There was a 9% rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the UK in the first half of 2008 compared with the same period last year. There were 266 incidents up to June, compared with 244 last year, according to the Community Security Trust (CST). Some 166 were incidents of abusive behaviour, including verbal abuse, hate mail and anti-Semitic graffiti. CST admitted that improved contact with smaller Jewish communities "goes some way to explaining the overall rise". Incidents involving Jewish students or academics and at colleges rose 88%, from 26 to 49. There were also 29 incidents involving Jewish schools and schoolchildren. Below is just a small sampling of the types of attacks reported this year.
January: Two people were wounded in a stone-throwing attack in London on Holocaust Memorial Day, according to British media outlets. The two were part of a tour group visiting former Jewish sites in London’s East End. One of the victims suffered a deep cut to her head and was taken to a nearby hospital. Tourists said the perpetrators were four young Muslim members of the area’s immigrant community. Local police said they were investigating the incident as a hate crime.
February: Chelsea Manager Avraham Grant received a letter threatening his life and that of his family. Grant received a package containing a threatening letter filled with anti-Semitic slurs, as well as a white powder which a note indicated was lethal. “When you open this you will die a slow, painful death,” the note read. An additional note contained sexist threats directed towards Grant’s wife, Tzofit, stating that “she too will die”.
February: The words "Jewish C**ts" were written inside the communal area of a block of flats in Edgware.
February: A young Jewish man was on a bus coming home from school in Edgware. He was sitting on the top level of the bus and was wearing his school uniform from a Jewish school. Four boys from a different school started to shout abuse at the victim. They said "all Jews are f**king c**ts". They then asked if the victim was Jewish and when he replied yes they said "you are a c**t because all Jews are mother f**kers". The victim was then mugged for his mobile phone.
February: A Jewish woman was walking along the corridor of her student accommodation in Beeston. The victim was with a friend and they were making some noise. The perpetrator came out of a neighbouring room and screamed "shut up you Jewish bitch" at the victim and then closed the door. The victim then knocked on the door and asked what the perpetrator had said. The perpetrator came out of her room and repeated the comment.
February: Some anti-Semitic graffiti had been found on a wall in Easbourne. A Star of David had been drawn in a circle with a line crossing it out. Next to it were the words "welcome to the Nazi muppet show".
February: Blues supporters sitting close to Meir Granat - a Holocaust survivor - yelled insults which made reference to the Chelsea manager being Jewish. The abuse comes after Grant was sent white powder and anti-Semitic death threats during the build-up to the final. “As the game started to slip away from Chelsea, some fans started shouting out some pretty nasty anti-Semitic stuff,” said a supporter who was sitting near Granat. “It all started to get a bit nasty after Didier Zokora went clean through and looked like he was going to score in the 80th minute". “The Spurs fans started to get excited and even though Zokora missed, it fired up some Chelsea fans. “It must have been very distressing for his dad. There seem to be some hard-core Chelsea fans who are very anti-Grant because he’s Jewish.” Piara Powar, director of the anti-racism organisation Kick It Out, said: “It does seem that some fans have a problem with the club having a Jewish manager.
March: A Jewish individual in London received a letter which read "Jewish groups keep going on about the Holocaust So what about What the Jews have done/ are still doing to the Palestinian people the rightful owners of the stolen land now called Israel." Attached to it were other letters and maps showing the main roads and railways of Palestine in 1948. The perpetrator had written on the map "Where is Israel??"
March: A Jewish organization in London was sent hate mail in response to a fundraising campaign. The letter was a montage of cuttings from magazines and newspapers. It included the words "thieves" and "temples" and "dirty sexy money".
March: A Jewish man in Aberdeenshire was punched after a dispute regarding a mutual friend in Alford. Since the assault, the victim has received numerous threatening messages including the victim's mother being told she would be kicked in the ovaries so she could not produce another twat like him. He was also called "f**king Jew".
March: A Jewish organization in London which represents British Jewry was sent an anti-Semitic email. Within the email it said "what the f**k is Israel and Judaism if it's not extreme? It also said "why are the organized and ethnocentric Jewish community working against English people who protected them from Hitler from their correct and moral concerns of racial and cultural dispossession? It also said that if the question asked wasn't answered then the organization would have created another legitimate anti-Semite.
March: A Jewish man was driving down the road when a white male in a van blocked his way and refused to move. After the victim asked him to move out of the way the perpetrator called him a "f**king Jewish bastard".
March: A Rabbi was on his way home from a synagogue in London when 2 males in a passing vehicle, shouted "Zeig Heil" at him. The perpetrators also gave the Nazi salute
March: A Jewish man was walking home from a synagogue in Golders Green on a Friday evening when occupants of a passing vehicle shouted anti-Semitic abuse at him. The perpetrators shouted "fucking Jews" and "yids".
March: A Jewish woman was with her friend and children and were walking along a road in London when she was surrounded by three men. They started screaming "fucking Yids" and also pushed the victim's son's hat off of his head.
March: A Jewish woman's family has been subject to anti social behaviour from their neighbours which she believes is anti-Semitic based on comments made by the perpetrators previously. On this occasion rubbish from the perpetrators house was placed in the victim's garden. Comments which have been made to the victim and her family previously have included swearing and the word "Jew".
March: A Jewish man in London was walking along the road when a passing vehicle stopped. The driver asked if "Hitler was right or left?" The Jew responded that he was being nasty, however the perpetrator repeated his comment and drove off shouting either "Heil Hitler" or "Hitler".
