Two men have received suspended prison sentences of six weeks for filming themselves “fishing for Jews” in London, intending to upload the hate content to social media.
The two, Adam Bedoui, 20, and Abdelkader Bousloub, 21, pleaded guilty in May to a religiously aggravated public order offense.
Bedoui and Bousloub had traveled to the area of Stamford Hill, home to tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews. There, they walked around with a fishing rod, a bank note at the end of it, as they “fished” for Jews, filming all the while to upload the video to TikTok.
At one point they verbally abused a Jewish man.
“Both suspects attempted to flee but were swiftly detained by officers at the scene,” police said.
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Bedoui and Bousloub’s suspended sentence is in effect for 12 months.
“These men deliberately targeted a member of the Jewish community, and subjected him to antisemitic abuse in a public place,” prosecutor Varinder Hayre said.
“They filmed the incident with the intention to upload it to social media and amplify the harm caused to the victim.”
Police Detective Chief Superintendent Brittany Clarke said: “These men thought nothing of travelling to Stamford Hill so they could generate social media likes from hateful so-called content.
“There is no place for antisemitic hate in this city and this case carries a clear warning for anyone tempted to commit hate crimes in pursuit of online notoriety.”
It was the latest in a series of assaults on Britain’s Jewish community that included a terror attack that seriously injured two men, and arson attacks on Jewish property, including synagogues. In the most deadly recent attack, two men were killed in a stabbing and car-ramming attack in Manchester on Yom Kippur in October 2025.
Some 63 percent of Britons say antisemitism is a major or significant problem in British society, according to a YouGov survey published in May in the aftermath of the Golders Green stabbings.
Stuart Winer contributed to this report.
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