A Metropolitan Police officer has been sacked by a disciplinary panel after he admitted engaging with “disgusting” antisemitic social media posts.
PC Mohammed Nizam “liked” post that featured “one-sided and/or politically motivated views of the war in Gaza, as well as offensive, antisemitic and transphobic messages,” according to the panel’s findings.
These included material claiming that Jews “play the Holocaust card to justify Israel’s genocidal attack on Gaza” and referring to the “Zionist-controlled mass media”.
Meanwhile, he personally responded to a post made by London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan expressing alarm and distress about the October 7 attacks, calling the Labour politician a “f***ing w***stain”.
And, in response to another post that stated that Hamas was behind the attack (which the group itself has proudly admitted), Nizam wrote: “It’s funny because even the IDF scum don’t even think Hamas did it, but you do for some reason, t***.”
He also reposted claims that “Israel controls all the Muslim countries but Gaza” and authored a post of his own calling for Gaza’s streets to be “drenched with the blood of the Israeli Occupation Forces”.
In his own evidence to the panel, Nizam “accepted the alleged conduct without reservation” and acknowledged that some of the posts were “disgusting”.
However, he claimed that “his mental health had deteriorated following the 7 October” and “described becoming increasingly distressed by images of violence and the killing of children in Gaza, stating that he felt ‘incensed’ by what he saw online,” according to the ruling.
It went on: “He accepted that some of the posts he ‘liked’ were antisemitic, and acknowledged that he had not considered the impact of his actions.
"He maintained that he is not antisemitic and expressed sympathy for the Israeli victims of the 7 October attacks. He accepted, however, that several of the comments he made would be deemed antisemitic under the IHRA definition.
"He stated that he deeply regretted the posts, recognised that such comments were wholly inappropriate for a police officer, and expressed remorse.”
Nizam also added that he has “undertaken significant personal reflection and education” since engaging with the posts and has sought “advice from members of the Jewish community,” as well as “reading Jewish News daily”.
However, while the panel noted his remorse and that he “made a full and unequivocal admission of the alleged conduct at the earliest opportunity,” it found that his social media activity amounted to discreditable conduct.
It also found that his comments breached police rules on equality and diversity and constituted gross misconduct.
Having determined that a final written warning “would not adequately address the seriousness of the conduct” and the “substantial risk to public confidence” that it posed, the panel concluded on July 8 that Nizam should be dismissed without notice.
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