Is "openly Jewish" a hate crime under the April Fools Scottish hate crime law?

It really doesn't matter if he was, or wasn't though. He has a right to walk where he wants and to be kept safe in the face of an angry bigoted mob who might wish to attack him, for nothing more than just being Jewish and daring to be there.

This. ⬆

These demonstrations are not peaceful protests. They have become "demonstrations". There are violent elements there who are trying to whip up racial hatred. The trouble is that they have been allowed to become increasingly unruly, and increasingly large and now the police have no control over the way they behave.

It should never have got to this stage in the first place. The anti-Jewish elements should have been stopped as soon as they tried to start.

The police have lost control. They are afraid of the pro-Palestinians who threaten violence (and sometimes are violent) against Jews, they are afraid of trans-activists who threaten violence (and sometimes are violent) against women, they don't even attempt to apprehend criminals any more - they aren't for for purpose.

No-one in this country should have to worry about being targeted for any reason.

Do you think he is not Jewish or not Jewish enough?
Not Orthodox Jews wear head coverings only on particular occasions. Interview is not one. Is this a sufficient explanation?

Why does it matter?

Probably because he was wearing on the day of the march for synagogue, exactly as he said. Perhaps he doesn't routinely wear it day in, day out.

Theory versus practice.

Watched the man being intervieved again, NO kippa. Why?

You don't (well, shouldn't) threaten to arrest people on the basis of they'd be slightly safer if they would only look a little less Jewish/female/attractive/Muslim, though.

'That dress you're wearing, and that makeup, it's provocative and the men over there might take it as an invitation, so I'm going to arrest you if you don't put a cardigan on and go home.

'If you'd just take your Hijab off, you wouldn't have the problem, so I'm going to arrest you for deliberately antagonising a bunch of EDL thugs who are just dying to pull it off you'.

'You're near a group who think that women not wearing full Niqab should be stoned. Put one on right now or I'll arrest you for inflaming their manly passions'.

'You're wearing a turban near a group protesting about Kashmir. Take it off so they don't see you being openly Sikh or I'll arrest you for provoking their racism'.

He was travelling across London after worshipping at a synagogue.

Nice bit of victim shaming there - Walkwhileyoutalk. I guess Jews should avoid Central London?

Rowley needs to go, as does the officer. Met is a stinking pile of shit.

It really doesn't matter if he was, or wasn't though. He has a right to walk where he wants and to be kept safe in the face of an angry bigoted mob who might wish to attack him, for nothing more than just being Jewish and daring to be there.

It's not for the police to decide that their jobs would be easier if he could just stop looking so openly Jewish in front of a crowd of people who openly support an organisation that would like to see him dead.

I have some sympathy with the police dilemma here, but there is only one ethical choice to be made and that is to protect the person or persons at risk. Not to tiptoe around the protesters for fear that they might feel antagonised into committing an act of violence. It's really not that difficult to understand. If you struggle with it, try to imagine Mr Falter was an 'openly Muslim' Afghan man wishing to cross the road in front of an anti-immigration march by the EDL. And imagine that he faced arrest rather than the EDL thugs who might want to beat him up.

Whether it was a set-up or not, the point is that the Met police believed that he - a Jew, NOT an Israeli, not waving an Israeli flag or shouting anti-Palestinian slogans - would be in danger, although these demonstrations are constantly presented as anti-Israeli and not anti-Jewish.
If a Jewish person is, in the opinion of the Met, not safe in proximity to these regular and large demos, that's a major restriction to freedom of movement.

In the days when the rule of law in the UK seemed to be 'Innocent until proven Irish', and innocent Irish people were being rounded up and imprisoned - and worse - demonstrations relating to Ireland were not allowed in the centre of London. They tended to be very small annual marches commemorating Bloody Sunday or supporting the Birmingham 6 and Guildford 4, but they were rigorously corralled by the Met along minor routes in the north of the city to keep the centre free from disruption, even if it was just once a year.

They obviously have a different approach to balancing the right to peaceful assembly and the right to freedom of movement these days.

As for the situation in France, yes, Jewish signs like the kippa are generally accepted , whereas any sign of Muslim dress is absolutely and totally disallowed.

That’s not correct, @MarieDeGournay has described the situation in state schools, outside of that various forms of identifiable Muslim dress are allowed and are seen but full face veils are not.

He is a well known activist. He was in a potentially dangerous situation. The language used was totally inappropriate but he wasn't coincidentally trying to cross the road.....

In France, the kippa/yarmulke is banned in public schools in the same way as, for instance, the hijab by the "Loi no 2004-228 du 15 mars 2004 encadrant, en application du principe de laïcité, le port de signes ou de tenues manifestant une appartenance religieuse dans les écoles, collèges et lycées publics".

Well if a man wearing Arabic/Palestinian dress turned up at a pro Israel rally- I am sure it would apply 1000x more.

What was the man doing there? By chance, or just provocation? And I have seen later interviews with him, and he does not wear the kippa? Why?

As for the situation in France, yes, Jewish signs like the kippa are generally accepted , whereas any sign of Muslim dress is absolutely and totally disallowed. Why?

My feeling is that anti-semitism is a centuries old and very deep rooted prejudice. It's threaded through English history from the pogroms and Expulsion under Edward I right up until the present day. Arguably anti-Semitism is a far stronger and older prejudice than any other form of racism.

