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Antisemitic incidents 'quadruple in UK' since Hamas attack in Israel

By Emily McGarvey, BBC News
Getty Images Orthodox Jewish men pass police officers as they patrol around Stamford Hill, an area of London with a large Jewish community, on October 10, 2023 in London, England.Getty Images
The Met Police said it would provide a visible presence in some Jewish communities in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel

Antisemitic incidents in the UK have more than quadrupled since Hamas's attack on Israel, says a charity which helps Jewish people in the UK.

The Community Security Trust (CST) recorded 89 "anti-Jewish hate" incidents from 7 to 10 October.

That marked a more than four-fold rise on the 21 antisemitic incidents recorded in the same period last year.

Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said he was "very concerned" at reports of an increase in antisemitism.

The Met Police has also written an open letter to London's Jewish community expressing support and solidarity.

The CST says six of the 89 incidents recorded were assaults, three referred to damage to Jewish property and 66 were related to abusive behaviour, 22 of which happened online.

In examples of incidents given by the group:

  • A Jewish person walking to a synagogue in London on Sunday morning was called a "dirty Jew" by a stranger, who said "no wonder you're all getting raped"
  • Also in London, a car slowed down outside a synagogue before the occupants of the vehicle shouted "Kill Jews" and "Death to Israel" while waving a Palestinian flag

The CST said: "Make no mistake: these are anti-Jewish racist incidents and hate crimes in which Jewish people, property and institutions are singled out for hate, including death threats and abuse.

"In many cases, the perpetrators of these disgraceful incidents are using the symbols and language of pro-Palestinian politics as rhetorical weapons with which to threaten and abuse Jewish people."

Hamas began its surprise assault on Israel on Saturday, killing more than 1,200 people and taking up to 150 hostages.

More than 1,300 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched retaliatory air strikes.

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Mr Tugendhat said he took the rise in antisemitism in the UK "extremely seriously" and urged a crackdown on the spread of hate.

He compared the ideology of Hamas to that of the Nazis in the 1930s and 40s.

"What the Nazis were doing is exactly what Hamas is doing today," he told Sky News. "It is preaching a blood libel, preaching a hatred for Jews and preaching a hatred that extends around the world."

Earlier this week, Home Secretary Suella Braverman wrote to police chiefs to step up patrols to prevent antisemitic disorder after the attacks on Israel.

Jewish schools in London and Manchester have also stepped up security as concerns grow about a possible rise in antisemitism directed at children.

Some pupils have been told blazers are optional in public places so they cannot be easily identified as Jewish.

The Met Police's deputy commissioner Dame Lynne Owens has written an open letter to London's Jewish community to reassure them that the force will "do all that we can to make sure you feel safe and protected here at home".

She said police would take action against any "abuse or intimidation that is religiously motivated" in the city.

Dame Lynn added that, while those showing support for Hamas or the Lebanese Hezbollah movement - both of which are proscribed terrorist organisations in the UK - could face prosecution, "what we cannot do is interpret support for the Palestinian cause more broadly as automatically being support for Hamas or any other proscribed group".