John McEVOY and Amaar Chowdhury, 23 Mar 2026
https://www.declassifieduk.org/revealed-the-internal-police-guidance-on-chanting-death-to-the-idf/

Lede: Police document says being an IDF soldier is not a protected
characteristic, in part because many Britons serve for Israel. We're publishing
it here.

...

In light of its diverse membership, the guidance said the IDF is "not a racial
group for the purpose of the criminal law" and being a member is therefore not a
protected characteristic.

This position was echoed by Jonathan Hall, the UK's independent reviewer of
terrorism legislation.

Last year, he said: "It's quite hard to show off the back of saying 'Death to
the IDF' that he [Robinson-Foster] intended people in the audience to hate
Jews".

The police guidance further noted that words "likely to cause harassment, alarm
or distress" must be voiced "within sight and hearing of someone likely to be
caused" distress.

For instance, it said, "there is a big difference between someone who has
voluntarily attended an event... and someone who by chance overhears the words
in a public space".

In other words, chanting a controversial slogan at an event that people have
chosen to attend is quite different to chanting it at passerbys in the street.

Cont'd ...