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The real destination of ‘Free Palestine’

A crowd gathered on Thursday evening outside the Israeli Embassy in London for a vigil organised by Campaign Against Antisemitism to honour two diplomats who were brutally murdered on Wednesday night in Washington DC.

Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, who both worked for the Israeli Embassy in the United States, were shot outside Capital Jewish Museum as they were leaving an event.

The shooting, by a suspect who shouted “Free Palestine!” at the scene and who later reportedly confessed to police, has sent shockwaves around the world.

The growing extremism of the ‘Free Palestine’ movement has been a ticking time bomb which has been waiting to explode.

This is what they mean when they yell ‘Globalise the Intifada’ on the streets of capital cities, on our campuses and at trade union meetings.

Addressing the crowd in London, Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “They were a couple, and had plans to travel to Jerusalem next week, where Yaron intended to propose to Sarah. That is what could have been. That is what should have been. Instead, their lives were stolen, and now, that proposal will never come. The family they would have built will never be realised. They were gunned down at the very gates of a Jewish museum — a place meant to preserve memory and culture — by a man shouting ‘Free Palestine.’ This was not peace. It was violence. This was not protest. It was murder.”

Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis then addressed the crowd: “We will never lose our hope, and we have every reason to be filled with hope, and that is because we know that the peace we are committed to, the justice that we want to see in the world, will ultimately triumph over those who seek to kill and to murder.”

A statement from Tzipi Hotovely, Ambassador of Israel to the Court of St. James’s, was read on her behalf, as she was unable to join for security reasons: “At a time when tensions remain high, and Jewish communities are feeling vulnerable, this incident is a sobering reminder of the threats we face. All diplomats, and representatives of embassies across the world, should be able to work without fear for their lives or safety, as they work to achieve greater cooperation amongst nations. Last night’s events are a harsh reminder of the virulent antisemitism we are still seeing, in the US, here in the UK, and across the world.”

A two-minute silence for the victims was then observed, following which the crowd was led in song and prayer by Cantor Aaron Isaac. Attendees then sang the British national anthem and the Israeli national anthem.

We are locked in a battle for the soul of the West.

It’s long past time that our leaders and police chiefs here in Britain woke up and took firm action, otherwise these will not be the last lives taken by these fanatical extremists dressed up as peaceniks.

May their memory be a blessing.

Kneecap member charged following action by Campaign Against Antisemitism

A member of the Belfast rap trio Kneecap has been charged with a terrorism offence.

Liam O’Hanna, 27, was charged by post with displaying a flag in support of Hizballah, a proscribed terrorist organisation, at a concert at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town on 21st November last year.

Mr O’Hanna is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court next month.

Footage of the concert in question appeared to show a member of the band, draped in a Hizballah flag, shouting to the crowd, “Up Hamas, up Hizballah.”

In a statement following considerable backlash, the group said: “Let us be unequivocal: we do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hizballah.”

Yet just one day after the charge was made public, Kneecap performed at the 100 Club in London. During the show, Mr O’Hanna claimed the group was being used as a “scapegoat” to avoid “talking about the real issue”.

His transparent deflection tactics may fool some within Kneecap’s unquestioning fanbase – but not us.

Shame on the 100 Club for putting profit before principle by hosting the band so soon after the charge.

Those who continue to associate themselves with Kneecap make clear that they care little for ethics or the concerns of Jews worldwide, for whom the threats posed by Hamas and Hizballah are not theoretical – they are existential.

Despite all of this, the group was still allowed to headline at Wide Awake Festival at Brockwell Park on Friday.

Following our calls on festival organisers to cancel Kneecap’s performance, Wide Awake Festival said in a statement that it was looking forward to “staging another unforgettable event”.

Those who oppose extremism will not forget this. This decision was a disgrace.

A welcome development

Abu Wadei, whose real name is understood to be Mosab Al Qasas, has been sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment.

He was sentenced following his guilty plea to attempting to enter the country on 6th March without leave or valid entry clearance.

The jailing of Mr Al Qasas after we revealed that he was part of a violent Hamas-endorsed unit is an extremely welcome development. However, this is only in respect to charges relating to immigration breaches.

We have called for the Crown Prosecution Service to bring terrorism charges against him as well, as we believe that he has committed serious offences and that it is in the interests of national security to bring a prosecution.

Failure to do so risks signalling that Britain is a safe haven for terrorists. For now, he is in prison, but we need clarity on what happens once he has served his term: will he be deported or will he be at liberty in Britain?

Will he face justice for his potential involvement in terrorist activity abroad, or will he walk free?

The general public and British Jews in particular must urgently be told the answers to these questions.

The Crown Prosecution Service must bring terrorism charges against him.

Are Hamas’ lawyers acting with honesty and integrity?

We have reported Franck Magennis and Daniël Michaël Grütters to the Bar Standards Board (BSB).

Mr Magennis and Mr Grütters are barristers who are working for Hamas on its desperate bid to get the group deproscribed in the UK.

Upon reviewing the application for deproscription, it is evident that Mr Magennis and Mr Grütters knowingly or recklessly presented, on behalf of Hamas, a false and misleading description of the 7th October 2023 massacre.

The Hamas false version of events denies that Hamas carried out a deliberate massacre of civilians in Israel, despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary — this deeply offensive assertion evokes Holocaust denial, in that it denies the veracity of a barbaric, deliberate mass-murder of Jews which is the subject of comprehensive, incontrovertible evidence.

It is accordingly a particularly reprehensible assertion for a barrister to make, even on instructions, knowing it to be untrue.

Rather than being incidental to the application, the Hamas false version of the events is central to the application.

Mr Magennis and Mr Grütters have knowingly prepared and presented a submission to the Secretary of State containing at its core a set of egregious falsehoods, which we charge breaches the requirement that all barristers “must act with honesty, and with integrity”.

The BSB must now open an investigation into Mr Magennis and Mr Grütters.

We have already reported Hamas’ solicitor, Fahad Ansari, to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

We are hiring!

Can you write good copy? Can you turn academic research into impactful messaging? Do you want to help combat rising antisemitism?

We’re looking for a Communications and Research Manager to join us in the fight against antisemitism.

For more information and to apply, visit antisemitism.org/jobs.

Are you a medical professional, or a recent patient?

We are collecting testimonies on antisemitism in the medical field.

We are interested to hear from doctors and other medical practitioners, staff, patients and anyone else who has encountered antisemitism in medicine over the past year and a half.

If you have been affected, please e-mail us at [email protected] with the subject: “Medical”.

It is vital that victims make their voices heard. We cannot raise awareness of antisemitism in medicine without your help.

We understand the significance of professional and privacy concerns, which is why victims trust us to amplify their voices and get justice. Please do not hesitate to contact us.

Last week, the true destination of the ‘Free Palestine’ movement was revealed to the world. Jews across the globe were left reeling in horror as they were faced with the news of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky’s murder.

It is times like this when we are reminded of just how vital the fight against antisemitism is for the future of British Jews and indeed the West.

This is a battle that we cannot lose. We will continue to do everything we can to fight for our future.

Photo credit: Campaign Against Antisemitism

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In every generation, they will boycott the Jews

On 1st April 1933, the Nazis announced their boycott of Jewish businesses and professionals.

SA officers stood outside Jewish-owned businesses, intimidating shopkeepers and customers alike, and signs were posted that read, “The Jews are our misfortune” and “Don’t buy from Jews.”

The Nazi Government encouraged Germans to shame non-Jews who continued to patronise Jewish businesses. While the boycott lasted only a few days, it marked the beginning of the systematic targeting and discrimination of Jews in Nazi Germany.

Last week, 92 years later, we set about to educate the public about this incident. We offered kosher snacks – Jewish products – to members of the public, and engaged them in dialogue about the impact of historical and present-day boycotts on the Jewish community.

As we read in the Passover Haggadah, in every generation the enemies of the Jews rise up against them. While the nature of boycotts may change over time, one thing remains unchanged: the harm that they inflict on the Jewish community.

Our latest polling reveals a striking reality. More than four-fifths (84%) of British Jews agree that boycotts of Israeli artists, academics or businesses selling Israeli products constitute intimidation.

While most passersby were receptive and eager to learn more, there were those who took the opportunity to hurl antisemitic vitriol and abuse at us.

The full video can be watched here.

An extremely alarming decision

Last week, two men were released on bail in London after being arrested for allegedly being members of Hizballah, with one of them accused of “preparing acts of terrorism”.

The Met Police disclosed that they are free to roam in London on bail until July. This decision is extremely alarming.

Hizballah is a proscribed antisemitic genocidal terror group, which seeks the murder of all Jews, and has carried out terrorist attacks against Jews all over the world, from Burgas to Buenos Aires. In 2015, the authorities discovered a cache of three metric tonnes of Hizballah explosives in London.

Given the gravity of the allegations in this matter, we are asking the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, to intervene to ensure that Londoners are being adequately protected.

Meanwhile, the Met, led by Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, has also announced its intention to cut 1,700 police staff positions to plug a £260m ‘black hole’.

Of course one saving might have been banning the weekly Palestine marches, which have cost the taxpayer some £55 million, accounting for over 70,000 police officer shifts.

Will the Palestine protesters be footing that bill, or are all Londoners simply going to have to do with less policing because of their intimidatory antics, which the Met’s leadership has opted to indulge for over a year and a half – and counting?

Do you know this man?

We are offering £5,000 for information leading to a conviction after an alleged assault in Manchester.

On Monday 3rd February, an identifiably Jewish man was walking in Exchange Square in Central Manchester. At approximately 13:30, Greater Manchester Police received reports of a violent assault.

The victim was allegedly called “a murderer” and accused of being “responsible for the war in Gaza” and was allegedly physically attacked.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has been supporting the victim.

Full details of the incident can be read here.

Anyone with information should contact police on 101 quoting incident number 001613 of 03/02/2025 or e-mail us at [email protected].

For details regarding the reward, please see antisemitism.org/terms.

This is what Sir Sadiq Khan said on the occasion of Eid. What will he say for Passover?

We are hearing considerable discontent in the Jewish community about London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan’s Eid al-Fitr message, in which he suggested that the actions of the Jewish state represent the “worst of humanity”.

Whilst doing so, he failed to mention Hamas, which brought about this war in the worst antisemitic atrocity since the Holocaust, used Hamas-issued casualty figures, and overlooked all sorts of other conflicts afflicting the Muslim world, such as in Syria and Yemen.

This is a reprehensibly divisive statement for a festive message in one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world.

Sir Sadiq is Mayor at a time when London is experiencing the worst levels of antisemitism in living memory. He barely ever mentions that, let alone taking any action to address it.

This is perhaps why the vast majority – 85% – of British Jews are dissatisfied with his performance in relation to the Jewish community since 7th October 2023, according to our representative polling.

It will be interesting to see what, if anything, the Mayor of London says to the Jewish community on the occasion of Passover.

It has been one month since Ofcom wrote to the BBC

Last week marked a full month since Lord Grade, Chair of Ofcom, wrote to the BBC regarding its programme Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone.

The so-called documentary, which was tantamount to a Hamas propaganda film, and the revelation that licence fee money was paid to a Hamas family, has plunged the BBC into a national scandal. Ofcom warned the BBC that it was scrutinising the broadcaster’s internal review carefully.

It has now been several weeks since the internal review – which is effectively the BBC marking its own homework – was announced, and that review remains incomplete, which is unacceptable given the seriousness and simplicity of the issues at hand. The BBC cannot be allowed to kick this issue into the long grass.

Our letter to Ofcom has called for an end to Ofcom’s “BBC First” approach, which has plainly failed, and calling for an independent investigation.

The BBC cannot credibly investigate itself.

Campaign Against Antisemitism commissioned a YouGov poll which found that 57% of the British public support an independent investigation into this matter, while only 21% do not. There is clear public demand for accountability.

Ofcom must not delay any further and must exercise its statutory powers to intervene.

Speaking of Gaza and the media, the Hamas ‘health ministry’, whose fatality numbers seem to be treated as gospel by the BBC and others, has now quietly deleted thousands of names from its causality figures.

These were people whom the ministry had given actual names to entice lazy and gullible Western journalists.

If only those outlets had some way of verifying whether the claims made by a murderous terrorist organisation were reliable and accurate?

BBC Verify was established for just this sort of fact-checking – which ordinary journalists used to do. But BBC Verify, it seems, is just as unfit for purpose as the rest of the BBC’s Middle East coverage operation.

\We need an independent investigation into BBC bias in its reporting on matters of Jewish interest.

Until then, the licence fee should be suspended.

One final revelation relating to the BBC: On April Fool’s Day last week, we obtained a version of the BBC helpline voicemail.

It’s rather revealing. Have a listen here.

April Fools’ aside, the biggest joke is the BBC’s coverage of matters relating to Jewish concern.

It’s time to suspend the licence fee pending an investigation. Add your name at suspendthelicencefee.com.

Two-thirds of British Jews experience antisemitism at work

A recent survey conducted by Work Avenue in conjunction with the Board of Deputies and JLC found that 64% of Jewish employees have encountered antisemitism in the workplace at least occasionally.

This is absolutely appalling.

Is it any surprise that a majority of British Jews hide their Judaism due to antisemitism, according to our polling?

Employers have a duty to ensure that all staff are able to work in an environment free of racism, intimidation and abuse.

If any employees feel that their employer has directly or indirectly failed to live up to this responsibility, please contact us in confidence at [email protected].

In every generation, our enemies rise up to destroy us.

That is what Jews around the world will read on Seder night this weekend.

The past year and a half – including the enduring captivity of hostages, the Iran-Hamas war on Israel and shocking levels of global antisemitism – have once more painfully reaffirmed that dictum.

At Campaign Against Antisemitism, we are continuing to do everything we can to fight this evil, whether through pioneering litigation and victim-support, innovative communication campaigns, groundbreaking polling and policy actions and far-reaching educational initiatives and work with students.

As we approach the festival of Pesach, any contribution to the fight against the modern-day Pharaohs who are persecuting the Jewish people will be gratefully received.

Support our work here!

We wish the Jewish community a Happy Pesach, and our Christian supporters a happy Easter!

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Gang sentenced for kidnapping of Itay Kashti

Faiz Shah, 23, Mohammad Comrie, 23, and Elijah Ogunnubi-Sime, 20, have been sentenced to eight years and one month in prison after pleading guilty to manipulating Itay Kashti, an Israeli Jew, into traveling hundreds of miles to Wales, where they kidnapped him, handcuffing him to a radiator and beating him.

Mr Kashti said that the incident “felt like my own personal October 7,” in reference to the Hamas massacre in Israel on 7th October 2023 and the terror group’s seizing of hostages, many of whom still remain in captivity in unspeakable conditions.

The gang was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court yesterday, when Judge Catherine Richards said that the kidnapping was “motivated by events taking place elsewhere in the world,” adding: “He was an entirely innocent, hard-working music producer that you had identified as a victim based on your understanding of his wealth and his Jewish heritage.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “This is an absolutely horrific crime. It is an enormous relief that Mr Kashti was able to escape, given that similar abductions of Jews from France to Gaza have ended in murder. This is what ‘globalising the Intifada’ looks like: Jews being subjected to violence motivated by religious hatred. We are grateful to the police in Wales and to the court for taking a stand. This sentence is a message both to prospective perpetrators of such heinous crimes and also to the authorities elsewhere in Britain, who have turned too much of a blind eye to incitement to violence against Jews.”

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The Holocaust: Not for sale

After a recent antisemitic tirade on the social media platform X by the musician and fashion designer Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, he launched a plain t-shirt emblazoned with a swastika – the only product for sale on his website, yeezy.com.

This is not a borderline case. There can be no debate about Ye: he clearly hates Jews.

This isn’t Ye’s first rampage against Jews. In 2022, Adidas was forced to end its partnership with him following our petition, which quickly gained over 180,000 signatures and helped the company to find the wherewithal to end its lucrative partnership.

Shopify has since shut down the store, but what are the repercussions in the world of entertainment when an antisemite tries to make a profit from the Holocaust?

Ye’s numerous, hate-filled posts included the declaration that he was a Nazi and support for Hitler. He also told his followers: “You have to put your Jews in their place and make them into your slaves.”

Whilst some have called out Ye for his repulsive behaviour, we need action, not just words.

The entertainment industry must stop working with him and hosting him at its events.

Taking a stand

In response, The Houmous Foundation has launched a website that mirrors the look and feel of Ye’s, with one important difference; instead of selling a t-shirt with a swastika, they are selling one with a Star of David. The Foundation is generously donating the profits of the sales to Campaign Against Antisemitism.

The t-shirts are available at not-yeezy.com.

As our Chief Executive, Gideon Falter, wrote for an article in LBC last week, “For the famously vocal world of entertainment, the hushed response to Ye declaring that he is a Nazi and that Jewish people should all be slaves is disturbing…It would be nice to see the eagerly virtue-signalling celebrities of the world wearing one — it might be easier since they seem to have trouble speaking out.”

It is shocking that anyone would want to make or wear an item of clothing that displays the symbol of those responsible for the industrial murder of six million innocent Jewish men, women and children.

Yet, this is the reality we face today.

From merchandise to artefacts

A Scottish auction house recently doubled down after pressure to cancel its sale of Nazi memorabilia last Wednesday.

McTear’s in Glasgow initially defended the sale, claiming: “It is important to note that these historical artefacts provide a tangible link to an important – albeit extremely dark– era in our history that should never be forgotten.”

As Stephen Silverman, our Director of Investigations and Enforcement, pointed out on BBC Reporting Scotland: “There is a place for items such as these and it is a museum or a Holocaust exhibition, where they can be displayed properly, responsibly and with the proper context.”

Following public outcry, McTear’s has now confirmed that it will no longer sell Third Reich items.

Labour: Out with the old

It’s not just businesses that are exploiting the Holocaust.

Recently, footage was published of Jeremy Corbyn comparing people in Gaza to survivors of concentration camps in 1945 in a blatant comparison of Israel to Nazis.

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is an example of antisemitism.

