The UK government’s terrorism watchdog has criticized British police for not properly enforcing the law against racial hatred when it comes to Israelis, fueling antisemitism.

“The demonization of Israelis matters because it is a vehicle for hatred of Jews,” the appointed independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, said Tuesday in a speech at an event organized by the Policy Exchange think tank.

Hall said that police have failed to enforce anti-hate laws, which also apply to incitement against Israelis.

“My perception is that if you don’t deal with anti-Israeli hatred, you leave wiggle room for those who indulge in antisemitism but formally disavow it,” he explained. “Once hatred to Israelis is tolerated, then it’s carried around like a flame.”

“I do not believe the law is being enforced as it should be,” he said. “I have lost count of the times that hatred against Israelis has been stirred up on British streets.”

“Ultimately, police have got to be responsible for the safety of their citizens, and I include expressly within that Israeli citizens as well as Jews living amongst them,” he declared.

British Jewish organizations have long been asking the country’s government and law enforcement to take more decisive steps against anti-Israel protesters, whom they say are fueling unchecked antisemitism across the UK.

Hall cited Public Order Act 1986, which bans inciting racial hatred against a nationality, saying that targeting Israelis is a violation of that law.

Police prioritized maintaining public order over applying the law, in particular when pro-Palestinian protests saw chants of “death to the IDF,” “Globalize the intifada,” and “From the River to the Sea,” Hall said, arguing that failure to apply the law posed a national security risk.

Stirring up racial hatred “is a vital precursor offense to deal with some of the public hatred we’ve seen on our streets before it leads to violence or even terrorist violence,” he........

© The Times of Israel