 "Nadia Yahlom, who also goes by the name of Jaglom, is a 32-year-old PhD student and artist at the University of Westminster, funded by the UK government's Arts Council. She was seen snipping away yellow ribbons that had been tied in solidarity with Israeli hostages held in Gaza. Image courtesy: X")
Bystanders in north London were left stunned after a woman was caught on camera cutting down yellow ribbons tied in support of Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
The incident took place on Fortis Green Road in Muswell Hill, where members of the local Jewish community had tied the ribbons as a tribute to those still missing. In the footage, the woman can be seen calmly snipping the ribbons one by one with a pair of scissors, declaring that they were “condoning genocide.”
The woman was later identified as Nadia Yahlom, a PhD student and artist at the University of Westminster.
Police have since confirmed that they are investigating the incident to determine whether any offence was committed. Meanwhile, Yahlom’s actions, and her defence of them, have sparked outrage, with members of the local Jewish community calling it deeply disrespectful.
What happened?
The viral video shows Yahlom walking up to a fence in north London and calmly snipping away yellow ribbons that had been tied in solidarity with Israeli hostages held in Gaza.
The moment was captured by author and freelance journalist Miranda Levy, who told The Telegraph, “I was walking to get a coffee. It was a lovely sunny day, and there was a woman very mechanically snipping away with a pair of scissors.”
In the footage, Yahlom, wearing a navy-blue bomber jacket and carrying a striped green, white, and purple tote bag, continues to cut the ribbons despite people asking her to stop. When confronted, she insists she’s “not committing a crime” and challenges onlookers to call the police if they believe otherwise.
A man nearby can be heard calling her a “disgusting little human being,” to which she responds, “I think condoning genocide is disgusting… because that’s what this is,” clutching the handful of ribbons she’d already removed.
The yellow ribbon, now symbolic of those taken captive, has deep roots. It first became a global symbol during the 1979 US-Iran hostage crisis. It resurfaced following Hamas’s October 7 attacks that killed more than 1,200 people and led to 251 hostages being taken into Gaza. Of those, Israel believes 48 remain in captivity, and only around 20 are thought to be alive.
Levy, who has lived in north London for two decades, told the Daily Mail that the act felt deeply personal: “As a Jewish person, I felt that pull to do something. These ribbons are to remember all the people who were kidnapped and those who are still there.”
She added that Yahlom’s behaviour reflected a worrying trend, “There is a climate that it’s acceptable — that people think they’re on the side of the righteous by standing against Israel and the Jewish people. What she was doing was anti-Jewish, anti-Israel, and anti-humanity.”
Who is Nadia Yahlom?
Nadia Yahlom, who also goes by the name of Jaglom, is a 32-year-old PhD student and artist at the University of Westminster, funded by the UK government’s Arts Council.
She is pursuing her doctorate at the Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media (Cream), focusing on “haunting and the supernatural in Palestinian territories,” according to The Telegraph.
Yahlom studied at Cambridge University and Goldsmiths, and her Cream Westminster biography describes her as a “Palestinian-Jewish and British artist and visual anthropologist, looking at hauntedness, supernatural life, and the bio/necropolitical between Palestine and the UK.” Her research examines how humans, artefacts, and landscapes are shaped by and reflect colonial violence.
She has also collaborated with institutions such as Battersea Arts Centre, Rich Mix, ICA, Open City Docs, Tate Britain, and Southbank Centre. Yahlom is also the co-founder of Sarha Collective, a platform supporting experimental art from Palestine and the broader Southwest Asia and North Africa (Swana) region.
Her husband is a Palestinian actor and filmmaker, originally from the West Bank, who moved to London in 2011.
Following the incident, a Metropolitan Police spokesman said officers were reviewing the footage to determine whether any offence, including a hate crime or criminal damage, had been committed.
With input from agencies