Police forces will make arrests over intifada chants

The Metropolitan and Greater Manchester police forces have said they will arrest people holding placards and chanting the phrase ‘globalise the intifada’ – an Arabic word for uprising.

In a statement following Sunday’s mass shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney, they said: “Violent acts have taken place, the context has changed – words have meaning and consequence. We will act decisively and make arrests”.

The two forces also referenced the Manchester synagogue attack in October.

The UK’s chief rabbi described the decision as “an important step towards challenging the hateful rhetoric we have seen on our streets, which has inspired acts of violence and terror”.

The police forces said: “We know communities are concerned about placards and chants such as ‘globalise the intifada’ and those using it at future protests or in a targeted way should expect” the two forces “to take action”.

“Frontline officers will be briefed on this enhanced approach. We will also use powers under the Public Order Act, including conditions around London synagogues during services,” the statement said.

Visible patrols and protective security measures around synagogues, schools, and community venues have been stepped up in London and Greater Manchester.

Fifteen people were killed and dozens of others were injured in Sunday’s Bondi attack, which targeted Australia’s Jewish community at an event celebrating the first night of Hanukkah.

Two people died in the knife attack at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue on 2 October.

Criticising the decision by the police forces on Wednesday, Palestinian Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal described the move as “another low in the political repression of protest for Palestinian rights”.

He said police did not consult with the coalition that organises major protests in London or representative groups of the Palestinian community in the UK “before making this far reaching statement on our rights”.

“The horrific massacre in Sydney, Australia should not be used as a justification to further repress fundamental democratic rights of protest and free speech in this country,” Mr Jamal added.

In support of the statement, the Board of Deputies of British Jews said: “We strongly welcome this necessary intervention.”

“We have long warned that people chanting slogans like ‘globalise the intifada’ are inciting violence, and we have been making the case for robust enforcement in relation to this slogan with government at all levels for some time,” the board said.

Gideon Falter, chief executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said police chiefs “are only now waking up” after “two years of repeatedly excusing calls to ‘globalise the intifada'”.

In a statement, he said that “banning this one chant is a useless token measure”, and added “it is hard to see how they will possibly enforce this ban”.

The Jewish Voice for Liberation – which describes itself as standing for the rights of Jews and Palestinians – said it does not believe the response is appropriate.

The group said it had “very rarely, if ever” encountered any antisemitism it needed to respond to at demonstrations and said its community has “always been welcomed”, adding that “protests in London and elsewhere have not attacked synagogues or Jewish schools”.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced in parliament on Wednesday that his government has increased funding for Jewish security up to £28m.

“I’m pleased to do that, but I’m sad to do that,” he said, adding that he has ordered a review of protest and hate crime laws.

He was responding to a question from Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, who said antisemitism was real, “poisonous” and that “we must all work together to stamp it out”.

The term intifada came into popular use during the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1987.

Some have described the term as a call for violence against Jewish people.

Others have said it is a call for peaceful resistance to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and actions in Gaza.