Prosecuting Jew hate: there are times when we didn’t make the right call, CPS admits
EXCLUSIIVE: After a notorious case involving an antisemitic football song was dropped, one senior leader tells Jewish News they want to learn more from the community
Michael Daventry is Jewish News’s foreign and broadcast editor
The lead prosecutor for hate crime in England and Wales has admitted his officials have sometimes made the wrong call when deciding how to take suspected antisemites to court.
Lionel Idan, a chief crown prosecutor in the London area, told Jewish News that the Crown Prosecution Service wanted to learn from its errors and correct them as quickly as possible.
His remarks came after the CPS was criticised by Jewish groups for dropping charges against two football fans suspected of chanting an antisemitic song at a passenger on a Ryanair flight last year.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism said that decision had been “beyond belief”.
But in this week’s newspaper Idan wrote: “In the recent case of two West Ham supporters who were filmed racially abusing passengers on a flight … it was not possible to prove to the court that their appalling behaviour occurred while the plane was in UK airspace where our courts have jurisdiction.
“I know that this is a frustrating outcome for many both within and outside the Jewish community and I would like to reassure you that the decision in this case was not made lightly.”
OPINION: Our prosecutors are working with Jewish groups to fight antisemitism
He said there were “many other cases” in which convictions were secured for Jew hate, referring to an eight-year sentence for an individual who posted antisemitic material through letterboxes and the successful prosecution of a radio host.
Idan added that working with the Community Security Trust, the charity set up to protect British Jews, had helped prosecutors better understand how antisemitism manifests in various ways.
“This includes long-established tropes and stereotypes, but also emerging language, references and behaviours which can be considered antisemitic. Our guidance also highlights the line where anti-Zionism can become antisemitism,” he wrote.
He said the CPS was also planning a question-and-answer session with Jewish communities and particularly in strictly-Orthodox areas where he said crime was currently under-reported.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
