JEWS OF BRITAIN TROUBLED BY RISE IN ANTI-SEMITIC VIOLENCE

Increase in Anti-Semitic Violence Troubles Jews in Britain (FoxNews)
... The British government itself condemns the rising incidence of anti-Semitism and has vowed aggressive action against it. The government emphasized, in a report on March 29, that it will not tolerate mistreatment of Britain's Jews.

“There is probably a greater feeling of discomfort, greater concerns, greater fears about anti-Semitism than there have been for many decades,” Henry Grunwald, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, recently told a bipartisan parliamentary committee investigating anti-Semitism.

According to government reports, the chief sources of the hatred of Jews are native-born fascists, far-left political extremists and Muslim radicals. The physical attacks are mainly directed at Orthodox Jews, who are highly visible because of their skullcaps and traditional dress. Secular Jews, who are not as easily identifiable by their clothes, are less likely to be attacked.

The number of anti-Semitic incidents in Britain increased by 34 percent last year, according to records collected by the Community Security Trust, a charity that monitors anti-Semitism in Britain and is regularly cited in government reports for being more comprehensive than police data.

That was the biggest annual increase since 1984, when the charity began collecting figures. Based on current projections, the number of incidents this year is on track to equal last year's.

Many of the physical assaults on British Jews are committed by Muslim extremists who blame all Jews for the conditions of Palestinians in Israel and Israeli-occupied areas. According to a poll in the London Times in December 2005, 37 percent of Britain’s 2 million Muslims agreed that all 268,000 members of the Jewish community were legitimate targets because of Israel’s policies.

“Bigots try to make all Jews responsible for the actions of the only democratically elected government in the Middle East,” John Mann, a member of Parliament, told FOXNews.com. “Anti-Israeli sentiment does go over the line to anti-Semitism,” said Mann, who chaired a bipartisan committee that studied anti-Semitism in Britain.

Israel-bashing has been fueled in Britain by militant left-wing trade unionists, academics and some members of the British press who regard Israel as an apartheid state determined to eliminate the Palestinians.

A proposed academic boycott would end exchanges between British and Israeli universities. Then-Prime Minister Tony Blair called on academics to abandon plans to boycott Israeli universities during a speech in the House of Commons last month, saying a boycott would do absolutely “no good for the Middle East peace process.”

The demonization of Israel has heightened hostility toward Britain’s Jews. “Some of those who are hostile to Israel make no distinction between Israelis and Jews,” said the Parliamentary report.