Naph Torrance

I think British Jews have felt something like Manchester was heading our way for some time. I think many of us also feel let down by those who are meant to protect us. Just to give you a flavour of what I mean, here are some recent personal examples from my own life, as an academic and writer living in North London. (To say nothing of all the other examples you read about in the news and see on TV elsewhere in the country). 1. In 2021, a convoy of 200 cars drove through North London, round the corner from my home, shouting on a loudspeaker, “F*** the Jews… f*** all of them. F*** their mothers, f*** their daughters, and show your support for Palestine … Rape their [the Jews’] daughters”. I have a son and two daughters. All charges were dropped by the CPS. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lo… 2. Between 2019 and 2022, a solicitor, Mohammed Sarfraz, threatened on Twitter to kill a public Jewish figure, and made several other antisemitic statements. Over the last fifteen years, because I wrote "The Future of the Professions", I have spent lots of time with lawyers. Many of them have told me that what distinguishes them from other occupations is that they must uphold “professional values”. The Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, the professional body established to uphold standards in the legal profession, chose not to suspend Sarfraz. nitter.cf/danielsusskind/status/… 3. In 2023, members of Hizb ut Tahrir (not proscribed at the time) publicly called for “jihad” at a ‘March for Palestine’ rally in London, again nor far from my home. The MET did not charge anyone with an offence that day, because, in their own words, “the word [jihad] has a number of meanings”. news.sky.com/story/what-does… 4. In 2025, Dr Rahmeh Aladwan, published several tweets, including “Jews can deny it all they like but at some point you will have to accept that Jewish supremacy is what is murdering us”, ““Britain is totally occupied by Jewish supremacy” and “The Royal Free Hospital in London is a Jewish supremacy cesspit.” (The Royal Free is the hospital closest to me, where my family often visits for help.) As with lawyers, I have spent a decade and a half hearing from doctors that what distinguishes them is that they follow a “professional code of ethics”. Yet the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) did not suspend her. “A reasonable and fully informed member of the public would not be alarmed or concerned”, they said -- the implication being that I am neither "reasonable" nor "fully informed". thejc.com/news/uk/doctor-jew… 5. In April 2025, swastikas were painted on the rocks in the playground of my baby niece, in North London. A couple of years ago a prestigious school round the corner, where several of my neighbours send their kids, found a swastika and “kill the Jews” in the loos. A couple of years before that, a swastika was painted on a tree two hundred metres from my front door. nitter.cf/danielsusskind/status/… telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/11… nitter.cf/danielsusskind/status/… Again, this is just a snapshot of incidents: only me, only the last few years. And I refuse to be cowered by them. But it seems to me there is a trend -- in the intensity of the incidents, in the weakness of the response -- that I do not like at all.