Chikli’s comments follow others by the UK’s Commissioner for Countering Extremism Robin Simcox, who said London became a “no-go zone for Jews every weekend” because of the attitudes and aggression on display at the weekly anti-Israel protests in Westminster. He said earlier this month: “Anti-Semitism skyrocketing… Protests [are] becoming ever more vociferous, with “from the river to the sea” beamed onto the side of Big Ben during a vote on Gaza.”
The Community Security Trust, a Jewish charity in the United Kingdom, said it has been told by many British Jews that they now avoid central London while demonstrations are taking place. A spokesman for the group said he was one of those who felt he couldn’t be in London’s capital because of the environment, saying: “I don’t go into town when there’s these demonstrations… We hear all about the right of protesters to demonstrate, but God forbid anybody say anything against them. Then you will find out about your freedom of speech.”