Fourteen people were arrested after violent disorder broke out during protests outside a Jewish synagogue in London that was hosting an Israeli real estate event, reports The Jerusalem Post.
The demonstration took place outside Edgware United Synagogue, where the Great Israeli Real Estate Event was being held. According to the Metropolitan Police, five people were arrested for violent disorder, including one person who was also arrested for assaulting an emergency worker. A further six individuals were arrested for public order offences, four of which were aggravated by racial or religious factors. Additional arrests included offences involving assault and other public order violations.
The protest was organised by groups including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Jewish Bloc for Palestine UK, and the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians. Demonstrators claimed that the event involved the sale of properties located in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, specifically citing areas such as Ma’aleh Adumim and Gush Etzion.
The organisers, My Home in Israel, rejected those accusations and stated that all properties being promoted at the event were located within Israel’s internationally recognised borders. The organisation argued that allegations about the sale of West Bank properties were false and politically motivated.
The controversy intensified before the event, when more than 100 British lawmakers wrote to the Foreign Secretary calling for its cancellation. They argued that the event was connected to Israeli settlement expansion and involved the sale of land they considered to have been taken from Palestinians.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign criticised the decision to hold the event at a synagogue, claiming that a place of worship was being used to shield what it alleged was potentially unlawful activity.
Despite the controversy, the event proceeded under heavy security. Police estimated that around 1,000 protesters and counter-protesters gathered outside. Officers from the Metropolitan Police and the Community Security Trust were deployed to keep the groups separated.
Hundreds of members of the local Jewish community, supported by groups including Stop the Hate, formed a human barrier to prevent protesters from reaching the synagogue building. Although most demonstrators were kept away, one activist from Jewish Bloc for Palestine UK entered the event and interrupted proceedings with chants before being removed.
Some protesters outside were heard chanting threatening slogans directed at Zionists, including warnings that they would return.
Adrian Cohen condemned the protest, stating that the organisers had publicly denied selling properties beyond the Green Line. He argued that targeting a synagogue based on disputed claims risked becoming an act of intimidation against the wider Jewish community.
The incident has added to growing concerns among British Jewish organisations about demonstrations taking place outside synagogues and other Jewish institutions, particularly amid rising levels of antisemitic incidents and tensions linked to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Photo credit: SECTION 27A COPYRIGHT ACT
More News
