Antisemitism charity launches billboard campaign to highlight Jew hatred
Activists say action needed after recent government figures show five-fold increase in anti-Jewish racism
Jenni Frazer is a freelance journalist
A charity has launched a national billboard advertising scheme to highlight recent Home Office figures which indicate that Jews are 500 per cent more likely to suffer hate crimes than any other British faith group.
The two-week-long campaign from the Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) – which will include Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27 – features a variety of real-life “models” using the hashtag #becauseImJewish.
It’s the first such campaign of its type and will run on digital billboards in London, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Manchester, and Glasgow.
All the models are British Jews from a variety of different backgrounds, from a Holocaust survivor to a tattooed young woman, and, in what is believed to be another first, a member of the strictly Orthodox community.
Gideon Falter of CAA said: “People are utterly appalled when we tell them quite how much Jews are targeted by hate crime. The UK is a fundamentally decent and tolerant place, and one of the best countries in the world to love as a Jew, but we still suffer racism and attacks every day simply because we are Jewish.”
Members of the public are being asked to support the campaign on social media by using the hashtag #StandWithJews. Falter said such support would mean a great deal to the community “and shows the racists that they cannot win.”
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