Anti-Semitic attacks in UK up 11% in 2016
Jews targeted in 577 incidents, with 75 per cent of them recorded in London and Manchester
Anti-Semitic attacks in the UK rose by 11 per cent in the first six months of this year, a report says.
The Community Security Trust (CST), which works to combat anti-Semitism and racism, said there were 577 incidents targeting Jews, up from 473 in the same period last year.
Almost a quarter of incidents involved the use of social media while more than 75 per cent of the attacks were recorded in London and Manchester.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"The year-on-year rise comes at a time when politicians and police have warned about growing levels of hate crimes since Britons voted to leave the European Union on June 23," says the Jerusalem Post.
However, the CST rejects any clear link between the Brexit vote and the growth in attacks. Although overall levels of hate crime shot up during the last days of campaigning of the referendum and in the vote's aftermath, spokesman Dave Rich told BuzzFeed News there was no noticeable spike in anti-Semitic incidents in the week after the result.
Nevertheless, there is an acceptance by the CST that the rise in attacks on Jews represents "the new normal", says the Jewish Chronicle. "A series of spikes in anti-Semitism in the past seven years have meant levels have never dropped back to where they were a decade ago," it says.
Perplexingly, ITV News has headlined its report "Fall in anti-Semitic hate crime", choosing to highlight the 54 per cent drop in attacks on Jews in Greater Manchester in the first half of 2016 and ignoring the significant increase in such incidents nationally.
CST's figures come one day after the leak of a report into anti-Semitism at Oxford University's Labour Club which found Jews were ridiculed in a way women or Afro-Caribbean people would not be, Sky News says.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Mark Menzies: Tories investigate MP after 'bad people' cash claims
Speed Read Fylde MP will sit as an independent while party looks into allegations he misused campaign funds on medical expenses and blackmail pay-out
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
'Another day of chaos in DC'
Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
By The Week Staff Published
-
6 scenic white water rafting destinations to get your heart racing
The Week Recommends Have a rip-roaring time on the water
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
Is Henry Kissinger right about Ukraine?
Speed Read The US statesman made a controversial speech at a virtual Davos appearance last week
By The Week Staff Published
-
How the Taliban is rolling back the freedoms of the past 20 years
Speed Read Supreme leader has now announced that all women must cover their faces in public
By The Week Staff Published
-
Volodymyr Zelenskyy refused evacuation as Russian hitmen ‘parachuted’ into Kyiv
Speed Read Ukrainian president turned down opportunity to leave capital despite threat to life, adviser claims
By The Week Staff Published
-
Russia can still ‘win’ Ukraine war, Western officials warn
Speed Read Vladimir Putin adjusts tactics after ‘humiliation’ for second phase of invasion
By The Week Staff Published
-
Ukraine war: the atrocities unfolding out of sight
Speed Read Vladimir Putin’s strategy of ‘Russification’ is straight from Stalin’s playbook
By The Week Staff Last updated
-
Can Vladimir Putin be toppled?
Speed Read Russia has become what political scientists call ‘a personalist dictatorship’
By The Week Staff Published
-
The meaning behind the Z Russian military symbol
Speed Read Taken from the Latin alphabet, it has become a sign of support for Putin’s war
By The Week Staff Published
-
Houthi rebel attacks: a new development in Yemen’s ‘festering’ war
Speed Read The conflict escalated in January when a Houthi drone attack hit oil facilities in the UAE
By The Week Staff Published