There are moments when a single, awkward exchange reveals a much larger institutional failure.
The footage of Gideon Falter — the Campaign Against Antisemitism chief executive — being warned by a London police officer that his mere presence in a kippah might “breach the peace” at a pro-Palestine rally is one of those moments. On the surface it’s a clumsy policing decision; underneath it is a tangle of legal error, moral cowardice, and the very real danger of rewarding mob pressure with censorship.
“You are quite openly Jewish”
“If you choose to remain here you will be arrested for breaching the peace”
In Sadiq Kahn’s diverse & inclusive London – Police threaten you with arrest just for being Jewish in areas of the City people might take offence to that. pic.twitter.com/GDsennTflU
— Concerned Citizen (@BGatesIsaPyscho) September 23, 2025
English law, like American constitutional doctrine, recognizes that the reaction of an angry crowd is not a lawful reason to silence a peaceful speaker. In the U.S., the Supreme Court in Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement put it bluntly: you can’t make regulation dependent on a listener’s likely hostility.
The correct response to a volatile crowd is targeted law enforcement — control the people who would become violent — not the removal of someone wearing a religious head covering. The kippah is both a religious duty and a form of expressive identity; policing that expression because others might react badly inverts the burden of responsibility.
London police apologize after threatening to arrest ‘openly Jewish’ man near pro-Palestinian protest | AP Newshttps://t.co/lVB0JKnBxe
— Religion News (@religionnews) April 22, 2024
The Metropolitan Police’s first apology compounded the problem by implying that Jewish presence could be “provocative.” That line of thinking hands the heckler’s veto a victory: if a crowd can be mollified by pushing a vulnerable minority out of the public square, the next crowd knows precisely how to silence dissent.
When the force tried to walk back its phrasing, the damage had already been done — and the optics reinforced a broader narrative of selective protection.
After Oct 7, the Sydney Opera House was lit up in blue and white to remember the victims.
Mark Spiro came with an Israeli flag. A Muslim mob arrived calling for the murder of Jews.
Sydney police arrested Spiro. pic.twitter.com/OXvIHwDRl7
— Daniel Greenfield – “Hang Together or Separately” (@Sultanknish) November 25, 2024
None of this excuses genuine threats or violence that sometimes erupt near such demonstrations. Public order is a real and serious obligation. But enforcement must be even-handed: identify, deter, and if necessary arrest the agitators — not the potential victims. Failing to do so incentivizes escalation and chills the very pluralism a liberal society needs.
