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.
