Britain’s Jews are suffering an antisemitic backlash against Israel’s
military action in Gaza with attacks, bomb threats, bricks thrown at a
synagogue and “Hitler was right” banners.
About 100 hate incidents have been recorded by police and community
groups this month — more than double the number that monitors would usually
expect.
Many are said to have been carried out by young Muslim men and, in some
cases, the attackers have invoked the Holocaust.
The most serious incidents being investigated include:
• A rabbi who was attacked by four youths outside a Jewish school in
Gateshead
• Bricks being thrown at a synagogue in Belfast, smashing windows on two
consecutive nights
• A group of Asian men who drove through a Jewish area of Greater
Manchester, shouting “Heil Hitler” and hurling missiles at pedestrians
• A man using Twitter to call for a Jewish neighbourhood in London to be
bombed so “Jews feel the pain” of the Palestinians.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators, angered by the mounting death toll in
Gaza — which yesterday passed 1,000 — have even taken to the streets with
placards declaring: “Hitler you were right!”
In a separate incident, a BBC journalist has been reprimanded after
appearing to suggest that western politicians had failed to intervene in the
Middle East crisis because they had been “bought” by the Jews.
More than 1,000 Palestinians, mainly civilians, have died as a result of
Israel’s military strikes against Hamas, Gaza’s Islamist rulers, since the
start of the conflict.
Forty Israeli soldiers and three civilians have also been killed in
fighting aimed at stopping Hamas firing rockets across the border.
The antisemitic backlash in Britain echoes even more violent scenes on
the Continent. In France, Jewish businesses have been firebombed and ransacked
by mobs, while in Germany an imam reportedly called on Muslims to murder
“Zionist Jews”.
In some cases, frightened Jewish families have decided to flee
altogether.
Natan Sharansky, a former Israeli minister who was imprisoned for many
years in a Soviet jail, wrote: “We are seeing the beginning of the end of
Jewish history in Europe.”
Since the start of July, approximately 100 incidents have been reported
to the Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that helps protect Jews across
Britain.
“This is well over double what we would normally expect to see and most
of the incidents are linked to what’s going on in Israel and Gaza,” said Mark
Gardner, the CST’s director of communications.
The last time there was such a “significant escalation” in antisemitic
activity, Gardner said, was during the Gaza War in 2009, when up to 1,400
Palestinians were killed. The latest hate incidents — many of which have been
reported to the police — range from bomb threats and physical assaults to
verbal abuse, sometimes involving child victims.
One of the most serious offences took place in the early hours of July
18 when a rabbi was attacked near a Jewish boarding school in Gateshead.
Four Muslim youths from Newcastle, aged 16, 17, 18 and 19, have been
charged with racially aggravated common assault.
On the same day, a brick was thrown through the window of Northern
Ireland’s only synagogue in Belfast.
The repaired window was smashed again the next day. Police are treating
the attacks as a religious hate crime and are appealing for witnesses.
On July 12, following a pro-Palestinian rally in Manchester, four or
five cars full of Asian men are said to have driven through Higher Broughton, a
suburb of nearby Salford with a large Jewish population, shouting antisemitic
remarks, including chants of “Heil Hitler.”
Police were told that the men also threw eggs and drinks cans at
passers-by.
In north London, the CST says one pro-Israel organisation received a
bomb threat by telephone, while a Jewish boy riding his bicycle had a stone
thrown at his head by a woman wearing a niqab.
More than a dozen incidents reported to the CST have involved social
media.
On July 11, a Twitter user called “Samet” posted an inflammatory message
referring to an area of London with a large ultra-Orthodox Jewish community.
“I say we go bomb Stamford Hill up just so the Jews feel the pain,” he
tweeted.
His account has since been suspended.
Last Saturday, at a pro- Palestinian demonstration in central London, a
man carried a placard which read: “Save Gaza! Hitler you were right!”
The hashtags “Hitler- WasRight” and “HitlerDidNothingWrong” have also
been widely used on Twitter. At another recent march in central London,
protesters confronted a Jewish woman who was with her two young children and
told them: “Burn in hell.”
David Ward, the Liberal Democrat MP for Bradford East, was forced to
apologise last week after saying he would “probably” fire rockets at Israel if
he lived in Gaza.
The row prompted a Muslim producer at the BBC to leap to Ward’s defence
on Twitter with what appeared to be a reference to a conspiracy theory about
wealthy Jews owning and controlling everything in the world.
Anish Shaikh, who says on his online CV that he has worked at the BBC
since 1995, tweeted: “Attacking David Ward is a strategy to divert focus from
real issue #Gaza politicians have no soul as they can be bought & sold by u
know who.”
The producer, who has presented shows on the BBC Asian Network,
including one devoted to Islamic music, refused to elaborate when repeatedly
asked by other Twitter users to whom he was referring.
Shaikh was forced to delete his account after The Sunday Times
approached the BBC and could face further disciplinary action.
The corporation said: “The BBC has clear social media guidelines which
staff must adhere to, even when using personal accounts.
“We have spoken to Anish and reminded him of his responsibility to
uphold our guidelines.
“He has deleted the account. We will meet him to discuss the matter
further.”
