Yes, Sainsbury's did remove kosher food from its shelves

A branch of Sainsbury's in central London removed kosher food from its shelves over fears anti-Israeli protesters would attack the shop.

Kosher food was removed from the shelves in the Holborn branch of Sainsbury's on Saturday afternoon, during a protest outside calling for the shop to boycott Israeli goods. The incident came on the same day a group of protesters stormed a Tesco store in Birmingham, calling on the supermarket chain to stop trading with Israeli companies.

Jonathan Arkush, the president of the Board of Deputies, the body that represents British Jews, told i100: "Attacking kosher food is an attack on Jews and it should be condemned as racism".

At the very least it was a major error of judgement on the part of the store manager. It is as outrageous and absurd to take kosher food off the shelves as it would be to clear the shelves of halal foods in protest at Isis. Most kosher food in England, not surprisingly, comes from England. It's for Jewish people, it doesn't say anything at all about Israel.

Our community have widespread views, some people are very supportive of the Israeli government, some are not.

i100 has left messages with Sainsbury's asking for comment. A spokesperson for the supermarket told the Guardian: "It was an isolated decision made in a very challenging situation."

More: The Jewish Chronicle is doing humanitarianism wrong