‘Extremist opinions must not percolate through UK society’

EXTREMIST views must not be allowed to “percolate through society”, a Cabinet minister has said as the UK Government prepared a fresh crackdown.

Ministers and officials are working on a new definition of extremism, with groups captured by the term set to be effectively blacklisted by the government and public bodies, and cut off from public funding and engagement.

Communities Secretary Michael Gove is expected to set out the new definition in the coming week in the wake of the latest pro-Palestinian march, which saw tens of thousands of people protesting in London about the suffering in Gaza.

Mr Gove warned some of the “good-hearted” people who have taken part in the series of protests since the Israel-Hamas war began could have inadvertently given credence to events organised or attended by extremists.

Health Secretary Victoria Atkins warned: “There are some people, sadly, who hold views that are contrary to the values that we hold as a country and we should not allow those views to percolate through society.”

She told Sky News there was a concern that in large-scale pro-Palestinian demonstrations “there can be a minority of people who hold and extol views that make the rest of us feel not just deeply uncomfortable, but if you are a Jewish resident of London, some have said that they feel worried about walking around London when these demonstrations happen, and that’s not right”.

The Health Secretary said the new approach would be a “balancing act” between “freedom of speech, but also the right of citizens to go about their daily lives”.

Mr Gove told the Sunday Telegraph the new definition of extremist groups would help protesters decide whether to attend pro-Palestinian events.

“If we’re clear about the nature of extremist organisations, then I think that means that some of the people – and there are good-hearted people who go on these marches, I don’t agree with them, but they’re moved by suffering and they want peace – but it may help some of them to question who are organising some of these events. I won’t go into details now, but we will later,” he said.

“Some of the events that have been organised have been organised by extremist organisations.

“That doesn’t mean that people who have gone on them are extremist, quite the opposite. But it means that you can begin to question – do you really want to be lending credence to this organisation? If you do, fair enough. But now there is no excuse for ignorance.”

Focusing on the chant of “from the river to the sea” – a reference to a Palestinian state stretching from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean – Mr Gove said “some of what’s said on these marches springs from an extremist ideology”.

“‘From the river to the sea’ is not a call for peace... when you’re saying ‘from the river to the sea,’ you’re explicitly saying, ‘I want to see the end of Israel as a Jewish state.’”