An alleged anti-Semitic hate crime has been reported, with a gang appearing to threaten kidnapping a young Jewish man in north London.
Footage shared online shows the youngster being approached by a group of four men after they park and get out of their car in Stamford Hill, north London.
They are seen demanding he get into the back of the vehicle – only moving on after he tells them he is calling the police.
North London neighbourhood watch group Shomrim, which was set up in 2008 and monitors areas which large Jewish communities, issued an alert about what they called an ‘attempted kidnap’ this afternoon.
The incident comes amid mounting concerns about anti-Semitic abuse in Britain, fuelled by the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict following the militant group’s terror attacks last October 7.
A young Jewish man was threatened by a group who stopped their car to approach him
Footage of the incident in Stamford Hill, north London, has been shared online
Neighbourhood watch group Shomrim appealed for information about the ‘attempted kidnap’
The clip was shared on X, formerly Twitter, accompanied by the words: ‘Jewish male threatened by 4 males who demanded he gets into the boot of their car.’
Shomrim said they and the Metropolitan Police were appealing for any information on and sightings of the car involved, a black VW T Cross with the licence plate number EA24 VXF.
The incident happened in Moundfield Road in Stamford Hill, near Tottenham in north London, an area with a significant Orthodox Jewish community.
Shromrim’s online post told the ‘incident ended when the victim said he was calling police and other vehicles approached’.
They appealed for anyone who can help to contact Hackney Police, using the crime reference CAD 3224 28/04/24.
Horrified viewers responded online, with one saying: ‘That is absolutely terrifying.’
Another wrote: ‘He’s just a boy. How dare they treat people like that.’
Shomrim was also told: ‘That’s surely a crime but it looks more like idiots behaving like such more than a genuine attempted kidnap.’
Footage of the alleged kidnap attempt was shared by Shomrim on X, formerly Twitter
The outrage comes after Gideon Falter, who leads the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), was threatened with arrest for appearing ‘openly Jewish’ at a pro-Palestine march last week
The Mail On Sunday reported today how a Holocaust memorial was covered up in London’s Hyde Park for fear it could be targeted by vandals in a pro-Palestine demo.
Officials in Hyde Park yesterday hid Britain’s first public memorial to the 6million victims of the Nazi genocide under a blue tarpaulin in a move one Holocaust survivor called ‘shameful’.
The monument was then guarded by Metropolitan Police officers to stop it being targeted by pro-Palestine protesters who marched through London in protest against the war in Gaza.
Holocaust survivor Noemi Ebenstein, 82, urged the world to wake up to the scourge of anti-Semitism following another day of swastikas being waved through London.
On seeing the covered shrine, she said: ‘It is shameful. Seeing this, it feels like they are winning.
‘Those who are Jew haters, those who are Holocaust deniers, they are winning because we are afraid of them.
‘I just wish the Western world would stand up to these people, instead of running away, covering up monuments and being apologetic.’
Tory peer Lord Pickles, the UK’s special envoy on post-Holocaust issues, said the sight of the memorial wrapped in plastic sheeting ‘sends a terrible message to Jews in London and across the UK’.
Lord Pickles, who has been spearheading moves to get a national Holocaust memorial built next to the Houses of Parliament, said: ‘The sight of this precious memorial to the Holocaust being wrapped in plastic sheeting is truly shocking.
‘Have we become so cowed and fearful in this country that instead of expecting pro-Palestinian protesters to obey the law, we hide away the memorial to save it from vandalism?’
Scotland Yard was facing yet more anger from Jewish groups on Saturday after a Holocaust memorial was covered up over fears it would be vandalised by pro-Palestine activists
The memorial consists of two boulders lying within a gravel bed, surrounded by a copse of silver birch trees. It is inscribed in both English and Hebrew with the words ‘For these I weep. Streams of tears flow from my eyes because of the destruction of my people,’ which is a quotation from the Book of Lamentations
‘Shameful’: Holocaust survivor Noemi Ebenstein, 82, called for tougher action on anti-Semitism after the monument in Hyde Park was covered up as a ‘precautionary measure’
The outrage comes after Gideon Falter, who leads the Campaign Against Antisemitism, was threatened with arrest for appearing ‘openly Jewish’ at a pro-Palestine march last week.
He had planned to lead a counter protest with the CAA yesterday but called it off citing fears for the safety of Jewish participants.
Instead, just a few dozen counter-protesters gathered at Pall Mall where they were protected by rows of police as up to 200,000 pro-Palestinians marched past.
Officers arrested two men, one for holding a placard with a swastika on it and another for an alleged racist remark towards counter-protesters.
Police were also investigating other offensive signs, including one comparing Israelis to the Ku Klux Klan, and another stating that the media and Government are ‘controlled by Zionists’.
Nine in ten British Jews say that they would avoid travelling to a city centre if a major anti-Israel demonstration was taking place, according to polling by the CAA.
Royal Parks said they liaised with the Met over protests and said: ‘The Hyde Park Holocaust memorial is routinely covered with tarpaulin during various events as a precautionary measure.’
The Met’s Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist said before the march: ‘Our objectives this weekend are to protect the right to protest and to keep the peace.’
There have been regular marches in the capital condemning Israel’s attacks on Gaza in its response for the October 7 massacre by Hamas militants which killed 1,200 civilians with a further 235 taken hostage from southern Israel.
