Police criticised over response to attack on rabbi in north London

The Metropolitan police have been accused of failing to urgently investigate an antisemitic assault by two attackers who shouted “kill the Jews” as they punched a rabbi and left him “bleeding and dazed” in north London last week.

The unnamed rabbi was on a visit from Israel for a family wedding when he was attacked on Friday night. The attackers also shouted “fucking Jew, dirty Jew” before striking him to the ground, according to Shomrim, a neighbourhood watch group that monitors hate crimes against the Jewish community

The Met confirmed the attack was being investigated. A spokeswoman said: “Officers are attempting to contact the victim for a full account.”

Shomrim’s chairman, Rabbi Herschel Gluck, who reported the attack, accused police of dragging their feet. He said: “The police response has certainly not been good enough. When something like this happens, which has caused deep distress to the Jewish community, the police should pull out all the stops to deal with it in a suitable manner.

“We hear a lot of very nice talk about being against hate crime and antisemitism but when it comes down to it we don’t see any appropriate action.”

Gluck said the rabbi was returning from a synagogue where the wedding celebration was taking place when he as verbally and physically assaulted.

The attackers only stopped when challenged by a passing woman. Gluck said the rabbi lay on the payment for several minutes “bleeding and dazed”.

Gluck said he was concerned by a “significant rise” in hate crimes in the last year, and cited a widely shared video last month that showed a Jewish family being subjected to antisemitic abuse on the London Underground.

“This is way beyond what happened on the underground. This was a physical attack. There was grievous bodily harm. He was badly beaten for no reason. This is rare, but it should never happen,” said Gluck.

A man was arrested the day after video emerged of the antisemitic verbal assault on the underground. Gluck said: “Does a video have to go viral in order for the police to do something? This is much worse than what happened on that video.”

The Met spokeswoman insisted the investigation into Friday’s incident was “progressing”.

Gluck said the rabbi asked not to be named. “Someone who has gone through that is not in the mood to have his name plastered all over the place,” he said. The rabbi, who holds the title of Dayan, meaning he sits on a Judaic court as a judge, flew back to Israel on Sunday morning. He has since travelled to the US.

Gluck praised the woman who saw off the attackers. “We really appreciate the action of the woman who challenged these thugs and dealt with it in a very brave, responsible and exemplary manner,” he said.

The shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott, and the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, both condemned the attack.

Corbyn tweeted that he had spoken to Gluck to express his concerns.

Gluck confirmed that Corbyn “phoned to find out what happened and to express his shock and empathy with the community”.

He added: “We deeply appreciate his concern. He sounded extremely genuine. He was the only party leader who called.
This has nothing to do with the political climate in any shape or form. This is classic antisemitism and it needs to be seen as such and dealt with as such.”

Since Gluck’s comments Boris Johnson also condemned the attack. The prime minister tweeted: “My heart goes out to this rabbi and the whole Jewish community.”