Two ‘influencers’ have been questioned by police after allegedly sharing a video of themselves cruising the streets filming themselves spraying a water gun at Orthodox Jews. The footage, later deleted from YouTube and Instagram, reportedly showed the men laughing and smiling as they squirted water at traditionally-dressed pedestrians, including children, in Greater Manchester.
The video was soundtracked with Hava Nagila, a folk song traditionally sung at Jewish celebrations. The victims would possibly have feared initially they were being squirted with acid. The men, aged 26 and 36, were arrested in Bolton and are being questioned on suspicion of racially aggravated common assault, Greater Manchester Police said.
Officers also seized a vehicle believed to be the one seen in the footage along with a water pistol, the force added.
The video has been widely condemned, with the Community Security Trust, a charity that promotes the safety and protection of Jewish people, describing it as “an appalling antisemitic video”.
Chief Inspector Simon Ashcroft, of GMP’s Salford district, said: “We are treating this incident with the utmost seriousness and have acted swiftly to make arrests.
“GMP has a zero-tolerance approach to hate crime in any form, and we are committed to ensuring our communities feel safe and supported.
“We continue to work closely with our partners to provide reassurance and encourage anyone affected to come forward.
“We are also aware from other footage that there may be further victims, and we urge anyone who believes they have been targeted to contact GMP or the Community Security Trust (CST).”
The CST (Community Security Trust) said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter: “Following on from the appalling antisemitic videos, which were widely shared yesterday, two males have been arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated common assault.
“CST would like to thank @GMPolice for their support and swift action in this case.”
Reports of antisemitic hate incidents in the UK spiked a day after punk duo Bob Vylan’s controversial Glastonbury performance, according to fresh figures from the CST.
Jewish communities are facing “extreme levels of Jew-hatred” they added – revealing how a total of 1,521 antisemitic incidents were reported in the first half of 2025.
It was the second-highest number of its kind reported to CST, but down by a quarter from a record high in the first half of last year.
Responding to the findings, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said antisemitic incidents and crimes “remain shamefully and persistently high”.
There were at least 200 incidents every month in the first half of 2025, the CST said. The report relies on figures from incidents that are self-reported.
An average of 8.4 incidents per day were reported in the first six months of the year. The highest daily total of 26 came on 29 June, the day after the performance by Bob Vylan at the Glastonbury festival.
During the set, which was livestreamed on the BBC iPlayer, the punk duo led a chant of “death, death to the IDF [Israel Defence Forces]” and made other derogatory comments.
It prompted apologies from the BBC and Glastonbury and triggered an ongoing police investigation.
The CST said the incidents reported to the charity involved anti-Jewish responses to events at Glastonbury as well as to the CST’s subsequent statement on social media, which branded the chants “utterly chilling”.
Just over half (51 per cent) of all incidents in the first half of this year “referenced or were linked to Israel, Palestine, the Hamas terror attack (of 7 October 2023) or the subsequent outbreak of conflict”, the CST said.
Israel launched its military offensive in Gaza in response to Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken to Gaza as hostages.
More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed as a result of Israel’s military campaign, according to the territory’s health ministry.