Back in 2018, when Mr Corbyn and his far-left faction of the then-Labour Party resisted the adoption of the Definition, we argued that it was because many of them believed that they had breached it in the past and would in the future if they expressed their real views. In the end, the pressure to adopt the Definition was too great because it was manifestly the right thing to do, particularly given the scandal of anti-Jewish racism under Mr Corbyn’s leadership.

Now, as a member of the new Alliance group and unshackled by the Definition or Labour’s rules, Mr Corbyn is once again able to say what he really thinks, and it isn’t pretty.

But he isn’t the only one crossing the line.

Andrew Gwynne, the MP for Gorton and Denton, was sacked from his position as Health Minister and suspended from Labour by Sir Keir Starmer after alleged WhatsApp messages were published.

In the exchange, Mr Gwynne allegedly described Jewish-American psychologist Marshall Rosenberg as sounding “too Jewish” and “too militaristic”. He also reportedly asked if Mr Rosenberg was in Mossad.

We commend the swift action taken by the Party against Mr Gwynne, but this incident highlights the urgency that is still needed in rooting out antisemitism.

We will be watching to see the outcome of the Party’s investigation.

This is just embarrassing

UN representative Francesca Albanese has a long history of inflammatory rhetoric about the Jewish community, but she has always denied antisemitism when faced with allegations.

In the latest chapter of Ms Albanese’s controversies, she was called out in an interview for appearing to endorse a social media post comparing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.

Her response? She outright denied that she made such a comparison, despite her response to the post being available on X for the world to see, adding that even if she did make such a comparison, it would not have been antisemitic.

Ms Albanese’s senior UN position continues to shame the organisation.

A case of extremism

A series of horrifying posts have been discovered on a social media account that appears to belong to Dr Rahmeh Aladwan, an orthopaedic doctor.

These posts would be appalling from anyone, let alone a doctor.

Healthcare professionals have a duty of care to ensure that all patients are looked after and treated equally, regardless of their background. Dr Aladwan’s social media activity, including a now-deleted video that mocks recently released hostages held by Hamas terrorists and encourages “Zios” to “come after” her, sends a clear message to her patients.

In a recent article, Sabrina Miller reported on several shocking social media posts allegedly shared by Dr Aladwan.

  • In a reel entitled ‘Resist’, alongside an upside down red triangle icon, she wrote: “We never condemn the Palestinians. We back their struggle, including armed struggle.” In recent months, the inverted red triangle and its emoji variant have been used by some anti-Israel activists to signal support for proscribed terrorist organisations such as Hamas, inspired by the appearance of the symbol in Hamas propaganda videos to indicate targets for attack.
  • Captioning a photo of a Hamas gunman: “A picture of AlQassam a day keeps the Z’s [Zionists] locked away.”
  • In reference to the antisemitic Amsterdam pogrom of November last year, she posted a hand-drawn graph with the words “f*** around” along one axis, and “find out” along the other. The caption reads: “You provoke. You pushed. You prodded. You play victim. You deserve to pay. You parasitic pariah. Settlers should feel welcome nowhere. And if they tried that crap in the UK, they’ll be met with resistance too. Seems justice is found on the streets.”

An individual who openly expresses views like these has no place in the medical profession. Such contemptible behaviour is incompatible with the values we expect of doctors and nurses.

We will be writing to the General Medical Council to investigate urgently.

Do you know this man?

We are offering £5,000 for information leading to a conviction after an alleged assault in Manchester.

On Monday 3rd February, an identifiably Jewish man was walking in Exchange Square in Central Manchester. At approximately 13:30, Greater Manchester Police received reports of an assault. The incident has been recorded as a hate crime.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has been supporting the victim. He told us that the alleged incident occurred on his way back from attending a prayer service.

“I was hurrying along checking my phone when I felt someone running up behind me,” he told us. “In the split second before, I gripped my phone tightly in case someone would try to grab it and did not have a chance to protect myself. I was then hit extremely forcefully with what felt like a bottle around the right side of my face, instantly shattering my glasses and knocking me off balance. I thought I could have been blinded in my right eye, put my hand to my eye and saw blood coming from the area.”

In a photo seen by us, the victim’s eye is swollen shut and severely bruised.

“My immediate reaction was to get away before being further attacked, and I ran across the road to a crowd of people shouting for help,” he continued. “A couple of bystanders pointed out who had just attacked me and where he was heading, whereupon I followed with one of the members of the public. The assailant then jumped onto a nearby tram. I had just called 999 and told them I had been attacked and was visibly Jewish, and that the suspect was on a specific tram that was going to head off shortly. They told me not to get on the tram and they would follow it.”

However, the victim was not convinced that anyone at Victoria – the next tram station – had been alerted. He said the assailant got off the tram at the next stop and fled the scene, which has apparently been substantiated by subsequent CCTV footage.

The victim continued: “At that point, I was literally stood around on my own, no support and just waiting for help to arrive. I couldn’t see well. Police turned up within ten minutes to see me and I was treated by a paramedic who also arrived at the scene and flushed my eye with saline to wash away any fragments.”

One member of the public did get on the tram but returned to the site a short while later. He recounted to the victim the alleged attacker had shouted that he was “a murderer” and that he was “responsible for the war in Gaza”.

The victim said: “I didn’t get a clear view of the attacker given my glasses were smashed and I was in a daze and could not recall what he was shouting clearly. I was taken to the police station and gave a statement that took a couple of hours, which was still given whilst I was reeling from the blow. I then went to get scans of my eye for damage, as advised by the paramedic.”

He was informed that he had abrasions in his eye. He had also begun noting black dots in his vision, which still remain today.

“The bruising spread all around my eye and I sustained cuts to my upper cheek and side of my face,” he added. “I’ve since been to the GP for nausea and dizziness and a second scan of the eye. I’m apprehensive walking around and now get nervous anyone could attack me at any time. I remain very traumatised by what happened despite the physical injuries healing slowly.”

The victim said that now, his main concern is that it has been nearly two weeks since the alleged incident and the suspect remains unidentified.

Anyone with information should contact police on 101 quoting incident number 001613 of 03/02/2025 or e-mail us at [email protected].

*See antisemitism.org/terms

500 days

Today marks 500 days since Hamas’ barbaric terrorist attack on Israel on 7th October 2023, in which it took over 250 hostages.

As we begin to see the release of the hostages, we are learning more and more about the unimaginable conditions in which they were held.

More than 70 of them are still being held captive in those conditions.

Bring them home.

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Witness appeal: CAA offers £5,000 reward for information leading to conviction after alleged assault in Manchester

Campaign Against Antisemitism is offering £5,000 for information leading to a conviction after an alleged assault in Manchester.

On Monday 3rd February, an identifiably Jewish man was walking in Exchange Square in Central Manchester. At approximately 13:30, Greater Manchester Police received reports of an assault. The incident has been recorded as a hate crime.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has been supporting the victim. He told us that the alleged incident occurred on his way back from attending a prayer service.

“I was hurrying along checking my phone when I felt someone running up behind me,” he told us. “In the split second before, I gripped my phone tightly in case someone would try to grab it and did not have a chance to protect myself. I was then hit extremely forcefully with what felt like a bottle around the right side of my face, instantly shattering my glasses and knocking me off balance. I thought I could have been blinded in my right eye, put my hand to my eye and saw blood coming from the area.”

In a photo seen by Campaign Against Antisemitism, the victim’s eye is swollen shut and severely bruised.

“My immediate reaction was to get away before being further attacked, and I ran across the road to a crowd of people shouting for help,” he continued. “A couple of bystanders pointed out who had just attacked me and where he was heading, whereupon I followed with one of the members of the public. The assailant then jumped onto a nearby tram. I had just called 999 and told them I had been attacked and was visibly Jewish, and that the suspect was on a specific tram that was going to head off shortly. They told me not to get on the tram and they would follow it.”

However, the victim was not convinced that anyone at Victoria – the next tram station – had been alerted. He said the assailant got off the tram at the next stop and fled the scene, which has apparently been substantiated by subsequent CCTV footage.

The victim continued: “At that point, I was literally stood around on my own, no support and just waiting for help to arrive. I couldn’t see well. Police turned up within ten minutes to see me and I was treated by a paramedic who also arrived at the scene and flushed my eye with saline to wash away any fragments.”

One member of the public did get on the tram but returned to the site a short while later. He recounted to the victim the alleged attacker had shouted that he was “a murderer” and that he was “responsible for the war in Gaza”.

The victim said: “I didn’t get a clear view of the attacker given my glasses were smashed and I was in a daze and could not recall what he was shouting clearly. I was taken to the police station and gave a statement that took a couple of hours, which was still given whilst I was reeling from the blow. I then went to get scans of my eye for damage, as advised by the paramedic.”

He was informed that he had abrasions on his eye. He had also begun noting black dots in his vision, which still remain today.

“The bruising spread all around my eye and I sustained cuts to my upper cheek and side of my face,” he added. “I’ve since been to the GP for nausea and dizziness and a second scan of the eye. I’m apprehensive walking around and now get nervous anyone could attack me at any time. I remain very traumatised by what happened despite the physical injuries healing slowly.”

The victim said that now, his main concern is that it has been nearly two weeks since the alleged incident and the suspect remains unidentified.

Anyone with information should contact police on 101 quoting incident number 001613 of 03/02/2025 or e-mail us at [email protected].

*See antisemitism.org/terms

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of just under nine hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than twelve times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.

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New report shows alarming increase in anti-Zionist antisemitic incidents

A new report shows an alarming increase in the use of anti-Zionist rhetoric in antisemitic incidents in the UK.

According to the report by CST, 1,533 out of a total of 3,528 reported incidents in 2024 included explicitly anti-Zionist sentiment alongside anti-Jewish rhetoric or targeting. This number accounts for 43% of reported incidents, up from 31% in 2023.

Additionally, language relating to the Israel-Hamas conflict was reported in 52% of cases, a significant rise from 43% in 2023 and 15% in 2022.

The report outlined a range of disturbing incidents, including 2,892 cases of abusive behaviour, 201 incidents of assault, 250 threats, 27 cases of mass-produced antisemitic literature and 157 instances of damage and desecration. Alarmingly, for the second year in a row, almost a fifth – 16% – of the recorded incidents involved perpetrators under the age of eighteen, indicating the critical need for awareness and preventive measures to stop this trend.

Notably, the report also found that in 22% of reported incidents, children were among the victims.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The CST’s figures reveal a disturbing trend in the role of ‘anti-Zionist’ rhetoric in antisemitism. When 43% of reported antisemitic incidents exhibit anti-Zionist sentiment, it is evident that ‘Zionist’ has become a common proxy word for ‘Jew’. Those who deny this phenomenon are failing to understand contemporary manifestations of antisemitism and are part of the problem. Our police and universities have been failing to stand up to surging anti-Jewish hatred for far too long. It is time to act against hate, before it’s too late.”

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Is this year shaping up to be any different?

A lot of British Jews and our friends — and those who care about the social fabric in Britain — have been wondering whether 2025 is going to turn the page on more than a year of the worst antisemitism and extremism that our country has seen in living memory.

Over the holiday period and heading into the new year, we at Campaign Against Antisemitism have been just as busy as ever.

Much as we would like to provide reassurance on the direction of travel for antisemitism and the Jewish community over the coming year, it is still too early to tell.

However, among the persistent bad news, there have recently been some positive developments.

Are the Met Police finally changing course?

Our Demonstration and Events Monitoring Unit continues to monitor anti-Israel rallies across the country, and we continue to see antisemitic or terrorist-sympathising signage and rhetoric at these protests, such as a sign at a demonstration in Leeds featuring the inverted red triangle symbol. This symbol has been used by some anti-Israel activists to signal support for proscribed terrorist organisations such as Hamas, inspired by the appearance of the symbol in Hamas propaganda videos to indicate targets for attack.

While we have all become used to such expressions of support for Hamas and the murder of Israeli Jews on our streets, we will continue to call them out and take action, so that our society does not allow this conduct to become normalised.

But down in London, the Met has for once heeded calls by the Jewish community to divert the next big Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) march — which, if it’s anything like previous protests, will also feature plenty of antisemitism — away from local synagogues holding weekly Shabbat morning services.

Naturally, the PSC and its supporters are furious; the very idea of accommodating Jewish concerns – whether or not the organisers consider them to be founded or not – is apparently unacceptable to them.

The Met has stuck to its proverbial guns, however, and imposed restrictions under the Public Order Act, prohibiting the march from assembling near Broadcasting House because of the close proximity of a synagogue that has been significantly affected by the almost-weekly demonstrations.

The Met has finally stood up to the bullies. This is the bare minimum that should be expected, and it is outrageous that it has taken over a year to see this sort of action, in spite of calls by us and others for a change in policing policy. Still, at least it’s a start.

Naturally, the PSC is refusing to comply. So the question is — as ever — how the march will be policed on the day, and how strictly the Met’s conditions will be enforced. Will those who brandish antisemitic signs and chant antisemitic chants be dealt with?

We will be watching.

There have also been arrests here and there, such as an individual who protested a public Menorah lighting by Chabad in Islington, North London during Chanukah.

Good news in the courts

In the courts too, there has been good news.

A man who published antisemitic posts online, including one that called to “eradicate every Zionist,” was sentenced to twelve months in prison.

Mohammed Nafees Ahmed, 32, of Tipton, was sentenced at the Old Bailey for eight offences of supporting a proscribed terrorist organisation. The offences related to several posts from his X account, including one that read, “Your fool, long live Palestine long live hamas [sic],” in response to then-Foreign Secretary James Cleverly’s condemnation of attacks carried out by the terrorist group in Israel on 7th October 2023.

Another post, published only four days after the attacks, read: “Wipe them off the map. Death to Israel and America.” Other posts celebrated Israeli soldiers being killed. In response to a post by Sir Keir Starmer celebrating Chanukah in December 2023, he wrote, “You Zionist, your time will come,” accompanied by an emoji of a knife.

Meanwhile, two individuals convicted of expressing support for Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation, have had their pre-trial appeals dismissed by the Court of Appeals.

The three judges, headed by the Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales, upheld the convictions delivered by crown courts in two separate cases. In their judgment, the justices underscored that a defendant’s knowledge of whether an organisation is proscribed does not need to be proved by the prosecution to make out an offence under terror legislation.

On the far-right, a Lancashire taxi driver responsible for setting up “Southport Wake Up”, a far-right Telegram channel that was used to instigate and organise the summer riots last year and who has a history of engaging with neo-Nazi ideology, was sentenced to seven and half years’ imprisonment at Liverpool Crown Court following a guilty plea to charges of encouraging violent disorder and carrying a knife.

Messages in the Telegram channel that Andrew McIntyre, 39, set up included “support neither brown nor Jew,” while another described Hitler as “the only politician since Roman times to truly care for his people”. In the same message, the user wrote: “The Jewish people fabricated the Holocaust…Today, Jewish media, NGOs, finance, business, entertainment and a huge overrepresentation in government, are doing the same all over Europe. The fight will be long brothers, but we will succeed. Never capitulate.”

Mr McIntyre was found to have sent a message in the channel urging people to target mosques and synagogues and referred to “k*ke ideology”. It was also revealed that days after rioters had attacked hotels housing migrants and asylum seekers, he shared a video of the Christchurch mosque attack in 2019 with the caption: “WHITE LEGEND. F*** ISLAM, F*** JEWS.”

It is vital that all types of extremism are confronted with the same vigour and treatment by our judicial system.

A mixed bag in the media

The BBC has apologised for an atrocious interview with Rabbi Gideon Sylvester. This was one of the starkest examples of anti-Jewish BBC bias that we have ever encountered.

When you invite a Rabbi to discuss Chanukah in wartime, the bare minimum is to ask questions about Chanukah. Instead, Rabbi Sylvester was subjected to an aggressive interrogation about Israel accompanied by images of war before being cut off in mid-sentence, in glaring contrast to the respectful and sympathetic treatment of the Imam and Reverend interviewed earlier in the day. Not a single question about Chanukah or Jewish suffering in the region right now. Absolutely despicable. The only silver lining is that Rabbi Sylvester acquitted himself very well in the circumstances.

It is yet further evidence that the BBC abandoned the principles of fair journalism a long time ago. The BBC’s quiet apology to the rabbi is only a start. This was a collective effort — producers, editors, anchors, and researchers all demonstrating an unspoken prejudice that this is how Jews or anyone connected with the Jewish state should be treated, in contrast to the respectful treatment of anyone who criticises the Jewish state.

When will our national broadcaster explain to British Jews and the wider public how it is going to address its internal rot?

The apology was an outlier, however.

More typical of the BBC is this headline, which unequivocally declares that journalists in Gaza have been killed by Israel. But buried in the body of the article is the rather significant line: “The BBC has not been able to verify claims made by either side.” So the BBC is effectively reporting something as fact that it itself admits may not be a fact.

Unsurprisingly, this maybe-fact portrays the Jewish state negatively.

Our polling consistently shows that overwhelming proportions of British Jews believe that media bias against Israel fuels antisemitism. Not that the BBC will let that come in the way of bad journalism.

Over on LBC, a summary of Matthew Wright’s line of questioning towards towards his guest, The JC Editor Jake Wallis Simons:

‘You’re a “Jewish man”: tell us the “Jewish figure” for how many children the Jews have killed in Gaza.

‘Now let’s turn to discuss antisemitism in the UK and what we can do about it.’

With interviews like that, it’s a total mystery!

Three retailers take action

Three retailers have taken action following contact from Campaign Against Antisemitism.

Customers had been complaining for days to the local Pret A Manger in St John’s Wood to remove antisemitic graffiti reading “Zionists are child killers” from the public toilet door, but only after we contacted the branch the graffiti was finally removed.

It should have happened faster and should not have required our intervention over and above the dozens of complaints that the branch received, but ultimately the offensive vandalism was rightly addressed.

After being alerted by customers, we also contacted the Camden branch of clothing outlet Urban Outfitters about graffiti reading “F*** Zionism” in one of the changing rooms, following which the graffiti was scribbled out.

