In this piece on our being banned from the UK because Muslims might respond to our presence with violence, Pamela Geller and I asked rhetorically, “What next? Will the UK ban Jews?” But this report makes that seem like much less of a rhetorical question. If they aren’t being banned, they’re being driven out. And the culprit is obliquely identified in the fourth paragraph, but never, of course, actually named.
“UK anti-Semitism hit record level in 2014, report says,” by Sanchia Berg, BBC, February 5, 2015 (thanks to all who sent this in):
Anti-Semitic incidents reached a record level in the UK last year, according to the Community Security Trust.
A report by the trust, which provides security for Britain’s Jewish community and monitors anti-Semitism, said the number of incidents had more than doubled to 1,168 in 2014.
It is the highest figure since the trust began monitoring in 1984.
“Anti-Semitic reactions to the conflict in Israel and Gaza” were the biggest factor behind the rise, the trust said.
It recorded 314 incidents in July – the highest ever recorded in a single month.
It said almost half the offenders made reference to Gaza or Palestinians.
However, it said the number of incidents had already risen significantly in the first six months of the year, before the summer’s conflict.
‘Extreme’ assaultThe report said the increase was most marked in London – where the number of incidents rose by 137% to 583 – and in Greater Manchester, where the number rose by 79% to 309.
It said there were 81 violent anti-Semitic assaults across the UK in 2014.
One, in London last September, was classified as “extreme”.
The victim was subjected to verbal abuse and was hit with a glass and a baseball bat, the report said.
Most assaults were random attacks on Jewish people in public places, it added.
It said 19 involved objects – usually eggs – being thrown at “visibly Jewish” people from cars.
Eight were assaults on synagogue congregants going to or from prayers, the report said, and four targeted Jewish schoolchildren on their way to or from school.
In addition, there were more than 300 reported incidents of verbal abuse – apparently randomly directed at Jewish people in public.
Hitler ‘right’For instance, in Manchester in November a 12-year-old girl was walking along the street when someone in a passing car shouted anti-Semitic abuse at her.
The report noted 233 cases of abuse or threats on social media last year, compared to 88 in 2013.
An image of Hitler, with the caption “Yes man, you were right” was widely shared over the summer.
Social media is also being used to spread anti-Semitic messages, along with graffiti on the homes of Jewish people.
Several cemeteries have also been desecrated – including one in Manchester in February: “Jewish slag” was daubed on gravestones.
Attack drillThe report showed an increase in the number of incidents involving schools, Jewish schoolchildren or staff: 66 in 2014, compared with 32 the year before.
Children at one Jewish primary in north London told the BBC last month they had experienced anti-Semitism while travelling to school and on school trips.
They had also begun to practice what to do in case armed intruders attacked their school.
The most visible Jewish communities in Britain are the ultra-Orthodox, the Haredim: they wear traditional clothes, with men bearded and wearing skullcaps.
Britain’s biggest Haredi community is in Stamford Hill, east London.
Last week one far-right activist said he was planning a protest there next month – against “Jewification”, according to a poster he put on Facebook.A leading figure in the Haredi community, Rabbi Avraham Pinter, said some in the community feared it might inflame tensions.
But he said they had been “overwhelmed” by support from all quarters, especially other faith groups.
Community ‘anxious’David Delew, chief executive of the trust, said the increase in recorded incidents “shows just how easily anti-Semitic attitudes can erupt into race hate abuse, threats and attacks”.
Home Secretary Theresa May said the new figures were “deeply concerning”, and she was committed to working with Jewish leaders and police to tackle anti-Semitism….
Jacksonl03 says
“But he said they had been “overwhelmed” by support from all quarters, especially other faith groups.”
Good to learn the Jews do get some support. This growing hate the Jew crap is hideous.
IQ al Rassooli says
Dear Mr Spencer
With all due respect, no one should use the expression ‘anti Semitic’ any more because these figures deal ONLY with attacks on Jews and not Arabs or Muslims
These attacks are almost entirely committed by Arabs & Muslims against Jews
Since Arabs are SEMITES, the expression ‘anti Semitic’ is very misleading
Throughout history, it was JEW hatred and NOT Semitic hatred that has been recorded
The Church hated JEWS
Hitler & Germans hated JEWS
So did Stalin & communists
So do ALL Arabs & Muslims
We should change the language to reflect the reality and NOT continue with the mis information
IQ al Rassooli
Kafir & Proud!
mariam rove says
What are you smoking? M
IQ al Rassooli says
mariam
Instead of STUPID remarks, why not address what you think in a coherent manner?
When in the whole of history (excluding 1880 to the present) will you find the expression ‘anti Semitic’?
Were not the Roman, Greeks, Persians, Arabs, Europeans & British anti JEWS?
