Worrying rise in anti-Semitic attacks and abuse, reveals UK Jewish charity

The number of reported anti-semitic incidents in the UK has increased by more than 50%, figures released by a charity have suggested.

“That is why it is so important, if you have been subject to abuse, intimidation or criminality, to report these incidents so we can investigate and bring the perpetrators to justice”.

But do the figures point to a rise in anti-semitic attitudes in the UK, or a stronger willingness by victims to report the crimes?

“The terrorist attacks on European Jews earlier this year, following the high levels of anti-semitism in 2014, were a hard and unsettling experience for our Jewish community”, he said.

The charity recorded 473 incidents in the first six months of the year.

It says 44 of the incidents recorded were violent assaults with two of these involving extreme violence, 88 anti-semitic incidents happened on social media platforms, a further 35 involved the damage and desecration of Jewish property, while 36 of the incidents were antisemitic threats.

Anti-semitic crime has risen AGAIN across Greater Manchester – by more than a third on the first half of previous year.

“Hitler attempted to rid Europe of the filthy Jews and everything they stand for, he failed”, the letter read.

Figures obtained by Freedom of Information request from the Metropolitan Police show that in 2013/14, 134 anti-Semitic crimes were reported across London, where a large proportion of Britain’s Jews live. More than one quarter of the respondents said that the harassment was the result of their perceived connections with Israel’s foreign policy and felt they were personally held responsible for the actions of the Jewish state.

Spikes in anti-Jewish crime were recorded in London, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, West Midlands and West Yorkshire.

The picture was similar in Greater Manchester, another hub of British Jewry, where the 82 offences recorded in 2013/14 more than doubled to 172 in 2014/15.

CST chief executive David Delew welcomed increases in crime reporting, but said the figures caused “anxiety”.

The findings come at a time of heightened alert among Jewish communities after terrorist attacks in Europe.

Home Secretary Theresa May said anti-semitism has “no place in Britain”. Those who seek to spread anti-Semitic hatred should know that the government will act against all those who seek to divide our country and sow discord.

“We will publish a counter-extremism strategy to protect citizens and communities, promote our shared values and to defeat extremism in all its forms”.