An Uber driver has been captured on film telling a Jewish passenger that “Jews control our minds, the media”.
Nottingham University student Josh Lee, 19, had been picked up along with three others after an Independence Day event at the Israeli Embassy in London on Tuesday night when the driver launched into a diatribe about the US, Jews and the Congo.
Mr Lee told the JC: “At the start we were talking among ourselves, nothing to do with Israel or where we had come from.
“When one of the people we were with got out of the car, he asked where that guy was from and we said ‘America’.
"He turned around and looked at us with a grey face and started to talking about how the US and Jews control the world, the media and the Congo.”
In response, Mr Lee began covertly filming. The driver can be heard on the video saying: “Once I was talking to one Jewish [sic], he didn’t know about [Israeli diamond magnate] Dan Gertler.
"Jews with Hitler know how painful genocide is. Why is Dan Gertler doing genocide in Congo – 10 million people have died because of that guy?”
He goes on to say: “Me, my experience is that the person who controls my mind is the Jewish [sic].”
When challenged by Mr Lee, who tells him the statement is “not true, just a racist trope”, the driver replies: “You think so? Go to the internet, type ‘Commonwealth’, you see all those at the top, they are Jewish.”
The driver is then asked if “Jews are the reason for the Congo war?”
He replies: “Of course. One of them… The Jews have been in Congo for a long time. If Jews decided to stop the war in Congo, it would stop immediately.”
Upset by the language they were hearing, Mr Lee and the remaining passengers got out of the cab before they arrived at their planned destination in Golders Green, deciding to walk the final stretch.
Mr Lee said: “We were really shocked. This was completely unprovoked.”
An Uber spokesperson said: "Uber does not tolerate any form of discrimination. As soon as we are made aware of these situations, we remove a driver’s access from the app.”
It is understood the driver can no longer access the Uber app.
The police are investigating the incident.
