‘Proud anti-Semite’ jailed for inciting racial hatred

The leader of failed anti-Semitic rally in Stamford Hill has been sentenced this morning to three years and four months in prison for inciting racial hatred against the Jewish community.

In February Joshua Bonehill attempted to stage an anti-Semitic march as part of far-right group Liberate Stamford Hill at Clapton Common.

Bonehill was arrested in June after after police discovered the 23 year-old was the person behind racist online posts in the lead up to an anti-Semitic demonstration in Golders Green in July.

The Yeovil man was charged earlier this year and convicted at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday.

Rabbi Herschel Gluck said it was “very sad” that a person from such a privileged background would waste his time inciting racial hatred.

“It is sad that he will be locked away but society should be protected from people who incite racial hatred,” he said.

Stamford Hill resident Shulem Stern said the sentence sends out a strong message to the “bad guys who think it is acceptable to incite hatred and terrorise a community”.

“Bonehill brought terror to the community and deserves every minute of his prison sentence,” he said.

As reported by the Hackney Citizen earlier this year, the Liberate Stamford Hill group was protesting what it believed to be the ‘Jewification of Great Britain’.

Ahead of the event, Bonehill told the Citizen he was “a proud anti-Semite”.
The rally received community-wide opposition and was later cancelled following a lack of support.

Bonehill is a member of the far-right National Action party with former links to the Conservative party, the United Kingdom Independence Party, and the British National Party.

Public Order Investigation Branch Detective Chief Inspector Andy Barnes, who led the investigation, said it was only by “continually working with communities that we can ensure they are safe and free from fear”.

“As this case demonstrates, there is no place for people inciting racial hatred under the guise of protest and those that do this will be investigated and brought before the courts to answer for this crime,” he said.

This story was updated at 6:10pm on 17 December with a quote from Shulem Stern and Rabbi Herschel Gluck.