David Soffer, a Metropolitan Police Special Constable, was filmed in Golders Green haranguing a journalist. He was part of a crowd that surrounded the Al Jazeera journalist who had come to report on the March 23 arson attack in which four ambulances were burned. The arson has been categorised by the Metropolitan Police as a hate crime. .
Reports of the altercation quote Soffer as calling the journalist a ‘dog’ and telling hin to ‘go back to Qatar’. Soffer is also said to have retweeted an offensive post about Gaza.
Declassified UK website reported that, in 1924, Soffer had retweeted a post by far-right activist Steven Yaxley-Lennon. Yaxley-Lennon, who likes to use the name of a football hooligan,Tommy Robinson, as one of his many aliases (presumably to cutltivate a ‘tough’ image), posted on Twitter saying “Fuck Palestine”. He added “The shithole is full of inbred Islamist parasites and terrorists.” Soffer responded, saying that Robinson “is telling the truth”.
One journalist, Matt Kennard, commented ‘Imagine if a Muslim off-duty police officer called a Jewish Chronicle reporter a “dog” and told them to “go back to Tel Aviv”. Would be front-page of every major newspaper. Starmer would have to make a statement. Let’s see if it’s even covered at all when it’s this way round…’
Soffer is also reported to be involved in a ‘reputation management’ company. You have to wonder what reputation he was trying to manage when he got involved with the mob that intimidated journalists. We will wait to see what action the Metropolitan Police takes against a pro-Israeli activist who intimidates journalists.