Policing has been ramped up at London schools and synagogues as it emerged there have been 50 anti-Semitic incidents in the capital since Hamas attacked Israel at the weekend.
The reported incidents range from physical and verbal abuse to the daubing of graffiti on walls - including one image of Adolf Hitler that appeared in central London - according to Jewish charity Community Security Trust (CST).
The Met Police has now told the capital’s Jewish community extra patrols will be in place at schools and synagogues, to “investigate and prosecute any instances of anti-Semitic hate or harassment”.
Across the UK, 89 cases of anti-Semitic behaviour have been reported to CST, which logs the alleged crimes, in the four days from the attack by Hamas on southern Israel on Saturday to Tuesday.
The CST, a charity whose mission is to protect the Jewish Community, recorded 21 anti-Semitic incidents over the same four days in 2022. This equates to a increase of 324 per cent this year, compared to the same period last year.
Graffiti depicting Adolf Hitler giving a Nazi salute and the word “Jews” was painted on a wall in the City of London, according to the CST. An orthodox Jew was punched on a bus in the capital and his religious hat taken.
In another incident a Jewish person reported that they were on Oxford Street when a person in a passing van shouted vile anti-Semitic abuse.
Some Jewish schools in London have put extra measures in place to protect pupils against hate crimes, such as allowing them not to wear uniform bearing school logos, ramping up searches at the entrance to sites, and cancelling after-school detentions.
In an open letter to London’s Jewish communities on Wednesday, Met Police Deputy Commissioner Dame Lynne Owens condemned Hamas’ attack on Israel, and acknowledged many Londoners “will be worried about their safety here”.
“Nobody should be concerned about their child’s journey to school, their safety on a bus or a train, their visit to the shops, or to a place of worship,” she wrote.
“Working with community leaders and the CST, we are increasing our presence at schools and synagogues and in communities. Our neighbourhood policing teams and dedicated schools officers will be there to provide assurance and support, but also to investigate and prosecute any instances of antisemitic hate or harassment.”
Addressing a protest that saw pro-Palestine supporters surround the Israeli Embassy in Kensington on Tuesday, she added that while Hamas is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK, “the law on this is...very specific and we have to act within it”.
“What we cannot do is interpret support for the Palestinian cause more broadly as automatically being support for Hamas or any other proscribed group, even when it follows so soon after an attack carried out by that group and when to many the link seems indisputable,” she said.
“An expression of support for the Palestinian people more broadly, including flying the Palestinian flag, does not, alone, constitute a criminal offence.
“Abuse or intimidation that is religiously motivated will not be accepted and officers will act when they see it,” she added.
“In the coming days and weeks there will no doubt be further challenges and further protests.
“We will police them without fear or favour and I expect our officers to act where they see offences, including expressions of support for proscribed organisations or any instance of religious hatred.”
Across the country there have been six assaults, three acts of vandalism to Jewish property, 14 thefts, 14 direct threats and 66 incidents of abusive behaviour including graffiti and online trolling since Hamas’ attack on Saturday, according to the CST figures.
Other London incidents included a Jewish couple who were walking in West London when a cyclist rode past and shouted “Free Palestine” at them.
Meanwhile the words “Free Palestine” and “Palestine will be free” were daubed in large letters on two railway bridges across the main roads in Golders Green, in the heart of London’s Jewish community.
A statement from the CST said: “We will not stand for this anti-Jewish hatred and nor should anybody else. We urge everyone who experiences or witnesses antisemitism to report it to police and to CST so that those who are trying to intimidate and threaten our community can be investigated, arrested and prosecuted.
