After a year and a half of regular Palestine protests, the scene of a man standing on the entrance to Marble Arch Underground Station waving a flag at the Al Quads Day march has become one of the preeminent and iconic symbols of London.
It has happened with the full acquiescence of the police and criminal justice system, and thanks to politicians too afraid to stand up to the mob.
A photograph of this scene was taken yesterday by our Demonstration and Events Monitoring Unit at the Al Quds Day march in London.
In the past, the Al Quds Day march has been an annual display of support for the murderous theocracy in Iran and its client terror groups like Hizballah. Some cities have banned the march altogether. Since we and others secured the proscription of Hizballah in the UK, the organisers and marchers have had to rethink some of their paraphernalia.
Still, yesterday’s Al Quds Day march featured what we have all come to expect in our nation’s capital at the weekend: support for violent terrorism and calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.
Extremism is on the march in London, and it is a devastating indictment of our political class and of the state of our criminal justice system that they simply do not seem to care.
A week prior to Al Quds Day there was – of course – another Palestine march, which, as ever, our volunteers were present to monitor.
What was interesting about that march was that it took place when there was a ceasefire in Gaza – which was exactly what the Palestine protesters claim to have been calling for over the past year and a half.
Many of us argued that the animosity on these marches went much deeper and spoke to far darker motivations. Hence we were not surprised that, notwithstanding the ceasefire, they continued to march.
But for what?
Judging by the chanting and the signs many seemed to be marching for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state and the exile or murder of its millions of Jewish citizens.
For the few who still believed in the mask, it has well and truly fallen.
A noteworthy intervention
Why are these marches still taking place?
Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, says that he is disgusted by the regular Palestine demonstrations, finding the response of the authorities lacking, and is astonished that the IRGC has not yet been proscribed.
In an interview with the JC, he said: “As a long-serving intelligence officer, I’m disgusted by what I’ve seen in terms of Hamas-supporting demonstrations in the UK, which are clearly very, very intimidating. The Government hasn’t nearly taken a tough enough line. In my view, we should have been like the French and banned them.”
He described Iran as “the primary destabilising force in the Middle East” and, with regard to proscribing the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), said: “I just don’t get why we haven’t done so. It is the agency through which Iran has conducted what I would call ‘arm’s length warfare’. The Quds Force is part of the IRGC, and they’ve made an absolute fundamental aspect of Iranian policy using this agency to destabilise and interfere in the affairs of other countries. I know the Foreign Office arguments for not banning the IRGC, but it should have been identified as a terrorist organisation a long time ago.”
We have been critical of the response of the authorities to the Palestine marches for a year and a half now. We have also long called for the proscription of the IRGC, and our polling shows that 93% of British Jews support a ban. A proscription was promised by the Government prior to the General Election but has not yet been delivered.
So, where are the police?
A few weeks ago, the police finally applied some restrictions to one of the marches, conveniently timed to coincide with Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley’s victory lap around the Jewish community. This, despite our polling showing that just 5% of British Jews have confidence in him.
Beneath the surface, the police have continued to disappoint.
Their policy of avoiding arrests in real time means that they rely on making identifications of suspects later on, but even then their success has been limited. For example, a woman was taken aside by police at a march a few weeks ago, apparently in connection with a sign that she was holding that glorified the deceased leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar. She was then let go. Later, the police sought to identify her for questioning but apparently could not do so and closed the investigation.
As usual when a public authority fails to do its job, we stepped in, and our Online Monitoring and Investigations Unit looked into the matter and provided her identity to the police. We are waiting to hear if further action is being taken.
Even when details of the case are known to the police and prosecutors, they still often decline to take action.
For example, the Metropolitan Police have decided to close their investigation into an imam at the Redbridge Islamic Centre, claiming that there was not sufficient evidence for a conviction.
The investigation related to a sermon delivered on 20th October 2023. In a video of the sermon, the imam is heard saying, “Oh Allah, curse the Jews and the children of Israel. Oh Allah, curse the infidels and the polytheists,” and “Oh Allah, break their words, shake their feet, disperse and tear apart their unity and ruin their houses and destroy their homes.”
