While the headlines were taken up with scores of arrests related to the proscribed group Palestine Action, the UK also witnessed a spike in street-level antisemitic incidents over the same July weekend.
In parallel to a reported rise in ‘respectable’ antisemitism in the UK, many of the random-looking attacks on British Jews were caught on social media video or actively recorded by the attackers. These include:
- An elderly-looking Jew chased through London by a youth shouting “Free Palestine,” in what the Campaign Against Antisemitism called “an act of brazen antisemitism.”
- A young diner at a Baker Street Jewish deli was approached and asked if the restaurant was kosher and if she was Jewish. Upon reply, her food was thrown on her.
- Counterprotesters supporting Israel on the London pro-Palestinian march were repeatedly told “f*ck your Jewish State” by an increasingly aggressive crowd.
- A teacher filmed accusing the British government of funding the killing of children by Israel—a classic blood libel—when in fact it funds the pro-Palestinian UNRWA.
Meanwhile in the Irish capital, an individual who abused what he called a “genocidal Jew” on public transport last week has walked free. This episode, also filmed, is further evidence of an anti-semitic turn in Ireland since the October 7th pogrom.
