British Jews have been left ‘terrified’ and afraid to leave their homes because of vitriolic protests over the war in Gaza, Jeremy Hunt claimed today.
The Chancellor lashed out at ‘intimidatory’ events and said he had been contacted by Jews who refused to ‘go outside their front door’ while protests take place for fear of violence.
It came as Rishi Sunak launched a new clampdown on foreign hate preachers coming to Britain, in the wake of months of protests and the election of hard-left agitator George Galloway as the MP for Rochdale last week.
The new plans will see identified extremists added to visa warning lists and refused entry to the UK for being ‘non-conducive to the public good’.
Mr Hunt told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme that the ‘vast majority’ of those demonstrating ‘want to protest peacefully and within the law’, but that there had been ‘examples of very intimidatory protests that have made other people feel unsafe’.
‘That is not the British way,’ he added.
Mr Hunt told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme that the ‘vast majority’ of those demonstrating ‘want to protest peacefully and within the law’, but that there had been ‘examples of very intimidatory protests that have made other people feel unsafe’.
Rishi Sunak is planning to prevent hate preachers from entering Britain
Pro-Palestine activists are pictured protesting in Westminster, London, yesterday
Police officers are pictured a a Pro-Palestine protest in Westminster yesterday
Typically used to prevent people who pose known security concerns from coming to the UK, it is understood the new plans will extend the powers to include those preaching racism, incitement or using intimidation or violence to undermine the democratic process.
It follows Rishi Sunak’s speech in Downing Street, in which he warned that democracy is being targeted by extremists and there were ‘forces here at home trying to tear us apart’.
Asked whether he thought Rishi Sunak was right to say British streets were at risk of being taken over by ‘mob rule’ during the protests, the Chancellor said: ‘I’m not Jewish, but I’ve been contacted by Jewish people who have told me that they are afraid to go outside their front door when those marches are happening.
‘I think it is very important that we restore the social fabric of this country so that people understand that when there are demonstrations, they will be peaceful and within the law, and they are not intimidatory.
‘I think we have seen some of that and the Prime Minister was rightly saying we need to call that out.’
According to The Sunday Telegraph, the Home Office is also looking to clamp down on ‘far-left, anti-democratic’ organisations.
Lord Walney, the Government’s independent adviser on political violence and disruption who conducted an official review into fringe groups, told the Telegraph there has been ‘an unholy alliance’ between far-left groups and Islamist extremism on protest marches.
He said there was a ‘gap in the Government’s understanding of damage the anti-democratic far left can do.’
He told the Telegraph: ‘One of the conclusions of my review is to look at and understand the threat from anti-democratic far-left groups, alongside that posed by Islamists and the far right.
‘For understandable reasons, the focus since 9/11 has been on violent terrorism.
‘Because the far left has not posed a similar kind of violent threat, there has been less understanding and less focus on the way in which they can harm our society.’
A Home Office spokesman said it was considering the report’s recommendations ‘extremely carefully’.
Pro-Palestine protests continued across England and Wales on Saturday following Mr Sunak’s warning that demonstrations and democracy itself were being targeted by extremists.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign singled out Barclays bank for its day of action, assembling at nearly 50 locations including the branch on Tottenham Court Road in central London.
The Sun reported that ministers are drawing up a list of radicals from Pakistan Afghanistan and Indonesia who will be added to the visa warning lists and blocked from entering the UK.
A government source told the newspaper: ‘The PM, has been clear – enough is enough. We are a country of kind, decent, tolerant people and we will not allow hate preachers to come here to spread division and tear us apart.’
It comes after UK spies warned MPs that the threat of a terrorist attack on British soil is rising rapidly.
They issued their chilling alert as the level of extremists’ ‘chatter’ intercepted by spies has reached its highest level since the September 11 atrocities in America.
One insider has warned of a ‘real risk’ of co-ordinated terrorist activity or of a lone outsider carrying out an isolated attack.
Politicians have been told that war in the Middle East has been used as a ‘recruitment advert’ by global terror groups, while security officials are understood to fear an upsurge in extremist activity during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which starts next Sunday.
One MP with knowledge of the most recent briefings said: ‘The level of extremist chatter is off the scale. This is something they’ve seen growing and growing.’
Referring to intelligence from the last two weeks, the politician added: ‘It’s like when the Twin Towers came down in 2001, there was a big spike of hate.’
News of the intelligence warning comes after Rishi Sunak spoke out against the ‘poison’ of extremism which threatened to ‘tear us apart’ as a country following George Galloway’s divisive by-election victory in Rochdale last week.
Senior security officials have warned that the level of extremists’ ‘chatter’ intercepted by spies has reached its highest level since the September 11, 2001 (pictured is the World Trade Center)
Security officials have held a series of confidential meetings with MPs since December about the heightened ‘chatter’ about potential plots intercepted in phone calls and online One well-placed source said: ‘There is a high chance of both a 7/7-style attack or a lone fired-up attacker like Lee Rigby’s killers.’
Off-duty soldier Mr Rigby was murdered in South East London by Islamist extremists Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale in 2013, while the co-ordinated attack on the capital’s transport system on July 7, 2005, killed 39 people.
Another insider said that as well as the risk of an immediate attack, ‘there are also more medium-term fears that this is a generational radicalisation’.
Security officials have warned that young British Muslims were particularly prone to being drawn into extremism following the October 7 Hamas attacks and Israel’s response.
A senior Conservative told the MoS that ‘terrorist groups will be finding it easier to fundraise, recruit and be excused for their actions’ because of the Gaza war.
The current terrorism threat level is ‘substantial’ – the third highest state of alert, meaning an attack is likely. But Alicia Kearns, the Conservative chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, will next week ask Ministers why the level has not been raised.
She said: ‘Following the heinous crimes against humanity committed by Hamas, and the manner in which Israel has prosecuted its war against them, there can be no doubt that the risk of terrorism globally has escalated gravely.
‘I am surprised the national threat level has not been raised.’
