The canary's fading song

More disturbing devolution of civility. As ever, the canary in the coal mine is a familiar one.

Violence 'reflects national surge' in anti-semitism

Rosie Cowan, crime correspondent
Friday January 21, 2005
The Guardian [London]

Tonight, worshippers leaving dozens of synagogues in north-east London's Stamford Hill will hurry home in groups, keeping an eye out for strange cars and taking care not to leave anyone on their own.

For the large Jewish population in this part of the city has been subjected to a series of vicious attacks in the past six weeks.

[snip]

Mike Whine, spokesman for the Community Security Trust, an agency which provides defence information and advice to British Jews, said the sustained nature of the attacks on a close-knit community was intimidating.

But he was even more worried that they were symptomatic of a general upsurge in anti-semitism throughout the UK in the last year.

[snip]

"While we are still compiling final figures, we know there has been a substantial increase in violence against Jews in the past year." The Community Security Trust has compiled reports on anti-semitic behaviour since 1984 and has recorded an average of 500 instances a year since 2000, ranging from verbal insults and offensive literature to desecration of property and physical attacks on people.

Islamic extremists have targeted Jews on several occasions. But there is no evidence to date that the Stamford Hill attacks are linked to any such group. Mr Whine could think of no particular reason for the recent increase in anti-semitism, but said there was always a backlash when Jews, Israel or Nazism were in the news.

[snip]