Antisemitic banner hung on home facing London Sephardi Jewish cemetery

The banner was hung on a home facing the Novo Beth Chaim Cemetery, one of only two exclusively Sephardic Jewish cemeteries remaining in London.

MAY 26, 2020 13:57

Novo Cemetery in London (photo credit: MATT BROWN/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS) — Novo Cemetery in London

(photo credit: MATT BROWN/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)

An antisemitic banner reading "Welcome to the Zionist Police State" was taken down after it was hung outside a house overlooking a Jewish cemetery in Mile End, a neighborhood in East London.

A picture of the banner was originally published by Gabriel Pogrund, a reporter for The Sunday Times. Labour MP Wes Streeting later tweeted that the banner had been taken down thanks to the Metropolitan Police and Tower Hamlets Council.

Local Councillor Kevin Brady called the incident "utterly disgusting" and Councillor Eve McQuillan tweeted that she had raised the issue with the police, the council and Tower Hamlets Homes, assuring that it would be "removed ASAP."

Absolutely disgusted to see this. Have raised it with the police, the council and Tower Hamlets Homes. It will be removed ASAP. https://t.co/EXekgBXfbT
— Cllr Eve McQuillan (@Eve_McQuillan) May 25, 2020

McQuillan later updated that the banner had been removed and that police were investigating the incident.

Streeting, McQuillan and Brady are all members of the Labour Party, which has been the subject of scrutiny itself concerning allegations of antisemitism.

The banner was hung on a home facing the Novo Beth Chaim Cemetery, one of only two exclusively Sephardic Jewish cemeteries remaining in London.

Benjamin D'Israeli, grandfather of the prime minister with the same name, and Daniel Mendoza, a famous English-Sephardi Jewish prizefighter in the 18th century, are buried at the cemetery.