|
Reported attacks on members of London's Jewish community have soared in the last year, according to a security group. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the news was "deeply troubling" by the figures. The Jewish, Community Security Trust (CST) said it had recorded 924 hate incidents over the year, 55% more than the previous high of 598 incidents in 2006. Almost a quarter of incidents included some form of reference to the Israeli invasion of Gaza last year which resulted in ugly clashes outside the Israeli Embassy in Kensington. These figures are not used by the Metropolitan Police and recent data on hate crime suggest a fall in racial and religiously aggravated incidents between 2007 and 2008. - but there are no national figures for hate crimes against any specific group, such as Jews or Muslims. The vast majority of incidents were abusive behavior, but 124 of the reports were acts of violence. Some 37 incidents were targeted at children on their way to school, the organisation said. Mark Gardner, of the CST, said: "These record figures show that anti-Semitism is an increasingly significant problem for British Jews. The trend must be reversed and we call upon decent people to speak out against anti-Semitism in all its forms."
PM is a "proud friend of Israel"
In a statement issued through the CST, Gordon Brown said: "The increase in anti-Semitic incidents recorded by CST in the early part of last year is deeply troubling and I want to be unequivocal today. I am a proud friend of Israel and welcome a robust debate about how we ensure both a secure Israel and a viable Palestinian state existing side by side. Anti-Semitism is one of the most ancient of hatreds - and yet it constantly adapts to modern times, requiring ever greater vigilance from all of us who are determined to stand up for tolerance and for the truth. Whether online, on campus or on the streets there is absolutely no place for racism or discrimination of any sort and the Community Security Trust has my whole-hearted support in its work with the police and the Jewish Community." Foreign Office official Rowan Laxton was convicted of racial abuse after shouting “f****** Israelis, f****** Jews” in a gym as a news report on the death of a Palestinian farmer was show on television.
Catalog of hate
During the Gaza incursion there were widespread anti-Semitic attacks. Across East London sick graffiti appeared, slogans included: "Kill Jews" and "Jews are scumbags." Youths tried to torch Brondesbury Park Synagogue in Willesden. A gang of youths chanting anti-Semitic slogans, waving flags and intimidating locals tried to enter restaurants and shops in Golders Green. A Jewish-owned Starbucks in Whitechapel was firebombed, the Tesco Metro supermarket in Stepney Green’s Commercial Road was targeted when several windows were smashed and the words ‘kill Jews’ was daubed in paint. A similar slogan was on the wall of a children’s playground on Whitechapel’s Chicksand housing estate. Strips of bacon were placed on the door handles of a Leeds synagogue. On another occasion, a 12-year-old girl, the only Jew at her school, was surrounded by other pupils who chanted "death to Jews". Extra "reassurance patrols" in the Jewish areas of Golders Green, North Finchely, Stanmore, Stanford Hill and St John's Wood were needed to stem the vile attacks. Shadow schools secretary Michael Gove said: "Every one in public life - politicians, media figures, academics and community leaders - has to recognise that this growth in anti-Semitism is a stain on our society. History tells us that whenever Jewish individuals feel less safe, society as a whole is becoming less free. We must learn the lessons of the past."
|
