Israel supporters are thrown out of Parliament...

ARMED POLICE ejected pro-Israel activists from a meeting in Parliament after they asked what were deemed to be “disruptive questions”.

The four Israel supporters were removed from a panel discussion held by the Palestine Return Centre and chaired by Mark Hendrick, the Labour MP for Preston.

Mr Hendrick summoned the officers when the activists attempted to participate in a question-and-answer session.

One of the activists, Mandy Blumenthal, 52, a member of West Midlands Friends of Israel, said: “I was thinking: ‘Oh my God, I feel it’s really wrong to be told to leave for just giving my opinions.’ But I saw a policeman with a machine-gun and I didn’t want to argue.”

She told the JC that Mr Hendrick had responded to her question criticising Hamas by saying: “This is a Palestinian Return Centre meeting. It is not supposed to be a cross-section of views.”

She said: “When people in the audience were giving their opinions that Israel was horrendous, they weren’t asked to leave; it was only people that weren’t

Mandy Blumenthal coming across in a negative way against Israel that were asked to leave”. She rejected any suggestion she and the other activists — Richard Millett, Jonathan Hoffman and Sharon Klaff — had co-ordinated their actions, and described herself as “saddened” at the incident. “You don’t expect this to happen in Britain”, she said. “This is democracy being silenced.”

In a blog post, Mr Millett wrote that Mr Hendrick had called in police “after I had asked a panel member whether she sympathised with Israelis left bereaved by suicide bombers”. Mr Millett said: “I was politely asked to leave the room by police. At one stage, I was surrounded by seven heavily armed police”.

Mr Hendrick told the JC the activists had “conducted themselves in an aggressive, confrontational and disruptive manner, showing little or no respect for the speakers and other people present who wished to ask their own questions. That is why they were removed.” He added they had used their phones to photograph and record the meeting, even though he had warned them this was not allowed in Parliament.