An antisemitism advocate abused online and called an ‘ugly Zionist’ has accused the police of double standards and victim blaming after officers said she had made herself ‘a target’ by posting about Gaza.
Heidi Bachram, from Brighton, East Sussex, was bombarded with offensive terms, including ‘scumbag’ and ‘genocidal Zionist pig’ from an X account that has since been suspended.
She claimed that Sussex Police seemed reluctant to investigate who was behind the racist posts and advised her to simply stop posting about ‘politically sensitive subjects’.
But Ms Bachram said this was in stark contrast to a recent post written by a far-Right troll – that the force had proactively alerted her to and asked her to report.
She was contacted by police after she shared an image of a hostage memorial in Brighton that had been smeared with faeces.
One user wrote: ‘None of these people died in Brighton. F*** off, Jew’.
Over the last two years, Ms Bachram has established herself on X as a voice against antisemitism with more than 42,000 followers.
She was spurred on to grow her online presence after close relatives of her Israeli-Jewish husband were murdered and taken hostage by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023.
In the latest case of abuse, Ms Bachram said she was trolled by another account and the antisemitism was ‘relentless’.
The troll created offensive posts referencing stereotypes about Jewish men and women with large noses.
Another showed a photograph of released hostage Mia Shem, who was kidnapped at the Nova festival, accompanied by the caption: ‘Check out the beak on this one.’
Ms Bachram was especially distressed by posts referencing the Hamas hostages, because of her family connection.
Tsachi Idan – the first cousin of Heidi’s husband, Adam Ma’anit – alongside his wife and two children were held at gunpoint at their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz. Tsachi’s daughter Mayan, 18, was murdered, while he was taken hostage into Gaza.
In February, Tsachi’s remains were among the four bodies of Israeli hostages handed over by Hamas.
When Ms Bachram reported the abuse to a police officer she claimed that she was met by some resistance.
She told The Telegraph: ‘He said I was making myself a target.’
Ms Bachram added that she believes the police had shown double standards in their treatment of the two offenders.
She added: ‘I feel like I’ve been victimised twice. Once by this cruel troll and secondly by the police.’
Sussex Police said it was aware of concerns raised by Ms Bachram and confirmed the force had received a formal complaint.
