Shocking video shows the moment two women tore down posters of innocent civilians taken hostage by Hamas, with one shouting ‘this is for Palestine!’
The British Israeli woman who filmed the encounter revealed how she received verbal abuse from other members of the public while putting up the leaflets in North London.
Neta Fibeefh, who returned to the UK on one of British Airways’ last flights from Tel Aviv this week, said things had been ‘unpleasant’ and ‘disturbing’ since she returned.
The 23-year-old said some of her Jewish friends have been ‘scared’ on the streets of Britain since the conflict broke out, sworn in and even trying to hide their religion to avoid abuse.
The PhD student, who knows someone kidnapped by Hamas, told MailOnline she was berated and intimidated by members of the public as she put out the leaflets to ‘advocate for human rights’.
Neta Fibeefh, 23, a British Israeli student who returned to the UK on one of British Airways’ last flights from Tel Aviv this week
One of the posters shows four-year-old Ariel, whose abduction together with his month-old baby brother Kfir and their mother Shiri Silberman-Bibas shocked the world
Asked by a spectator ‘why don’t you do something for Palestine?’ one of the women replied frantically ‘it’s for Palestine!’
The posters, designed by kidnappedfromisrael.com, show images of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas terrorists
One of the posters shows four-year-old Ariel, whose abduction together with his month-old baby brother Kfir and their mother Shiri Silberman-Bibas shocked the world.
Neta and her mother were putting up the posters around Mornington Crescent, north London, when people came to tear them down.
Two women then approached them and began ‘aggressively ripping off the leaflets’, with Neta filming the moment she confronted them.
Asked by another spectator ‘why don’t you do something for Palestine?’ one of the women replied frantically ‘it’s for Palestine!’
Neta then told the pair that the issues were ‘not mutually exclusive’, before adding in reference to the missing posters ‘these are children, these are innocent people’.
The woman clutches stacks of posters and then shouts back: ‘How are the children in Palestine?’
Speaking to MailOnline in the aftermath of her experience, Neta said: ‘The last week has just been devastating.
“Innocents have been kidnapped – a close family friend of mine, her grandmother is one of those kidnapped.”
She added: ‘I feel safer in the UK because it’s not a war zone, but it’s still really unpleasant here. It’s just really disturbing.
‘I know a lot of people in the UK now who are afraid to be Jewish.
‘One of my friends is more religious than me, he wears a kippah and has been walking around with a hat for several days, and my father saw someone being cursed with a kippah.’
Neta and her mother were putting up the posters around Mornington Crescent, north London, when people came to tear them down
Two women then approached them and began ‘aggressively ripping off the leaflets’, with Neta filming the moment she confronted them
Shocking video shows two women tearing down posters of innocent civilians taken hostage by the terrorist shortly after they were put up in North London
Neta said all her friends in Israel are sheltering from the missiles and that people her age are called up as combat reserves.
She said she had been ‘restless’ since returning to the UK and wanted to do something to help, which is why she picked up the leaflets.
“We were advised to go in groups for our safety,” she said, but she decided to start leafleting while waiting for her parents to join her.
She was then approached by a man, she said, who told her: ‘I don’t understand why you’re doing this, it’s karma, they brought it on themselves.’
“I replied ‘It’s children, it’s innocent civilians’ and they said ‘it’s karma for what their people do.’
She says a man then came right up to her and swore at her and gave her the middle finger while shouting ‘free Palestine’.
Neta said: ‘It’s outrageous that in other places in the world where terrorist attacks happen, you don’t have to justify to people why it’s wrong.
“It’s not a political view, it’s just an advocacy for human rights.”
Hamas terrorists launched a bloody raid on towns near the Gaza border, killing at least 260 festival-goers and scores more.
They took about 150 people hostage, including mothers and children and a Holocaust survivor.
In response, Israel declared war on Hamas and has since bombarded the densely populated Gaza Strip.
Israel has reported at least 1,300 deaths since the conflict broke out, according to the country’s public broadcaster Kan.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said 1,417 people had died in Gaza.