Fourteen arrested during rival protests outside Israeli real estate event at London synagogue

JTA – Fourteen people were arrested following clashes between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian groups on Sunday, 14 June, outside an event promoting Israeli real estate being held at a London synagogue. 

Seven of those arrested came from pro-Israel groups, while six were affiliated with pro-Palestinian groups, the Metropolitan Police told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Monday. 

“The Great Israeli Real Estate Event” had drawn controversy for weeks, with multiple organisations including Amnesty International claiming the event organisers were selling “stolen” Palestinian land in West Bank settlements, and politicians including the mayor of London expressing opposition to the event. 

The event organisers, meanwhile, told the Jewish News that all the properties being presented were located within Israel’s internationally recognised borders. 

The event took place a day before a United Kingdom appeals court ruled that last year’s ban of a prominent anti-Israel group, Palestine Action, was legal. 

The confrontation on Sunday followed similar ones in New York City and beyond over Israeli real estate events in recent months. A demonstration outside a Manhattan synagogue that was hosting such an event in November, during which pro-Palestinian activists threatened violence, spurred a new law constraining protests there. 

London’s Metropolitan Police estimated that 1 000 people showed up to demonstrate outside Edgware United Synagogue, in northwest London. The department said it had coordinated with the Jewish Community Security Trust and deployed officers to deal with any disruptions. It also set up barriers to separate pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel groups. 

During the confrontation, 14 arrests were made, including five for violent disorder, six for racial or religiously aggravated offences, one for assault on an emergency worker, one for Public Order Act-related offences, and one for common assault. 

The Board of Deputies of British Jews acting president, Adam Cohen, said the group was “deeply disturbed at the wholly unjustified protest” outside a synagogue in a statement that reiterated that the event organisers had “publicly refuted claims that the event is marketing real estate over the Green Line” separating Israel from the West Bank. 

The “false pretences seem to be little more than an excuse to harass and intimidate members of the Jewish community,” Cohen said. 

The protest was organised by an array of pro-Palestinian groups, including the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, which issued a public letter criticising the synagogue, and Jewish antizionist groups. At least one Jewish antizionist was arrested while protesting, according to a post by the groups on Instagram. 

Under pressure ahead of the event, the original venue set to host it pulled out on Friday, the Jewish News reported. Registered attendees were sent messages via email and WhatsApp on Friday informing them of the change and learned about the new venue via an email at 23:00 on Saturday that told them there would be identity checks and metal detectors at the doors. 

The change in venue came following criticism from not just anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian organisations, but national politicians. Close to 100 members of Parliament wrote a letter to Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper calling on her to investigate what they said was an event at which “land in cities and towns built on the forced displacement of Palestinian people including properties in Israeli settlements across the occupied West Bank will be available for purchase”. 

They also argued that allowing the sale of these properties would contribute to settlement expansion, which the UK government regards as a violation of international law. 

London Mayor Sadiq Khan expressed “concerns” about the event on Friday after Green Party leader Zack Polanski, a prominent critic of Israel, asked him about it during a public availability. 

“I condemn any attempt to sell property in the settlements, be that in London or anywhere else in the world,” Khan said. “I share concerns about the Great Israeli Real Estate taking place in our city, which I oppose.” 

The Board of Deputies said it was “very disappointing” that public figures had not acknowledged the event organisers’ claims about no West Bank properties being presented “and instead inflamed tensions through partial and misleading commentary”. 

This latest confrontation with anti-Israel demonstrators comes at a time of heightened tension in the UK Jewish community, and particularly in Jewish neighbourhoods in London, where many residents feel unsafe after a string of incidents including the arson of four Hatzola ambulances in March; attempted attacks on three synagogues; and the stabbing of two Jewish men in the Orthodox neighbourhood of Golders Green in late April. Dozens of people have been arrested in connection with the attacks. 

As part of a crackdown meant to protect Jewish communities, the British government has adopted policies that give law enforcement new latitude to constrain protests. 

“New measures under the Crime and Policing Act, called for by the Board and community partners, will from the end of the month give police new powers to impose conditions on protests near places of worship,” Cohen said. “We are calling on the police to ensure such protests are kept a significant distance from places of worship to prevent intimidation to members of the Jewish community.”