Britain’s two largest police forces announced on Wednesday that they will now take a tougher line against people who display placards or chant slogans targeting the Jewish community, saying recent acts of violence have changed the context in which such demonstrations take place and require a different response. The decision follows the terrorist attack in Sydney in which 15 people were killed at a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach, and the Yom Kippur synagogue attack in Manchester, England, in which two Jews were murdered.
In a joint statement issued at midday, London’s Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police said: “We are aware that communities are concerned about placards and chants such as ‘globalize the intifada,’ and those who use them at future protests should expect the Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police to take action. Violent acts have occurred, the context has changed, words have meaning and consequences. We will act decisively and make arrests.”
Jewish organizations in Britain have for some time been calling on authorities to take concrete steps against slogans heard at pro-Palestinian demonstrations held since the October 7 terror attack. Those protests have frequently included harsh antisemitic rhetoric, calls for Israel’s destruction, and the display of symbols associated with Islamist terrorist organizations that are illegal in Britain, such as Hamas. As in Australia, British Jews have reported rampant antisemitism over the past two years.
Earlier this week, Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis warned that calls to “globalize the intifada” contributed to the attacks in Manchester and Sydney, and said authorities must make clear that such slogans are unlawful. David Rich, director of policy at the Community Security Trust, which provides security for British Jews, wrote this week amid a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents: “Is there a connection between adopting calls for death in the name of Palestinian rights and people killing others seemingly in the name of that same cause? The answer appears clear.”
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Britain’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis warned that calls to “globalize the intifada” contributed to the attacks in Manchester and Sydney
(Photo: Belinda Jiao/Getty Images)
The British police announcement comes as Australian authorities face fierce criticism from the Jewish community, the Israeli government and the domestic opposition, which argue that officials did far too little to confront antisemitism that has surged since October 7, fueled in part by anti-Israel hate rallies in cities including Sydney and Melbourne. Jewish leaders have repeatedly warned in recent months that their community was in serious danger, saying the murder of Jews in Australia was only a matter of time.
'A stain on the country, people celebrated October 7th'
After Australian Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke was met this week with shouts of “Shame!” and “You have blood on your hands!” at the attack site, several politicians and relatives of victims on Wednesday turned their fire on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Among them was Michael, the father of 10-year-old Matilda, who was killed in the Bondi Beach massacre, who said: “He betrayed Australian Jews and the entire world.”
Former Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg, a Jewish member of the center-right Liberal Party, was asked on ABC why he holds Albanese responsible for the attackers’ actions. He replied: “From the first hours after October 7, we saw these scenes on the steps of the Opera House, where people celebrated the deaths of Jews. Since then we’ve seen the doxxing of Jewish creators, boycotts of Jewish businesses, Molotov cocktails thrown at synagogues across the country, daily protests.
“All of this happened on the prime minister’s watch, and these events created a radicalized environment in Australia that resulted not only in Australian Jews being attacked, but in all of Australia being attacked now. The prime minister was warned repeatedly that stronger action was needed, including banning extremist Islamist organizations that are already outlawed in Britain and Germany.” Earlier, at the attack site, Frydenberg described the Bondi Beach massacre as “the greatest stain on this country,” warning that without an immediate fight against antisemitism, another terror attack would follow.
Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott also criticized Albanese’s government on Wednesday: “Sadly, the terrorist attack was only the latest escalation in the hatred of Jews that has descended on our country in the two years since the horrors of October 7. From Australian leadership at all levels we have seen only weakness and shrugging shoulders. Not a single hate preacher has been prosecuted or deported, and not a single hate march has been banned, even though these marches went far beyond any conceivable expression of free speech or protest and became marches of harassment and intimidation.”
The current leader of the Liberal Party and opposition leader, Susan Ley, called on authorities on Wednesday morning to arrest protesters carrying flags and placards promoting organizations designated as terrorist groups in Australia, and to deport them if they are not Australian citizens. “If people come to this country with hatred of Jews in their hearts and terror in their minds, we need to know it and remove them,” she said at the Bondi Beach attack site.