When the Metropolitan Police declared it would arrest anyone chanting “globalise the intifada” after the Bondi Beach killings in Australia, it did more than just shift the boundaries of public order policing.

It blurred the crucial line between violent incitement and political expression, while openly revealing its own partiality.

Within days, two people were detained in London for simply shouting “intifada” at a protest. This is not about managing risk; it is a blunt attempt to muzzle anti-genocide activism.

Two facts should expose ministers and senior police officers’ inequity.

First, Australian investigators have identified the Bondi attack as inspired by the Islamic State group (IS), not a Palestinian-organised act. Yet, in Britain, politicians, Israeli embassy officials, and media voices have rushed to tie Bondi to a Palestinian protest slogan, offering no evidence but plenty of noise.

Second, our criminal law already contains clear thresholds for when speech becomes criminal. Encouragement of terrorism requires a statement likely to be understood as a direct or indirect call to commit terrorist offences (Terrorism Act), and prosecutions for racially or religiously aggravated public-order offences rest on harm, intent and context (Crime and Disorder Act 1998).

READ: UK police to arrest protesters chanting ‘globalise intifada’

The Crown Prosecution Service and the Terrorism Act set those tests. They are not suggestions to be ignored simply........

© Middle East Monitor