Well done to the Met for standing up to Gaza mob

Their first “pro ceasefire” demonstration came just a few days after the Hamas massacre on October 7. It was like a party where people literally celebrated the actions of Hamas. Since then, we’ve had to endure weekly demonstrations while university buildings have been taken over by “occupations”. Our schoolchildren have been bullied and had things thrown at them while antisemitic attacks have gone through the roof. Our buildings have had paint thrown at them, people attending the Jewish community centre JW3 have been screamed at. In October, almost wherever people stood at a vigil to mourn the dead, they were screamed at by people who claim to be “pro-humanity”. The appeasement of the anti-Israel camp by the police has brought shame on them. “Jihad” is perfectly fine to scream in the streets after October 7, the Met told us, shortly before the group that did it was proscribed for supporting terrorism.

They’ve claimed these demonstrations are mainly peaceful even as they are too frightened to arrest people marching. They do, however, arrest people who dare to brandish a sign reminding the protesters that “Hamas are terrorists”. Apparently, that upsets the “peaceful” demonstrators so much that it turns them violent.

But we all know that even if the odd Jew is welcome – as long as they are wearing a keffiyeh and brandishing a placard saying something along the lines of “As A Jew I hate Israel” – these are dangerous to us.

The police admitted as much when they told the CAA’s Gideon Falter that it was not a good idea to try and cross a street in London when the marches are happening if you look “visibly Jewish”.

We see antisemitism marching down our streets and we see it becoming normalised. We see how the “baby killer” libel makes its way from the demonstration to the classroom to the jibe on the Tube because you happen to be wearing a kippah. This is frightening, particularly if you are a Jew who just wants to be able to go to your synagogue and pray in peace.

Credit to the Metropolitan Police for finally finding their backbone and stopping a planned for Palestinian Solidarity Campaign demonstration going near a synagogue and a Chabad centre next Shabbat.

The Central Synagogue on Great Portland Street has been there since 1848. It was my grandparents’ synagogue. Both my parents and I got married there. It remains a central focus of life for Jews who live in the West End but one member told me how a friend, on security detail there, had a car slow down in front of it and make a throat-cutting gesture. Another, walking to shul, had people shout “f*** the Jews” at them. The shul has had to cancel and cut short services because of the regularity of the demonstrations nearby.

As the police rightly tell the PSC, they could choose any other time, any other day, to march to the BBC (which is a bizarre place for them to demonstrate really, as it’s so firmly on their side). If this lot actually cared about racism and minorities, they would listen.

Instead, they’re throwing their toys out of their pram. They’ve booted up their full armoury: the actors, the politicians, even their pet Jews to demand their right to frighten anyone they want. They are threatening to march as planned whether or not they are given permission to. They are demanding their free speech trumps anything else – just like those Cable Street fascists.

What happens on Saturday isn’t just about the Jewish community. It is about power and who wields it. We have seen how anti-Israel extremists have threatened MPs so much that a ceasefire vote was changed – apparently because Labour MPs were getting death threats – while Tory pro-Israel MP Mike Freer was so tired of having his life threatened that he gave up his job.

For too long we have seen our institutions cave into this bullying madness and now has to be the time to say no.

No more. They shall not pass.