The Community Security Trust, the UK’s body that monitors anti-Semitism, noted a
decrease in anti- Semitic incidents for the first half of 2011 in a report
released on Thursday.
The report, which comes out twice a year, recorded
a 13 percent fall in all forms of anti-Semitic incidents, compared with the same
period in 2010.
RELATED:Muslim-Jewish parley seeks 'platform for dialogue' German Left Party resolution ignores modern anti-Semitism Of the 283 incidents in the first half of 2011, 41 were
violent assaults and 35 were damage and vandalism caused to Jewish
property.
There were a further 186 incidents of abusive behavior, such as
verbal abuse, hatemail and anti-Semitic graffiti.
The total for the same
period in 2010 was 325.
Of 96 incidents in which a physical description
of the perpetrator was provided, 48 were said to be white, six black, 32 were
described as [south] Asian and eight as being of Arab appearance.
“We
welcome the decline in anti-Semitic instances,” said director of Communications
for CST, Mark Gardner. “But we would however need to see a longer-term decline
in the figures to be able to say that the situation in which anti-Semitism has
increased over the past decade is being effectively dealt with. We suspect that
another trigger event would send incidents up again.”
The CST said in its
report that the fall in incidents is partly explained by the fact that there was
no significant event which has caused anti- Semitic attacks to spike in the
past, such as Operation Cast Lead, which aroused a huge increase in anti-Semitic
incidents in the UK and Europe, and the flotilla crisis of May 2010.
The
report did notice an increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the city of
Manchester, where recorded incidents went up by 27% in the first half of 2011,
compared to the same period last year. However, the increase was attributed to
local community awareness campaigns and enhanced cooperation between the CST and
the Greater Manchester Police.
In a recent case in the city, taxi driver
Taha Osman screamed “All Jewish children must die!” after his car was stuck in a
traffic jam outside the Jewish King David school in Manchester, in October last
year. The 36-year old was found guilty of causing “religiously-aggravated
harassment” and given a community-service sentence last Tuesday.
The
Jewish Community Protection Service, which monitors anti-Semitism in France,
also recorded a drop in anti-Semitic incidents in 2011. Quarterly figures to the
end of March of this year showed a decrease of 24% in all anti-Semitic acts,
compared to the same period last year.