Transport for London Commissioner Andy Lord has made a personal commitment to meet senior members of the capital’s Jewish community later this week to discuss “providing a safe and welcoming transport network”.
In a message to the London Jewish Forum (LJF) informing it that the London Underground driver who led a “free Palestine” chant on a Central line train on Saturday has been suspended, Lord (pictured) told forum co-chair Andrew Gilbert he was looking forward to discussing the matter further with him and others and to apologising for the incident, which has made national news.
The LJF, formed in 2006, is an advocacy group for London’s approximately 145,000 Jews which engages with the capital’s governance and other public institutions.
Lord confirmed to Gilbert that the British Transport Police are “conducting their own investigation” into the Tube incident, which occurred on the day of a large pro-Palestinian demonstration in Whitehall and came the day after the Metropolitan Police said there had been a significant increase in hate crimes reported to it since the outbreak of the war between Isreal and Gaza, particularly against Jewish Londoners.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has already held a roundtable meeting with Jewish and Muslim faith leaders in response to the hate crime rise, which has also affected Muslim Londoners.
Today, London Assembly member Hina Bokhari thanked TfL and the Met for “responding quickly” to her requests to have Islamophobic graffiti removed from bus stops in her area of Merton where she is a local councillor – but also disclosed that a recent ward surgery a resident seeking her help “listed all the reasons we were evil to my face” on discovering that she is Muslim.
X/Twitter: On London and Dave Hill. If you value On London and its coverage of the capital, become a supporter or a paid subscriber to Dave Hill’s Substack for just £5 a month or £50 a year. Photo of Andy Lord from TfL.