Cabinet Minister asks police to investigate Brighton anti-Israel door-to-door campaign

A senior member of the government has vocally condemned a door-to-door anti-Israel campaign for “creating an environment of fear and intolerance”, saying he has asked the police to investigate under new hate crime and incitement laws.

Peter Kyle, MP for Hove and Secretary of State for Business and Trade, told Jewish News that an “Apartheid Free Zone” campaign currently taking place in Brighton “should not be happening”, putting forward “the appalling scenario of a vulnerable Jewish resident being door-knocked by a gang of people wanting to harangue them.”

There has been widespread dismay within the Jewish community, both in Brighton and across the country, in response to a Sky News report showing “Apartheid Free Zone” campaigners going door to door in attempt to get local residents in Brighton to sign up to their Israel Boycott campaign. Organisers vehemently rejected the idea that their actions were antisemitic, but were fine being described as anti-Zionist, describing Zionism as “an apartheid ideology”. They claimed it was “no different from the actions of a political party like the Conservative Party or the Labour Party who also go door to door and ask people how they feel.”

Kyle, who has served as a Secretary of State since Labour’s election victory in July 2024, said:

“The moment I became aware of this campaign to door-knock residents under the banner of ‘Apartheid Free Zone’  I contacted the police and asked they investigate under the hate crime and  the incitement laws which the Government has recently brought in.

“My immediate thought was for the appalling scenario of a vulnerable Jewish resident being door-knocked by a gang of people wanting to harangue them. It’s an upsetting thought and should not be happening in 2026 Hove.

“I ask with genuine concern that the campaign group rethink their actions and that instead of creating an environment of fear and intolerance, they join us in solidarity with all religious communities in working for peace and the resolution of conflicts around the world.

“Finally, I’d like to reassure Jewish residents that myself, and the Government, are not just listening but we are acting. Labour will introduce a landmark Race Equality Act, to strengthen protections against discrimination and root out other inequalities. Labour will also reverse the Conservatives’ decision to downgrade the monitoring of antisemitic and Islamophobic hate. The law will also be changed to make repeatedly demonstrating at sensitive locations a crime.”

Fiona Sharpe, spokeswoman for the Sussex Jewish Representative Council, said:

“For too long these these xenophobic anti-Jewish racists have been allowed to bully the Jewish and Israeli communities in Brighton and Hove. They do so under the guise of humanitarian anti-racism. But the reality is that they want to make Jewish people feel uncomfortable in our own city and now even our homes. The idea that we should have to sign a purity pledge is obscene.

“The Jewish community, along with our friends and allies, are calling on all decent people to stand with us on Sunday and go to your local supermarket and buy some Israeli products. Take a positive action to counter their hateful discrimination. Tell them, show them, that Brighton really is a City of Sanctuary for all people, not just those they deem worthy.”

The “Apartheid Free Zone” campaign originally began in Bristol last year. Green MP Carla Denyer, who was the party’s co-leader at the time, recorded a video publicly supporting the initiative, describing it as “this brilliant grassroots community organised campaign in solidarity with the people in Palestine. They’ve already got 5,000 households already signed up to boycott apartheid goods from occupied Palestine and I’m one of those people who’ve signed up.”

A spokesperson for the Board of Deputies said: “The ‘Apartheid-Free Zone’ door-knocking campaign in Brighton is deeply troubling for many Jewish residents. Political debate is legitimate. Coercive, purity-style pledges that have an intimidating effect Jewish communities are not.

“Going door-to-door asking neighbours to sign ideological pledges creates a hostile and divisive atmosphere. We call on political leaders to reject this divisive politics.”

The local Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, Sian Berry, was quoted in the original Sky News article, but notably did not directly comment on the “Apartheid Free Zone” campaign itself. Jewish News has approached her for further comment.