# Do protests help Palestine, and was blocking the roads in Birmingham justified? *Protests, their slow effect, and the Birmingham road blockade as an example of what not to do* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/umku_ocftes/s/3/ - Date: 2021-05-15 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: The Palestinian Plight & Israeli Injustice | Mufti Abu Layth (11:49–14:26) - Status: latest answer on its topic; general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMKu_OCFTes&t=709s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/umku_ocftes/ **Topics:** Palestine and Gaza; Britain **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Protests put slow pressure on politicians who can only request, and blocking Birmingham's roads at rush hour was a disservice to the Palestinian cause: it broke the law, harmed civilians and turned sentiment against Palestine. **Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says blocking the roads into Birmingham at rush hour was an utter disservice to the Palestinian cause, since frustration gives nobody the right to break the law, it distressed uninvolved civilians and it increased sentiment against Palestine. **Evidence, his words at 12:54:** “this is an utter disservice to the palestinian cause you have to understand that people trying to justify this by stating that oh but we are frustrated and angry one it does not give anybody the right” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMKu_OCFTes&t=774s) ## Longer summary Mufti Abu Layth says holding protests is another form of action: it creates sensationalism for the media, demonstrates an outcry and puts pressure on politicians, who present something to the House of Parliament and press the prime minister, but the time frame of lobbying and voting is long and any action is at most a request to Israel, which does not care. As an example of what not to do, he cites a protest the previous day in Birmingham in which protesters blocked the main roads into the city centre with their vehicles at rush hour. He calls this an utter disservice to the Palestinian cause: frustration and anger give nobody the right to break the law, it causes great distress to fellow civilians who have nothing to do with the matter, and it increases sentiment against what is going on in Palestine. He reports comments on his Instagram story that two ambulances were stuck and that a family could not get a child to the children's hospital for about an hour, calls the action utterly disgraceful, and says whoever suggests such ideas is doing a disservice to a humanitarian cause, since a dumb action is not a meaningful action. ## Sources and names cited - The Palestinian crisis (May 2021) - Birmingham road blockade protest for Palestine (May 2021) ## Transcript (machine tier, 11:49–14:26) [11:35] to give you a holier than thou approach into condemning others in feeling that they have not done something holding protests is another form of action that once again you can do that it creates its sensationalism for the media it demonstrates an outcry it places a certain amount of pressure on politicians who will write and present something to the house of parliament and they will try to build up some pressure on the prime minister but in all honesty although that is important to do the time frame that that takes in lobbying such [12:14] cries passing them through voting them um the prime minister you know taking some action and any form of action is at most a request they simply request israel to just seize what it's doing and israel as i've highlighted just simply does not care and on another side note in here is an example of what not to do in birmingham there was just yesterday a protest of blocking the roads in towards city center just [12:54] rush hour so as people are leaving from work people had decided protesters to just block the road uh an expressway the main roads coming in and out of the city center with their vehicles this is an utter disservice to the palestinian cause you have to understand that people trying to justify this by stating that oh but we are frustrated and angry one it does not give anybody the right to break the law two you are just harming and causing great distress to other fellow civilians who have [13:34] nothing to do with this three that you are actually increasing the sentiment against what is going on in palestine so if if anybody i shared on my story on instagram there were many people commenting about the this blockade these protests uh stating that ambulances two ambulances had got stuck they couldn't get through there was a child that a family were trying to take to the birmingham children's hospital they could not take the child for you know an hour or whatever it was this kind of action is [14:14] utterly disgraceful whoever is suggesting these kind of ridiculously absurd ideas really needs to check themselves because they are doing a disservice to what is a humanitarian cause so yes of course people are frustrated but being frustrated does not mean that you do something stupid or just dumb an action is not does not equate to a meaningful action okay right now here people come back to well what could be the possible solution well one ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment uMKu_OCFTes/s/3. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/umku_ocftes/s/3/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.