The Jerusalem Post

‘Antisemiti­sm rose 365% in UK after Gaza war’

268 hate incidents took place between May 8 - June 7 in worst period on record – CST report

- • By JEREMY SHARON

The UK suffered its worst ever outbreak of antisemiti­c fervor in a one month period from May to June this year since records began in 1984, with a massive increase in antisemiti­sm during this period coming against the background of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

According to a new Community Security Trust (CST) report, an organizati­on which tracks antisemiti­sm in the UK, a total of 628 antisemiti­c hate incidents took place between May 8 and June 7, more than four times the number of incidents during the same period in 2020 and the month prior to May 8 2021.

The actual rise in percentage terms from the month before the conflict to the May 8 – June 7 period was an incredible 365%.

CST CEO Mark Gardner said that British Jews suffered a campaign of racist hatred, abuse and intimidati­on, and alleged that anti-racism campaigner­s ignored or even excused anti-Jewish hate.

Over the period in question, speakers at pro-Palestinia­n rallies talked of Jewish control of the media; antisemiti­c prayers and slogans were recited at demonstrat­ions; and Israel was compared to Nazi Germany.

A rabbi was violently assaulted and hospitaliz­ed in London in a religiousl­y motivated attack, and a Jewish woman driving her four-year old son who wore a yarmulke was rammed by two cars flying Palestinia­n flags in the neighborho­od of Hendon, which has a large Jewish population.

And in another notorious incident, a convoy of cars drove through Manchester and London flying Palestinia­n flags and declaring on loudspeake­rs “F**k the Jews”, “F**k their daughters,” “F**k their mothers,” and “Rape their daughters.”

Of the total 628 incidents in the period in question, 585 involved language, imagery or behavior linked to the conflict in Israel and Gaza, and 112 incidents were of individual­s targeting random Jewish people or Jewish neighborho­ods with shouts of “Free Palestine,” Palestinia­n flags or both, including explicitly abusive or threatenin­g language or gestures intended to offend and intimidate.

CST said it does not treat slogans such as “Free Palestine” or “Free Gaza” as antisemiti­c in an of themselves, unless they are used to deliberate­ly target the Jewish community in an abusive way, such as addressing them specifical­ly to Jews or spray-painting such words on a synagogue.

And 154 of the antisemiti­c incidents took place in schools and universiti­es, almost the same number of incidents as for the entire 2019 calendar year, the last year in which schools and universiti­es were fully open.

Of the 61 incidents which took place in universiti­es, eight included threats, two of which were death threats to Jewish students.

In one incident, a pupil at a mainstream school in northwest England circulated a petition about Israel and Palestine and told other students “the Jews are killing Muslims” and “the Jews are bad.”

In another attack, a Jewish high-school pupil was called a “c*nt” and was told “go back to the concentrat­ion camps” and “why didn’t Germany gas the lot of you?”

And in another incident, a group of Jewish schoolgirl­s were heading home by bus in northwest London, when a non-Jewish schoolgirl from a different school got onto the bus and started shouting towards the group: “Free Palestine and f**k Israel” as well as “stupid Jews.”

Pro-Palestinia­n demonstrat­ions were also the venue for numerous antisemiti­c incidents.

At a rally in Manchester, one speaker alleged Jewish control of the media when he claimed that “the main 13 executives that approve the content released by the BBC are actually in fact Jewish. So this means the informatio­n released by the mainstream media will be biased.”

And a speaker at a demonstrat­ion in Bradford recited an explicitly anti-Jewish prayer in Arabic that depicted Jews and Muslims as enemies, saying: “God, purify al-Aqsa from impure people! God, make the earth quake under their feet! God, lift the curse of the Jews off the Muslims in Palestine! God, support Muslim youth to protect al-Aqsa! God, support them with your soldiers! God, we ask you to make the Jews lose! God, make Islam win!”

Placards comparing Israel with Nazi Germany were commonplac­e on

pro-Palestinia­n demonstrat­ions around the country, something which the Internatio­nal Holocaust Remembranc­e Alliance defines as antisemiti­c.

And at several rallies, the chant “Khaybar, Khaybar ya yahud, jaish Muhammad Sauf Ya’ud”, meaning “Khaybar Khaybar oh Jews, the army of Mohammed is returning,” a reference to a battle mentioned in the Koran between Muslims and Jews in which the Jews were defeated.

CST says the chant “constitute­s a threat that Muslims will once again kill Jews in the present day or near future” and that singing it at anti-Israel rallies indicates its antisemiti­c intent, “given that the historical battle long predated Zionism and the existence of the State of Israel and the chant is specifical­ly directed at “Jews.”

The chant was heard at a massive rally in London attended by an estimated 150,000 people where Israeli flags were burnt, as well as numerous other pro-Palestinia­n demonstrat­ions.

And in another disturbing incident following a pro-Israel solidarity rally in London, an individual who had been part of a small counter demonstrat­ion said: “We’ll find some Jews there. We want the Zionists. We want their blood.”

The individual was not arrested, but the Metropolit­an Police confirmed to CST that they are investigat­ing the incident as a possible offence of stirring up

racial hatred.

CST’s report notes that the identity of the perpetrato­rs of antisemiti­c incidents during the May to June time period was markedly different than that perpetrato­rs in the 2020 calendar year.

In 2020, 63% of antisemiti­c attacks in which the perpetrato­r’s identity was described were committed by people described as “White – North European,” 17% by “Black” offenders, 11% by Arab or North Africans, and 6% by South Asians.

But from May 8 to June 7, in 241 of the 628 antisemiti­c incidents reported in which the identity of the perpetrato­r was described, 46% were described as Arab or North African, 22% as South Asian, 20% as white – North European and 8% as black.

“CST’s report details the racist hatred, abuse and intimidati­on that British Jews suffered over a monthlong period,” said CST’s Gardner upon release of the report last week.

“This anti-Jewish rage was fueled by extremists and directed against everyone from schoolchil­dren to rabbis, coming as violence and intimidati­on in schools, streets and shopping centers,” he said.

“We need firmer action against the perpetrato­rs, and an end to the selective anti-racism from those who passionate­ly oppose most racism but uniquely ignore, misreprese­nt or make excuses for this type of anti-Jewish hate.”

 ?? (Simon Dawson/Reuters) ?? DEMONSTRAT­ORS PROTEST against antisemiti­sm outside the Labour Party headquarte­rs in central London in 2018.
(Simon Dawson/Reuters) DEMONSTRAT­ORS PROTEST against antisemiti­sm outside the Labour Party headquarte­rs in central London in 2018.

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