'London is now a no-go zone for Jews - I'm too scared to leave my house'
EXCLUSIVE: Jewish Londoners reveal they now fear for their safety and are considering fleeing the city for good.
Jews in London have revealed that areas of the capital are “no-go zones”, with some claiming they are too scared to go outside wearing anything that is “obviously Jewish”, while others are considering moving out of the city altogether.
Responding to pro-Palestinian protests in Parliament Square on Wednesday night - where the slogan "from the river to the sea", widely considered to be antisemitic, was projected onto Big Ben - Gideon Falter, chief executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, told the Daily Express: “Last night was a wake-up call for Britain.”
As well as criticising the “genocidal language projected onto Big Ben”, Mr Falter, 40, added that the “weekly marches” against Israel taking place since the October 7 terror attacks have made the “capital city a no-go zone for Jews”.
Mr Falter’s grim assessment of the risks associated with being Jewish in areas of London was echoed by other frightened members of the Jewish community that the Daily Express spoke to.
Natalie, not her real name, who lives five minutes walk from Hyde Park, where the pro-Palestinian marches often start, said that she does not want her or any of her four children to be identifiable as Jewish in public.
“I feel that I don’t want to be obviously Jewish [in public], I don’t want our children to be obviously Jewish [in public] because I think we would face abuse”, she said. “I’ve seen enough of it happening in nice local areas.”
She added that the "oppressive" and “frightening” protests have “changed the way we live”.
“We try and time things for when things [the protests] are finished," she said. "And I certainly wouldn’t want come out of a synagogue, crossing the march. I wouldn’t want to be wearing anything that identified myself as Jewish.”
The 53-year-old added: “I wouldn’t have a problem with our sons walking down to our local synagogue with their kippah on. I wouldn’t have a problem with that at all - now I would.”
Resigned, she claimed “there isn’t a Jew I know that doesn’t feel this”.
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But it is not just the West End that London’s Jews claim is off limits. A Tower Hamlets resident, who did not want to be named out of fear of being targeted for speaking to us, said that she feels “vulnerable” leaving her home and has considered moving as a result.
“Dozens, maybe more than dozens, of Palestinian flags went up all over the borough” after Hamas’s October 7 terror attacks, she claimed.
Noting that she lives in the borough that Shamima Begum left to join ISIS, she expressed concern that local children were being “radicalised”, with Palestinian flags “raised on lampposts outside schools”.
“Mentally I think about moving, but it shouldn’t be like that. I see it getting worse and worse,” she said.
A spokesman for the Met Police said: “We have seen a very concerning rise in both antisemitic and Islamophobic hate crime. This is absolutely unacceptable, and we are taking action. We will be relentless in targeting those who commit hate crimes and threaten our communities.
“We have moved additional officers into our hate crime investigations – to ensure we are progressing investigations and bringing offenders to justice as quickly as possible.
“Ahead of planned protests and vigils, the Met has been liaising with organisers to get the balance right between lawful protest, disruption to Londoners and preventing criminal offences.”