London’s Muslim mayor urges zero tolerance for hate crimes after anti-Semitic incidents

The Muslim mayor of London called for zero tolerance for hate crimes in the wake of a series of anti-Semitic incidents in the British capital.

Sadiq Khan met Monday evening with genocide survivors, including from the Holocaust, as part of the city’s programming surrounding International Holocaust Memorial Day on Jan. 27.

“I ask all Londoners to report any form of hate crime, no matter how trivial,” Khan told The Guardian newspaper. “A brick with a swastika on it thrown through a window of a Jewish home is not a trivial matter and needs to be addressed.”

“It’s not simply the person who is the victim who is affected… but the ripples of trauma are felt by the entire Jewish community, and we’ve got to understand that psychological trauma,” he added.

“We’re privileged to have among us in London survivors of the Holocaust, who can share their stories that enrich our lives. We must redouble our efforts to make sure nothing like that happens again.”

The incidents included a brick with images of swastikas and anti-Semitic messages thrown through the window of a Jewish home in the Edgware neighborhood on Saturday morning. Hours earlier in the same neighborhood, a group of identifiably Jewish people were pelted with eggs while walking home from Shabbat dinner.

Also, swastikas were discovered drawn on a property in the borough of Barnet; a city-owned garbage bin was defaced with anti-Jewish invective, and a poster for the film “Denial” was vandalized with graffiti. The film deals with Holocaust denier David Irving’s legal case against scholar Deborah Lipstadt, who won her case.

The attacks were intended to “instill fear” in the Jewish community, the Shomrim volunteer security group told the Jewish Chronicle.

Scotland Yard said officers were investigating the incidents, the Evening Standard reported, including viewing footage from surveillance cameras near the incidents. Police also were adding patrols in the areas to reassure residents, according to the newspaper, citing Scotland Yard.

The London Metropolitan Police reportedly is investigating the incidents as hate crimes.