According to Batya Jerenberg writing for ‘World Israel News’ there has been a recent wave of ‘anti-Semitic vandalism’ that has afflicted the heavily jewish north London suburb of Golders Green.
She writes how:
‘London police are searching for a man who pried mezuzahs off doors of at least two Jewish homes in a religious neighborhood on Monday.
Shomrim of North West London, a Jewish security group, posted footage on X from a security camera that showed a tall, white male with a large backpack and dressed in a black hoodie and shorts openly approach a front door at 10:15 a.m.
He can be seen unfolding a pocket knife and calmly and quietly levering off the small box containing biblical verses that traditionally adorns the houses of Jews as a sign of their faith.
The cleanshaven, gray-haired individual then turns around and walks away, mezuzah in hand.
Asking for any other victims to come forward, Shomrim wrote, “We have received multiple reports of incidents that appear to be deliberate acts of #antisemitism, involving the removal of mezuzah’s in #GoldersGreen. We are liaising with police.”
A spokesperson for the organization told The Jewish Chronicle, “The religious Jewish community have traditionally borne a lot of the brunt of antisemitic attacks because they are most visibly Jewish. This has a profound impact on our quality of life.”
Since the man was caught on camera, “he must be identified,” the spokesperson continued, urging anyone with information “to come forward.”
The group said it had given the authorities CCTV footage from the vandalized homes and the immediate area in order to help catch the culprit.
Shomrim runs patrols of neighborhoods with a large concentration of Jews and works closely with the local police, reporting and then supporting victims of antisemitic crime.
The Metropolitan Police acknowledged that they were “working to identify the man” and asked for “anyone with any information” to contact them.
They also noted that “officers will be carrying out patrols in the area following these concerning reports, and members of the public are encouraged to report any issues to officers.”
While the shirt that the man wore had the name of a company called Abbey Road Studios, the business quickly denied that the criminal was an employee, adding that “Abbey Road denounces hate of all kinds.”
This was the second time in two months that mezuzahs were taken off Jewish establishments in northern London.
In March, a vandal wearing a hooded jacket and face mask ripped off the religious item from a kosher restaurant and a synagogue.’ (1)
Now happily we actually have footage of the culprit unlike usual, so we know it is something that really happened and isn’t just the work of the local rabbi and/or property owner seeking sympathy, an insurance pay out and/or extra funding.
This is:
Now I notice two significant things about this in that firstly the culprit is only apparently targeting mezuzahs which is decidedly odd. The reason that is this odd is because mezuzahs are not obvious signs of jewishness unless you know exactly what you are looking for, but also that there are plenty of other easier and more obvious targets like signs and symbols of jewishness that are often found outside of jewish-owned buildings.
Secondly the culprit looks somewhat desperate in so far as while he wears a watch he had well-worn looking hiking gear on including a waterproof backpack cover which is an odd thing to see in London and the knife looks old and well-worn.
This combined with the fact that mezuzahs are not infrequently made of valuable metals like silver and copper suggests that what is actually going on here is not an ‘anti-Semitic hate crime’ but rather a man stealing mezuzahs to sell on as scrap metal for money likely to cover the spiralling cost of living in the UK and especially in London.
This is likely not an ‘anti-Semitic hate crime’ at all but rather petty crime with the motive being to make some quick money.
References
(1) https://worldisraelnews.com/london-police-searching-for-man-who-ripped-mezuzahs-off-doors-of-jewish-homes/