‘I was Jewish and crossing the street’: Campaigner criticises ‘outrageous’ reaction to antisemitism row

The campaigner at the centre of an antisemitism row with the Metropolitan Police has criticised “outrageous” comments made by a former senior officer who said he would have considered arresting him for assault.

Gideon Falter, the chief executive of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, has spoken to Sky News on Kay Burley at Breakfast after footage showed a police officer preventing him from crossing a road near a pro-Palestinian march in London because he was “openly Jewish”.

The officer also told Mr Falter, who was wearing a kippah skull cap near the march on Saturday 13 April, that he was “worried about the reaction to your presence”.

Mr Falter has called on Met Police chief Sir Mark Rowley to resign and accused the force of “victim-blaming” after the encounter.

Sky News understands Sir Mark will meet the home secretary this morning.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said he has confidence in Sir Mark but that he needs to rebuild “confidence and trust” with the Jewish community.

Retired senior officer defends Met’s response

Meanwhile, former Met Chief Superintendent Dal Babu said he has seen the full 13-minute video of the incident on Sky News and saw a “different encounter” to the one Mr Falter had described.

Mr Babu said that if he had been policing the march he would have considered arresting the antisemitism campaigner for “assault on a police officer and a breach of the peace”.

Mr Falter said in response: “I think it’s a pretty outrageous thing to say, I think it’s a pretty outrageous thing to be giving any credence to.

“I was Jewish. I was crossing the street”.

Mr Falter added: “I did not assault a police officer. How on Earth can anybody say that? I’m quite clearly in the video trying to continue to walk where I was going.”

Mr Babu later reaffirmed his view of the encounter and said the video shows Mr Falter pushing policing officers “out of the way” which amounts to “common assault”.

He also defended the police’s handling of the situation and said: “I think the police dealt with it and tried to be as sensitive as possible.

“I think the police officer was offering to take Mr Falter and his group to a place where they could cross more appropriately. Mr Falter was refusing to move and wanted to cross at that particular place against the march.”

Campaigner will walk near march again

The force apologised on Friday for using the term “openly Jewish”, but then had to apologise for their apology after suggesting opponents of pro-Palestinian marches “must know that their presence is provocative”.

The Met said in its initial apology that its aim was to keep people safe.

Mr Falter has said he is planning to go for a walk in the vicinity of a pro-Palestinian march again on Saturday 27 April, adding that he “should be allowed to do that”.

Earlier on the show, a black journalist said that although he wouldn’t want to, he would avoid a far-right march if he knew one was being held in a certain place in London.

Mr Falter said in response: “It is outrageous to put to me that the correct response of Jewish people to these marches, where we have seen such brazen antisemitism the whole time is to just stay away from them.”

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Falter insists he was not there to ‘counter-protest’

Ben Jamal, director of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, has said Mr Falter is wrong to have suggested he was “innocently going for a walk”.

“The reality was he came to the march with an entourage of 4 to 5 people and a film crew and sought to break through the stewards.

“He physically pushes himself past the police in order to walk in front of the march… He was trying to provoke a confrontation. That’s what happened.”

Mr Jamal accused the Campaign Against Antisemitism of “using the tactic of coming to the marches to provoke an incident so that they can say there are scenes of disorder and therefore the marches cannot go ahead”.

Mr Falter said he found Mr Jamal’s remarks to be “absolutely astonishing”.

He added: “I was not going to try and provoke something… What exactly does he think I’m trying to provoke by being ‘openly Jewish’?

“I was not there to counter-protest. I was not there with film crews or anything of the sort. I was simply Jewish in the vicinity of these marches.”