It was from England that we got our tradition of free speech, but across the pond, those days are gone. There has been a succession of horrific cases in which Britons–always, conservative or pro-Israel Britons–have been arrested for controversial social media posts or supposedly inappropriate demonstrations.
The most recent case is that of a Jewish protester who is not being named in the press, for his own safety. The background is that pro-Sharia, anti-Jewish Muslims have demonstrated many times, in a threatening manner, near the home of the Israeli ambassador to the U.K. The victim in this story was a counter-protester. The story would be hard to believe, except that it is now typical:
The British man, who has asked to remain anonymous for his safety, was detained and charged last September over a cartoon that showed Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese terror chief, with a pager and the words “beep, beep, beep”.
The man held this sign up for less than three minutes:
For this he was arrested, jailed overnight and criminally prosecuted.
During questioning, police repeatedly asked the man – who was part of a counter-demonstration against a pro-Palestinian march – if he believed the image would offend “clearly pro-Hezbollah and anti-Israel” activists.
Hezbollah is a terror group, which is proscribed in the UK.
We certainly wouldn’t want Hezbollah supporters to be offended.
Before detaining him overnight at Islington police station, officers searched his home in a failed attempt to find the placard, which the man had already explained was not his.
“Two police vans and six officers turned up at our house to search for ‘offensive material’, which was quite invasive. It was a horrible experience,” he said.
“They put me in the lounge and asked my partner to go with them around the house. They weren’t very pleasant to her and even went through her knicker drawer. It was totally ridiculous.”
What is it with police searches and underwear drawers?
He was released at 6.30am and later charged under the Public Order Act for causing racially or religiously aggravated harassment, alarm or distress by words or writing.
On May 10 – eight months after his ordeal began – the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case, saying there was insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction.
Of course, the evidence hadn’t changed a bit in the eight months during which the victim was under threat of a criminal conviction.
When these cases arise, the authorities generally express dismay. In this instance, the victim’s arrest was condemned by both Labour and Conservative MPs. But only, I take it, after the charges had been dismissed. Which makes you wonder: to whom do the British police report?
Presumably what is going on here is that law enforcement is terrified of the UK’s Muslim minority, and thinks it is easier to suppress opposition to the Muslims than to try to get Muslims to act in manner consistent with British traditions. This has given rise to Britain’s notoriously two-tier system of criminal justice, under the leadership of “Two-Tier Keir” Starmer. One privileged system of justice for violently threatening Muslims, another disfavored tier for Britons who don’t like being bullied.
This has been going on for a while, and the “kill the Jews” crowd is given the free run of London’s streets. There is no sign that anything will change any time soon.
