Attacks on Jews soar since Lebanon
By Joanna Bale and Anthony Browne
The Times [UK]September 02, 2006
www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2339394.html

Synagogues and citizens have been targeted

BRITISH Jews are facing a wave of anti-Semitic attacks prompted by Israel's
conflict with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Synagogues have been daubed with
graffiti, Jewish leaders have had hate-mail and ordinary people have been
subjected to insults and vandalism.

On Thursday an all-party parliamentary inquiry will state that anti-Semitic
violence has become endemic in Britain, both on the streets and university
campuses. The report will call for urgent action from the Government, the
police and educational establishments.

Mark Gardner, of the Community Security Trust, said: "In July, when the
conflict in Lebanon began, we received reports of 92 incidents, which was
the third-worst month since records began in 1984." In 2000 the monthly
average was between 10 and 30 incidents.

The former minister Denis MacShane, who chaired the parliamentary inquiry,
said: "These figures confirm the evidence given to us that anti-Semitic
attacks are a very real problem."

The Board of Deputies of British Jews submitted evidence to the inquiry that
anti-Semitism in Britain was at its worst level.
The July incidents "were more dispersed than usual", Mr Gardner said. "It is
usually a small number responsible for a large number of attacks, but these
were very widespread across the country and included graffiti attacks on
synagogues in Edinburgh and Glasgow."

The attackers, when visible, are from across society, he said. "When it's
verbal abuse, it's just ordinary people in the street, from middle-class
women to working-class men. All colours and backgrounds. We hardly ever see
incidents involving the classic neo-Nazi skinhead. Muslims are
over-represented."

In hate-mail to senior Jewish figures, ordinary Jewish people were being
blamed for the deaths of Lebanese civilians. "There are also references to
the Holocaust, saying that Hitler should have wiped out the Jews."

Mr Gardner said that the rise in attacks reflected increased hostility to
Israel and Jews in the media and across society: "The number of anti-Semitic
attacks reflects the mood music around Jews and Israel."

There have been several attacks in Golders Green and Hampstead Garden Suburb
in North London, where there is a large Jewish population. La Maison du Cafe
in Golders Green Road was targeted two weeks ago by two young men who threw
chairs at the restaurant, punched workers and threatened to kill the owner,
Ruth Cohen, with a knife.

Ms Cohen, 34, said: "They asked if it was a Jewish restaurant. They said
they were going to kill me and called me a 'dirty Jew', a 'stinking Jew'.
One of them had a knife. A colleague came out. They started punching him and
throwing chairs."

In Hampstead Garden Suburb, swastikas and the words "Kill all Jews" and
"Allah" were daubed on the house and car of Justin Stebbing. Dr Stebbing,
who works at a hospital, said: "I felt violated. It's horrible."

Jon Benjamin, of the Board of Deputies, said: "The problem is the spin that
Israel is an irredeemably evil regime, and we are concerned that it may
become common currency to connect British Jews with this."

The Association of Chief Police Officers said: "Our National Community
Tension Team are alert to recent incidents. We are working with the CST. We
are strongly encouraging reporting of incidents."