A Metropolitan Police detective sergeant has been dismissed after sharing social media posts comparing the war in Gaza to the Holocaust, The Telegraph reported on Monday.
Rebecca Collens, who served in the force’s road and transport policing command, re-shared an image labelled “Palestine 2024” next to an image of concentration camp victims marked “Germany 1945.” She captioned the post: “The world said never again, and here we are again 79 years later.”
A police conduct hearing stated that Collens also wrote that the war was a “classic case of the abused becomes the abuser… no?”
The posts were found to fall within the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism. The panel noted that Collens accepted that the term “abused” referred to Jewish people rather than the state of Israel, which did not exist in 1945.
The panel said the posts were “overtly political” and presented a one-sided view of the Israel-Hamas War during a period of heightened public controversy after the events of the October 7 massacre and the resulting war.
Collens shared the posts on a private Instagram account with more than 100 followers. She was anonymously reported to the Met’s Right Line whistleblowing service in May 2024.
Some posts described the conflict in Gaza as genocide and compared daily child deaths in Auschwitz with deaths in Gaza, The Telegraph reported.
“Stop calling this a war. There is no parity of power. Israel is one of the most powerful, nuclear-armed militaries on earth, funded, equipped and backed unconditionally by the single most powerful, nuclear-armed military in the history of the world. This is genocide," Collens wrote in one such post on her private Instagram account.
Intent to highlight 'suffering and devastation in Gaza'
Collens told the panel that her intention was to highlight “suffering and devastation in Gaza.”
She added that she did not intend to “hurt anyone or be disrespectful of the Jewish faith” and described feeling “horrified about being called antisemitic; mortified and heartbroken," the panel said in a statement.
Detective Chief Inspector Donna Smith said Collens’s conduct was “wholly unacceptable," and said that she believed it was "inconceivable that she did not think these posts could be seen as offensive or overtly political.”
Smith concluded by stating that the Met has no place for officers who undermine the police force's inclusive culture.