Two men who filmed themselves verbally abusing a Jewish man in east London have been convicted of an antisemitic hate crime. Adam Bedoui, 20, and Abdelkadir Amir Bousloub, 21, traveled to Stamford Hill, a predominantly Jewish area, on Thursday to film antisemitic content for TikTok, police said.
The pair pleaded guilty to a religiously aggravated public order offence on Saturday at Thames Magistrates' Court and will be sentenced there on June 5. It had been alleged that Bedoui and Bousloub approached, harassed, and filmed residents in a deliberate and targeted antisemitic attack.
The Metropolitan Police said officers were called to reports of a hate crime involving a group of men allegedly harassing members of the Jewish community on Clapton Common in north London on Thursday at around 9pm. Bedoui and Bousloub tried to flee when officers arrived but were quickly caught. Two 20-year-old men and a 21-year-old man were also arrested and have been released on bail while police investigate.
Detective Superintendent Oliver Richter, who leads policing in Hackney and Tower Hamlets, said: 'This was a deliberate and targeted antisemitic attack, aggravated by the pair's intention to post the incident on social media to spread hatred. It is completely unacceptable and has no place in London.'
Mr. Richter added: 'Our officers acted quickly to arrest those responsible, and within 48 hours they have been brought before the courts and convicted. That should send a clear message: we will act decisively against anyone who commits hate crime. We know the harm incidents like this cause to communities and we will continue to take all reports with the utmost seriousness.'
On Wednesday, the Met said it would introduce a community protection team of 100 extra officers to protect London's Jewish communities with a more visible presence. The men's conviction came after a ninth suspect was arrested in connection with an arson attack on Jewish ambulances in Golders Green in March.
A 48-year-old man was detained in East London on Thursday and taken into custody. Four Hatzola ambulances were set alight in the early hours of March 23 in front of a synagogue in Golders Green, which has one of the highest percentages of Jews in London. The firebombing caused gas canisters stored in the ambulances to explode, with the force from the blast breaking windows in a nearby block of flats. Machzike Hadath synagogue, one of Europe's oldest, had its roof damaged and stained glass windows smashed in the fire. Three men and a youth have previously appeared in court accused of destroying the ambulances.
Two Jewish men were stabbed last month, also in Golders Green, in what police called an act of terror. Police arrested 45-year-old Essa Suleiman on suspicion of attempted murder after the attack left two men, aged 34 and 76, hospitalized with knife wounds. The security organization Shomrim said that a man was seen running along Golders Green Road armed with a knife and attempting to stab Jewish members of the public. It said that a suspect was detained by Shomrim members and arrested by police, who used a stun gun on him. Surveillance camera footage showed a man beside a bus stop wearing a kippah, or traditional skullcap, before a passerby with a knife lunges at him.
Arson attacks in recent weeks targeted Jewish sites in London, including a charity's ambulances in Golders Green and a synagogue a few miles away. Metropolitan Police chief Mark Rowley said that it was 'another horrendous act of violence directed against our Jewish communities.' But some British Jews expressed anger at the authorities' failure to keep them safe.
