Cursing Jews and calling for destruction of their homes not a crime, says London police

London police say no grounds for criminal investigation into local imam’s sermon cursing Jews and polytheists and calling for the ‘destruction’ of Jewish homes.

By World Israel News Staff

London’s Metropolitan Police department has rejected calls to investigate a local Muslim cleric who called for the destruction of Jewish homes and called on Allah to “curse the Jews” after Hamas’ invasion of southwestern Israel on October 7th, 2023.

Two weeks after the Hamas invasion, an imam at London’s Redbridge Islamic Center was recorded saying: “Oh Allah, curse the Jews and the children of Israel.”

“Oh Allah, curse the infidels and the polytheists. Oh All, break their words, shake their feet, disperse and tear apart their unity and ruin their houses and destroy their homes.”

Footage of the sermon was part of a clip aired by TalkTV last year.

Following an uproar over the antisemitic incitement, Metropolitan Police announced they would scrutinize the video.

On Wednesday, however, London’s The Jewish Chronicle reported that a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said that despite the fact that “many people found the content upsetting,” the imam’s comments do “not meet the threshold of a crime.”

Speech deemed to be hateful is banned in the UK in instances where it is intended to be threatening, harassing, abusive, or targets individuals over their race, religion, or sexual orientation.

The Racial and Religious Hatred Act of 2006 specifically outlaws speech or acts “stirring up hatred against persons on religious grounds.”

Britain’s antisemitism czar, John Mann, called on police to “reinvestigate” the comments and vowed to raise the issue with the “policing minister.”

Jewish activists expressed disbelief at the decision not to probe the imam, with the Community Security Trust organization saying that local Jews would “struggle to understand” how police reached their conclusions.

“We need the police to do their job,” a Jewish Londoner told The Jewish Chronicle. “This area has always had a proud and vibrant Jewish community, but this will only get smaller if the police don’t step up. If inciting violence doesn’t meet the criminal threshold, then what does?”