Wave of hatred concentrates on Jews in Britain
Pastor Dale Morgan
Wave of hatred concentrates on Jews in Britain*
01.02.07
The Daily Mail
Attacks on Jews reached their highest level for more than two decades
last year, an authoritative research report said Thursday.
There were nearly 600 anti-Semitic assaults, incidents of vandalism,
cases of abuse and threats made against Jewish individuals and
institutions, it found. The number of attacks was up by nearly a third
on 2005.
• Read about some of the specific attacks here
A wave of incidents came in the summer as incidents were either inspired
by Israel's attack on Hizbollah in Lebanon or the war was used as an
excuse by their perpetrators.
The figures produced by the Community Security Trust, a charity that
gives security advice to Jewish organisations, showed a worrying new
trend of greater numbers of attacks generated by members of other ethnic
minorities.
White attackers were responsible for anti-Semitic incidents in fewer
than half of those where the colour or racial background of the
perpetrator was identified. More than a third, 37 per cent, of attackers
whose background was known were Asian or Arab.
Since 1984, when the recording of anti-Semitic incidents by the trust
began, white attackers have been in a minority only last year and in 2004.
The report said a disprortionate number of the attacks were carried out
by people from ethnic minorities. It said: "The percentage overall is
clearly not contiguous with the ethnic breakdown of the general
population of the UK."
Its findings were challenged by officials working for London Mayor Ken
Livingstone - whose own battle against suspension from office over an
alleged antisemitic remark is recorded by the report as one of the
"trigger events" that was followed by a number of anti-Semitic attacks.
Lee Jasper, Mr Livingstone's head of policing and equalities, said that
according to Metropolitan Police figures, anti-Semitic attacks had gone
down by nearly a quarter over the past five years.
Mr Jasper added: "Any racist offences at all are unacceptable and the
level of racist attacks on black, Asian and Arab people in London is
significantly higher than the level of anti-Semitic incidents - showing
the need to unite all Londoners against every form of racism and against
those extremists who extol this odious ideology."
The Metropolitan Police, however, said its figures were "broadly
similar" to those of the Trust and said that police statistics were
affected by under-reporting of incidents.
The Trust report was based on incidents reported to its officials by
victims of their relatives.
More than 300 incidents were ruled out of its figures because there was
no strong evidence that they were inspired by anti-Semitism as opposed
to other criminal motives.
It noted 594 anti-Semitic incidents in 2006, 31 per cent up from the 455
recorded in 2005. The total was the highest since the Trust began
keeping records in 1984.
There were 112 violent assaults, 37 per cent more than in 2005; 70 cases
of damage to Jewish communal property; 27 threats, including death
threats, against individuals and organisations; 365 cases of abusive
behavour, and 20 incidents in which mass produced antisemitic literature
was distributed.
Trust spokesman Mark Gardner said: "Anti-Semitic hate crime levels have
doubled in the last ten years. This is unacceptable racism, that many
Jews had hoped and believed was a thing of the past.
"Today's anti-Semitism is a wave of hatred, intimidation and abuse
against British Jews, who are stupidly blamed and randomly attacked over
international tensions for which they bear no responsibility."
Anti-Semitism has become increasingly respectable over recent years,
especially on the political left where dislike of Israel and Israel's
policies is sometimes expressed in terms of disapproval of Jews.
The New Statesman, regarded as the house magazine of New Labour, was
forced to apologise in 2002 after running a cover which referred to a
"kosher conspiracy".
Vitriolic hatred of Jews is also a regular feature of the speeches and
sermons of extremist Islamists and Jihadists. Some mainstream Muslim
leaders have been criticised for their failure to support events of deep
interest to Jews such as Holocaust Memorial Day.
Communities Minister Phil Woolas said: "We will not tolerate racially
motivated crime of any kind.
"We understand the concerns of Jewish communities and support the police
and prosecuting authorities in taking a tough line to stamp out
antisemitism wherever it occurs."