Jewish community feel ‘abandoned’ with police ‘turning blind eye’ to violence

Metropolitan Police sign at New Scotland Yard
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


Members of the Jewish community feel “completely abandoned” by the police, Parliament has been told, with claims officers are “turning a blind eye” to violent, anti-Semitic protests.

The claim was made by law academic Baroness Deech at Westminster as she raised concerns over the conduct of continuing pro-Palestinian demonstrations against the backdrop of the Gaza conflict and wider Middle East crisis.

Peers had been discussing steps being taken by the Government after a police marksman was cleared of the murder of Chris Kaba, which has stoked tensions within the black community.

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Chris Kaba, 24, was unarmed when the officer shot him through the windscreen of an Audi Q8 as he tried to ram his way past police cars in Lambeth, south London, in 2022.

When reporting restrictions were lifted after the case concluded, it emerged Kaba was a “core member” of one of London’s most dangerous criminal gangs and was allegedly directly linked to two shootings in the six days before he was shot dead by police.

Lady Deech, a patron of UK Lawyers for Israel, said: “The attention of the House today is rightly turned on relationships between the police and the black community, but there is another sector of the community that feels completely abandoned by the police.

“Week after week there are marches through the centre of London – pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel, with anti-Semitic slogans and violence.

“On Sunday the police did nothing while a violent mob gathered outside the leading Jewish community centre in London, to the great distress of those attending a meeting there.

“When someone pushes back against that they get arrested, rather than the anti-Israel demonstrators, in a way that I do not think would happen if there was a right-wing demonstration.

“I am saying not that there is two-tier policing but that the police are turning a blind eye to a very dangerous and difficult situation.”

She added: “Will the minister remind the police that a great deal of antisemitism and violence is demonstrating itself on the streets of London? It must be stopped if trust is to be rebuilt.”

Home Office minister Lord Hanson of Flint said: “I do not believe there is two-tier policing. I believe the police act impartially against anybody who is committing an offence, and the police will act in that way against anybody who is perceived to be committing an offence.

“If she has concerns over that, maybe she should raise them with the Metropolitan Police commissioner, who at least can be aware of her concerns.”

He went on: “Ultimately, I believe that police officers will act against criminality and that no judgmental decision is made by the police one way or the other.

“If criminality occurs, the police should act and arrest. If that arrest is taken forward, the CPS should prosecute, and the court under a jury system should determine.”

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