A Jewish man who was targeted with an antisemitic rant on the Tube has thanked a Muslim woman who confronted his abuser.

In a statement, the victim said he feared the situation could have escalated to "physical violence" if the woman had not stepped in.

The man was travelling with his wife and young children on a London Underground train on 22 November when a man began hurling abuse at the family.

"My wife and I were sitting on the Tube travelling from Hendon Central to Covent Garden minding our own business, discussing with our children our plans for the day," he said in the statement provided to Jewish neighbourhood watch group Shomrim.

Antisemitic rant filmed on Tube

"A man boarded the train after I did. As soon as he got on he came over and asked me if we were Jews.


"He shouted at me that the Jews started the slave trade and threatened that I, my wife and children were going to be his slaves and suffer various other ailments."

The victim said the man also claimed Jews were "from the synagogue of Satan".

Footage from the incident, which was filmed by another passenger, shows the man reading a Bible passage and leaning towards the victim's young son.

A male passenger and a Muslim woman both confronted the man, who then directed further abuse at them.

The victim said the footage from the incident only showed a "short clip of a 15 to 20-minute ordeal".

He commended the actions of the male passenger and said he would like to meet the Muslim woman, Asma Shuweikh, to thank her.

"We are certain that without her intervention and distraction, [the man] would have continued his abuse which could have escalated to physical violence," he said.

Describing his thoughts during the incident, the victim said: "The only thing I could think about was the safety of my children and the best thing to do at that time was to restrain myself and try to get my children to ignore the situation.

"My wife and I tried to constantly reassure the children and distract them so they would not sense how anxious we actually were.

"We tried to remain calm and ignore the abuse, hoping this would keep our three young children calm."

He said the incident left his children "deeply worried and confused" and he now had "mixed feelings about society".

"On the one hand my wife, my children and I were subject to vile abuse in a full Tube carriage, however I am grateful for those who stood up for me."

Ms Shuweikh earlier told Sky News she feared the situation would have become "very violent" if no one had intervened.

"It was really not nice to see that as a mother… [The children] did actually get quite scared," she said.

A man has been arrested in connection with the incident.

A spokesperson for Shomrim northwest London said: "It is incidents like these which bring the issue of antisemitism into sharp focus.

"We are very thankful to British Transport Police for taking swift action and a strong stance on investigating all forms of hate crime.

"Shomrim NW London applauds Asma and the gentleman who courageously confronted the abusive man and defended the Jewish family."