U.K. Anti-Semitic Attacks Reach New Levels

Record levels of anti-Semitism were reported in the UK in 2014 by the The Community Security Trust, a Jewish security charity, according to The Guardian. The charity runs an incident hotline that reported 1,168 anti-Semitic incidents against British Jews, which has doubled since 2013. Last month, the UK released a report that indicated anti-Semitic activity was on the rise, and thus making a call to action to fight anti-Semitism. Now, we can see this this call to action is becoming increasingly more essential.

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In 2014, there were 81 violent assaults, 81 incidents of damage and desecration of Jewish property, and 884 cases of abusive behavior. The CST says that the conflict in Gaza in July and August contributed to the rise of anti-Semitism. The UK in July saw more anti-Semitic incidents in one month than in the previous six months put together. Jewish people were facing direct abuse in the street more than once per day and were especially targeted if they were wearing religious or traditional clothes. Additionall, social media was also a major source of anti-Semitic hate speech. The Guardian reports that one in five incidents were conducted through social media, such as Twitter and Facebook.

David Delew, chief executive of the CST said, “Last year’s large increase in recorded incidents shows just how easily antisemitic attitudes can erupt into rate-hate abuse, threats, and attacks.” These anti-Semitic attitudes unquestionably need to be fought, and luckily there are actions being taken to lessen this type of behavior. Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary of the CST, intends to strengthen Twitter’s actions against hate crimes on their website.