A pair of pranksters in the UK were just arrested after sharing video of themselves spraying Orthodox Jews with water pistols on their social media channels.
The videos, which have since been deleted from Facebook and Instagram, included the disclaimer: “This video was made purely for humorous purposes. It is just a joke and not hate speech in any way. Please do not take it the wrong way.”
But police aren’t seeing it that way. The men are being questioned for the crime of racially aggravated common assault, and police say they could be charged for committing hate crimes.
The Water Gun Attack
The video, scored to Jewish folk tune Hava Nagila, depicts the two men driving around and spraying Orthodox men with water guns. The video was widely condemned by Jewish groups, who say that pranks like this can perpetuate violent attacks against Jews.
Community Security Trust, a registered pro-Jewish charity in the UK, decried it as "an appalling antisemitic video," and a spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism explained that harassment like this go far beyond what some may consider a harmless prank.
“Targeting Jewish people for harassment is not a prank but anti-Semitic abuse,” they stated. “And doing so from the comfort of your car is particularly cowardly.”
“We are treating this incident with the utmost seriousness and have acted swiftly to make arrests,” said Chief Inspector Simon Ashcroft. “Greater Manchester Police has a zero-tolerance approach to hate crime, and we are committed to ensuring our communities feel safe and supported.”
When is Harassment a Hate Crime?
Does spraying someone with a squirt gun rise to the level of abuse? Jewish advocates say yes — and the numbers may be on their side.
Last week, the FBI released new hate crime statistics showing that hate crimes against Jewish people hit record highs in 2024.
17% of all reported hate crimes in the United States last year targeted Jews. Perhaps even more striking, attacks on Jews made up 70% of all religiously motivated hate crimes. That’s a sharp rise since Hamas’ October 2023 attack on Israel.
Most of these incidents were vandalism, followed by intimidation, and more than 250 took place at synagogues.
While a water gun attack might seem trivial compared to violent assaults, Jewish groups argue that it’s part of the same spectrum of harassment, one that erodes community safety and emboldens more serious offenders. Whether this should be considered a hate crime or just an act of idiotic cruelty is now for the courts to decide.
What do you think? When does a “prank” cross the line into hate?
54 comments
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Penny Prentice-Best
The intent here was not playful. The idea behind this kind of "harmless mischief" is to cause embarrassment, discomfort, to demean, belittle. It is not unusual for young adults to make bad choices. These young people may have thought that because they were using water guns, their actions were not so serious. Given the significant tensions between Israel and Palestine, the loss of life and suffering, and the attacks on members of Jewish communities in this country, the actions of these young people take on a heavier weight. They have demonstrated insensitivity and meanness of spirit that needs to be addressed, not brushed off. The consequences of conviction of a hate crime are very life altering. I am not sure that would be an appropriate response.
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Warren Calvin Wall
Semitic Jews around the world are suffering because of the actions of Eastern European, Zionist Ashkenazi Jews that control Israel. They are not Semitic Jews at all. Opposing the actions of Zionist Israel is not antisemitic as they aren't Semitic Jews in the first place. The Palestinians are Semitic people, as are a majority of the Middle Eastern people. Opposing Zionist Israel is actually the direct opposite of antisemitism. The Zionist Israeli are the real antisemites.
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Robin Anne Hannon
Yes, there are semitic Jews and yes there are Ashkenazi Jews. According to tradition and obviously you haven't done your homework, a Jewish person is considered Jewish through the mother. It doesn't matter if they are Eastern European, Semitic, Ethiopian, etc. Basically, if you can prove your lineage through the mother, you are Jewish end of discussion. The rest of what you said is unschooled at best. I would suggest you go back to your books and history and learn more. Israel was the promised land to the Jewish people according to God in the Old Testament. This was land promised by Him. During the diaspora Jews were spread to every nation around the globe. Many were persecuted, reviled, and many died for just being Jewish in World War two Germany. Six million Jewish souls died. In all of the prayers, the one prayer that was consistent was, "Next year in Jerusalem." The longing for the homeland they had been forced from was intense. When the Jews did return to Israel it was a desert. Nothing bloomed, everything was dead. Because of the work they did to restore the land, the desert bloomed again according to scriptural prophesy. Instead of spouting things that are unbiblical, hateful, and unschooled go back and read the history and study the Old Testament. What you have written is certainly not Christian, it is completely without fact, without merit and hateful.
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Leslie A. Hulberg Née Tomasura
That my friends is a hate crime. It doesn’t matter whether or not someone is physically harmed by the water gun attack. They are definitely psychologically harmed by it. Therefore, it is a crime. Whenever someone is “teased” for their differences, it is not teasing. It is bullying. Let’s do our best to put a stop all bullying behaviors. Stop it before it gets worse.
