Pro-Israel British MP says he won’t seek reelection due to relentless threats, attacks

A British lawmaker who represents a mainly Jewish area and holds pro-Israel views has announced he will not seek reelection, because of a spate of threats and an arson attack on his office.

Mike Freer’s decision comes as antisemitic incidents surge in the UK in the wake of Israel’s war with Hamas.

Freer, 63, is not Jewish but his Finchley and Golders Green constituency in north London is one of the biggest Jewish areas in the country.

The Conservative MP wrote to his local constituency group on Sunday to inform them of his decision not to contest the next election later this year.

In his letter, published by the group last night, he says he has had “several serious threats” to his personal safety.

Since he was first elected in 2010, Freer has been targeted by Muslims Against Crusades, which the UK government has banned as a terror organization. That, and the 2021 murder of fellow Conservative MP David Amess, had placed “intolerable stress” on his husband and wider family, he writes.

Amess’s killer Ali Harbi Ali, an Islamic State group follower, had visited Freer’s constituency office but he was not there.

Freer tells the Daily Mail in an interview that the arson attack on December 24 was “the final straw.”

“Obviously your husband or your family’s views have to carry a lot of weight. And when someone worries that, ‘are you going to come home at night,’ you have to take that seriously,” he says.

Freer tells the Mail that hostility toward MPs is “par for the course” but adds: “You shouldn’t really have to think, am I going to survive the day?”