Police find 'no evidence' of anti-Muslim slur during Oxford Street hate incident

But successive BBC reports  alleged one of the victims can be heard saying an anti-Muslim slur, with one TV report going as far as suggesting the victims may have provoked the verbal assault. 

The Campaign Against Antisemitism said the Met Police had closed that part of the investigation and found no evidence to support the BBC’s claim. 

 The CAA has organised a demonstration outside the BBC’s Broadcasting House in London tonight in protest over coverage it branded “appalling” and “outrageous”. 

In a statement, the CAA said: “We understand that police investigating the antisemitic attack on Jewish teenagers celebrating Chanukah on Oxford Street have found no evidence of the supposed ‘anti-Muslim slur’ from the victims that BBC London has said could be ‘clearly heard’ and now that part of their investigation has been closed down. The BBC must immediately release whatever evidence they have based their reporting on or apologise fulsomely and publicly.”

It adds: “This incident is one of many in which the BBC has victim-blamed Jewish people for antisemitism, downplayed racism towards Jews, platformed antisemitism and fuelled antisemitism in Britain.  This bias against Jews has not gone unnoticed.”

In January the CAA published the findings of its survey of British Jews, carried out by YouGov.   It found that two thirds, 68 per cent, thought BBC coverage “of matters of Jewish concern and antisemitism” was unfavourable.  The figure was far higher than any other broadcaster.   Less than half of British Jews, 45%, thought Channel 4’s coverage was unfavourable, while ITV and Sky was just 24% and 23% respectively. 

The CAA has previously called on the BBC to adopt the international definition of antisemitism and has offered antisemitism training for staff and reporters.

Urging people to join the demonstration, the CAA tweeted that “the outrage of decent people must be heard” and used the hashtag #BBCNewsStopBlamingJews.    

The BBC last week corrected its story about the attack, changing its original claim that “some racial slurs” could be heard from the bus where the Jewish students took shelter.  The story now alleges a single “racial slur” is audible on the footage.

Following the correction the BBC said: “The main focus is the actions of the individuals the police want to identify. The audio appears to show that a slur can be heard coming from the bus. We have changed our story to clarify only one such slur can be heard clearly.” 

The Board of Deputies has condemned the coverage saying the BBC has a “very serious case to answer”.

The footage, which went viral on social media, shows a bus containing members of the Jewish community, most of them children, coming under attack from a group of men who are clearly shouting, spitting, hitting the bus with their hands and shoes, and even repeatedly raising an arm in a gesture that appears to be a Nazi salute.  

The Jewish Chronicle contacted a sound and audio professional last week who said he could not distinguish the alleged slur from within the bus and said even an “audio forensic specialist would struggle to get something useful” from the clip.

The JC has contacted the BBC about the demonstration. 

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: "The investigation remains ongoing and we wouldn’t comment any further while this remains the case. We haven’t issued anything in terms of media updates or developments since our release last week and there is nothing else to add at the moment."