British police have opened an investigation into the serious incident that took place on Oxford’s main street in the city • Young Muslims attacked the bus carrying a group of Jews to a Chabad Hanukkah party • Johnson commented on the incident and said: “The video is disturbing”
Police in the UK announced last night (Wednesday) that they have opened an investigation into a hate crime that took place on Sunday night on Oxford Street in London, the city’s main shopping street. During the antisemitic incident in the heart of the British capital, young Muslims attacked a group of Jews traveling by bus to light the first Hanukkah candle.
A video taken from the bus shows the attacking Muslims shouting, cursing and saluting the bus in which the Jews were traveling. The incident began when the bus with dozens of Jews on its way to a Chabad Hanukkah party stopped on Oxford Street in the city. The passengers of the bus got off and started dancing to the sound of holiday songs.
Later, a group of young Muslims noticed the celebration and began attacking the passengers. For long minutes the young Muslims beat the bus, spat, cursed and threw objects – just because there were Jews sitting inside.
Raphael Cohen, a young man who was on the bus, described in a conversation with News 12 what happened: “Some Arab guys came, at first they danced a little, we were all good. Then shouting against Israel began slowly, and the whole thing heated up very quickly.”
Cohen went on to describe: “Our guys were already starting to get really stressed because they started banging on the bus, spitting and throwing things. They threw something up on the bus, took off their shoes and arrived some more that were in the area.”
“It’s a bit of an unpleasant feeling,” Cohen added. “There’s a sense that you might need to be a little bit humble about being around and proud to be Jewish. The truth is that it made me decide I wanted to go to serious Krav Maga classes, to improve my ability to defend myself.”
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Johnson referred to the incident and said: “The video is disturbing. In our society there is no tolerance for any kind of racism and we will continue to uproot this phenomenon.” In the UK, wall-to-wall condemnations were heard following the serious case and police opened an investigation.