ISRAEL LOBBY Behind Met Police BAN On JEWISH Protesters?

Right, so the Met police, other police forces too if must be said, but this story concerns them and the influence of the Israel Lobby upon them has come in for much critique in passing months, especially where it comes to the apparent heavy handedness of their use of the Public Order Act and Terrorism Act to crack down on anti genocide protest has disgusted many of us who choose to hold Israel accountable for its actions, but the latest example is so blatant and so disturbing it cannot and must not go ignored.
The right to protest is enshrined in human rights law, I’ve spoken about this often, but imagine your Jewish and you’re against the actions of Israel, you’re anti-Zionist and the Met Police just banned you from protesting against what that Zionist regime is doing? Imagine they’ve done this in what appears to be a blatant abuse of the law and human rights for the sake of not the peace and not the community, but for just one person and that person happening to be the Israeli ambassador to the UK. Well you don’t need to imagine it if you’re part of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, the IJAN, because you’ll know the Met Police have banned you from protesting across a massive swathe of north London, to end the weekly protests you’ve been part of since October 2023 outside of the ambassador’s residence, thereby striping the right to protest for some Jews, to protect the genocidal beliefs and actions of another. Now I’m inclined to think that that would be antisemitic, but what do you think?
Right, so that was the awful Israeli ambassador to the UK Tzipi Hotovely, proving why she is so awful. There are many such clips on social media, I picked two of the clearest.
Firstly she spoke about the Nakba, the Catastrophe of 1948 where 750,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed from their own lands as Israel began as it has always continued, but that is an Arab lie according to Hotovely, all to deny Jewish statehood, itself an ideology that is anathema to a great many Jewish people around the world, it having nothing to do with being Jewish, but being Zionist and that is a completely different matter for as much as many Zionists will seek to blur the lines on such things.
And the second clip there was of Hotovely addressing Arab members of the Knesset, effectively going on a racist tirade to their faces, showing a book she claimed was a history of Palestine, yet was filled with blank pages, claim they have no history, bit weird when its their land that was stolen to create the colonialist state now committing genocide though eh? Not only is someone with such abhorrent views the Israeli ambassador to this country, when frankly her views should in my view have long ago warranted her expulsion, but now it appears UK law is being used to protect her from putting up with anti genocide protesters outside her official residence, even if they happen to be Jewish themselves.
Two days ago, the Met police issued a sweeping ban on protests led by Jewish anti-Zionist activists across a wide swathe of North London in a major escalation of the bans previously seen and emphatically condemned at the time too. These demonstrations, which are peaceful and have been happening each week on a Friday afternoon since October of 2023, have taken place outside the residence of Israeli Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely in Swiss Cottage. Again UK policing is raising fundamental questions about our right to protest and it bein g impeded, along with the influence of pro-Israel lobbying playing a part in those decisions being made, and actually who gets to define Jewish identity in political discourse as a result of it.
Every Friday afternoon from 5–6 pm, members of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, IJAN, have held vigils and protests outside Tzipi Hotovely’s North London residence. These protests arose in response to Israel’s escalating military campaign in Gaza, widely described by international observers, human rights groups, and legal scholars numerous times over across the 19 months since the genocide and indeed the protests in north London began, as genocidal in both scale and intention and this is a point that these days seems pretty inarguable. Over 50,000 Palestinians have been killed, a vast proportion of them women and children, and entire residential districts have been levelled, completely erased from the landscape.
Well IJAN’s position has been clear and unequivocal in response to this when they say “Not in our name.” IJAN is comprised of Jewish individuals from all manner of backgrounds, IJAN representing a growing movement that opposes Zionism, Israeli settler colonialism, and apartheid. Their protests are not against Jews or Judaism but against a political project that claims to speak for all Jews while perpetrating egregious human rights abuses. Their website states that:
‘IJAN is an international network of Jews who are uncompromisingly committed to struggles for human survival and emancipation, of which the liberation of the Palestinian people and land is an indispensable part. We are committed to the right of return for Palestinian refugees and to ending Israeli colonization of historic Palestine, which is reinforced by US economic and military power. We support full Palestinian self-determination and the right to resist occupation. We look to the Palestinian grassroots and Palestinian-led organizations as our primary points of reference in this struggle.
The State of Israel betrays the long histories of Jewish struggles for liberation and traditions of participation in collective struggles for liberation more broadly. We protest Zionism’s exploitation and debasement of histories of Jewish persecution and genocide to justify the unjustifiable – the colonization of Palestine and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, the theft of their land and destruction of their families, communities and way of life.’
Well, the Met Police have now invoked the Public Order Act to ban these protests from a vast area of North London encompassing Swiss Cottage. Chief Superintendent Jason Stewart justified the ban by citing "serious disruption to the life of the community," including claims of fear, concern, and alleged hate speech. However, this narrative quickly unravels under scrutiny. Look at the area they are covering, that Jewish anti-genocide protesters are being banned from. It’s insane.
First, the protests have consistently remained peaceful. There have been no serious disturbances, no violence initiated by the protestors, and no compelling evidence of antisemitic rhetoric. The gatherings are rooted in Jewish tradition—the protests occur on the eve of Shabbat and are framed as ethical interventions in the name of justice.