Following an initial investigation, the Met concluded that there was insufficient evidence and closed the case.
In May 2024, Campaign Against Antisemitism notified the Met of our intention to launch a private prosecution of the imam, and over the succeeding months there was also a public outcry as media pressure began to build. Consequently, the Met decided to reopen its investigation. Their conclusion was that they were “not satisfied there was sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction” and they have now decided to close the case again.
It is hard to imagine what more the Met would need to pursue this case. There is video footage and it does not seem that any of the facts are in question, so what the Met is saying is that extremists can preach hatred of Jews from pulpits in mosques up and down the country, and our police will not lift a finger.
This is why eight in ten British Jews think that the police do not do enough to protect them, according to our polling, and why only 16% of British Jews believe that the police treat antisemitic hate crime like other forms of hate crime, with two thirds believing that the police apply a double standard.
We are now working with our lawyers to continue the process of privately prosecuting this case.
We are also awaiting a decision from the Charity Commission on this matter as the mosque where this took place is a registered charity.
Instead of relying on the authorities like everyone else, it is increasingly the case that British Jews have to rely on us to take action to enforce the law of the land.
There are some cases where the police do take action: for example against the Iranian activist and ally of the Jewish community, Niyak Ghorbani.
Mr Ghorbani has become renowned for declaring, in the face of anti-Israel protesters, that Hamas and Hizballah are terrorists under UK law. For doing so, he has repeatedly been arrested by the police, with draconian bail conditions removed by the courts when appealed by our lawyers.
The latest fiasco stemmed from an accusation by a counter-protester against Mr Ghorbani at a demonstration on 12th November last year at Queen Mary University of London. The demonstration was organised to protest Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, who was scheduled to speak at the University. Ms Albanese has long been accused of using antisemitic rhetoric.
The protest was initially organised by Campaign Against Antisemitism, but was cancelled due to security concerns, following an online threat of an ‘Amsterdam-style’ attack, which appeared to refer to a series of violent attacks against Jews in the Netherlands that took place only days earlier. Several protesters, including Mr Ghorbani, proceeded to demonstrate outside the University and were met by counter-demonstrators.
‘Mr Ghorbani was accused by one of the counter-protesters of making racially aggravated threats to kill. They alleged that he said: “I’ll kill you, you Arab b******.” A police investigation was launched but, with our legal assistance, he has since been informed that the investigation has been dropped. The police have also confirmed that an investigation will be opened to determine if the allegation was an attempt to pervert the course of justice.
We will continue to stand with all those who stand with the Jewish community and face repercussions for doing so.
Justice has prevailed, but this case raises serious concerns about the priorities of those tasked with upholding the law.
It isn’t just the police
Recently, a volunteer from our Court Monitoring Unit reported that the CPS has dropped its case against a person whom it had charged with a racially aggravated public order offence for parading around London during one of the Palestine marches in March last year with a sign showing the Israeli flag being thrown in the bin and the caption “Keep the world clean”.
The District Judge said that that the CPS had told him that: “Upon a thorough review of all the evidence it was felt there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.”
This sort of last-minute dropping of charges is unreassuringly reminiscent of the convoy scandal, when the CPS decided at the eleventh hour not to prosecute individuals charged in connection with a car that drove down Finchley Road whose occupants shouted antisemitic, misogynistic vitriol from loudspeakers.
What of the regulators?
We mentioned that we are awaiting a decision regarding the Redbridge Islamic Centre from the Charity Commission.
Lord Walney, the former independent adviser on political violence and disruption, has criticised the Charity Commission for proceeding with investigations at a “glacial pace”.
Our experience sadly confirms this assessment: of all the outstanding complaints that Campaign Against Antisemitism has with the Charity Commission regarding UK-registered charities, fewer than one-fifth have proceeded beyond an automated acknowledgement.