March: A Jewish man in London received an anti-Semitic phone call to his home phone number. The perpetrator asked to speak to Adolf Hitler. When the victim tried to question the perpetrator and in particular asked where he was calling from, he was told Germany.
March: A Jewish man received malicious phone calls. The caller said things like "I'm gonna get you". In the most recent call, the caller said "your Jewish, I'm going to come around to your house". The man managed to record the call on his phone.
March: A Jewish man was walking with his daughter to a school in Harrow when two males exited a sweet shop and shouted "f**king Jewish ***" at them.
March: A orthodox Jewish man in Manchester received a note which was put through his letter box of his home in Salford. The note read "ow my Hitler you think you own the place Jewish *** x"
March: A 12 year old Jewish girl who attends a non-Jewish school in Wimborne was called a "dirty Jew" and a "Jewish bastard" during an altercation.
March: A woman who claimed to be wanting to convert to Judaism had been attending a central London synagogue on and off for a short while. The Rabbi from the synagogue had requested that she is no longer allowed to enter the location due to information he received about her and her claim to be converting from the Rabbinical court. When she was refused entry, the perpetrator became aggressive and shouted "Zeig Heil" whilst giving the Nazi salute.
March: A Jewish woman was speaking to a friend outside the University of Manchester Student Union when a Palestinian student approached her and screamed "you Jews are killing my people". The victim responded by saying "What, me personally? to which the perpetrator replied "yes, you f**king Jew".
March: A Jewish man from Middlesex received anti-Semitic abuse while in his vehicle. He was navigating his vehicle to the opposite side of the road in Edgware when the driver of another vehicle stopped, got out of his vehicle and approached the victim. When the victim pointed out that he had done nothing wrong, the perpetrator shouted at him and called him and his passenger "f**king Jews". He carried on swearing and shouting anti-Semitic abuse.
March: A Jewish property developer in Thames Valley who owns land designated for housing development found a slogan daubed on the perimeter fencing which read "A Jew lives here". A tree had also been ripped up
March: In Norwich, a plaque commemorating the site of a previous street called Synagogue Street was sprayed with swastikas.
April: A reporter was attending a national student conference and saw that the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) were seen to be distributing anti Israel / anti-Semitic literature. The literature was entitled "Why Jewish state, not a secular state". There was a cartoon depicting a boy standing near a barbed wire fence. The barbed wire was in the shape of a Star of David and the sign above it read "Palestine: Denied to Palestine". In addition, delegates from the GUPS were being ejected for handing out anti Israel leaflets. As this was taking place the head of the society approached a Jewish student union and shouted "this is not the end, we will win, we will end you and Israel and carry out what Arafat promised".
- April: A Jewish man had an altercation with another motorist in Borehamwood. After words had been exchanged, the victim parked his vehicle and continued into a kosher food shop. The perpetrator followed the victim into the store and shouted "you Jewish twat" and other obscenities.
April: A Jewish organization which represents British Jewry was sent an anti-Semitic email. It read "Supporting the zionazi racist apartheid motherfucking, cock-sucking, arse-raping etc etc illegal entity called isunreal, it's good to know that it is now totally legal under our definition of law that targeted assisination of those opposed to u." The subject was titled "Israel support".
April: A reporter found a newspaper on the floor at a national conference for students which had been drawn over. The drawing was of an non-Jewish English comedian who had recently passed away. The drawing showed him wearing a Kippah and the word "Jew" written over it.
April: While walking down the street in Edgware the victim was surrounded by a gang of youths on bicycles, they called him a "f**king Jew" they then proceed to kicked and punched him.
April: Dozens of gravestones and tombs at a Plashet Jewish cemetery have been desecrated. Vandals smashed headstones and tombs, pulled up graves' marble surrounds, damaged railings and started a small fire at Plashet Cemetery in East Ham, east London. Scotland Yard said between 30 and 40 gravestones and tombs were damaged in the attack.
April: House bricks were thrown at a number of Jewish people in Salford near the entrance of a public park by three white males.
April: Oil was deliberately spilled over the pavement outside the front door of a synagogue in Hackney. It had also been splashed across the door and windows.
April: A Jewish woman and her friend were searched and mugged for some money in Crumpsall. The perpetrators followed the victims shouting abuse including "you must be Jewish because of your long noses" before mugging them. The perpetrators were both white and teenagers.
April: Anti-Semitic graffiti had been daubed on the fire exit door of a Jewish education centre in Hendon. The words "www.f**kthejews.co.uk" and "f**kjews.com" had been written in a black marker pen.
April: A Jewish cemetery was vandalized in Sheffield. 17 gravestones were smashed and kicked over.
April: A Jewish woman in Ilford received a telephone call on her mobile phone. When the victim answered there was an automated message saying " do you hate the Jews, I hate the Jews". The message then read out different religious holidays.
April: A Jewish man was walking along the road when the occupant of a passing vehicle shouted anti-Semitic abuse at him. "Jew Jew Jew" was shouted before the vehicle drove off.
April: A woman in Perry Barr desecrated her Jewish housemate's book on Israel. She drawn pigs and prawns on the front of the book. There were also cartoons of a Star of David and a person wearing a Kippah. There was also a photo on the inside which had been written over as well as a page ripped out of the book.
April: A Jewish man was walking to a Synagogue in Childwall on a Saturday afternoon when he passed a group of youths. As he walked passed the perpetrators shouted anti-Semitic abuse at him.
May: Anti-Semitic graffiti was daubed across the pavements and walls of the orthodox Jewish neighbourhood of Stamford Hill in north London.
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