These are obviously only two examples of graffiti that we have all seen repeatedly over the past fifteen months. It is appalling that rhetoric of this sort has become so visibly widespread.

Estarli agreed to remove from its social media platforms footage of a BDS Israel boycott sticker displayed on a bicycle in one of its video advertisements after we alerted the e-bike maker to its inclusion.

The retailer wrote to us saying: “We are very sorry if we have caused any offence. We hold no prejudices and when we film with customers we do not know how they have personalised their bikes and we do not stage what they wear or have on their bikes. We were not aware of this sticker when we filmed nor when we made the video. We will now remove it from any content it appears in and we will be more vigilant in the future. Sorry again.”

Leaving aside the role of particular Estarli in this case, the notion that a sticker like this is prevalent enough that it features in apparently randomly filmed scenes underscores just how normalised the anti-Israel rhetoric has become, and thus why it has such an impact on British Jews.

If you become aware of antisemitic graffiti or inflammatory political messages at commercial premises or in promotional material, please e-mail us at [email protected].

World Bowls Tour reverses a terrible decision

At the very end of the year, the World Bowls Tour caved to pressure from the anti-Israel mob, banning competitors from the Jewish state from participating in the Bowls World Indoor Championships.

“Bowls is a sport that unites people,” the organisation declared. Except, apparently, Jews, who were excluded. This decision was a disgrace to international sport. Athletes should be judged by their skill, not their race, ethnicity or nationality. Unfortunately, that principle did not seem to apply to Jewish athletes.

Thankfully, the decision was quickly reversed after an outcry.

World Bowls Tour apologised and arranged for “an increase in the security presence at the event,” thereby apparently making possible a restoration of the invitation to participants from the Jewish state to attend.

While it is shameful that the Israeli athletes had been disinvited in the first place, it was a reassuring end to the matter and a welcome happy note on which to bring 2024 to a close.

It does not take long before a major catastrophe is blamed, somehow, on the Jews.

Naturally, then, the haters sought a way to connect the Los Angeles fires with the Jews or the Jewish state.

Among them is the United Nations Special Rapporteur, Francesca Albanese. She also recently posted in support of the conspiracist and disgraced academic David Miller, before (inexplicably, for her) deleting her tweet.

We continue to call for the UN to remove her from her position — and on the UK Government to pressure the UN to do so.

Our hearts go out to those affected by the fires.

It’s a terrible shame that antisemites prefer hate to empathy and will use any opportunity to incite against the Jews.

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Was Jesus a Jew, or something else?

As Christmas approaches, activists are gearing up for their annual attempts to airbrush Jews out of the story of the birth of Jesus.

This year, those attempts even included a nativity scene at The Vatican.

The scene, titled “Nativity of Bethlehem 2024”, featured a bay Jesus clad in a keffiyeh. Designed by artists in conjunction with the PLO, it was accompanied by a plaque presented to the Pope by children in the presence of representatives from the Palestinian Authority.

The Pope was photographed at the scene, which was briefly displayed in the Paul VI Hall – as opposed to in St Peter’s Square, which is where the main nativity scene is located – before being removed without explanation following an outcry.

There have also been reports of Protestant denominations in the UK promoting this sort of propaganda.

Historical revisionism has become a new annual Christmas tradition for Palestine activists.

But whether Pope Francis or the Baptists or specific churches here and there like it or not, Jesus was a Jew from Judea. The notion that he was not Jewish or belonged to another ethnic group is ahistorical nonsense and offensive to one of the founding stories of Christianity.

These pitiful attempts to airbrush Jews out of this story undermines interfaith relations and is a betrayal of Christianity itself.

How sad that the festival of goodwill is highjacked in this way.

When Santa Claus visited an anti-Israel demonstration

’Tis the season to be jolly.

But that’s not easy when there’s so much antisemitism around.

So we sent Santa Claus to an anti-Israel demonstration to find out who’s been good this year, and who’s been bad.

Watch what happened when Santa Claus visited an anti-Israel demonstration here.

For those wondering, we have reported the man in the opening clip to the Metropolitan Police Service and have provided his name and other information.

Fighting antisemitism on Chanukah

Chanukah is a celebration of Jewish empowerment and the fight against antisemitism.

Here are eight measures that we have been calling on the Government and other authorities, this Chanukah, to introduce to aid in that fight.

  1. Over half (59%) of the British public would be less likely to visit a city centre if they knew a large Palestine march was due to happen, according to our polling conducted by YouGov. It is time for these marches to stop. We are asking for the Home Secretary to close loopholes in our legislation that permit weekly anti-Israel marches; allow police to infer that marches led by the same organisers will likely repeat illegality; remove the limitations to definitions of “serious disruption to the life of the community”; and more. Antisemitic hate crime is skyrocketing in Britain. It is time for a change in direction.
  2. At the beginning of the year, the previous Government heeded calls by Campaign Against Antisemitism and others to proscribe Hizb ut-Tahrir, which praised Hamas’ barbaric attacks on 7th October 2023. But there is more to do. The Home Secretary must urgently proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Ansar Allah (the Houthi Rebels), and certain Palestinian terrorist organisations that were involved in or claimed involvement in the 7th October Hamas-led attacks in Israel.
  3. Jews are more than twelve times more likely to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group, according to our analysis of the latest Home Office statistics. But how many of these incidents end in arrests and prosecutions? The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) must break down hate crimes prosecution statistics by category. A full 95% of British Jews believe that the CPS should be doing this, according to our polling.
  4. British campuses were already hotbeds of antisemitism before October 2023, and the situation since then has only become worse. Universities need to take a proactive approach to dealing with antisemitism. Among other things, we are asking for universities to reconfirm their commitment to the International (IHRA) Definition of Antisemitism and add it to disciplinary procedures and codes of conduct; and designate a member of staff responsible for tackling antisemitism on campus.
  5. Over the past year, campuses have become venues for the glorification of antisemitic terrorism and support for groups opposed to Britain and our values. With nearly one in ten (9%) of 18-24 year olds having a favourable view of Hamas, according to our polling conducted by YouGov, universities need to ensure that incidents on campus are being assessed for potential criminality. The Department for Education must obligate universities to report antisemitic incidents to the police and send universities legal advice on the requirement to balance freedom of speech with their obligations under the Equality Act 2010.
  6. Our police forces are vital in ensuring that those whose antisemitism crosses a criminal threshold face consequences for their actions. Police officers must be empowered with the right tools to combat antisemitic hate crime, including by the establishment of a Single Point of Contact within each police force to facilitate alerting and monitoring of antisemitic hate crime and identify training needs, and more.
  7. Palestine Action is a criminal enterprise operating freely in the UK and terrorising the Jewish community. Over the past year, we have seen Palestine Action escalate its campaign of harassment through acts of intimidation, including carrying out a mock beheading and vandalising the offices of Jewish charities. Palestine Action must be outlawed.
  8. Earlier this year, it was announced by the Foreign Secretary that the Government would restore funding to UNRWA. That funding had been paused by the previous Government earlier in the year due to allegations that a number of its staff were involved in the 7th October Hamas attacks. UNRWA teachers have glorified terrorism and some UNRWA personnel have been found to be members of Hamas, and UNRWA schools and premises have been used as storage facilities for munitions and launching pads for rockets. The agency’s educational materials have long been accused of promoting antisemitism and encouraging hate. The resumption of funding to UNRWA by the UK was an obviously controversial decision. We are therefore asking the Foreign Secretary, in the interests of transparency and consistency, to disclose the legal advice that was sought in deciding to restore funding to UNRWA.

Chanukah is the story of how the Jewish people fought and overcame antisemitism.

In a modern democratic country like Britain, we can only make advances in this fight with at least some support from the state.

The measures that we are calling for – some of which we have been advocating for over many years – are essential, and we encourage you to write to or meet with your local MP to promote support for these policy changes.

We are prepared for 2025

2025 is, sadly, shaping up to be another challenging year for British Jews. But we will be there, continuing the fight.

Here are some recent developments and successes:

Michael Derham, who shared antisemitic conspiracy theories online, was sentenced at Newcastle Magistrates’ Court following a private prosecution by Campaign Against Antisemitism. Mr Derham used his X account to express opinions about Jews that included: “Why are you allowing Jews to manipulate our politics?”; and “Mind you Jewish people are showing themselves to be easy to hate, especially their politicians, diplomats and media. Makes you question all the myths they have spread about themselves.” We brought the private prosecution against Mr Derham after the Metropolitan Police told us that “no suspect was identified” in its investigation and that it would therefore not refer the case to the Crown Prosecution Service.

The parent of a fourteen-year-old identifiably Jewish boy has reported that his son was assaulted with threats of rape issued against the boy’s mother. The alleged incident occurred at the junction of Bury Old Road and Singleton Road in Manchester earlier this month, at around midnight. The boy, who was with a group of friends of similar age, was said to have been approached by a man around the age of twenty. The father of the victim claims that the man questioned him about their religious affiliation and, upon confirming that they were Jewish, asked about their views on the Hamas-Israel war. When the group of boys provided neutral answers, the man then allegedly attempted to strike the boy, knocking his hat off. It was at this point that a threat of rape against the boy’s mother was said to have been made. It is understood that the police were called and arrived at the scene roughly an hour and a half after the incident. The father of the boy expressed concern to Campaign Against Antisemitism over the police’s handling of the matter, and two weeks after the incident, the family is allegedly still yet to receive any communication from the police or external authorities. We are continuing to support the family.

You may recall that the Rio Cinema in Dalston cancelled London’s biggest Eurovision screening because Israel was participating in the competition. We submitted a complaint to the Charity Commission, which has been upheld. We are grateful that the Commission took this issue seriously and has issued guidance to the charity so that this does not happen again. Prejudice has no place in the arts.

Following our complaint, the Charity Commission has taken action against Millat-e-Islamia, Islamic, Cultural & Education Association. A video of Muhammad Adil Shahzad, who, according to the Charity’s Facebook page, is a resident imam at the Charity, appeared to feature him telling his audience not to use “Google, Facebook or Sheikh Twitter” because “nine out of ten websites are either run by Qadianis, or they are run by the Jews.” After reviewing our complaint, the Commission agreed that there was failure by the trustees in the administration of the Charity. Jew-hate is a poison that has no place in British society, least of all from registered charities.

Two teenage girls have been sentenced after carrying out a series of shocking attacks over the course of half an hour in Stamford Hill last December. In the first incident, the pair attempted to take money from a woman. One of them attempted to strike her but missed, allowing the woman to escape. Ten minutes later, the girls demanded money from a twelve-year-old girl. They only released her and walked off after realising she had no money. In a matter of minutes, the teenagers had accosted four eleven-year-old girls, hurling antisemitic insults and demanding money. Frightened, the girls ran off, using a pedestrian crossing on the High Road to get away. The pair pursued one of the girls, eventually grabbing her arm, intimidating her and stealing her lunch bag. Moments later, in an incident captured on video, a woman was viciously assaulted by the girls after the pair demanded money from her. The girls struck the woman’s back, took her phone from her hand and ripped off her wig, which she wore for religious reasons. The woman was thrown to the ground where she was then kicked into unconsciousness. The two girls were both found guilty of attempted robbery, religiously-aggravated harassment and ABH, with one of the defendants also found guilty of attempted theft. Despite all that, the girls have not received a custodial sentence. Apparently beating a Jewish woman unconscious and stealing from her as part of a spree of antisemitic robberies is not enough to land you in jail as a minor. Instead, both of the girls were handed a Rehabilitation Order, in addition to an order to undertake a rehabilitation activity requirement for 30 and 45 hours. They were also placed under curfew with an electronic tag for three months.

A Tower Hamlets school’s “hunger strike” for Gaza, which encouraged children as young as eleven to go without food, has been called off following reporting by the JC and subsequent action by Campaign Against Antisemitism and others, including our demand for Tower Hamlets Council to investigate the matter. This unethical initiative should never have been allowed to go ahead. Now the school is reportedly proceeding with a non-uniform day to raise funds in Gaza. But all this is only the tip of the iceberg. One mother of a Jewish child said: “This week my kid told me they would be ‘beaten up’ if anyone found out they were Jewish. I have sleepless nights worrying.” It is unconscionable that Jewish families should be made to feel fearful for their children in this way.

This is just a selection of the recent cases and incidents that we have been working on. The situation for British Jews is dire, but we will continue to do everything that we can to defend the Jewish community in the coming year.

Why did you march?

The March Against Antisemitism in London drew tens of thousands of people from the Jewish community and their allies across Britain.

We caught up with so many of you who attended to find out what motivated you to march.

This is what you told us.

You can also catch up on the full speeches by our Chief Executive Gideon Falter, Major Andrew Fox, heroic Druze nurse Lorin Khizran, Rev. Hayley Ace, and Founder of Our Fight Mark Birbeck, as well as the performances of Cantor Steven Leas and Israeli rock icon Aviv Geffen.

The photographs from the March Against Antisemitism are available here.

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Man allegedly assaults fourteen-year-old identifiably Jewish boy in Manchester and threatens to “rape his mother” 

The parent of an identifiably fourteen-year-old Jewish boy has come forward and claimed that his son was assaulted with threats of rape issued against the boy’s mother.

The alleged incident occurred at the junction of Bury Old Road and Singleton Road in Manchester on 6th December at approximately midnight. The boy, who was with a group of friends of similar age, was said to have been approached by a man around the age of twenty. 

The father of the victim claims that the man questioned him about their religious affiliation and, upon confirming that they were Jewish, asked about their views on the Israel-Hamas war. When the group of boys provided neutral answers, the man then allegedly attempted to strike the boy, knocking his hat off. It was at this point that a threat of rape against the boy’s mother was said to have been made.

It is understood that the police were called and arrived at the scene at approximately 01:30, roughly an hour and a half after the incident.

Speaking to Campaign Against Antisemitism, the father of the boy expressed concern over the police’s handling of the matter.

He said: “Despite the presence of multiple witnesses from a nearby birthday party and the availability of the vehicle’s licence plate, the police seemed unmotivated to pursue the matter. Even after expressing their disinterest in our situation, we were left with a sense of disillusionment regarding the justice system.”

The father claims that two weeks after the incident, the family is still yet to receive any communication from the police or external authorities, saying that it reinforces “the painful reality that our concerns may not be taken seriously”. This has left the father feeling despondent about how possible crimes may be treated.

With an eye on the current climate for Jews in Britain, the father commented that “In the UK, it appears that individuals feel emboldened to support terrorism, knowing that law enforcement may not act decisively,” he said, adding that his son, following the event, “has expressed fears” and even voiced concern that there may be “threats to our synagogues”.

We are continuing to support the family.

We have approached Greater Manchester Police for comment.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of just under nine hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than twelve times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2021 showed that over two thirds of British Jews believe that the authorities, in general, are not doing enough to address and punish antisemitism.

Image credit: Google

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Two teenage girls avoid custodial sentences for series of antisemitic attacks

Two teenage girls avoided custodial sentences after they were convicted of a series of antisemitic attacks in London.

The two girls, whose identities remain anonymous due to their young age, carried out four attacks in Stamford Hill in under 30 minutes in December 2023.

In the first incident, the pair confronted a woman on St. Ann’s Road, where they attempted to take money from her. One of them attempted to strike her but missed, allowing the woman to escape.

Ten minutes after the first incident, the girls then demanded money from a twelve-year-old girl near Holmdale Terrace. They only released her and walked off after realising she had no money.

In a matter of minutes, the teenagers had accosted four eleven-year-old girls, hurling antisemitic insults and demanding money. Frightened, the girls ran off, using a pedestrian crossing on the High Road to get away. The pair pursued one of the girls into Norfolk Avenue, where one grabbed her arm, intimidating her and stealing her lunch bag.

Moments later, in an incident captured on video, a woman in Rostrevor Avenue was viciously assaulted by the girls after the pair demanded money from her. The girls struck the woman’s back, took her phone from her hand and ripped off her wig, which she wore for religious reasons. The woman was thrown to the ground where she was then kicked into unconsciousness.

The two girls were both found guilty yesterday at Stratford Magistrates’ Court of attempted robbery, religiously-aggravated harassment and ABH, with one of the defendants also found guilty of attempted theft.

Both defendants were handed a Rehabilitation Order, in addition to an order to undertake a rehabilitation activity requirement for 30 and 45 hours. They were also placed under curfew with an electronic tag for three months.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of just under nine hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than twelve times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.

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If I am not for myself, why should others be for me?

The future for Jewish people in Britain is under threat, but if we don’t show that we care, why should anyone else?

We cannot expect the general public, the media, the authorities or the Government to take heed of the Jewish community’s cries if we do not make the effort to show the strength of our feeling regarding the unprecedented levels of antisemitism that have permeated every aspect of our lives.

If we do not tell them how we feel, how are they to know?

We have a responsibility to make ourselves heard.

If you have not yet joined the thousands who have already signed up to march at 13:00 this Sunday, 8th December in central London, please do so now and be part of this critical and historic event.

We will be gathering from 12:00 for a prompt 13:00 start.

You can sign up for the march here.

Why are we marching?

We are marching because these sorts of incidents – all from the past ten days – have become unacceptably commonplace.

  • A fourteen-year-old identifiably Jewish girl in Stamford Hill was reportedly hospitalised after being struck in the face with a glass bottle.
  • The Trades Union Congress called on all trade union members – including nurses, teachers and journalists – to “wear something red, green, black or a Palestinian keffiyeh to visibly show solidarity” at their places of work, resulting in BBC staff reportedly handing in their National Union of Journalists memberships.
  • A leading Jewish restaurant critic quit The Observer after 28 years, saying: “For years now being Jewish, however non-observant, and working for the company has been uncomfortable, at times excruciating.”
  • Ten teenagers reportedly attacked a TFL bus carrying pupils from JFS, a Jewish school in North London, in an incident in which four teenagers boarded the bus screaming “F* Israel, nobody likes you! F* off you b!” and throwing things at the JFS students, with seemingly no assistance provided to the victims by the driver or other passengers.
  • An experienced Jewish member of staff at the BBC has revealed that antisemitism has become “normalised” at the broadcaster.
  • It was reported that Counter Terrorism Police rightly felt the need to ban a video game in which users play as terrorists invading Israel to murder “Zionists”.
  • Anti-Israel activists outside the University of Oxford called for intifada, made comparisons between the only Jewish state and terrorists and engaged in genocidal chanting. Meanwhile what happened inside the Oxford Union, the University’s debating society, was indescribably appalling.
  • A Jewish leading figure in British arts resigned “from all voluntary positions within UK arts institutions” after accusing the art world of becoming host to “vile antisemitic sentiments…that are not isolated incidents but part of a broader culture that seeks to marginalise and dehumanise Jews.”
  • Anti-Israel protesters tried to force their way into Downing Street.
  • An academic at King’s College London allegedly attempted to “indoctrinate” her students with Hamas propaganda.

