By Yanick Davenport
It began on an ordinary summer evening outside the Israeli Embassy in London, England. A Jewish lawyer stood quietly among the crowds at a pro-Palestinian rally, observing and filming. Around his neck hung a small Star of David. Within minutes, that symbol would become the center of one of the most disturbing episodes in the Metropolitan Police’s recent history.
He was approached by officers and told he was “antagonizing” protesters. When he refused to move, they arrested him and hauled him off to a London police station where he was interrogated for hours. The footage of that interview later emerged, showing detectives repeatedly referring to his Star of David. They asked him if he understood how wearing it could provoke anger or cause offence. They did not seem to grasp the irony that the only people who appeared offended by the Star of David were those shouting at him.
The Met’s version of events told a different story. Officials claimed he was arrested for breaching protest restrictions designed to keep opposing groups apart, insisting the necklace had nothing to do with it. Yet the recorded interview told another tale. Every mention of the incident centered on his visible Jewish identity. When the footage leaked, outrage followed. Critics accused the Met of lying, of rewriting events to cover their own prejudice, and of enforcing a double standard where Jewish visibility was treated as a provocation.
The man, who identified himself as a legal observer, said he had come to ensure rights were respected on both sides. Instead, he became a cautionary example of what happens when symbols of faith are treated as threats. Jewish groups said it was yet another reminder that being visibly Jewish in Britain carries risk. To them, the Star of David was not an act of defiance but a mark of belonging.
This was not the first time the Met had been accused of overstepping with Jewish citizens. A year earlier, officers told another man that being “openly Jewish” near a march could inflame tensions. They apologized then, promising to do better. But this new case proved those promises meant little.
Exactly the sane thing happened in Montreal last week during protests for October 7th. A reporter from the National Post was told to leave by police, even after she told them she was a reporter. They couldn’t protect her if she kept filming. She should leave as she was obstructing justice. A protester had flicked on a lighter in her face. Terry Newman in the National Post.