The level of anti-Semitic incidents occurring in the United Kingdom rose
slightly in 2012, with 640 attacks, up from 608 in 2011.
While there has
been some debate over the numbers – with some critics alleging that certain
incidents were counted twice – Jewish leaders have been
watchful.
However, speaking with The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, Vivian
Wineman, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the primary body
representing that country’s Jewish community, said he did not believe the
security situation was as bad as some made it out to be.
“It’s not
drastic,” he said. “We are not in crisis, but the situation needs
watching.”
Asked if anti-Semitism was getting worse, he replied: “I don’t
know. 2012 is up on 2011, but 2011 is down on 2010, and 2010 was down on 2009.
But 2009 was a record year.”
In order to protect the Jewish community,
Wineman said the Community Security Trust, a protective organization, had
mobilized some 3,000 volunteers.
“There is a huge amount of effort that
goes into protecting Jews,” he said.
Moreover, Wineman, a former Peace
Now leader, has expressed a preference for engaging in interfaith dialogue,
saying the Board of Deputies did “an enormous amount” in its efforts to portray
the Jewish community in a positive light.
“All parts of the community
engage in interfaith dialogue,” he told the Post.
“The board is
particularly involved in that [and] represents the community on interfaith
dialogue. I’m the vice-chair of the Interfaith Network, which is an umbrella
body which brings together all interfaith bodies in the UK.”
The Board of
Deputies, he said, worked with Muslim and Christian groups and was especially
active regarding Holocaust education.
Reacting to the tendency among some
pundits to refer to London as “Londonistan” in reference to radical Muslim
clerics operating there, the Board of Deputies president was adamant that the
city’s Muslims “are largely South Asian and they are not particularly radical or
anti- Semitic.”
“Let’s not exaggerate,” he said, admitting, however, that
“there is a small minority who are anti-Semitic and a large minority who
tolerate anti-Semitism, and that is a problem.”
A problem of its own that
British Jewry must admit to, he said, was intermarriage and
assimilation.
“One challenge is demography,” Wineman asserted.
“We
have rising rates of outmarriage. The number of marriages being
solemnized in shuls is falling and is falling particularly among the progressive
elements.... It’s like in America.”
Despite this, he explained,
one problem US Jews faced that was not present in England was alienation from
Israel.
“The British Jewish community is very strongly Zionist and very
supportive of Israel,” Wineman said. “Well over 90 percent of British Jews have
visited Israel. Over half of British Jews go on the Birthright tour. They are
often quite dovish so they are not always in agreement with the Israeli
government, but plenty are. They’re quite divided.”
Yet unlike Americans,
he said, “we don’t see a sort of disaffection among the younger generation.”