Election posters put up around east London depicting a Jewish IDF soldier as 'Labour's monster' have been reported to the police for 'stirring up anti-Semitism'. 

The posters found on Cable Street in Shadwell, Tower Hamlets, feature an image of an armed Israeli settler grinning and holding his phone up along with the words 'Labour's monsters'.

A report submitted to the Metropolitan Police by Alex Hearn, of Labour Against Anti-Semitism, claimed it was a breach of the Public Order Act, because the image was 'selected to appear menacing'.

'The monstrous characterisation is anchored specifically in Jewish religious identity markers, not Israeli military conduct generally. This stirs up hatred against Jewish people,' the report added.

Mr Hearn told the Daily Mail: 'The poster weaponises visual religious identity. Like classic racist propaganda, the Jew is depicted as a subhuman "monster". 

'This is a deliberate attempt to stir up hatred in a constituency with a large Muslim population. 

'It leverages anti-Jewish racism for political gain at a time when the Jewish community is already under sustained attack. The impact is that Jewish people feel demonised, isolated and forced out. 

'I hope the perpetrators are brought to justice swiftly, sending a clear message that anonymous, cowardly campaigns like this are unacceptable.'

The original picture was featured on the April front cover of left-leaning Italian magazine L'Espresso under the issue title 'The Abuse' and showed the Palestinian woman the settler was pointing his phone at.

L'Espresso's cover sparked diplomatic backlash from Israel, with the country's ambassador to Italy describing the use of the image as 'anti-Semitic' and 'manipulative'.

After people online doubted the authenticity of the image, the photographer, Pietro Masturzo, made a statement confirming it is a real photograph and shared a video filmed from the incident in Idhna, west of Hebron on October 12, 2025.

He explained it was taken on the first day of the olive harvest in Idhna, when an armed group of Israeli settlers arrived and allegedly 'prevented the Palestinians from picking their olives'. 

According to his statement, the expression on the settler's face 'mimics the sound a shepherd makes when gathering his flock, addressing the Palestinians as if they were his own animals'.

L'Espresso dedicated the magazine issue to denouncing Israeli expansionism and ongoing settler violence against Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank. 

The magazine has refused to apologise or retract its cover.

The poster was one of a series of anti-Labour posters that sprung up around Shadwell station before the local elections on Thursday.

One took aim at Labour's local mayoral candidate, Sirajul Islam, who lost to Lutfur Rahman of the Aspire Party who already held the seat.

The report to the Met Police said the 'Labour's monsters' poster did not 'carry a printer's imprint or the name and address of the promoter, as required by law', which could make it a criminal offence under the Representation of the People Act.

Mr Hearn also urged the Electoral Commission to investigate the posters.

He said one of the posters, which said 'Labour are complicit in genocide', appeared to 'frame the Labour Party as acting in the service of Israeli government policy'.

He said the wording 'activated the anti-Semitic trope of Jewish or Israeli control over Western political institutions'.

He added: 'In an electoral district with a large Muslim population, this framing has the potential to inflame community tension by presenting political opponents not merely as wrong on policy but as agents of a foreign power associated with Jewish interests.'

A spokesman for the Met Police said: 'Police received a report of posters which displayed hate messaging on Cable Street, E1, at around 11.50am on Saturday, May 9.

'Officers are investigating the circumstances. The Met treats anti-Semitic hate crime with the utmost seriousness and is committed to taking robust action when it occurs.'

A spokesman for the Electoral Commission said: 'The Electoral Commission encourages all campaigners to undertake their vital role responsibly and respectfully.

'When it comes to campaigning, the Commission provides advice and guidance to help ensure that campaign material by parties and campaigners includes information to identify the person or organisation which has caused it to be published, which is known as an imprint.'

Last week's local elections saw the leader of the Aspire Party, Lutfur Rahman, re-elected as mayor of Tower Hamlets, with almost 39 per cent of the vote. 

The party, which describes its ideology as a form of democratic socialism, also won 33 seats in the borough.

In 2015, Mr Rahman, who was mayor at the time and leading the Tower Hamlets First party, was suspended with the Government stepping in to manage key departments, after a report accused him of leading an administration that was 'at best dysfunctional' and 'at worst riddled with cronyism and corruption'.

A High Court judge ruled that Mr Rahman had secured his May 2014 election with the help of bribery, intimidation, the casting of invalid votes and false statements about his rival mayoral candidate. Mr Rahman has always denied the allegations.

Tower Hamlets First was removed from the list of political parties and Mr Rahman was banned from holding public office for five years.

In 2022, he returned as the head of his newly founded Aspire Party and was re-elected as mayor.

More recently, an Aspire member who was suspended in May over a series of anti-Semitic social media posts was elected as a member of Tower Hamlets Council.

Aspire were forced to suspend Abul Monsur, a candidate for the Lansbury ward, over posts on his public Facebook profile in 2025 which included Holocaust denial and an apparent approval of Adolf Hitler.

On May 30, 2025, Monsur posted an image of a 'Zionist victim card' in which the word 'Holocaust' was crossed out and replaced with 'Holohoax'.

A post on May 1, 2025, said 'there is NO mention of a "Holocaust" in papers written after WW2 by Churchill, Eisenhower, and De Gaulle'. It also made claims about 'Jews gaining control of the media'.

In a post on September 23, 2025, Monsur wrote: 'ADOLF HITLER OUTLAWED USURY (INTEREST – MAKING MONEY WITH MONEY)'- followed by three bullseye emojis.

Along with other anti-Semitic posts, he also shared a number of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, such as 'Zionists' being responsible for the Bondi Beach massacre and the assassinations of right wing American political commentator Charlie Kirk and former US president John F Kennedy.

After his suspension, Monsur told the LDRS he was 'deeply sorry for these social media posts and ashamed of them'.

He said: 'I apologise from the bottom of my heart to Jewish people in our community and in wider society.

'These social media posts were unacceptable and I have a lot of learning to do and I will undertake training and education. 

'I was not thinking straight and did not understand a lot of what I posted.'

A spokesperson said: 'The party had no idea about these appalling and unacceptable posts and once informed, took immediate action.

'Abul Monsur has apologised for not disclosing this to the Party when he was asked about social media accounts during candidate vetting, and we apologise and are extremely regretful that this was not found in due diligence checks.

They added: 'We are reviewing how we can improve social media checks to make them as thorough as possible to ensure this mistake can never happen again.'