Police fail Golders Green rabbi after violent antisemitic altercation in parking dispute

Police have failed a rabbi in Golders Green who was the victim of antisemitic violence and abuse in a parking dispute.

The rabbi, who wishes to remain anonymous, was in his car with his wife and children preparing to park in a parking space that was being vacated. Another car was forced to wait behind for a mere minute while the rabbi was waiting to park.

As the driver of the car behind became impatient, he left his vehicle and started yelling as he approached the rabbi’s car. The rabbi got out of his car in order to try to calm the other driver down, but the other driver shoved him back against the car and shouted: “F*** you and your whole dissolved gene pool.”

The rabbi’s wife telephoned the police during the incident, which took place in June.

The assailant returned to his car and drove off. In order to help identify him, the rabbi followed him back to a house and informed the police of that address. When the police arrived, they interviewed the suspect who denied that any incident had taken place.

To the rabbi’s dismay, the police did not arrest him and told the rabbi that there was no evidence as his wife and children could apparently not act as witnesses, and other witnesses from the scene had departed by the time the police arrived.

The police assured the rabbi that he would be granted access to the recording of his wife’s telephone call to the police, which he believed captured audio of the assailant’s abuse. However, his subsequent requests for a copy of the audio were inexplicably denied, although the police insisted that they listened to it and that it did not contain the assailant’s abuse.

Although the police on the scene were polite, the follow-up e-mail that they promised him never materialised, and he heard nothing back since the incident took place last summer and they took his statement.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “This is an appalling example of dereliction of duty by police officers. Instead of looking for reasons not to pursue a case, leaving a victim and his family in distress, officers should do – and be seen to be doing – their utmost to ensure that justice is done. Instead, someone prepared to physically attack a rabbi has been left emboldened and at large.

“Our polling shows that a majority of British Jews did not believe that the police do enough to protect them. That sentiment is not going to change if serious incidents of violent antisemitic abuse like this are not fully investigated. We have provided support to the victim.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews more than four 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 British Jews believe that the authorities, in general, are not doing enough to address and punish antisemitism.