Two British men escaped immediate imprisonment on Friday after pleading guilty to filming a TikTok video in which they carried a fishing rod through London while declaring they were "catching Jews."
The defendants, both 21 years old, each received a six-week prison term that was suspended for 12 months, according to a Saturday report by the London Evening Standard.
The incident took place on May 7 in Stamford Hill - a neighborhood in north London with a large Orthodox Jewish community. During the recording, the pair made remarks about going “fishing for Jews" and targeted a local man with verbal abuse intended for their social media followers.
According to statements from the Metropolitan Police, the two individuals attempted to run away when police units arrived at the scene but were quickly apprehended.
In addition to their suspended jail terms, the court ordered the two men to perform 150 hours of community service and participate in 20 days of rehabilitation programming. The court also ordered them to pay £85 in legal costs.
The legal proceeding comes as Britain has seen a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents, including the stabbing of two Orthodox Jewish men in Golders Green in late April.
The stabbing prompted the United Kingdom to raise its national terrorism threat level from "substantial" to "severe" for the first time in over four years.
In 2025, the United Kingdom documented the highest per capita rate of violent antisemitic attacks globally, tracking 121 severe assaults within a domestic Jewish population of approximately 300,000 people.