A woman, who sparked outrage after she was caught snipping down yellow ribbons tied in memory of Israeli hostages, has claimed the tributes made her feel ‘intimidated’.
Nadia Yahlom, who is PhD student at the University of Westminster, was filmed vandalising the display in Muswell Hill, north London, with a pair of scissors on October 6.
The ribbons had been tied to commemorate the hostages seized during Hamas’s brutal attack in 2023 on October 7, when the terror group murdered more than 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 others.
But Ms Yahlom, who describes herself as a ‘Palestinian-Jewish woman,’ insisted she ‘wasn’t aware’ of the date’s significance when challenged by shocked onlookers.
As she cut down the display, she was filmed declaring: ‘Condoning genocide is disgusting and that’s what this is.’
Her actions provoked fury from local residents and the Jewish community, leading to her being interviewed under caution by the Metropolitan Police.
Officers confirmed she has not been arrested or charged but said they are also reviewing the footage to see whether any offences, including hate crime or criminal damage, were committed.
Ms Yahlom, who is completing a doctorate at Westminster’s Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media (CREAM), told the BBC that what she did was a ‘peaceful form of protest’ as she felt ‘offended, intimidated and threatened’ by the ribbons.
She said she felt ‘offended, intimidated and threatened’ by the sight of the yellow ribbons.
‘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.
‘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.’
Asked about the timing, she claimed: ‘I actually wasn’t aware that it was close to the anniversary.’
Since the footage went viral, Ms Yahlom says she has become the target of a ‘hate campaign’, claiming she has received threats of ‘assault and rape and violence’ against herself and her family.
‘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,’ she said.
‘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?’
Her husband, Mo’min Swaitat, claimed on Saturday that the couple had been attacked by men working for Israeli secret services.
Scotland Yard said it was investigating both the threats and the ribbon-cutting footage, confirming that reports of a hate crime had been received.
The yellow ribbon has long been a symbol of solidarity with hostages, first used during the 1979 US-Iranian hostage crisis.
In the latest developments, 20 of the remaining hostages held by Hamas were freed on Monday in a US-brokered peace deal, which also saw 2,000 Palestinian prisoners released as part of a plan overseen by former President Donald Trump.
