Rob Rinder says he was confronted by a youth shouting ‘Heil Hilter’ in Carnaby Street just days after the terror attack in Golders Green.
The barrister and television presenter, 47, took to social media today to speak of the ordeal, as he warned “hatred is learned”.
It comes just days after two Jewish men, 34-year-old Shloime Rand and 76-year-old Moshe Shine were stabbed in a terror attack in Golders Green.
The suspect, named as 45-year-old Essa Suleiman, a British national born in Somalia, was initially pursued and detained by volunteers from the Jewish security group Shomrim before being Tasered and arrested by Metropolitan Police officers.
While out in Carnaby Street, Soho, on Friday night, Rinder said he was approached by a “kid on a bike” who at first appeared friendly, but offered up his “favourite “lyric”: “Heil Hitler”.
“I hadn’t experienced that personally before. The most striking thing: I wasn’t shocked,” he said in a statement.
“No threat. No anger. Not a victim. Just: what has been taught?”
“Hatred is learned. We are not defined by it. We answer it by what we teach.”
Suleiman appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on May 1, charged with three counts of attempted murder.
Two of the charges relate to the Golders Green incident, while the third relates to a separate knife attack earlier that same morning.
Rinder, whose maternal grandfather was a Holocaust survivor, has spoken openly about his Jewish identity, describing it as "central" to his existence and a "very public" point of pride.
He frequently uses his platform to highlight his family's history and to advocate for Holocaust education.
