(JTA) — London police let off with a warning four men accused of shouting “kill the Jews” at a motorist in London while pelting his car with eggs.
The men were arrested on April 8 in the vicinity of the Blackwall Tunnel in eastern London, where the incident took place, a spokesperson for CST, British Jewry’s anti-Semitism watchdog, told JTA Thursday.
Shomrim, a charity that patrols Jewish communities in London, said the men shouted “F***ing Jews” and “Kill the Jews” at the man, his partner and their baby late at night, according to the Daily Mirror.
The punishment “is definitely on the lighter end of the scale,” the CST spokesperson, Dave Rich, said, “and we would understand if it [is] seen as a bit lenient.” But he added the victim was “satisfied with police’s handling of the case.”
According to the Metropolitan Police, the assailants, who were not named, drove alongside the car of the 28-year-old victim, who wore Orthodox Jewish attire, while shouting anti-Semitic abuse at him.
They were arrested after harassing other, non-Jewish motorists in the area, Rich said. “The harassment of the Jewish victim happened when they saw he was Jewish, but it doesn’t seem like they had set out to harass Jews specifically,” he added.
Jonathan Sacerdoti, a spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism, another British charity, told JTA the incident shows “all anti-Semitic incidents must to be taken more seriously and be treated with zero tolerance,” lest an atmosphere develops “where attacks like this one take place more frequently. Nobody should have to live in fear of being attacked.”
