Dame Cressida Dick on recent wave of antisemitism: “I expect we will be bringing people to justice”
Earlier this week, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick said that she expects those behind the antisemitic attacks in May to be held responsible and face justice.
In May, incidents of antisemitism in Britain skyrocketed after clashes erupted between Israel and Hamas, the antisemitic genocidal terrorist group. These incidents included signs that featured antisemitic themes at rallies, a rabbi in Essex being assaulted and hospitalised, and a convoy of cars that drove down the Finchley Road shouting “F*** the Jews…rape their daughters” through a megaphone.
Dame Cressida said that her officers “still have a number of investigations to complete” while adding that she expects her team will be “bringing people to justice.”
It was confirmed that the allegations that are currently under investigation so far include “a very offensive placard” and “somebody who was shouting vile abuse as they were driving along.”
“Antisemitic attacks are obviously vile – we all wish they didn’t happen,” the Commissioner said. She added: “We are working really hard to make sure we get ahead of the problem…we saw, yes a spike, a high in reported antisemitic crime.”
Commissioner Dick noted that “a fair proportion of reported crime was online” but also added that this “does not excuse it.”
Speaking on the anti-Israel demonstrations where several antisemitic signs and chants were present, Commissioner Dick said: “Policing those protests was challenging, although the amount of disorder associated with those protests was very much less than on the last two occasions when tensions had been particularly high in that region.”
Following a complaint from Campaign Against Antisemitism, the Metropolitan Police Service is investigating multiple police officers over their participation in antisemitic protests whilst in uniform.
Campaign Against Antisemitism wrote to Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick after two videos emerged, one showing a uniformed police officer embracing protestors and chanting “Free, free Palestine,” with another showing officers at the same demonstration greeting and shaking hands with the drivers of a convoy of cars that displayed Palestinian flags.
The protests were characterised by some of the worst incidents of antisemitism seen on the streets of London in recent years. Swastikas and pictures of Adolf Hitler as well as calls for Jews to be murdered and Jewish women to be raped were all accompanied by the constant beat of the same words that were chanted by the officer who appears in the first video.