Anybody who does not think that antisemitism is a problem in Britain has their head in the sand.

The question for the Jewish community and our allies is whether we are willing to march this weekend to fight for our future.

It is not just about the Jewish community

It is essential that we march, not just for the Jewish future but for the future of our country.

We must take a stand against the growing extremism, radicalisation and support for terrorist groups that we are seeing on our streets, campuses and online, because it does not just affect the Jews.

As our Chief Executive, Gideon Falter, wrote in The Times last week: “Woe betide us if we believe this to be a passing nightmare, or an affliction that will affect the Jewish community alone and spare the rest. As the late Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks warned, ‘The hate that begins with Jews never ends with Jews.’”

The full article can be read here.

He also wrote in The Sunday Telegraph yesterday, pointing out that all of the activism that we are seeing is doing nothing to affect events in the Middle East but having a considerable, adverse impact on the fabric of our society right here. He asked: “Has this ‘activism’ done anything to change things in Israel, Gaza, Lebanon or Iran? Or are they just changing the face of our society over here?”

Th full article can be read here.

The future of British Jewry and our country’s tradition of tolerance and decency is not guaranteed. We owe it to our ourselves to fight for our future.

March with us.

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“F*** Israel, nobody likes you,” reportedly shouted at Jewish children on bus

Yesterday, Jewish children were reportedly targeted with antisemitic abuse on a bus on their way home from a North London school.

It is understood that two Jewish Free School (JFS) buses were attacked by ten teenagers from another school. Four teenagers also were said to have boarded the bus whereafter they swore at and filmed the Jewish students. They also reportedly threw rocks and rubbish at the bus after leaving the vehicle.

One student attested that the teenagers boarding the bus shouted at them: “F*** Israel, nobody likes you. F*** off you b******.”

Of the incident, he said: “I was sitting at the front of the bus and everyone was completely terrified and hiding under our seats. It was really scary.”

It was reported that no one offered any help to the Jewish children during the incident, nor did anyone call the police.

The alleged attack comes just days after reports of a man throwing glass bottles at a group of identifiably Jewish girls elsewhere in North London, resulting in the hospitalisation of a fourteen-year-old child.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “This incident did not take place in a vacuum. Over the past year, we have repeatedly warned of the dangerous consequences of Jew-hate going unchecked. This incident comes only a few days after a visibly Jewish 14-year-old girl was hospitalised after having a glass bottle thrown at her. The simple truth is that our streets are no longer safe for British Jews and their children. Is it any wonder that 69% of British Jews are less likely to show visible signs of their Judaism in public, according to our polling? It is time for arrests and those who break the law must face consequences.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of just under nine hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than twelve times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.

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Fourteen-year-old Jewish girl reportedly hospitalised after being struck by glass bottle

A fourteen-year-old Jewish girl has reportedly been hospitalised after being struck in the face with a glass bottle.

The alleged incident occurred yesterday in north London’s Stamford Hill at approximately 19:09 when a group of identifiably Jewish girls were walking to their evening rehearsals at their school.

The group was making their way down Seven Sisters Road when a male, believed to be sixteen years old, was alleged to have thrown around a dozen glass bottles and plates down at them from his fourth-floor window in Woodberry Down Estate.

According to Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol, the group then ran to their school, at which point the fourteen-year-old girl was initially treated by Hatzola, the Jewish volunteer medical service, before needing to go to the hospital.

It is understood that the girl suffered “significant haematoma and facial grazes” and, following treatment, has now been discharged.

Police visited the suspect’s home last night but he was not in, and no arrests have been made at present.

If anyone has further information, they should contact Stamford Hill Shomrim on 0300 999 0123 or the Metropolitan Police on 101, citing CAD 9166 25/11/24.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “This incident did not take place in a vacuum. Over the past year, we have repeatedly warned of the dangerous consequences of Jew-hate going unchecked. This is the reality in Britain right now. Jewish children cannot even walk home without fear of being targeted in violent attacks. Is it any wonder that 69% of British Jews are less likely to show visible signs of their Judaism in public, according to our polling? It is time for arrests and those who break the law must face consequences. The police must identify the suspect as quickly as possible and we urge anyone who has further information to contact the police citing CAD 9166 25/11/24.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of just under nine hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than twelve times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.

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Marching has never been more important

The situation in Britain right now is worse than any of us can remember.

Antisemitism is rife across our public life. Worst still, the authorities seem to be indifferent.

Below is a sample of recent examples across society of the problems that we are seeing. But while we may be feeling helpless, we still have a responsibility to do something.

The future of British Jewry and our country’s tradition of tolerance and decency is not guaranteed. We have to stand up to extremism.

March with us. The march will start at 13:00 on Sunday 8th December in central London.

If you were among the 105,000 people who marched with us last year, you will know that this is a historic opportunity not to be missed.

Please ensure that you sign up in order to receive details and updates, enable us to plan for the right numbers and, for those coming from farther afield, arrange coaches.

The antisemitism and extremism – and the indifference – are deafening

These are just a sample of recent developments that showcase the levels of antisemitism and extremism – and the apparent indifference of the authorities.

  • Last month, Dyar Amin pleaded guilty to racially aggravated common assault after he tried to attack a Jewish counter-protester at a Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) demonstration. He also called him a “big-nosed bastard” and a “baby killer”. Shockingly, he was only sentenced to 180 hours of community service, despite the maximum being 300 hours. His sentence was further reduced by 30% due to his guilty plea. Since the attempted attack, he has also reportedly been used as a steward by Leeds PSC at an anti-Israel demonstration. This is another disappointing outcome from our justice system, but hardly an outlier over the past year.
  • The police have said that they will review a decision not to treat an imam’s public prayer for the destruction of Jewish homes as a crime after a public outcry led by The JC. We still have an outstanding complaint with the Charity Commission about the mosque in question, but why does it take a public backlash for the police to take this incident seriously?
  • The Telegraph and others reported this weekend on how the failure of the police to make arrests and pursue charges has forced an organisation like ours to bring private prosecutions as the only means of securing justice for the Jewish community.
  • The CPS, instead of devoting its energies to prosecuting antisemites, is bringing charges against allies of the Jewish community like Niyak Ghorbani, who has become renowned for declaring, in the face of anti-Israel protesters, that Hamas and Hizballah are terrorists under UK law. Once again, we funded his legal defence to have the charges dropped so that he retains the freedom to show solidarity with British Jews.
  • A social media account appearing to belong to the Oxford-based Dr Sebastian Hormaeche published numerous inflammatory posts, including “Gaza is a concentration camp where zionist jews are bombing Palestinians to oblivion [sic],” “The unimaginable horrors. Israel is a Nazi terrorist state,” and “May the souls of the Zionazis burn in hell forever,” among others. We wrote to Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation requesting an investigation. They replied to say that they were actioning it, and we queried what that meant. They responded that “internal actions remain confidential”, but that they “have looked into your concerns raised, met with Dr Hormaeche and [are] satisfied that this matter has been dealt with appropriately.” Since then, Dr Hormaeche has continued to post incendiary material. Such is the quality of NHS enforcement. We have now written to the GMC, which regulates doctors.
  • Whether or not we are right to place our confidence in the GMC remains to be seen. We have just heard from the regulator in response to our complaint in the case of a doctor who was a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir (which has since been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the UK Government). The GMC have contended that they have no power over the NHS’s decision to lift his suspension. This is true in a technical sense but untrue in the sense that he is only able to practice as a physician because the GMC permits it. Still, they are investigating, which is obviously welcome. It has been several months now, however, so we do wonder how long this is going to take. In the meantime, he continues to see patients and the NHS apparently has no problem with that.
  • Last week, a caller to LBC said that “We’ve got a country controlled by Zionists who are running the whole world…the definition of Zionist is Jewish,” and that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a “Zionist”. He said that, clearly, because President Zelenskyy is a Jew. Presenter Tom Swarbrick deftly dealt with the call, which you can listen to below. But the enduring – and growing – popularity of these opinions and comfort with publicly expressing them contributes to the current surge in antisemitism.
  • Some media outlets are doing less to challenge dangerous sentiments – and are even amplifying them. The BBC, for example, published a fawning article on its website that excuses and even appears to glorify members of Palestine Action. “I think people will look back at people who took direct action in this context as heroes in the future,” one source is quoted as saying. No victims of Palestine Action were interviewed, and we also discovered that the journalist who wrote the piece has strongly-held views about the Jewish state which are easily discernible in her article. We submitted a complaint to the BBC.
  • Equity, the trade union for entertainment and the performing arts, has affiliated with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. The PSC is one of the organisers behind the regular anti-Israel demonstrations in London and across the country. These demonstrations routinely feature antisemitic rhetoric and signage. We asked some Jewish members of the union how they feel about this decision. One Jewish theatre director told us: “Equity does not support the views of Jewish members except a minority who are anti-Zionist. As a Jewish director, I do not feel that Equity represents me.” Another said: “Once again, Equity’s Jewish members have been airbrushed. And it’s heartbreaking. In aligning with an organisation that hosts regular marches at which antisemitism is ever-present, Equity has betrayed its Jewish members…I’m upset, disillusioned, and frankly, about to give up on Equity.” We have asked Equity for its reactions to these testimonies from Jewish members.
  • In a bid to disrupt a “Peace-building at Goldsmiths” event, anti-Israel activists at the University banged on the windows of a lecture hall whilst brandishing a banner that read “Zionism is colonialism”. It is revealing that this is how “peace-building” is treated on a British university campus.

These incidents showcase what British Jews are facing right now, from our streets to campuses, charities to unions, hospitals to policing, and more.

If you want to take a stand, sign up to march with us at antisemitism.org/march.

We mourn the murder of Rabbi Tzvi Kogan, and reiterate our call on the Government to ban the IRGC

It has been announced that UAE-based Chabad Rabbi Tzvi Kogan was murdered.

It is believed that he was surveilled at his kosher grocery shop and murdered by Uzbek terrorists linked to Iran.

This is a global war on Jews, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is leading this antisemitic onslaught.

The British Government and other Western states must take action if they actually believe their own words about the importance of fighting antisemitism.

That is why we join a call by a cross-party group of more than 40 MPs, peers and other public figures for the Government to finally proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as promised prior to the general election. Iran’s malign influence is on display day after day in the Middle East and beyond, and that influence finds expression through the IRGC. We and others have been calling for a proscription for a long time.

We bless the memory of Rabbi Kogan, who is also the nephew of another Rabbi murdered in Mumbai in 2008 by antisemitic Islamist terrorists. This incredible but long-suffering family, which has dedicated itself to the service of Jewish communities around the world, are in our prayers and thoughts this week.

We honour Jewish veterans

Last weekend, Campaign Against Antisemitism was honoured to have participated in AJEX’s annual Remembrance Parade.

We pay tribute to the sacrifices and contributions of the British Jews who so courageously served our country.
Many people are despairing about the levels of antisemitism and are resigned to this becoming the new normal for British Jews – even if it means rethinking whether they have a future here.

But we owe it to ourselves and our children – and to wider British society – to fight for that future.

We must march. We hope that you will join us.

Image credit: Stuart Mitchell/Campaign Against Antisemitism

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This is what ‘Globalising the Intifada’ looks like

Last Thursday evening, a modern-day pogrom took place in Amsterdam. In shocking scenes, Israeli Jewish football fans were targeted in a series of violent attacks.

Footage from the evening showed people running for their lives, an unconscious body being kicked in the street and a man begging for mercy as attackers yelled “Free Palestine”.

Others were run over, and at least one man apparently had to jump into a canal to avoid further attack as assailants shouted “cancer Jew”, a classic Dutch insult applied here towards Jews, with antisemitic undertones to boot.

From the information now available, it is clear that these attacks were pre-planned, using private messaging platforms, with bands waiting at designated spots with knowledge of where the fans would be and where they were staying. The attackers were reportedly armed with knives, clubs and other weapons.

The police warned Jews not to use local taxis, as drivers were providing information to the attackers, many of whom are believed to be youth gangs from the Dutch Moroccan and Dutch Turkish communities.

Aghast at the failure of police in Amsterdam to assist the victims, Israel sent two rescue places and brought 2,000 people home.

These images mirror early 20th-century pogroms in Europe and the Middle East, where Jews were sought out by mobs and either ran or faced being beaten in the streets, or worse.

Amsterdam is a city known for Anne Frank. The house in which she hid before before taken and eventually murdered by the Nazis is now a museum and one of the city’s most popular tourist destinations.

But what good is all this memorialisation when right outside the same antisemitism thrives on Dutch streets?

The King of The Netherlands declared: “We failed the Jewish community of The Netherlands during World War II, and last night we failed again.” The Western European country with the highest proportion of Jews murdered in the Holocaust was The Netherlands.

The comparisons to historic antisemitism were particularly unavoidable given that the pogrom took place in the week of Kristallnacht, which we commemorated this weekend.

What happened in Amsterdam is what “globalising the intifada” looks like.

Indeed not only were there further Palestine protests in Amsterdam in the days after the pogrom in defiance of a court ruling, but there are also reports of violent incidents from Sweden to the United States, and all eyes will be on Paris this week, where the Israeli and French national football teams are playing amid a deployment of thousands of police officers.

We are witnessing levels of antisemitism not seen in our lifetime, and it is of the utmost importance that Britain acts against the antisemitic thugs here at home who have become increasingly emboldened.

Anti-Israel demonstrators have taken over our streets week after week, calling for “intifada”. How much longer will it be before scenes like these are replicated here?

For all those who chant for “intifada” week in and week out, what just happened in Amsterdam is what they are asking for. This is what happens when lax policing for over a year repeatedly succumbs to the mob. When are we going to wake up?

Why people have such little faith in the news media

The immediate media coverage of the pogrom in Britain and across the Western world was deplorable.

The level of victim-blamimg in this now-deleted report from Sky News, for example, cannot be put down merely to mistaken reporting in the heat of the moment.

Instead, they are seeing what they want to see. They are refusing to see what they do not wish to see.

This is the essence of media bias, where the story is known ahead of time, and information will be manipulated, distorted or fabricated to fit with it, facts be damned.

Last week there was a pogrom against Jews in the most liberal city in Europe. Sky News and so many other outlets did not cover it. They covered for it.

A clear message to LSE

Yesterday, we sent a clear message to Francesca Albanese and the London School of Economics.

Someone with Ms Albanese’s history of rhetoric, which includes reference to the “Jewish lobby”, support for a “right to resist” and repeated comparisons of Israel to Nazis, is not welcome at British universities.

Thank you to everyone who joined us in letting LSE know exactly what they think of Ms Albanese.

Jewish patient allegedly refused treatment in Palestine t-shirt controversy

A Jewish patient has allegedly been refused treatment following an incident with a student nurse at a hospital in East London.

The patient reported that the incident occurred when they took a photo of a student nurse who was wearing a t-shirt with the word ‘Palestine’ on the front and a map of the entirety of Israel on the back, which could very readily be understood as support for the erasure of the world’s only Jewish state and its replacement with a Palestinian state.

It has also been alleged that a security guard at the hospital was co-opted in trying to get the patient to delete the photo.

These allegations are unbelievable. The NHS has a responsibility to ensure that its patients, who are among the most vulnerable in society, feel safe. That means restricting the display of political images and symbols, and – it is incredible that this needs restating – not refusing treatment to patients.

This alleged incident underscores how toxic life has become in Britain since 7th October, that something like this could happen to a Jewish patient.

We have called for an investigation to be opened immediately. We are also writing to the hospital to ask how this nurse was reportedly allowed to wear this t-shirt in the first place and what will be done in response to this extremely serious allegation of threatening and grossly unethical conduct.

We are in contact with the patient and our lawyers are examining the case.

If you have experienced discomfort or discrimination in the medical industry because you are Jewish or perceived to be Jewish, please contact us.

This weekend, we honoured the fallen

Kristallnacht was not the only event that we commemorated this weekend.

Sunday was Remembrance Day, and yesterday was Armistice Day, when we honour those heroes who fought for our freedoms, and reflect on the values that so many of them died to defend. Sadly, not everyone in our country will be doing the same.

A pogrom targeting Jews in one of the most developed Western countries in the world.

We had hoped that we would only be using those words to commemorate Kristallnacht this past weekend. Never forget? It seems that we already have.

People must wake up and the authorities need to be held to account. We will continue to do whatever it takes to make that happen.

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Modern-day pogrom in Amsterdam as antisemitic thugs attack Israeli Jews

Last night, Jewish Israeli football fans were reportedly targeted in a series of violent attacks.

We have received reports of shocking scenes across Amsterdam last night, where Jewish Israeli football fans appear to have been targeted in a series of violent attacks. Footage from the evening shows people running for their lives, an unconscious body being kicked in the street and a man begging for mercy as attackers yell ‘Free Palestine’.

Others were reportedly run over, and at least one man apparently had to jump into a canal to avoid further attack.

Information is still emerging but it appears that these attacks were pre-planned, with bands waiting at designated spots with knowledge of where the Israeli Jewish fans were and were staying. The attackers were reportedly armed with knives, clubs and other weapons, with information about the locations of fans even provided by taxi drivers.

It has been reported that Israel is sending rescue planes for the Jewish football fans.

The assailants are believed to be of Moroccan heritage.

It is understood that five people have been taken to hospital with injuries and Dutch police have arrested 62 people, but details about the arrests still remain scant.

