Further arrests and charges related to Israel and Hamas conflict

Three men have been charged with race hate offences linked to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

One of the men has appeared in court accused of throwing red paint over the gates of the Israeli Embassy.

The other two are accused of racially aggravated common assault and racially aggravated public order offences.

In a separate operation, counter terrorism detectives arrested a teenager in connection with an online post supporting Hamas.

Their investigation was launched after a social media post was referred into the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU), part of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command.

The post was assessed by specialist officers and deemed to potentially be in breach of terrorism laws, and the case was passed to a team of detectives to carry out an investigation.

Detectives made further enquiries. They arrested a 17-year-old at an address in south London in the early hours of 14 November.

He was arrested on suspicion of supporting a proscribed organisation, contrary to section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000, and taken to a central London police station.

Officers continue to investigate a wide range of offences including hate crimes, violent disorder and assault following a march and counter protest on Armistice Day.

They are examining hundreds of hours of CCTV, as well as footage and other evidence gathered by specialist teams and identified on social media.

Chief Supt Louise Puddefoot said: “The repercussions of the conflict between Israel and Hamas continue to be felt within London.

“Our officers continuing to support local communities and pursue those that are committing offences."

Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command said: “We continue to see a large number of referrals from the public where they are concerned about potentially extremist and terrorist content being posted online and on social media.

“Every referral is looked at by specialist officers and as we have here, we will look to take positive action and arrest those who we suspect are committing terrorist offences in this way.”

This latest arrest is the result of a number of investigations launched following referrals being made to the CTIRU.

Referrals have risen sharply since 7 October with nearly 2,200 public referrals.

Every referral is being triaged and almost 500 cases of interest have so far been identified – these are being looked at in more detail for potential offences.

Many of these have been fully assessed, which has resulted in a small number of investigations being opened by the Counter Terrorism Command.

Around 50 other cases have been passed to other colleagues in policing for further action or consideration.

The CTIRU has also requested the removal of a number of URLs which were identified hosting extremist or terrorist content.

As well as investigating online crimes, officers from the Counter Terrorism Command are also working to identify those suspected of committing terrorism-related offences during various protests.

On Tuesday, detectives issued 11 images of men they wish to identify in connection with ongoing investigations.

Please take a look at their images in this appeal and if you recognise any of these men or have information that could help the investigation, please report it in confidence online at gov.uk/ACT or by calling 0800 789 321.

Details of charges:

Justin Nathaniel Brookes, 48 (30.06.75) of no fixed address was charged with assault by beating and racially/religiously aggravated common assault.

He is accused of shouting Islamophobic language and assaulting a member of hospital staff in Westminster on 9 November 2023. He was remanded to appear at Croydon Magistrates’ Court.

Dijan Akhtar, 51 (10.01.72) of no fixed address, was charged with racially aggravated public order offences at 18:00hrs on 11 November, after he shouted racial abuse at a man in his 60’s in High Road, Ilford.

John Harvey, 75 (04.03.48) was charged with criminal damage after red paint was thrown over the gates of the Israeli Embassy at around 9am on 11 November.

He was arrested by officers from the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Command at the scene.