Man ‘arrested for wearing Star of David’ was in fact trying to get at anti-Zionist Jews

Pro-Israel lobby groups, media, and trolls have tried to manufacture outrage by claiming that a man – not named, but described as the “founder of the Society of Independent Legal Observers” (SILO) – was ‘arrested for wearing a Star of David necklace’ over the weekend. Stephen Pollard, former editor of the libel-riddled Jewish Chronicle, went to the Tory Spectator to demand to know why “the Met think [sic] the Star of David is offensive”:

Far-right broadcaster GB News described the arrest as ‘insane’:

But the man was not arrested for ‘wearing a Star of David’, nor even for “antagonising pro-Palestine protesters”.

No, he was not arrested for ‘wearing the Star of David’

Instead, a statement from the Met reveals that he was arrested for repeatedly defying orders to stay away from a group of Jews peacefully protesting against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, members of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) – and the Israel lobbyists had dishonestly edited video to support their false claim:

We understand the concerns raised, but the claim this man was arrested for wearing a star of David necklace is not true. He was arrested for allegedly repeatedly breaching Public Order Act conditions that were in place to keep opposing protest groups apart.

The conditions required protesters from the pro-Israel group Stop the Hate to remain in one area with protesters from the pro-Palestinian group IJAN required to remain in a separate area.

The man told officers he was acting as an independent legal observer but his actions are alleged to have breached the conditions in place, and to have gone beyond observing in an independent and neutral way to provoking and, as such, actively participating as a protester.

Over the course of an hour, the man is alleged to have continuously approached the area allocated to IJAN, getting very close to protesters to film them and provoking a reaction. Officers had to intervene at least four times to ask the man to return to the Stop the Hate area as required by the conditions.

When he failed to do so after multiple warnings, he was arrested. He was released on bail and the investigation continues.

The clipped footage released, in which officers question the man’s status and actions as an independent legal observer, is six minutes of an hour-long interview. We can fully appreciate why this clip in isolation causes concern and we are continuing to review and work with communities to understand the concerns they have voiced.

METROPOLITAN POLICE

We’ve been here before

The case brings to mind the incident last year involving Gideon Falter, boss of the Israel-funded lobby group that calls itself ‘Campaign against Antisemitism’ (CAA). Falter claimed he had been prevented from crossing the road because he was Jewish and an anti-Israel (in fact, anti-genocide) march was approaching. UK ‘mainstream’ media immediately (of course) amplified his claim, giving abundant airtime to interviews in which he repeated his claim and his attacks on anti-genocide protest.

But video evidence proved that Falter had not been ‘just trying to cross the road’. Instead, accompanied by a clan of minders and bodyguards, he was trying deliberately to impede the march. Under eventual challenge on camera, Falter fell to pieces and refused to discuss the issue. Only Sky News appeared even to have modified its reporting when this evidence became public – no doubt because it doesn’t help the regime’s narrative that anti-genocide protests are ‘hate marches’ and peaceful protesters are a threatening ‘mob’.

CAA, described by human rights group CAGE as one of the two key pro-apartheid organisations in the UK, is one of the most prominent groups among the UK Israel lobby, even boasting of its role in getting the Starmer government to ban the non-violent anti-genocide protest group Palestine Action as terrorists. CAGE has complained to the Charity Commission about CAA’s lack of transparency about its sources of funding and its blatantly political activities.

What is SILO?

SILO, the group apparently ‘founded’ by the alleged agitator arrested by the Met, is mentioned by the trolls as if it is something noteworthy and substantial. However, a ‘WHOIS’ search for its domain reveals that its website, which is hosted on Israeli domain firm Wix, only came into existence in June.

The website’s ‘about’ section – in fact the whole website – contains nothing except a two-line ‘welcome’, an email address and an image of what appear to be pencil cases or make-up bags:

The ‘welcome’ claims the organisation is “dedicated to upholding justice and protecting rights”, but gives no detail of any justice it has upheld or rights it has protected, nor whose rights it is interested in protecting, or even of who else is in the ‘society’ except for its un-named ‘founder’ – who may be named Levy, according to an apparently now-deleted reference to him in an AOL article whose link is still listed by Google:

Arrested for wearing the Star of David = it was a scam

Without any detail on its own site or others about its activities, it’s not currently possible to say what rights SILO is interested in, but the arrest of Mr Maybe-Levy at the weekend for allegedly trying to get at a group of Jewish anti-Zionist protesters strongly suggests that the rights in question may be those of Israel and those who support it, like CAA – and its fellow apartheid-apologist group (according to CAGE) UK Lawyers for Israel, who are currently under investigation for making ‘baseless and vexatious’ legal threats to try to silence Israel’s critics and have used such tactics against everyone from doctors and hospital boards to streaming services.

As always, if an Israeli official or supporter are talking, there’s a very good chance the story is not what you are being told. As an Iranian official observed drily last week in reference to a promise from Israeli PM Netanyahu that he isn’t planning to attack Iran, they are:

capable of deception.

Featured image via the Canary