There is no evidence that pro-Palestine marches that Keir Starmer wants to ban have anything to do with anti-Semitic attacks in London. But watch how a Sky News propagandist marries the two nonetheless.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets emergency response workers on April 30 as he visited Golders Green following stabbings in the London neighborhood. (Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street/ Flickr/ CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
By Caitlin Johnstone
Caitlin’s Newsletter
Listen to Tim Foley reading this article
I recently watched a Sky News segment on the need to ban pro-Palestine marches that nicely illustrates the way the mass media have been working to manipulate the public into believing these demonstrations are causing anti-Semitic attacks.
Reporting on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recent assertion that the “repeat nature” and “cumulative effect” of pro-Palestine marches may necessitate a ban on some protests following the Golders Green stabbings, reporter Mollie Malone repeatedly told the Sky News audience that the marches are happening in the “context” of anti-Semitic incidents and “against the backdrop” of attacks on Jewish people.
There is no evidence whatsoever for the claim that pro-Palestine marches have anything at all to do with anti-Semitic attacks. But watch how this Sky News propagandist marries the two in the minds of her viewers by repeatedly mentioning them in the same breath and connecting them with words like “context” and “backdrop.”
“The prime minister has gone somewhat further than he has previously in discussing and commenting on how to approach and manage these protests which we’ve seen for a long time now, but clearly they now come against the backdrop of increased attacks on our Jewish communities, most recently of course on Wednesday where two Jewish men were stabbed in Golders Green,” Malone said.
Sir Keir Starmer has suggested some pro-Palestine marches could be stopped because of their impact on the UK’s Jewish community.
Sky’s @Mollie_Malone1 reports from north London ??
Read more ? https://t.co/1ZRkXqQ8A0
? Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/SuYmhK83Eb
— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 2, 2026
Malone made the obligatory appeal to emotion by talking about the feelings of British Jews by saying that anti-Semitic attacks are “adding to fears among Jewish people,” and then said “it’s in that context that these pro-Palestine marches are being discussed.”
I could make the exact same type of argument to suggest that the faint humming sound from my refrigerator is causing the pain in my ankle. I could say I’m experiencing ankle soreness and the soreness is making my feelings feel very upset, and it is in this context and against this backdrop that the buzzing from the refrigerator is happening.
At no point am I actually presenting evidence that the soreness in my ankle has anything to do with the faint buzzing sound; I’m just using fallacious associations and appeals to emotion to get you to think of them as having a causal relationship.
Malone uncritically quoted the U.K.’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation Jonathan Hall asserting on no basis whatsoever that pro-Palestine marches “incubate antisemitism,” then repeated the bogus hasbara talking point that the phrase “globalise the intifada” is “seen to incite violence towards Jewish people.”
“The context here is everything,” Malone concluded after a few moments of pro-Palestine activist rebuttals to provide the illusion of impartiality.
As the British political/media class have been doing for days when discussing the Golders Green stabbings, Malone neglects to mention that a third man who was not Jewish was also attacked in the same incident, and that the assailant had recently emerged from the care of a psychiatric hospital.
You might think the perpetrator’s extensive history of mental health struggles combined with the fact that he did not solely target Jewish people would dissuade serious news reporters from framing this as an act motivated by hateful ideology, but British news media employees are not serious news reporters. They are propagandists.
This frenzied propaganda push to stomp out pro-Palestine protests across the Western world has nothing to do with protecting Jewish people from anti-Semitic attacks. It’s about protecting the interests of Israel and the murderous western governments with whom it is aligned, and nothing else.
Caitlin Johnstone’s work is entirely reader-supported, so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, following her on Facebook, Twitter, Soundcloud, YouTube, or throwing some money into her tip jar on Ko-fi, Patreon or Paypal. If you want to read more you can buy her books. The best way to make sure you see the stuff she publishes is to subscribe to the mailing list at her website or on Substack, which will get you an email notification for everything she publishes. For more info on who she is, where she stands and what she’s trying to do with her platform, click here. All works are co-authored with her American husband Tim Foley.
This article is from Caitlin’s Newsletter and re-published with permission.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
People often say that protest has no effect and is, therefore, pointless.
The calls to ban protests shows that that is not the case. Governments understand this point very well.
“watch how a Sky News propagandist”
No way in heck are you getting me to watch anything from Sky News. That’s a firm rule of mine. And I recommend it to others. If Sky News lies to you, do not watch or listen to them. Why waste your time if you know they are liars? This is my personal rule that prevents my mind from being controlled by the sort of evil people who steal and kill. They get zero access to my mind.
