Anti-Semitic Incidents on the Rise in Britain

Interesting wording from The Evening Standard:

Israel's invasion of Gaza this year prompted a steep increase in anti-Semitic attacks and intimidation in London, according to Jewish groups.

The Community Security Trust recorded 303 anti-Semitic incidents in the capital in the first half of this year, a record.

There were 67 more attacks than in the same period last year and the total accounted for nearly half of all incidents in Britain.

Much of the surge took place in January when there were more than nine incidents every day.

Trust spokesman Mark Gardner said: "British Jews are facing ever-higher levels of racist attack and intimidation that threaten the well-being of our otherwise happy and successful Jewish community.

"There is no excuse for anti-Semitism, racism and bias, and it is totally unacceptable that overseas conflicts should be impacting here in this way.

"During the conflict, people were phoning up Jewish groups and screaming abuse down the phone or bombarding them with insulting emails. Most of those groups are in London and that accounts for some of it.

"But there was also graffiti with slogans like 'Kill the Jews', attacks on synagogues and a number of assaults."

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "Britain is setting a shameful new record in anti-Semitic incidents this year, which are running at double the annual rate of the previous record.

"It is abhorrent that anyone should be intimidated on the grounds of their race, colour, gender, sexuality or creed."

Of course, if you believe this, you would think that the Israeli government is directly responsible for the rise in attacks.

This is simply untrue, however.

The main things responsible for this rise are the growth of Muslim populations in certain areas, and the increasingly acceptability of anti-semitic rhetoric on the mainstream political Left, disguised as "pro-Palestine" sentiment.

Indeed, one thing which the war in Gaza demonstrated was how comfortable Leftists, the anti-war movement and radical Islamists are becoming with each other.

Although you risk accusations of racism for pointing out the obvious, many contributors at the article seem to get it; here are two comments from a reader describing himself only as 'Real', from London:

We all know who is behind this, and much of the heroin trade, people smuggling, money laundering etc. And no doubt it will continued to be ignored here on our streets whilst young men die fighting a useless war in Afghanistan. Why can't our troops fight the war that is here on our streets in London? Without the Afghan heroin trade from (nearly 100% of which makes its way to the UK funnily enough) certain fundamental terrorist wouldn't have any money! Strange how my whole town has turned into one great giant kebab shop / shisha bar during this time of recession. We need to stop this global holocaust that is about to rear its ugly head here in our country. Those people want to see us ALL dead not just Jewish people. I have been harassed by them several times but I'm white and atheist so there's nothing to tell the police. And we all know way over half of them aren't here legally. When is this stupid government going to wake up and get real?

In response to Russell - there is a recent large immigration of Palestinians to my local area, I guess they are awaiting their refugee status to be assessed or are here illegally. I'm not saying that as a judgement, just pointing it out that there are huge numbers of Palestinians here in an area which also has a rapidly shrinking Jewish community. I live near a Jewish business which I will not endager by naming but which has been suffering more than one racial attack and direct intimidation per week for many years now and never more so than recently. However, the growing number of Somali / Turkish / Afghan muslim shops in the same street are not being attacked and there are countless informal prayer rooms in the local shops units which are not even being enquired upon by the council or harasses in any way at all despite being clearly in breach of planning regs. Not to mention the strange 'cafes' where men sit and smoke and watch TV all day despite not having food licences, entertainment licences, or complying with smoking legislation. I think that is what people mean by 'kid gloves' - I personally feel that is an accurate assessment. Any war in the name of religion should be intervened on by the UN peacekeeping force in my opinion. Blair and Bush have escalated this situation beyond all our wishes and many Jewish people have rejected their faith because of Gaza - how many muslims are rejecting theirs because of 9/11?

Here are just some of the things that Jews in Britain have to put up with, these cases taken from North East England:

From The Sunday Sun:

Boy, 11, led gang in racist attack

A SCHOOLBOY aged just 11 beat-up a Jewish man because of his religion.

The school-aged attacker launched himself at the victim — in his late 20s — landing a punch on him outside the synagogue, on Bewick Road, Gateshead.

