The Israeli war against Hamas in Gaza may have finished over a
month ago, but its effects are still reverberating abroad, not least of all in
the UK.
While the range and level of antisemitic and anti-Israel activity in
Britain has not matched that seen in parts of Europe such as France, the UK
Jewish community still felt its effects as never before, as illustrated by
near-record levels of incidents reported by the Community Security Trust (CST),
the organization responsible for the Jewish Community’s safety.
The CST’s monthly antisemitism figures told it all. In July, the CST
recorded more than 302 incidents, while the provisional figure for August is
already more than 150. The statistics are incomplete as the CST anticipates
receiving more detailed information about incidents from regional police
authorities and other sources.
But the overall figures do not lie.
The July figure of 302 is just slightly lower than the number of
incidents registered in the previous six months, which stood at 304.
Mark Gardiner, the CST’s communications director, has spent most of the
last three months fielding media inquiries on what he admits has been the worst
period yet for the UK Jewish Community.
While the statistics of antisemitic incidents levels helped the
organization measure what happened during the summer, “perhaps even more
important was the way that British Jews reported actually feeling about what
was going on,” he said.
This, he said, ranged from influential newspaper columnists who do not
normally talk about their Jewishness, through to the “average Jew in the
street.”
“The overwhelming feedback was
that they had never felt so singled out, nor so fearful about what this might
mean for the future. Now, as time passes, many of those fears will outwardly
calm and the community will return to its normal vibrant life, but a negative
impact still remains,” he said.
Nevertheless, the CST has stepped up its High Holy Days precautions with
enhanced patrols at synagogues and other Jewish- and Israel-related events and
venues.
While it is still too early to report on and assess the impact of the
Gaza saga on the High Holy Days period, initial reports suggest there were no
major physical attacks but several verbal incidents.
Meanwhile, Liverpool Football Club has come under fire after it deleted
a “Happy New Year” tweet to its Jewish supporters because of the nature of and
intensity of antisemitic responses.
The message had read: “Liverpool FC would like to wish all our Jewish
supporters around the world a happy new year. #RoshHashanah.”
“Kick It Out,” British
soccer’s equality and inclusion organization, contacted Liverpool Football Club
to draw its attention to the abuse. Some time later, the club removed the
tweet.
A Liverpool Football Club spokesman explained that “due to a number of
offensive comments that were attached to a tweet on the official LFC twitter
account, the tweet and comments have since been removed from the account.”
A “Kick It Out” spokesman later commented that it was encouraging that a
soccer club recognizes holidays and religious landmarks, and noted the club had
done the same for Ramadan.
But, he added, “it is extremely sad when a club does that in a proactive
manner and gets these responses. Premier League clubs appeal to supporters
around the world and it would have been nice for Liverpool’s Jewish supporters
to see this message from their club, that’s the bigger issue.”
CST’s Gardiner told The Jerusalem Post that the organization wished that
only the antisemitic tweets had been removed, rather than the entire Rosh
Hashana thread that Liverpool FC had so positively begun.
“The saddest and most
important thing here is that a Jewish New Year greeting should have met such a
wide antisemitic reaction,” he said.
In another antisemitic incident two weeks ago, Jewish Chronicle reporter
Rosa Doherty witnessed one of the more telling incidents of recent weeks during
the late afternoon on London bus route 102, which passes through the
predominantly Jewish northwest London suburb of Golders Green.
Traveling on a bus full of Jewish schoolchildren, she watched a man who
suddenly started shouting “Get the Jews off the bus”, adding “all they do is
f*** us.”
She immediately complained to the bus driver, who chose to do nothing
but allow the man off the bus at its next stop. Having heard him threaten to
“burn the bus” and “burn the Jews,” her concerns changed to fear and then anger
when moments later the bus driver allowed the same man to reboard the bus to
continue his verbal tirade.
She called the police, who said: “If the driver does not stop the bus,
we cannot send police to you,” the operator said, adding that the man was just
shouting abuse and classed it only as antisocial behavior.
Only later did the Metropolitan Police and “Transport for London,” which
manages London’s buses, respond. After a CCTV image of the suspect man
allegedly abusing the bus passengers was issued, he was quickly arrested and
made his first appearance in court at the end of last week.
Ian Campbell, 42, of north London, was charged with a “racially or
religiously aggravated public order offence,” using “threatening, abusive, or
insulting words or behavior to cause harassment, alarm or distress.”
Doherty said the Metropolitan Police apologized for its initial
response.
Steve Burton, Transport for London’s enforcement director, admitted
Doherty had witnessed “an appalling incident,” which he said was the subject of
urgent inquiry.
“All of our customers rightly
expect to use our services without fear of being abused. Offensive behavior
like this simply will not be tolerated,” he said.
Campbell was granted bail and ordered to reappear at Hendon Magistrate’s
Court on October 9, and was banned from traveling on the 102 route bus in the
Golders Green area.
