Sadiq Khan has been accused by the Home Secretary of “ignoring” a spate of “chilling” anti-Semitic attacks which have “terrorised communities”.
Last week, as Jewish communities marked Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD), a wave of assaults and attacks prompted faith leaders and Cabinet ministers to accused the London Mayor of not doing enough to tackle anti-Semitism.
Two strictly Orthodox Jewish men were punched to the ground and had to be treated in hospital on the eve of HMD in an assault that was caught on CCTV. However, the Jewish Chronicle reported that this was just one of a string of incidents in recent days including reports of another charedi man being assaulted, a boy being spat at, and a mob shouting at synagogue-goers: “Yiddos go home.”
It was also claimed that a family’s windows were reportedly smashed and people driving past a synagogue shouted: “Free Palestine”.
The reports have prompted members of London’s Jewish community to claim that their pleas for more street patrols and quicker response times in Stamford Hill, north London, where there is a large ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, have gone unanswered.
‘Scenes of shocking harassment’
Writing in Friday’s Jewish Chronicle, Priti Patel accused Mr Khan of failing to “tackle the anti-Semitism that blights the capital and leaves too many families living in fear”.
She said: “Over the last week we have witnessed scenes of shocking harassment, violence, and abuse of Orthodox Jews in Stamford Hill, Hackney.
“There have been reports of windows smashed, a five-year-old spat at as he played in a park, two men violently attacked as they left work and anti-Semitic abuse shouted from a hire bus as it travelled through the borough.
“The last incident took place on Saturday afternoon, the day of the sabbath, as families were leaving their synagogues.
“It has chilling echoes of the horrific scenes we witnessed last May when a convoy of cars drove through a Jewish community in north London shouting foul anti-Semitic messages from a megaphone.
“In the wake of that appalling incident, the London Assembly passed a motion calling on London Mayor and Police and Crime Commissioner Sadiq Khan to draw up an action plan to tackle a surge in anti-Semitic violence and abuse that has terrorised communities.
“Yet six months on, Jewish families are still waiting for a London-wide strategy to tackle the anti-Semitism that blights the capital and leaves too many families living in fear.”
She added: “It is deeply troubling to me that the very real concerns of a minority community who have been subjected to repeated physical and verbal assaults on their streets and in their schools, their places of work and worship, have been ignored by City Hall.”
Ms Patel added: “In the same week that Stamford Hill witnessed a spate of anti-Jewish race hatred, Britain marked Holocaust Memorial Day; a stark reminder of the dangers of allowing anti-Semitism to spread unchallenged.
“We must never be complacent. Anti-Semitism, whether it is on the streets or online, must never be allowed to fester and grow in our society, which means we must always act with urgency to stamp it out.”
Rabbi Herschel Gluck, president of Stamford Hill security organisation Shomrim, said that in most cases the police response was either too slow or non-existent.
‘We have shared that concern’
Superintendent Andy Port, of the Metropolitan Police’s Central East unit’s lead for Neighbourhood Policing, said: “The comments made are not a fair reflection of the seriousness with which the unit, or indeed the Met Police as a whole, treats anti-Semitic hate crime.
“There have been a number of incidents over recent months which have understandably and rightly caused alarm to members of the community. We have shared that concern and responded.”
He added: “We have refreshed our overall approach to tackling hate crime in order to provide better support to victims, to enable a stronger response towards offenders of hate crime and to improve accessibility of our service to Londoners across all communities.
A spokesman for the Sadiq Khan said: “This is utter rubbish. Tackling anti-Semitism is a priority for the Mayor. He continues to ensure there is a zero-tolerance approach to anti-Semitism in London and is working alongside the Met Police and communities to tackle hatred and intolerance across the city.
“Sadiq is disgusted by the terrible attacks that have taken place in Stamford Hill and is clear that anti-Semitism has absolutely no place in our society. He’s invested more than £6 million – more than any previous mayor – in tackling the scourge of hate crime, supporting victims and funding grassroots organisations and civil society groups that are working to prevent hate from taking root.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/02/04/priti-patel-accuses-london-mayor-sadiq-khan-failing-tackle-anti/
