Two suspects arrested over antisemitic graffiti in Hampstead and Belsize Park
Two individuals have reportedly been arrested in connection with antisemitic graffiti that appeared in December 2019 in Hampstead and Belsize Park.
South Hampstead Synagogue and at least twelve other locations were targeted with graffiti commonly used by conspiracy theorists to suggest that the Jews were secretly behind the 9/11 terrorist atrocities.
The graffiti was discovered in the evening of 28th December 2019 and the following morning, and was reported to the Metropolitan Police at around 11:30pm on 28th December. On 14th May 2020 the police arrested a 26-year-old man and a 45-year-old woman on suspicion of a racially motivated hate crime.
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: “Police investigating a racially motivated hate crime in the Hampstead area have arrested two people. They were released from custody on bail to return on a date in late May.”
A few days after the vandalism occurred, a vigil was opportunistically held by two organisations that have themselves enabled antisemitism in the past. Stand up to Racism has consistently failed to stand with the Jewish community when the community was faced with antisemitism from the far-left and has regularly platformed Jeremy Corbyn. Stand up to Racism was joined in organising the “vigil” by Unite Against Fascism, which supported the so-called “Al Quds Day” in the past, a pro-Hizballah march which has platformed antisemites including Reverend Stephen Sizer, who has claimed that an Israeli conspiracy was behind 9/11, and in February 2015 was ordered by the Church of England to stop using social media.
Nevertheless, it is now being reported that the suspects have no known ties to the far-right or neo-Nazi organisations. The Community Security Trust, which provides security at Jewish community buildings said that it had assisted in the investigation.
If you have any more information, please contact the police on 101, quoting reference number: CAD 7282/28.
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 almost four times more likely to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.