There is a “permissive environment” in the UK that has enabled anti-Israel extremism and antisemitism, the UK’s counter-extremism commissioner has said.
Robin Simcox, who took on a position in the Commission for Countering Extremism (CCE) in July, said that the safety of Jewish people in Britain has been compromised by a failed “policy mix of mass migration and multiculturalism.”
As a result of the attack, at least 1,400 people were killed and many taken as hostages. In retaliation, Israel formally declared war on Oct. 8.
Mr. Simcox said there was “direct connectivity between events thousands of miles away” and the safety of British citizens on UK streets.
He reported a 581 percent increase in antisemitic incidents on British streets since the Hamas attack. The Jewish schools were compelled to warn pupils not to wear school uniforms or close altogether on Oct. 13 , Simcox said.
Last weekend, tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of central London to show support for the Palestinian people and demand an end to the war in Gaza.
The counter-extremism commissioner said that protesters were not there “to mourn the innocent victims, but to voice support for the ‘Palestinian resistance.’”
He suggested that chants such as “Long live the Palestinian resistance” or “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” meant calls for the “erasure of Israel from the map.”
Mr. Simcox’s comments come after the Home Secretary Suella Braverman told police chiefs last week to respond to any potential offences, including explicit pro-Hamas symbols and chants.
According to Mr. Simcox, the overwhelming majority of the protesters “have been careful to construe their public displays of support just below the legal threshold for hate crime, glorification of terror, or public order offences.”
He suggested that protesters exploited the British value of freedom of expression to normalise antisemitism.
“Every humanitarian will be appalled and horrified, as we are, at the scenes we are witnessing of a severe escalation of violence since Oct.7,” said the PSC.
The organisation decried the deliberate killing of civilians, hostage-taking and collective punishment.
Last week the Israeli military told some one million people to evacuate from the northern Gaza to the south ahead of Israel’s airstrikes on the territory.
The PSC said that a mass evacuation would be nearly impossible to organise safely and rejected that Israel’s warning was a “humanitarian gesture.”
On Monday, he also told the House of Commons that Palestinian civilians in Gaza were being used as “human shields.”
Mr. Simcox said that those explicitly celebrating Hamas’s “pogrom” on the streets of London have been arrested. He said that the hatred “witnessed in recent days on British streets and online” must be a “wake-up call for the government.”
