SOME pro-Palestine protests planned for today are blatantly anti-Semitic, according to Education Minister Josh MacAlister.

On the nature of some of the planned events, he said on GB News: “Some of those titles are shocking.

“And there’s two separate things here. I think one is blatant anti-Semitism, and celebrating the murder of Jews and the attacks from Hamas.

“We’re really clear about that that is not allowed or take action against it, and the Education Secretary has written to vice-chancellors of universities today, restating that they have the government’s full backing in taking disciplinary action where that’s required.

“Then there is this broader question of protests happening today, and what I would say is that with rights come responsibilities, and it is legitimate to debate in public whether or not people on a day like today should be exercising their right to protest.

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“Of course, they’ve got that right. We’re not suggesting they don’t. But should you be exercising it on a day where two years ago, 1,200 Jews were murdered, the largest number of Jews who have been killed since the Holocaust, where there will be many people in the UK who were directly affected by that, by that shocking murder, that atrocity.

“Today is not the day to be exercising that right. And government ministers and the government are really clear about reminding people, you know, with rights come responsibilities, and the responsibility in this case is to have due regard for your fellow citizens.”