Jewish protester charged over placard mocking terrorist leader

A Jewish protester was arrested by the Metropolitan Police after he briefly held a placard satirising a Hezbollah terrorist leader, The Telegraph can reveal.
The British man, who has asked to remain anonymous for his safety, was detained and charged last September over a cartoon that showed Hasan Nasrallah, the Lebanese terror chief, with a pager and the words 'beep, beep, beep'.
The placard satirised a targeted Israeli attack, dubbed Operation Grim Beeper, in which explosives in pagers and walkie-talkies killed 42 people, mostly Hezbollah terrorists. Nasrallah survived, but was killed in an air strike a week later.
During questioning, police repeatedly asked the man – who was part of a counter-demonstration against a pro-Palestinian march – if he believed the image would offend 'clearly pro-Hezbollah and anti-Israel' activists.
Hezbollah is a terror group, which is proscribed in the UK.
The decision by police to allow pro-Palestinian demonstrators to march through London since the Oct 7 massacre, including in areas with high Jewish populations and near synagogues, has been highly contentious.
The man's case is the latest in a string of heavy-handed police responses to lawful expression. Last year, The Telegraph reported how columnist Allison Pearson was questioned at home by two officers over an X post following pro-Palestinian protests.
The Telegraph also uncovered the case of Julian Foulkes, a retired special constable, who was wrongly cautioned by Kent Police for warning about the threat of anti-Semitism in Britain.
The latest case prompted condemnation from senior MPs and peers on both sides of the House.
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said it was an example of 'two-tier policing in action'.
He told The Telegraph: 'In recent times, the police have failed to act when confronted with protesters calling for jihad and intifada in London. Yet this man was apparently arrested because he might have offended supporters of a banned terrorist organisation.
'This is two-tier policing in action. The law is rightly clear that supporting banned terrorist groups, inciting violence, inciting racial hatred or harassing people is illegal. Beyond that, free speech applies to everyone.
'The police sometimes turn a blind eye when applying the law might be difficult, yet over-police at other times. The law should be applied equally to all, robustly and without fear or favour. That is not what happened here.'
It comes just a day after Sir Nick Clegg also weighed in on the issue, telling an audience at the Charleston Literary Festival in Sussex that police had become 'too censorious' of online speech.
The man in the latest case held the placard for less than three minutes during the demonstration in Swiss Cottage, north-west London, on Sept 20.
The area, near the home of Tzipi Hotovely, the Israeli ambassador, has been targeted almost weekly by pro-Palestinian activists since the October 7 massacre.
On Sept 20, a pro-Palestine demonstrator was filmed in the area shouting 'I love the 7th of October' and 'I like any organisation that starts with H'. He was arrested under terrorism legislation, but was not charged.
The Jewish man was part of a counter-demonstration organised by Stop the Hate UK, a multi-faith group. He was arrested a week later when he returned to the same location for another demonstration on Sept 27.
Before detaining him overnight at Islington police station, officers searched his home in a failed attempt to find the placard, which the man had already explained was not his.
'Two police vans and six officers turned up at our house to search for 'offensive material', which was quite invasive. It was a horrible experience,' he said.
'They put me in the lounge and asked my partner to go with them around the house. They weren't very pleasant to her and even went through her knicker drawer. It was totally ridiculous.'
Following his arrest, in police interview footage obtained by The Telegraph, an officer can be seen repeatedly asking the counter-protester: 'Do you think that showing this image to persons protesting who are clearly pro-Hezbollah and anti-Israel that by doing so would stir up racial hatred further than it is already?'
Both the counter-protester and his lawyer, Carl Woolf, specialist criminal solicitor advocate at Woolf Law LLP, were 'completely shocked' at this question.
In the footage, Mr Woolf replied: 'Are you saying that there were pro-Hezbollah people there? Because it is a proscribed terrorist organisation.'
The officer answered 'I am aware of that', but continued the line of questioning.
The counter-protester denied intending to incite racial hatred or insult or distress supporters of the proscribed Lebanese terror group, telling the investigating officer the sign was 'political satire'.
He was released at 6.30am and later charged under the Public Order Act for causing racially or religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress by words or writing.
On May 10 – eight months after his ordeal began – the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case, saying there was insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction.
