Discrimination against Jews is no laughing matter

Since last weekend, we have been assisting Jewish guests who were reportedly hounded out of the Soho Theatre in London after comedian Paul Currie allegedly led his audience in targeted chanting.

According to a statement provided to us by one Jewish attendee, who wished to remain anonymous, the incident occurred last Saturday during the one-hour “Shtoom” show, attended by over 100 people.

Towards the end of the performance, Mr Currie introduced two props – a Ukrainian flag and a Palestinian Authority flag – and urged everyone to stand and applaud, apparently in support of the causes with which those flags have become associated, creating discomfort among some attendees in relation to the Palestinian Authority flag.

“When we all sat down again, [Mr Currie] looked towards a young man sitting in the second row and said ‘You didn’t stand, why? Didn’t you enjoy my show?’,” recounted the attendee. “The young man, who we discovered soon after was Israeli, replied ‘I enjoyed your show until you brought out the Palestinian Authority flag.’”

According to the attendee, the comedian then yelled at the young man: “Get out of my show. Get the f*** out of here. F*** off, get the f*** out of here.” This instantaneously escalated into the audience shouting “Get out” and “Free Palestine” until the young man left.

We publicised the story and worked with the victims to secure national media coverage of the incident. We are also dealing with the theatre, which has engaged with us positively and swiftly and issued an apology. It has banned Mr Currie, who has also reportedly been dropped by two Australian venues so far as well.

Comedians are rightly given broad latitude, but hounding Jews out of theatres is reminiscent of humanity’s darkest days, and must have no place in central London in 2024. We are working with the victims and our lawyers to ensure that those who instigated and enabled it are held to account.

Anyone who witnessed the incident or has any further information is asked to contact us in confidence on +44 (0)330 822 0321 (option 2) or at [email protected].

In Rochdale, Labour gets it wrong before getting it right

The Labour Party’s candidate in the Rochdale by-election, Azhar Ali, was revealed to have suggested that Israel may have enabled the 7th October Hamas massacre in order to justify an incursion into Gaza. He was recorded making the remarks in a meeting in late October 2023.

But even as it became clear that this man, who had effectively propagated a blood libel, does not belong in a major political party, let alone in Parliament, the Labour Party, incredibly, continued to back his candidacy after a quick apology, wheeling out numerous figures to defend him.

It was then revealed that, at the same meeting, he blamed Labour’s suspension of Andy McDonald MP on “people in the media from certain Jewish quarters”. Labour then dropped its support for him.

It then emerged that Graham Jones, a former Labour MP who is also seeking a return to the Commons, was also recorded at the same meeting apparently making reference to “f***ing Israel” and saying (wrongly) that it is illegal for British Jews to join fighting against Hamas terrorists and that those who do so “should be locked up”. Labour immediately suspended him.

Sir Keir Starmer blotted an otherwise fairly admirable copy book by delaying the withdrawal of support from Mr Ali. Rather than appearing as a principled decision, it ended up looking as expedient as the failed attempt to defend him in the first place. However, in the case of Mr Jones, Labour did the right thing, and did it swiftly.

Now, Labour must reveal which other MPs, candidates and councillors were at that same October meeting and why they said nothing about the remarks that were made, and indeed if more such remarks were made. Labour must continue to put a line in the sand and declare that it will not tolerate extremist views. It is the least that we should be able to expect from all our political parties.

Throughout the week, as more and more revelations emerged, we led the media commentary, appearing in every major newspaper and on all the major radio and television broadcasters.

The Conservatives this week expelled the Mayor of Salisbury following reportedly “offensive and inappropriate comments” about Jewish people.

It is disappointing to see so many of these cases in our politics, but we commend parties for acting swiftly when they arise.

Police ask man hide Jewishness in Edinburgh

In Edinburgh, we are working with a Jewish man who was urged by police to hide his Star of David due to the proximity of an anti-Israel protest, to avoid “triggering” the protesters. The police officer was clearly worried that he and his colleagues were heavily outnumbered and that these protesters could pose a threat to Jews, but his response was effectively to stop a passing Jewish man and ask him to hide his identity before continuing on his way.

Watch the video, and ask yourself whose rights are actually being protected here, those of law-abiding people or those of mobs of extremists who might be “triggered” by people being Jewish in public?

The police have apologised to the individual, but an apology somewhat misses the point. If the officer believed that there was a potential threat to this Jewish individual, he should have focused on the threat.

What if arrests are made, but the courts fail us?

Our Demonstration and Events Monitoring Unit collected evidence from a protest outside Downing Street this week, in which antisemitic signs were on display.

The police acted in response to one of the pictures that we posted, announcing that they had arrested a woman on suspicion of inciting racial hatred.

However, an arrest is only the first stage in the criminal justice system. There must also be prosecutions and then trials in court, with appropriate sentences for those who are convicted.

On that score, the system has failed us this week.

You may recall that, in one of the first major anti-Israel protests in the wake of 7th October, three women were seen displaying images of a paraglider, a symbol that had come to be associated with the Hamas attack. They were identified and arrested, and have been convicted of terrorism offences.

However, Deputy Senior District Judge Tan Ikram “decided not to punish” the trio. The court thereby sent the worst possible signal to the Jewish community at a time of surging antisemitism.

We then shared fresh evidence with the media that may suggest possible bias on the Judge’s part. We shared this with the media, and have written to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office. A full and proper investigation must follow. The Jewish community deserves to be able to trust our legal system to act impartially and with zero-tolerance enforcement of the law.

This weekend’s anti-Israel march

We are continuing to monitor the weekly anti-Israel protests. This week, we publicised concerns from local Jewish community leaders in central London about the route and persistence of these marches. The Met Police tried to ensure that the marches would start at 13:30 on Saturday after synagogue services had finished, but the protesters gathered at midday anyway. The police bolstered security outside synagogues in the area and we have heard from parents who were afraid to walk home with their children.

Not only are the organisers of these marches refusing to respect local communities and the police, but neither are the protesters. Met Police officers who, rightly, were arresting a woman holding a sign that read “Long Live the Intifada” were confronted by angry demonstrators chanting “Shame on you”. The reason that these protests are so hard to police is because it is not just the overt criminals who cause disruption, but it is the criminals who walk alongside them and attack the police when they move in. This means dozens of police — who are considerably outnumbered to begin with — are required to effect one arrest.

Sir Mark Rowley has accepted that there is a threat to synagogues and Jewish people but has still not banned the marches or placed meaningful restrictions on them. He has sent 1,500 officers to police tens of thousands of people and they are getting beaten up doing their jobs.

For shame.

The above is just a sample of our work over the past week. We have also written to the University of Leeds over a spate of incidents in and around its campus; we have called out the BBC over a contestant on “The Apprentice” with a history of inflammatory rhetoric about Jews and offered assistance to BBC employees who are reportedly frightened at work; we are referring the General Medical Council to the Professional Standards Authority over a pitiful sanction for a doctor who has been found to be “quite comfortable with using discriminatory language” about Jews; we are assisting a Jewish nightclub owner in East London who has been forced to step down as a director following threats against him and his family; and more.

We are fighting antisemitism on every front – on the streets and on campuses, on television and in politics, in business and online, in our regulated professions and in our cultural institutions – and we are fighting it nationwide. We are only able to do so with your continued support.