Hanukkah Bus Attack Investigation Closed By London Police
London police released new images of the men who attacked a busload of Jewish teens in the center of the city. Photo: Metropolitan Police.
London’s Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is no longer pursuing the men who in 2021 attacked a bus of Jewish teenagers celebrating Hanukah.
According to Jewish News, its investigation of the incident ended in July.
On November 29, 2021, several Muslim men punched, spit on, and pelted their shoes at the bus, which was transporting around 40 Jewish young people, when it stopped on Oxford Street, a busy thoroughfare in the heart of London.
“Video footage of the incident was shared on social media and we issued an appeal for anyone who recognized those involved to come forward,” a representative told the outlet. “The identity of those involved is still unknown. A decision was taken in July to close the case.”
The spokesman added that “hate crime of any kind is unacceptable” and suggested the case would reopen “should information come to light that provides a realistic line of inquiry.”
News of the incident outraged Jews across the world, prompting Jewish groups and leaders to decry the normalizing of antisemitic hatred and violence in the UK.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews noted at the time that “victims of antisemitic abuse are now being smeared as racist and therefore somehow less deserving of sympathy or, in the worst case, deserving of the abuse they received.”