The Israel-Hamas war has sparked a rise in both Antisemitic and Islamaphobic hate crimes in London. Ahead of another weekend of marches in London, Eastlondonlines reporter Rosie Harris-Davison looks at the surge of attacks on Jewish people in London, while here Aysha Imtiaz reports on the fears among the Muslim communities.
Following Hamas’ attacks on Israel on October 7, antisemitic hate and abuse in London has risen massively.
In Hackney, which has one of the largest Jewish populations in London in the Stamford Hill area, hate crimes have risen 318.8% from September to October 2023, as shown in The Metropolitan Police data, which is 47.4% more than the previous year.
The other ELL boroughs have also seen drastic increases over the same time frame. In Croydon, the figures rose 400%, Lewisham 100%, and Tower Hamlets 2300.0% from their respective baselines.
Rabbi Levi Schapiro, head of The Stamford Hill brand of the Jewish Community Council, told Eastlondonlines: “People are using the current conflict in the Middle East as an opportunity to attack and abuse Jewish people.”
He said those in the community who are visibly Orthodox “feel more at risk” but added: “antisemitism affects everyone across the Jewish spectrum. From the very left to right of the Jewish community. We’re all in this together.”
Read more on ELL here:
Jewish man attacked in Stamford Hill
Antisemitic graffiti on Lewisham war memorial
In The Stamford Hill Jewish community alone, incidents have included “many different trends of hate” in the weeks since Hamas’ attacks on Israel, including children being slapped in the face on their way home from school and bus drivers shutting the doors on Jewish mothers waiting to get on.
Speaking on behalf of the community, he said: “It’s not just shouting something about Palestine or Israel. It’s pure old-fashioned traditional antisemitism. Antisemitism is alive and kicking in modern Britain.
“One of the things this conflict in the antisemitism crisis has shown us is that we thought we had friends outside of the Jewish community. But the mask has slipped with many of those who we called our friends, and they’ve shown their true colours.
“We don’t make these mistakes about different cultures, faiths or religions. So why are other people making these kinds of mistakes? If they were true friends of the Jewish community, they would have never done these hateful things.”
Social media has become an arena for antisemitic hate alongside the abuse and attacks happening in real life, causing a widespread feeling of fear in the community.
Placards inciting antisemitic hate crime at the recent Pro-Palestine marches have also been a cause of deep pain for many with the chant “from the river to the sea” being taken as a reference to the eradication of Israel’s people.
Rabbi Schapiro said that as a representative body for the community, JCC is very engaged with these issues and actively working with local police, authorities, and Hackney Council to eradicate antisemitic abuse happening both in actuality and online.
The JCC has been in contact with authorities on a nearly daily basis about issues related to safety and security for the Jewish community.
The Jewish body, The Community Security Trust, confirmed on November 22 that cases have quadrupled in the whole of the UK, with 1563 incidents recorded from when the attacks began on October 7.
This is the highest total ever reported to the CST across a forty-seven-day period.
