Itongadol.- Britain\’s Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond is concerned that Israel\’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip could lead to an increase in anti-Semitic attacks in Britain.
Hammond raised the concerns in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph on Thursday, saying he has already "seen certainly an upturn in anti-Semitic rhetoric."
A UK Jewish advisory body said last week that anti-Semitic incidents in Britain had risen to a near-record level since the start of Operation Protective Edge.
The Community Security Trust, which advises Britain’s estimated 260,000 Jews on safety, said figures showed a significant rise in such incidents for the first six months of the year.
“There is no excuse for this wave of racist intimidation and violence, and we call upon all good people to unequivocally condemn it,” said CST spokesman Mark Gardner.
Although the overall total this year has increased, there were fewer violent assaults recorded – down 32 percent to 22% – with the majority of incidents related to verbal abuse, graffiti, and abuse via social media.
British MP John Mann, chairman of a parliamentary group against anti-Semitism, said the report was troubling.
“From the feedback we are receiving, it is likely that the volume of anti-Semitic incidents will increase significantly before the year’s end,” he said.
Gardner said the rise in recorded anti-Semitic events this year might reflect better reporting as well as more actual incidents.