Anti-Semitic attacks on rise since war

Britain's Jews will mark the 350th anniversary of their return to the country this month but the celebrations will be clouded by concerns over a rise in anti-Semitic attacks.

A surge in incidents during the month-long war between Israel and Hizbollah has built on a more general rise in anti-Jewish feeling, members of the community say.

"When times are tough, when times are difficult, the Jews become scapegoats. It's happening again," said Mark Gardner of the Community Security Trust, which advises Britain's 290,000-strong Jewish community on safety issues.

"We're in a really difficult, dangerous period of time with global terrorism, the Iraq war, the Afghanistan war - people are becoming very nervous about the future and these are the types of times when Jews get scapegoated."

The trust said 92 anti-Semitic incidents had occurred in Britain in July, coinciding with the conflict between Israel and Hizbollah in Lebanon.

That was the third-highest recorded monthly figure and although there were few violent incidents, it included death threats, hate mail and the daubing of graffiti, such as "Kill all Jews" which was scrawled over the London home of a Jewish doctor.

A 12-year-old girl was also beaten unconscious by seven youths on a London bus after being asked what her religion was.

"The basic trend is now that we are seeing about 75 per cent more incidents than we were during the 1990s and that's something that is really concerning," Gardner said.

The incidents come as the Jewish community marks three and a half centuries since Jews returned to Britain. Expelled in 1290, a small group of Spanish and Portuguese Jews returned and resettled in London in 1656.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, an international Jewish human rights organisation, said the rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes cast a cloud over commemorative events planned for this month, including an open-air festival in central London.

"It is painfully clear that British Jewry has little to celebrate with the coming New Year and the marking of the upcoming 350th anniversary of their readmittance into England," said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the centre's associate dean.

He said British authorities had to do much more to stem the rising tide of anti-Semitism, noting that a rise in anti-Jewish crimes in France had led to a determined effort by French authorities to take on those responsible.

A group of MPs is due to release a detailed report into the nature of contemporary anti-Semitism.

The Parliamentary Group Against Anti-Semitism said its review would contain "hard-hitting conclusions" and "urgent action will be called for from the Government ... to combat the rising tide of anti-Semitism".

Britain's Jewish leaders have warned that since 2000 the number of attacks on their community has been steadily rising, coinciding with a renewed outbreak of violence between Israelis and Palestinians.

In January, Britain's chief rabbi Jonathan Sacks said a "tsunami of anti-Semitism" was sweeping across Europe, and warned that Holocaust denial and hatred of the Jewish people was becoming increasingly evident on television and in books.

Gardner said global events always served as a trigger for racist attacks, but there had been a growing anti-Israeli sentiment in Britain which often manifested itself as general anti-Semitism.

Some commentators substitute the word "Zionist" for Jewish so as not to appear racist, Gardner said, but "Jews end up getting attacked".

"Over the past 20 or 30 years, it has become increasingly trendy and politically correct to attack Israel."

- REUTERS