Sharp rise in anti-Semitic crime
The number of abusive and violent attacks on members of the Jewish community in Britain rose by more than a third last year, according to new figures.
A report by the Jewish organisation Community Security Trust (CST) described the 532 incidents in 2004 as “extremely alarming”.
This record number of incidents meant that, for the first time in five years, assaults on people outnumbered those on Jewish property.
However, a spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) said the increase could be partly attributed to better reporting of incidents to the CST.
Rob Beckley said that police figures have for some time indicated a higher level of anti-Semitic crime that those of the CST.
“We believe that the similarity of figures now indicates that both organisations are becoming effective in identifying and recording anti-Semitism, rather than necessarily reflecting a sudden major rise across the country,” Mr Beckley said.
However, he stressed that any anti-Semitic incident was a matter of “great concern” to the police service and officers were committed to taking positive action against the perpetrators.
The CST figures report that close to 60 per cent of anti-Semitic incidents – 311 – took place in the Greater London area, with just under 100 recorded in Greater Manchester.