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Felipe Acosta
The more this behavior is tolerated the more its encouraged til it escalates to a dangerous level. I'm grateful it's being taken seriously by the authorities.
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June Whalen Gonzalez
While the perpetrators might find it funny - I'm positive they'd think differently if it were happening to them.
It's a hate crime. Period. These folks were targeted because they look and believe differently.
Mixed into this problem is politics .... and the war on the Palestinians.
How Isreal can forget that other countries conceded land to afford them a nation while continuing to deny Palestine the same opportunity. Maybe we wouldn't have had a terrorist group take root ! I am not blaming the individual Israelis but their leadership --- but then again - they were elected .....
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Cathy Johnson
What is the difference between a real gun and a water gun? One has water one has bullets. This is how wars are started. Would you see Jesus pointing a water gun or a real gun at someone? Those are the questions you need to ask yourself.
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Daniel Todd Kamm
Agree... I am not a very observant person, but these people knew what they were doing, targeted certain people and then put out a video with a disclaimer.
Now, I would hope that a squirt gun is not considered a lethal weapon (except in schools... you can disappear from the public school systems for a long time if you are over grade 3 and bring a squirt gun to school.. at least in this state... "it's a gun." Except when the holidays roll around, and certain vendors are allowed in to market items to staff including nerf guns , etc... and the school staff who complain about a child with a squirt gun can purchase the stuff for their little darlings... I have a big rock in my craw re: that crap.... Please. School to prison pipeline is alive and well here.
In the present case though, these were not little kids, they were people who they were being funny. And they were wrong. They sent out media complete with "Hava Nagila" to commemorate their heroics, and while I often find myself at odds with way more practicing Jews, they should not be targeted in this way, even in fun. Fear and trauma are real, and has a tendency to spread.
What needs to happen here, I don't know.... like, would these guys throw a spider on someone who is afraid of spiders just for laughs? Or give a peanut butter cup to a kid who is actually allergic just to see what happens?
I've seen both. Stupid pranks can have their consequences, sometimes to the victim, sometimes to the perpetrator, but usually both.
Peace Out tk
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Walter J. Holbrook
This is the ignorance shown in this country
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Robin Anne Hannon
Couldn't agree more.
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Robin Anne Hannon
This is not a prank. It is cruel, mean spirited, and aggressive. If I were a judge I'd sentence these morons to sit in an orthodox synagogue and learn for a month. No one should be accosted, not with water or words.
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Truebluebethy
I refuse to have a thermometer gun pointed at my head, won't normalize gun designs for myself or anyone else. Clearly a hate crime.
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Alexander Clarke
If you are not Jewish then it was a prank. If you are Jewish then it was a hate crime.
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David Wood
Hate crime. Your religion is a personal conviction. 1. Do NOT try to force it on others 2. No NOT attack people for their faith.
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Rev.J.Buchanan
How could anyone of sound mind do this to another human being, no matter what they are wearing, or what they look like? What if that was a 3D printed gun made out of coloured plastics? What if there was liquid acid in the gun? Those who are targeted do no know. There is a certain amount of trauma that goes along with any preceived attack, be it a prank or not. This attacker is not a child, not a teen, a grown man with no. common sense and should be charged. I'm not laughing, it is not funny in the least.
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Robin Anne Hannon
Amen Reverend well said!
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Hugh Scott Canter
Sad state of affairs we live in! While some think of it as a joke, others are offended by the so called childish behavior. What a horrible thing to do to another human being. What if it contained a toxic substance? Would you think if was funny then?
We live in the most gracious country in the world. Everyone should be proud of their heritage and belief.
Get right with the creator and stop all the foolishness. Before it is to late, lift up each other in prayer and respect.
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Lionheart
I am not sure everyone should be “proud” of their belief system. For instance, Islamists will never be content until everyone believes with their ideology. We are seen as infidels to those who are purists. Some factions of that faith believe we should be eliminated.
🦁❤️
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Pastor George Day
Lionheart
For once, we are in agreement.
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Tom Herman
Hate crime. The books ought to be ashamed of themselves. Even if they sprayed everyone regardless of who they were, it is still wrong.
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Maximillian Martin
I see nothing at all wrong with this. It's just more proof that society in general is getting weaker by the day!! Everyone already knows they play the victim in every situation. This is no more of a hate crime than farting in an elevator is!! But I guess if a jew is in the elevator he would call it an antisemitic hate crime and a gas attack!! It was only water!!! Grow a pair or don't go out in public anymore!!!!
