Alon-Lee Green, the cofounder of the Palestinian-Jewish activist group Standing Together tried to organise a protest against his country’s war on Iran on Thursday. It was the second attempt, he said, after the first had been broken up by the police.They had anticipated official objections to the protest on the grounds of public safety and booked space in an underground theatre that could double as a shelter. It wasn’t ideal, he said, but in times like these, it was better than nothing.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listThe police and the right-wing protesters were waiting.“They said they’d come to monitor us,” Green said of the police presence. The protesters, he assumed, had just come to jeer. “[The police] checked our ID and said they were there to make sure we didn’t say anything we weren’t allowed to. It was clear they were there to intimidate,” he said. “There’s nothing new in that. It’s ongoing.”Much of Israeli society has supported the war with Iran in a similar manner to the backing given to the genocidal war on Gaza following the October 7 attack on southern Israel, Green said.A poll by the Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) earlier this month suggested overwhelming support for the war, with 93 percent of Jewish respondents backing the attack on Iran, an enemy the Israeli public has been told for years was intent upon their destruction.“It’s strange,” Green said from Tel Aviv, pointing to the paradoxes of an opposition supporting a war their political opponents had started. Israel’s opposi …
