Israeli deputy mayor of Jerusalem accused of stoking race riots in UK

The deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Arieh King, has been accused of attempting to stoke far-right riots and tensions in the UK after posting repeatedly about the violence in recent days.

On Sunday 4 August, as anti-Muslim and racist mob attacks wracked cities and towns across the UK, King posted a cartoon image showing a brown Muslim-looking man with a beard and skullcap embracing a white British police officer, who has his arms around the Muslim.

“Together we will make this country yours,” the speech bubble from the policeman said.

“Thank you for being so weak,” the bubble for the Muslim read.

Lee Harpin, a journalist at Jewish News, denounced the post as “disgraceful”.

“Somehow has it in himself to suggest anti-Muslims riots in the UK are some kind of Muslim plot. Far-right narrative.”

Rabbi David Mason, executive director of the London-based refugee support organisation HIAS+JCORE, said: “This is just not real and basically Islamophobia drawn from conspiracy theory. That it is coming from a Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem is shameful.”

British journalist Aaron Bastani remarked that “if this was a Russian or Iranian account, and official, it would be covered by the media as overseas disinformation, foreign intervention, etc.”

Carl Zha, a prominent podcast host with over 150,000 followers on X, accused King of “trying to incite riot in England”.

‘Radical Islamic Movement’

Arieh King’s parents immigrated to Israel from England. He was elected to Jerusalem’s city council on the United Jerusalem party slate in 2020 and subsequently became deputy mayor the same year.

The founder of a settler organisation called the Israel Land Fund, King is known for working to settle Israelis illegally in occupied East Jerusalem and evicting Palestinian families from the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood. He has been widely accused of racism by critics in Israel. 

On Tuesday, King hit back against an accusation that he was trying to provoke a “race war”, insisting he was trying to save England “from the radical Islamic movement”.

The deputy mayor has been posting repeatedly about the situation in the UK in recent days, claiming on Tuesday that Hamas fighters who killed Israeli civilians on 7 October  are “supported by Muslims” in Britain. 

King also criticised British Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis that same day for signing a letter from faith leaders denouncing the far-right riots. 

He accused Mirvis of “hypocrisy” for supposedly being silent when “Radical Muslims” in England were attacking Israel and Jews. 

Far-right mobilisations are expected to continue in the UK.

Businesses in some places have boarded themselves up, as authorities brace for potential far-right attacks on Wednesday evening targeting immigration centres, refugee centres and lawyers’ homes.