British Woman Jailed for Claiming That 72 Victims of London Fire Died in ‘Jewish Sacrifice’

A British woman who falsely claimed that the 72 victims of an infamous tower fire in London were “burnt alive in a Jewish sacrifice” was sentenced on Friday to 11 months in jail for “stirring up racial hatred.”

The Grenfell Tower fire took place on June 14, 2017, when an electronic device set off an almost three-day blaze that gutted the building and, due to its shoddy construction, proved almost impossible to control.

Among the 72 fatalities were 17 children.

Blood libels regarding alleged Jewish ritual murder of children go back to the Middle Ages, and have often caused outbreaks of extreme antisemitic violence.

The Guardian reported that Tahra Ahmed, 51, who apparently volunteered to help victims of the fire, posted a ferociously antisemitic video in June 2017 that said, “Watch the footage of people trapped in the inferno with flames behind them. They were burnt alive in a Jewish sacrifice.”

The video then linked the fire to an antisemitic 9/11 conspiracy theory.

During the trial, Prosecutor Hugh French pointed to another post made by the defendant that “crossed the line as to what is acceptable in a liberal society” and espoused antisemitism. French reportedly said these posts were “clear demonstrations of racial hatred.”

“Looking at the language of the posts, the crude racial stereotyping and the insulting tone, the Crown say that you can infer that she posted them either intending to stir up racial hatred [or] that racial hatred was likely to be stirred up,” he said.

The defendant claimed her posts were “political” and not racist, but the jury disagreed.