Pro-Palestine protesters are turning London into a ‘no-go zone for Jews’, claims Britain’s counter-extremism tsar Robin Simcox as he blasts the Government for letting extremists go ‘unchallenged for too long’.
Pro-Palestine protesters have staged several protests in London amid the war
Simcox slammed the Government for letting extremists go ‘unchallenged for too long’.
The Home Office’s independent adviser on extremism warned that the Government had allowed extremists to ‘lurk just below the terrorism threshold’.
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, thousands of pro-Palestinian supporters have marched through the streets of London.
There has also been a huge increase in anti-Semitism in the capital since Hamas’s horrific October 7 attacks that saw 1,139 people slaughtered and 240 taken hostage.
Writing in the Telegraph, Mr Simcox said Britain has a ‘permissive environment for radicalisation developing that needs urgently addressing’.
He added that the Government needed to take a ‘leading role’ in tackling all types of extremism.
The counter-extremism tsar said Downing Street now had a chance to take charge of the situation while championing ‘respect for the rule of law, civility, and decency’ – which he said had been in ‘short supply’ since October 7.
It is believed that Mr Simcox hopes there will be tougher restrictions on protests that could include forcing marches to be static demonstrations instead.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has previously called for the Met Police to take tougher action against protesters.
Sunak also promised to deal with the ‘root causes’ of the problem and ensure that ‘no extremist organisations or individuals are being lent legitimacy by their actions and interactions with central government’.
But Met Police Commissioner later defended the force’s policing of protests, declaring ‘we have to police the law as it is, not as others would wish it to be’.
Yet Mr Simcox said the Government could also do more by refusing entry to hate preachers touring the UK.
Next week, Michael Gove is set to announce a broader definition of extremism that will allow the Government, universities and councils to stop funding for Islamist and Right-wing groups.
Ministers are reportedly likely to name which groups will fall under the new definition in Parliament when it is announced.
The new definition could ban Government officials from engaging with or funding groups or individuals deemed extremist.
Yet it has led to concerns from some on the right that it could inadvertently penalise groups opposed to gay marriage, abortion or new transgender rights.
Mr Simcox said: ‘While debates over a definition can feel like academic navel-gazing when actual extremist acts are so common, the work does have a clear purpose: it will be used to guide future decisions over who Government does, and does not, engage with and fund.
‘The Government is right to act. Evidence that the state works with or funds extremists has appeared in independent reviews or Government strategies dating back over a decade. This needs fixing, new definition of extremism or not.’
He suggested the Government and its agencies already powers to combat extremism but had failed to tackle groups that fall below the threshold of being terrorists.
He said Whitehall ‘has more power to tackle extremism than it sometimes thinks’.
‘After all, the Iranian government does not have an inalienable right to run schools and mosques in our capital city.
‘It is not an unalterable democratic principle that Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood must be allowed to run a multitude of charities,’ he said.
‘We have not betrayed democracy if extremists are no longer able to operate television channels.’
Last week former home secretary Suella Braverman urged Mr Sunak to introduce emergency legislation to tackle extremism.
Echoing Mr Simcox’s language, she said: ‘Parts of London have become no-go areas for Jewish people.
‘That is totally unacceptable. We’ve seen anti-Semitism skyrocket.’
Ms Braverman was responding to a speech by Mr Sunak in which he said there had been a ‘shocking increase in extremist disruption and criminality’ since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7.
He warned protesters not to let extremists ‘hijack’ their marches.
Official figures showed that anti-Semitism was at a record high last year, amid an ‘explosion of hatred’.
In the Community Security Trust’s annual report, it said there had been a surge in anti-Jewish attacks, threats and abuse which had amounted to a ‘celebration’ of Hamas’s massacre of innocent Israelis.
There were 4,103 anti-Semitic incidents in the UK last year, according to figures.
This is nearly double the previous record in 2021, covering all types of ‘hate’ against Jewish people.
Shocking examples of anti-Semitism include when a poster of a baby kidnapped by Hamas was defaced with two swastikas in an incident in London at the end of last year, including a swastika drawn on the infant’s forehead.
In October a synagogue in Sussex was daubed with ‘SS IDF’ in red paint, with ‘SS’ depicted as the emblem of the Nazi’s genocidal elite guard, and ‘IDF’ referring to the Israeli Defence Forces.
Just last week, a Jewish man wearing a skullcap was told ‘your religion is killing Muslims’ on the London Underground.
And this week, Jewish students told of their terror after 100 pro-Palestine protesters mobbed a stall where they were raising awareness about anti-Semitism.
The Jewish group said they were screamed at and had orange squash thrown at them by some members of the counter-protesters.
One Jewish student, 20-year-old Rojin-Sena Cantay, told MailOnline the students felt subjected to intimidation and anti-Semitic abuse.
‘I am absolutely broken to put it into words. We got assaulted with juice thrown on us,’ she said.
‘We were surrounded by a group of over 100 people. They were all in a circle screaming at us. It was one of the most scary things of my life.
‘They came in groups and it was very sudden that the group got so big.’
