UK Government (finally) proscribes the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
Today, the Home Secretary has announced that the British Government will proscribe Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Using new Government powers, it will be listed as a proscribed foreign-state-backed organisation and designated a threat to national security.
Expressing support for the IRGC will now be an offence punishable by up to fourteen years in prison.
The British Government’s proscription of the IRGC is welcome, and our polling shows that 93% of British Jews wanted the IRGC to be proscribed.
However, it is a shameful sign of how far behind our country has fallen that this measure has taken years, despite our calls, along with the calls of Iranian dissidents in the UK and security chiefs.
Now, the Government needs to crack down on organisations linked to the IRGC, rooting them out and shutting them down to stop the spread of hate in our country. Glorifying and celebrating terror must have consequences. IRGC fronts masquerading as charities must be shut down. Anything less than the full force of the law being applied to these groups and individuals is a grotesque failure to defend our country.
Watch CAA’s Gideon Falter explain what banning the IRGC means for Jews in Britain.
As you might expect, in addition to our activity in the media and on social media in support of the ban, as well as holding various actions with our lawyers, we have wasted no time in updating our line of CAA apparel. You can now choose from two new eye-catching “IRGC are terrorists” t-shirts to accompany our t-shirts that allow the wearer to remind the public that Hamas and Hizballah are terrorist organisations!
Printed on lovely cotton, just for you, the t-shirt is the perfect outfit for reminding IRGC supporters of the law, and all proceeds from t-shirt sales go to Campaign Against Antisemitism!
Government announces £250 million in funding for policing to try to protect British Jews
That same failure to confront extremism early is reflected in the Government’s decision to fund special policing provision to try to protect the Jewish community. The scale of the funding underscores the enormity of the task ahead.
The Government has announced that it will invest over £250 million in additional funding for police forces across England to protect the Jewish community. This will include increased police presence in Jewish neighbourhoods, at synagogues, schools and community centres.
For twelve years, we have been calling for focused policing to target growing extremism in Britain. In that time, policing has manifestly failed to meet the threats from Islamist terrorism along with the extremism of the far-left and far-right. We have been warning that the longer police and politicians appease these dangerous radicals, the worse the situation will become.
Today’s announcement of additional funding for policing to protect the Jewish community will benefit the community in the short term. However, the fact that the cost to keep Jews safe over the next three years has now climbed by a quarter of a billion pounds is evidence of how abjectly successive governments have failed to bring extremism and Jew hatred under control. The situation is now dire.
This funding will only help if it is accompanied by a change in Government and law enforcement attitudes.
The state needs to tackle the extremists proactively at source, not just build ever-higher walls around Jewish communities and station ever-increasing numbers of officers outside synagogues. The ‘Britifada’ is disfiguring our country beyond all recognition and Jews have now paid with their lives.
Existing laws need to be brought to bear on those fomenting the danger on our doorstep and the Government needs to recognise that political grandstanding abroad feeds the danger here at home.
If police and politicians do not act forcefully now, this funding will have been wasted, the problem will grow to even more unmanageable proportions, and more Jews will lose their safety and even their lives.
Andy Burnham makes a passing reference to antisemitism while condemning Israel
The expected successor to Sir Keir Starmer has said that the Government “got it wrong” in the aftermath of the worst antisemitic atrocity since the Holocaust on 7th October 2023 by not condemning Israel enough.
Andy Burnham has yet to say something substantive on antisemitism during his campaign to win the backing of his Labour colleagues to become Prime Minister. We are seeing the worst levels of racism against Jews in our lifetime, and Jewish blood has repeatedly been spilled on our streets.
So it’s alarming that Mr Burnham’s first intervention on the subject is a passing reference in an announcement relating to a foreign conflict, which he himself insists should not be connected to the fight against antisemitism.
Why is a foreign conflict a more pressing matter for Mr Burnham than the domestic threat that British Jews face right here at home?
The fact is that successive Prime Ministers have been pressured to appease the extremist mob that demands that our leaders treat the tiny faraway Jewish state as though it is the most important matter to us here in Britain.
If you appease the mob, you just get more extremism.
