Israelis are being demonised as a \u201cvehicle for hatred of Jews\u201d, the UK\u2019s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation has said.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Hall said police forces should be held responsible for failing to clamp down on the targeting of \u201cIsraeli citizens as well as Jews living among them\u201d.<\/p>\n
The KC\u2019s comments were condemned by a pro-Palestine campaign group for a \u201cconflation of antisemitism and anti-Zionism\u201d.<\/p>\n
In a speech at a Policy Exchange event in London, Hall said the targeting of a nationality such as Israelis must be recognised as a breach of the Public Order Act of 1986.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cLet me read section 17 of the 1986 act which defines racial hatred, and I am going to do this slowly: \u2018In this Part \u201cracial hatred\u201d means hatred against a group of persons defined by reference to colour, race, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic or national origins\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe demonisation of Israelis matters because it is a vehicle for hatred of Jews. My perception is that if you don\u2019t deal with anti-Israeli hatred, you leave wriggle room for those who indulge in antisemitism but formally disavow it. Once hatred to Israelis is tolerated then it is carried around like a flame.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hall said there was a \u201cpalpable\u201d national security risk when police prioritised maintaining public order over applying the law, particularly during pro-Palestinian protests where chants such as \u201cdeath to the IDF\u201d or \u201cglobalise the intifada\u201d went unchallenged.<\/p>\n
The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, a group of lawyers and politicians who comment on human rights, disputed Hall\u2019s argument.<\/p>\n
Its head of public affairs and communications, Jonathan Purcell, said: \u201cHall\u2019s conflation of antisemitism and anti-Zionism is deeply problematic, a well-trodden line that erases the existence of the many anti-Zionist Jewish people at pro-Palestine marches.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he is truly alarmed about sectarian calls for violence, he would be well advised to also concern himself with the genocidal comments of Israeli officials, and our government\u2019s relationship with such a rogue state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hall, who backed listing Palestine Action as a proscribed terrorist group, said in his speech that \u2013 for some people \u2013 any signs of Israeli life were \u201cillegitimate\u201d.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThere have been protests against Israeli-owned restaurants and bakeries in London and Australia and the United States. In Australia, a restaurant with Israeli ownership was attacked by protesters shouting \u2018Death to the IDF\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsraelis are a group like any other whose individual members, like members of any other group, deserve protection. We have lost our collective senses if, as a society, we permit the demonising of holders of any nationality who live in our tolerant and open society.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked who should be held responsible for failing to protect Israelis, Hall replied: \u201cUltimately, police have got to be responsible for the safety of their citizens. And I include expressly within that Israeli citizens as well as Jews living among them.\u201d<\/p>\n
He told an audience at the right-leaning thinktank that he had \u201clost count\u201d of the times that hatred against Israelis had been \u201cstirred up\u201d on UK streets.<\/p>\n
He also questioned why West Midlands police appeared to have been aware of intelligence that \u201cIslamists\u201d were preparing to attack fans of Maccabi Tel Aviv<\/a> in November but failed to enforce the law.<\/p>\n \u201cIf, 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Ministers have refused to be drawn on the future of Craig Guildford, the West Midlands chief constable, over the ban on Israeli football fans<\/a> watching their team in Birmingham.<\/p>\n An independent report commissioned by the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, into the ban is expected this week. The decision to bar Maccabi fans from attending the match against Aston Villa<\/a> was taken for safety reasons, according to the force.<\/p>\n