Is it a crime to say ‘F*** Islam’?

Another day, another alarming arrest for an alleged speech crime in Britain.

Right-wing activist Pete North was arrested last night, he claims, on suspicion of ‘stirring up racial hatred’ under Section 19 of the Public Order Act. A video he posted shows two officers from North Yorkshire Police at his house. One tells him he has ‘posted something on the internet that someone didn’t appreciate’, which had been reviewed by a specialist ‘hate-crime team’.

Here is North Yorkshire Police's hate crime snatch squad taking me in for tweeting a "Fuck Hamas" meme. pic.twitter.com/V7adfBYCuM

— Northern variant (@FUDdaily) September 26, 2025

North has claimed, on X, that it wasn’t until he was later taken to the police station that he was told what that ‘something’ was. He had posted a meme that said: ‘Fuck Palestine, Fuck Hamas, Fuck Islam. Want to protest? Fuck off to Muslim country and protest.’ (Sic.)

No one should be arrested for speech, no matter how offensive. But if this turns out to be the offending tweet, this is particularly chilling. The meme is obviously, purposefully, provocative. But it is primarily raging against Islam, a religious ideology, and Hamas – a proscribed terrorist group. North claims he was questioned specifically about the ‘Fuck Hamas’ line. According to his account, when he pointed out that Hamas carried out the 7 October massacre in Israel, the policeman ‘looked gormless and shook his head’.

As outlandish as it may sound, this wouldn’t be the first time the police have tried to spare the blushes of a jihadist terror army. A Jewish man was arrested and charged in London earlier this year with ‘causing racially or religiously motivated harassment’ for mocking the deceased leader of Hezbollah, Hasan Nasrallah. Thankfully, the case never made it to court.

We wait to learn more about Pete North’s case. North Yorkshire Police have only confirmed an arrest was made. But if his account is even close to accurate, it shows how out-of-control the police have become. Hate-speech law is just censorship by another name, wielded by a state as clueless as it is authoritarian.

Fraser Myers is deputy editor at spiked and host of the spiked podcast. Follow him on X: @FraserMyers.