These foreign policy announcements are unlikely to change matters in the Middle East but they are music to the ears of the same extremists and Islamists responsible for surging Jew-hatred here in Britain. At a time when Jews are being stabbed and killed on the streets of Britain, we need our leaders to face down extremists, not excite them.
Politicians must name the sources of antisemitism and confront those who spread it. It is literally a matter of life and death for British Jews.
Mr Burnham appears to be about to become Prime Minister. The time for political grandstanding is over, and he must recognise that his first priority is the safety of British people in this country. That must include the Jews.
If Mr Burnham wishes to be a ‘change’ Prime Minister, that can begin with doing what neither of his two predecessors did: robustly tackle antisemitism and extremism in his country.
MPs debate banning convicted terrorists from standing for election
Words matter, but so do laws — and Parliament has now begun debating whether Britain’s democracy is doing enough to keep extremists out of public office.
Following a viral petition, MPs debated a ban on those convicted of terrorism offences from standing as candidates or holding elected office, including on local councils.
The petition, which has been signed by over 204,000 people, has come about after a spate of troubling revelations about candidates in the recent local elections.
This includes Shahid Butt, who was convicted of terrorism offences in Yemen and ran for a seat on Birmingham City Council in the recent May local elections.
You can read more about his record here.
During the debate, Shadow Minister for Communities David Simmonds CBE warned of “The rising tide of antisemitism” in Britain.
Whilst several candidates were forced to stand down, many were elected as councillors.
Mr Simmons is right to say: “We need to ensure that our governance and local ethics are free from the taint of extremism, wherever it may be found.”
Mr Butt ran and lost in Sparkhill.
Labour MP Laurence Turner called Mr Butt out as “Utterly unfit to be a community representative or elected politician”, citing his terrorism conviction and violent comments towards Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters.
Mr Butt has also reportedly said: “Hamas is a legitimate group that is fighting for the freedom of the Palestinians.”
There is no place for this sort of extremism in British public life. We are grateful to Parliamentarians from across parties for speaking out against it.
The current law prevents candidates from running in local elections if they have received a prison sentence of three months or more within the five years up to polling day. If implemented, the disqualification rule now being debated will extend the threshold to bar individuals convicted of terrorism offences, whether that be in the UK or abroad, from running for office at all.
While we must be vigilant against abuses by corrupt foreign states with failing legal systems, the principle of ridding our politics of terrorist extremists is broadly a welcome one.
Report exposes foreign financing of pro-Palestine marches
Having recognised the dangers posed by domestic terror threats, the Government must equally turn its attention to foreign state threats.
A new report has revealed that pro-Palestine marches in Britain are financed by a network of foreign donors and state actors, with methods like cryptocurrency raising “concerns regarding transparency, source-of-fund verification and regulatory oversight”.
The ‘Imported Influence’ report, which had a Parliamentary launch on 8th July describes a global “ecosystem” that “launders extremist narratives into UK mainstream politics, media, academia and public life.”
On any given weekend in our nation’s capital, support for terrorist organisations, calls for an “intifada revolution” and cries for the eradication of the world’s only Jewish state can now be heard. Is it any wonder that a staggering 90% of British Jews say that they would avoid travelling to a city centre if a major anti-Israel demonstration was taking place there?
The impact of malign, foreign entities propping up pro-Palestine activists at the expense of Britain’s safety can no longer be ignored by our leaders. Britain needs action, now.
Some perpetrators of antisemitic attacks face consequences, some don’t
The spread of extremist narratives from abroad has real consequences at home, which is why robust action against antisemitic attacks is equally vital.
Shafiq Rahman, 48, was sentenced today at Reading Crown Court to sixteen months in prison in relation to an incident in April 2026, in which he called an Orthodox Jewish man a “dirty motherf***ing Jew” and threatened to break his jaw.
The sentence reflects numerous offences which Mr Rahman admitted in court, including racially aggravated common assault, fear or provocation of violence by words.
This is the sort of deterrence that we need to see against antisemitic criminals. If you engage in unprovoked, aggressive abuse of someone because they are Jewish, you have a speedy trial and you go to prison.
That is the only way to start to turn the tide of the worst levels of antisemitic hate crime in our lifetimes.
Meanwhile, a woman has been found guilty of an antisemitic attack outside a Jewish school.
