Staff at Waitrose store reportedly refuse to call police after ‘F*** the Jews’ shopper tirade

Waitrose has been urged to implement a branch-wide response in the event of antisemitic hate crimes, after reports that staff at its branch in Harrow refused to contact the police after a Jewish woman received antisemitic abuse in the store from a fellow shopper.

As reported by the Jewish Chronicle, an Orthodox Jewish woman was queuing to pay when another person in line began verbally abusing her. A witness told the paper that the man “loudly claimed that the problems in the UK are not immigration or the Government but the ‘f****** Jews.’” The man was also accused of saying “F*** the Jews” and “kill Zionist Jews”.

The witness told the JC that he had told the man to shut up or he would call the police, but the man continued, leading to the Jewish woman leaving the store, “highly distressed”. The individual alleged to have engaged in the antisemitic abuse was able to pay for his shopping before leaving the store. The witness said that he had no phone and had therefore asked staff members to call the police but they had refused, and described how the branch manager subsequently also declined to contact law enforcement because the person responsible had already left the store. The witness described the attitudes of the Waitrose staff as “astonishing”.

Responding to the news of the incident, a Campaign Against Antisemitism spokesperson said:

“Has antisemitism become so normalised that supermarket staff refuse to report it to police? A witness reportedly informed two members of staff, including the store manager, but they allegedly refused to contact the police. The witness later allegedly reported the incident himself, and police have since opened an investigation. A Waitrose spokesperson has said that the branch reported the incident to police after an initial delay.

“It beggars belief that Waitrose did not immediately treat this incident with the urgency that it deserved. The supermarket chain must ensure that this does not happen again going forward, with clear, consistent procedures being implemented across every branch to ensure an appropriate response to antisemitic hate crime.”

A spokesperson for Waitrose said: “We want all our customers to feel welcome when shopping with us and have a zero tolerance policy towards antisemitism. We are very sorry our customer experienced such a distressing incident in our shop.

“We reported it to the police earlier this week, and we will cooperate with their investigation including sharing CCTV, which has been retained. Our branch management team was not given the full details of the incident at first, and we apologise for the initial delay in reporting it.”

A spokesperson for the Met police said: “A Met spokesperson said: “On Monday, 22 June, police received an online report of a religiously aggravated hate crime at a shop on High Road, Harrow.

“It was reported that earlier that day, a man in the shop made antisemitic remarks towards a woman.

“This was a third-party report, and officers are currently working to identify the victim in order to continue enquiries.

“We understand that concerns remain high within Jewish communities. We continue to have an enhanced policing plan, focusing our resources around vulnerable areas to protect communities, disrupt offenders and tackle crime.”