Can you paralyse for Palestine?
Six protesters affiliated with Palestine Action have been cleared in Woolwich Crown Court of aggravated burglary in connection with a break-in at a UK subsidiary of Elbit Systems, an Israeli defence company.
Charlotte Head, 29, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, were also charged with criminal damage and violent disorder but the jury reached partial or no verdicts on those counts.
The Elbit Systems building near Bristol was targeted in a raid in the morning of 6th August 2024. A police officer was struck with a sledgehammer during the incident and left with serious spinal injuries.
The incident took place almost a year before Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organisation.
This is what Britain has come to. You can ram a factory’s doors with a truck. You can smash everything and attack security. You can break a police officer’s back with a sledgehammer when she is on the floor. And you can walk away scot-free if you did it ‘for Palestine’.
How far does this impunity go? Can you paralyse for Palestine? Can you put someone in a coma for Palestine? Can you kill for Palestine? With a verdict like this, how long before we find out?
Pressure was put on the jury. They even complained to the judge about the posters encircling the court building. But the judge told them to keep calm and carry on.
The CPS has confirmed that it will be retrying the case. We are also exploring legal options to ensure that justice is done.
A new and impaired TfL
Welcome to London, where your morning commute may include a man shouting age-old conspiracy theories about Jews, money and power.
This took place on a recent morning on the London Underground’s Piccadilly line.
Why are passengers having to put up with appalling outbursts like this?
Jews should not have to worry about being accosted on public transport, and ugly scenes like this are becoming all too common.
If you have information about the man in the video below, please e-mail [email protected].
Met apologises for poor protest policing
The Metropolitan Police has admitted that it failed to protect Jews during a recent protest outside Miznon, an Israeli restaurant in Notting Hill.
While an apology is welcome, it does not make up for allowing extremists to run rampant on our capital’s streets week in, week out, for more than two years.
Furthermore, it only comes after 89 MPs and peers wrote a letter to Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley in which they expressed their “extreme concern” over the handling of the Miznon protests. The letter rightly noted how Miznon had been “targeted by extremists on seven occasions since August last year” and how a protest on 9th January amounted to “violent disorder”.
On the priorities of the Met during the large-scale Palestine protests, the letter added that it “wrongly prioritises the right to protest over the rights of the Jewish and Israeli community to go about their daily life without facing harassment, intimidation, the threat of serious disorder and damage to property”.
Is it any wonder that our polling reveals that only 5% of British Jews have confidence in Sir Mark’s leadership, and a clear majority – 60% – believe that he should step down?
A serious overhaul is clearly needed in how Palestine protests are policed. The Met no longer has anywhere to hide.
Met Police fires one of its own over alleged antisemitism
A Detective Sergeant at the Metropolitan Police has been dismissed, without notice, for social media comments on the situation in Gaza, some of which were allegedly hateful towards Jews.
The hearing found that the politicised nature of the posts, given her role as a police officer, “could therefore undermine public trust and confidence in the police service discharging its duties in a fair and consistent way across all of London’s communities.”
You can read more about the case here.
Gaslighting Jewish members of CPS hate crime panels
Jews participating on Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) review panels have come forward to say that they do not feel that antisemitism is being taken seriously by the CPS.
Some of the claims reported by The JC include:
- Witnessing antisemitism being dismissed as a “political view”.
- In challenging antisemitism-related decisions, a Jewish representative – said to be the only one in the area – felt as though they were “whistling into the wind”.
- A lack of transparency over how decisions are made.
One individual even went as far as to say that “the Jewish community does not have the protection of the law anymore and that is very worrying.”
You can read more about the revelations and the response from the CPS here.
The CPS must wake up and face reality. Only 7% of British Jews think that it does enough to protect British Jews, according to our polling.
This is a dire state of affairs, and it has been for quite some time. The CPS has to demonstrate that it takes antisemitism as seriously as any other form of racism, or it risks irreparably losing the confidence of British Jews.
New ‘Anti-Zionist Movement’ to be investigated by police
Birmingham was back on our radar this week, this time with the launch of a group called the Anti-Zionist Movement.
The organisers of the launch event openly said that it is for those obsessed with conspiracy theories about “Jewish supremacy” and those who are “pro armed resistance”.
What’s more, the event was being hosted at The Old Print Works, a charity boasting that it is building “a diverse and welcoming community”.
We called on the Charity Commission to intervene.
