Sadiq Khan Urges Londoners Not To Be Afraid To Report Hate Crimes Amid Tensions Over Israel And Gaza
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00:00 Unfortunately, whenever there are disturbances in the Middle East, you do see an increase
00:04 in anti-Semitism and also Islamophobia.
00:07 Frankly speaking, we don't know how long these disturbances are going to go on for.
00:11 We do know, as each day we see new images coming from Gaza about the horrors of what's
00:17 happening there.
00:18 Each day we see some of the photographs of the victims of Hamas, and we hear more stories
00:24 about the horrors that Hamas inflicted on October 7th.
00:28 And that leads to, understandably, tensions rising.
00:31 What we can't afford, though, is those tensions and those passions leading to hate crime.
00:35 And so I'd say to everyone in our city and those across our country, look, you can have
00:39 strong feelings about the Middle East, you know, but please, please, please, please understand
00:44 there's got to be zero tolerance towards hatred in our society and hate crime.
00:48 If anybody's the victim of crime, we're encouraging them to report it.
00:51 Don't think, "Stop with me reporting, it's too trivial."
00:53 If it's an emergency, 999 or 101.
00:56 But please, I still have increased presence around synagogues and mosques and other places
01:02 of worship.
01:03 They will be busy this weekend in those communities where there are particular concerns.
01:09 And I'd encourage those of us who aren't Jewish and those who aren't Muslim to show allyship
01:13 to those who are feeling scared at this time, which is just heartbreaking.
01:17 You know, disturbances in the Middle East aren't new.
01:20 I'm afraid this probably won't be the last ever disturbance in the Middle East.
01:22 It's why giving our communities the resilience and the skills to be able to navigate having
01:27 passionate views, sometimes disagreeing, but never allowing that to spill over is so important.
01:31 These are life skills, I think.
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