A woman seen cutting down yellow ribbons for Jewish hostages held captive in Gaza has defended her actions and said she has become the subject of a “targeted hate campaign”.
Nadia Yahlom, 36, who is married to a Palestinian actor, was filmed using scissors to remove ribbons tied to railings near a synagogue in Muswell Hill ahead of the second anniversary of the October 7 terror attack
Around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage as Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.
Ms Yahlom told the BBC she had faced threats of rape and violence since cutting the ribbons down.
She said: “I am a Palestinian-Jewish woman living in that community who has every right to take a stance against genocide - a genocide that is being conducted in my name.”
Pressed on why she had cut the ribbons, she explained that after two years of “genocide” in Gaza, "we are still being told that the only lives worth commemorating, the only lives that have any value, are Jewish lives".
Ms Yahlom continued: "To me, it's astonishing that there can be moral repugnance about a handful of ribbons being cut and not generations and generations and generations of bloodlines [in Gaza] being cut."
Ms Yahlom insisted her actions were a “peaceful form of protest” and said she had felt “offended, intimidated and threatened” by the ribbons and said she did not think the items truly represented Israeli civilian hostages.
She also explained that she was not aware when she cut down the ribbons that the October 7 anniversary was nearby.
When confronted by horrified bystanders Ms Yahlom, a taxpayer-funded PhD student at the University of Westminster, declared that the bands were “condoning genocide”.
She voluntarily attended a police station and was interviewed under caution.
Ms Yahlom also told the BBC that she had faced a “targeted hate campaign” after she snipped the ribbons, describing how she faced a “witch hunt”.
"I have been the subject of physical attacks, of a doxing campaign, threats of assault and rape and violence that have been threatened against me and my family on the basis that the people behind that campaign want to silence me," she added.
"It's a deliberate attempt on the part of those who have led this witch hunt against me to do that, to try and shift the focus.
"In what universe do we think that the focus now should be on me cutting down some ribbons and not on liberation for the Palestinian people?"
The student said that she never intended to put her family in the line of fire and that she found it astonishing “to see what it means to speak out about genocide”.
Ms Yahlom’s mother had previously told The Times her daughter had been “pounded by death threats” since the incident and they have had to call the Metropolitan Police.
Husband Mo’min Swaitat removed all his previous posts on Instagram, and wrote that he and his wife will not be responding to messages because they have been “attacked by an extremist group probably working for mosad [sic] in our neighbourhood in north London”.
“We have been attacked and stranded to be killed etc,” he claimed.
Mr Swaitat, a director from the West Bank, moved to London in 2011.
Police have stepped up reassurance patrols after a video of Ms Yahlom was posted online.
Miranda Levy, who captured the original footage of the vandalism, said: “As a Jewish person I felt that pull to do something. It feels personal.
“These ribbons are to remember all the people who were kidnapped and those who are still there.
“There is a climate that it’s acceptable, you can get away with it and even more than that, that people applaud it.
“People think [they] are on the side of the good, the side of the righteous by standing against Israel and the Jewish people.
“Frankly what she was doing was anti-Jewish, anti-Israel and anti-humanity.”
Scotland Yard said: “At approximately 4.25pm on Monday, October 6, officers were made aware of a video circulating online which appears to show a woman removing the ribbons in Muswell Hill.
“Officers attended the location and are reviewing the footage to determine whether any offences, including hate crime or criminal damage, have been committed. Inquiries remain ongoing.”
