A visibly Jewish passenger was traveling on a London Underground train on Wednesday when he was confronted by a man who accused him of killing Muslims, according to footage shared by the Campaign Against Antisemitism.
The CAA footage shows a young man aggressively blowing smoke toward the Jewish passenger before moving to seat himself across from him. The announcement that can be heard in the video indicated the pair were heading in the direction of Edgeware, an area of North London with a sizeable Jewish community.
We have been made aware that last night on the London Underground, an identifiably Jewish man noticed a fellow passenger staring aggressively at him. The passenger then began blowing the vapour from his e-cigarette in his direction. After a few minutes, the man started… pic.twitter.com/BEzU0orrpg
— Campaign Against Antisemitism (@antisemitism) February 29, 2024
After the man moved seats, the Jewish passenger asked, “You got a problem?”
In response to the question, the man answers after a prolonged silence, “You go” while gesturing for the Jewish man to leave the train.
“Why, have you got a problem?” the Jewish man asked. “Why are you looking at me?”
While shaking his leg, the man responds, “Your religion [Judaism] kills Muslims, that’s why.”
“What?” the Jewish man said in response to the accusation.
“You kill Muslims,” the man repeated, this time using a personal pronoun.
“You’re a Muslim?” the Jewish man asked. Upon confirmation that the man was Muslim, he continued, “I am very happy for you, but the thing is you’re vaping on the London Underground.”
“I don’t give a s***,” the young man responds.
Smoking on the London Underground is forbidden. A 2019 document by Transport for London clarifies that “TfL does not issue on-the-spot fines for passengers found smoking or vaping on tube or rail services. Such incidents are relatively rare, and, generally speaking, staff will ask offenders to stop and/or leave the service. Police are called to deal with those who refuse to cooperate, are abusive, or threaten staff or others.
"Passengers can ultimately be prosecuted for the offense and, if convicted, may be fined via the courts," the document said. "There are no recorded incidents for prosecutions on the London Underground or TfL Rail in the last year (although there is one case pending in relation to buses).”
“I know you don’t give a s***,” the Jewish man continued, “because I see you’re inconsiderate.”
The man continued by saying something incomprehensible.
The interaction continued with the Jewish man making complaints over the smoking before insisting that he had not done anything to the man to justify his “problem.”
“You’ve done everything to me,” the man asserted. “You’ve done a lot.”
The man later revealed that the “lot” done to him was that the Jewish man wore a “hat.” While the footage does not reveal the “hat,” it is suggested that the Jewish man is wearing a kippa, a traditional Jewish religious head garb that would identify him as a Jew.
The Jewish man subsequently told him that what he was doing was antisemitic. In response, the vaper repeats, “But you kill Muslims.”
Investigations into the vaping man
Asserting that all he had done was wear his hat, the Jewish man is lectured, “but your religion supports killing Muslims.”
Campaign Against Antisemitism said that they blurred the image of the man’s face out of fear that he may be a minor. They described him as “a Middle Eastern male with a black ponytail between the ages of sixteen and twenty years old.”
A spokesperson for the CAA said: "It is shocking to see how this man was treated by this young lout for daring to be Jewish in public, but perhaps it is not that surprising. Inaction against the marches through London has led to a feeling amongst many extremists and antisemites that they can get away with brazen acts of racism against Jews – and too often they are right.
"Antisemitism has reached record levels, but prosecutions are few and far between – and even when they do happen, the sentences handed down are often no deterrent at all. Sixty-nine percent of British Jews now say that they are less likely to show visible signs of their Judaism in public, and this is why," the spokesperson said.
"British Transport Police, who are investigating the matter, have a better track record than the Metropolitan Police as of late and so we are hopeful that the perpetrator will face justice. We are assisting the victim and urge anyone with any information to contact British Transport Police with the crime reference number 2400026154 or e-mail investigations@antisemitism.org."