‘Thugs’ threaten Jewish children in London, blast pro-terror music

The incident occurred on Israel’s Independence Day. Police are searching for the perpetrators.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Two men in a passing car blasted music with lyrics praising the Hezbollah terrorist organization at Jewish schoolchildren walking in London on Israeli Independence Day, The Jewish Chronicle (JC) reported.

The two “thugs,” as the paper calls them, uploaded a 16-second clip of their deed, which they found hilarious, to TikTok. It shows the driver laughing as he drinks from a cup while a song blares out with Arabic lyrics that said in part, “We are Hezbollah, be our witness you son of the most righteous of prophets.”

The clip also shows their targets – small groups of Jewish children and a couple of adults standing among them on the sidewalk as the music plays. Some of the youngsters are holding Israeli flags.  the JC notes that two educational institutions are located in the immediate vicinity of the incident, Hasmonean Primary School and the Independent Jewish Day School.

The song is part of a soundtrack to a 2020 propaganda video that shows Hezbollah fighters in action and standing in military ranks, funeral scenes of their so-called martyrs, and a large group of young men giving the Nazi salute, among other antisemitic footage.

While it is only Hezbollah’s military wing that was outlawed in the UK in 2008, its political wing was proscribed in 2019 after a prolonged effort on Israel’s part to get London to understand that the two are inseparable parts of the Iranian-backed, Lebanon-based terror group. When the ban came into effect, the government clarified that being a member or inviting support for Hezbollah “will be a criminal offence, carrying a sentence of up to 10 years’ imprisonment.”

The Community Security Trust (CST), a Jewish NPO that protects British Jews from antisemitic and related threats, is working together with the Metropolitan Police to track down the perpetrators.

A CST spokesman told the JC that they are also working to “gather evidence, both of the incident itself and the online hate that the video of the abuse has stirred up.”

Among the reactions of the TikTok viewers included such statements as, “Why not run them over? You missed the opportunity,” and suggestions about what could be the next audio selection – a “Hitler song” or “the Hamas album.”

Stand With Us UK, a group dedicated to fighting misinformation about Israel, wrote in reaction to the clip, “It is NOT normal for Jewish schoolchildren to be targeted and bullied because of their identity. However, it is a sad reality that many Jewish individuals and communities in the UK and around the world face. Antisemitic individuals are no longer hesitant to display their hate out in the open.”

One comment on the JC’s Twitter account blamed the incident on the recent influx of Muslim immigrants to the country.

“Hundreds of thousands of Muslims entered the UK last year,” he wrote. “These incidents will only increase. The Labour Party is soon going to be in power, and they are no friends of Jews. I feel bad enough about the future of this formerly great nation, but it must be terrifying for Jews.”

Last year, the Home Office, which is responsible for immigration, security, and law and order, reported that almost a quarter of the victims of a religious hate crime in the country were Jews even though they are fewer than one percent of the population.