Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said that, in his view, chanting to “globalise the intifada” is “racism” during a statement on Wednesday’s Golders Green stabbing account.
Speaking in the Downing Street press briefing room, Starmer called for prosecutions against protestors who use the slogan, saying it encourages “terrorism against Jews”.
"Antisemitism is an old hatred...but too many people in this country diminish it. They either don’t see it or don’t want to see it.
"Take the marches that happen regularly across Britain. Of course we protect freedom of speech and peaceful protest in this country. But if you are marching with people wearing pictures of paragliders [used by Hamas terrorists on October 7] without calling it out, you are venerating the murder of Jews.
"If you stand alongside people who say ‘globalise the intifada’ you are calling for terrorism against Jews, and people who use that phrase should be prosecuted.
“It is racism, extreme racism, and it has left a minority community in this country scared, intimidated, wondering if they belong.”
Elsewhere in his speech, the prime minister reiterated the government’s plans to increase police presence in Jewish areas and provide greater funding to Jewish security charities in the wake of the attack.
He also repeated that ministers would “fast-track” legislation to proscribe “malign state actors", such as Iran’s IRGC, as he told the JC exclusively last week.
Meanwhile, both victims of the attack, named as Shloime Rand, 34, and Moshe Shine, 76, remain in stable condition in hospital.
A 45-year-old man is in police custody on suspicion of attempted murder, having been arrested at the scene after attempting to stab police officers. Authorities have confirmed that he is a Somali-born British national who came to the UK “lawfully as a child” and has a “history of serious violence and mental health issues”.
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