Two years ago I started wearing a Star of David necklace, for the first time in my life. The regular weekend hate marches had led to many Jews feeling so intimidated that they no longer felt able to be in central London on Saturdays. Added to that, the more general explosion in anti-Semitic incidents was creating an atmosphere in which many were worried about showing their identity as Jews.
It has long been clear that the mantra ‘anti-Semitism has no place on the streets of London’ – or anywhere else – is nonsense
My reaction to such hate has always been to try to turn it on its head. So I bought a Magen David necklace, as we Jews call the Star of David. I now wear it proudly; it is on me as I write this.
It turns out that, for the Metropolitan Police, I am wearing not a symbol of Jewish pride but a de facto Yellow Star.
This weekend it emerged that a Jewish lawyer wearing a Star of David necklace was arrested in August. The police said his necklace ‘antagonised’ the free Palestine marchers. In a video of his questioning by the police, a detective accuses the man – who was handcuffed and detained by police for nearly ten hours – of causing ‘offence’ by wearing it. The symbol, like mine and most such Magen Davids, was just 2cm across.
The Met deny that the symbol was the reason for his arrest, saying it was rather because he was ‘repeatedly breaching’ an order to keep opposing protest groups apart. He says he was there as an independent legal observer who was monitoring the event for illegal behaviour by the free Palestine protesters and scrutinising the actions of police, as part of the Society of Independent Legal Observers.
Whichever version is correct, the video of his questioning – which can be seen online – seems clear about the police’s accusation that, whatever else he may be accused of, he was causing offence by wearing his necklace. The man remains on police bail.
This needs to be put in the context of the marches themselves. For two years the Met have stood and watched while demonstrators chant a series of anti-Semitic slogans. That is not only my view, but the Prime Minister’s. Last week he told the Jewish Chronicle that the chant that is ubiquitous on all the marches, ‘From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free’ is indeed anti-Semitic. But the police have done nothing while regular mobs of hundreds of thousands have marauded through London screaming that chant. Add to that the cry of ‘Globalise the intifada’ – a call to extend the murder of Jews worldwide – and it’s clear how Jew hate is at the core of the protests. And yet who do they arrest? A man wearing a Star of David necklace.
This is part of a pattern. The Met have also arrested people who have carried Israeli flags near the marches, and have even arrested people with banners stating correctly, ‘Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation’.
It has long been clear that the mantra ‘anti-Semitism has no place on the streets of London’ – or anywhere else – is nonsense. It has a very big place on our streets. Given that a Jewish man has been arrested for causing an offence by wearing a symbol of his Judaism, and following West Midlands police’s decision to bar Jews from Villa Park next month, that meaningless mantra should perhaps be revised to ‘Jews have no place on the streets of London or Birmingham’.
Comments