The Khaybar slogan invokes a seventh-century assault on Jews; police are investigating a potential racially aggravated public-order offense.
Officers received a report that a man had been seen in a supermarket in Williamson Road, Haringey wearing a T-shirt with “an alleged antisemitic wording on,” the Metropolitan Police told the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), a British watchdog group that followed up on complaints, it said in a statement on Monday.
“The wording was not in English and while officers who initially spoke to the complainant a short time later were able to obtain a translation, they were understandably not aware of its meaning and historical context,” the police told CAA.
“Following subsequent discussions with officers with expertise in this area, the report has been recorded as a potential racially aggravated public order offence. Officers have been in contact with the victim and enquiries to identify the person involved are ongoing. No arrests have been made at this stage,” police added.
A Jewish man who was shopping at the Sainsbury’s supermarket chain with his children called the police and alerted CAA to the incident, CAA said.
“This disgusting intimidation must be met with the full force of the law. This kind of incitement and hatred has been becoming more and more brazen to the extent that it is now casually displayed in everyday public settings,” CAA said, adding they are seeking information on the identity of the man who wore the T-shirt.
In June, a British jury acquitted two women, a mother and daughter, from hate speech charges after they were filmed chanting the slogan at an anti-Israel rally in 2023. Fatiah Boumazouna, 55, and Hadjer Boumazouna, 28, had been arrested after the protest. They claimed they had not known it was hateful and apologized to those they’d offended.