To think that London, or anywhere else for that matter, does not belong to any one demographic

Vintagewhine

Have anyone seen the Sky video? If you haven't I suggest you should. IMO It demonstrates that Gideon Falter wanted to walk through the march with his small group of followers videoing in the hope that someone in the crowd would do something newsworthy. He's not just walking home from the synagogue on his way home. The police officer explains why he wants him not to and there is nothing anti semitic about his reasoning, his job is to keep the peace and prevent disorder. Suella was interviewed this morning she'd not seen the whole video either. These marches have been generally good humoured and peaceful with a few incidents that should not happen. Why would a group of Jewish men who were not supportive of the march want to walk straight through the middle to cross the road and argue with the police when politely asked not to?

Exactly what I have said all along. Some of the marchers were displaying blatant antisemitism towards him and his friends. Why would they want to walk towards the march and run the very real risk of being harmed? Annie said upthread that it would be ‘suicide’. The policeman could see the danger and was trying to avoid violence breaking out. This situation has created more publicity than Gideon Falter could have dreamed. The policeman must wonder why he bothered to try to protect him.

some of the marchers were displaying blatant antisemitism towards him and his friends

Germanshepherdsmum if this is in fact true, then they should have been arrested, not the Jewish people wishing to walk on a London Street and/or cross the road.

Like I said antisemitism is alive and kicking in the U.K.

Anniebach

He did not want to walk into the crowd , if I believe he would have been physically attacked I am sure he had the sense to know it.

Annie, if you’ve watched the full video you surely know that’s not true. Falter certainly did want to walk into the crowd.

The video, and the full narrative of the exchange between the officer and Gideon Falter, now on Sky News, shows this, and those who haven’t watched/read them with an open mind really should do so. I heard Falter himself say in a BBC interview yesterday that the officer wasn’t anti-Semitic in the exchange. I understand now why he said this - it was obvious that the full video would emerge eventually. What I see and hear is an extremely patient officer trying to keep an individual safe. No, he wasn’t anti-Semitic, but he’s now been labelled as such, and that label will stick.

The police officer apologised for using the phrase ( openly Jewish) realising how it might be interpreted, yet Mr Falter insisted on crossing the road. It's not anti semitic to draw a conclusion from someone's behavior and my conclusion is that he wanted someone to react to his presence and for it to be captured on video. I'm well aware that there are some in those marches who are anti semitic just as there are groups of Jews in the march proudly proclaiming their heritage and feeling very safe in doing so. Why would Mr Falter choose to argue with the police? If I had found myself faced with having to wade through a legally organised march to cross the road, I certainly would be pleased to be assisted by the police but for some reason it didn't suit Mr Falter and his camera crew! Draw your own conclusions.

The police officers says you are obviously Jewish would anyone on here think it acceptable to say to a black man you are obviously black or to a Muslim you are obviously muslim ?

Gideon was making a point on his way back from his synagogue that London is not safe for Jews whilst Palestinian supporters are given carte blanche including not being rebuked or arrested for antisemitism…

Apologies for typo my post should have read openly Jewish

To tell a Jew who is wearing a kippah ‘you are openly Jewish’
is anti semitic ‘ . Why did the police officers ignore Gideon being called scum ?

I have watched the SKY video, I saw an evil rewrite of it on
Tik Tok early today,

There is only one interpretation of ‘openly Jewish’

Yes, he was making a point and why not? Jewish Londoners are sick to the back teeth of weekend pro Palestinian marches making a no go area for them in central London along with anti semitic comments and behaviour from others towards them wherever they go.
Did the Met officers arrest anyone for hate crime who gathered around them shouting scum! Babykillers! And other insults?
No, they ignored that.The Met go after low hanging fruit every time.
The point that was being made here is stop these marches which cause hate and division, it’s already gone on far too long.

Meanwhile our Jewish citizens hide in their houses every weekend.

This is an interesting point. I’m not hiding in my house but I do feel like I’m hiding in plain sight. I have recently started a new venture where I have met a lot of people. No-one knows I am Jewish….and I am wary of identifying myself as Jewish because of how they would react.

That is Britain in 2024.

No, there is not only one interpretation. My interpretation is ‘you are clearly Jewish and some people on the march, who are already displaying antisemitic behaviour towards you, may harm you’.

He was there to provoke and film a confrontation - didn’t he do well (at the expense of the policeman who tried to protect him).

The police officer said ‘you are openly Jewish’ ,

Openly Jewish is the same as openly gay which was used until
the late 1960’s

Shelmiss

*Meanwhile our Jewish citizens hide in their houses every weekend.*

This is an interesting point. I’m not hiding in my house but I do feel like I’m hiding in plain sight. I have recently started a new venture where I have met a lot of people. No-one knows I am Jewish….and I am wary of identifying myself as Jewish because of how they would react.

