Outraged community members and activists have accused the Metropolitan Police of doing “absolutely nothing” while Jews queuing up for an event at the JW3 cultural centre were called “pigs”, “baby killers” and “Zionist dogs”.
Videos filmed by anti-Israel protesters themselves show elderly people being screamed at and crying as they waited to enter the building in north-west London last Sunday.
A witness said there were 50 to 60 demonstrators, mostly with their faces covered, shouting and “doing Hamas triangles with their hands”.
Video footage posted online showed people chanting: “Yemen you make us proud, turn another ship around”, a reference to the Houthi terror group.
Further footage seen by the JC shows a police officer standing in front of one demonstrator as he says: “Look like pigs. You look like pigs. They look so ugly. Unbelievable.”
Josh, a counter-protester who provided the footage, said: “I’m just filming him but he carries on quite openly. There were three officers standing there the whole time. As far as I’m concerned it’s an antisemitic trope.”
Itai Gal, an activist with the pro-Israel Stop the Hate campaign group who also joined the counter-protest, said he was “dismayed” by the lack of reaction shown by the Met.
“They were tens of metres away from them. They let them harass ordinary people, Jewish members of the community who were just going to their community centre. They got faced with all this hate,” he said.
The event, organised by Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz and featuring former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, was slated to examine “what sort of Israel” might emerge from the Gaza and Lebanon war and how the conflict’s shockwaves have affected disapora Jews.
Jonathan Cohen KC, who acted as a legal observer at the demonstration, told the Telegraph the police did “absolutely nothing”.
He said: “For the first hour and a half a group of deeply unpleasant antisemites were allowed to effectively blockade both entrances to a Jewish community centre.
“I saw them shouting at people who were trying to enter and obstructing their ability to do so. The police did absolutely nothing until I remonstrated with them to impose some kind of conditions.
“I absolutely would say that [it is two-tier policing]. I can imagine no world in which supporters of the far-right would be allowed to engage in a deeply hostile demonstration outside a mosque or other Islamic communal institution.”
In the footage he provided, Josh can be heard telling the man who had talked about pigs that Israel has treated Palestinian children in its hospitals, the man asks: “Why do you seem so feminine bruv? Where’s your girl?”
Asked if he is homophobic, he adds: “I didn’t say nothing about being gay. Does your whole identity revolve around baby killing and being gay?”
The police then step in to separate the two men. Josh later reported the “antisemitic and homophobic” abuse to the force.
“You protest outside a Jewish cultural building. That’s one thing but you protest a conference with Israelis and Arabs talking about peace, I found that very telling,” he said.
One Jewish man who also joined the counter-protest said the anti-Israel demonstration had been “very intimidating”.
“They were chanting,” he said. “It was very loud and non-stop. It was very threatening. I heard them shout, ‘Zionist dogs off our streets.’”
JW3 CEO Raymond Simonson said a group of protesters had spent a couple of hours “seemingly determined to intimidate and upset those who were arriving to attend”.
“While we generally respect anyone’s right to peaceful protest, screaming ‘Nazis!’ and ‘Baby killers’ in people’s faces, as happened outside JW3 yesterday, is utterly unacceptable,” he said.
“I condemn all intimidation and harassment directed at the attendees, speakers and volunteers of this conference.
“I am really pleased though that the disgusting behaviour outside did not stop the critical conversations that took place inside, and that will continue across the community.”
One elderly woman queuing to enter JW3 was seen crying in footage posted by the Anti-Colonial Front for Liberation (ACFFL).
On social media, the organisation describes itself as a group of grassroots activists who wish to learn from the “global south” how to “resist colonial domination and confront Zionism”.
On October 19, two days after reports that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had been killed first appeared, ACFFL protesters blocked traffic while setting off green and red flares and waving Palestinian flags.
In a statement, the Board of Deputies claimed the protest was part of an ongoing effort to “harass and intimidate” British Jews.
Commander Adam Slonecki, who was leading the policing operation for the protests, said: “Once we became aware of the protest, we acted quickly – first by deploying local officers, then by bringing in additional resources from across London.
“Despite this, it’s clear that the protesters’ presence directly outside the entrance caused disruption and intimidation for some people arriving at and passing by the venue.
“Officers maintained contact with JW3 staff to fully understand the impact, and we imposed conditions requiring protesters to move to the opposite side of the road.
“Policing protests requires a constant balancing act. We won’t always get that balance perfect, and we have already begun to reflect carefully on what could have been done differently.”