Lubavitcher Faces Anti-Semitism in London Twice in One Hour

A Lubavitcher from London faced anti-Semitism twice in one hour from fellow public transit passengers. He says these types of incidents are becoming increasingly common.

By Anash.org reporter

A Lubavitcher chossid faced anti-Semitim twice in one hour while riding the public transit system in North London.

Yochai Liberov was sitting on a bus at around 11:40 pm on Motzei Shabbos when another passenger got up and began to threaten to physically attack him, hurling anti-Semitic insults. A short time later, while walking down the escalator at Oxford Circus London Underground station, he was again subject to anti-Semitic behavior by a group of males.

Liberov was dressed in traditional chassidic clothing, and there was no prior communication before they lashed out at him. He has been left “very shaken” as a result.

During both incidents, Yochai tried to de-escalate the situation and began recording them with his phone. His videos have since attracted the attention of multiple news outlets across England and beyond, raising awareness of the growing anti-Semitic vibe on London streets and the need to combat it.

“This happens often, it’s an everyday occurrence”, Yochai said. “Some Jewish people think that if we ignore it, it’ll stop. I think that we need to stand up for ourselves, in a safe way. If you see something, say something, and if someone is in a position to do something about it, do something.”

Siwan Hayward, director of compliance, policing operations and security at TfL, said: “We are appalled by the shocking incidents. All our customers have the right to travel without fear of abuse or intimidation, and hate crime has absolutely no place on our network.

“We stand against hate crime and are looking into these incidents urgently with the police. We urge anyone who experiences or witnesses hate crime to report it to the police immediately. It’s important that people tell us so we can stop it from happening again.”