Second, the Met’s own actions betray its motivations. Back in January, Skwawkbox revealed that Met Police officers had leafleted local residents, soliciting complaints and “impact statements” in an apparent effort to manufacture a community backlash, so far from being a genuine outcry, the opposition to these protests appears manufactured, coordinated and provoked.
The ban coincides with reports of lobbying from pro-Israel groups, notably the Board of Deputies of British Jews and Stop The Hate, both of which have publicly welcomed the ban. That these organisations, who purport to be defenders of Jewish safety and dignity, would support a police crackdown on Jewish protestors is not just hypocritical—it reveals the ideological rigidity of institutional Zionism behind their so-called Jewish defences. In their view, it seems that being Jewish means supporting Israel without question and the Met are policing along those lines. Anti-Zionist Jews must be stopped, as they are an apparent inconvenience to the narrative that equates Jewishness with Israeli statehood.
What does it mean, then, when the Met Police collaborates with or bows to such pressure then? Well, functionally it means that the state's definition of "acceptable" protest is no longer neutral. It is influenced by political lobbying that prioritises the protection of a foreign government's image—namely Israel—over British citizens' rights to protest that government’s actions.
Of course central to this entire episode is Ambassador Tzipi Hotovely. Appointed to the UK in 2020, Hotovely has been described as the “ideological voice of Likud,” Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right party and those video clips I showed hardly distract from that viewpoint. A self-proclaimed religious nationalist, she has openly stated that she opposes the creation of a Palestinian state, has called for Jewish settlement expansion deep into the West Bank, and has dismissed Palestinian historical claims as fabrications. In 2015 as a deputy foreign minister, she infamously stated: "This land is ours. All of it is ours."
During her term as ambassador, Hotovely has unapologetically defended Israel’s bombing campaigns in Gaza and referred to anti-Zionist protestors as supporters of terrorism. In a widely circulated interview with Sky News, she said, “We are dealing with terrorists”—not distinguishing between Hamas militants and the Palestinian civilian population or their supporters abroad.
Her residence has been a legitimate site of protest precisely because she represents an Israeli government widely accused of crimes against humanity. Shielding her from protest does not protect community harmony—it protects state violence from moral accountability.
The Met's statement claimed that the protest "has been causing fear and concern for Jewish people living in the area" and “amounts to intimidation.” Yet it is critical to ask: fear of what? These protests have never targeted synagogues, Jewish homes, or Jewish institutions. They are directed at a political figurehead of a foreign state.
What’s more disturbing is that these Jewish protestors have faced real threats themselves. Members of IJAN have reported being harassed by Zionist counter-protestors. There have been physical assaults, intimidation, and slurs hurled at demonstrators—all of which the police have been markedly slow to address, if they did at all.
This is not even the first attempt by the Met to suppress these protests. In February, protests were banned from Swiss Cottage temporarily. Activists relocated their demonstrations as a result, outside New Scotland Yard—a move which continued to gain them further attention and solidarity. Last week, when the protests returned to Swiss Cottage, the Met responded with this broader, far more aggressive ban across a large part of North London and its all part of an all too familiar pattern. The Public Order Act is once again, as we’ve seen on far too many occasions before, now being used as a blunt instrument for silencing dissent.
At its core therefore, this is not just about a protest ban. It is about who is allowed to speak, who gets to define Jewish identity, and what kinds of protest the state deems acceptable. When anti-Zionist Jews are silenced by police, smeared by the press, and abandoned by communal institutions, we are witnessing a dangerous narrowing of public discourse and all in the name as it appears here, of a foreign state.
In a functioning democracy, protest must be protected even—and especially—if it is over things we may not agree with, even if it makes us uncomfortable, because it might be something we need to hear. When protest is reduced to a privilege granted only to those who echo dominant narratives, it ceases to be a protest and becomes performance instead and Lord knows Zionists can certainly perform.
Tzipi Hotovely’s term as Ambassador ends in August. It would be an insult to the principles of human rights and international law for the UK to quietly welcome her replacement. Now is the time to call for a halt to business as usual. No replacement. No continuation of complicity.
Do not allow Israel, who pick said replacement – Starmer certainly wouldn’t refuse it, no matter who they are - to install another propagandist for genocide. If the British government claims to stand against hate, it must begin by refusing to legitimise those who cheerlead for ethnic cleansing and apartheid.
Meanwhile, its not just the government or print media taking on a pro Israel slant here, so is the BBC it seems as they have blocked the showing of yet another Gaza based documentary, fearing further fallout after they foolishly pulled the last one from their iPlayer service, doubling down on their spinelessness where it comes to seemingly running scared of the Israel Lobby again. Find out all about the documentary they’ve been holding up for three months now in this video recommendation here as your suggested next watch. Please do also hit like, share and subscribe if you haven’t done so already, so as to ensure you don’t miss out on all new daily content as well as supporting the channel at the same time which is very much appreciated, holding power to account for ordinary working class people and I will hopefully catch you on the next vid. Cheers folks.