And, I am regularly struck my the obvious fact that one of the primary purposes of “alternative media” in this modern world appears to be to make sure that what corporations like Sky News and the NYT lie about is forced upon me by ‘alteranative’ means even though I firmly keep all such ‘outlets’ banned from my home and brain.
“It’s about protecting the interests of Israel and the murderous western governments with whom it is aligned, and nothing else.”
Exactly. And why starmer is being protected from any move to oust him:
“Cabinet ministers have told mutinous Labour MPs that any attempt to oust Keir Starmer after a potentially disastrous set of election results this week would unleash chaos for the party that would not be easily overcome.
Several, however, told the Guardian that even with the prime minister’s determination to stay in Downing Street after Thursday’s vote, the mood on the backbenches was febrile and events could yet spiral out of control.”
Guardian 5 may.
Quote from starmer re recent attacks on jews:
“These disgusting attacks are being made against British Jews. But, make no mistake, this crisis – it is a crisis for all of us. It is a test of our values. Values that are not guaranteed, but are earned. Every single day, through our actions.”
So he thinks “our values” includes sending weapons to israel to murder women and children in Palestine. Mmmm some values there starmer!!!!!
“Our Jewish community” states Mollie.
No, it’s THEIR Jewish community.
They, in their own deluded minds, are the Chosen.
The rest of us are lesser, ignorant, exploitable and expendable.
Just ask a Palestinian.
For clarity.
the U.K.’s Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation Jonathan Hall is a zionist.
“as writer and former ambassador Craig Murray has pointed out – Hall was on the government committee that approved the proscription of PA.
His father-in-law is a Patron of the Israel lobby group “UK Lawyers for Israel” (UKLFI)
Hall also didn’t mention that he:
• has visited Israeli “counter-terrorism” bodies
• spends family holidays in Israel
• and, in the words of Murray, “indulges vigilante fantasies by guarding his local synagogue against non-existent attacks”
hxxps://skwawkbox.org/2025/08/24/independent-reviewer-of-terrorism-legislation-fails-to-mention-links-to-uk-lawyers-for-israel/
It has long been the case that the BBC has outlived its purpose of ‘Educate, Inform and Entertain.’
It now resembles the propaganda machine of another disingenuous Pravda, and summons feelings of a constipated cold war campaign against planetary humanity, brotherhood and intellectual progress.
All the good stuff, like its drama and comedy, can easily find a place in new channels, and the political coziness can die the death it deserves, along with its license fee.
Given the flood of “news” about anti-Semitism, it is necessary to clarify (even for ignorant politicians) that Arabs are a Semitic people, including the inhabitants of Palestine. Therefore, the only real anti-Semites are the so-called Jews who invaded it.
Last Saturday night I had dinner with my wife’s family. During that meal my sister in law started speaking about Jewish relatives she had recently discovered. Relatives unknown only a few years ago but living in the same city. My sister in law thinks it wonderful that she has found a Jewish family to belong to.
For most of my life (69 years) this would have meant nothing to me. I had many school friends who were Jewish. But in the 1960’s it was not an issue. No-one said they were Jewish because it did not matter to anyone.
Now life is different. The Jews are busily trying to claim the place of the most despicable of races.
Consequently I find my sister in law’s desire to reclaim her Jewishness, insulting. She wants to have my family join these barbarians. My wife thinks little of this but joins my sister in law’s revelry. If she does not wake up to reality it will be the end of our marriage. (46 years of marriage). My sister in law is making a direct attack on my family. Just so she can pretend to be a Jew.
NB. My sister in law admits there are people in her new found family who will not even sit at the same table as her. Because she is not a Jew. That is the reality for all those in western Europe who would stand alongside my sister in law.
Palestinians are semitic peoples. Many of them are the direct descendants of the Hebrews of the Bible who converted to Christianity or Islam over the centuries. The Ashkenazi Jews who founded and run Israel are not semitic peoples. They are Europeans who converted to Judaism centuries ago. They are doing what all European colonizers have always done — stealing territory and exterminating the indigenous peoples, in case the semitic peoples of Palestine. Of course they want to denigrate anyone who stands up for the indigenous peoples.
The pro-Palestinian demonstration cannot be “anti-semitic.” They are pro-semitic. It is the Ashkenazi Zionists who are anti-semitic, as such Europeans have always been.
The term “anti-semetic” is a slur term used to denigrate, vilify, and stigmatize anyone it is used against. It is just like the N-word when used against a person of African descent to demean and de-humanize that person. The intentions of the user of either of these terms are the same. We now don’t tolerate anyone using the “N-word,” and we should stop tolerating anyone using the “A-S-word.”
But we can never expect tools like Starmer to do anything other than what the Zionists tell him to do.