Man pleads guilty to making antisemitic posts on X

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A man has pleaded guilty to making antisemitic posts on X, formerly Twitter, that included calls for a “Jew-free world”.

Peter Kandalaft, 57, sent multiple tweets following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent invasion of Gaza.

Prosecutor James Cable told Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday that the posts included “let’s smash the Jews”, “let them Jews die and pile them high” and that “we all need a Jew-free world and world peace”.

One was sent in response to an image of a dead person in an Israel Defence Forces uniform, Mr Cable said.

The post said they would “look even better when I stamp on their Jew heads as well”.

The court heard Kandalaft posted 21 tweets between November 2 and December 25 2023 that were reported to the police by a charity that aims to protect British Jews from antisemitism.

But his X account – Kandalaft_Peter – had been suspended by the time police investigated the report.

As a result, the force were unable to access any posts beyond those captured by the charity.

Officers arrested Kandalaft at his home address in Bourneside Road, Addlestone, Surrey on January 11 and seized an iPhone and iPad.

During police interview, he said he was Palestinian, his account had been hacked, and that he had “no particular views on Hamas or Jewish people”, Mr Cable said.

The iPad and iPhone were found to contain a series of emails with X about the account, including ones to say it had been suspended and that Kandalaft had tried to appeal the suspension.

His defence barrister Norman Cho asked District Judge Nina Tempia to consider issuing the defendant a fine, and said: “Mr Kandalaft regrets saying this, the tweets have ruined his reputation.

“He is an intelligent man, he was overcome by the events at the time – it doesn’t excuse the way he phrased it.”

Judge Tempia responded: “It is an extremely serious offence – you say your client regrets saying what was said on Twitter, but people say things online because they think they can get away with it, but that didn’t happen.”

The court heard Kandalaft is of previous good character and his posts had relatively low engagement, with one having 22 views when it was documented by the charity.

He appeared in the dock wearing a blue suit and with his long grey hair tied in a ponytail, and spoke only to confirm his name, age and to plead guilty to sending “at least three” indecent, obscene or menacing posts on X between November 19 and December 19 2023.

He was released on conditional bail and ordered not to post on X, and also faces a charge of possessing an offensive weapon that will be dealt with at the same court on August 19.