A record number of antisemitic attacks is “deeply troubling,” Prime Minister Gordon Brown has warned.
More than 924 reports of bigoted violence and abuse were received last year by The Community Security Trust (CST).
The charity, which monitors antisemitism in Britain, said the figures marked the worst year since records began in 1984. They included violent street attacks, arson, egg-throwing, racist graffiti, website hacking and hate mail.
Researchers said the surge was fuelled by the ground invasion of Gaza by Israeli forces in January 2009. Almost a quarter of incidents (23%) included some form of reference to the controversial conflict. The fighting was marked by protests around the world, including ugly confrontations outside the Israeli Embassy in London.
In a statement released through the charity, Mr Brown condemned the attacks and said more must be done towards securing Israel and creating a Palestinian state.
He said: “Antisemitism is one of the most ancient of hatreds – and yet it constantly adapts to modern times, requiring ever greater vigilance from all of us who are determined to stand up for tolerance and for the truth.
“The increase in antisemitic incidents recorded by CST in the early part of last year is deeply troubling… We will stand firm against all those who would use anti-Israeli feeling as an excuse or disguise for antisemitism and attacks on the Jewish community.”
The majority of incidents recorded by the CST, from violence to desecration of Jewish properties, took place in London (460), followed by Manchester (206), Hertfordshire (48) and Leeds (35).
They included an incident in which a Jewish man driving an electric wheelchair was rammed by a car after leaving a synagogue. The driver shouted “Jew, Jew” at him but he escaped with minor injuries. In Yorkshire, strips of bacon were arranged in the shape of a star of David and stuck the fence of a home where a Jewish family lived with the word “Jewboy” written underneath. A 12-year-old girl, the only Jew at her school, was attacked by a mob of up to 20 fellow pupils who pulled her hair and chanted: “death to Jews, kill all Jews.”
Mark Gardner, of the CST, said: “These record figures show that antisemitism is an increasingly significant problem for British Jews. The trend must be reversed and we call upon decent people to speak out against antisemitism in all its forms.”