Dutch authorities have said that they will provide extra police to the city and that there will be increased security around Jewish buildings over coming days.

One of the supporters said of the evening: “We don’t feel safe. You come to the game to have fun, but I can’t believe what happened here. I come here for a holiday, but it looked like a war zone.”

Media coverage of the event has been appalling, with many major outlets rushing to victim-blame the Israeli fans and play down the apparently orchestrated violence against the them.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “This is what ‘globalising the intifada’ looks like. We are receiving shocking reports of people running for their lives, unconscious bodies being kicked in the street and people begging for mercy as attackers yell ‘Free Palestine’. These images mirror early 20th century pogroms in Europe and elsewhere, where Jews were sought out by mobs and either ran or faced being beaten in the streets, or worse. We are witnessing levels of antisemitism not seen in our lifetime, and it is of the utmost importance that Britain acts against the antisemitic thugs here at home who have become increasingly emboldened. This is what happens when lax policing for over a year repeatedly succumbs to the mob. When are we going to wake up?”

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“This is not an act of resistance”: Relative of kidnapped Bibas family opens up about life after 7th October

Eylon Keshet, a relative of the Bibas family who were kidnapped and taken as hostages to Gaza by Hamas terrorists on 7th October, appeared on the most recent episode of Podcast Against Antisemitism where he spoke candidly about how he is coping with the ongoing situation and his thoughts on those who claim the terrorist attacks were an act of “resistance”.  

This podcast can be listened to here or watched here.

Mr Keshet is the cousin of Yarden Bibas who is married to Shiri Bibas and are the parents of baby Kfir and his five-year-old brother Ariel. The Bibas family lived on the Nir Oz kibbutz, close to Gaza, where a quarter of the community were killed, kidnapped or injured in the 7th October attacks.

In the podcast, Mr Keshet told our host that the current situation for him and his family is “very surreal”.

He said: “You learn to very artificially control your feelings and just get through the day because if you keep thinking about it, you can’t operate. It’s too much for the mind to handle. It’s so nightmarish.”

When asked how he is coping with the situation, he revealed that he feels like he is “on the verge of crying any minute…it feels like torture.”

Almost immediately after Hamas’ barbaric attacks were carried out on 7th October, missing persons posters of the hostages appeared all over Britain and around the world. 

Less than a week after the attacks, there were scenes of people tearing down the posters. Videos and photos of people defacing the posters and scrawling slurs on them have become a shamefully common phenomenon.

Posters of Kfir and Ariel Bibas have also been vandalised.

Speaking about these incidents, Mr Keshet said: “How could you rip posters of Kfir and Ariel? And try to politicise it? What kind of monster do you have to be? What kind of ignorant [person] do you have to be to try to merge these issues together?”

“Hamas is a terrorist organisation that has done horrific stuff… there is no merit in it. There is only sadism and destruction in mind,” he added. 

Describing scenes of the biggest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, Mr Keshet said:  “They decapitated heads, they killed elderly people. This is not an act of resistance.”

Yarden and Shiri Bibas, along with Kfir and Ariel, all remain in captivity in Gaza.

Podcast Against Antisemitism, produced by Campaign Against Antisemitism, talks to a different guest about antisemitism each week. It streams every Thursday and is available through all major podcast apps and YouTube. You can also subscribe to have new episodes sent straight to your inbox.

Previous guests have included comedian David Baddiel, television personality Robert Rinder, writer Eve Barlow, Grammy-Award-winning singer-songwriter Autumn Rowe, and actor Eddie Marsan.

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Neo-Nazi rhetoric used on far-right forums as riots sweep across Britain

Far-right forums, which are being used to organise riots, are reportedly being used to target Jews. 

A series of far-right riots across Britain began in response to the murder of three children in Southport last week, which was falsely attributed to an asylum-seeker.

The first riot in Southport, which began as an anti-immigration protest, was organised on a forum which is allegedly partially run by a neo-Nazi. According to the CST, the neo-Nazi is alleged to have previously incited attacks on synagogues abroad and was also reported to the police last year for suspected involvement in violent antisemitism. 

Messages in “Southport Wake Up”, a far-right Telegram channel, have reportedly said that they “support neither brown nor Jew” and claimed that “our nation is our land and our people.” Another message in the channel described Hitler as “the only politician since Roman times to truly care for his people”. In the same message, they wrote: “The Jewish people fabricated the Holocaust – ensuring they would never again be questioned by Europeans while they destroyed their homelands […]

“Today Jewish media, NGOs, finance, business, entertainment and a huge overrepresentation in government, are doing the same all over Europe.

“The fight will be long brothers, but we will succeed. Never capitulate.”

It is also understood that Matthew Hankinson, a convicted neo-Nazi, whom a judge previously described as a man with a “deep hatred of ethnic minorities and Jews”, attended the riot in Southport. Mr Hankinson was sentenced in 2018 for membership of National Action, which was proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the British Government following pressure by Campaign Against Antisemitism and others. 

At one of the riots, a man was spotted with a swastika tattooed on his back. 

The riots, which have led to asylum centres and police stations being set on fire and have targeted offices of immigration lawyers, have occurred in numerous cities, including Liverpool, Plymouth and Belfast, and have sometimes led to violent pushback from counter-protesters who have also been making inflammatory statements in relation to Jews. 

For example, there have been reports of counter-protesters chanting, “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free.” The genocidal chant ‘From the River to the Sea’, which is regularly heard at anti-Israel protests, refers to the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and, whether intended or not, is widely understood to represent a call for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state — and its replacement with a Palestinian state. It is reasonably interpreted to be a call for the annihilation of half the world’s Jews, who live in Israel. 

There have also been claims that ‘Zionists’ are responsible for the far-right riots in an attempt to target Muslims.

Prof. David Miller, an academic obsessed with anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, who was fired by the University of Bristol in 2021 one month after Campaign Against Antisemitism commenced a lawsuit on behalf of students against the institution, said online: “The riots have been instigated by the Zionist asset, Stephen Taxley-Lennon (‘Tommy Robinson’), who has been working for the State of Israel since 2009 as part of the so-called ‘counterjihad’ Islamophobia movement established by the state.”

Mehmoona Ameen, a former Parliamentary candidate for George Galloway’s Workers Party, also reportedly shared content that claims that “Tommy Robinson is on Israel’s payroll”. It is understood that Ms Ameen has a history of sharing inflammatory rhetoric online, including an image of a mural which features Jewish bankers beneath a pyramid playing Monopoly on a board carried by straining, oppressed workers.

A video has also circulated online in which a man claims that rioters are targeting Muslims because of their “Zionist-backers”, and that the rioters and Muslims should not be at odds with one another. 

Similarly, a user on X wrote in a post that received over three million views: “What’s happening in England is the perfect example of how Zionists manipulate the media to pin Christians and Muslims Against each other.”

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth of Jews controlling the media,” is an example of antisemitism. 

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Jewish student allegedly physically assaulted at school which already has alleged history of racist bullying

A Jewish student at Desborough College, a school in Maidenhead, was allegedly physically assaulted by fellow students. 

According to the father of the student, his son, whose identity has been kept anonymous, has experienced multiple incidents of bullying following the barbaric attacks carried out by Hamas, an antisemitic genocidal terror organisation, in Israel on 7th October last year.

Since the attacks, antisemitism in Britain has skyrocketed, including a reported 1,350% increase in hate crimes against Jewish people. 

In November last year, the student was allegedly physically attacked by students who were shouting, “f*** Israel” and performing Nazi salutes. The students also allegedly threatened to hurt or kill him if he reported the incident. The school sanctioned these students in January but did not exclude them.

Earlier this year, another student allegedly shouted at the Jewish boy: “From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free.” The genocidal chant ‘From the River to the Sea’, which is regularly heard at anti-Israel protests, refers to the Jordan River and Mediterranean Sea, and, whether intended or not, is widely understood to represent a call for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state — and its replacement with a Palestinian state. It is reasonably interpreted to be a call for the annihilation of half the world’s Jews, who live in Israel. 

In March, whilst waiting for a bus after school, two students allegedly approached the victim and accused him of “supporting the genocide of Palestinians”. In a separate incident, also in March, another student allegedly shouted at his friends when the victim was with them: “Stop talking to [name] because he supports genocide.”

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel” is an example of antisemitism.

According to a “Stage 2 outcome letter” addressed to the father of the Jewish pupil from the Pioneer Educational Trust, the trust that oversees the school, three complaints were made to the Trust, which were summarised as follows:

1) “Handling of incidents involving religiously aggravated assaults and malicious communications and the failure of AM (Assistant Master) to address these incidents in a timely manner according to practices and policies advertised by the school’ extending to ‘the lack of cooperation, imposition of unnecessary hurdles for parents seeking resolution, and misguided responses that do not align with the official policies of the school.

2) “Recent incident of repeat victimisation outside the school is a direct result of its inability to enforce the school’s own policies.

3) “The school failed to change the timetable of one of the perpetrators and effectively put him into the same class with [the victim] causing stress and anxiety to [the victim].”

For all three complaints, the Trust resolved to deliver “a management response” where there had been a “failure to apply school policies and practices”. 

For the first complaint, the Trust recommended “further training” in terms of pastoral care and “timely and appropriate communications with parents” for its school leaders, as well as “further messaging and support to staff about the school’s policy on mobile phones”. 

Regarding the second complaint, the Trust committed to an “appropriate package of leadership training to ensure and assure school policies and practices are implemented robustly” and to “continue to implement a programme of anti-racist education, including assemblies, tutor programme and PSHE (Personal Health and Social Education)”.

The school reportedly has a recent history of racist bullying, when a black student found dozens of notes on their desk, including one that said: “Go back to the plantation.” 

The police became involved in an investigation into that incident, and Desborough College said regarding the matter: “Our aim as a school is to provide a safe, nurturing and welcoming environment so that every pupil, colleague and family member feels welcome in our community.”

The father escalated the complaint further through the school’s complaints procedure as he felt that the school’s response to the recent alleged antisemitic incidents was inadequate and failed to address the issue at hand. He thought that, given that the school has an alleged history of racist bullying, its promises were too vague and had no immediate resolution.  

The complaint was considered by the Trust’s Complaint Appeal Panel, which partially upheld one of the father’s requests for the Trust “to conduct a thorough investigation into the School’s leadership, policy and application of policy and whether it is sufficient to ensure a ‘secure, inclusive environment that actively combats racism, including anti-semitism [sic]’”.

According to a letter sent to the Jewish student’s father, the Panel stated: “It is noted that the Director of Education has been tasked with regular oversight and review of the school’s policies and procedures and that the School and the Trust have multiple layers of scrutiny over policy and performance as a matter of course.

“In light of the seriousness of the issue and the crucial importance to the Trust, the Panel recommends an appropriate sub-committee of the Trust Board (which should include any appropriate link-Trustees) is convened by the Chair of the Trust Board and to which the Director of Education should report with his periodic review. It is important to the Trust Board that the anti-racist policy and procedure at Desborough is comprehensive and effective and the subcommittee should be assured of that on behalf of the Trust Board in addition to usual reviews.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism is assisting the family of the victim.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “It is harrowing that a Jewish child has had to endure such vile bullying apparently for the mere fact that he is Jewish. Schools should be environments where pupils are taught values of tolerance and harmony, not where pupils can expect to be verbally and violently assaulted because of their ethnicity. The school’s response has been utterly lacklustre and has, understandably, failed to inspire the confidence of the victim’s family that the school understands the gravity of these incidents or that their child will be protected. We are continuing to support the victim and his family throughout this painful ordeal.”

If you are concerned about antisemitism at your child’s school, please contact us in confidence on 0330 822 0321, or e-mail [email protected].

Image credit: Google

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Man who wielded knife in antisemitic incident in Golders Green avoids prison

Earlier this year, brave staff members of a kosher supermarket in Golders Green defended themselves against a man wielding a knife in an antisemitic incident.

Campaign Against Antisemitism spoke with a member of staff involved, who told us that the assailant – Gabriel Abdullah, 34 – entered the shop demanding to know the staff’s feelings on what was happening “in Palestine”.

One staff member refused to engage, explaining that he did not wish to discuss politics. He and another staff member then escorted the suspect out of the shop.

Shortly after, Mr Abdullah allegedly attempted to grab at the neck of one of the staff members. Defending himself with Krav Maga martial arts moves that he remembered learning as a youth, the staff member tried to restrain him before hearing people around him yell: “Knife, knife!”

At this point, the staff member quickly backed away, and the suspect began moving towards him.

Thinking quickly, he grabbed a nearby shopping trolley, pushing it into the body of the suspect in order to create distance.

The staff member told us that he retreated into the shop, where Mr Abdullah then followed, before leaving and making his way across the road into a building.

He then left that building approximately five minutes later in a change of clothes, apparently wearing traditional Muslim garb, and began walking up the road.

One of the staff members then ran ahead of him so that he could view his face to confirm that this was the same man from minutes earlier.

Shortly thereafter, Mr Abdullah was apprehended by the Shomrim North West London neighbourhood watch patrol and the Metropolitan Police, and arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon, criminal damage and racially-aggravated affray.

He pleaded guilty in February to causing affray and being in possession of a knife, before Judge Sir Charles Gregory Bourne. The racially-aggravated element had apparently been dropped, despite the evidence.

Mr Abdullah has now been sentenced at HM Prison Wormwood Scrubs, as Harrow Crown Court is temporarily closed. Judge Corinne Searle sentenced him to eighteen months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, and twelve months’ imprisonment, also suspended for two years. 

The suspended sentences are to be served concurrently. He has also been given a nine-month alcohol treatment requirement, after claiming that he was intoxicated during the incident having tried to self-medicate his alleged paranoid schizophrenia. He has also been given a 30-day rehabilitation requirement.

One of the victims, Yosef Reitman, with whom Campaign Against Antisemitism is in contact, expressed shock at the lenient sentence.

Stephen Silverman, Director of Investigations and Enforcement at Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Once again the Jewish community has been let down by the justice system. Brave attendants at the kosher supermarket defended themselves from a clearly antisemitic knifeman and the Shomrim neighbourhood watch group apprehended him, with support from police. But then, once the justice system stepped in, everything seemed to go wrong. The racially-aggravated charge was apparently quietly dropped, the assailant pleaded guilty to minor charges and he walked away from court effectively a free man.

“This is by no means the first time that this has happened. Why is it that every perpetrator who commits a violent act against religious Jews is let off? What do violent antisemites need to do to a Jew before a court agrees that they deserve to go to prison? We are in contact with one of the victims and are examining legal options to try to remedy this travesty of justice.”

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Police officer who shared pro-Hamas material sentenced but avoids custody order

A police officer who admitted to sharing pro-Hamas images and was convicted of terrorism offences, was sentenced yesterday to a community order.

Mohammed Adil, 26, from Bradford, was a district student officer with West Yorkshire Police in the process of training.

Last month, Mr Adil pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court to two charges of publishing images which gave rise to a reasonable suspicion that he was supporting Hamas, a proscribed antisemitic genocidal terror group.

Mr Adil’s offences were committed shortly after Hamas carried out barbaric attacks in Israel on 7th October, murdering over 1,200 Israelis and taking some 250 people hostage. 

He posted several videos, including one, which he posted on WhatsApp. On 20th October, showing images of Saddam Hussein and rockets being launched with the caption “rockets to Israel”. 

In another video, posted on the 28th, a man speaking in Arabic with English subtitles referenced purifying the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem from “the abomination of the Jews” and the “aggressive Zionists”. 

Another video was found from 31st October on his WhatsApp, which referred to Yemeni groups attacking “positions of the Zionist Israeli regime”.

On the same day, Mr Adil’s colleague saw that he also posted a further image, which showed two men wearing headbands displaying the logo of the military wing of Hamas. The caption on the image, attributed to a senior Hamas commander, read: “Today is the time for the Palestinian people to rise, set their path straight, and establish an independent Palestinian state.”

In November, Mr Adil posted a video showing a man wearing a headscarf and headband emblazoned with a Hamas logo. The caption, attributed to a Hamas spokesperson, read: “We will hold accountable all those who occupied our lands, and Allah will hold accountable all those who remained silent against this occupation and oppression.”

In the same month, another post featured a man speaking in Arabic with English subtitles saying: “Until Muslims fight the Jews, Muslims who are people of creed, people of faith, will kill them.”

Following the series of posts, Mr Adil, who was reported by two of his colleagues, was suspended whilst under investigation by Counter-Terrorism Policing North East. 

A list of companies to boycott for supposedly supporting Israel was discovered on his phone, along with memes that said: “Israel to the Arab world is like a cancer to the human body. Arabs should unite to uproot it.”

Another video on his phone showed a speech by someone suggesting that Israel carried out the 7th October attacks.

On 1st May, Mr Adil was charged and he pleaded guilty the next day at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

Following his plea, Mr Adil was sentenced to an eighteen-month community order, which includes a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 35 days, 160 hours of unpaid work, forfeiture or destruction of phone, £85 costs and £114 victim surcharge to be paid within 28 days.

Notwithstanding the terror convictions, he was not given a custodial sentence.

This is not the first time that this judge – the Chief Magistrate, Senior District Judge Paul Goldspring – has courted controversy in relation to antisemitic terror. Two years ago he was disciplined by the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office following a complaint by a member of Campaign Against Antisemitism for “giving the impression that he endorsed” a “contentious political cause” when judging a case of a man who wore Hamas and Islamic Jihad t-shirts in Golders Green. His conduct had “fallen below the standards expected”.

The Lord Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor “took into account that, with hindsight, the judge had accepted his remarks were capable of giving such an impression and had expressed regret”.

This is also not the first time that he avoided giving a convicted defendant a custodial order. In 2022, Judge Goldspring sentenced the then-youngest person to be convicted of terror offences to a “high-intensity” referral order for twelve months. He believed that a custody order could undo the “rehabilitative” progress that the child, who had learning difficulties, had made.

