brave move by the Deputies. Around one in eight have written the letter published in the Financial Times on 15th. One of their number was interviewed on various channels on 16 April and said they could no longer ‘turn a blind eye or stay silent’ in view of the violence. This is the most extremist of Israeli governments they claim which is openly encouraging violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, strangling the Palestinian economy and building more new settlements than ever. ‘Israel’s soul is being ripped out’ and as members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, they fear for the future of the Israel they love and have such close ties to. Until now, they have been supportive of the Israeli government.
Not all Board members agreed and a senior member of the Board is quoted in an article in the Jewish Chronicle:
“[…] The publication of the campaign has been met with a divided reaction in the British community. A senior member of the Board of Deputies described the move as “an incredibly badly advised decision,” adding: “[It is] highly divisive and inappropriate in undermining [Board president] Phil Rosenberg so publicly in a national forum. As British Jews, we should not be commenting on what is effectively an Israeli political matter.”
People who criticise Israel face accusations of anti-Semitism and more recently, being ‘supporters of Hamas’. This has been the standard, knee-jerk almost, response to such criticisms. The Board’s spokesman, Baron Frankal, in the Channel 4 interview said he has received a lot of supportive comments. It will be difficult for the Israeli’s to level these accusations against the Board of Deputies.
Over 50,000 have now been killed in the conflict, the majority women and children, and all aid has been cut off for weeks. There are accusations of genocide being perpetrated.
Fewer numbers this week partly because the events in Washington dominating the news and a number of our regulars away or ill. This week we had three sets of people variously upset with our presence. It would be difficult to summarise their arguments some of which were around the boat people, which is not an issue with Gaza at present, and another claiming we were ‘wasting our time’. Strange to relate how a peaceful protest seems to generate animosity. The government has introduced legislation to limit noisy demonstrations in certain circumstances yet here was a peaceful protest – peaceful as in silent – which upset several people.
The situation is Gaza goes from bad to worse. Over 50,000 are now dead. The Israelis have widened the buffer zone around the strip and turned it into a killing zone. The ceasefire has ended. Netanyahu was welcomed in Washington. All aid has been cut off. A UN study (11 April) has shown that the last 36 Israeli air strikes killed 1,500 all of whom were women and children.
The apparent murder of Red Crescent medical staff has continued to make waves as the false story put out by the IDF has unwound with video and other evidence emerging. A shocking feature was the attempt at cover up and hastily digging a grave and burying the 15 people.
There seems no end in sight. The UK government continues to give support to Israel openly and covertly. The RAF is flying almost daily over the region ostensibly to try and track hostages. About 250 flights have happened in the last 6 months. The question is, if they are carrying out this surveillance (officially called Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, ISR) are they not witnessing war crimes? Clearly, to spot a hostage would require sophisticated kit and it is reasonable to assume it would be capable of witnessing other events. Is this being logged and reported? As the Canadian researcher who is tracking these flights has said:
“They’re [RAF] in a warzone apparently rife with atrocities, and I think it’s very reasonable to ask if they’ve been witness to any war crimes, if they’ve incidentally collected intelligence that could reasonably believed to involve a war crime, and if so, what is their process to deal with that? If they don’t yet want to talk about what they’ve been doing for the past six months for truly operational security reasons, they already told us they would be operating there 6 months ago, they should be able to assure us their process is sound vis-a-vis unintentional intelligence collection involving/witnessing atrocities.”
These are serious questions for the UK government to answer.
We are pleased to attach our minutes of the group’s meeting in April thanks to group member Lesley for preparing them and for various group members submitting reports for inclusion. They are a kind of ‘hybrid’ style of minutes as they contain narrative material which we hope readers will find of interest. At the end you will find a short list of upcoming events the group will be running or participating in.
These are the activities planned for the coming months
April 2025
This is a list of forthcoming events the Salisbury group will be engaged in over the coming months. Each of them would be a good opportunity to approach us if you were thinking of joining. To join us is free but to become a member of Amnesty International UK there is a membership fee. The group, as well as campaigning for prisoners of conscience, is increasingly concerned with the erosion of rights in the UK. Britain has a proud history of protest and such activity has led to a number of reforms: a look at this list will give you a taste of the numbers that have taken place over the centuries. The essential truth is that those who have power do not like relinquishing it. Recent governments have introduced legislation making it harder to protest and have given the Police even more powers to arrest or interrupt demonstrations. It is more than ever important to be part of organisations like ours to stand firm against governments and their paymasters who want to clamp down on opposition.
Several of our local MPs are reported in They Work for You website as ‘generally voting against’ human rights matters. Danny Kruger, the MP for the newly created East Wiltshire constituency (which starts about a mile north of Salisbury), would like to see the Human Right Act abolished. Protecting our rights is therefore truly important as we cannot rely on our elected representatives to do it for us.
Events
Market stall in the Market place, Salisbury on 3 May starting at 9am and finishing at 1pm. If you have any items for the stall, please bring them along on the day.
People in the Park where we will have a stand on 17 May for most of the day. This would be an ideal opportunity to make contact.
We are continuing with our school visits (this won’t be an opportunity to drop by of course) and something we see as important*. The last one of the current programme is in June.
A presence on the EcoHub stall in the Market place on a Tuesday. Dates to be confirmed but likely to be late summer/autumn. Dates will be posted on here, on Facebook (@Salisburyai) and on Bluesky once agreed .
A coffeemorning at St Thomas’s Church Salisbury on 5 July from around 10am. Home made cakes available and in the centre of the City.
Don’t forget that we take place – with other groups in Salisbury – in the vigils which take place in the Market place by the Library every Saturday. They are for peace in the Middle East and in particular Gaza where over 50,000 have now died, the majority of whom were women and children. Thousands more are unaccounted for under the rubble. We have just held our 70th such event. They start at 5pm for half an hour.
Later in the year we will be holding:
Death penalty action on the World Day Against the Death Penalty – see Amnesty’s recently published report for 2024 – on 10 October. See also our monthly reports on the death penalty the latest of which has just been posted.
Write for Rights will be on 30 November.
Other events which are not yet settled are:
Evensong at the Cathedral. The Cathedral has the Prisoner of Conscience window and the Amnesty candle on display. Agreed date under discussion.
Refugee Week. Details not known yet. See our latest Refugee report.
*If by chance you are a teacher reading this at a school in South Wiltshire and would like to discuss a visit as part of your school’s citizenship programme, please get in touch.
Podcast September 2026 Pip: If you’ve ever wondered why British arms keep flowing to conflict zones despite mountains of evidence of civilian harm, welland2 has spent considerable effort mapping the answer — and it turns out “political cowardice, greed, and some perverse thinking” covers a lot of ground. Mara: This episode follows that investigation closely…
