Mick Hartley

There would seem to be some discrepancy here. While the Allison Pearson case rumbles on – under investigation by Essex police for a deleted tweet from a year back in which, according to the Guardian at least, she referred to some Muslims as "Jew-haters" – and Ian Austin recounts how he was contacted by the police after calling Hamas "Islamists", elsewhere the boys in blue are less concerned about possible hate crimes.

Essex Police refused to investigate an academic who claimed Sir Keir Starmer worked for “genocidal Jewish supremacists”, The Telegraph can reveal.

The force is currently investigating columnist Allison Pearson over a year-old deleted tweet.

While The Telegraph writer has not been told which specific tweet is at the centre of the allegations, she wrote posts about Hamas attacks on Israel and antisemitic signs around this time last year.

Suzanne, a teacher who did not want her second name published, told The Telegraph how she reported a tweet posted by Prof David Miller, a former Bristol University academic, to Essex Police in October.

The tweet, which made reference to the Prime Minister confirming that the UK stood with Israel following Iran’s missile attack on the nation, read: “Do you understand now? Do you see what the last decade has been about? Your Prime Minister does not work for you. He works for a handful of genocidal Jewish supremacists.”

Prof Miller, who has 79,000 followers, added: “He’s their errand boy and he will send your sons to die for ‘Israel’.”

Suzanne, 41, who is Jewish, was sent the tweet by a friend and reported it to Essex Police in early October.

Suzanne told The Telegraph: “To be honest it is pretty terrifying to be Jewish and see something like that – because while I know someone like David Miller isn’t going to go and beat up Jewish people, there are people that think that Jews deserve to be attacked.

“We saw an example of that in Amsterdam recently – so it is pretty scary, because as Jewish people we are all being blamed for everything that Israel does.”

The officer who responded to Suzanne noted that the “tone” of the academic’s tweets “would cause elements of concern”, citing the “extremely contentious issue which pertains to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East”.

The officer went on to say: “Though I acknowledge this comment may offend some individuals, being offended does not make a person a victim of crime”, concluding that the comment did “not constitute a crime”.

However, Suzanne, from Essex, went on to receive a response from Essex Police that confirmed it was closing the case.

Well OK. Just to be clear, I don't disagree. The police have no business with people's opinions, unless they cross the threshold into inciting violence. Miller's views though, I'd have thought, come much nearer to that threshold than anything said by Allison Pearson (whatever she did say, which isn't yet clear) or Ian Austin. But then…well, Jews. Inciting violence against Jews isn't such a big deal now. We're getting quite used to it.