Orthodox man in Canvey Island harassed, threatened and mocked by yobs

A Jewish man was harassed, threatened and mocked on the street in Canvey Island, until another local who is not Jewish chased off the offenders.

The incident happened last week as the victim, who was not named, was paying his cleaner outside her home, the Halstead Gazette reported Monday.

Four young men began harassing the man, who is an Orthodox Jew.

The cleaner’s husband, 46-year-old Kevin Crabb, confronted the assailants, who then left the Jewish man alone.

“They were getting up in his face, shouting at him, but it’s not in his nature to fight back,” Crabb said.

Orthodox families moved only recently to Canvey Island, which used to be detached from the mainland but has since been reconnected with land reclaimed from the Thames estuary.

Thanks to its vicinity to London, the town is an attractive alternative for families that find it difficult to pay for housing nearer to the capital. There are currently about 60 Jewish families living in Canvey Island, which is one of the five most pro-Brexit wards in Britain.

In February 2019, it was reported that the small Orthodox community has expanded tenfold in 2.5 years, with a new community centre planned for its 60 families.

The community was the focus of a BBC documentary in January 2018 ‘Canvey: The Promised Land’, showing how strictly Orthodox “pioneer” Jews from north London relocated there.