Police have taken down Palestinian flags being flown at a Jewish cemetery in London amid a huge spike in anti-Semitism.
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley gave the example as he called for supporters of both sides in the Israel-Hamas war to come together regardless of differing opinions.
The force faced criticism after officers were seen tearing down posters of innocent Israeli children taken hostage by Hamas from the outside a chemist in north London.
Flyers had allegedly been put up in retaliation for comments made on social media branding Israelis and the Israel Defence Forces as “filthy animals” and calling for the country’s enemies Iran and Hezbollah to get involved.
Sir Mark said that the backlash did not help police trying to keep the peace.
He said that officers had acted to "reduce tensions" in a similar way that "the previous week we were ensuring that some Palestinian flags were removed from a Jewish cemetery."
He told The News Agents podcast: “Those officers get this public attention because they’re sensibly taking Palestinian flags away from a Jewish cemetery.
“And then on the other hand, officers taking Jewish posters off the shutters of a shop where they’ve been pro-Palestinian. In both cases, those officers are going out doing practical things to try and reduce tension.”
He added: “And yet you generate this massive hostility that the police are somehow partisan.
“And the world is leaping on top of them and in anger and outrage. That is not going to help us police London successfully.
“We need to come together in this difficult moment regardless of different opinions rather than having this determination to stoke tension.”
Scotland Yard recorded 408 anti-Semitic crimes in London between October 1 and 27, compared to 28 in the same period last year. In that time, there have been 174 Islamophobic offences compared to 65 in the same period in 2022.
Jewish schoolgirls were shouted at on a London bus and posters of Israeli hostages have been removed or defaced.
Two women, aged 29 and 44, have been charged after pictures emerged of protesters with images of Hamas paragliders at a pro-Palestine rally in central London.
Social media footage showed females in Whitehall on October 14 with the stickers taped to their tops, while a third held a placard with it.
The two women were detained on suspicion of inviting support for a proscribed organisation.
Hamas, classed as a terrorist group in the UK, used paragliders as part of its attack on Israel on October 7 which left more than 1,000 Israelis dead.
Sir Mark said counter-terrorism police are examining more than 200 pieces of “toxic” material posted online amid the renewed conflict in Gaza.
He said: “Some of the really toxic, concerning online material that is potentially breaching terrorism offences, they’re approaching 2,000 referrals which they’ve sifted and it’s around 250 that potentially cross terrorism boundaries and are requiring further investigation.
“So you can see the caseload is building. We have to be extra tuned to the prospect that some of those extremists will be provoked into action."
