The Community Security Trust has published its annual survey of antisemitic incidents directed against jews, in 2006.
Here are the highlights:
594 antisemitic incidents were recorded by the Community Security Trust (CST) in 2006. This is the highest annual total since the CST began recording antisemitic incidents in 1984.
The total of 594 incidents is a 31 per cent rise on the 2005 total of 455 incidents. It is 12 per cent higher than the previous record high of 532 incidents, recorded in 2004.
59 per cent of the 594 incidents occurred during the second half of the year. 134 antisemitic incidents took place during the 34 days of fighting in Lebanon between Israel and Hizbollah in July and August. 54 incidents during the year included specific reference to the fighting in Lebanon.
There were 112 violent antisemitic assaults recorded in 2006, the highest ever recorded by the CST and a 37 per cent rise on the 82 violent antisemitic assaults in 2005. The 112 violent attacks included four that were classified as Extreme Violence, meaning that the attack potentially caused loss of life or Grievous Bodily Harm.
There were a record number of incidents of Abusive Behaviour – 365, an increase of 34 per cent from the 273 incidents of Abusive Behaviour recorded in 2005. This category is an indicator of the amount of background, low-level antisemitism in society.
Incidents of Damage & Desecration to Jewish property rose by 46 per cent, from 48 incidents in 2005 to 70 incidents in 2006.
The months of July, August and September had the third, fourth and fifth highest monthly totals on record respectively.
Thirteen people were convicted of offences relating to antisemitic incidents from 2005 and 2006. Other cases from 2006 are awaiting trial.
In 227 incidents the victims were individual Jewish people going about their lives in public. In 121 of these, the victims were visibly identifiable as Jewish.
82 incidents targeted synagogues, including 27 involving damage to synagogue buildings. A further 50 incidents targeted congregants on their way to or from prayer.
59 incidents targeted Jewish schools or schoolchildren, of which 25 were against Jewish schoolchildren on their journeys to or from school.
There were nine desecrations of Jewish cemeteries in 2006.
79 incidents targeted Jewish communal organisations and their events, including representative bodies, youth movements, welfare and cultural organisations.
Physical descriptions of incident perpetrators (using the ‘IC1-6’ system) were provided in 205 of the 594 incidents reported to the CST. Of these,
– 96 were White (47 per cent),
– 4 East European (two per cent),
– 28 Black (14 per cent),
– 60 Asian (29 per cent),
– 1 Far Eastern (one per cent) and
– 16 Arab (8 per cent).
The composition of the population of England and Wales, by ethnic group, is as follows:
White – 92.1%
Asian or Asian British – 4%
Black or Black British – 2%
Chinese – 0.4%
Other ethnic groups – 0.4%
Update
Matthew in the comments points out:
I think the table showing the UK population by ethnicity is somewhat misleading in this context.
The report says 75% of the attacks were in London or Manchester, and those in London mostly in Barnet, Redbridge, Camden, Westminster. The ethnic mix of these areas is for much higher Asians and blacks than the UK average – Barnet has 12% Asian, Redbridge 25%, Camden 11%, Westminster 10%, and Manchester 9%. So a ‘weighted average’ would be more like 15% Asian.
There is a similar story for the other ethnic groups, although this only explains some of their over representation.
Here are some of the things which happened last year:
Two visibly Jewish men in Manchester were attacked by a gang shouting antisemitic abuse. One of the men was struck several times over the head with a metal bar.
Two Jewish students at a nightclub were assaulted by two Asian men shouting antisemitic abuse. One of the Jewish students was struck over the head with a bottle, leaving him semi-conscious.
A Jewish man was walking to synagogue with his two young sons when he was attacked by a white man shouting “You fucking Jew”. He was punched and kicked to the floor, suffering a broken leg.
A Strictly Orthodox Jewish man was at a London Underground station when an Arab man punched him in the face and tried to push him off the platform, while shouting “Get back to Stamford Hill, I want to kill you all, I want to kill all Jews and my name is Hitler.”
A group of Asian men in Manchester drove past some Jewish men and spat at them while shouting antisemitic abuse. They then attacked a second group of visibly Jewish boys, giving one a broken nose and shouting “What have you got on your heads.”
A Lubavitch “Happy Passover” stand at a supermarket in Manchester had posters put on it showing a suicide bomber with the words “Happy Passover from al-Qaida”.
A man phoned a synagogue in Newcastle and said: “Following your killing of the children of the Lebanon, be on warning that your children are now targets in Newcastle”. The caller, Paul Jonathan Mahon, was subsequently convicted of malicious communication and fined £150.
A woman phoned a synagogue in Birmingham and said, “I would like to make a complaint about the way your people are treating Lebanese people. Have you forgotten the commandment ‘thou shall not kill’? You Christ killers.”
A Jewish man was walking to synagogue in London when a group of Asian men shouted “Jewish scumbag, go back to the camps” and did Nazi salutes at him.
“The Jews are evil people” was daubed in large letters at a London Underground station.
Several people received a letter containing a razor blade and bearing the name of the far right group Combat 18. The letter read, “We fully intend to complete the final solution. When the National Identity Registry is operational locating and tracking your kind will be easy. We’ll know which schools your children attend, your places of work, how to find your family and friends…Slit the throats of your kinder [children] now. Save us the effort”.
A Jewish man was walking down the road when two Asian men saw his Star of David necklace and chased him, screaming “you represent Israel you fucking Jew, we will kill you and chop your heads off, death to all Jews.”
Mark Bulman, a British National Party supporter, was jailed for five years for daubing antisemitic and racist graffiti on a mosque in Swindon in August 2006, and trying to firebomb the building. Bulman wrote “Pakistanis and Jews go back to Auschwitz” on the wall of the mosque.
Now read Dave Rich at Engage.