British Transport Police are investigating after a visibly Jewish man was told “I will slit your throat for Palestine” on a London bus on Saturday night.
A member of the public tweeted footage of his brother being "attacked" by a man on the 113 bus heading in the direction of Oxford Circus.
My brother [who is visibly Jewish] was attacked on the 113 bus, heading in direction of Oxford Circus, London at 11:33PM and threatened to "slit his throat for Palestine".
— Shlomie Liberow (@Shlibness) July 4, 2021
Will anything be done about this rampant #Antisemitism @tfl @CST_UK @antisemitism pic.twitter.com/iCKV62rA8b
An expletive-ridden video clip of the incident shows an individual threatening to “beat the s*** out of” the Jewish man and to “shank” him, which is street slang for "stab".
In a separate incident that took place on the same night, a group of around nine Jewish men, including the Twitter user’s brother, were subjected to antisemitic abuse on a London underground escalator.
Video footage posted to Twitter captures a man chanting “I f***ing hate the Jews”.
An hour prior, he had another antisemitic encounter on the @TfL tube.
— Shlomie Liberow (@Shlibness) July 4, 2021
How proud I am to be English tonight where someone visibly jewish can not use public transport without hearing "I fucking hate the jews"
So depressing... pic.twitter.com/zHdIsmfesr
After being told by another individual to “shut the f*** up” the man in question proceeded to say, “we’ve got a Jew here”.
Also captured in the video are three young men wearing England football attire – one of whom responded to the abuse saying, “you actually have nine Jews behind you”.
Though the young men were accused on social media of partaking in the attack, it was later clarified that they themselves are Jewish and were standing up for their friends, who aren’t captured in the frame.
Jack Adler, one of the men dressed in football attire, tweeted: “I think this has been a massive misunderstanding. I am one of the boys in the video and all of us, including myself are Jewish. The comment saying ‘you have 9 Jews behind you actually’ refers to my friends and I. We were defenders, not perpetrators.”
Poor from @DailyMailUK misreporting and spreading misinformation trying to make my comment seem like I was the abuser. IM JEWISH AND WAS WITH WITH MULTIPLE JEWISH FRIENDS AND WAS STANDING UP FOR THE MAN WHO WAS BEING ABUSED BY CORRECTING THE REAL ANTISEMITIC ABUSER. FIX UP!! pic.twitter.com/jIUim6Iz6T
— Jack adler (@Jackadler_) July 4, 2021
On Saturday night, the man who made the attacks public on Twitter said that “all information is there” for the police to “address [the] fact that identifiably Jewish people face extreme racism on a daily occurrence”.
Posting on social media on Sunday, British Transport Police said: “We’re aware of a video posted online of a group displaying anti-Semitic behaviour on a London Underground escalator.
“We take such incidents very seriously and are investigating. If anybody has any information contact us on 0800 405040 or text 61016 quoting ref 90 of 4 July 2021.”
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police said: "A man was reported to have made antisemitic comments and threats towards another passenger on a route 113 bus near Oxford Circus.
"Officers are aware of a video posted on social media following the incident and will be meeting the victim to gather further information about this incident.
"Enquiries are ongoing. There have been no arrests at this time."
Many prominent members of the Jewish community and beyond have expressed their disgust at the incident.
Television personality Robert Rinder tweeted: “If you watch this and aren’t moved. If you hear this and ignore it. If you think fighting anti-Jewish racism isn’t YOUR responsibility. YOU ARE THE PROBLEM… HATE THRIVES WHEN YOU LET IT.”
Meanwhile, actor Eddie Marsan said: “Imagine if it was your son or daughter in the tube, having to face this terrifying abuse.”
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