Watchdog: Record levels of anti-Semitism in Britain during Gaza op

Britain saw record levels of anti-Semitism during Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza, a Jewish watchdog group said.

In July 2014, the Community Security Trust, or CST, recorded 302 incidents — the highest ever monthly total documented by the group since it started monitoring anti-Semitism in the United Kingdom in 1984, CST wrote Thursday on its blog.

The figure constitutes a rise of over 400 percent from the 59 incidents recorded in July 2013 and only slightly fewer than the 304 incidents recorded in the entire first six months of 2014, CST said.

Of the incidents recorded since July, 21 involved physical violence; none resulted in serious injury. Roughly a quarter of all anti-Semitic incidents recorded by CST in July took place on social media. At least 150 incidents were recorded by CST in August 2014, making it the third-highest monthly total on record.

CST obtained a description of the offenders for 107 of the 302 incidents recorded during July. Of these, 55 offenders, or 51 percent, were described as being of south Asian appearance; 32 were described as white; 15 were described as being of Arab or North African appearance and five were described as black.