UK: London police state that an imam's call to "destroy Jewish homes" does not constitute a crime
- MGMM Team
- Nov 21, 2024
- 2 min read
Image: Jihad Watch
The Metropolitan Police have stated that an imam who led a prayer calling for the destruction of Jewish homes "did not meet the threshold of a crime," a decision that has left security experts perplexed.
Just two weeks after the Hamas massacre in southern Israel last year, a preacher at a mosque in East London, close to a significant Jewish community, prayed: “Oh Allah, curse the Jews and the children of Israel. Oh Allah, curse the infidels and the polytheists. Oh Allah, break their words, shake their feet, disperse and tear apart their unity, ruin their houses, and destroy their homes.”
The sermon was broadcast in late 2023 as part of an investigation into antisemitic rhetoric in British mosques. Following the broadcast, the police said they would review the video.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson told the Jewish Chronicle that despite the "upsetting" nature of the content, after reviewing the full sermon, including its wording, context, and narrative, officers concluded it did not reach the level of a criminal act.
Lord Mann, the government's independent adviser on antisemitism, has called on the police to "re-investigate" and plans to raise the issue with the policing minister.
The Community Security Trust (CST), a Jewish security group with strong ties to the police, expressed that many Jews would “struggle to understand” the decision. A former policeman suggested that the case pointed to “two-tier policing,” with different standards for different communities.
Bleksley remarked, “The language used by the [East London] preacher and the police's response have now set a precedent for what is not considered illegal, for what can be said."
He added, “If a preacher from another faith replaced ‘Allah’ with ‘God’ and ‘Jews’ with ‘Muslims,’ it would serve as a perfect test to see if two-tier policing exists. The police have set a clear precedent.”
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