Waltham Forest Palestine Solidarity Campaign had been due to hold a talk ‘debunking mainstream narratives’ about the 7th October attacks with the Electronic Intifada journalist Asa Winstanley in Walthamstow earlier this month, reports Marco Marcelline

A free speech row has broken out after Waltham Forest Council reportedly intervened to shut down an event that would have explored “alternative” narratives around the 7th October attacks in Israel, amid concerns from Jewish residents.

The Waltham Forest Palestine Solidarity Campaign (WFPSC) had been due to hold a talk with the Electronic Intifada journalist Asa Winstanley entitled “What really happened on October 7th” at the council-owned William Morris Community Centre in Walthamstow on Friday, 9th January.

In promotional material for the event shared on social media, organisers said the event would be an opportunity to “learn about and discuss the highly controversial narratives surrounding 7th October, used to justify Israel’s genocidal actions in Gaza and atrocities across historical Palestine”.

The promotional material continued: “These narratives are characterised by ‘facts’ and interpretations that continue to be embraced by our politicians and mainstream media, even though much of it has been debunked and remains unverified.

“Exploring what really happened in an objective way remains taboo, as it requires the professional honesty and bravery that only a few journalists and commentators – Asa Winstanley being one of the most prominent – have been willing to demonstrate.”

Over 1,200 Israelis were murdered by Hamas fighters who broke through the Gaza border on 7th October 2023, taking 250 Israelis hostage.

More than 71,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s brutal response, which is regarded by human rights organisations, the UN and war scholars as a genocide. 

WFPSC was informed on Friday 2nd January by the William Morris Community Centre’s chair that their event was cancelled “following correspondence from the Charity Commission who expressed concerns”. 

The Echo understands that the council had also contacted the centre with its own concerns about the event before the decision was made to cancel it. 

In a statement released on Facebook and later shared in full to the Echo, the WFPSC decried the event cancellation as “deeply shameful”, adding: “Cancelling an event that challenges mainstream media reporting creates a chilling effect on all critiques of dominant narratives, particularly when cancellation is executed unilaterally and without consulting those affected.

“These actions [reported in Jewish News] suggest the council prioritises political interests aligned with Israel over its legal obligation, as a public authority, to uphold freedom of assembly and expression under the European Convention on Human Rights and the UK Human Rights Act.”

The talk would have avoided exclusively blaming Hamas for the atrocities committed during 7th October, and instead looked at how the Israel Defence Force (IDF) response that day contributed to Israeli civilian fatalities. 

According to various media investigations, including one by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, IDF officials invoked the Hannibal Directive on 7th October, telling units to use all necessary force to prevent the capture and hostage-taking of Israeli soldiers by Hamas.

In his reporting for the pro-Palestine publication Electronic Intifada, Winstanley has repeatedly said the directive’s issuance is evidence that Israel killed “hundreds” of its own people.

The IDF has admitted that “there was significant difficulty distinguishing between IDF troops, civilians and terrorists”, and that “some Israeli civilians were killed in friendly fire incidents”. 

Meanwhile, an Al Jazeera investigation that analysed hours of footage from CCTV, dashcams, personal phones and headcams of dead Hamas fighters found that 18 Israelis were mistakenly killed by the IDF that day.

There is however no substantiated or hard evidence that proves Winstanley’s view that the IDF killed “hundreds” of its own people on 7th October. 

Winstanley has also written that bodycam footage captured by Hamas fighters that show civilian killings were “released by the Israeli occupation authorities and are highly likely to have been subjected to selective editing”. 

However, unedited dashcam footage viewed and verified by Human Rights Watch has shown Hamas fighters fatally shooting Israelis dressed in civilian clothes at several locations including a kibbutz, a bomb shelter, and at the Nova music festival.

Winstanley has been accused by critics of “downplaying” or “minimising” the brutality of Hamas’ actions in Israel on 7th October. 

Last year, the journalist said a joke about kidnapped Nova festival-goers was the “the best tweet of all time“.