The same year, a sixteen-year-old boy, who reportedly wrote online, “I am a domestic terror threat. I will bomb a synagogue,” and appeared to begin trying to realise this ambition, avoided a custodial sentence in a case on which Mr Goldspring was the presiding judge.

Of that offence, Judge Goldspring said: “It is the scale, scope and nature of your hatred for fellow men and women. In fact, my heart sank when I read the case papers for the first time.”

However, Judge Goldspring reportedly opined that it would be inappropriate to impose a custodial punishment and that this could jeopardise the positive rehabilitative steps that the boy had apparently made. Judge Goldspring said: “I’m of the view, albeit I struggled greatly with making the decision, that a non-custodial sentence would be in the public interest.”

In yet another case, in 2021, Judge Goldspring changed his mind when sentencing a neo-Nazi teenager from giving him a custodial sentence to handing him a twelve-month referral order.

Of his decision, he said: “My initial view was to send you into custody for twelve months, I have taken a step back, I am satisfied I don’t need to do that…it is really important that you take this opportunity to pause and think. I have to be honest there will be almost no way out if I see you in court again.”

He added: “You clearly work very hard in school and are obviously very, very intelligent. Although, I don’t want anyone to get the impression that someone less intelligent should be treated less well.”

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Will policing of antisemitism finally change?

Under the leadership of Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police Service’s policing of the anti-Israel protests and campaigns has been an expensive shambles.

Practically nothing has been done to curtail them, with marchers being given two-mile routes though the centre of our capital. For over seven months, Sir Mark has claimed that he requires additional legal powers to curtail the marches even though the law already plainly gives him the powers he needs.

To break the deadlock, we have provided Home Secretary James Cleverly and Minister of State for Crime and Policing Chris Philp concrete measures that will give the Met nowhere to hide:

  1. Issue regulations to make the meaning of “serious disruption to the life of the community” even clearer under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986, to force the Met and other forces to take into account the cumulative effect of protests and whether they cause intimidation to a particular community. The police must finally be made to treat the weekly marches as one single campaign, rather than as numerous discrete protests, and judge their impact on the rights of others accordingly.
  2. Issue directions to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, under section 40 of the Police Act 1996, to require the Mayor to work with the Met to ensure that sufficient police are at the marches to effect arrests for unlawful behaviour immediately, and keep Jews and others in the vicinity safe. There must be enough officers present to police the protests in real time, not after the fact.
  3. Make orders under section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2000 to proscribe the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Ansar Allah (the Houthi rebels) and various terrorist organisations involved in the 7th October atrocity which have not already been proscribed. This would render illegal the display of various terrorist flags and chants such as “Yemen, Yemen, make us proud, turn another ship around.”

These measures do not require any new laws to be passed, and if they are adopted, they will have an immediate and profound impact on the policing of processions and public assemblies.

No more excuses instead of arrests. No more ‘contextualising’ offences away instead of enforcing the law.

The proposals have been positively received by the Home Office, which said in a statement: “The right to protest is a cornerstone of our democracy, but there are clear concerns about the cumulative impact protests are having on some of our communities which we are looking at.

“All communities should be able to go about their daily lives without fear. We have been clear with the police that they must use all the powers available to them to police protests appropriately and will always have our backing in doing so.

“We thank the Campaign Against Antisemitism for their proposals and we will be looking closely at them alongside Lord Walney’s recommendations which will be published this week.”

Our proposals were then echoed in a major report published today by Lord Walney, the Government’s independent adviser on political violence and disruption, titled “Protecting our Democracy from Coercion”.

Lord Walney’s review of antisemitism within the current anti-Israel protests represents a damning assessment of the police and Crown Prosecution Service for failing to apply their existing powers and politicising their response. The report lays bare how far our branches of law enforcement have fallen behind these extremist groups and the expectations of the British public, which abhors extremism and the use of illegal or intimidatory tactics to accomplish goals that cannot be secured at the ballot box.

One only has to look at the footage recorded by our Demonstration and Events Monitoring Unit from this past weekend’s march or the previous march, when a masked protester shouted “Go back to Poland!” at a Christian reverend whom he mistook for a Jew.

Where will this all end? In Manchester, three men have appeared in court, charged with planning an ISIS-style attack against Jews on British soil, while in Stamford Hill in North London, a woman allegedly brandishing a knife at Jews in the street was stopped by police and Shomrim.

She allegedly told a Jewish man that he is a “provocation” before specifying “you people, you Jewish…all the trouble you’re creating in the world.” When asked what she meant, she allegedly replied: “Who do you think started the Second World War? You, the Jewish, started the Second World War.”

These events do not occur in a vacuum. Policing in the UK must change course now, before it is too late.

Those who ignore the lessons of history

For a recent anti-Israel weekly march passing nearby, the Royal Parks covered up the Holocaust memorial in Hyde Park, a new low. At every turn, the authorities seem to be trying to keep Jews and anything Jewish out of sight to appease these mobs.

Concerns over the safety of the memorial are not, however, unfounded. Since 7th October, Holocaust memorials and museums around the world have been vandalised, blockaded, covered up or otherwise targeted in some way. Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, Drancy…the list goes on and on.

Then, on Yom HaShoah, anti-Israel demonstrators wore yellow stars – akin to the sort that Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust – and picketed outside Auschwitz concentration camp.

Whether by tearing down posters of the hostages or targeting Holocaust memorials, the supporters of Hamas not only support the antisemitic slaughter of Jews but they also oppose any remembrance for the victims. They want them forgotten. But we will not forget.

Campaign Against Antisemitism funds another successful appeal for Iranian dissident

For the second time this year, we have funded a successful appeal by Iranian dissident Niyak Ghorbani against excessive bail conditions imposed by the Metropolitan Police.

This time, the police wished to restrict Mr Ghorbani from attending or participating in “any protest demonstration related to the Palestinian cause or events occurring in Gaza”, and force him to refrain from any “behaviour aimed at inciting or disturbing participants of any protest demonstration in support of the Palestinian cause or against events in Gaza”, and from entering Camden or the City of Westminster for anything but medical or legal appointments.

However, following a successful appeal that was funded by Campaign Against Antisemitism, the court has rejected the Met’s conditions, with a judge saying that “they are not necessary let alone proportionate.” Mr Ghorbani is now free again to continue pointing out the legal fact that Hamas is a terrorist organisation and expressing his right to protest and counter-protest.

You may recall that we created t-shirts and hoodies emblazoned with the same message that Hamas are terrorists, which we have made available for sale. Many of you have already bought them, wearing them to protests and posting pictures on social media.

Supporting Jewish students in hostile campus environments

Over the last couple of weeks, we have seen anti-Israel thugs swarm university campuses with calls for intifada, the eradication of the State of Israel, and references to Hamas as “freedom fighters”. The growing number of encampments comes against a backdrop of escalating antisemitism, with Jewish students facing verbal abuse, receiving death threats and enduring physical violence.

We have met with the Department for Education and been on the forefront of exposing these incidents on campuses across the country, including in University College London, SOAS, University of Leeds, The University of Manchester, Newcastle University and elsewhere.

The hostile environment for Jews that has been created on British campuses challenges the very foundations of academia. Bastions of inclusivity and diversity operating in pursuit of truth are becoming cesspits of racist hate and intimidation.

We are assisting students around the country who are facing antisemitism where they live and study. Any student or faculty member can e-mail us in confidence at [email protected].

The Prime Minister has recently made it clear that antisemitism has no place in our universities. We thank the Prime Minister for doing so. It is now up to vice-chancellors to show that they agree. If they do not, we will do everything that we can to hold them and their institutions to account.

Podcast Against Antisemitism is back!

Season Five of our podcast is now streaming.

In the first episode, marking Yom HaShoah, we spoke to Mervyn Kersh, a distinguished WWII veteran. Now 99 years old, he joined the army in 1943 at the age of eighteen, and you can listen or watch as we discuss his conversations with survivors of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp just days after its liberation.

Our guest in episode two was Elad Poterman, who, along with his baby daughter and wife Maria, are survivors of the Kibbutz Nahal Oz massacre on 7th October. Nahal Oz sits just 800 metres from the Gaza border and was one of the first targets in the early hours of the Hamas terrorist attacks. Listen or watch as Elad takes us through how he and his family spent seventeen hours in the safe room of his home hiding from Hamas terrorists.

For our third episode we interviewed the acclaimed actor, writer, and comedian Brett Gelman, known for his roles in BBC’s “Fleabag,” FX’s “Married” and Netflix’s “Stranger Things”. Brett is not only known for his impressive performances but also for his outspoken stance against antisemitism. You can listen or watch Brett dive into his Jewish identity and speaking on the silencing of Jewish voices.

You can subscribe to the podcasts wherever you get your podcasts, or receive the podcast straight to your inbox by subscribing here.

Some of our additional recent work includes:

  • We have led the coverage of newly-elected local councillors with concerning records, especially in the Green Party, and we are assisting in a police investigation into an independent councillor.
  • We have reported the comedian Dane Baptiste to the police over serious threats to a Jewish individual, with whom we are in touch.
  • We are writing to Ofcom about Hamas atrocity-denial by Natasha Devon on LBC (for which she has apologised).
  • We reported Dana Abuqamar, the President of Manchester Friends of Palestine and final year law student, to the Home Office after she said that “We are full of pride. We are really, really full of joy of what has happened” in apparent reference to 7th October. Her visa has now been revoked.
  • We are writing to the BBC after presenter Eddie Nester MBE asked “Why is [the Jewish lobby] so much more powerful than people with disabilities?” and we are also writing to the broadcaster after Gary Lineker appeared to dismiss the 7th October massacre as “the Hamas thing”.
  • A few weeks ago, to mark Pesach, our digital van drove around London with a message to “let our people go” in reference to the hostages who remain in Hamas captivity.

The Met’s policing of the anti-Israel protests and campaigns has been an expensive shambles, supposedly because the force needs additional legal powers. We have now provided a blueprint for moving forward. Our criminal justice system must be brought into line, and the laws on which it operates must be brought up to date. For the Jewish community, action cannot come soon enough.

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Six months.

This weekend marked the six-month anniversary of the 7th October atrocity, the bloodiest day in Israel’s history and the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

In the wake of the attack, as Israelis and Jewish communities worldwide grappled with the trauma, a distressing contrast emerged: while grief and shock engulfed many, expressions of support for Hamas erupted in various forms of jubilation and celebration across the globe, some within hours of the massacre.

Some chose to turn a blind eye to the atrocities.

Others attempted to rationalise the unjustifiable.

And, shockingly, some even found inspiration in this heinous act.

For the Jewish people, with hostages still in captivity and justification, glorification and celebration of antisemitic terrorism still ongoing around the world, October 7 is 24/7.

Al Quds Day: a tale of two cities

Every year, on the last Friday of Ramadan, the Al Quds Day march takes place in cities around the world, including in London. Since it was established in Iran in 1979, following the Islamic Revolution, Al Quds Day marches are displays of support for the antisemitic Islamist theocracy that rules Iran, kills its opponents and supports Jew-hating terrorist groups across the world, and for its terror proxies.

In the UK, for example, participants in the marches used to fly Hizballah flags and hold placards stating “We are all Hizballah”, until we and others secured the proscription of Hizballah.

In the days prior to this year’s march, which took place on Friday, the organisers had the audacity to complain about occasional arrests at recent anti-Israel marches in London notwithstanding that their own march was in support of a foreign regime that murders protesters.

Our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit was present at the march on Friday. What they saw was predictably despicable, including a woman screaming “Zio-Nazis” at people, flyers emblazoned with Hitler’s face, and more.

As the march proceeded, what became clear was that London on Al Quds Day was a tale of two cities: the hateful marchers in one tale, and, in the other, our digital van displaying the images of hostages and peaceful counter-protesters, some of whom were wearing our “Hamas are terrorists” hoodies.

The Met Police posted on social media that they had identified particular placards that appeared to incite violence in a vehicle that they had proactively stopped near the starting point of the march. “As a result,” they triumphantly declared, “we don’t believe they have been distributed.” Still, they were firm: “Should they be displayed in the crowd, action will be taken.”

But after so many months of policing-by-tweet, it should come as no surprise that our volunteers observed plenty of these placards on display during the march, very often within the sight of police officers. To our knowledge, no action appeared to be taken. This was just the latest example of questionable policing.

The week before, during the anti-Israel demonstration on Easter weekend, a woman reported a placard featuring a swastika to a police officer, who appeared to try to explain that the meaning of a swastika would depend on the context, in echoes of Met Police policy on other antisemitic rhetoric.

Apparently the context of an anti-Israel demonstration rife with analogies of Israel to Nazis and other antisemitic signs, calls for violent intifada, support for Houthi attacks on British vessels and glorification of Hamas terrorism, was not clear enough context of what a swastika might portend.

The Met claimed that it arrested someone in relation to this incident. If so, it raises even more questions about why the police reflexively make excuses instead of taking action in real time.

Extremism in the UK: we want to hear from you

If you could poll the British public on antisemitism or extremism, what questions would you ask?

Click here to let us know.

It is time for Sir Alan Duncan to be expelled

Sir Alan Duncan, the former Conservative MP and Minister, and a particularly unpopular figure in the Jewish community, suggested in an interview on LBC that certain peers in the House of Lords are working for Israel, invoking classic tropes of Jewish power and disloyalty. He later went on to victim-blame Israel for the 7th October Hamas attack.

This is not the first time that he has made accusations of parliamentarians being controlled by Israel. But we believe that it should be the last time that he does so as a member of the Conservative Party.

We called on the Party to investigate, which they have announced that they are now doing. He is not the only Conservative figure that we have been following recently.

We also called for the whip finally to be withdrawn from Baroness Warsi, after she spoke at a Muslim Council of Britain event with Ghada Karmi. The MCB is a controversial group, and Dr Karmi has previously said: “What you saw on October 7th was breaking out from the cage of Gaza by a resistance movement.” Dr Karmi also previously told George Galloway on Al Mayadeen television: “It’s wonderful really and admirable that the Hamas fighters exploded this whole rotten structure.”

We called in addition for the suspension by the Labour Party of another attendee, Afzal Khan MP, of “mass murdering Rothschilds Israeli mafia criminal liars” infamy.

Meanwhile, it was reported that Azmat Husain, the Chairman of the Salford Conservative Federation and the Conservative candidate for Eccles in Salford in the May elections, has withdrawn his candidacy after a Facebook post emerged in which he appears to have written “Jew pigs”. He had claimed that the post was fake.

This is not the first time that there have been serious concerns relating to antisemitism within local Conservative associations in Manchester. The Party has yet to investigate transparently.

We also exposed the social media history of the independent MP, Angus MacNeil, who used to sit with the SNP.

Furthermore, we called out the crossbench peer Lord Bird for saying in a debate in the House of Lords that “The amount of antisemitism you see around the world is because of the fact that Israel is not thinking about the next five or ten years but is only thinking immediately.”

No, Lord Bird, the amount of antisemitism that we are seeing is not because of the Jews or their state. It is because there are antisemites.

The effect of antisemitism on British Jews

Our two-week nationwide billboard campaign spotlighting what it is like to be Jewish in Britain today has concluded. On the billboards, online and on our digital van, we highlighted a number of scenarios to give viewers pause, including:

  • “How would you explain guards outside your child’s nursery?”
  • “Imagine your family feeling unsafe every time they leave their place of worship.”
  • “Do you know how it feels to hide your school blazer so you won’t be attacked?”

Thank you to all of you who have got in touch about the campaign. To quote just one response from Glasgow: “I saw an ad about your campaign in Glasgow today at Finnieston Quay and I wanted to get in touch to say that it really spoke to me. I have been appalled by what I have been reading about antisemitism in the UK. The words on the billboard about guards at nurseries and abuse at a football stadium were really powerful. I hope it helps to make a difference.”

So do we.

Great Ormond Street Hospital

Last December we began discussions with Great Ormond Street Hospital, at the initiative of members of their staff, about providing antisemitism training. This is the same training that we have delivered for years to other NHS trusts, police forces, industry regulators, academic institutions, local authorities and others.

Discussions were proceeding smoothly until approximately six weeks ago, when we were informed that the Hospital’s Muslim Network had expressed concerns about Campaign Against Antisemitism as a provider. We addressed in writing the issues that were raised and offered to meet with the relevant members of staff, with a view to hearing and allaying any concerns.

Unfortunately, the offer was ignored and, apparently without regard for the views of its Jewish staff, the Hospital decided that the Muslim Network should have a veto in relation to antisemitism training, and withdrew from the discussions.

The Hospital assured us that it will still be arranging the provision of antisemitism training, but with a different provider. We replied to the Hospital to say that that is acceptable to us, provided that it uses a reputable trainer that will not compromise on the material to appease anyone at the Hospital who may be ideologically opposed to learning about certain contemporary manifestations of antisemitism.

The Hospital not only failed to provide us with this assurance, but has not responded to us at all for several weeks.

We continued to await contact from the Hospital, but in view of the length of time since our last correspondence, we had no choice but to make this public last week.

If non-Jewish staff at institutions are given a veto over the delivery or content of antisemitism training, such an institution simply cannot be said to be upholding its commitment to equality and diversity. Jewish people and the racism that they suffer cannot be ignored. That is itself antisemitic.

After we revealed the incident, the Hospital released a statement that was wholly unsatisfactory, and we have submitted a Freedom of Information request in order to release more information.

In addition to the victims whom we are assisting and other incidents that we are responding to, here are some of our other high-profile recent cases:

  • We submitted complaints to Ofcom about Matthew Wright for comments on two LBC programmes.
  • We wrote a letter to the Scottish Funding Council regarding the election of Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah as Rector of the University of Glasgow.
  • We called on UK Border Force to suspend officers involved in potential mistreatment of Israeli survivors of 7th October visiting the UK.
  • We publicised appalling footage from the Refectory at Goldsmiths, which is also midway through an inquiry, to which we have contributed, regarding antisemitism on its campus.
  • We reported a man appearing to make serious threats in a TikTok video to Counter-Terrorism Police, and were in touch with the victim.

It has been six months.