All you need to do is disprove me
IQ al Rassooli
Kafir & Proud!
mariam rove says
Were not the Roman, Greeks, Persians, Arabs, Europeans & British anti JEWS?…
You are not. But I am Persian therefore they are Jew haters thus Anti Semites. m
Linda Rivera says
Mariam, I never use the word anti semitism. I always says Jew-hate.
ECAW says
Very glad to see you addressing this point IQ, as I have also attempted to here:
https://ecawblog.wordpress.com/2015/01/31/not-anti-semitism-but-jew-hatred/
Also, isn’t it spooky how the media go out of their way to avoid naming the perpetrators of these attacks. In the article quoted above they even insinuate that it might be UKIP supporters. Sometimes I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
IQ al Rassooli says
mariam
You cannot be a Persian because if you were, then you must be a very ignorant one since according to the tradition of the Jews, Cyrus the Great was a MESSIAH who LIBERATED them from Babylonian slavery and allowed them to re build their Temple in Jerusalem
If you hate Jews then you must be a Muslima hence explains your lack of knowledge
IQ al Rassooli
Kafir & Proud!
mariam rove says
HI IQ! No worries. I should read your comments more carefully. For a moment I though you were a troll and was trying to twist things around like stealth Jihadists. So no worries. As for my son, I need to get him help but he says he can handle it him self. And the help he is getting is a half bottle on scotch every night. Keep up the good work. m
Mirren10 says
” As for my son, I need to get him help but he says he can handle it him self. And the help he is getting is a half bottle on scotch every night.”
I am so sorry, Mariam, to hear about your son’s troubles.
You must be worried sick. Do encourage him to go to AA.
Wellington says
Technically, you’re correct about the word “Semite,” which in origin is a linguistic term, and in opposition to “Hamite,” another linguistic term. One of the major language families of the world is the Afro-Asiatic language family which also can be called the “Hamito-Semitic” language family. It includes such languages as Hebrew, Aramaic and Arabic (all Semitic), and Berber, Hausa and ancient Egyptian (all Hamitic). However, by long-standing custom the term “anti-Semite” has been exclusively used in a non-linguistic sense and refers exclusively to antipathy towards Jews. “Anti-Semite” therefore is a cultural and ethnic term even though it is ultimately derived from a linguistic source. Personally, I think it fully appropriate and defensible to use the term “anti-Semite” to describe Jew hatred.
BTW, mariam rove is a man, not a woman. He has been commenting here for years and is indeed non-religious and Iranian (Persian). He’s a good guy and is not ignorant and his son has served in the American military in Afghanistan.
mariam rove says
Thank you W! That is exactly what I am saying. Call a spade a spade. They are anti Semite. As for my son, since he got back from Afghanistan my life has been upended. He has major PTSD and drinking like a fish while Obama invites the Jihadists MB to the White House. M
IQ al Rassooli says
mariam
Please accept my humble apologies and my sincere sympathy for your son’s troubles
Believe it or not, get in touch with the Israelis who have much better rehabilitation processes than Obama’s USA
Semantics is the science of the root of words, Anti Semitism was a word created by a European Jew in late 1880 to differentiate between the European & Middle Eastern races
Hence as far as I am concerned what was correct for over 2000 years cannot be changed by a few recent years
IQ al Rassoolo
Kafir & Proud!
Wellington says
I am sorry, mr, to hear about your son. I can only hope he seeks proper medical treatment and that such treatment proves effective. War can do terrible things to a person’s spirit. Take care, mr.
Champ says
So sorry to hear about your son, Mariam. And may I encourage you to attend Al-Anon meetings; in fact, here’s their website:
http://al-anon.org/?gclid=CjwKEAiAxsymBRCegqiLzI7Q1S8SJADOgQrzKJLPsF-iQSBATBw1WNfQKGM_pRPiGeMi_igpUYNN6RoC9wfw_wcB
The website can help you find meetings in your area, and they also offer online help.
One of my brother’s is an alcoholic and I dealt with his insane drama for YEARS, but Al-Anon helped me find the right tools to cope with his drinking and I had to learn to set healthy boundaries with my brother. Now I am free from *his* addiction. Anyway, I highly recommend seeking their help and going to at least one meeting. I went for about 4 months once a week, and it was the best decision I ever made. They really helped me.
Peace, my friend.
Greyhound Fancier says
So sorry about your son having trouble after serving. PTSD is treatable – the VA has a lot of experience with it, as you can imagine. There is therapy, and the sooner it is done, the better. The veteran’s brain can change its’ wiring and perpetuate the PTSD if it isn’t treated timely, making it more difficult to manage.
