Video from London showing cars with Palestinian flags and loudspeakers blaring antisemitic threats of violence. Photo: Twitter.

The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service has dropped charges against two of four men who were arrested for driving through London while issuing violent, antisemitic threats over a loudspeaker, British media reported on Tuesday.

CPS said in court that it could not prove that Asif Ali and Adil Mota were among those who shouted “F**k the Jews, rape their daughters” and “we have to send a message” while waving Palestinian flags through London streets last May, the Jewish Chronicle reported.

“We are glad that the case against our client has been dismissed,” Adil Mota’s attorney, Ghafar Khan told JC. “We had advanced the innocence of Mr. Mota from the outset, he has stressed he is not antisemitic and has nothing against Jewish people.”

The shocking episode occurred during a significant rise in antisemitic activity at protests surrounding Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza, which helped 2021 see the highest number of recorded antisemitic incidents since 1984

At the time, London Mayor Sadiq Khan described the convoy as “appalling,” while then Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged solidarity with the city’s Jewish community.

“I stand with Britain’s Jews who should not have to endure the type of shameful racism we have seen today,” Johnson said last year.

Criminal proceedings against two other men in the vehicles — Mohammed Iftikhar Hanif and Jawaad Hussain, who have each pled not guilty — will continue, for charges of “using threatening, abusive or insulting words, or behavior, with intent, likely to stir up racial hatred.”

The Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit that works to protect British Jews, said Wednesday it has been in contact with CPS for clarification on the decision to drop charges.

On Thursday, the Board of Deputies of British Jews told The Algemeiner that it had communicated its concerns to prosecutors about the decision.

“While we are not party to the information available to the CPS and the police, we have made it clear that anyone involved in the commission of this crime needs to be prosecuted with the full force of the law,” the group’s president, Marie van der Zyl, said.

This article has been updated