UK anti-Semitic attacks rise after Gaza conflict

[Nostalgia]

LONDON (AP) - The number of anti-Semitic attacks on British Jews rose sharply after the start of the conflict in Gaza, a Jewish charity said Friday.

The London-based Community Security Trust, which monitors anti-Semitism and works to safeguard the Jewish community in Britain, said 250 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in the four weeks after Dec. 27, when Israel launched attacks on Gaza to stop Hamas rocket attacks.

That compares to 40 incidents from the same period the year before.

Dave Rich, a spokesman for the trust, said Jews in Britain are unfairly seen as local representatives of Israel—a view that fuels some of the anti-Semitic attacks.

"This is racism," he said. "And like all forms of racism, it is unacceptable."

The trust said crimes included assaults, damage to Jewish property, threats, hate mail, verbal abuse and anti-Semitic graffiti.

Police figures echo this rise. London police have recorded about three times the number of anti-Semitic incidents from Dec. 27 to Feb. 3 as compared to the same period last year. Though some of that increase came from a change in the way the statistics were kept, the data still reflected a surge in incidents in the capital.

Around Europe, several attacks were reported against Jews and synagogues in France, Sweden and Belgium in the weeks after the Israeli offensive, Rich said.

The figures were released before an international conference Monday in London on tackling anti-Semitism.

Israel's three-week offensive left nearly 1,300 Palestinians in Gaza dead, according to Gaza officials. Thirteen Israelis were killed, including three civilians.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

Given that these attacks have risen tenfold in the period when Israel attacked Gaza (as compared to the same period 12 months ago), this be seen to be causal.

I personally don't think enough is done to distinguish between Judaism and Israel, not all Zionists are Jewish and not all Jews are Zionists. There have been some very vocal Jewish critics of Israel, Gerald Kauffman is a prime example, if more exposure were given to this kind of view it would help the less educated make the distinction and hopefully serve to lower such incidents.

Also if Israel didn't drop bombs on civilians then the true anti-Semites wouldn't have as much ammunition.