Nadia Yahlom, the Palestinian-Jewish PhD student of the University of Westminster responsible for cutting down ribbons tied for Israeli hostages of Hamas, and her husband have claimed they were “attacked” by Mossad.
Yahlom, wife of Palestinian actor Mo’min Swaitat, carried out the act in defiance of what she called “condoning genocide.” The ribbons were tied to the railings of a Muswell Hill synagogue, with the video of the incident sparking widespread outrage from the local Jewish community.
via YouTube
The yellow ribbons symbolise calls for Hamas, the political organisation in control of parts of the Gaza Strip, to return the Israeli hostages taken during the attack on the Nova Music Festival in October 2023.
Following the incident, Yahlom’s social media accounts flooded with messages condemning her actions.
Now, Yahlom and her husband claim “an extremist group, probably working for Mossad,” were behind the backlash. Swaitat added: “We have been attacked and stranded to be killed.”
Just days prior to the incident, Swaitat’s Instagram contained posts referring to Israel as “the military colonial settler state.” Since the footage went viral, both Yahlom and her husband deactivated or made private their social media platforms.
Yahlom has long been vocal about her support for the Palestinian cause. She is a co-founder of Sarha Collective, a platform showcasing Palestinian experimental arts.
Support for the pro-Palestinian movement has gained serious traction over the last few years, drawing particular involvement from student-led societies.
A number of these, including Yahlom’s own Westminster University, have been implicated in controversies over allegations of antisemitism.
Via Al Jazeera English on YouTube
Yahlom’s recent public dispute prompted scrutiny over the appropriateness of her advocacy.
The incident occurred just one day before October 7th, marking the two-year anniversary of the Israel-Gaza war. Yahlom maintains that she was unaware of this at the time.
In an interview with the BBC, Yahlom defended her actions, insisting that she had done nothing wrong. She argued that cutting down the hostage ribbons had not been remotely immoral, and that she was “not committing a crime.”
Yahlom then went on to say the yellow ribbons did not “truly represent” Israeli civilian hostages.
“It’s a deliberate attempt on the part of those who have led this witch hunt against me to do that,” Yahlom said, claiming media coverage of her actions purposefully distracted from Palestinian loss of life.
She continues to defend her campaign as “a peaceful form of protest”.
The dispute prompted the Metropolitan Police to dispatch a local force to investigate the incident. Officers must determine whether Yahlom perpetrated any deliberate act of hostility – such as hate crime or criminal damage.
Yahlom and the wider Muswell Hill community still await clarity on the resolution of the case.
Featured image via Instagram.
