“Jews, remember the battle of Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning” chant protesters outside US Embassy in London

“Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad, sa yahud” translated in English as “Jews, remember the battle of Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning” was chanted at an “emergency” protest outside the US Embassy in central London on Friday evening where thousands rallied against US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The “Hands off Jerusalem” protest was organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Friends of Al Aqsa, Stop the War Coalition and Muslim Association of Britain and supported by Muslim Voices, Stand up to Trump, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, War on Want, Association of Palestinian Communities in the UK, Olive and Europal Forum, some of which have been found to have antisemites amongst their supporters.

The “Khaybar” chant is a classic Arabic battle cry and taunt and reference to the Muslim massacre and expulsion of the Jews of the town of Khaybar in northwestern Arabia, now Saudi Arabia, in the year 628 CE. The political blog, Harry’s Place, captured the disturbing footage of the chant, which was then followed by cries of “Death to America, death to Israel”.

Volunteers from our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit went into the thick of the protesters to gather evidence.

Campaign Against Antisemitism took video recordings of demonstrators chanting: “From the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea, Palestine will be free”, a chant that only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state and its replacement with a Palestinian state. This chant was heard repeatedly during the protest. Under the International Definition of Antisemitism adopted by the UK Government, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination” is antisemitic.

The widespread and blatant antisemitic chanting at the protest is a cause for considerable concern. Other “Hands off Jerusalem” demonstrations were held in Manchester, Nottingham and Cardiff.

Tonight outside the US embassy in London; "Khaybar Khaybar, ya yahud, Jaish Muhammad, sa yahud" or "Jews, remember Khaybar the army of Muhammad is returning". They mean Zionists tho…@PSCupdates are they your banners they're holding? @mishtal pic.twitter.com/PuMaZEomEk

— Harry's Place (@hurryupharry) December 8, 2017