The phrase “two-tier policing” has become one of the most politically charged accusations that can be leveled at the police. Critics see it as evidence that different groups are treated according to different standards. Defenders dismiss it as a slogan designed to undermine confidence in law enforcement.

The Great Israeli Real Estate Event was always likely to attract opposition. Protest is a cornerstone of democratic society, and the police have a duty to facilitate it. However, that duty is not absolute. The rights of protesters must be balanced against the rights of others to go about their daily lives free from intimidation and disproportionate disruption.

The central question arising from Sunday’s events is therefore not whether pro-Palestinian demonstrators had the right to protest. They did. The question is whether the Metropolitan Police exercised their powers consistently and proportionately when deciding how and where that protest should take place.

Edgware is not Parliament Square. It is not Whitehall. It is not Trafalgar Square. It is a heavily Jewish area, home to synagogues, schools, community organizations and businesses. Families attending synagogue, elderly residents going about their daily lives and parents collecting children do not have the option of simply avoiding their own neighborhood.

The disruption extended far beyond those attending the event itself. The A41, one of north London’s principal arterial roads, was reportedly closed for around two hours, affecting countless local residents and commuters with no involvement in the dispute. Yet the greater impact may have been psychological rather than logistical.

For more than two years, British Jews have lived through an unprecedented period of anxiety. The aftermath of October 7 brought celebrations of the atrocities in some quarters, weekly demonstrations in central London, and a steady normalization of rhetoric that many Jews regard as hostile not merely to Israeli government policy, but to Jewish........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)