It got given new life in the twentieth century through Marxism. For Marx, Jewish people were the folks that controlled global capital. These ideas were adopted by Hitler and he melded them with the Teutonic/Aryan forms of antisemitism that the proto-Nazi German nationalists of the late nineteenth century espoused.

There are many forms of antisemitism - Christian, Muslim, Marxist, facist, communist. What we have today in the West is an unholy amalgam of primarily the Islamic and Marxist forms of AS.

I also think that the 'moratorium' of AS in the decades post WW2 was an aberration of sorts caused by the sheer horror of learning the truth about the Holocaust. The generations for whom this horror was fresh have now died away and a not insignificant proportion of Gen Z either know nothing about the Holocaust or believe it was fake/exeggerated.

we have lost our sense of history and so the poison of AS has returned.

It is intensely sad and depressing and I think the only way forward would be for AS to be warned against in schools in the way that anti-Black racism or Islamophobia are warned against. Not sure it'll happen tho.

Ummm... I'm no expert, but isn't the history of Israel a bit longer than the sum of Christian and Muslim Jew-hating??

Exactly

I talked a bit about that on this board already back in October. It was the time when some posters were outdoing themselves in finding more bizarre explanations for why rape is not that bad when the victim is Jewish. I was trying to be contained and to not risk outing etc., but I will try again. I overly rely on sarcasm and cynicism but hopefully...

We all know signs of traditional, religious antisemitism. There are still churches in Germany and France* decorated with imaginary of The Jewish man, your generic Chasidic, pardon but that's it, penetrating a pig. I am only 30, but even my grandparents after the war haven't heard anyone seriously believing that Jews are bad because they killed our beloved Lord Jesus. However, stereotypes that are rooted in this era are still alive. Doesn't matter protestant or catholic country the idea that Jews are cunning and powerful is still there. Of course we know there is also jealousy.

*Italy and Spain possible too, but I do not have any proofs.

Jewish communities, even secular organised around principles of Judaism, so poor Jews, while poor could count on richer members of the community - funeral funds, school scholarships, Purim is all about sharing.
However, if you live in poor conditions, work 12 hours a day, and next to you is a community that might be also poor, but somehow there are also tightness and solidarity that you cannot understand it is easy to, firstly feel envious, but than only pure resentment. And of course such divide is desired by politicians.

However, after the war antisemitism gain yet another face.
It's funny. People are so repulsed by communism, probably not many people during Cold War supported Russia, and yet they are suckers for soviet propaganda. There is already a body of literature on left wing antisemitism inspired by Soviets, but I want to talk only about the slogan - anti zionist, not antisemitic.

This slogan emerged in Poland, during political crisis of March 68.
It started as student protest after The Party censored 'Dziady' but quickly became the final of the battle within The Party which started 10 years earlier.
After Stalin died things became a bit more relaxed in Poland - culturally but also economically. However, long story short, there was a need for new ideological explanation for communist regime in Poland, and people who won had no ethical problem with using a trick they learnt in Moscow - blame the Jews. So, yes, Jewish communists were in loosing faction of The Party, Jewish intellectuals were too engaged in organising democratic opposition. Fifth element, you had to choose if you are Polish (and patriotic, thus you wanted communist rule) or you are Jewish and cunning and you care only about yourself. Then you had to go to Israel, with nothing and without Polish citizenship. Zionist to Israel, writers to pens, students to books, workers to work. That's how you deal with unrest. This, and beatings of students and workers at the streets. Moscow to this day has The Jew as useful tool. I have heard anecdotes, told with typical jewish humor, but to this day when something goes wrong in Russia you now who is responsible.

I linked this picture before. In the picture, a father, who lost all his family in Holocaust, (a mother has similar story) cries and hugs his son for the last time in their life. That is antizionism in full light.

It the end it was not the last time, however it never heals. They were not religious, they never taught their sons a thing about Judaism, not a word of jidisz. They wanted to stay in Poland after the war, they wanted their children to grow up in Poland.

Every one who says they are not antiemetic but antizionist is aware what that means.

(Sorry, that's ranty)

Edit: sorry, I was typing for so long that now it looks even more random.

The sheer irony, which rather appeals to me (being Jewish) is that all this anti-Semitism, results in normal assimilated Jews having to emigrate to Israel, thus reinforcing Zionism. It's why 90% of us support Israel because we see it's the 1930s.

Christian and Muslim hatred of Jews = Israel
It's on them not me.

I do remember this and it is why many people look at the Palestinian flag as inciting racial hatred. These people are thugs and should have been prosecuted.

I agree - I can't believe it.

We have had horrible evidence in the last century of what happens when anti-semitism raises its ugly head, and yet still it's allowed to go unchecked.

I also don't know where the antipathy against Jewish people comes from.

They get on with their lives, don't make demands of other faiths, work hard and support their country. British Jews are British people, in the same way that all other people born in the UK are British, and yet so many people still think that it's OK to make them a scapegoat - just why?

If anything, Jewish people are less involved in criminality than almost every other "group" (for want of a better word), and yet still they are targeted.

It's horrible, and a terrifying situation. I can only imagine how threatened many must feel, and how worried for their children.

I remember that. If such things can happen, and no one is prosecuted, it just emboldens people. What has got to happen before the CPS takes this sort of thing seriously?