BBCA woman who cut down yellow ribbons at a north London park dedicated to Israeli hostages has defended her actions.
Nadia Yahlom was filmed removing the ribbons attached to railings at Princes Avenue Park in Muswell Hill, in Haringey, on 6 October – the eve of the two-year anniversary of the Israel-Gaza war.
She spoke to the BBC exclusively, before the release of the last 20 surviving hostages and the return of almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees on Monday. She asked why are the “only lives worth commemorating Jewish lives?”.
Members of the local Jewish community have condemned her actions, with one of the people who challenged her at the time describing them as “morally repugnant”.
‘Witch hunt’
Ms Yahlom said she never intended to become a focus of attention and had been threatened with rape and violence since cutting down the ribbons, which symbolised calls for a return of the hostages captured by Hamas two years ago.
“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,” she said.
In the widely shared video footage, she was heard being criticised as she took the ribbons down.
The yellow “bring them home” ribbon symbolises hope for the safe return of hostages held in Gaza, taken on 7 October 2023.
Ms Yahlom was interviewed under caution by police following the removal of the ribbons from the railings on Fortis Green Road, although she was not arrested.
When asked why she took the ribbons down, Ms Yahlom told BBC London 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”.
“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.”
A recent United Nations commission of inquiry report found that Israel had committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, although Israel’s foreign ministry said it categorically rejected the report, denouncing it as “distorted and false”. Israel’s bombing campaign and ground invasion have killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
In her interview with the BBC, Ms Yahlom defended her actions “as a peaceful form of protest”, saying said she had felt “offended, intimidated and threatened” by the presence of the ribbons.
She added that she did not think the ribbons truly represented Israeli civilian hostages.
Although Ms Yahlom was seen removing the ribbons the day before the second anniversary of the 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 hostages taken, she said: “I actually wasn’t aware that it was close to the anniversary.”
She added that conversations about the “oppression of Palestinian people” should not just stop at 7 October, they should go “all the way back to 1948”.
BBC/Harry LowSpeaking about the reaction to her cutting down the ribbons, Ms Yahlom said she had become the subject of a “targeted hate campaign”.
“I snipped a handful of ribbons from a railing that had been placed in a public park that I use every day in my local community.
“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 said those people were wrongly removing the focus from the loss of life in Gaza.
“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?”
When asked if she was concerned about accusations of antisemitism, Ms Yahlom said: “I think it’s antisemitic to imply that a Jewish person who is standing in principled opposition to a genocide is driven by hatred.
“I never intended to put myself and my family in this line of fire. But now that I have a platform, I have an opportunity as a Palestinian Jew to say: ‘Not in my name.’
“On the way to this interview, I passed by a number of Palestinian flags and stickers calling for Palestinian liberation, speaking out against Israeli apartheid, calling for an end to the genocide, all of which had been ripped down.
“I myself once encountered a woman in Muswell Hill taking down a sticker with a Palestinian flag, I engaged her in discussion about it. We obviously had very different opinions about what had happened.
“What didn’t happen is that I called a mob to attack her, intimidate her, threaten her film her without her consent, and subject her to a ceaseless campaign of physical attacks, threats against her life and threats against her family.
“The community in Muswell Hill was whipped up into a frenzy by frankly irresponsible and sensationalist media reporting [surrounding the ribbon cutting].
“It is astonishing to me, to see what it means to speak out about genocide.
“That’s the difference in what happened when I spoke reasonably to a woman who was taking down a Palestinian flag as opposed to the actions [which followed after the ribbon cutting].”
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said the case was being investigated as racially aggravated criminal damage and racially aggravated public order offence.
“As part of our thorough investigation, officers will examine all evidence to understand whether the incident was either motivated by hostility towards a racial group, or whether those under suspicion demonstrated such hostility during the reported offence,” the spokesperson said.
The force added it was now also investigating reports of a hate crime on Friday, 10 October and a threats to kill incident on Monday, 6 October.
