May was ‘month of hate’ with 628 recorded antisemitic incidents

The Community Security Trust has labelled May as the “month of hate” after recording 628 antisemitic incidents.

CST’s new report details the scale of abuse directed at Jews in Britain between May 8 and June 7.

The vast majority of incidents – 585 – involved language, imagery or behaviour linked to Israel and Gaza.

The pro-Palestine car convoy that travelled through north London with passengers screaming threats to Jewish women is one recorded example.

Another details how a speaker at a demonstration in Manchester invoked the antisemitic conspiracy theory about Jewish control of the media, by saying: “the main 13 executives that approve the content released by the BBC are actually in fact Jewish. So this means the information released by the mainstream media will be biased.”

CST also detail how 25 per cent of incidents involved Jewish teachers or pupils who were targeted cries of Free Palestine.

The report accepts that such cries are not themselves antisemitic – but notes that they are directed at Jewish individuals because of their identity.

Mark Gardner, CST’s chief executive said:”This anti-Jewish rage was fuelled by extremists and directed against everyone from schoolchildren to rabbis, coming as violence and intimidation in schools, streets and shopping centres.”

He called for “firmer action against perpetrators and an end to the selective anti-racism from those who passionately oppose most racism but uniquely ignore anti-Jewish hate.”

This shocking report released by the Community Security Trust is a distressing read. A new wave of anti-Jewish hate has been unleashed in the UK with assaults, abuse and targeting of Jewish people becoming commonplace.

The report also highlights the deliberate manipulation and distortion of the memory of the Holocaust – the most pernicious form of antisemitism.

We are reminded today that we can never stop educating future generations on the Holocaust and its contemporary relevance.

Karen Pollock, Chief Executive, Holocaust Educational Trust called the report “shocking”.

She said: “A new wave of anti-Jewish hate has been unleashed”, focussing on the “deliberate manipulation and distortion of the memory of the Holocaust – the most pernicious form of antisemitism.”