London's New Year's Eve fireworks display has sparked controversy after viewers claimed the Star of David was missing from the Israeli flag projected on the London Eye. Social media users accused the BBC and Mayor Sadiq Khan of deliberate antisemitism, but City Hall denied the symbol was removed.
Former Israeli spokesman Elyon Levy posted on X that the Star of David had been 'erased', leaving a white flag with two blue stripes. One person said it appeared 2026 would be another year of antisemitism in the UK, while another accused the mayor of knowing what he was doing.
A City Hall spokesperson said the Star of David was not removed and the video shows this. They explained that animated flags were small and moving, so not all were entirely clear at every point, affecting flags including Guatemala, Argentina and Honduras as they formed into the Union Flag.
The controversy follows heightened tensions linked to activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, who returned to the UK on Boxing Day after imprisonment in Egypt. Tweets from 2010 resurfaced where he appeared to call for violence against Zionists, which Downing Street described as 'abhorrent'.
Mayor Khan hailed the celebrations as the 'greatest in the world' after 100,000 people attended the event along the River Thames.