That is Britain in 2024.

I’m half Jewish ( Father) so not really Jewish at all as Mum isn’t.
I still wouldn’t identify as such in life atm apart from anonymous forums, so understand how you feel.

Germanshepherdsmum

No, there is not only one interpretation. My interpretation is ‘you are clearly Jewish and some people on the march, who are already displaying antisemitic behaviour towards you, may harm you’.

He was there to provoke and film a confrontation - didn’t he do well (at the expense of the policeman who tried to protect him).

That was my thoughts too.

Your mind is closed to any interpretation but yours Annie. The policeman did his best confronted with GF and his entourage pushing through the police lines, as you will have seen on the Sky video, which I am glad has been released as it shows the true picture, unlike GF’s cameraman’s film. The policeman may have chosen his words clumsily in the heat of the moment, but you condemn him and insult him. And you the widow of a policeman. They deserve our support in trying to keep the peace.

Meanwhile our Jewish citizens hide in their houses every weekend

And isn't Saturday the Sabbath when Jewish people would want to go to the synagogue?

Perhaps, if there have to be Palestinian protest marches, they should be on any day rather than the Sabbath?

We could, of course, confine Jewish people to certain areas "for their own safety" and so they are not a source of provocation to others.
We could call them ghettos.

GrannyGravy13

growstuff I have seen the full video.

London streets are either safe for all, or safe for none.

This was blatant antisemitism, curtailing the rights of a Jewish person to walk freely in London just the same as the pro-Palestinian marchers…

Yes GrannyGravy but some posters have a different agenda.

A different agenda? Such as calling this man out for deliberately seeking to cause trouble?

You are trying to justify the police's attitude, Germanshepherdsmum but it seemed clear from what I have seen that they did not have the interests of the Jewish man at heart. He was defending the protestors' right to their anti-semitic slogans and overt hatred.

If their actions were the right ones why the need for apologies?

Germanshepherdsmum

Your mind is closed to any interpretation but yours Annie. The policeman did his best confronted with GF and his entourage pushing through the police lines, as you will have seen on the Sky video, which I am glad has been released as it shows the true picture, unlike GF’s cameraman’s film. The policeman may have chosen his words clumsily in the heat of the moment, but you condemn him and insult him. And you the widow of a policeman. They deserve our support in trying to keep the peace.

What a thoroughly nasty post

You say Anniebach’s mind is closed, I think you have also closed your mind to how Jewish people are feeling at the moment.

He meaning the police of course.

Germanshepherdsmum

A different agenda? Such as calling this man out for deliberately seeking to cause trouble?

A Jew has as much right as anyone else to walk freely in our capital city, to deny this time and time again is antisemitism in all but name…

Oreo

Yes, he was making a point and why not? Jewish Londoners are sick to the back teeth of weekend pro Palestinian marches making a no go area for them in central London along with anti semitic comments and behaviour from others towards them wherever they go.
Did the Met officers arrest anyone for hate crime who gathered around them shouting scum! Babykillers! And other insults?
No, they ignored that.The Met go after low hanging fruit every time.
The point that was being made here is stop these marches which cause hate and division, it’s already gone on far too long.

The officer was explaining why Falter was at risk if he walked into the demo at that point. Yes, it was a clumsy choice of words, for which he has of course apologised, but I’m not sure what would have been acceptable. This officer was in the middle of policing a large and potentially volatile demonstration, and suddenly had to micromanage the safety of a small group of people, while being filmed. If he’d been antisemitic, would he even have tried to stop them walking into danger? As it is, reports have gone round the world that he threatened to arrest a man because he is Jewish, which is a complete distortion of what happened.

As for why the officers on the scene didn’t immediately arrest chanting demonstrators for hate crime - do you really think it’s so easy? They’re vastly outnumbered, unarmed, being videoed by both sides in the hope they’ll put a foot wrong, and are, after all, not superhuman. I understand that arrests have been made after CCTV footage was reviewed of incidents at other demos - maybe this will be the case here as well.

Perhaps, as in France, the marches should be banned (though many people would take exception to this as well). Nobody should feel unsafe on the streets of London, so maybe this does need to happen now. In the meantime, this isn’t something the police on the ground have a say in and I’m sure they’d appreciate a bit of support for the dangerous and difficult job they have to do, instead of the usual kicking.

I would agree that the policeman was trying to protect him - the ‘openly Jewish’ comment IMO was just very clumsily worded - except that I don’t know who could excuse or condone the threat to arrest him if he didn’t comply.

Why was no action taken against those marchers calling him ‘scum’?

The fact is, vocal Muslim factions - I don’t mean those who quietly get on with their lives - are pandered to in the U.K. Officialdom in general would appear to be terrified of upsetting them.

Is there a ref for the full Sky video please?