Local resident Millie Rose-Gray, who has family living in Israel, saw the publicised event while scrolling Facebook on Saturday, 27th December. She told the Echo that the event immediately brought up “major red flags” for her. 

Millie said: “I’m Jewish and I know people who have been directly affected by what happened on 7th October; I remember ringing my siblings in Israel in a blind panic that day because I didn’t know where they were and I was so scared for them. So to see an event that is downplaying Israeli suffering was very concerning.”

Millie added that she could not understand why the event organisers would want to challenge the consensus around October 7th, stating: “The terrorism that unfolded that day was well documented on video by Hamas themselves, so I cannot comprehend how you can discuss alternative views of that day.”

Feeling that the event was a potential “breeding ground for terrorist sympathisers”, Millie reacted by first calling the police, who declined to assist her, before contacting various organisations including the Charity Commission, Campaign Against Antisemitism and UK Lawyers for Israel.

In emails to those parties, Millie wrote that the event risked “legitimising terrorism or dehumanising an entire people, and undermining public safety and community cohesion”.

A spokesperson for the Charity Commission told the Echo it had been “assessing concerns raised about the event”. Ahead of Friday 9th January, the commission said it wrote to William Morris Community Centre’s trustees “setting out potential areas of regulatory interest, explaining charity law, and asking for information and documentation from the trustees”.

The spokesperson continued: “The trustees, in response, promptly informed us that they had cancelled the event. We did not require or request this. Our role is not to make decisions for trustees, but instead to ensure that trustees are following our guidance when making decisions on behalf of their charity, including about events held at, or in the name of their charity.”

Speaking to Jewish News, Amanda Bowman, co-chair of the London Jewish Forum, reacted to the event cancellation saying: “Freedom of speech matters, and this is not about shutting down debate at one particular event. 

“Concerns were raised with the council because it is the leaseholder. The council then contacted the venue, and the venue took its own decision to cancel. This should be a reminder to venues to carry out proper due diligence on the events they host, especially at a time when the way an event is framed can have a real impact on how safe local Jewish residents feel.”

Waltham Forest Council has not publicly confirmed that it contacted the venue with concerns, but leader Grace Williams told the Echo: “I am pleased that [the community centre] have confirmed to me that they have taken the decision to cancel this event given the concerns that have been expressed since it was advertised.”

Millie Rose-Gray says she first found out that the event had been cancelled from an email dated Monday 5th January from Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy.

The email, which was sent in response to Millie’s complaint, stated: “I recognise the concern that has been expressed that this event would not be conducive to public understanding of the issues in Gaza and Israel or community cohesion in our area where we have many people from diverse backgrounds. I’ve now been informed that as a result of these concerns, the venue – the William Morris Community Centre – has declined the booking for this event.”

In her email, Creasy also raised objections to Winstanley’s written statements on Uyghurs, saying: “I also recognise he has previously produced materials and speeches that have targeted minorities within our society – most notably he has denied the persecution of the Uyghurs.”

In a tweet dated 18th March 2021, Wistanely wrote: “It’s important to say loudly: the “Uyghur genocide” narrative is a hoax that has been fabricated as a major US weapon in its New Cold War against China.”

Since 2017, China has put more than one million Uyghurs into internment camps, according to Amnesty International. In 2022, the UN high commissioner for human rights said Beijing’s treatment of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang may constitute “crimes against humanity”. 

The Echo understands that WFPSC is looking for a new venue in the borough to host future talks and events, while also seeking to challenge the grounds on which the decision to cancel the 7th October talk was made. 

Editor’s note (25/03): Following a complaint received from WFPSC about the content of this article, we have amended portions of this piece to better reflect WFPSC’s stated intentions and scope of the event.

These changes include publishing WFPSC’s promotional wording of the event in full and removing a line which stated the event would have “disregarded” mainstream narratives. WFPSC says the event would have intended to examine how widely accepted claims about 7th October were reported, by whom, and on what evidential basis.

The article has also been amended to state WFPSC shared a detailed statement which described the scope and purpose of the event prior to the original publication of this article.

We have also agreed to publish a comment piece from WFPSC responding to this article – you can read that here.

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