A vigil organized by pro-Israel activists in London’s Hyde Park, famous for being a free speech area, appeared to be severely interrupted and then dispersed altogether by men shouting anti-Jewish chants in Arabic, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
A few dozen people waving Israeli flags with candles in their hands gathered there ahead of the so-called Kristallnacht remembrance day, commemorating victims of the Nazi pogrom of 1938, as well as Jews killed and wounded across the Arab world.
Joseph Cohen, an Israel advocacy Movement campaigner, was filming the event when 20 men chimed in shouting:
“Jews, remember Khaybar, the army of Muhammad is returning,” thereby referring to the 7th century massacre of Jews by Muslims, when the latter expelled Jews from the town of Khaybar, which lies in modern-day Saudi Arabia.
Some other Muslim activists voiced pro-Palestine chants, shoving Jewish activists to the side.
“The vigil went from bad to worse, they shouted us down, they would not allow us to remember our dead until we had to call off the vigil,” he added. The occurrence “goes to the heart of the matter we’d gathered to commemorate in the first place,” he also said.
A German woman witnessing the event even compared three types of events, namely those held by Christian preachers, by Muslims, and finally, went on to detail the crowd’s reaction to Jews gathering for their remembrance day, noting that it could all be characterized as anti-Semitism.
“A Christian was preaching and the atmosphere was friendly, a Muslim was preaching, and there were shouts but the atmosphere was still friendly but as soon as Jews wanted to honour their dead a whole of crowd appeared out of nowhere, as soon as the flags appeared, the cursing began against people who only wanted to honour their dead.”
The bellicosity of the move was immediately picked up on in comments on Twitter; however, some attempted to defend the Muslims, saying one shouldn’t judge by a “one-man act.” The statement caused negation, with a pro-Jewish commenter stating there is an issue in Europe with “Muslims hating Jews who feel connected to Israel.”
Some noted that relevant counter-measures should be taken:
Some, fortunately, expressed more pacifist views: