Wow. Just wow. The government is threatening to ban protests against Israel's genocide.

I went on LBC to oppose this. And among other things, my opponent argued that the Economist magazine is part of the Hamas propaganda machine.

Yeah, that's right. That's the right-wing publication which supported Israel's

genocidal onslaught against Gaza. That's what we're dealing with here. My opponent was Natasha

Hausdorff, who's legal director of UK lawyers for Israel. You can obviously get the gist of what

they do. I'm going to include the whole debate, which starts with her speaking at some length.

Please do you persist in listening.

Sasha, can I just start with you?

What do you say to the argument that although, of course, some appalling things are said on these marches,

and it is not uncommon to hear appalling things said on marches, it would be an infringement

on our rights to protest too grave to prohibit them.

Well, I disagree. And of course, at the centre of this is a balancing act, but it's one that

has been pretty controversial since these marches, and I would call them hate marches for reasons

I'd be happy to explain, since they began over two and a half years ago. I remember

actually being in a panel with Lord Ken McDonald and Sir John, forgive me, Jonathan Hall,

Casey, the independent review of counter terror legislation already in November 2023, if you can

cast your mind back to that time. And the general consensus, I have to say,

on the panel is that the police weren't doing enough. I certainly have not accepted

throughout this period that there were simply insufficient powers. I know we've heard

from police commissioners all over the country complaining that they need to be given

more powers

by legislation in Parliament.

...