A Metropolitan Police officer who worked in the force’s hate crimes unit has been dismissed after reposting a series of “antisemitic and grossly offensive” Instagram messages in the wake of Hamas’s 7 October terror attack.
Detective Constable Ibrahim Khan was found to have committed gross misconduct by sharing images and comments on his private Instagram account, followed by around 250 users, between 17 and 23 October 2023.
Among the content was a graphic showing Adolf Hitler morphing into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, alongside the caption: “The irony of becoming what you once hated”. Another post compared the 1945 mass grave to what purported to be a grave in Gaza, while a third read, “Gazans have none of this. It’s a concentration camp.”
Further messages cited in the disciplinary report included one stating, “Every day they invent some new… lie to try to gain Western sympathy.”
In a statement, police said, “Individually and collectively, these messages are antisemitic and grossly offensive, and in reposting them, DC Khan’s actions amount to gross misconduct.”
New Scotland Yard. Photo Credit: Wikipedia
Khan worked in Scotland Yard’s Community Safety Unit, which investigates hate crimes, including those motivated by race and religion. The disciplinary report highlighted this role, saying, “It is inconceivable… that he did not consider that these posts could be antisemitic or highly offensive.”
While Khan did not create the original material, the panel found, “His conduct was deliberate and sustained over a number of days, over a number of separate posts. In one case, he took the opportunity to add further offensive comments to the image, which he reposted.”
The 7 October massacre, which saw around 1,200 people killed and 251 kidnapped by Hamas, led to widespread global protests, including in London, as Israel responded with a military operation in Gaza.
The Metropolitan Police has faced ongoing criticism over its policing of pro-Palestinian marches in the capital, with Jewish groups accusing officers of overlooking antisemitic placards and chants and failing to prevent demonstrations from passing synagogues during Shabbat.
Though largely peaceful, the marches have featured individuals glorifying Hamas and prompted a significant rise in antisemitic incidents across the UK.
A British counterterrorism official warned last year that the protests had turned central London into “a no-go zone for Jews every weekend”.
British Jews have also reported being subjected to verbal abuse and, in some cases, physical violence in the months following the 7 October attacks.
