Anti-Hamas meme: British blogger arrested; UK officers suspect ‘racial hatred’ – The Times of India

A British blogger was arrested for sharing an anti-Hamas meme, “F**k Hamas,” on social media, Fox News reported. Pete North, 47, was detained at his Yorkshire home in the UK on September 25 for sharing a meme on X in August that read “F— Hamas,” accompanied by a Palestinian flag and further offensive remarks targeting Palestine and Islam. In the footage, North recorded officers explaining that he was being arrested “on suspicion of publishing or distributing written material intended to stir up racial hatred.”

North confirmed to The Telegraph that while the meme included offensive references to Palestine and Islam, the officers appeared primarily concerned with the anti-Hamas content. “The officer in the interview said, ‘Well, firstly, let’s start with the meme. You posted a meme that said f— Hamas,’” North recalled. “I said, ‘yeah, I did post a meme that said f— Hamas, because Hamas are a proscribed terrorist organisation internationally, including in Britain’.” He added, “I then asked him, ‘Just so we’re on the same page, you do know who Hamas are?’ And he just… shook his head. He looked totally blank. If you’re going to arrest people for memes, you probably need to pay more attention to current affairs.” Two North Yorkshire officers arrested North at his home and took him to Harrogate police station. After being questioned for several hours, he was released without charge. North told The Telegraph he questioned the officer’s awareness of Hamas’s atrocities, including the murder of civilians on October 7. “He was totally oblivious,” North claimed. “I feel quite strongly that what political cartoons and memes I post on social media is none of the police’s business,” North stated. “Nobody should be facing police inquiries for posting memes on Twitter. The whole point of this exercise is not to win convictions. It’s to terrorise people like me into thinking twice about posting spicy memes,” he added. North Yorkshire Police confirmed the arrest, stating: “A 47-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of publishing or distributing written material intended to stir up racial hatred. He has been released under investigation while enquiries continue.”