The police must uphold the law, but they need to hear it from you
Since last weekend, we have been leading a campaign to raise awareness of the plight of the hostages held by Hamas, including through billboards and digital vans that travel around London displaying the images of some of the child captives. We have also taken action against those who tear down or deface the leaflets and posters that have been put up around the city.
We expected that there may be pockets of opposition to the vans from terrorist-sympathisers and their fellow travellers in London. What we did not anticipate was opposition from the Metropolitan Police Service.
For the full story of this outrageous incident, join the millions who have watched our Chief Executive recount the episode, which was also covered across the national media.
Since the incident, we have engaged with the Metropolitan Police — in addition to our work with the Government — but the outcomes with the police have been unsatisfactory. This adds to our disappointment with current policing policy. It is time to take action.
The volunteers of our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit continue to gather evidence from the demonstrations around the country, bearing witness to the Metropolitan Police’s own findings that antisemitic hate crime in London is up by a scandalous 1,350%.
Instead of arrests, however, the Met has been making excuses for hate. The force permitted a rally by Hizb ut-Tahrir to go ahead; it announced, contrary to the view of the Home Secretary, that the chant “From the River to the Sea Palestine will be free” is not hate speech unless it expressly targets a Jewish institution; and it ignores calls for “Jihad” and “Intifada” by demonstrators; among other shortcomings.
While failing to take action against those expressing sympathy for terrorists or calling for violence, as shown here, the Met did find the time to order that our vans shut down their display of the faces of children taken hostage by a proscribed terrorist group. The protesters hurling abuse at our volunteers, just feet from watching police officers, were not apprehended.
In 2014, Campaign Against Antisemitism was founded when the community witnessed that the authorities barely lifted a finger to combat antisemitism on our streets. We made our voices heard then outside the Royal Courts of Justice, but only towards the end of that surge in antisemitic incidents. This time, we must make our voices heard earlier, to shape how the Met polices our streets over the coming weeks.
We will be rallying outside New Scotland Yard this Wednesday at 18:30. The rally will be held at New Scotland Yard, London SW1A 2JL, and the nearest Underground stations are Westminster and Embankment.
The BBC
We have been among those at the forefront of the campaign to pressure the BBC to report accurately and impartially, including by calling Hamas what they are: terrorists.
The BBC must be made to understand that not only is it doing a disservice to viewers, listeners and readers by not reporting in accordance with its guidelines, but its coverage has a real-life, adverse impact on British Jews.
We co-sponsored a rally outside Broadcasting House, which was covered by all the major broadcasters and press, backed a petition signed by tens of thousands (please do sign if you haven’t already), physically projected a powerful message onto Broadcasting House itself to shame the BBC, and recorded a special episode of our podcast with Noah Abrahams, a courageous and principled young sports journalist who has quit the BBC in protest at its failure to describe Hamas as a terrorist organisation (listen now).
We also called out the BBC for referring to the recent Brussels attack as terrorism while refusing to do the same for Hamas. After its hypocrisy was exposed, rather than accept that it must finally describe Hamas as a terror group, the Corporation quietly and disgracefully changed its Brussels coverage instead.
The BBC is not the only media outlet that we have held to account in recent days. Among the most egregious was the satirical magazine Private Eye. Perhaps appropriately, our response to its appalling front cover involved satirising their unfunny attempt at satire.
We have also reviewed material and submitted complaints relating to other broadcasters and newspapers, and continue to do so.
It is time for the BBC to hear the strength of feeling directly from the Jewish community and to justify its appalling coverage. Courtesy of Campaign Against Antisemitism, for the first time, a member of the BBC’s Executive Committee will be speaking at an open event for the Jewish community, and you are invited. To book tickets, visit antisemitism.org/bbc.
We are fighting back. Now it is the turn of the police to rise to the occasion in these challenging times and uphold the law against those who want to harm the Jewish community.
