Race row over British soccer club 'Yid' chant

David Cameron has unexpectedly become embroiled in football’s latest race row by arguing that it is acceptable for Tottenham Hotspur fans to chant the word “Yid”.

The Prime Minister’s entry into the debate follows a Football Association statement last week which warned that fans chanting the word “Yid” could face criminal charges and long banning orders.

Cameron, though, drew the distinction between the context of how fans use the term. Tottenham, who have a strong Jewish following, have been regularly subjected to anti-Semitic abuse from opposition fans, notably last season against West Ham United.

In what has been described by the club as a “defence mechanism”, fans have regularly used the word “Yid” themselves, with chants of “Yid Army” and “Yiddos” regularly sung from the home stands at White Hart Lane.

Asked whether Tottenham fans should be prosecuted for using the term, Cameron told the Jewish Chroni­cle: “You have to think of the mens rea. There’s a difference between Spurs fans self-describing themselves as Yids and someone calling someone a Yid as an insult. You have to be motivated by hate. Hate speech should be prosecuted but only when it’s motivated by hate.”

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Refreshing to hear some commonsense -- and from the PM too!  He is an economist, not a lawyer so it is interesting that he uses a Latin legal term, "mens rea" (= "intention", roughly).  He is a bright boy.