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A Muslim woman bravely defended a Jewish family who were the subject of anti-Semitic abuse on the London Underground.

The disturbing moment was caught on video, which shows a man aggressively reading anti-Jewish passages from the Bible to two young boys wearing skullcaps, while on the Northern Line on Friday.

The man is seen shouting over the child as a man, who appears to be his father, calmly puts his arm around the shell-shocked boy and distracts him, saying ‘just ignore him’.

Soon, other passengers begin to intervene before the man, who was wearing a cap and a hoody, threatens someone off-camera and threatens to ‘smack you right in your nose’.




A Muslim woman then defends the family and calmly confronts him saying: ‘Come on man, there’s children here.’

He swerves around to face her and accuses the Jewish community of funding the slave trade, adding: ‘These people are imposters who are now trying to claim our heritage’.

The video shows the man shouting anti-Jewish passages at the child from the Bible (Picture: Chris Atkins/PA)

The brave woman soon steps in to remind him that there are children on the Tube (Picture: Chris Atkins/PA)

The woman tries to calm him but he shouts at her: ‘Do you care about your people?’, before adding: ‘And why are you wearing trousers, man? You shouldn’t be wearing trousers. You don’t even follow your own s***.’

British Transport Police have launched an investigation into the incident and are appealing to the public for information.

Chris Atkins, 43, filmed the ‘shocking’ moment at midday after catching the Tube heading south on the Charing Cross branch of the line.

The journalist said: ‘I’ve lived in London for 20 years and you’re used to people ranting on the Tube – it was only after a minute I realised, “hang on this is really, really anti-Semitic”.

‘It was the children that really got me and everyone else, he was just screaming at these children. It was horrific in every sense.

‘He seemed to be a very committed Christian and believed this was the word of God – that it said in the Bible Jews killed Jesus and they are all slave masters.

‘It’s the kind of stuff you see on Twitter a lot… but to hear someone actually say it unashamedly was shocking.’

The boy is comforted by a man who tells him to ‘just ignore him’ (Picture: Chris Atkins/PA)

Mr Atkins praised the woman who put herself on the line to defend the family and said although the incident was horrific, it was ‘heartening’ to see Londoners of all religions sticking together.

‘The Muslim woman didn’t take any s*** from him and really, really took him to task, very firmly and persistently,’ he added.

‘In this day and age we are told how intolerant everyone is and all religions hate each other and there you had a Muslim woman sticking up for some Jewish children.’

Filmmaker Mr Atkins filmed for around two minutes ‘on instinct’ before moving to swap seats with the young boy next to the man.

He continued: ‘I was sat between the guy and the family to try and be a bit of a barrier.



‘Then another guy came up and started talking to him who was very good, who basically said “what is it in the Bible?” and “tell me where it shows that” just to divert attention away from the family.

‘It was horrific but it was also quite heartening to see Londoners of all creeds and colours taking him to task.’

Soon the man begins shouting at the woman telling her she ‘shouldn’t be wearing trousers’ (Picture: Chris Atkins/PA)

Mr Atkins said the family got off the train a few stops later at Leicester Square and the father of the two boys gave him consent to share the video on Twitter.

He has since given information to the police and said he is willing to give a witness statement if needed.

In a statement the British Transport Police said: ‘We are aware of a video circulating on Twitter which shows passengers being harassed and being targeted with anti-Semitic abuse on a Northern Line train.

‘Enquiries are being made in relation to this footage’.

Anyone who witnessed what happened, or who has information, is asked to contact BTP by sending a text to 61016 or by calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 357 of 22/11.

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