Signs twinning an Israeli city with Bournemouth have been removed in an apparent hate crime – leaving the town’s Jewish mayor ‘very upset and disappointed’.
The four signs at separate locations around the boundary edge of the Dorset seaside town recognised one of its twin cities – Netanya, a Mediterranean resort in Israel.
But they have been neatly removed from the main ‘Welcome to Bournemouth’ signs in unexplained circumstances that have triggered a police and council investigation.
The council nor the local twinning committee had any knowledge of the signs being removed, leading to suggestions that the motive may be sinister and related to the conflict in the Middle East. Others claimed it was an act of ‘woke virtue signalling’.
Bournemouth has one of the largest Jewish communities in the UK and was at one point a very popular Jewish holiday resort with a number of kosher hotels.
The sign for Netanya in Israel before it was removed on Magna Road in Bournemouth, Dorset
One of the other ‘welcome’ signs in Bournemouth, Dorset, where Netanya has been removed
Empty beaches in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya last Sunday, as the conflict continues
People enjoy the warm weather on Bournemouth beach in Dorset on September 5, 2023
However, there have been a number of Pro-Palestine protest marches held in the town since the Hamas attack on October 7 last year that started the war in Gaza.
Bournemouth’s Jewish mayor Anne Filer told how she was ‘very upset and disappointed’ by the removal of the sign.
She said: ‘It might be something completely harmless and there may be a very simple explanation. I hope that the police investigation finds them soon and gets them back to where they should be.’
MailOnline has contacted Dorset Police for an update on the investigation today.
Bournemouth has been twinned with Netanya – a Mediterranean resort city known for its sandy beaches, like Bournemouth – since 1995 and there have been frequent inter-town visits.
But Netanya has now been removed from the ‘Welcome to Bournemouth’ signs at Mountbatten Roundabout, Ringwood Road, Magna Road and New Road.
Michael Filer, chairman of the twinning committee, said: ‘It could possibly be nothing, no problem whatsoever, that somebody is doing some kind of repair work or the other kind.
‘But there could be unpleasant intent… we would like to get them back.
‘Bournemouth has been twinned with Netanya, who went through the Bournemouth Council some 20 years ago, and there have been inter-town visits on a frequent basis. I look forward to them being put back again and carrying on with normal procedures.’
A Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council spokeswoman confirmed the council had not removed the signs.
Netanya has been a popular Mediterranean resort but its beaches have become deserted
People sit outside a coffee shop in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya last weekend
A man sits on a bench in the Israeli city of Netanya last Sunday as the conflict continues
She said: ‘We have been made aware that some signage has been removed at Mountbatten Roundabout and several other locations. We are currently looking into this issue.’
People on social media have been outspoken about the incident. Among them was Andrew Marshall, who said: ‘It is unacceptable and it’s a strange coincidence they have disappeared at the time of this trouble.
‘The disappearance of these signs could be classed as an anti-Semitic crime. These signs have been removed deliberately as a woke virtue signalling exercise as not to offend. Pathetic.’
In February Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood was targeted by pro-Palestine protesters who gathered outside his home with signs accusing him of being complicit in genocide.
In the same month, activists from Led by Donkeys laid out a three-mile line of children’s clothes along Bournemouth beach to represent the children killed in the conflict.
