A shocking video shows the moment two women tore down posters of innocent civilians taken hostage by Hamas, with one of them shouting: “This is for Palestine!”
The British-Israeli woman who filmed the encounter has revealed how she was insulted by other members of the public as she put up the leaflets in north London.
Neta Fibeefh, who returned to the UK from Tel Aviv this week on one of the last British Airways flights, said things had been “unpleasant” and “worrying” since her return.
The 23-year-old said some of her Jewish friends had been “fearful” on the streets of Britain since the conflict began, being insulted and even trying to hide their religion to avoid abuse.
The PhD student, who knows someone who was kidnapped by Hamas, told Web that she was insulted and intimidated by members of the public when she distributed the leaflets to “advocate for human rights”.
Neta Fibeefh, 23, a British-Israeli student who returned to the UK this week on one of the last British Airways flights from Tel Aviv
One of the posters shows four-year-old Ariel, whose abduction along with his months-old little brother Kfir and their mother Shiri Silberman-Bibas horrified the world
When an audience member asks, “Why aren’t you doing something for Palestine?” One of the women angrily replies, “That’s for Palestine!”
The posters, designed by kidnappedfromisrael.com, show images of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas terrorists
One of the posters shows four-year-old Ariel, whose abduction along with his months-old little brother Kfir and their mother Shiri Silberman-Bibas horrified the world.
Neta and her mother were putting up the posters around Mornington Crescent in north London when people came to tear them down.
Two women then approached her and “aggressively began tearing down the flyers,” with Neta filming the moment she confronted them.
When another viewer asks, “Why aren’t you doing something for Palestine?” One of the women angrily replies, “That’s for Palestine!”
Neta then tells the couple that the issues are “not mutually exclusive,” before adding, regarding the missing posters, “They’re children, they’re innocent people.”
Clutching a stack of posters, the woman shouts back: “What about the children in Palestine?”
Neta told Web after her experience: “The past week has been just devastating.”
“Innocent people were kidnapped – a close friend of my family, her grandma, is one of those kidnapped.”
She added: “I feel safer in the UK because it’s not a war zone, but it’s still very uncomfortable here. “It’s just really annoying.
“I know a lot of people who are afraid of being Jewish in Britain now.”
“One of my friends is more religious than me, he wears a yarmulke and has been walking around with a hat for several days, and my father saw someone who wore a yarmulke being insulted.”
Neta and her mother were putting up the posters around Mornington Crescent in north London when people came to tear them down
Two women then approached her and “aggressively began tearing down the flyers,” with Neta filming the moment she confronted them
A shocking video shows two women tearing down posters depicting innocent civilians taken hostage by terrorists shortly after they were put up in north London
Neta was born in Israel but came to the UK with her family when she was three, before recently moving back to study for a PhD at Tel Aviv University.
“Saturday morning I woke up to the rockets, heard the sirens and saw the story unfolding on the news,” she said.
“As we saw tensions escalating, my parents managed to get me on a flight, pretty much the last flight back to the UK.”
Neta caught one of the last BA planes to leave the Israeli capital and said the plane had to wait on the tarmac while Israel’s Iron Dome fired missiles overhead.
She said that all her friends in Israel were seeking shelter from the rockets and that people her age were being called up as combat reserves.
She said she had been “restless” since returning to the UK and wanted to do something to help, so she took the leaflets with her.
“For our safety, we were advised to go in groups,” she said, but she decided to start handing out leaflets while she waited for her parents to join her.
She was then approached by a man who told her: “I don’t understand why you’re doing this, it’s karma, they brought this upon themselves.”
“I replied, ‘They’re children, they’re innocent civilians,’ and they said, ‘It’s karma for what their people are doing.’
She said a man then came right up to her, insulted her, gave her the middle finger and shouted “Liberate Palestine.”
Neta said: “It’s outrageous that in other places in the world where terrorist attacks take place, you don’t have to justify to people why it’s wrong.”
“It’s not a political point of view, it’s just about standing up for human rights.”
Hamas terrorists launched a bloody raid on villages near the Gaza border, killing at least 260 festival-goers and countless others.
They took around 150 people hostage, including mothers and children and a Holocaust survivor.
In response, Israel declared war on Hamas and has been bombarding the densely populated Gaza Strip ever since.
Israel has reported at least 1,300 deaths since the conflict began, according to the country’s public broadcaster Kan.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Ministry of Health announced that 1,417 people were killed in Gaza.