Metropolitan and Greater Manchester police forces have said they will arrest people carrying banners and chanting the phrase “globalize the intifada”, an Arabic word meaning uprising.
In a statement following Sunday’s mass shooting on Sydney’s Bondi Beach, they said: “Violent acts have occurred, the context has changed; words have meaning and consequences. We will act decisively and make arrests.”
The two forces also made reference to the attack on the Manchester synagogue in October.
The UK’s chief rabbi told the BBC this week that chants of “globalising the intifada” had contributed to the two attacks.
Police forces said: “We know that communities are concerned about banners and chants such as ‘globalize the intifada’ and those who use them in future protests or selectively should expect” the two forces “to take action.”
“Frontline officials will be briefed on this enhanced approach. We will also use powers under the Public Order Act, including on 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 more injured in Sunday’s Bondi attack, which targeted Australia’s Jewish community at an event celebrating the first night of Hanukkah.
Two people were killed in the knife attack at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue on October 2.
Criticizing the police forces’ decision on Wednesday, Palestinian Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal described the move as “another low point in the political repression of Palestinian rights protests.”
He said police did not consult with the coalition organizing large protests in London or representative groups of the Palestinian community in the UK “before making this far-reaching statement about our rights”.
“The horrific massacre in Sydney, Australia, should not be used as justification to further repress fundamental democratic rights to protest and freedom of expression in this country,” Jamal added.
Responding to the joint police statement, the Board of Deputies of British Jews said: “We very much welcome this necessary intervention.”
“We have long warned that people who chant slogans such as ‘globalize the intifada’ are inciting violence, and we have been advocating for strict enforcement of this slogan with the government at all levels for some time,” the board said.
But Gideon Falter, executive director of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, said in a statement that “banning this singing is a useless symbolic measure,” adding that “it is difficult to see how they will enforce this ban.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced in parliament on Wednesday that his government has increased funding for Jewish security to £28 million.
“I’m happy to do it, but it saddens me,” 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 “we must all work together to eradicate it”.
The term intifada became popular during the Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1987.
Some have described the term as a call for violence against the Jewish people.
Others have said it is a call for peaceful resistance to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and actions in Gaza.