In an exclusive interview, the man described the ordeal as 'distressing' for him and his family.
'The Met Police are still completely out of their depth when it comes to policing the anti-Israel hate marches we've seen on our streets week in, week out since the October 7 attacks,' he said.
'It beggars belief that police could think that this placard may be offensive to supporters of Hezbollah. If there are Hezbollah supporters at these marches, then why weren't charges brought against them for terrorist offences, rather than me being charged for holding a sign that can only be construed as political satire?
'I didn't realise how relieved I was until I heard I wasn't going to court.'
On Friday, with regard to the repeated references in the interview to the counter-protester having offended supporters of a proscribed terrorist organisation, the Met Police said the officer 'clearly misspoke when she described those in the protest as pro-Hezbollah instead of pro-Palestinian'.
A spokesman added that the man 'was charged following a careful consideration of the evidence' and that the force would attempt to learn lessons from the episode.
The spokesman said: 'We will reflect on the CPS decision not to proceed with the case, applying any learning to future investigations.'
The case is likely to fuel criticism of police for failing to confront anti-Semitic hate and heighten concerns over the safety of British Jews.
It comes two days after a gunman shot dead two Israeli embassy staff near Washington DC's Jewish museum. The suspect told police 'I did it for Gaza' and shouted 'free Palestine' as he handed himself in. The attack prompted Scotland Yard to urge London's Jewish community to remain vigilant.
In an extraordinary move on Friday, Benjamin Netanyahu accused Sir Keir Starmer and other world leaders of siding with Hamas, claiming they were 'on the wrong side of humanity'.
In a televised statement addressing the shootings at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, the Israeli prime minister, said that by condemning the war in Gaza the leaders were supporting 'mass murderers, rapists, baby killers, and kidnappers'.
Amichai Chikli, the Israeli diaspora affairs minister, accused Sir Keir, the French president Emmanuel Macron and the Canadian prime minister Mark Carney of having 'emboldened the forces of terror through their failure to draw moral red lines'.
'This cowardice has a price – and that price is paid in Jewish blood,' he said.
On Friday, peers with expertise in countering political violence raised alarm at the Met's conduct and called for an investigation.
Lord Walney, the Government's former extremism tsar, told The Telegraph: 'We all understand the police have a difficult job preventing protests escalating into disorder, but the idea that officers intervened on the side of supporters of a proscribed terrorist organisation is grotesque.'
The cross-bench peer, whose advisory role was axed by Sir Keir in February after he called for some climate activists and pro-Palestine groups to be banned, said that the 'disturbing' incident should be investigated and that there should be 'a full apology from the Met if the protester's claims are upheld'.
He added: 'It's an implausible explanation from the police that this officer simply misspoke. She was reading from a list of pre-prepared questions. They should just own their mistake and use this opportunity to ensure lessons are learnt.'
Lord Austin, a non-affiliated peer who was investigated by police for calling Hamas 'Islamists' on social media, told The Telegraph: 'It beggars belief that someone would be arrested, put in the cells and then charged for holding this sign because it might upset supporters of Islamist terrorists and a proscribed organisation, rather than take action against the terror supporters.
'There is clearly a systemic problem when it comes to dealing with the hate marches and, instead of telling us they disagree with individual decisions, ministers need to get a grip and sort it out.'
A Met Police spokesman said: 'We take support for proscribed organisations very seriously. Since October 2023, we have made 28 arrests under the Terrorism Act for offences at protests including wearing clothing or displaying symbols that indicated support for such groups, including Hezbollah. This is in addition to the hundreds of arrests made for other offences.'
The pro-Palestinian demonstrator filmed shouting 'I love the 7th of October' on Sept 20 was arrested by the Met under terrorism legislation. He was not charged, despite Scotland Yard twice submitting a file of evidence to the CPS, the second time after appealing against a decision not to pursue the case.
A Met spokesman told The Telegraph that discussions with the CPS regarding the case were continuing, adding that 'we will ensure all available avenues to challenge the decision not to bring charges are pursued'.
After the CPS became aware of The Telegraph's imminent publication of the story, it issued a statement to say it was 'urgently reviewing' its decision-making in the case of the pro-Palestinian protester.
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