British police have still not identified a man who was pictured in May wearing a Manchester United soccer jersey with ‘Hamas 7’ printed on the back.
The Telegraph reported in May that authorities were searching for the man, who was photographed by a Jewish passerby near the Oxford Circus tube station in central London.
“Police received a call from a member of the public reporting that a man was walking in Oxford Street, W1 wearing a football shirt with an offensive message on it,” said a Metropolitan Police spokesperson at the time. “Enquiries are underway to try and identify the man.”
The “Hamas 7” tag is a reference to the Palestinian terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre of 1,200 Israelis and the abduction to Gaza of more than 250 people, 108 of whom remain in captivity.
“Threatening or carrying out acts of violence against any minority is despicable. And it’s absolutely right that anyone engaged in that sort of behavior should feel the full force of the law,” said Stephen Silverman, director of Investigations and Enforcement at the non-profit Campaign Against Antisemitism.
“The problem is for the last 10 months, and especially in London, we have been watching a double standard being applied, whereby one form of extremism is clamped down on with an iron fist while another is treated with an unacceptable level of leniency.
“The result is that through any lack of real deterrence through policing, a climate has been allowed to develop that is permissive with regard to expressions of hatred directed not just at Jewish people, but at Britain as well and at the liberal-democratic value we all rely on to keep us safe,” added Silverman.
Expressing support for a proscribed organization is a criminal offense in Britain under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act.
The United Kingdom banned Hamas’s military wing in 2001 and extended the designation to its political wing in 2021.
According to a poll in April, only a quarter of British Muslims believe that Hamas committed murder and rape during its Oct. 7 invasion of Israel. Thirty-nine percent of British Muslims said Hamas did not commit atrocities on Oct. 7, while 37% said they didn’t know.
Younger, well-educated Muslims were most likely to say Hamas did not commit atrocities (47% of 18- to 24-year-olds and 40% among the university-educated).
Nearly half of British Muslims polled (46%) sympathized with Hamas.
