Met Police to ‘Intervene’ in Jihad Call If It’s Against Israel

A police officer making notes on Oct. 22, 2014 in this file photo. (Joe Giddens/PA)

Metropolitan police officers “will intervene” in calls for jihad against Israel, a commander said ahead of a pro-Palestinian rally on Saturday.

Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, Kyle Gordon, who is leading the force’s command team during Saturday’s protest, said, “If somebody is calling for jihad specifically against Israel the officers will intervene, gather the information, report it back into us and we’ll be working with colleagues [from counter-terrorism] in relation to what the best course of action is.”

But the commander said not all chants of “jihad” are unlawful. The head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) also defended the police and the prosecutor’s decision to not pursue actions against those who chanted “Jihad! Jihad!” last week.

The chants, heard during a Hizb ut-Tahrir demonstration at the Egyptian embassy on Oct. 21, have led to an argument about whether such calls are permitted under British law.

“It’s really, really difficult and all of the different circumstances that this might occur. The commissioner [Sir Mark Rowley] and others have been clear that these phrases mean a lot of things to a lot of people and we have to take them all in their own individual circumstances,” Commander Gordon said on Friday, according to The Telegraph.

“On some occasions that may well constitute an offence depending on where it is said and to whom it is directed and other occasions that may not,” he said.

Asked why protesters who chanted the word had not been arrested last week, Max Hill KC, the head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), told the publication, “In any case arising from the current protests, there needs to be a very careful consideration of the actual circumstances in which something is said, or a flag is waived or actions are taken.”

“We know what to look for in order to satisfy the tests in terrorism legislation, and in general crime legislation, and we do that in a non-partisan way,” he said, adding that “there is a boundary between offensive free speech and words or actions which break the criminal law.”

Controversy on Legality

The word “jihad” is understood by moderate Muslims as an internal spiritual struggle but is often used by extremists as a synonym for holy war against the enemies of Islam.

During the Hizb ut-Tahrir rally on Saturday last week, the chants of jihad were filmed when a speaker called for “jihad by armies of the Muslim countries“ to ”liberate people in the concentration camp of Palestine.”

After footage of the chants was circulated online, the Met said specialist officers and specialist CPS lawyers agreed that no offences arose from the specific clip.

Ministers have since called for “the full force of the law” to be brought against those who call for jihad, with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak saying the police have the legal power “to arrest those who are inciting violence or racial hatred,” but Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said the chants have not been criminalised by current law.

In a report Sir Mark co-authored in 2021, he called for a new set of laws to criminalise hateful extremism, saying many “hateful extremist” activities, such as glorifying terrorism and intentionally stirring up racial hatred, can fall through the cracks between hate crime legislation and laws on terrorism so long as one avoids encourage acts of terrorism or being threatening.

Jonathan Hall, KC, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, has agreed with the Met, telling The Telegraph that people seen shouting “jihad” in the clip had been “very careful” to call on the armies of Egypt, which is an official force, rather than any individuals to pursue jihad. However, he believes it’s too tricky to make new laws against hateful extremism without “going too far” in restricting free speech.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley speaks to the media at the launch of a mobile phone robbery intervention initiative in Ealing, west London, on Aug. 8, 2023. (Jonathan Brady/PA)

The Met’s request for people to report calls for jihad came ahead of a pro-Palestinian rally on Saturday that demanded a ceasefire in Gaza as the Israel Defence Forces entered Hamas-controlled territory.

Last week, a march organised by the same groups—Stop the War Coalition and Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC)—attracted “up to 100,000” demonstrators, according to the Met’s estimate. The rally was separate from the smaller one organised by Hizb ut-Tahrir, a revolutionist Islamic party.

On Oct. 21, the Met arrested 10 people for “Fireworks, Public Order & Assault and Emergency Service Worker Offences.” One of them received a caution, five had been bailed, and four remained in custody on the following day.

A further arrest was made on Oct. 22 “on suspicion of inciting racial hatred” after the man was filmed chanting curses against non-believers, or so-called infidels, the Jews, and Israel the day before.

The Met is still looking for a man who was pictured holding and waving a placard with the words “I fully support Hamas” on it during the rally last week.

Fighters from the Hamas terrorist group use paragliders to train for landing in Israel in video footage released on Oct. 9, 2023. (Reuters/Screenshot via NTD)

The force also released photos on Friday of three women who attended the first PSC “national march for Palestine” on Oct. 14, a week after the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war.

Two women had pictures of a paraglider taped on their backs while a third woman had a placard with the paraglider image attached to it.

Motorised paragliders were among the vehicles used by Hamas terrorists to cross the Israeli border on Oct. 7 when they massacred Israeli civilians and some soldiers, raped women, and took hostages.

The deadly conflict has also led to a strain of racial tension in the UK. Last week, the Met said it had received 218 anti-Semitic allegations and 101 Islamophobic allegations between Oct. 1 and Oct. 18, compared to 15 and 42 during the same period last year.

Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick has said the Home Office had begun reviewing cases after he asked police chiefs and community groups to report incidents of antisemitism and glorification of terrorism that involve visa holders. The minister has also said the acts don’t have to meet the criminal threshold for someone to be expelled from the country.