When protesters target synagogues, Britain crosses a line it cannot ignore

I watched as the ‘Free Palestine’ mob tried out its newest tactic. They marched up to the gates of St John’s Wood Synagogue and began shouting.

Told by their organisers to make sure that they dressed “visibly Jewish”, they began chanting in Arabic a version of the notorious “From the River to the Sea” slogan that calls for the destruction of the State of Israel.

Like most places of worship, a synagogue is not just a place of prayer, but also a community centre. Hundreds of children had attended an education programme and families were arriving for a choral concert.

Quickly, the quiet residential neighbourhood of St John’s Wood was flooded with hundreds of police setting up perimeters around the building and moving the protesters down the road. The ‘Free Palestine’ mob continued to shout at passing cars as parents in the blocks of flats around them tried to prepare their children for bed: “Liberate Judaism from Zionism!” and “The State of Israel must go!”

Blue lights illuminated all of the surrounding roads as the Territorial Support Group was called in for a rush deployment.

As families arrived for the concert, police were forced to quiz them. “Where are you going?…Are you going to protest at the synagogue?” Children asked their parents what was happening as they were checked by layers of security at the synagogue gates, suddenly ramped up even beyond the regular synagogue security that congregants have to pass through every day. “Mum, Dad, what’s going on?”

That’s a question many started to ask as images emerged showing “Stolen lands sold here” apparently beamed onto the synagogue using a Laser Cube. As decent people asked on social media how this had been allowed to take place, the ‘Free Palestine’ mob chimed in the comments, asking why Jews were selling stolen land. We weren’t. It’s a synagogue. But for some, any excuse to hurl abuse at Jews is a good excuse.

When a march was planned in Tower Hamlets, police banned it. When Israeli football fans wanted to come to Aston Villa, police made up excuses to ban them. When the ‘Free Palestine’ mob came to the gates of St John’s Wood Synagogue, it was the local community and Stop The Hate that stood at the synagogue gates until police arrived.

Is this their new method? Protests at synagogues and community centres. Accusing synagogue-goers of selling stolen land. Calling for the extinction of the world’s only Jewish state.

This has nothing to do with a conflict thousands of miles away. It is all about intimidating Jews in a synagogue in London, our capital city.

Everyone is sick of this – not just Jews still coming to terms with the murder of Jews on Yom Kippur in Manchester by Jihad Al-Shamie, but also the British public, which does not want intifada and this kind of mad venom brought to our streets.

Anyone who thought that ceasefires and peace plans in the Middle East would calm the streets of Britain was sadly mistaken. Only political resolve and determined enforcement will restore the peace and quiet that we once took for granted in Britain. There is little sign of either, and that should worry everyone, not just Jews.

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Gideon Falter is Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism

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