In some cases, it has been months and there is still no word from the Commission as to whether an investigation is even going to be launched. That is aside from the time that it will take for an investigation to be carried out once it is commenced.
Some of these cases involve extremist activity that, in our view, puts Jewish people at risk.
In the meantime, potentially dangerous charities and trustees are able to continue with business as usual and enjoy all of the benefits that charitable status entails.
We appreciate that the regulator may be inundated with actionable complaints, especially since 7th October 2023. But that goes to an even deeper and more worrying issue: the scale of the problem and the threat within Britain’s charitable sector.
This is what ‘globalising the Intifada’ looks like
Faiz Shah, 23, Mohammad Comrie, 23, and Elijah Ogunnubi-Sime, 20, have been sentenced to eight years and one month in prison after pleading guilty to manipulating Itay Kashti, an Israeli Jew, into traveling hundreds of miles to Wales, where they kidnapped him, handcuffing him to a radiator and beating him.
Why did they do it? Because he is a Jew.
It is astonishing that this crime has not received greater coverage; it may represent a terrible tipping point for Jewish life in Britain.
Mr Kashti said that the incident “felt like my own personal October 7,” in reference to the Hamas massacre in Israel on 7th October 2023 and the terror group’s seizing of hostages, many of whom still remain in captivity in unspeakable conditions.
The gang was sentenced at Swansea Crown Court, where Judge Catherine Richards said that the kidnapping was “motivated by events taking place elsewhere in the world,” adding: “He was an entirely innocent, hard-working music producer that you had identified as a victim based on your understanding of his wealth and his Jewish heritage.”
This is an absolutely horrific crime.
It is an enormous relief that Mr Kashti was able to escape, given that similar abductions of Jews from France to Gaza have ended in murder. This is what ‘globalising the Intifada’ looks like: Jews being subjected to violence motivated by religious hatred.
We are grateful to the police in Wales and to the court for taking a stand. This sentence is a message both to prospective perpetrators of such heinous crimes and also to the authorities elsewhere in Britain, who have turned too much of a blind eye to incitement to violence against Jews.
Suspend the licence fee!
31 days.
That is how long it has been since the BBC announced that it had launched an “internal review” into how it commissioned and aired a so-called documentary on Gaza that spotlighted the family member of a Hamas official. It was later revealed that licence fee money actually went to that Hamas family.
One month, and still no update for the public on this internal review. Britain deserves better than this.
No other broadcaster in Britain would be allowed to get away with marking its own homework with a mere internal review into such a major scandal, which is why we have called for an independent investigation.
We will not let the BBC kick this into the long grass with an endless review. The BBC must publish the result of its naval-gazing, and then we can have a proper independent investigation, which a majority of the British public supports.
Until there is an independent investigation, clearly the licence fee must be suspended.
Sign the petition at suspendthelicencefee.com.
In the midst of all the negative news, there is a bright spot.
The All Party Parliamentary Group on UK-Israel has published a report on the Hamas attack of 7th October 2023. The report was authored by esteemed historian Lord Robert of Belgravia.
As the report explains: “This report is driven by a single purpose: to chronicle the facts of 7 October with clarity and precision. By compiling survivor testimonies, eyewitness accounts, first responder narratives, and expert analyses, this project has sought to create an authoritative historical record. This report will serve as an enduring resource for governments, educators, and civil society, safeguarding the truth against denialism and distortion.
“By preserving these facts for posterity, the Commission seeks to honour the memory of those who died and ensure that the events of 7th October 2023 are never forgotten. It should also stand as a stark reminder of the cost of extremism.”
The report memorialises the eighteen British citizens murdered by Hamas and observes that more British citizens were killed on 7th October than in any foreign terror attack since 9/11. One might question whether the previous or current governments have acted in a way commensurate with this extraordinary statistic.
It is tragic that a report is necessary to counter denialism of an attack whose perpetrators filmed themselves in action.
But we are fortunate to have legislators and historians who still value truth and decency and brought about this worthwhile project.
