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'Stop the War' march planned for Cardiff this weekend

By Mark Mansfield
Photo Lucy North/PA Wire

Martin Shipton

Hundreds of people from across Wales are expected to march through Cardiff this weekend on the eve of Israel's war on Gaza entering its second year as the war spreads to Lebanon and other countries.

The “Britain Stop Arming Israel” protest will assemble on Saturday October 5 at 1 pm on Churchill Way in Cardiff city centre.

It will call for the UK Government to take meaningful action to secure an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East, including an arms embargo and sanctions on Israel until Palestinians enjoy their basic rights. Campaigners argue it is Israel's decades-long denial of Palestinian human rights that is the root of the violence in the Middle East.

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Oxfam report

The march comes as a new report by Oxfam this week revealed more women and more children have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli military than in any other war over the past two decades:

Adam Johannes of Cardiff Stop the War Coalition said: "Soon we will mark 365 days of state-sponsored slaughter in Gaza. Hundreds have been killed in Lebanon in the last few days, on top of tens of thousands obliterated in Gaza and over 700 dead in the West Bank since October 7 2023 in a brutal campaign by Israel that the International Court of Justice calls a plausible case of genocide. Meanwhile Western powers hold their hands over their eyes and supply the weapons.

“Starmer and Biden could force Israel into a ceasefire in a heartbeat by halting arms sales. Instead, they’d rather light the touchpaper for a regional conflagration and fan the flames of war. Blood on their hands and profits in their pockets. Western leaders' hypocrisy is sickening."

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Displaced

Nizar Dahan, an award winning international humanitarian and political activist who has worked in several war zones, said: "The humanitarian situation in Lebanon and Palestine is deteriorating with every passing moment. Millions of civilians are displaced across the two nations with no sign of Israeli aggression stopping. Our government refuses to stand by international law and is, in fact, supporting Israel's genocide with its frequently used term, ‘We support Israel’s right to defend herself’.

“We have seen over the past 12 months the result of Israel's so-called ‘self-defence’, which has taken thousands of innocent lives and destroyed residential areas, leaving people with nothing and nowhere to go. We strongly oppose the complicit nations who have enabled this genocide to go on for this long, and we will keep supporting the Palestinian right to resist, exist, and return"

The protest march is organised by a coalition of groups including Cardiff Stop the War Coalition, Muslim Association of Britain, Black Lives Matter, Stand Up for Palestine, South Wales Jews for Collective Liberation and others. It is understood there will be a number of feeder marches to the main march including groups of pro-Palestinian healthworkers, parents and teachers, trade union, environmental, student and LGBT+ groups.

The protest march assembles on Saturday October 5 at 1 pm by the Canal Quarter, Churchill Way, Cardiff city centre, ending in a rally outside Cardiff Central Library with speakers including Leanne Wood, the former leader of Plaid Cymru, Peredur Owen Griffiths MS, trade unionists, members of the Palestinian community and others.

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27 comments

Andrew Day

Why not ask Russia to stop the war and get out of Ukraine? What's so special about trying to stop Israel from defending itself from terrorist aggression?

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Jeff

Apart from the 40+ thousand deaths you mean?

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Susan

20, 000 were enemy combatants and the other 20,000 were the humans they were shielding behind.

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In reply to Susan

Imrix

By that logic, Mossad is using human shields by having their HQ in a city.

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Mani west

Over 500.000 death in ukraine, which is the point

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Phylip

I seem to recollect that Israel said at the start of this war that Hamas had immersed itself and its weapons into communities , schools and hospitals, with the aim to see their people killed, and in so doing to draw down the wrath of the world upon Israel. . Very few people believed Israel, but events have proven that they were saying the truth. Hamas are the descendants of Haman who looked to the destruction of the Jews some 2500 years ago. All Hamas needs to do is leave the hostages free.

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Tanwg

‘Defending itself’-Nonsense. The terrorist state of Israel is murdering innocent civilians, including women and children, supported by the West.

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Amos Johnston

Ukraine isn't a useful proxy for anyone who wants to dress up their anti-Muslim or anti-Jew hate in a cloak of moral superiority. They're easy to spot. They have no wish to discuss how the conflict might be permanently resolved instead preferring to set impossible red lines that are guaranteed to keep things going for another generation.

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Mab

Could not agree more Andrew Day.

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Imrix

We can be for both.

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Neil Anderson

Andrew Day, Russia's forward defence posture in Ukraine ("special military operation") is just so, so different from Israel's forward defence postures in Gaza and Lebanon. Or, for that matter, the UK's forward defence posture in Cyprus, or NATO, say. Any fule kno that any apparent similarities in the appearances of these conflicts, or would-be conflicts, are just media confections. Blood is never, ever shown, and there are plenty of other distractions on television.

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DC Jones

First sabbath after Rosh Hashanah, closest Saturday to the anniversary of the slaughter of 1200 innocent people at the hands of Hamas. Really tasteful timing.   Nothing but solidarity with the Palestinian cause but I guarantee you there won't be a one minute silence for the Oct 7th victims of Hamas at that march.

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David Paul Morgan

the murderous descendants of the PLO are doing this to provoke. They are children and grand-children of terrorists. They tried to hijack the peaceful Ukraine vigil the other weekend. Iran, Russia, Hamas & Hezbollah - all allies and all bent on the same destructive path.

