London Jew accused of "breach of the peace" by looking "openly Jewish"

[everydaywonderful]

I'm gobsmacked by this

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68856360

So you can’t just walk anywhere you want anymore or does that only apply to those who are visibly Jewish.

So the marchers are ok with Jewish people but only if they are holding banners condemning Israel? Thats not a great admission, is it?

British Jews shouldn’t be held collectively responsible for the actions of Israel to the point where if they don’t signpost their condemnation they can simply expect to be called Nazi and scum. That’s blatant antisemitism.

Such one sided comments on here supporting a guy who was out to do his own 'protest' and to get the reaction he got.

But he exactly proved the point, didn't he? He should never have got the reaction he got, not from the police and not from the protesters. The UK capital should not be a no-go area for anyone identifiably Jewish, weekend after weekend.

I think the policeman did his best in a very tricky situation.

The situation shouldn't have been "tricky".
Gideon Falter wasn't wrapped in an Israeli flag. He wasn't wearing a Netanyahu badge. He is, instead, visibly Jewish, which should not be a problem for those marchers, nor for the police, but unfortunately was.

Well thank goodness we have the Guardian to educate us on how to be the right kind of Jew. Now we all know how we should behave so that we don’t threaten protestors’ fragility with our very existence. Case closed!

Jewish people may choose to join the protests. They are clearly acceptable to the crowd. What I don't understand is why the marchers can't tolerate or accept a Jewish person who is not part of the demonstration.

Well, there's the Grauniad covering itself in glory.

There are the Right Kind of Jews and the Wrong Kind of Jews, obviously.

If my Jewish friends are anything to go by, the Wrong Kind are the large majority.

Gideon Falter, in a kippah, should be able to walk anywhere in London he damn well likes. He was - bravely, IMHO - making a point. And he damn well made it.

You wouldn't argue that the Nazi party in 1930/40s Germany wasn't anti semetic because some Jewish people collaborated with the Nazis would you?

Oh and disclaimer before anyone loses the plot. I'm not suggesting Jews who protest are the same as nazi collaborators and I'm not suggesting every marcher is a nazi. But the principle stands. It's like when a black person joins a far right party and then they use that as proof they're not racist.

If you strip this incident back to basics, Gideon Falter has exposed the untruth that there are no anti-semitic elements to these protests.
Just watch some of the passers-by hurl insults at him, a Jew , going about his business, on a Saturday, in London, in 2024.

NRTFT but have read the report. This is scary, very worrying. Surely the person being provocative was the police officer?

I saw the interview with GF on breakfast tv. He even offered to remove his skullcap and turn his prayer shawl bag round so that the Star of David wasn't visible. The officer told him that he would not trust him - he said that Mr Falter could put the skullcap back on, and turn his bag round again.
Unbelievable.

Such one sided comments on here supporting a guy who was out to do his own 'protest' and to get the reaction he got.

Proving that Jewish people arent safe isnt the same as a protest

And regardless I still support his right to walk around being "openly" Jewish and not get threatened or risk being arrested for it

Theres something rather sinister about trying to prove that its "okay" for the protestors to get aggressive, or the police to threaten someone with arrest for looking Jewish. Almost like being a Jew isnt being a "real" person with all the rights and privileges a lot of people take for granted

Funny, you're the second person to compare wearing a kippah with a football shirt.

Would you compare a Muslim woman wearing a hijab to wearing a football shirt? Of course not, because it would be really offensive and comparing wearing a kippah to wearing a football shirt is so offensive. Can you really not see that??

Both ethnicity and faith and belief are protected characteristics under Equality Act 2010.

Pretty oversimplifying what was said if you can only see a football shirt/kippah issue in a longer discussion point. Crack on.

In other words, you cannot justify your comparison with football shirts....

I think Gideon Falter went there deliberately, to make a point that the marches are not actually safe for Jews as we keep being told ( unless they are Jews who are vocally and visibly agreeing with the marchers), and anti Zionism is being used by some (not all) as a cover for antisemitism.

What is happening in Columbia university right now has shaken me deeply https://m.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-798049 they call for ten thousand October 7s amongst other horrific things and Jewish students are being advised to stay home as it is not safe on campus.

When the last Gaza war happened this happened in London https://www.thejc.com/news/convoy-tours-north-london-with-speaker-shouting-fk-the-jews-rape-their-daughters-pos6xmtn

https://m.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-792498 Chabad house attacked in arson attack.

stabbing attacks in Europe https://www.timesofisrael.com/jewish-man-attacked-outside-paris-synagogue-another-stabbed-in-zurich/amp/

hostage posters defaced and torn down in Harvard university, tiny baby Kfir Bibas poster says “head still on”https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/head-still-on-posters-of-israeli-hostages-in-gaza-defaced-at-harvard/

when Jews start to cover up their visible signs of being Jewish out of fear, when areas become no go areas for Jews, when visibly Jewish sites like chabad houses are targeted and burned down, when students are chased out of universities and attacked, and Jews are stabbed, and the posters of our hostage people defaced and torn down, but Jews are still repeatedly gaslit that anti Zionism is not antisemitism, then maybe we need people like Gideon to make the point blatantly obvious that to some people (not all) actually they are one and the same, because clearly nothing else is getting through.

I’m not calling for the marches to be stopped. I’m not saying the marches are inherently antisemitic. I’m just asking for people to please stop denying and gaslighting Jews, and to take us seriously when we say that antisemitism IS happening in the name of anti Zionism, and that more needs to be done to weed out those who are using and abusing the Palestinian cause, and to join us in actively calling it out.

I can easily justify what I wrote and not your interpretation of what I wrote. You can keep your narrow view of the world and feel virtuous if it helps you.

Narrow view of the world...😂

I agree. The Police statement re 'obviously Jewish' was a dreadful thing to say.

However, I'd also like to feel safe re the Police.

Not going into details as it's not a 'race to the bottom' but I've been shouted at / prevented from walking where I needed to go twice recently too.

We should ALL be able to walk the streets safely.

I think it's very troubling indeed, and if Jewish people don't feel safe on the streets of London (or anywhere) it's up to us non Jews to support them and their civil rights.

widen your narrow view perhaps - from The Guardian today

An initial account of an exchange between a police officer and an antisemitism campaigner that sparked heavy criticism of Scotland Yard did not show the full picture, a former senior officer has said
Footage released by the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) last Friday showed its chief executive, Gideon Falter, being told by a police officer that his “openly Jewish” appearance risked antagonising pro-Palestinian marchers. This precipitated claims Falter was prevented from going about his business simply because he was a Jewish man in the vicinity of a pro-Palestinian demonstration

But a longer version of the same exchange has since emerged on Sky News, showing the officer explaining that his concern was that he had seen Falter acting in a way that led him to believe he was trying to provoke a confrontation with marchers

That fuller account showed “a totally different encounter to the one that Mr Falter has reported”, said the former Scotland Yard chief superintendent Dal Babu on Monday
His comments came as the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said he retained confidence in the Metropolitan policecommissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, but the latter needed to rebuild “confidence and trust” with the Jewish community.
While Babu said the “openly Jewish” comment was “not acceptable”, he told BBC Breakfast that the longer clip showed Falter “attempting to go against the march, trying to push past the officers, and I think for 13 minutes the officers showed great restraint”
Babu added: “They offered to take him to a crossing point, they offered to help him and the group he was with the opportunity to cross at a more appropriate place. So the narrative that’s been pushed for the past few days is not accurate
“Personally, if I was policing that march, I would have been inclined to have arrested [Falter] for assault on a police officer and breach of the peace.”