How Jewish-looking do you have to be to be considered too provocative to cross the road?

During the now-routine pro-Palestine marches through London on Saturdays, should Jewish people like me have to take detours or adjust our appearance because the Metropolitan Police is seemingly incapable of distinguishing between free speech and hate speech, asks Mark Honigsbaum

Gideon Falter was told he looked ‘openly Jewish’ by a Metropolitan Police officer (Campaign Against Antisemitism/PA)

Is it only Jews who sport kippas and Magen Davids (Stars of David) who should fear for their safety as they go about their business in central London? Or – in the wake of the video of antisemitism campaigner Gideon Falter being told by a policeman that it was not safe for him to cross a pro-Palestinian rally in Aldwych because he was “openly Jewish” – should all British Jews now fear for their safety?

I am Jewish and have lived in London all my life. During that time, I have participated in, or in my capacity as a journalist, observed countless demonstrations, including marches by pro-Palestinian demonstrators who share my dismay at the appalling carnage being wrought in Gaza by Israel.

The difference between me and Falter is that I do not appear openly Jewish, and have never been told by a policeman that they are concerned by “the reaction to my presence”, as Falter was nine days ago.