Police are failing to tackle anti-Israeli hatred and leaving the door open to anti-Semitism, the Government’s anti-terrorism watchdog has warned.
Independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, said some protesters are being allowed to ‘demonise’ all Israelis.
Mr Hall pinned the blame firmly on police forces which have allowed protests against the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza to stray into broader attacks on Israelis and even Jews in general.
Forces including the Metropolitan Police have been repeatedly accused of operating ‘two-tier policing’ by, for example, failing to arrest pro-Palestinian protesters who cross the line into anti-Semitism.
‘I have lost count of the times that hatred against Israelis has been stirred up on British streets,’ Mr Hall said in a speech.
‘I do not believe the law is being enforced as it should be.
‘The demonisation of Israelis matters because it is a vehicle for hatred of Jews.
‘My perception is that if you don’t deal with anti-Israeli hatred, you leave wiggle room for those who indulge in anti-Semitism but formally disavow it.
Activists defy the Palestine Action ban by holding illegal signs in Trafalgar Square, ventral London, on October 4 last year
‘Once hatred to Israelis is tolerated, then it’s carried around like a flame.’
He told an event in central London organised by the Policy Exchange think-tank: ‘Enforcement of laws is more important than the laws themselves. And the people responsible for enforcing laws are the police.
‘Ultimately, police have got to be responsible for safety of their citizens, and I include expressly within that Israeli citizens as well as Jews living amongst them.
‘So I would encourage the police to think about their number one obligation which is to keep the peace, put the resources in there and use the laws that are available.
Jonathan Hall KC, the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, said police were failing to enforce the law to protect Israelis and the wider Jewish population
‘But ultimately, it comes down to the police, I’m afraid; no-one else.’
On the banning of Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans last November, Mr Hall said: ‘If, according to intelligence held by the West Midlands Police, local Islamists were arming themselves and preparing to seek out and attack fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv, that can only have been because of their hatred to Israelis.
‘The local Islamists were not hostile because of football, they were hostile because of nationality.’
The watchdog said that for some people in Britain ‘any signs of Israeli life are illegitimate’, citing a protest outside an Israeli restaurant in Notting Hill, west London, last week.
Mr Hall said the Public Order Act 1986 already prohibits stirring up racial hatred, including on nationality and citizenship grounds.
‘The offence of stirring up racial hatred … is a vital precursor offence to deal with some of the public hatred we’ve seen on our streets before it leads to violence or even terrorist violence,’ he went on.
‘I do not want myself or my successor to be wrestling with a possible extension to terrorism legislation when the law is already there.’
He added that when deciding whether to allow protest marches the police should ‘use the tools that are available’ and give more weight to the ‘risk of stirring up racial hatred’.
