Police arrested a Jewish man in the United Kingdom for labeling a Rabbi a “kapo” on social media, in just the latest arrest in the country over free speech online. Rupert Nathan, a 63-year-old living in England, was arrested by police and kept in custody for 12 hours over the comments he made on Facebook that were directed at Rabbi Gabriel Kanter-Webber.
Nathan called the Rabbi a “fake” and used the term “kapo,” which refers to Jews who helped the Nazis during the Holocaust and is seen as a by-word for betrayer or traitor among the Jewish community. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has yet to formally charge Nathan for his remarks, which could potentially see him charged with “malicious communications.”
“I admit that calling someone a ‘kapo’ is not a nice thing to do, but it is not a crime,” Nathan told British media.
He also highlighted another recent case involving journalist Allison Pearson, who was visited by police earlier this month after an allegedly offensive tweet made last year.
Pearson, who writes for the Telegraph, said Essex police came to her home regarding a “non-crime hate incident” and highlighted it as an example of two-tier policing in the United Kingdom.
“We are living through an epidemic of stabbings, burglaries, and violent crime… which is not being adequately investigated by the police, yet they had somehow found time to come to my house and intimidate me,” she said.
Following the riots sparked by the Southport murders of three young girls, allegedly by a migration-background teen found in possession of al-Qaeda terror manuals, several Britons have been arrested for speech crimes.
Among them was a woman who posted “misinformation” about the identity of the alleged killer.
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