If your son can get help with the PTSD, he may find the scotch less appealing. I will pray for him (as I do all veterans) daily – and yes, I know you do not believe.
Our son is also a veteran, and we are thankful that he’s doing well. I hope your son can get the right assistance to make his life better.
pumbar says
Sorry to hear about your son M.R. That’s terrible news. I hope it sorts itself out soon.
ECAW says
“That is exactly what I am saying. Call a spade a spade.”
That’s exactly what you’re not doing. You’re calling it a digging implement.
Anti-semitism sounded odd when it referred only to Europeans’ antipathy to Jews but everyone accepted that pachyderm meant elephant and we all knew what we were talking about. But it’s even odder to use the term to mean the antipathy of one Semite for another.
Moreover it’s too mild a term to express the demented hatred that Muslims feel towards Jews and which goes right back to when they had the nerve to tell Mohammed to shove his nonsense.
Anti just means against as in antidisestablishmentarianism or antivirus. We are called mentally ill for being against Islam, as in Islamophobia, but people who have a visceral, foaming at the mouth hatred of Jews are merely against Semites? I don’t think so. They are Jew-haters and should be called such.
Best wishes to your son.
E. Alexandra Pierce says
IQ al Rassooli –
I appreciate where you’re coming from, and this isn’t the first time I’ve heard it said that semitic refers to all people of a certain region where Jews were only part of the indigenous population. However, after some consideration, I’ve concluded that nixing anti-semitism as a reference to anti-Jewish hatred is somewhat pointless. It would be like launching a Quixotic campaign to stop dubbing homosexuals as gay since gay is supposed to mean something else. No matter how much one might appreciate the original meaning of the word, the days when “I’m gay” simply meant “I’m cheery” are long gone. Language evolves. Anti-semitism has meant hatred of Jews for so long, and so universally, even other technically semitic peoples think of it as such.
ECAW says
E. Alexandra Pierce – Do you think Pamela Geller’s bus ads would have carried the same punch if they’d said “Anti-semitism – it’s in the Quran”?
I contend that they wouldn’t because:
1. Merely being against Jews is too bland a way of describing Muslims’ obsessive hatred of them.
2. The term “Jew hatred” takes us back to the days of the Koran, showing Muslim hatred for what it is, a living fossil which hasn’t evolved since 650 AD whereas “anti-semitism” takes us back only to the 1880s.
ECAW says
Before anyone picks me up on it, I guess Islamic Jew hatred has evolved in that time but for the worse. As I understand it, after the Jews were put in their place under the terms of dhimmitude they were regarded with contempt but were tolerated. The swivel-eyed hatred we see nowadays only emerged after the Jews stood up to the Muslims and humiliated them by racing ahead in all civilised aspects of life.
True?
gp says
Way to try and confuse the issue haji! Just the ugly face of Arab Jew hatred.
Stop living in the past and embrace the sins of your people.They are the face of Evil they follow the father of lies- all they know is wickedness, death and destruction.
Mr Pendle says
Monkey see, monkey do. The book says it, so it’s Gods will. Peaceful… A… John
Mark says
It’s funny how many white British people say that the Jews asked for it because of Israel “victimising Palestinians”. Leaving aside the misrepresentation of the situation the very same people will say that it’s wrong to blame all Muslims because of the actions of the few thousand terrorists!
Sadly I include family members on the above.
Spot On says
It must be the 24/7 anti-Semitic liberal TV, radio, internet propaganda taking hold. With no counter propaganda, it works. The Nazis proved that.
JOSEPH says
Mark, So I take it that you believe;
Fanatic Muslim wants to kill all non-believers or convert them.
Moderate Muslim openly supports the fanatic and wishes/hopes to become a fanatic
Passive Muslim silently supports the moderate and fanatic.
I thought after WWII the cry was “never again”? How soon we forget, I silently cry for all that lost their lives to end those atrocities. Let us pray that it is not too late.
Mark says
Basically yes, the moderate Muslims are content to wait but still believe that that should and will dominate.
There are some people who identify as Muslims but are really decidable – but to admit it would risk being attacked by the task Muslims.
Tony says
Anyone else get the impression that our UK police now think they are the religious police ?
This piece in the London Evening Standard would suggest they do .
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/cleaners-find-racist-stickers-on-london-commuter-train-10026445.html
“A spokesman for the force declined to confirm who the stickers insulted, but said the material was “seriously and extremely offensive towards a religion”.
I wonder which one ?
Weren’t the police hunting someone last week for making comments about islam on a bus in Bradford ?
Angemon says
What other faith(s) would those groups be?
carpediadem says
Wilhelm Marr , a Jewhating journalist from 19th century, invented the term anti Semitism so that Jewhatred would sound more respectable.