Six months of war. Six months of hostages in captivity. Six months of weekly anti-Israel protests and antisemitic rhetoric on our streets. Six months of surging antisemitism — on campuses and online, in workplaces and in our public life. Six months of police failures.

But we are resolute, and we will continue to fight for justice for the Jewish community, no matter how many more months or years it takes.

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What is the real everyday impact of antisemitism on British Jews?

Following 7th October, the Metropolitan Police Service reported a 1,350% increase in hate crimes against Jewish people. This statistic is incredibly alarming, but on its own it does not paint the full picture of what the effect of this surge in antisemitism is on British Jews.

That is why Campaign Against Antisemitism has today launched a nationwide billboard campaign spotlighting what it is like to be Jewish in Britain right now, and showing how the impact of that antisemitism penetrates the daily life of British Jews of all ages.

Kindergartens with guards, Jewish schools discouraging their pupils from wearing blazers with a Jewish school crest, university students afraid to reveal their religion, football stadiums full of people invoking the Nazi gas chambers, and intimidation outside synagogues.

We have chosen a sample of the real-life everyday effects of antisemitism on British Jews.

At a time when 69% of British Jews say that they are less likely to show visible signs of their Judaism, it is important now, more than ever, that the British public is informed about the extent of the scandal of antisemitism in Britain.

Let everyone know that Hamas are terrorists

On 9th March, Niyak Ghorbani held a sign condemning Hamas as a terror organisation next to an anti-Israel demonstration in London. Footage appears to show that he was abused by protesters and potentially assaulted.

The police did not arrest those who were furious that he was pointing out that Hamas is a terrorist organisation. Instead, a phalanx of officers pulled him to the ground and violently arrested him, as he shouted “shame on you!” Police snatched, scrunched up and confiscated his accurate and perfectly legal sign which, from the footage, appears to be exactly what the protesters had sought to do. Mr Ghorbani was injured and required hospital treatment for a wound.

We provided Mr Ghorbani with assistance, including arranging legal representation, and we are pleased to announce that the outrageous charges brought against him have been dropped and the case is now closed.

The police are now, rightly, seeking the man who is on video appearing to assault Mr Ghorbani. If you have any information, please contact us at [email protected].

In the meantime, our lawyers are continuing to examine legal options in relation to the unacceptable police response to Mr Ghorbani’s lawful exercise of his free speech rights.

Policing of these weekly anti-Israel demonstrations is a shambles. Mr Ghorbani’s case – where an innocent man was arrested while potential criminals continued on their way – is a scandal. We will do everything in our power to force the Met Police to change course and finally start punishing criminality and extremism.

Mr Ghorbani was accosted and then arrested, all because he was trying to point out that, under UK law, Hamas is a terrorist organisation. So when the police censored him, we decided to amplify his message.

We created t-shirts and hoodies emblazoned with the same message, which we have made available for sale. Many of you have already bought them, wearing them to protests and posting pictures on social media.

We also enlisted our digital van to help spread the message, driving it to the very location where Mr Ghorbani was wrongly arrested.

It is a sad reflection of the times we live in when it has become controversial to promulgate the simple moral and legal truth that Hamas are terrorists.

Broadcasters must call Hamas terrorists too

This week, the BBC called the terror attack in Moscow, for which ISIS took responsibility, a “terror attack”. Perhaps realising that this might mean that the broadcaster would also have to call the Hamas terror attack, which was the biggest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, a “terror attack”, the description of the Moscow attack was quickly deleted. This is not the first time that the BBC has done this.

The broadcaster’s refusal to describe Hamas as terrorists – and its increasingly comical efforts not to be called out for hypocrisy by calling other terrorist groups by their name – is, at best, a failure to live up to its own principles of accuracy, impartiality and fairness. That is why it is so important to have our voices heard.

Our Parliamentary Petition calling for terrorism legislation to be amended to require all broadcasters regulated by Ofcom to describe all terrorist organisations proscribed in the UK and their operatives as “terrorists” and not by any other descriptor, has been signed by over 10,000 of your so far, from almost every constituency in the UK. That means that the Government must now consider and respond to the proposal.

With 100,000 signatures, the topic will be considered for debate in Parliament. Please help us to right this wrong and urge lawmakers to act to ensure that television and radio audiences get the real facts in the news that they consume.

How many people in Britain sympathise with Hamas?

New polling has found that there are over 2.5 million Hamas sympathisers currently in Britain (4% of the British population). Almost a further 17 million (26%) “don’t know” if they sympathise with Hamas.

The figures are worst amongst the young. For example, one in ten of those aged 18-24 say that they hold a favourable view of Hamas.

The polling also shows that over three million Britons (5%) want all Jewish presence in the Middle East eliminated through mass expulsion, and the same number say that the 7th October atrocity was “justified”.

Terrorists pose a threat not only to British Jews, but to the entirety of British society. The approaches tried so far by our Government and police forces have not worked. The radicalisation of our country, and particularly our youth, poses a grave danger to the whole United Kingdom.

We hope that those celebrating had a joyous Purim

With antisemitism surging in the UK, war in Israel and hostages still trapped in Gaza, the story of Purim and the power to overcome genocidal hatred of Jews is as relevant as ever.

We hope that, circumstances notwithstanding, those who were celebrating this Jewish holiday had a joyous weekend.

Those protesting on our streets and our national broadcasters must be reminded that Hamas are terrorists — and they cannot be allowed to hide away from that fact. Whether by exposing the failures and hypocrisies of our public institutions, making apparel available, or by changing the law, we will continue to find innovative and effective ways to spread that vital message.

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Police arrest suspect who made “allegedly antisemitic comments” when being detained in connection with alleged arson attack in Hackney

Police have arrested a man in connection with an alleged arson attack on a house in Hackney.

The suspect made “allegedly antisemitic comments” when being detained in connection with the fire on Newick Road in London. Police were called to the scene shortly before 12.45 this afternoon.

The police believe that the blaze was started deliberately.

It is understood that the ground floor and first floor of the three-story house have been destroyed by the fire, with four victims injured. They have been taken to hospital but are not in a life-threatening condition, according to reports.

A suspect – a man in his 60s – also reportedly suffered minor injuries from the fire and is being treated in hospital. He has been arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life.

The London Fire Brigade said that eight fire engines and around 60 firefighters helped to bring the fire under control.

Detective Chief Superintendent at the Metropolitan Police, James Conway, said: “On his arrest the man made a number of threatening comments, some of which were allegedly antisemitic. We take instances of antisemitism extremely seriously and for this reason we’re investigating the incident as a potential hate crime. Undoubtedly this will be extremely concerning news for our Jewish communities in Hackney and beyond.” He added: “Whilst the investigation will continue to explore the motivation for this offence, we believe at this stage that this was centred on a localised housing-related issue. We have no indication, at this very early stage, that the motivation was connected with any specific local or global events.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “Over the past few months, we have seen an extremely worrying surge in antisemitic violence, from beatings to knife-wielding. This suspected arson attack, if it had an antisemitic motivation, takes our society to a whole new level of hate. Was it not enough that Jews may, judging from the evidence, have been burned alive by Hamas on 7th October? We cannot sit by as that grotesque violence is potentially mimicked by Jew-haters in the UK. We thank the first-responders and medical practitioners for bringing the fire under control and treating the wounded, and commend the police for a swift arrest. Justice must now be done.”

Image credit: London Fire Brigade

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Making antisemitism front page news

This week, Campaign Against Antisemitism brought antisemitism to the forefront of our nation’s mainstream media coverage.

Many of you will have seen the Evening Standard’s front page on Tuesday, titled, “London’s antisemitism shame”.

As our Chief Executive told the newspaper: “It’s the biggest untold story, the impact mass intimidation is having on Jewish families. The cumulative effect is pretty devastating…This is not the tolerant Britain that we cherish — it is a Britain succumbing to a racist mob.”

Now more than ever, antisemitism is at the forefront of our minds in the Jewish community. This is why we are working tirelessly to ensure that victims’ stories are told and that the British public comes to understand how antisemitism is not just a Jewish issue, but a national one. With our streets taken over by a mob every week, our politicians threatened and inept police leadership, our country is in crisis.

Reacting fast to injustice

Yesterday, a man was violently arrested by police in London for carrying a sign stating that under UK law, Hamas is considered to be a terrorist organisation. We are reviewing all of the footage available in relation to this incident.

The police response appears to have been not only outrageous and disproportionate but potentially legally actionable.

For a phalanx of police officers to violently arrest a man who was verbally and physically attacked for observing that Hamas is a proscribed terrorist group while taking no action against his assailants is a breathtaking inversion of the law.

Not only are the police failing to enforce the law but they appear to be punishing those who are daring to point out what the law is. We are in touch with the victim and our lawyers are examining options.

What is the law?

Over the last ten days, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has stated in no uncertain terms that he believes that calling for violent Jihad or the eradication of the Jewish state, or projecting antisemitic tropes like “From the River to the Sea” onto Big Ben are unacceptable criminal offences.

It was a categorical rebuke of how the Metropolitan Police has approached the regular anti-Israel protests, making excuses instead of arrests. Yesterday was yet another example.

That is why only 16% of British Jews believe that the police treat antisemitic hate crime like other forms of hate crime.

In response, Sir Mark Rowley, the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, rejected the Prime Minister’s assertions, doubling down on the excuses that he has made for police inaction for almost half a year now. The result is a lack of clarity on the law of the land. The Government says one thing, and the police say another.

Accordingly, we have written to Sir Mark, observing that “You have the distinction of presiding over the worst surge in antisemitic criminality in our capital city since records began,” and calling for clarity: “It is vital that the conflicting publicly stated positions of the British Government and the Metropolitan Police are reconciled.”

Jewish journalists resign from National Union of Journalists

On Tuesday, we broke the news that in recent months six Jewish journalists have resigned from the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), one of the largest trade unions for journalists in Britain, owing to its alleged bias against the Jewish state and the impact that that is having on its Jewish members.

Those who spoke to us have told us that there is a culture in the NUJ that leaves its Jewish members feeling ostracised.

Jewish former NUJ members have told us of rhetoric in official e-mails from the union to its members, the sorts of events being held by the union and comments from other members.

One of the journalists who left told us that they don’t “feel safe being in a union which takes no interest in the concerns of Jewish journalists.”

Another journalist said: “They’ve created a divide. It’s like them versus us.”

When one of the largest trade unions for journalists is endorsing people who have engaged in antisemitism-denial and made comparisons between the Nazis and Israel, what message is this sending its Jewish members?

The NUJ has clearly failed its Jewish members and must urgently explain how it will regain their trust.

We are offering free legal representation to any NUJ members affected by anti-Jewish racism. Anyone affected can contact us at [email protected].

The need for our work is more urgent than ever before

The 7th October massacre changed everything, and it’s clear that the fight against antisemitism is more urgent than ever before.

We have been working tirelessly to combat antisemitism in all its forms, but we can’t do it without you.

If you are one of our supporters who already have a direct debit with us or donate regularly to support our work, thank you.

Here is just a small, varied selection of some of the work that your support has already enabled us to do in recent months:

  • After Jewish audience members were allegedly hounded out of Soho Theatre by comedian Paul Currie, we have been supporting the victims and secured a pledge by the theatre to ban him from returning to the venue. This is just one example of the cases that we are working on and the victims whom we are assisting.
  • The rallies and marches that we have organised or co-sponsored have cast a spotlight on the Met Police and BBC, empowered Jews and allies to march through London, and raised awareness of the hostages being held by Hamas – a goal to which our billboards and digital vans have also contributed.
  • Our expert opinion helped ensure that a solicitor accused of antisemitic conduct has been struck off; our efforts brought about the rapper Wiley’s forfeiture of his MBE; our calls led to a judge being scrutinised over potential bias in a case relating to anti-Israel protesters; we helped bring about a humiliation for Ken Livingstone in court; and more. We continue to process scores of criminal, regulatory and other cases.
  • Our in-depth polling has revealed that nearly 70% of British Jews say that they are less likely to show visible signs of their Judaism right now, and that almost one fifth of the British public believes that Israel can get away with anything because its supporters “control the media”.
  • Following our ground-breaking exposé of rockstar Roger Waters, Germany-based music rights company BMG reportedly ended its relationship with the former Pink Floyd member.

We can only continue to do this vital work with your support.

By signing up for a direct debit today, you can ensure that we have the reliable funding needed to bring antisemitism to the forefront of British media. Direct debits offer a stable and efficient way for donors to support our cause, allowing more of your donation to directly fund our programmes and initiatives.

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Enough, it turns out, is not in fact enough

After weeks of resisting calls to impose restrictions on the weekly anti-Israel marches coursing through London, this week the Metropolitan Police Service finally agreed that enough is enough, and ordered protesters not to pass through Whitehall.

Then, under pressure, the Met reversed its decision, deciding that enough is not, in fact, enough, and that the protesters could march down Whitehall after all.

So, among the other rhetoric and signage, a flag, popular with Islamists, once again passed through the UK’s seat of government.

This is a humiliation for the Met and its Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, and serves as a reminder to the rest of us just how far our top police officers are willing to go to appease the mob.

To understand better the powers available to the Commissioner of the Met, the Mayor of London and the Home Secretary, watch this video here.

For one MP, enough is enough

The news this week that a senior MP and Government Minister is stepping down out of fear marks a dark time for democracy and the rule of law in Britain.

While the motivation behind the recent arson attack on Mike Freer’s constituency office is not yet clear, what is known is that the MP, who represents one of the country’s largest Jewish communities, has long been violently targeted by Islamist radicals and other extremists over his views on matters of Jewish interest, so much so that he has now announced his retirement, observing that “there is an underlying antisemitic part of the attacks.”

Regardless of political views, it should be deeply alarming to all people who care about our democracy that such fears are not only valid but can reach the point of driving elected MPs like Mr Freer out of public service.

We wish to thank Mr Freer for his longstanding and continuing support for the Jewish community, the fight against antisemitism, and Campaign Against Antisemitism, of which he has served as an Honorary Patron.

Alleged knife attack in Golders Green

Mike Freer’s announcement came just days after an alleged knife attack in his constituency.

On Monday, brave staff members of a kosher supermarket in Golders Green defended themselves against a man said to be wielding a knife in an alleged antisemitic incident.

We spoke with a member of staff involved, who told us that the suspect – appearing from footage to be a male dressed in a grey hoodie and grey tracksuit bottoms – entered the shop demanding to know the staff’s feelings on what was happening “in Palestine”.

One staff member refused to engage, explaining that he did not wish to discuss politics. He and another staff member then escorted the suspect out of the shop.

The suspect, shortly after, allegedly attempted to grab at one of the staff members’ neck. Defending himself with Krav Maga moves he remembered learning as a youth, the staff member tried to restrain him before hearing people around him yell “knife, knife”.

At this point, the staff member quickly backed away, and the suspect began moving towards him.

Thinking quickly, he grabbed a nearby shopping trolley, pushing it into the body of the suspect in order to create distance.

The staff member told us that he retreated into the shop, where the suspect then followed, before leaving and making his way across the road into a building.

He is alleged to have then left that building approximately five minutes later in a change of clothes, apparently wearing traditional Muslim garb, and began walking up the road.

One of the staff members then ran ahead of him so that he could view his face to confirm that this was the same man from minutes earlier.

Shortly thereafter, the suspect was apprehended by Shomrim North West London and the Metropolitan Police, and arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon, criminal damage and racially-aggravated affray.

He was then taken into custody, and has been charged.

We are continuing to support the victims and follow the matter closely.

Roger Waters dropped by record label following CAA exposé

It has been revealed that the music rights company BMG dropped the controversial rockstar Roger Waters shortly after we published our exposé on the musician, where we revealed that Mr Waters wanted to put “Dirty k***” on an inflatable pig and impersonated a Holocaust victim, among other allegations.

The decision, taken by BMG in the closing months of last year, was not accompanied by an explanation at the time.

The company, which is based in Germany, signed a publishing agreement with Mr Waters in 2016 and was scheduled to release a newly recorded version of Pink Floyd’s 1973 album Dark Side of the Moon last year, but withdrew and the re-recording was instead released by the UK-based record label Cooking Vinyl.

The split is reported to be unusual for a major publishing deal, and comes as Mr Waters’ reputation is in tatters following the release of our documentary. You can watch the film here.

The full documentary can be viewed at antisemitism.org/rogerwaters.

Vincent Reynouard to be extradited to France after action by CAA

Vincent Reynouard, a French Holocaust-denier, will be extradited from the UK after his application for leave to appeal was rejected.

Mr Reynouard, 54, a convicted Holocaust-denier, was awaiting a decision on his appeal after a court in Scotland granted an extradition request from France. Mr Reynouard was a fugitive in the UK who was caught following appeals from Campaign Against Antisemitism and our Honorary Patron, Lord Austin.

Mr Reynouard is a despicable Holocaust-denier who has repeatedly been convicted by French courts. For him to have evaded justice, only to settle in the UK as a private tutor teaching children, is intolerable, which is why we worked with French Jewish organisations to secure his extradition so that he faces the consequences of his abhorrent incitement.

We are delighted that those efforts have borne fruit, with the court granting the request to extradite Mr Reynouard and refusing his application for permission to appeal, so that he can face justice in France. This is not only the right judgement for the Jewish community, but also for the justice system. The UK cannot become a haven for those seeking to evade justice elsewhere. For antisemites in particular, the message is clear: you are not welcome in Britain.

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What Holocaust Memorial Day Is, And What It Is Not

Around the world, International Holocaust Memorial Day was marked with dignity and respect. But not everywhere.

Some, like Labour MP Kate Osamor, used the occasion to imply in a message to constituents that what is happening in Gaza is comparable to the Holocaust and, by strong implication, that Israel acts like the Nazis, a breach of the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Her apology rang hollow, as if she was unaware of the meaning of her own remarks. Clearly, her understanding of antisemitism is deficient and not in accordance with that of her Party, which has adopted the Definition.

We have called on the Labour Party to suspend her, and she must be required to undertake antisemitism training by a reputable provider.

