Popular TV celebrity Vanessa Feltz victim of street attack 'because I am Jewish'

Vanessa Feltz has told how she was singled out by a screaming pro-Palestinian protester "because I'm known to be Jewish".

The popular broadcaster and Daily Express columnist recounted how she was preyed on in central London and feared for her safety as she was bombarded with vile antisemitic abuse.

Ms Feltz, 63, said: "I was walking to get to the Tube station when suddenly I heard very, very loudly, 'Vanessa Feltz, Vanessa Feltz, fascist Zionist scum'.

"I wheeled around and there was a guy, he looked like a white guy to me, not that I know what his origin was, and he was chasing me, screaming into a megaphone and chasing me shouting 'fascist, Zionist scum'."

Ms Feltz was saved by a good samaritan who ushered her to the sanctuary of the Underground

She said: "I'm a grandma, I'm 63 years old, I've never been an athlete, I was wearing wedge shoes and carrying a handbag, and I thought, 'Oh my God, I can't run and if he catches me what will you do to me, is he going to beat me up?' And also are other people going to join him, what's going to happen to me?"

The terrifying ordeal happened after Ms Feltz finished her LBC show which is broadcast from Global's headquarters in Piccadilly and was recounted during a conversation with Michael Bankole, a politics lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London, whose research looks at racism and political representation.

She said: "I'm only saying it because that's what I was called in the street. Obviously it wasn't because of the colour of my skin but because I'm known to be Jewish."

The deeply disturbing encounter came as Diane Abbott sensationally claimed Jews do not suffer the same racism as black people.

The veteran MP - a staunch ally of hard-left former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn - was suspended from the party again last week after defending her previous comments.

She apologised at the time and was readmitted before the 2024 General Election, but doubled down on her claim Jewish people experience racism differently to black people.

The chilling rise of open prejudice and hate in the UK has sparked panic Jews are being targeted with impunity.

Antisemitic hate crimes have overtaken Islamophobic incidents with more reported abuses of Jews than Muslims.

Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), said: "Hamas is a genocidal terrorist organisation committed to eradicating Jewish people. It managed to murder 1,200 of them on October 7, 2023. Hamas's main sponsor is the tyrannical Iranian theocracy whose regime denies the Holocaust while it plots another.

"Their supporters have taken over our streets week after week and the effects are being felt in schools and universities, in hospitals and cultural institutions, on television and online."

A recent YouGov survey of British adults' attitudes towards Jews found almost one in ten 18-24 year-olds have a favourable view of Hamas, compared to three per cent of the general public.

A CAA spokesman said: "Extremism is becoming normalised in our country, and as ever Jews are the canaries in the coal mine.

"British society is changing before our eyes [and] most alarming of all, our young people are becoming radicalised at a far greater rate than the rest of the population, sympathising with terrorists and espousing extreme anti-Jewish racism. If the authorities continue to let radicalism run rampant on campuses and on social media, it will not be long before we are looking over our shoulders at generation hate."