Labour link to one in 10 anti-semitism cases

ALMOST one in 10 of a record number of anti-semitic hate incidents last year related to the Labour Party, figures have suggested.

Some 148 incidents of verbal or physical abuse or damage – out of a total of 1,652 – were linked to the continuing rows over anti-semitism within Labour, according to the Community Security Trust (CST).

The total for 2018 was the highest on record and a rise of 16 per cent on the previous year.

It was also the first time that there have been more than 100 anti-semitic incidents in every month of a year.

The CST, a charity which provides security and advice to the Jewish community, offered a separate analysis of the impact of the situation within Labour for the first time with the figures. David Richards, the CST head of policy, said: “The incidents were both internal arguments between people in the Labour Party but also people expressing their concern about anti-semitism in the party who then received abuse in response to that.”

The CST defines an anti-semitic incident as any malicious act aimed at Jewish people, organisations or property, and which shows evidence of antisemitic motivation, language or targeting.

Its report said it had detected rises in reports of hate incidents directly linked to points at which the long-running row over anti-semitism flared.

This included when leaders from the Jewish community met Jeremy Corbyn in April to protest over his failure to crack down on anti-semitism in the party.

May and April accounted for the two highest monthly totals of anti-semitic incidents, according to the CST. “An atmosphere of heightened public discussion of anti-semitism, hate crime and related issues can excite activity amongst those people who are already predisposed to carry out hate crimes,” the report said.

“Another less tangible factor is that the prevalence of anti-semitism in public debate can encourage more anti-semitism, if people perceive that the taboo against expressing hostility or prejudice towards or about Jews is weakening.”

John Mann, the Labour MP who chairs the all-party parliamentary group against anti-semitism, and who is a prominent critic of his party leader over the issue, said yesterday: “It is now time for everyone in Parliament to stand up, be counted and to stand alongside CST in the fight against antisemitism.”

The most common single type of anti-semitic incident reported involved verbal abuse randomly directed at Jewish people in public, according to the report.

It cited a number of cases across different categories.

They included a man walking to synagogue when food was thrown at him from a car; a woman whose face was spat at on a bus; a Jewish bakery vandalised with anti-semitic graffiti; and a brick being thrown at a glass door at the front of a synagogue.

The CST registered a record 1,300 incidents of abusive behaviour last year, a rise of more than a fifth (22 per cent) on 2017. Examples of cases in this category include verbal abuse, hate mail, anti-semitic graffiti on non-jewish property and anti-semitic content on social media.

Last year saw not just a record number of social media incidents but a rise in them as a proportion of the total, up from 249 to 384, a jump of 54 per cent.

The CST believes the figures are a significant underestimate, based on an EU survey last year that suggested only 21 per cent of British Jews who had experienced anti-semitic harassment over the previous five years had reported it to police or any other organisation.

Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, said all anti-semitism was “utterly despicable and has no place in society”.

Mr Javid added: “The Jewish community should not have to tolerate these attacks and we are doing all we can to rid society of these poisonous views.”

‘Public discussion can excite activity among those people who are predisposed to commit hate crimes’