Anti-Semitic bus stop posters must be ripped down by councils, demands Communities Secretary James Brokenshire

Mr Brokenshire said growing numbers of anti-Semitic posters and signs have been appearing on bus stops across London
Aine Lagan

“Deeply disturbing” anti-Semitic posters in London must be removed, Communities Secretary James Brokenshire told councils today.

He urged town halls to use their legal powers and police help, saying there should be “no place for abuse” in the city.

Mr Brokenshire said “growing numbers of anti-Semitic posters and signs have been appearing on bus stops across London, apparently with the sole aim of spreading hatred and anger”.

He said that the public should help to tackle the problem and that “walking past” and ignoring the problem was the wrong response, but the action should be led by councils which should to use the law, and police assistance, to eliminate displays of anti-Semitic hatred.

It follows the appearance of posters on bus stops saying “Israel is a racist endeavour” — a statement classed as anti-Semitic under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition

Communities Secretary James Brokenshire (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)
Getty Images

Police say they are investigating the incidents, while Transport for London has described the fly-posters as an “act of vandalism”.

Mr Brokenshire said that the phenomenon was “hugely concerning ... To see one just a stone’s throw from Parliament, in plain view of thousands of people passing, was a deeply disturbing reminder of how pervasive hate crime can be. Local authorities must clamp down on this quickly, wherever and whenever hateful language appears.

“They have the power to remove any poster displayed unlawfully in their area — and I call on them to continue doing so, with the support of the police.

“No one, regardless of their beliefs, should make another person feel unwelcome in their own neighbourhood.”

The appearance of the posters follows a prolonged row within Labour about the approach of its leader Jeremy Corbyn, and some of his supporters, to anti-Semitism and controversy about whether it should adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition.

It eventually did so, while issuing a separate statement insisting that the decision would not “in any way undermine freedom of expression on Israel or the rights of Palestinians”.

Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell also called for the posters, which appeared at a number of sites including bus stops in Westminster and Waterloo, to be taken down. He said the message they contained was “not the right thing to say”.

But the Campaign against Anti-Semitism charity claimed that the appearance of the poster’ reflected the way anti-Semites had been “emboldened” by Mr Corbyn’s failure to tackle those within his party who were hostile to Jewish people and what it said was his support for “extremists and terrorists” who had called for the destruction of Israel.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in