Syeda Khatun, 39, from Hackney, racially abused schoolchildren before assaulting a parent.
The CPS Senior Crown Prosecutor said: “This was a shocking attack where Syeda Khatun targeted people with antisemitic abuse in a public place, including children who were waiting outside their school.”
Khatun will be sentenced on 24th July at Thames’ Magistrates’ Court.
In a more disappointing move, two men have been spared jail after abusing a Jewish man for a TikTok video.
The pair pleaded guilty to religiously aggravated intentional harassment, and still, they escape serious consequences.
This sentence has absolutely no deterrent effect.
If anything, it reminds antisemites how little they have to fear from the criminal justice system even now amidst the worst wave of anti-Jewish attacks in modern British history.
It is surely because of outrageously lenient sentences like this one that only 10% of British Jews think that the courts do enough to protect them.
When antisemites are given a slap on the wrist, it sends the message that Jews are fair game. This decision is appalling and will only further erode what little confidence the Jewish community has left in the criminal justice system.
Antisemitic offenders must face punishments that actually reflect the seriousness of their crimes.
Neo-Nazi jailed for thirteen and a half years
A 22 year-old neo-Nazi has been jailed for thirteen and a half years after pleading guilty to charges of attempting to possess a prohibited firearm and ammunition, 10 counts of possessing documents “likely to be useful to terrorists” and, after a retrial, having been found guilty of preparing acts of terrorism.
In 2023, Alfie Coleman was caught by MI5 agents at an east London car park where he was allegedly collecting a pistol and 200 rounds of ammunition in preparation for a mass gun attack.
A police raid of his home reportedly found a collection of knives, a rock decorated with a swastika and a black sun flag commonly associated with neo-Nazism.
You can read more here.
Priest arrested for alleged Palestine Action support
Bringing antisemitic offenders to justice is only part of the answer. Britain must also confront those who legitimise and champion the extremist movements that fuel hatred.
Reverend Dr Sue Parfitt, an 84-year-old Anglican priest who has a long record of criminal activism, has been arrested over this past weekend for allegedly supporting Palestine Action.
Rev. Dr Parfitt has been arrested around twenty-eight times since 2019, mainly for climate protests. On 5th July 2025, hours after Palestine Action’s proscription came into force at midnight, she was arrested for allegedly showing support for the organisation. She was one of 29 arrested.
More recently, in April 2026, she was reportedly arrested along with 500 others at a protest also allegedly in support of Palestine Action.
You can read about her history of political activism here.
It shows just how absent deterrence is from our criminal justice system if somebody can engage in the same activity over and over again – including allegedly showing support for a proscribed terrorist organisation – seemingly without serious consequence.
Indoctrination against Zionism sweeps across London
A paid advertising space in one of TfL’s Underground train carriages has been hijacked by activists, displaying a violent call to destroy the world’s only Jewish state.
The organisation behind the unauthorised poster, Direct Action Training, encourages Britons sympathetic to “Palestinian liberation” to register for training to “dismantle the Zionist supply chain” in the UK.
Its website includes posters which urge supporters to carry out potentially criminal property damage, urging them to “Pick up a sledgehammer” in Manchester or “Fire that extinguisher” in London.
Hateful rhetoric serves no purpose other than to demonise Jewish Londoners. It has no place in this country.
Separately, a member of the public came across information leaflets titled ‘Palestine for Kids’ on Guildford Street, London. They are authored by Actions with Impact, a group affiliated with the BDS movement. You can view them here.
Disturbingly, the leaflet describes the Filton 24 – a group of activists affiliated with Palestine Action, who orchestrated the 2024 Elbit Systems factory break-in – as “brave people who are in jail for trying to help save people in Palestine.”
Palestine Action is a proscribed terrorist organisation under UK law. Four activists involved in the break-in were recently sentenced to a collective total of more than 25 years in prison for criminal damage and, in one case, grievous bodily harm when Samuel Corner reportedly fractured a female police officer’s spine after striking her with a sledgehammer.
The leaflet also calls for children to boycott companies who “support Israel to hurt Palestinians.”
More than four-fifths (84%) of British Jews tell us in our polling that boycotts of businesses selling Israeli products constitute intimidation. Asking children to take part in this risks feeding exclusionary attitudes towards Jews.
