Cambridgeshire Police have said that a social media post featuring a swastika intertwined with the Star of David directed at the Union of Jewish Students (UJS) was not “grossly offensive” and classified the message as a non-crime hate incident.
The image had been sent to UJS after it shared a message online about increased antisemitism on campus.
A man responded with the bloodied swastika and Star of David image and the caption: “The irony of becoming what you once hated.”
He wrote there was “nothing endangering Jewish students”, claiming the UJS was “exploiting them to push pro-genocide propaganda and deflect Israel’s responsibility for murdering 40,000 civilians”.
Alex Hearn, the co-director of Labour Against Antisemitism, who reported the post to the police last month, criticised the decision. “I fail to see how posting the image of a race-hate swastika at Jews is not grossly offensive, particularly when the Metropolitan Police are arresting people for displaying the same symbol,” he told the Telegraph.
In a statement, Cambridgeshire Police said: “For a criminal offence to be committed the communication must be grossly offensive and this has a very high legal threshold.
“As well as this, there is a balance to strike with article 10 of the Human Rights Act, which protects freedom of expression and allows people to say things that ‘offend, shock or disturb the state or any section of the population’.”
Police said that although the incident “doesn’t meet the criminal threshold, it has been recorded as a non-crime hate incident so there will be a record on our systems. When recording non-crime hate incidents, we do our utmost to follow national guidance.
“We take all reports of hate crime very seriously and assess each on its merits. We would encourage people to continue to report incidents to us so we’re able to build up a picture of emerging issues.”
Several arrests have been made during pro-Palestine marches in London after individuals were seen holding placards displaying images of the Star of David intertwined with a swastika.
Hearn told the Telegraph: “This man has been posting swastikas and making Nazi comparisons at Jewish organisations and individuals including myself and the Chief Rabbi.
“One was even sent in reply to a post mourning a Holocaust survivor who passed away. His attacks often appear to be triggered by complaints about the huge rise in hate crimes, which government statistics say have doubled against Jews in the last year.
“This abuse which uses Holocaust-based symbols and tropes to taunt Jews for a second time, is not only designed to cause maximum distress but also to silence people speaking up about anti-Jewish racism.”
He added that he had hoped that Cambridgeshire Police would treat the matter “with the seriousness it deserves. However, they have ruled that it is not ‘grossly offensive’.
“If posting a swastika, the symbol of evil and the Holocaust, at Jews is not grossly offensive, then nothing is. Particularly when intertwined with the symbol of Judaism to compare Jews with Nazis, legitimising more attacks.”
