Last Saturday I was cycling to the
Bundesliga game between Eintracht Frankfurt and Schalke 04 when I passed close
to a crowd demonstrating against the decision of US President Trump to
recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. I could hear someone with a
megaphone calling to the protesters, who responded to each prompt with a chant
about a free Palestine.
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| Or: 'Demos not football'? |
I hadn't been aware that the demonstration
was taking place. It would have been easy for me to get off my bike, lock it
up, and go to join the demo instead of pedalling on to the football. But I
didn't. I didn't even hesitate, even as I was arguing with myself that this was
certainly what I ought to be doing.
Let us imagine a (plausible) worst case
scenario - that the US decision has catastrophic consequences for the situation
in Israel, the Occupied Territories and the wider Middle East region. There is
a devastating war involving all the mass consequences that accompany
