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'Antisemitic preachers' revealed to be Black Hebrew-inspired group

Footage on YouTube shows a group of young men in long, ceremonial robes attacking Charedim for being 'devils' and 'Yiddish-speaking abominations'

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Video has emerged suggesting the group of ‘preachers’ who abused local Charedim on Shabbat were from a group with roots in the African American Israelite movement, who believe they are the true Jewish people.

Footage uploaded to YouTube shows a group of young men dressed in long robes gathered outside of Sainsbury’s in Stamford Hill, east London, targeting members of the local Jewish community, which is largely strictly Orthodox.

They refer to Charedi passers-by as "Amalekites", "Edomites" and "devils" - as well as "Slavic, German, Yiddish-speaking abominations" who "own all the media".

Shomrim, the Charedi volunteer security group, also claimed the men used worse antisemitic language.

Metropolitan Police officers attended the scene on Saturday but no one was arrested.

The "preachers" appear to be from the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ – or a similar group – with roots in the American Black Hebrew Israelite movement.

The ‘church’, formerly known as the Israeli Church of Universal Practical Knowledge, has previously been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center in the United States.

It teaches that the true biblical Jews are the African Americans, West Indians, and Native Americans of North and South America – rather than those widely considered to be the Jewish people.

Philip Glanville, the mayor of Hackney, assured local residents that council officers had made themselves available to police to “assist where they can, including surveying local CCTV”.

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