JAMES Cleverly today slammed a pro-Palestine campaign stunt outside the Commons as “antisemitic”.
Protestors sparked outrage on Wednesday after projecting the chant “from the river to the sea” onto Big Ben.
The Home Secretary labelled the slogan, which calls for the destruction of Israel, “deeply offensive” and “clearly antisemitic”.
Met officers were heavily criticised for not intervening to stop the projection as MPs debated a ceasefire in Gaza.
Mr Cleverly insisted cops have “have our backing” to arrest protestors who cross the line from criticism of Israel to anti-Jewish racism.
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He said he would not “impinge on operational decisions" and didn’t “know how easy it would have been” for officers to shut the projection down.
The Home Secretary told LBC: “The simple fact is, it is deeply offensive and clearly antisemitic and that is without question.
“What the conversation I will continue to have with the Metropolitan Police, with the Mayor of London and others is that they must take action to ensure that everyone feels safe and secure, particularly at this difficult stage, the Jewish community.”
A Downing Street called the campaign stunt “wrong” - but stopped short of insisting police should have intervened.
A No 10 spokeswoman said: "It is rightly a decision for the independent police to make operational decisions on the ground.
"But at the same time, I think most people would agree, irrespective of operational decisions which are rightly for the police, that that that was wrong.
She added: "We're very clear that harassment, abuse, intimidation is unacceptable.”
Braverman's blast
It came as Cabinet ministers yesterday appeared to throw a lifeline to under-fire Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay.
The Home Secretary blamed his bungling of the Gaza debate on a genuine attempt to protect MPs from extremists, bullying them to vote a certain way.
Mr Cleverly said: "It's incredibly important that we do not allow a situation to be created where people cannot vote with their belief and conscience because of fear of reprisals.
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"The ballot box is where people and organisations should make their views clear."
Meanwhile, his predecessor Suella Braverman wrote in The Telegraph that "the Islamists, the extremists and the antisemites are in charge now."
Ms Braverman said Britain is "sleeping walking into a ghettoised society" and accused Sir Keir Starmer of “being in hock” to extremists.
