‘Anti-Semitism down in UK in first half of 2011’

Community Security Trust report says anti-Semitism drops 13%; of 284 incidents, 41 were violent assaults, 35 vandalism.

By JEREMY SHARON
Xenophobia - man getting beaten kicked 311 R (photo credit: REUTERS)
Xenophobia - man getting beaten kicked 311 R
(photo credit: REUTERS)
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.
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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.