Ultimately, boiling down a complex foreign policy issue into a colourful leaflet for British children is not informative – it is irresponsible.
Parliament scrutinises discrimination against Jews in the arts
Last week, MPs participated in a Westminster Hall debate last week on freedom in the arts.
During the debate, Baroness Claire Fox quoted CAA: “Discrimination against Jewish people has become normalised in the arts: it’s now simply part of doing business as a Jewish creative in modern Britain”.
Let’s look at what is really going on. A majority of British Jews see no long-term future in the UK, and 96% feel that Jewish people in Britain are less safe compared to before October 2023.
The time for words has passed. The Jewish community needs action to stamp out hatred and make Britain safe for Jews again – that includes in the arts.
Take a look at other excerpts from the debate here.
Football fans push antisemitic conspiracies during World Cup
Unfortunately, this campaign of scapegoating and hostility towards Jews has spilled over into the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Fans of one World Cup loser after another are blaming – you guessed it – the Jews for their team’s defeats.
In The Hague, following the defeat of Morocco to France in a World Cup Quarter Final game last night, videos have surfaced which, according to Dutch newspaper 𝘋𝘦 𝘛𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘢𝘧, appear to show supporters of the Moroccan team chanting the slogans: “Alle joden zijn homo’s” and “Hamas Hamas, joden aan het gas”, which translate to “All Jews are gay!” [using a homophobic slur] and “Hamas! Hamas! Send the Jews back to the gas chambers!”
Remember the Maccabi Tel Aviv ban, when those supporting the ban in the UK (including West Midlands Police) tried to portray an antisemitic pogrom in Amsterdam as somehow being the fault of the Jews?
This was not the only group of supporters who blamed the Jews for their team’s World Cup loss.
Following Egypt’s loss against Argentina in a Round of 16 match, a Bangladesh-based user reportedly edited the Wikipedia page of referee François Letexier to indicate that he was Jewish. Mr Letexier has faced online harassment from fans over decisions that he made during the game which are perceived by some to have favoured Argentina. The reference was eventually removed from the website due to lack of evidence.
An Egyptian Football Association official reportedly fanned the flames by suggesting that Egypt’s elimination was driven by biased refereeing due to coach Hossam Hassan’s public support for Palestine.
An Egyptian YouTuber reportedly posted a video to his 300,000 followers claiming that Egypt had “lost to Zionism”, citing Argentine President Javier Milei’s public support for Israel.
Good sportsmanship and grace in defeat have given way to antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Even in this day and age, so many communities rush to blame the Jews for their misfortunes.
That is not what the World Cup is supposed to be about.
A night of Jewish pride, music and conversation
Last week, CAA hosted an intimate evening of Jewish pride, music, and conversation.
The soprano we hosted had enjoyed a career which took her to concert halls and theatres around the world, showcasing her remarkable talent. This all changed after 7th October 2023, when her refusal to stay silent in the face of hatred and lies resulted in her increasingly being shunned and excluded from the profession she loves.
The arts are becoming an increasingly hostile space for Jewish artists, and this performer’s testimony is no different. CAA is dedicated to defending those standing firm against hate in the arts; this is why we hosted the event, and we are proud to do so.
On the evening, we were privileged to hear a carefully curated programme of operatic arias as well as beloved Jewish melodies.
It was an evening of hope. In conversation with our Director of Investigations and Enforcement, Stephen Silverman, our guest shared optimism that one day this unprecedented wave of hatred will pass. She hopes to return to the stage, accepted not just as an exceptionally gifted performer, but as a proud Jew.
We are grateful to those of you who chose to join us to show your support for Jews in the arts – which they so desperately need in these times.
If you would like to hear about future events, click here and add ‘Events” to your list of interests.
Multi-faceted action is needed to defeat the scourge of antisemitism
The Government’s two major actions today – banning the IRGC and announcing the disbursement of funds for the Jewish community – cannot be taken in isolation.
CAA has long called for politicians and the police to change their approach to tackling extremism in this country, of which Jews often bear the brunt.
If investment in protecting British Jews is not accompanied by robust action against the propagation of hate on our streets, schools, universities and public institutions, its impact will be wasted.
