London Police Apologize for Not Protecting Jews From Anti-Israel Protesters Outside Israeli Restaurant Miznon

London’s Metropolitan Police apologized for failing to adequately protect the local Jewish community during a recent pro-Palestinian protest outside the Israeli restaurant Miznon in Notting Hill.

The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network UK (IJAN UK) has spoken openly on social media about organizing weekly Friday protests outside the restaurant co-owned by restauranteur Shahar Segal and chef Eyal Shani, both of whom are Israeli.

The anti-Israel group urges locals to boycott the restaurant because Segal has organized initiatives to provide food to soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces, Shani has cooked for IDF soldiers, and both men are proud Zionists. IJAN UK has accused the Miznon owners of being “genocidal Zionists” and “genocide enablers,” and labeled the eatery itself a “Zionist entity” that supports genocide against Palestinians.

A protest outside Miznon’s Notting Hill location on Jan. 9 included “violent disorder” as demonstrators stood close to the restaurant’s entrance and chanted “violent and intimidating slogans,” including over loudspeakers, according to a letter to police signed by members of Parliament, The Telegraph reported. According to IJAN UK, one protester at the demonstration was arrested by police for allegedly chanting in support of an “intifada,” which calls for physical violence targeting Jews and Israelis. The protester was released by police shortly afterward.

Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman told The Telegraph that in relation to the Jan. 9 protest, Scotland Yard should have done more to control the situation.

“It is clear the planning, arrangements, and resources put into place that evening were not adequate, and we apologize for the distress caused to the business owner and wider Jewish community,” he said. “While we have a lawful duty to balance the right to protest, our response wasn’t good enough on this occasion and we recognize incidents like this create real fear within the Jewish community. We have taken immediate steps to review our handling to ensure lessons are learnt. Our plans should have been more robust to adequately protect the community, and we will be firmer in future – for example implementing effective conditions ahead of events where the law allows us to, and having sufficient resources available to enforce them.”

Officers should have ensured that protesters were not “immediately outside” the restaurant, but “unfortunately the policing plan did not in fact prevent such disruption and intimidation,” Harman admitted.

The police apologized for mishandling the situation after 89 members of Parliament and others in government wrote a letter to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley and expressed their “extreme concern” regarding the Miznon protests. The letter noted that Miznon had been “targeted by extremists on seven occasions since August last year” and that during the protest on Jan. 9, “around 50 protesters were allowed by police to stand close to the restaurant’s entrance, chanting violent and intimidating slogans amplified by loudspeakers and drums.”

The letter further claimed that police “wrongly prioritizes the right to protest over the rights of the Jewish and Israeli community to go about their daily life without facing harassment, intimidation, the threat of serious disorder, and damage to property.”

“While an apology is welcome, it does not make up for allowing extremists to run rampant on our capital’s streets week in, week out, for more than two years,” the Campaign Against Antisemitism said in a post on X. “A serious overhaul is clearly needed in how Palestine protests are policed. The Met no longer has anywhere to hide.”