Anti-Semitic attacks in Britain rose by a third in the first six months of this year, according to figures from the Jewish group The Community Security Trust (CST). Their statistics show 304 anti-Semitic incidents were reported between January and June, a rise of 36 percent on the same period last year.
The CST records anti-Semitic incidents as well as offering security advice to Synagogues and members of the Jewish community. According to the Daily Mail the sharp rise is likely to be linked to the ongoing Israeli Defence Force campaign to undermine Hamas in Gaza.
As previously reported on Breitbart London one man was attacked by pro-Palestinian groups as he attended a Zionist rally outside the Israeli Embassy (pictured). Whilst he is not believed to have required hospital treatment, the whole event was marred by violence and intimidation from pro-Palestinian campaigners.
So far there have been 130 attacks on Jews since the start of Operation Protective Edge on 8th July. Mark Gardner, a spokesman for CST, said: “There is no excuse for this wave of racist intimidation and violence and we call upon all good people to unequivocally condemn it.”
The hatred is blamed on the widespread protests against Israel, many of which are attended by individuals who are plainly anti-Semitic. These protests are likely to have emboldened those on the political left who want to use conflict in the Middle East to justify their own racist views.
In a number of cases, Jews were taunted with references to the holocaust, and some Muslims even shouted “Heil Hitler” and made the Nazi German salute. In Belfast, a synagogue was pelted with bricks for two nights running, once again reminiscent of Germany in the 1930s.
In London, a pro-Israel organisation received a bomb threat and a Jewish boy riding a bicycle had a stone thrown at his head by a woman in traditional Muslim dress. In another incident, a woman with two young children was confronted and told she would “burn in hell”.
Although the overall number of anti-Semitic incidents has increased, there were fewer violent assaults recorded. But this may be a symptom of a lack of recording, especially at events where there are multiple incidents. Before this, the number of recorded incidents of anti-Semitism had been falling since they reached a peak in 2009: a year when problems in the Middle East flared up.
John Mann MP, chairman of a parliamentary group against anti-Semitism, said the increases in anti-Semitic attacks were worrying. He said: “From the feedback we are receiving, it is likely that the volume of anti-Semitic incidents will increase significantly before the year’s end.”
In addition to attacks on Jews and their property, the campaign against Israelis is also hotting up. Today Breitbart London reported an Israeli theatre group that has been effectively banned from the Edinburgh Festival after the venue they had booked cancelled them.
The banned show was described as “Humphrey Bogart meets Jay-Z in a gritty and darkly comic whodunit hip-hop opera”. It is not believed to have contained any reference to the ongoing situation in Gaza at all.