Meanwhile, at anti-Israel demonstrations in the UK, protesters desecrated the solemnity of the day, not only by equating Israel to Nazis as well, but also in providing a masterclass in how a phenomenon like Holocaust-denial begins, as they cast doubt on, played down or outright denied the Hamas atrocities of 7th October.

Leicester Square attack

Not only are the police failing to police the weekly anti-Israel demonstrations adequately, but they are also failing individual Jews under attack.

Last weekend, in the early hours of the morning, three Jews were physically assaulted by ten men in Leicester Square, resulting in serious injuries. Incredibly, not a single bystanders assisted.

Although the victims called the police while the attack was underway, and notwithstanding that it was taking place in the heart of London, police officers only showed up after half an hour, by which time the perpetrators had fled the scene.

The Metropolitan Police must identify and arrest the attackers. The victims are also calling on the police to apologise for failing them when they needed them most.

Watch the victims speak out here.

“Generation hate”: frightening new polling published

Campaign Against Antisemitism commissioned King’s College London to survey British adults’ attitudes towards Jews, using YouGov.

The polling has revealed worrying levels of anti-Jewish prejudice among the British public, with particularly frightening rates among young people aged between 18 and 24.

Published in the week of Holocaust Memorial Day, the polling raises serious questions about whether lessons about the antisemitism that motivated the Nazis have really been learned by British young adults.

  • A quarter of British people over 64 believe that Israel treats the Palestinians like the Nazis treated the Jews. Among 18-24 year olds, it is over a third.
  • Almost one fifth of the British public believes that Israel can get away with anything because its supporters control the media. Among 18-24 year olds, it is more than a quarter.
  • Compared to the general population (one in twenty), double the proportion of 18-24s (almost one in ten) do not believe that Jewish people are just as loyal to Britain as other British people.
  • Compared to the general population, more than double the proportion of 18-24 year olds are not as open to having Jewish friends as they are to having friends from other sections of British society.
  • While almost one fifth of the British public believes that Israel and its supporters are a bad influence on our democracy, that rises to over one quarter of 18-24 year olds.
  • 7% of Britons do not believe that Israel is right to defend itself against those who want to destroy it. That figure doubles to 14% of 18-24 year olds.
  • 14% of British people are not comfortable spending time with people who openly support Israel. Among 18-24 year olds, that figure rises to 21% – more than one fifth of the young population.
  • More than one in ten young Britons do not believe that Israel has a right to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people.
  • More than one in ten 18-24 year olds believe that Jewish people talk about the Holocaust just to further their political agenda.

Other findings from the survey:

  • More than one in ten British people believe that Jewish people chase money more than other people do.
  • Only three quarters of British people believe that Jewish people can be trusted just as much as other British people in business.
  • More than one in ten Britons believe that, compared to other groups, Jewish people have too much power in the media.

The rhetoric that we are seeing online, on television and on our streets is radicalising the British public, but it is the rates of antisemitism that we have discovered among 18-24 year olds that are most frightening. This is generation hate.

On the occasion of Holocaust Memorial Day, our country needs an urgent rethink about how we teach about antisemitism. If young people cannot see the relationship between the genocidal antisemitism of the Nazis and the genocidal antisemitism of Hamas, and, as a society, we refuse to talk about how our attitudes towards Israel and its supporters are influenced by antisemitic prejudice, then we are clearly not talking about antisemitism properly.

Our education is failing the next generation, and our society is suffering as a result. It is British Jews who are paying the price.

The YouGov survey was designed and analysed by experts at KCL on behalf of Campaign Against Antisemitism. Total sample size was 2,084 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 8th-11th December 2023 by YouGov plc. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+). The full results, background information and methodology can be found here.

This weekend saw the memory of the Holocaust appropriated to abuse the Jewish community. What would the British soldiers who liberated the Nazi death camps make of Britain today?

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Man charged with hate crime in connection with alleged assault of Jew in Berlin

A man has been charged with a hate crime after he allegedly assaulted a Jewish man at a subway station.

On Saturday, a Jewish man, who was walking with his son, was first approached by a 61-year-old man, at Storkower Strasse subway station in the Prenzlauer-Berg district of Berlin. The suspect allegedly spoke to the victim in a “disrespectful manner”, before the victim and his son ignored him and continued on their route. 

When they returned to the same station in the afternoon, however, they encountered the same man, who allegedly punched the victim in the neck and said an antisemitic insult. 

Shortly after, the suspect was found by police, who charged him with a hate crime. It is understood that the man was determined to be inebriated at the time of the arrest, following the administration of a breathalyser test. 

Last week, an investigation was announced into a suspected arson attack on a Holocaust street library box in Berlin. 

Campaign Against Antisemitism reports on news and incidents relating to antisemitism in Germany, which have increased considerably. 

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Spike in antisemitic hate crimes in New York neighbourhoods

Multiple antisemitic hate crimes have been reported in Jewish neighbourhoods in Brooklyn, New York.

On 16th August, two men on a motorbike snatched a kippah from a Jewish man’s head in the heavily-Jewish neighbourhood of Borough Park. Police are attempting to identify the two suspects through CCTV footage.

The next day, a suspect riding a Citi Bike slapped a 43-year-old man who was wearing identifiably Jewish clothing on Wallabout Street in Williamsburg. Later that day, on the same street, a Jewish woman was slapped in the head. 

South Williamsburg is a heavily Jewish area, with a large Hasidic community. 

New York has seen multiple antisemitic incidents over the past few months, including a local synagogue vandalised with graffiti and a separate incident where swastikas were drawn in a park in nearby Long Island.

Campaign Against Antisemitism reports on news and incidents relating to antisemitism throughout the United States.

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Vindicating CAA and others, judge describes Abdullah Qureshi’s crimes as “terrible events for the entire Jewish community” before handing down sentence

A judge has described Abdullah Qureshi’s crimes as “terrible events for the entire Jewish community” before handing down his sentence in relation to racially aggravated assaults that Mr Qureshi committed against religious Jews two years ago.

On 7th April 2022, Mr Qureshi, 30, from Dewsbury in West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty at Thames Magistrates’ Court to two counts of assault by beating and one count of grievous bodily harm with intent. The charges related to a series of assaults on 18th August 2021 in Stamford Hill in which five religious Jews in the North London neighbourhood were violently attacked.

In one incident at 18:41 on the day of the attacks, an Orthodox Jewish man was struck in the face with what appeared to be a bottle. In another at 19:10, a child was slapped on the back of the head, and in yet another at 20:30, a 64-year-old victim was struck and left unconscious on the ground, suffering facial injuries and a broken ankle. Two further incidents were also alleged.

The incidents received significant media attention at the time, and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, condemned “this appalling attack,” adding: “Let me be clear, racist abuse and hate crime, including antisemitism, have absolutely no place in our city.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism then revealed that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had dropped the racially/religiously aggravated element of those charges as part of a plea deal with Mr Qureshi. After we, Shomrim, CST and other communal organisations made representations to the CPS, it agreed to reinstate the aggravated elements, but Mr Qureshi appeared in court to resist the reinstatement of the aggravated element. In August last year, Stratford Magistrates’ Court agreed to reinstate the racially/religiously aggravated element to the charges against Mr Qureshi, and, at a further hearing at Thames Magistrates’ Court, he pleaded not guilty. In November 2022, Mr Qureshi was found guilty of the reinstated racially/religiously aggravated charges that the CPS initially dropped, before intervention by Campaign Against Antisemitism and other groups.

In December, Mr Qureshi was expected to be sentenced, but this was postponed following concerns surrounding his mental health. The court heard that Mr Qureshi suffered from anxiety and depression and that he had been hearing “internal voices” which ordered him to carry out the attacks. In February of this year, His Honour Judge Noel Lucas QC ordered an interim hospital order under Section 38 of the Mental Health Act 1983. Such an order is given when a person has been convicted but a court has been advised by doctors that the person has a mental health issue that requires hospital treatment before sentencing should occur. 

On 29th June, Mr Qureshi appeared at Wood Green Crown Court, where the court heard the first of two medical reports on his condition, with a view to hearing the second in August.

Today, Mr Qureshi appeared at the same court via video link. He was asked if he wanted representation and declined, as he has done on previous occasions.

Also appearing by video from elsewhere was Dr Purvesh Madhani, who reported that he and a second doctor had considered sentencing options under the law and concluded that a prison sentence would not be appropriate in view of Mr Qureshi’s mental illness. Instead, they recommended an order under section 37 of the Mental Health Act order, along with a section 41 restriction. Dr Madhani said that “I have come to the conclusion he has symptoms…[namely] delusions and hallucinations that make me feel that a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia [is appropriate].”

Mr Qureshi argued against the s.41 restriction on the basis that he had not reoffended since the original incidents (albeit that much of that time has been spent in hospital). Dr Madhani accepted this but also noted that on one occasion Mr Qureshi had to “receive treatment without your consent”. The doctor also observed that Mr Qureshi does not understand the link between his mental health issues and the crimes that he committed.

Nicki Roberson, appearing via video link for the CPS, revealed that, at the time of Mr Qureshi’s arrest, his father expressed concerns about his mental health. She also read out victim statements. One victim not only suffered trauma himself from the assaults at the hands of Mr Qureshi, but his four eldest children also had to attend therapy for a year. Another victim – a fourteen-year-old who cannot be identified – said in his victim statement that “I felt scared…I said nothing as I was shocked” and that “this must not happen to anyone.” Yet another victim related in his statement that he had been punched by Mr Qureshi in his right ear “with tremendous power” and his ear was “burning for months”, leaving him in “excruciating” pain. He is still “jumpy at the slightest noise” and his GP has diagnosed him with PTSD and referred him to a specialist. One of the victims suffered financial loss due to being unable to work for a period.

It also emerged that Mr Qureshi has two previous convictions, including one under the Public Order Act in relation to violence outside a nightclub in Swansea City Centre. Once locked in a prison cell, he had also grabbed the throat of a police officer.

Ms Roberson described Mr Qureshi’s attacks in Stamford Hill as having involved a “significant degree of planning” and argued that the crimes possessed a “high level of religious aggravation”. She sought a restraining order for an indefinite period for the victims, barring Mr Qureshi from contacting them by any means, prohibiting him from coming within 100 metres of them, and also banning him from the London Borough of Hackney.

Mr Qureshi denied travelling from his home in Yorkshire just to commit the offences, insisting that “there was no planning.” He also expressed contrition several times, saying. “I am deeply sorry for any harm that I have caused” and “My actions were totally unacceptable.” However, he also claimed that “I was drunk and I was angry.”

Judge Kalyani Kaul KC observed that there has been widespread coverage of the attacks in the Jewish media, and that this must have caused “a deep sense of shock and insecurity” for the Jewish community. She said that “these sorts of attacks make waves” that are ultimately greater than the attacks themselves, describing the crimes as “terrible events for the entire Jewish community”. The Jewish community, she said, “should not be subject to discrimination or hurt,” adding that attacks such as these “encourage divisiveness…[and] mistrust…from Jewish people to wider society”. She declared that these attacks affect not only the Jewish community “but all of us”.

She noted of one of the victims that “his life has been changed forever, both in terms of his physical health and how he conducts his life” and, with regard to another victim, that it was “only by the good grace of G-d” that he was not injured further. The judge was also not persuaded by Mr Qureshi’s contrition, concluding that “I’m not convinced you fully take responsibility,” and rejected his drunkenness defence: “[it was not] simply a question of being drunk, hitting out and not really knowing what you’ve done.”

Judge Kaul declared that she would have liked to issue a prison sentence but was unable to under law. “If it had been a sentence I could pass,” she said, it would have been in the region of five years’ custody, but “I’m not passing that sentence because I can’t.” Instead, she ruled that “I am satisfied you are suffering from a mental disorder” specifically “paranoid schizophrenia”, and issued orders under section 37 with a section 41 restriction, because “there is a great risk you will commit further offences if you are not detained.” She also granted the restraining order for a period of ten years.

Under this hospital order, Mr Qureshi will be sent to hospital and can only be discharged with the consent of the Justice Secretary.

We are grateful to Nicki Roberson and District Crown Prosecutor Varinder Hayre for helping to bring about today’s outcome.

Varinder Hayre, District Crown Prosecutor and London North’s Hate Crime Lead, said: “Qureshi, who travelled from West Yorkshire, carried out a series of antisemitic attacks on the Jewish community. The only thing which connected his victims was their Jewish faith. Hatred of any kind has no place in society. This sentence should serve as a strong deterrent to those thinking of committing similar crimes.

“I would like to thank the three victims for coming forward and supporting the prosecution. I am very pleased that we have achieved justice for the victims who were badly affected by this unprovoked, antisemitic, religiously aggravated hate crime. Indeed, no one in our society should be targeted because of who they are or what they do. Hate crimes – including antisemitism – have a corrosive effect on society. We will always prosecute where there is sufficient evidence to do so.”

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “We are very satisfied that Abdullah Qureshi has finally been sentenced for crimes committed almost two years ago. Justice requires perseverance, and we worked to help ensure that Mr Qureshi was identified and caught, the correct charges were brought against him, he was prosecuted to the full extent of the law, and he was sentenced appropriately. This sentence helps to redress the serious harm caused to his victims by these awful crimes.

“Today’s sentence also vindicates efforts made by Campaign Against Antisemitism, Shomrim, CST and others to pressure the Crown Prosecution Service into reinstating the aggravated charges after they were initially dropped. The CPS claimed that it did not have sufficient evidence to make out the antisemitic element of the crimes, but we disagreed and the court found that we were right to do so. We are grateful to the CPS for making the case forcefully since then and bringing about this outcome.

“Today a judge has robustly reiterated the impact of these abominable crimes both on the victims and on the Jewish community more widely. The CPS must recognise that victims of antisemitic crimes cannot be made to accept deficient legal outcomes, and perpetrators are on notice that we will not stop until Jewish victims have justice.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over five hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than five times likelier to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.

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26 synagogues evacuated in the US following bomb threats and hoax calls

26 synagogues in the United States have been evacuated after receiving bomb threats and hoax calls.

The calls were made to synagogues across twelve different states over the course of four weekends, it is understood. It is believed that the incidents are part of a coordinated effort by a single group of online trolls. 

One of the synagogues targeted, Beth Torah Jewish Temple in Fremont, California, received a bomb threat at around 20:00 last Friday and had to evacuate its premises. Following the evacuation, police searched the building but found no suspicious items or people.

Then, on Saturday, congregants of Temple Beth Tikvah, a synagogue in Fullerton, also in California, were forced to evacuate the synagogue after a bomb threat was made at around midday. The caller reportedly said that the bomb would detonate twenty minutes after the call.

The moment that the leaders of the prayer service received news of the call was captured on a livestream of the Shabbat service that was taking place at the time.

Following the evacuation, police found no explosive devices on the premises. 

Of the call, the synagogue’s Rabbi, Mati Kirschenbaum, said: “Sadly, this is something that many temples, many Jewish houses of worship…have to live with.”

The ADL has also reported that two of its offices were targeted in similar attacks. 

Campaign Against Antisemitism reports on news and incidents relating to antisemitism throughout the United States.

Image credit: Google

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Police investigate possibility of antisemitic motive after Israeli man is attacked in Berlin

German authorities are investigating the possibility of an antisemitic motive after an Israeli man was attacked by three men in Berlin. 

The victim, a nineteen-year-old Israeli tourist, told police that he was walking with an eighteen-year-old woman whilst talking on the phone in Hebrew. 

A car then stopped next to the victim. Three men came out of the car and began speaking to the victim in German, which he did not understand. 

It is claimed that the men proceeded to attack the victim, and allegedly kicked and beat him before they got back into the vehicle and drove away.

The victim contacted the local authorities once he had arrived at the hospital. 

Campaign Against Antisemitism reports on news and incidents relating to antisemitism in Germany, which have increased considerably.

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Man opened fire outside Memphis Jewish school 

Police shot a man after he opened fire with a handgun outside Margolin Hebrew Academy in Memphis, Tennessee. 

The man reportedly tried to enter the school’s premises but was unable to do so due to the double security doors.

He then fled the scene in a pick-up truck, which was later located with the suspect inside the vehicle by local law enforcement. 

When approached by police, the armed man is understood to have gotten out of the truck. Police then shot at the suspect and wounded him before he was taken to hospital. 

Of the failed attack, Dan Crow, Assistant Police Chief of The Memphis Police Department, said: “Thankfully, that school had a great safety procedure and process in place and avoided anyone being harmed or injured at that scene.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism reports on news and incidents relating to antisemitism throughout the United States.

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Hasidic man reportedly asked if he is Jewish before being stabbed in violent Brooklyn attack

A Hasidic man was reportedly asked if he is Jewish before being stabbed in a violent Brooklyn attack.

The victim, a Chabad Hasid dressed in religious garb visiting from Israel, was walking through the heavily-Jewish neighbourhood of Crown Heights in New York City on Shabbat morning at 02:00, when, according to a police report, he was approached by two men who asked if he was Jewish.

The two men then allegedly stabbed the victim in the arm with a screwdriver, leaving him with a small puncture wound. He returned home and called medics who took him to hospital, where his condition was described as stable, and he was later released.

Yaacov Behrman, a representative of Chabad Lubavitch Headquarters in Crown Heights, said: “On Friday night, around 2am, a visiting student from Israel was stabbed in the arm with what appears to be a screwdriver. The victim informed me that he was briefly hospitalised. The attack was carried out by two males.” He added that the attack “is currently being investigated as a hate crime. According to the victim, he was questioned about his Jewish identity. Despite being visibly traumatised, the victim expressed gratitude for not having sustained more severe injuries. This incident is deeply concerning, and we have full confidence in the NYPD’s ability to conduct a thorough investigation and apprehend the perpetrators.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism reports on news and incidents relating to antisemitism throughout the United States.

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Campaign Against Antisemitism is a volunteer-led charity dedicated to exposing and countering antisemitism through education and zero-tolerance enforcement of the law. Everything that we do is done by people who volunteer their time, using donations contributed by members of the public. Join the fight against antisemitism by subscribing to our updates, volunteering, or donating.