The man reached the victim, allegedly squaring up to him aggressively with barely a metre between them. Within seconds, the man allegedly pushed the victim as hard as he could with both hands on the victim’s chest, forcing the victim to take a step backwards, all the while repeating: “You are Jewish. I am going to kill you.”
Again, the victim told the man to “back away” to which the attacker repeated “I am not going away until you are dead.”
By this point, the victim began to fear for his life. He had no inclination to fight the man and wanted to defuse the situation. He managed to extricate himself and head towards the self-service checkout machines, with the man following him and allegedly shouting more antisemitic abuse and death threats. He was also heard shouting in Arabic.
He grabbed what was apparently a knife and allegedly said “I will kill you now, you Jew.” The victim ran to the back of the shop before the man had the chance to reveal the weapon fully. He turned to see that the man remained by the checkout machines, still staring at the victim and allegedly performing a slit-throat gesture.
The assailant is described as being black and possibly of Somali ethnicity, aged between 25 and 30 and between 6’0” and 6’1” in height. He had a slender build and bad teeth, and wore a dark green beanie hat, a dark puffer jacket with large pockets, dark trousers and no gloves. He wore a dark facemask when in the shop. He spoke in English, with a mixed East London and foreign accent, and spoke Arabic.