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Alexander Clarke
Your comment is why we are in the societal mess that exists. If you fart in an elevator it is a gas attack. I'll take the stairs/
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Robin Anne Hannon
Wow what a horrible, antisemitic comment. What if acid had been in there instead of water? It is not just a hate crime; it is something meant to degrade and harm another human being simply because of their faith, their clothing, and their lifestyle. Matthew 5:22 is the only passage in the Bible where the term raca is used. Raca comes from the Aramaic term reqa. It was a derogatory expression meaning “empty-headed,” insinuating a person’s stupidity or inferiority. It was an offensive name used to show utter contempt for another person. Jesus warned that the use of such a word to describe someone was tantamount to murder and deserving of the severest punishment of the law.
In Matthew 5:21, Jesus recalled the sixth commandment, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13). In characteristic fashion, Jesus took the old law one step further by explaining the true significance of the law—a deeper, spiritual meaning they had never seen.
First, Jesus warns that the very act of murder finds its roots in an angry, murderous spirit: “But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment” (Matthew 5:22a). God, who examines the very thoughts and intents of the heart, will issue judgment upon unrighteous anger. Next, Jesus warns against name-calling, using “raca” as an example (verse 22b). Then He issues a third warning against those who call someone a “fool” (verse 22c).
The first-century Jews recognized that “anyone who murders will be subject to judgment” (Matthew 5:21), but Jesus warns that even calling another person insulting names such as “raca” is sinful. Murder begins in the heart, and epithets such as “raca” are signs that there is hatred lurking within. The hatred that causes one person to hurl insults is the same hatred that causes another to commit murder. The attitude of the heart is the same, and it’s this attitude that makes a person morally guilty before God.
Jesus not only warns us against expressing unrighteous anger, which can lead to murder, but clearly commands that disparaging denunciations and name-calling be avoided. Such abusive words reveal the true intents of one’s heart and mind for which we will be held in judgment: “I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve” (Jeremiah 17:10; cf. 1 Samuel 16:7; 1 Chronicles 28:9).
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Rev. Davis
As a disendant of Polish origin, he should be ashamed of himself, they are one nation of people who knew exactly what went on back in the day, and have kept the history alive for the future generations to stop things like this happening again.
They should be treated with the full force of the law and an example made of them, further more to do so in another country to which they have welcoimed you, is even more appailing.
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Rev. Davis
As a disendant of Polish origin, he should be ashamed of himself, they are one nation of people who knew exactly what went on back in the day, and have kept the history alive for the future generations to stop things like this happening again.
They should be treated with the full force of the law and an example made of them, further more to do so in another country to which they have welcoimed you, is even more appailing.
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Laura Holbert
I don’t understand why people can’t show compassion for other people. We are all humans just doing our best to get through this journey called life. Just be a good human. It’s not hard. If you are busy taking care of your life, you won’t have time to be messing in someone else’s. Be a good human today. Try to be the reason one person smiles today
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Maria
Absolutely a horrible hate crime! These two men should be charged asap! These Jews have suffered so much throughout history and especially the Holocaust. They don’t trust anyone (can’t blame them) and they just want to live in peace! They deserve that!
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Steven Ferrell
This is indeed a hate crime.
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Joseph Grieco
For everyone saying "It's only water" ask yourself this - "What if it were bullets?"
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Rev.J.Buchanan
Yes, it could have been a 3D printed gun made with colored plastic, or had acid in it. Not funny one bit.
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Robert Graherd Poole
Way to Jews ?, If it was to anyone yes it be a prank, but for me only to Jews, then yes not good.
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Keith Graham Ainsworth
Imagine the outcry if they had been using real weapons as Jews are using in Gaza against women and children
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Patricia Ann Gross
What the Israeili government (not the Jews, although some of the soldiers may be Jewish) are doing in Gaza has nothing to do with an Orthodox Jewish community in the UK. When did two wrongs ever make anything right? I agree with you on one point, though, that what the Israeli government is doing is only making life more difficult for Jewish people all over the world.
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Robin Anne Hannon
It has nothing to do with the Orthodox salient point. In fact the Orthodox do not serve in the army in Israel. They have special status as they believe in non violence. That being said Jews have always had difficulties and antisemitism, Gaza or no Gaza.
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James Riggle-Johnson
Some call it a prank, but it wasn’t random — these men targeted Orthodox Jews. That’s harassment, not humor. Brushing it off as “just water” is how prejudice gets normalized, and the next time it may not be so harmless.
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Maria
Totally agree!
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Timothy C Stone
There is nothing funny about this, there is nothing innocent about this. This is a hate crime. There is no defense for this.
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Patricia Ann Gross
Anything classified as bullying that rises to the level of a crime should be considered a hate crime. Bullying occurrs when the bully chooses someone they consider "less than" or inferior and pick on, steal, threaten, or assault them (among other crimes or inappropriate behavior). The simple fact that the videos came with a disclaimer that it was meant as a joke and not to be perceived as a "hate crime" only signals that the people who did this knew what they were doing was inappropriate and could be considered that way. The fact that they targeted Jewish people for this prank makes it a hate crime (if it is considered criminal in the UK to douse someone with a water hose, or participate in "hate speach" in general).
