The new British anti-Semitism

[Behind the Aegis]

Last update - 11:10 16/02/2006

By Robert Wistrich

Earlier this month, a parliamentary committee of inquiry began to hear testimony on the subject of the proliferation of anti-Semitism in Britain, with the aim of submitting a report that would aid the government of Britain in combating the phenomenon.

This matter took on added significance in light of the trial of Abu Hamza, one of the leaders of the Islamic organization "al-Muhajiroun" (the Exiles), who is accused of inciting to murder Jews and recruiting British Muslims for objectives of the global Jihad. In the wake of a few studies that I have published about the issue, I was asked by the British House of Commons to appear before a parliamentary committee of inquiry.

In fact, Britain has begun to generate its own suicide terrorists - for instance, Asif Mohammed Hanif, who blew himself up in April 2003 at "Mike's Place" in Tel Aviv, killing three civilians and wounding scores of others. Since then, homegrown Muslim terrorism struck in the heart of London, on July 7, 2005. This was not an anti-Jewish action but part of the global Jihad which threatens the West as a whole. But for some leading Muslim clerics like Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad (recently expelled from Britain), Jews, Christians and the West are all part of the "infidel" enemy to be destroyed. He and Abu Hamza openly recruited Muslim youth for "holy war" in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine.

In absolute numbers, Great Britain is today second only to France in serious anti-Semitic incidents among European countries. The hostile climate of opinion has been accompanied by an increase in violent assaults in the last two years. The number of synagogue desecrations has also soared, as well as serious attacks in the London neighborhood of Finsbury Park, and in the cities of Swansea and Edinburgh. A near-tripling in anti-Semitic incidents in British schools prompted the National Union of Teachers to issue new guidelines in July 2003 for combating anti-Semitism. There were also acts of vandalism in the months following the American invasion of Iraq, such as the desecration of a Jewish cemetery in the East End of London, where more than 400 graves were smashed. Last June, particularly ugly desecrations took place in Manchester and London cemeteries.

more...