Brickbat: 'Openly Jewish'

London's Metropolitan Police Service has apologized for threatening to arrest a Jewish man at a pro-Palestinian protest. Video showed police officers telling Gideon Falter that his "quite openly Jewish" appearance risked provoking the protesters and threatening to arrest him for "causing a breach of the peace" if he didn't leave the area. After the video was released, the Met first apologized for the officer's language but said counter-protesters needed to be aware "that their presence is provocative." It later deleted that statement from social media and apologized again: "In an effort to make a point about the policing of protest we caused further offence," it wrote in a statement. "This was never our intention. We have removed that statement and we apologise. Being Jewish is not a provocation. Jewish Londoners must be able to feel safe in this city."