The Metropolitan Police were criticized again for their response to the antisemitism displayed at anti-Israel demonstrations when they covered a Holocaust memorial in London, the Daily Mail reported.
According to the report, the Hyde Park Holocaust Memorial Garden, the first public Holocaust memorial in Britain, was covered for fear that it would be vandalized by anti-Israel radicals. Police officers also stood guard around the memorial to keep demonstrators away from it.
Noemi Ebenstein, an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor, called the decision to cover the memorial rather than confront the antisemitic demonstrators "shameful."
"It is shameful. Seeing this, it feels like they are winning," Ebenstein said. "Those who are Jew haters, those who are Holocaust deniers, they are winning because we are afraid of them. I just wish the Western world would stand up to these people, instead of running away, covering up monuments and being apologetic."
Jewish Chronicle former editor Stephen Pollard called the decision to cover the memorial "damning of where we are now."
"What is the line that needs to be crossed for people to think it's not OK for these hate marches to continue?" he asked. "It shows the depravity of so much of what's happening in London at the moment that they think it's important that they cover up a Holocaust memorial."
Tory peer Lord Pickles, the UK's special envoy on post-Holocaust issues, also condemned the move, asking, "Have we become so cowed and fearful in this country that instead of expecting pro-Palestinian protesters to obey the law, we hide away the memorial to save it from vandalism?"
Another Tory peer, Stuart Polak, the director of Conservative Friends of Israel, called the move "a new low."
'For many on the march, it is less about support for a Palestinian state and more about the hatred for the Jewish state and the Jewish people," Lord Polak said. '"It's time for a rethink by the authorities whether such hatred should be displayed on our streets week after week."
The Metropolitan Police released a statement calling the Daily Mail's headline "inaccurate."
"The decision to cover the memorial was taken by park authorities, not the police" the police statement read. "As the paper’s own article makes clear, it is a precaution Royal Parks have taken for a number of different events."
The Metropolitan police have faced criticism over the last week after a Jewish man wearing a yarmulke was recorded trying to cross the road in London on Shabbat, when a policeman refused to allow him to do so because an anti-Israel protest was taking place there.
In the documentation, Gideon Falter, CEO of 'Campaign Against Antisemitism,' is seen refusing the officer's request to prevent him from crossing the road because he appeared 'visibly Jewish.'
Furthermore, the officer claimed that Falter could 'provoke antagonism' due to his attire, which could also lead to him being attacked.
"I'm just a Jew in London trying to cross the road," Falter replied to the officer.
In response, the officer told him: "This is a pro-Palestinian march. I'm not accusing you of anything - but I'm concerned about the reaction to your presence."
The officer threatened: "There is now a police unit here that will escort you out of this area so you can go about your business, go wherever you want freely. If you choose to stay, you will be arrested for causing a public order offense."
Moreover, in the documentation, one of the protesters approaches Falter and tells him: "In this case, the police won't help you."
Two men were arrested on Saturday at a pro-Palestinian Arab march in London, Sky News reported.
One of the men was taken into custody for carrying a swastika emblazoned placard and another for an allegedly making racist remarks towards counter-protesters, the Metropolitan Police said.