Live updates: Follow the latest news on Israel-Gaza
One of the UK’s first mass vigils since the Israel-Hamas conflict began saw bereaved families, faith leaders and MPs come together to speak out against anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hate.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, told the crowd who gathered in the rain outside Downing Street on Sunday afternoon that “there is no good ever in the death of an innocent Israeli; there is no good ever in the death of an innocent Palestinian”.
He said that fighting brings “agony to the families, fear for the future and it drives peace far away”.
The vigil was arranged to try to help protect community relations in the UK.
Rev Welby said he was “awed and humbled” after hearing “extraordinary and remarkable” testimony from survivors of the conflict whose relatives were killed on October 7. They said they wanted peace, not hatred.
“Tomorrow there will be children thinking about going to school in the UK, who dread going because they will be spat at, shouted at and hated, because they are Muslim or Jewish,” he told the crowd.
“They will have to go without their uniforms because they identify them too clearly – and that [is happening] in our streets.
“We are called to clean up our doorstep in this country, to clean away all anti-Semitism and all Islamophobia, and to make sure that when we speak of peace we have lit a light of peace here that can give a beacon elsewhere.”
The event called Building Bridges, Together for Humanity, was billed as an event to mourn the loss of life on all sides of the conflict and to stand united against anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hate.
Screenwriter Jemima Khan, who has Muslim and Jewish family members, and barrister and TV personality Rob Rinder, who is of Jewish descent, were among those who joined the crowds.
Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran, who is of Palestinian descent and has a family member who died in Gaza, told the crowd that hope must come out of the bloodshed.
United Arab Emirates Dirham Exchange Rate
