UK minister hits out at anti-Israel rallies, warns of terror law change

London, October 31

UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman has hit out at the mass protests on the streets of the country in reaction to the Israel-Gaza conflict as “hate marches” and said she would not hesitate to change terror legislation if needed to tackle “utterly odious” bad actors operating beneath the criminality threshold.

The Indian-origin minister was speaking after an emergency Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms A (COBRA) security meeting chaired by British PM Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street. “To my mind, there is only one way to describe those marches: they are hate marches,” said Braverman, when asked about the massive pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests across London and other cities over the past few weekends.

In Israel, leaders of leading tech companies have called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ouster as soon as possible “to cut down losses”.

Dan Adika, CEO and Co-Founder of WalkMe, joined Amnon Shashua, the founder of self-driving auto technologies firm Mobileye, in calling for Netanyahu to step down following his government’s failures after the unprecedented attack by Hamas militants from Gaza on October 7. Several other tech leaders also harshly criticised the PM for refusing to accept responsibility.

In Russia, authorities tightened security in Muslim-majority North Caucasus region after a weekend anti-Semitic riot there. The Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya ordered that rioters be shot dead if they fail to heed warnings. President Vladimir Putin held an emergency meeting with top security officials on Monday evening after rioters in the southern region of Dagestan stormed an airport on Sunday to “catch” Jewish passengers arriving on a flight from Tel Aviv.

Meanwhile, NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned the attacks on Israel by Hamas. — Agencies

French woman shot at

Policemen shot and critically wounded a woman wearing a hijab who was behaving in a “threatening” manner and shouted “You’re all going to die” and “Allahu Akbar”in a metro station in Paris.

US troops attacked

Two armed drones targeted Iraq’s Ain al-Asad airbase that hosts forces of the US and other international forces, a security source said. There was no report on casualties or damage. US troops are being attacked continuously in Iraq.