LONDON, ENGLAND – AUGUST 06: The ceiling and stained glass of the prayer hall of the funerary buildings at Willesden Jewish Cemetery, also known as the United Synagogue Cemetery, on August 6, 2017 in London, England. The funerary buildings at the cemetery, built in 1872 and now Grade II listed, are one of five historic buildings that have been chosen by Historic England to receive a listed status to mark 70 years of the organisation protecting England’s buildings of historic interest. Listing identifies buildings, sites and landscapes which are architecturally or historically special enough to receive protection, so they can be enjoyed by current and future generations. (Photo by Chris J Ratcliffe/Getty Images) A banner stating “Welcome to the Zionist police state” was hung next to the Bancroft Road Jewish Cemetery on May 24 and was taken down the next day.
The Jewish News reported that Sunday Times journalist Gabriel Pogrund first tweeted a photo of the banner on May 25:
Overlooking an old Jewish cemetery in Mile End pic.twitter.com/Hd3UgY9H0A
— Gabriel Pogrund (@Gabriel_Pogrund) May 25, 2020
Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Wes Streeting subsequently tweeted that the banner had been removed and thanked the police for quickly taking down “the anti-Semitic banner.”
Big thanks to @metpoliceuk and @TowerHamletsNow for having the antisemitic banner removed from opposite the Jewish cemetery on Bancroft Road https://t.co/BN7VMYCQ2d
— Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) May 25, 2020
The Simon Wiesenthal Center tweeted, “During #CoronavirusPandemic as Jewish families burying loved ones, greeted by this sickening hate. Anti-Semitism in #UK will be overcome only when neighbors and leaders express revulsion.”
During #CoronavirusPandemic as Jewish families burying loved ones, greeted by this sickening hate. Anti-Semitism in #UK will be overcome only when neighbors and leaders express revulsion. https://t.co/FeeDfepjI1 via @JewishNewsUK
— SimonWiesenthalCntr (@simonwiesenthal) May 26, 2020
Additionally, The Jerusalem Post reported on May 25 that a University of Oxford study found that 20% of those in Britain believe that Jews created and spread COVID-19 to tank the economy for their own financial benefit. Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted that this was troubling given “the lethal history of anti-Semitic conspiracies.”
A UK survey found that many conspiracy theories surround the pandemic, but one of the more troubling ones, considering the lethal history of antisemitic conspiracies, is that 20 percent of people in the UK believe Jews are responsible for the virus: https://t.co/zvL6eZKse2
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) May 26, 2020
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