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🇮🇱 Israel /Crime & Justice

UK courts sentence two offenders for anti-Semitic attacks on Jewish community, children

From Jerusalem Post · () English

Summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Outcome reported
  • British courts sentenced two defendants in separate antisemitism cases involving threats against Jewish institutions and abuse directed at Jewish children.
  • Michael Brown received an eight-week prison sentence suspended for one year, while Syeda Khatun received a 12-month sentence suspended for two years.
  • The cases included a social media post targeting synagogues and Jewish businesses, and alleged verbal and physical attacks outside a Jewish school.

Two separate antisemitism cases in Britain ended with suspended prison sentences this week, including one involving a social media post that suggested attacking synagogues and Jewish businesses.

Michael Brown, 45, of Newhaven in East Sussex, received an eight-week prison sentence suspended for one year at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. He had posted on Facebook about throwing eggs, fruit and stink bombs at synagogues and Jewish businesses, ending with the question: “Does anyone have a good recipe for roasted synagogue?”

Does anyone have a good recipe for roasted synagogue?

— Michael BrownThe phrase appeared at the end of a Facebook post about throwing objects and stink bombs at synagogues and Jewish businesses.

District Judge Sam Goozee said the message targeted “the Jewish community and their synagogues and Jewish businesses.” He added that anyone from the community who read it would inevitably feel alarmed. The judge said racial hostility aggravated the offense, noting the wider environment at the time the message appeared.

The message was targeting the Jewish community and their synagogues and Jewish businesses.

— District Judge Sam GoozeeThe judge explained why Brown’s social media post constituted an antisemitic offense.

Brown told police the post was a joke and that he did not intend to cause offense. He pleaded guilty to sending an offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message through a public communications network. His defense said he had recently lost his job, spent too much time isolated online and had been diagnosed with ADHD. He deleted his Facebook account and joined a wellness program. The court ordered him to complete 15 rehabilitation activity days and 80 hours of unpaid work.

The second case concerned Syeda Khatun, 39, of Hackney. The Crown Prosecution Service said she received a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years at Stratford Magistrates’ Court. Khatun allegedly shouted antisemitic abuse at Jewish children outside a Jewish secondary school in Stamford Hill after they returned from a school trip, and physically attacked a father. The case summary also described an incident involving abuse directed at a mother carrying a baby and aggressive arm movements toward schoolchildren.

It would be inevitable any member of the community who would read that post would be alarmed by its content.

— District Judge Sam GoozeeThe judge described the effect the post could have on Jewish readers.
About this summary

Originally published by Jerusalem Post. Summarized and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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