British MP: Data suggesting rise in U.K. anti-Semitism are misleading

[Behind the Aegis]

Recent data suggesting a significant increase in anti-Semitic incidents in Britain this year may be misleading, according to Labor MP John Mann, chair of the all-party Parliamentary Committee against Anti-Semitism (PCAA).

Speaking in Israel on Monday to members of the Israel, Britain and the Commonwealth Association, Mann said that a 2009 report by the Jewish community's watchdog group, The Community Security Trust (CST), proves that the work of his and similar groups is prompting more Jews to report racist behavior.

IBCA chairman Austen Science, hosted Mann and 180 other guests at the Tel Aviv Hilton Monday for the association's annual Balfour Dinner.

But the CST director of communications, Mark Gardner, told Haaretz on Tuesday that "there is no doubt" that there has been a sharp climb in the number of racially motivated attacks in the United Kingdom.

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