British police announce crackdown on 'globalize the intifada' displays
by Paul Godfrey · UPIDec. 17 (UPI) -- Demonstrators on the streets of Britain's two largest cities, chanting or displaying "globalize the intifada" signs or protesting in other ways that intimidate the local Jewish community, face arrest, the country's two most senior police chiefs warned Wednesday.
In a joint statement, London Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley and Greater Manchester Police Chief Constable Sir Stephen Watson said Sunday's terror attack targeting Jews celebrating Hanukkah on Bondi Beach in Australia had compelled them to take a tougher line.
They said the backdrop was of rising domestic and international anti-Semitic attacks, protests and hate speech that have left British Jews in a state of fear that was disrupting their daily lives, forcing them to use private and police security and fence in their children's schools.
"The words and chants used, especially in protests, matter and have real-world consequences. We have consistently been advised by the Crown Prosecution Service that many of the phrases causing fear in Jewish communities don't meet prosecution thresholds. Now, in the escalating threat context, we will recalibrate to be more assertive."
Rowley and Watson said that despite problems with the laws they had to work with, use of "globalize the intifada" in chants and on placards would no longer be tolerated.
Named for a rebellion by Palestinians during Israel's first occupation of Gaza and the West Bank in the late 1980s, the literal translation of intifada is "uprising" -- but it can be interpreted as a call for violence against Jews, police said.
"Violent acts have taken place, the context has changed -- words have meaning and consequence. We will act decisively and make arrests," the police chiefs warned, adding that frontline officers would receive training on enforcement of the policy.
They also vowed to deploy Public Order Act powers, including imposing special conditions around London synagogues during services, in addition to increased general police presence and protective security around synagogues, schools and community venues which they said had already been stepped up in London and Manchester.
The intent, Rowley and Watson said, was to "create a hostile environment for offenders and a safer environment for Jewish communities, while protecting lawful protest."
"All members of society have a responsibility to consider their impact on others -- it is possible to protest in support of Palestinian people without intimidating Jewish communities or breaking the law," the statement reads.
The announcement came as Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Parliament the government was boosting funding for security to protect Jews going about their daily lives to $37.4 million and had ordered an urgent review of public order and hate crime laws.
The review is being headed by a senior lawyer who is also a lawmaker in the upper chamber of Parliament and a former director of public prosecutions.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews welcomed the police chiefs' statement.
"We have long warned that people chanting slogans like 'globalize the intifada' are inciting violence, and we have been making the case for robust enforcement in relation to this slogan with government at all levels for some time," the board said.
The move by police came three days after two gunmen authorities believe were motivated by "Islamic State ideology," shot dead 15 people in a park near Sydney's famous Bondi Beach and two months after two people were killed in a terror attack on a synagogue in Manchester.
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Large crowds gather outside Nelson Mandela’s former home in the Johannesburg suburb of Houghton to pay their respects on December 7, 2013. Mandela, former South African president and a global icon of the anti-apartheid movement, died on December 5 at age 95 after complications from a recurring lung infection. Photo by Charlie Shoemaker/UPI | License Photo