The Old Printworks then issued a statement to announce that the event had been cancelled, but the Charity Commission has announced that it will nonetheless open an investigation into the charity Make It Sustainable, which owns The Old Print Works.
Meanwhile, West Midlands Police also announced they will launch an investigation into the so-called Anti-Zionist Movement, noting the “potential offences within a social media message which has been used to promote the event” as the basis of their criminal investigation. It is understood that Latifa Abouchakra, a panellist due to appear at the event who is a presenter on the Iran propaganda channel Press TV, has been arrested. Another individual was also arrested.
Unperturbed, the event organisers still went ahead, in a new location above a restaurant in Birmingham.
This group and their extremist rhetoric has no place in modern Britain. Organisations which are willing to facilitate such horrendous displays are just as culpable.
We will be keeping a close eye on both investigations.
We must challenge the malign influence of the antisemitic Iranian regime
At a “community bazaar” held at the Islamic Centre of England, some of the items for sale reportedly included phone cases featuring a silhouette of Hassan Nasrallah, the assassinated leader of the proscribed antisemitic terrorist organisation Hizballah, and stickers featuring various Hizballah commanders.
Hizballah is an antisemitic genocidal terrorist organisation backed by Iran.
Also said to be for sale were stickers depicting terrorist mastermind Qasem Soleimani, an assassinated commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Terrorist paraphernalia has no place being sold in Britain.
This is far from the first controversy surrounding the Centre, which is located just minutes from several synagogues in the area, and you can read more about it here.
This Centre has shown time and time again that it doesn’t just tolerate extremism, but hosts it.
A Charity Commission investigation was opened into the Centre in 2023, stemming from several concerning reports of inflammatory rhetoric towards Jews.
Another investigation has been opened into the Centre, but this isn’t good enough.
Its doors need to be closed permanently.
Meanwhile, more than 100 parliamentarians have called on the Government to proscribe the IRGC as a matter of urgency.
The IRGC is the paramilitary arm of the Iranian regime. Like the theocratic government, the IRGC is a relentless promoter of violence and antisemitic hatred in the Middle East, and has murdered untold thousands of Iranians fighting for freedom.
The letter, signed by peers and MPs from across the political spectrum, states: “Proscription would send a clear and necessary message: that the UK will not tolerate terrorism, antisemitism, or state directed violence, and that we stand with the people of Iran who are bravely fighting for democracy.”
We agree. You can sign our petition now at antisemitism.org/BanTheIRGC.
Yesterday, protesters against the Iranian regime and the IRGC were out on the streets of London.
Elie spoke to them about why they are making their voices heard.
Where did we lunch and learn this week?
We regularly deliver lunch and learn sessions to Jewish societies around the country.
This past week, we were thrilled to join Leeds’ Jewish Society.
Educating and empowering younger generations of British Jews is a vital responsibility. We consider it a privilege to be able to connect and inspire students in the Jewish community.
If you are interested in one of our sessions, please contact us at [email protected].
Help us educate Jewish students!
Are you passionate about education and supporting young people?
Do you want to help combat antisemitism and empower Jewish students?
Campaign Against Antisemitism is seeking a Campus and School Educator to work directly with students across the UK, delivering educational sessions and supporting those facing antisemitism.
For more information and to apply, click here.
This Valentine’s Day, make it special
Our classic unisex hoodie is back and making a statement:
I ❤️ My Jewish Boyfriend/Girlfriend.
Wear your love proudly.
Get yours now in time for Valentine’s Day at antisemitism.org/shop.
A survivor of the Holocaust and 7th October who refused to give flowers to Hitler has died.
We are saddened by the passing of Holocaust survivor Yocheved Gold, who died last week at the age of 102. May her memory be a blessing.
Born and raised in Germany, Yocheved Gold witnessed the Nazis implement increasingly antisemitic laws. As a child, she attended the Berlin Olympics opening ceremony in 1936, where she refused to join the others in giving Hitler flowers.
She saw the horrors of Kristallnacht, and survived the war.
She was then able to make aliyah to Israel on a youth immigration scheme, where she married and built a successful, happy life.
On 7th October 2023, at 100 years old, Yocheved once again faced unimaginable horrors as she was forced to hide in a safe room for 30 hours whilst Hamas carried out their atrocities in her kibbutz.
Yocheved survived repeated massacres of the Jewish people, making her life story an incredible testament to Jewish courage and resilience.
We take inspiration from her incredible biography. No matter what antisemitic challenges come our way, we hope to emulate her fortitude and resolve and do her and her remarkable generation proud.