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Imrix

Nor should there be, to be frank. Oct 7 does not justify all the atrocities Israel has committed since.

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CommonSense

It will never be resolved.

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David Paul Morgan

where were the 'stop the war' lot when Hamas invaded Israel? - raping, murdering, kidnapping farmers and party-goers? Where were they when Hamas were firing missiles at Southern Israel? Where were they when Hezbollah was reigning down rockets on Northern Israel? Where were they when Russia invaded Ukraine - nowhere because it doesn't suit their treacherous anti-western anti-semitic beliefs.

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Ian

Stop attacking Israel and you will " stop the war ".

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Amos Johnston

Until next time. The cycle will continue until enough Palestinians have a place to call home that they can be proud of without diminishing Israel. That's the square that needs circling. The international community should make Egypt an offer they can't refuse for a big chunk of Sinai.

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Y Cymro

The same could be said of Israel who continue to build settlements in the occupied West Bank allowing Jewish settlers to attack , intimidated and murder Palestinians protecting their homes and farms.

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Ali Morris

This one sided opinion piece is typical of the anti-semitic West who refuse to open their eyes to the murderous, women hating groups that want to see Israel obliterated. Hamas and the other groups that support them would be happy to see the West wiped out with its values of women's rights and free speech. It was Hamas who intentionally started this war on October 7th knowing full well what would happen next. The groups and individuals mentioned in the article who are regarded as human rights supporters are nothing but a bunch of misogynistic ant semitic bullies.

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Louise B

If Palestine didn't want a war, it shouldn't have started one by committing a massacre and kidnapping hundreds of civilians. It could stop the war by giving the hostages back and making a commitment to lay down arms.

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Amir

2 massive volleys of missiles from Iran hardly made a dent. Mossad managed to pack individual explosives into hezbollah pagers and effectively destroy them. They could infiltrate any terrorist organisation and neutralise them. And yet they didn't have any inkling of the October 7th terrorist attack. Hmmm, really? Look, what happened on October 7th last year was wrong on all levels. But 2 wrongs never make a right. Each human life is precious and equal. Each death is sudden, devastating and irreplaceable.

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Y Cymro

We constantly hear the British media quote October 7th. How Hamas killed 1200 Israelis. And that Israel reserved the right to defend itself. Where I agree. If a country is attacked it does have the right to defend itself. But I never hear similar said of Palestine or Palestinians. Do they have a right to protect its citizens or themselves from the Israeli war machine and those Jewish settlers in the West Bank? Obviously not. Ask yourself why not? In 2008 Israel entered Gaza killing over 1400 civilians. Figures vary. There was no mention by the media that it was a terrorist attack? No interviews with Israel's Ambassador to Britain, editor of the Jewish Chronicle or those leaders of the Jewish community aggressively interviewed by news anchors asking them." Do you condemn the attack on Gaza?" as done with representatives from the Muslim Council of Britain after the October 7th attacks or those Palestinian politicians verbally assaulted. Less we forget. When Israel entered Gaza in 2008 killing 1400. I saw no emotive videos with soft music played in the background showing those Palestinians killed in happier times. No interviews with their families lamenting the passing of their loved ones as done with the families of Israeli hostages currently being held or sadly killed. Don't you find this odd? I do. Since last October over 41000 Palestinian civilians , 17000 who were children, have been murdered. Israel has effectively urinated on the Genover Convention meaning killing Aid Workers , Doctors & Nurses has now been normalised. The targeting of schools , hospitals, UN observers and reporters too? And how can we try those in the Hague as we did those Serbian warlords like Slobodan Milošević & Radovan Karadžić responsible for the mass murder tens of thousands of Bosnian Muslims between 1991/95 when in 2023/24 the West is allowing Zionist Israeli to commit genocide and bomb & kill with impunity Palestinian civilians in Gaza & West Bank and those in Lebanon, Iran & Yemen?

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Amos Johnston

All those words and still nothing on what a lasting solution might look like. Israel will do whatever it takes to stay safe until they don't need to do anything to stay safe. That's been the reality for generations and it will continue to be the reality for generations until someone figures out how the two peoples can live side by side in the region.

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Ap Kenneth

Israel invaded and took over the territories of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967. They have in affect treated both as prison camps ever since and taken over parts of the West Bank with settlements that are illegal under international law. After nearly 60 years the cost to Israel is as high as ever but any long term solution is in Israels hands since they largely control the areas. Hope of change would be a good place to start but the bitterness on both sides will take a long time to dissolve. .

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In reply to Ap Kenneth

Amos Johnston

For the most part, the changes since 67 have been driven by security. One look at a map from the time shows a region that could never be secure when one side is determined to eradicate the other. It's not within the gift of Israel and Palestinians to solve this because there is no arrangement that could satisfy both sides. A state within a state is unworkable which makes a fair two state solution impossible within the current borders. Allowing Gaza to exist as a semi-autonomous region has been proven a failure. The only way this moves forward is to purchase land from somewhere (probably Egypt) and attempt to create a contiguous New Palestine that's as big as Israel and with access to resources like the Red Sea and Mediterranean. Israel should then contribute its own land to the project that's equivalent to the land gained since 67. Such a state might need to be jointly administered by the PLA, Egypt and the UN to prevent Hamas and Iran taking control. Only when Palestinians have a home to be proud of can a page be turned.

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Imrix

Drat, if I had more than one day's notice I could turn up and add my voice.

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