Central London Becomes ‘No-Go Zone for Jews’, Warns Govt Advisor

LONDON, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 21: People hold placards and Palestinian flags during a rally c
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Oliver JJ Lane

The UK’s Commissioner for Countering Extremism warns central London is being allowed to turn “into a no-go zone for Jews every weekend”, but march organisers counter-claim the government is just trying to “whip up” fear.

“Anti-Semitism skyrocketing” and protests are becoming more forceful, leading to central London becoming a “no-go zone” for Jews at the weekend, the UK government’s Commissioner for Countering Extremism has warned. Robin Simcox, a former Henry Jackson Society and Heritage Foundation fellow who was appointed to the UK advisory post for his expertise on extremism in 2022 observed the tone and nature of protests, warning of a “permissive environment in the UK and saying that: “Protests [are] becoming ever more vociferous, with “from the river to the sea” beamed onto the side of Big Ben during a vote on Gaza.”

Central London has seen weekly protests Israel-Palestine protests since Hamas launched its deadly terror attack last year, with protesters voicing their views against Israel even before the counterattack began, a key difference observed by Jewish rights groups.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Simcox counselled the government to do more to tackle rising extremism, saying the state has latent power it has yet to deploy. He said: “…the Iranian government does not have an inalienable right to run schools and mosques in our capital city. It is not an unalterable democratic principle that Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood must be allowed to run a multitude of charities. We have not betrayed democracy if extremists are no longer able to operate television channels. And we will not have become an authoritarian state if London is no longer permitted to be turned into a no-go zone for Jews every weekend.”

Mark Gardner of the Community Security Trust, a UK charity which works with the police to protect the Jewish community, responded to Simcox’s remarks to state that he had personally stopped going into central London on the weekends due to the presence of large Palestine protests, and that the CST had received testimony from a large number of British jews that they had reached the same decision. He said: “I don’t go into town when there’s these demonstrations… We hear all about the right of protesters to demonstrate, but God forbid anybody say anything against them. Then you will find out about your freedom of speech.”

The BBC aired the thoughts of John Rees, a national officer of the Stop The War Coalition, one of the bodies that contributes to the London protests. Rees insisted there was “absolutely no need” for Jewish people to be afraid of the protests, and accused the government of stoking fear to discredit them. He said the Prime Minister had been “irresponsible” to suggest there was any extremism present, and insisted: “if the government decides to whip up that kind of fear, then people are going to feel that, of course they are”.

As noted by Simcox, a recent area of concern over the protests in London has been the brazen display of extremist rhetoric, particularly in one instance where the words of chants were projected in enormous letters onto Parliament’s clock tower, known colloquially as Big Ben.

Last month, the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestina will be free” was projected onto the tower while the House of Commons voted — a day of business at the national Parliament disrupted by fears of Islamist terror, according to the claims of the speaker — a phrase former Home Secretary said clearly means the destruction of Israel. Pretending otherwise, she said, is “disingenuous”.

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