A disturbing antisemitic TikTok trend in London has led to arrests and convictions after young men filmed themselves using cash to mock and harass Jews in Orthodox neighborhoods.
In videos recently shared on social media, young men are seen walking through heavily Jewish areas with a fishing rod, attaching money to the end of the line in an apparent attempt to ‘fish for Jews’. Other clips show antisemitic influencers throwing coins and banknotes on the ground in an effort to get Jewish passersby to pick them up.
The antisemitic TikTok challenge in London
(Video: Shomrim)
Last week, two young men who filmed themselves walking with a fishing rod and a banknote were arrested and charged in what police described as a serious hate crime.
The footage, released by Shomrim, London’s Jewish neighborhood patrol group, shows the two men smiling as they walk down the street with the fishing rod. A banknote is attached to the end of it, in an apparent reference to antisemitic stereotypes linking Jews with money.
According to London’s Metropolitan Police, Adam Bedoui, 20, from Hillingdon, and Abdelkader Amir Bousloub, 21, specifically traveled to the Orthodox Jewish area to film ‘antisemitic content’ for social media.
Security camera footage shows Bedoui holding the fishing rod in front of him while Bousloub films on his phone as they walk through a narrow street. The two are later seen being searched and arrested by police officers, with Shomrim volunteers standing nearby.
Police said the pair went to the area deliberately to create antisemitic content. According to Shomrim, they specifically targeted Orthodox Jews during the filmed encounters.
‘A deliberate and targeted antisemitic attack’
Oliver Richter, who oversees policing in Hackney and Tower Hamlets, told the Daily Mail: ‘This was a deliberate and targeted antisemitic attack, aggravated by the pair’s intention to post the incident on social media in order to spread hate. It is unacceptable and has no place in London’
Richter said officers moved quickly to arrest those responsible.
‘Our officers acted swiftly to arrest those responsible, and within 48 hours they had been brought before the court and convicted. This should send a clear message — we will act decisively against anyone who commits hate crimes. We understand the harm such incidents cause to communities, and we will continue to treat every report with the utmost seriousness.’
Antisemitic stereotypes about Jews and money
The videos rely on one of the oldest antisemitic tropes: the false association between Jews and money.
Such stereotypes developed over centuries in Europe, partly as a result of restrictions that barred Jews from many professions and pushed some into trade and moneylending. Over time, those historical conditions were twisted into hateful generalizations portraying Jews as greedy or financially controlling.
Those claims became a central tool of antisemitic propaganda, discrimination and violence. Today, they are widely recognized as dangerous and dehumanizing because they assign negative traits to an entire group based on religious identity.
The influencer threw cash on the sidewalk
The latest case follows a separate controversy involving British social media influencer Harry Marsh, known online as ‘PhenoPain’, who was criticized last month after posting a series of antisemitic videos in which he harassed Jewish passersby in Orthodox neighborhoods in London.
Money was again at the center of the videos.
An antisemite offered money to Jews in Britain
According to British media reports, the clips, which together drew more than 100 million views on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, showed Marsh throwing coins on the ground and calling it a ‘Jew trap’. He was also seen chasing Orthodox Jewish youths while mocking them and trying to obtain phone numbers from Jewish women by offering them cash.
In another video, Marsh filmed himself chasing an Orthodox Jewish boy while holding coins and shouting at him, before bursting into laughter.
Other clips showed what he described as ‘experiments’, in which he threw money onto the sidewalk and filmed the reactions of people passing by.
Some of the videos were reportedly filmed on Shabbat, drawing further criticism because observant Jews do not handle money on the Sabbath. Several commentators noted that Marsh may not have understood the religious significance, but stressed that this did not lessen the severity of the acts.
The incidents have renewed concern in London’s Jewish community over the use of social media platforms to turn antisemitic harassment into viral entertainment — and over how quickly old hatred can be repackaged as online ‘content’ for millions of viewers.