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Nicholas J Page
I live in England and this is the first time I have heard about it.The trouble is who knows what these idiots have filled their water pistols with lucky it was only water.
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Pastor George Day
Nicholas J Page
In which part of England are you located? This was not in London, correct?
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Clive Hessing
A clear insult to Hebrew culture in the modern day. Even the music in the background creates a bit of a suggestive theme in people’s mind. Not only a disrespect to the inherently Jewish community, but also to the recent tensions between Israel and the Middle East, it is quite disrespectful. It is a clear promotion to a suggestive theme “attack jews” with the theme being middle eastern music in the background 🫤. It is quite disappointing this is what they find as a “harmless joke”. To even try to convince you of such a thought creates a mind bending idea in the minds of others of either frustration or irritation. Such behavior publicly viewed taking places upon innocent individuals promotes violence in the environmental state of the world, as well as social media. With the United States already struggling with antisemitic protesting outside the very walls of our Colleges/Universities meant to tutor the youthful community on being productive, sound thinking citizens of society trying to find their way in the world. It is gimmicks like this that promote these type of loose reactions from individuals, and cause “the right to protest” to become not only a ministerial issue creating struggles for ministers trying to spread the full Word Of God, but it is also a legal back a forth in the minimal nature of the law when it comes to simple tolerant behavior across the communities of the world. It is not good on the influence of our mind. Better for us to seek peaceful interactions and humorous discussions to bring a smile to others even if it is recorded and quite literally only appropriately completely. Better behavior is the cure of the world. Everyone knows how ill misleading nature is in the modern day. To act as if misleading even a few people is a joke, it is also literal in truth and proven time and time again, no matter how minute, it is punished every time, time and time again. Clear advise for these type of acts “Do not do it”.
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Najah P Tamargo
Najah Tamargo-USA
Just another insult to one group of people!!! SHAMEFUL!!!!
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Reverend Paula Copp
Totally morally and socially unacceptable! Why would someone do that? What, exactly, is the point?
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Pastor George Day
Reverend Paula Copp,
The issue lies in the antisemitic sentiment propagated by the genocide allegations against Israel. Last summer, I traveled to a Muslim country and became target of physical abuse, being a Messianic Jew. I was forced to hide in the ladies’ restroom, the only toilet with a lockable door.
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Rev. BH
Orthodox Jews: a water balloon tossed back into the car window would surely be as "humorous".
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Robert Gagnon
If you attack any specific group it is a hate crime. Doesn't matter if it's Jews, Trans, homeless, and yes even Christians. These kids are as dumb as the facebook drug dealers that can't figure out who told on them. Some people are a real waste of oxygen.
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Todd Leslie Miller
Shouldn’t nobody water spray anybody who ain’t got a water gun like you have. The only place to squirt someone is in a real water fight where everybody is packing the same water gun. Targeting Orthodox Jews or any other group in this way is not funny.
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Brother Peter
It is inappropriate, just like spraying a Catholic priest in his robes, or any other religious figure would be . Very sad
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Elizabeth Jane Erbe Wilcox
Or a person in Pride garb, or in a food service uniform, or in a military uniform, or in medical scrubs.
This is way beyond a “religious” issue. Stop making excuse because of religion. There is nothing special about religion.
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Rev. BH
E.J.E.W. You forgot to mention homeless people in rags. Or are you only into uniforms?
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Lionheart
There’s nothing wrong with having a kink about uniforms. 😜
🦁❤️
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Rev. BH
Like MAGA caps?
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The man arrested, his name, Gamil, is typically associated with Arabic people, perhaps Muslim. Just sayin'. He seemed to indicate that he was just playing merry pranks on the public. Maybe. Maybe the only people he could find were wearing yarmulkes. I wasn't there. The video, from what is written above, is to the tune, Hava Negila, typically played at Jewish celebrations. The images, as I understand it, are of men in traditionally Jewish-associated clothes - yarmulke, etc. There are not images of Catholic priests being pelted with water guns, orn Hare Krishnas or of unknown religions. Schools don't allow water guns because they're guns. The message is clear. The producers were intent on humiliating Jewish men, bullying them, and displaying their efforts for the world to see. These people are bullys. The intent is clear. Maybe it's just water, but the symbolism - shooting Jewish men - is as damaging as lead bullets. These producers are chicken-poop bum holes, plain and simple. Express your distaste for events in Israel through peaceful mean - letter writing, peaceful rallies, communicating with legislators and leaders, and most of all, research. make sure you know what you're fighting about. Bullying is bullying and it does not gain you sympathy.
Rev. Jack Harte, DD, MscD
Excellently articulated!