A Jewish man who was a victim of antisemitic abuse on his way to synagogue on Shabbat says that he no longer feels safe wearing a kippah on the streets of London.
Cyril, who asked the JC not to publish his surname, was walking on Grove End Road on his way to St John’s Wood Synagogue at around 10.45am on Saturday, when, he said, a man in a white BMW started filming him.
“He asked me to say: ‘Free Palestine!’ I told him to go away, and he said: ‘You like to kill children. You support the killing of children.’ I told him: ‘No, I don’t support the killing of children, whoever they are.’ I then told him: ‘You don’t care about Israelis or Palestinians. You just hate Jews.’”
The man then drove off, and the French Israeli called the police, who arrived at the scene, but Cyril had been unable to take down the number plate of the car as he didn’t have his phone on him due to Shabbat.
Cyril, who has lived in London for the past eight years, said that the incident had left him feeling “terrible, especially after what happened in Amsterdam, where they were asking Israelis to say: ‘Free Palestine.’ I think that’s where he got the inspiration from. He was angry and very aggressive and showed a lot of hate while he was talking to me.”
He said that he was now planning not to wear his kippah next week on his way to shul: “Why take the risk?”
The 33-year-old, who previously spent 15 years living in Israel, said he had been intending to return to live in the Jewish state for some months now. “I’m very upset and concerned about what is going on here and in Europe, and I want to go back to Israel, 100 per cent because of the antisemitism.”
He called on the police to do more to crack down on Jew-hate in the capital. “The police should be outside every Jewish institution and synagogue to protect us. Antisemitic attacks have gone up over 100 per cent since October 7. What more does the government need for them to act?”
He added: “Like every other Jew, I can’t go into central London on Saturday. Of course, some of the marchers support the Palestinians and are not antisemitic, but most of them hate Jews. I feel that we are alone, which is why I want to go and live in Israel. Even though there is a war, I will be more protected there, and no one will make me feel uncomfortable because I am a Jew.”
At the same time, Cyril said he refused to be cowed by Jew-hate. “Half of my family died in Auschwitz. I am a proud Jew and a proud Zionist. We are a strong people. These guys will never take me down.”
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: “Officers are investigating an incident in St John’s Wood on the morning of Saturday, 9 November.
“It was reported that a man in a car, a white BMW, had filmed a Jewish man while making remarks to the effect that the man was complicit in killing children in Gaza. The VRM of the car is not known.
“An offence of causing racially or religiously aggravated intentional harassment, alarm or distress has been recorded. There has been no arrest and enquiries continue.”
A CST spokesperson told the JC: “I can confirm this incident was reported to us. This was a disgraceful incident of unprovoked antisemitic abuse and we urge anyone who witnessed it to contact the police or CST.”