After spearheading the onslaught, the 11-year-old stepped to the side as a gang of older attackers “piled-on” the isolated man, leaving him bloodied.

The child-attacker is now at the start of a four month supervision order made by magistrates at Blaydon youth court, after pleading guilty to racially-aggravated assault by beating at an earlier hearing.

His young age means he cannot be named.

The court heard that the youngster had been involved in drugs and alcohol.

After reading reports, chairman Doug Howell said: “It says here you haven’t used cannabis for a while.

“At your age, I can’t understand how you can get your hands on alcohol or drugs at all. Don’t do it.”

The court heard that the attacker, from the central area of Gateshead, was stood outside the Gateshead Hebrew Congregation, at the junction of Bewick Road and Rydal Street in Bensham, Gateshead, with a group of older males.

The youth squared up to a Jewish man after older lads urged him on in March this year.

Below is an earlier report (by an “anti-fascist” source) from January 16, 2009:

Arrests made after racist abuse in Gateshead

Several arrests have been made following allegations of racist abuse in a Tyneside community.

Police in Gateshead stepped up patrols in the Bensham and Saltwell area, home to around 5,000 Jews, amid fears Jews could be targeted because of events in Gaza in the Middle East.

Officers received reports of abuse towards members of the Jewish community on Bewick Road, and windows at a Jewish building were damaged last Friday. Two boys, aged 14 and 15, were arrested for affray and racially-aggravated criminal damage. Then on Sunday night, there were reports of a man driving on Coatsworth Road shouting abuse. An 18-year-old male youth was arrested for racially-aggravated harassment.

As violence escalates in Gaza, police have been keeping a watchful eye on the community but they say neither of the incidents appear to be related the conflict.

Gateshead Central Neighbourhood Inspector, Peter Storey said: “The first incident involved two local boys shouting racial abuse at Jewish students and breaking a window of a Jewish building. The second was someone shouting abuse as they went by in a car. These are infrequent offences which happen in the Gateshead area from time to time. But they are in no way, shape or form connected with the events in Gaza. It is disorder that got out of hand. We have got extra patrols in the area but no-one in the community has change their patterns or behaviour. It is business as usual.”

It is understood that the victims of the abuse were pupils at local Jewish schools. Mrs Bas, of the Gateshead Hebrew Congregation, said the abuse had been frightening.

She said: “I didn’t actually see anything but I’ve heard exactly what happened. In the first incident, a group of girls from the college were just passing by when they all of a sudden were chased and had abuse shouted at them. The people chasing them broke windows, including some car windows.

“It’s frightening, really, and it must have been particularly frightening for the girls involved. In the second incident, some people started fighting with a group of boys from the college. It really must be made clear that this sort of racial behaviour is not going to be tolerated.

Of course, for those who simply want to blame the semi-mythical 'far-Right' for all of these attacks, here is Mark Steyn's account of Holocaust Memorial Day 2008 - in London:

Those few dozen London Jews considered themselves at ’ome. But they weren’t. Not any more. The tour was abruptly terminated when the group was pelted with stones, thrown by “youths”—or to be slightly less evasive, in the current euphemism of Fleet Street, “Asian” youths. “If you go any further, you’ll die,” they shouted, in between the flying rubble.

A New Yorker who had just moved to Britain to start a job at the Metropolitan University had her head cut open and had to be taken to the Royal London Hospital at Whitechapel, causing her to miss the Holocaust Day “interfaith memorial service” at the East London Central Synagogue. Her friend, Eric Litwack from Canada, was also struck but did not require stitches. But if you hadn’t recently landed at Heathrow, it wasn’t that big a deal, not these days: Nobody was killed or permanently disfigured. And given the number of Jewish community events that now require security, perhaps Her Majesty’s Constabulary was right and these Londoners walking the streets of their own city would have been better advised to do so behind a police escort.

Food for thought for all of us, I think, about who the real fascists are in Britain today.

Hat tip: Gates of Vienna.