Farage blasts Palestine poppy sellers hijacking Remembrance

Nigel Farage has condemned pro-Gaza activists selling a “Palestine poppy” enamel pin before Remembrance Day, declaring they have “no respect for our country.”

The pin, shaped like the traditional poppy yet coloured in the red, white, green and black of the Palestinian flag, is listed on eBay for £1.78. Profits are donated to organisations and charities “working to end the occupation” of Palestinian territories. Its creators call it an “anti-apartheid symbol” meant to show “unity with the beleaguered, oppressed, and occupied people of Palestine.”

The pin’s website carries a video using the slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” widely read as a call for the destruction of Israel. One recipient of the money is Friends of al-Aqsa, described in a 2024 Home Office-commissioned report as a “far-Left and Islamist” group. The same report noted that founder Ismail Patel had visited former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza and praised him as a “martyr.” The group was barred from a Labour conference fringe event in September after a backlash.

Stuart Fawcett, a former Royal Navy officer and Labour councillor, said the pins try to “hijack our national symbol of resistance.” Lt Col Stuart Crawford, a former Army officer and defence analyst, told GB News the design seeks to “ride on the coat-tails of the familiar red poppy.” He said: “The Remembrance poppy is apolitical despite what some people might say, and commemorates our war dead by bringing people together in the act of remembrance. The so-called ‘Palestine Poppy’ is about as far away from remembrance as it’s possible to be. It is unashamedly political, designed to divide rather than unite.”

Britain’s war dead are not a prop for foreign campaigns. The red poppy belongs to the men and women who served this country, not to activists chasing a political cause. Turning remembrance into a battleground insults the fallen and the families who still wear the badge with quiet pride.

Poppy appeal and the record of respect

David Reed, the shadow defence minister, said the greatest disrespect is to turn their remembrance into a political battleground. “The fallen deserve our gratitude, not our agendas. This must not go unchallenged. I will be making sure to tell anyone I see wearing this badge exactly what I think, and I implore others to do the same.”

The Royal British Legion red poppy, introduced after the First World War in 1921, marks British and Commonwealth Armed Forces. The Legion describes itself as a non-partisan and non-sectarian organisation that commemorates all those affected by service without considering the politics of conflict. Millions raised each year support veterans and their families.

Last week pro-Palestine demonstrators trampled poppy wreaths and scaled a Battle of Britain monument. At least 20 people were arrested, including one woman alleged to have given a Nazi salute toward Israeli counter-protesters. Heidi Bachram, who had Jewish family members murdered and taken hostage by Hamas on 7 October, called the scene “utterly shameful,” with wreaths broken at the feet of a monument to those who fought the Nazis.

An RBL spokesman said the two-petal poppy logo is a registered trademark and the red poppy remains a symbol of remembrance and hope that raises funds for the Armed Forces, veterans and their families. The Telegraph has approached the pin’s creators for comment. Farage’s plain verdict stands: those pushing this badge show no respect for the country that hosts them.

Original source: The Telegraph