Shocking video shows the moment two women tear down posters of innocent Israeli children who were taken hostage by Hamas – with one saying ‘this is for Palestine!’
The British Israeli woman who filmed the encounter has revealed how she received verbal abuse from other members of the public while putting the fliers up in north London.
Neta Fibeesh, who knows someone who was abducted by Hamas, told MailOnline that she was sworn at and intimidated by members of the public as she put the fliers out to ‘advocate for human rights’.
The 23-year-old said some of her Jewish friends have been ‘scared’ on the streets of Britain since the conflict broke out, being sworn at and even trying to hide their religion to avoid abuse.
The PhD student came back to the UK on one of British Airways’ final flights out of Tel Aviv this week, and said things have been ‘unpleasant’ and ‘upsetting’ since she returned.
Neta Fibeesh, 23, a British Israeli student who came back to the UK on one of British Airways’ final flights out of Tel Aviv this week
One of the posters shows four-year-old Ariel, whose kidnapping alongside his months-old baby brother Kfir and their mother Shiri Silberman-Bibas horrified the world
Asked by an onlooker ‘why don’t you do something for Palestine?’ one of the women replies furiously ‘this is for Palestine!’
The posters, designed by kidnappedfromisrael.com, show images of Israelis abducted by Hamas terrorists
Neta was born in Israel but came to the UK with her family when she was three, before recently moving back to study a PhD in neurobiology at Tel Aviv University.
‘On Saturday morning I woke up to the rockets, heard the sirens and saw the story unfold in the news,’ she said.
‘When we saw that tensions had escalated my parents managed to get me on a flight, pretty much the last flight going back to the UK.’
Neta got one of the last BA planes leaving the Israeli capital, and said the plane had to wait on the tarmac as Israel’s Iron Dome took down missiles overhead.
Neta said that all of her friends back in Israel are sheltering from the missiles and that people her age are being called up as combat reserves.
She said she has been ‘restless’ since returning to the UK and wanted to do something to help, so printed off the fliers to distribute.
One of the posters shows four-year-old Ariel, whose kidnapping alongside his months-old baby brother Kfir and their mother Shiri Silberman-Bibas horrified the world.
Neta and her mother were putting out the posters around Mornington Crescent, north London, when people came to rip them down.
Two women then approached them and started ‘aggressively tearing off the flyers’, with Neta filming the moment she confronted them.
Asked by another onlooker ‘why don’t you do something for Palestine?’ one of the women replies furiously ‘this is for Palestine!’
Neta then tells the pair that the issues are ‘not mutually exclusive,’ before adding in reference to the missing posters ‘it’s children, it’s innocent people.’
Clutching stacks of the posters, the woman then shouts back: ‘How about the children in Palestine?’
Neta told MailOnline in the aftermath of her experience: ‘This past week has been just devastating.
‘Innocents have been kidnapped – a close family friend of mine, her grandma is one of those who has been abducted.’
Neta and her mother were putting out the posters around Mornington Crescent, north London, when people came to rip them down
Two women then approached them and started ‘aggressively tearing off the flyers’, with Neta filming the moment she confronted them
She added: ‘I feel safer in the UK because it’s not a warzone, but it is still really unpleasant here. It’s just really upsetting.
‘I know a lot of people who are scared about being Jewish now in the UK.
‘One of my friends is more religious than me, he wears a kippah and has been walking around for several days with a hat, and my dad saw someone wearing a kippah get sworn at.’
Neta said that while her parents’ home is in a predominantly Jewish community, she is still worried about people knowing the family’s faith.
‘We have a small symbol – a mezuzah – on my house, indicating we are Jewish. I told my parents to take it down because I’m stressed.
‘We live in a Jewish area but I don’t know if it will be safe still.’
Her testimony comes as Rishi Sunak last night told police chiefs to get a grip on anti-Israel hate, with two Jewish schools in London closing until Monday for the safety of their pupils.
Shocking video shows two women tearing down posters of innocent civilians taken hostage by the terrorists shortly after they were put up in north London
Neta Fibeesh’s mother puts up posters of kidnapped Israeli civilians in north London
For her leafleting rounds, Neta said she had been ‘advised to go in groups for safety reasons’, but that she decided to start as she waited for her parents to join her.
While out putting up posters alone, Neta said she was approached by a man who told her: ‘I don’t understand why you are doing this, this is karma, they brought this upon themselves.’
‘I replied ‘It’s children, it’s innocent civilians’ and they said ‘it’s karma for what their people are doing”.
She said a man then came right up to her and swore at her, giving her the middle finger as he shouted ‘free Palestine’.
Neta said: ‘It’s outrageous that in other places in the world where terror attacks are happening you don’t have to justify to people why its wrong.
‘It’s not a political view, it’s just advocating for human rights.’
Pictured: Photographs of some of the Israelis who have been captured by Hamas on display in London
Hamas terrorists launched a bloody raid on villages near the Gaza border, killing at least 260 festivalgoers and countless more.
They took around 150 people hostage, including mothers and children and a Holocaust survivor.
Israel declared a war on Hamas in response, and has been bombarding the heavily-populated Gaza Strip with bombs since.
Israel has reported at least 1,300 deaths since the conflict broke out, while the Palestinian Health Ministry has said 1,417 people have been killed in Gaza.
Smoke rises following an Israeli air strike in northern Gaza City on October 12
Israel amassed tanks near the Gaza Strip ahead of a planned ground invasion to annihilate Hamas
Blinken urged Israel to show restraint in its retaliation, but also reiterated America’s support, saying: ‘We will always be there by your side’
The death toll is set to rise much further, with airstrikes continuing to bombard the small, Hamas-controlled enclave which is home to 2.3million people.
Israel’s military chief last night said, ‘Now is the time for war,’ as his country amassed tanks near the Gaza Strip ahead of a planned ground invasion to annihilate Hamas.
Israel has vowed to retaliate for the attack launched on October 7, the deadliest by Palestinian militants in Israeli history.
Seeking to raise support for its response, Israel’s government released harrowing images of babies who they said were murdered and burned in their own homes by Hamas terrorists.
Pictured: An Israeli soldier patrols near Kibbutz Beeri on Thursday, the place where at least 260 revellers were killed by Hamas terrorists during the Supernova music festival
One appalling image shows the small body of a baby, who couldn’t be more than 12 months old, lying on a now bloodied white body bag that is too large for it.
Graphic images were shown to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO defence ministers graphic images of children and civilians they said Hamas had killed in its weekend rampage.
Blinken said they showed a baby ‘riddled with bullets,’ soldiers beheaded and young people burned in their cars.
‘It’s simply depravity in the worst imaginable way,’ he said. ‘It’s really beyond anything that we can comprehend.’
Like others across the globe, Blinken urged Israel to show restraint in its retaliation, but also reiterated America’s support, saying: ‘We will always be there by your side.’
