Those Pesky Antisemitic Thugs: How Low Can They Go?

By Bruce S. Ticker

Two antisemitic thugs in London and Boca Raton, Fla., picked on Jewish targets their own size to badger, as disgusting as these attacks are. However, two of their confederates chose Jewish schoolchildren outside a religious school in north London to blare a Hezbollah battle song from their car.

“We are Hezbollah…we will not accept humiliation or compromise,” according to lyrics reported by London’s Jewish Chronicle. They added that terrorists from the Iran-backed group are “immortalised in blood.”

They filmed themselves blaring the song on Wednesday, April 26, and posted the video to TikTok with the caption: “Drove past the Zionist school on full blast.” The song is the soundtrack to a 20/20 video disseminated by Hezbollah’s media propaganda unit. The footage depicts ranks of militants performing the Hitler salute.

The Chronicle writes, “The men, whose identities remain unknown, can be heard laughing and clapping while filming the bewildered-looking children, some of whom are wearing kippot and holding Israeli flags.”

These guys laughing…like hyenas? They clapped as if they were watching a limbo dance to see how low they can go. How low could these hyenas go? No need to spell that out.

Why didn’t they exit the car so they can play the song one-on-one with the children? Why didn’t they play an English translation? Were they afraid one of the children might deck them? Two children depicted on the Chronicle’s website were girls who looked to be 7 or 8 years old.

It is never difficult to find sickening examples of pro-Palestinian advocacy and other forms of antisemitism in the news, but this north London incident is the crudest I can recall in some time. In political disputes, a crucial rule of thumb is to leave the children out of it, as if readers need to be reminded of it.

How credible a message can they deliver if they must harass children?

One aspect that drew my attention was the song’s words: “We are Hezbollah…we will not accept humiliation or compromise.” If they are caught and prosecuted, will they accept the humiliation of a plea bargain – a legal form of compromise – to avoid substantial prison terms?

If they admire Hezbollah so much, why don’t they move to southern Lebanon where Hezbollah harasses the Lebanese people and threatens Israel from the north? Why do they persist upon living in a civilized country whose mode of operation is anathema to their lifestyle?

StandWithUs UK, an educational charity, called attention to the episode on its website and on Twitter, and it is now being investigated by the Community Security Trust and the Metropolitan Police.

The Chronicle cites Metropolitan Police figures in reporting that 93 antisemitic crimes occurred in London during the first two months of this year.

The CST said in an annual study that a rising percentage of incidents target children, with 15 percent of victims being below the age of 18.

Of the two afore-mentioned child-free incidents, Metropolitan Police are investigating an assault against a Jewish man in which the attacker is spotted on a video hurling insults on a London bus.

Brandishing a yellow pole, the assailant said, “That’s where you come, you shouldn’t be in Palestine, you’re some f-king murders. Kill children…you enslaved black people for 500 years, Jew. F-king Jew he’s a f’king devil. Tell all the f-king Israeli people are dead in a bloodclart. Me tell you that, the black god tell you that.”

The footage was posted online by the Jewish community watch group Shomrim, according to the Chronicle.

Back across the pond, a Boca Raton man on May 1 allegedly stole a man’s yarmulke and spit at it in the West Boca Raton Walmart, reports BocaNewsNow.

The suspect, Daniel Scanlon, was taken to the Palm Beach County Jail to face robbery, battery and other charges with possible hate enhancement, police said.

The incident began when Scanlon allegedly struck the male victim from behind, removed his yarmulke and called him a “dirty Jew k—,” and then he spat in it, tossed it to the ground and struck him again, according to BocaNewsNow. A female patron intervened, and Scanlon allegedly cursed her and slightly injured her by pushing her to the ground. Then he fled in a car until he was apprehended by police, according to the news site.

Are we supposed to be grateful that the London bus assailant and the Florida Walmart interloper excluded children from their antisemitic acts?

Bruce S. Ticker is a Philadelphia-based columnist. He may be contacted via [email protected]. This is republished from San Diego Jewish World which, along with The Moderate Voice, is a member of the San Diego Online News Association.