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‘Explosion of Hate’ Antisemitism in United Kingdom Reached Unprecedented Level in 2023, New Report Says
People march in a protest, in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in London, Britain, November 11, 2023. Photo: Alishia Abodunde via Reuters Connect
More antisemitic incidents occurred in the United Kingdom in 2023 than any year in the history of recording such data, according to a new report issued on Thursday by Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit that offers security services and training to the country’s Jewish community.
The report, titled Antisemitic Incidents Report 2023, said that 4,103 antisemitic incidents happened in the country in 2023, an increase of 147 percent from 2022. They included physical assaults, hate speech, threats, and cases of what the nonprofit described as “damage and desecration” of Jewish religious symbols and houses of worship. CST noted that over 2,000 other incidents reported to its offices were not included in its official statistics, noting that some “were not deemed to be antisemitic” while others involved “suspicious activity” and other potential threats to physical safety.
“British Jews are strong and resilient, but the explosion in hatred against our community is an absolute disgrace,” CST chief executive Mark Gardner said in a statement. “It occurs in schools, universities, workplaces, on the streets, and all over social media. Our community is being harassed, intimidated, threatened, and attacked by extremists who also oppose society as a whole. We thank the government and police for their support, but this is a challenge for everyone and we condemn the stony silence from those sections of society that eagerly call out racism in every other case, except when it comes to Jew hate.”
CST’s data shows a massive uptick of antisemitic incidents immediately after Hamas’ massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, which resulted in hundreds of murders of civilians, abductions of the young and elderly, and numerous sexual assaults of Israeli women. Between January and September, there were fewer than 200 incidents but 1,303 in October alone, over 1,200 in November and December. From Oct. 7 until the end of the year, CST added, its offices received an average of 31 reports per day.
In that span of time, CST recorded its highest single-day and single-week totals of antisemitic incidents, indicating “that it was celebration of Hamas’ attack, rather than anger towards Israel’s military response in Gaza, that prompted the unprecedented levels of antisemitism across the country.” Additionally, the report added, perpetrators signposted their anti-Zionist hatred in 43 percent of incidents, saying Zionist, Zionism, or “Free Palestine!” while committing an offense. In 955 others, they alluded to Adolf Hitler and Nazism, both of which they often connected to Hamas and anti-Zionism.
“Perpetrators either glorified Hamas’ act of terror as a repeat of the Nazis extermination of the Jews during the Holocaust, or lamented Hitler’s failure to eliminate world Jewry entirely,” CST explained, adding that others expressed being motivated by Islamic-antisemitism, viewing the conflict between Israelis and Hamas as part of a larger conflagration between Jews and Muslims.
Antisemitism on social media also proliferated after Oct. 7, appearing the most on X/Twitter, where CST found 704 examples of it, an increase of 249 percent. X users often based their antisemitism on conspiracies and other extreme political ideologies.
“The figures noted in CST’s Antisemitic Report 2023 should be a reminder to British civil society of the serious nature of antisemitism and the impact that it has on the Jewish community,” Lord Mann, His Majesty’s Government’s Independent Adviser on Antisemitism, said in a statement on the report’s findings. “As we have seen over the years, when tensions rise in the Middle East there is an increase in antisemitism around the world. However, this scale is unprecedented and is, for the first time ever, widespread across every police region in the United Kingdom.”
Mann continued, “This country will not tolerate the abuse or intimidation of any of its citizens and I will continue to make sure that it remains a safe place for our Jewish community.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post ‘Explosion of Hate’ Antisemitism in United Kingdom Reached Unprecedented Level in 2023, New Report Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Father of Israeli Wounded in New Orleans: ‘Part of his Skull is Missing’
A member of the National Guard Military Police stands, in the area where people were killed by a man driving a truck in an attack during New Year’s celebrations, in New Orleans, Louisiana, US, Jan. 2, 2025. PHoto: REUTERS/Octavio Jones
JNS.org – In an interview, Israeli Hagai Levin described the impact of the injuries sustained by his son Adi, a member of the IDF Armored Corps, during the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans by an ISIS-inspired terrorist who murdered 14 people and wounded dozens of others. The terrorist also died.
“His state fluctuates, but I’m optimistic. I’ll bring my son home. His life will change—he’ll have metal rods in his arms and legs, an open head wound and part of his skull is missing,” Hagai said.
“There are still injuries we’ll fully understand only in a month when we begin the head rehabilitation process. But he’ll return to us, and for that, we’re moving our home from the Golan Heights to Tel Aviv to be closer to Tel HaShomer Hospital [Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan].”
Adi remains bedridden, as does his friend and fellow IDF soldier Y. (who chooses to remain anonymous out of safety concerns). “I miss everyone terribly and am deeply grateful to the Jewish community here for their support,” Y. said.
The pair’s visit to New Orleans was part of a planned three-month road trip that took them from Nebraska to Los Angeles and then on to Texas and Louisiana. They did not make it to their planned destination of Florida.
Having seen the security camera video of the attack, Hagai said that the vehicle driven by Shamsud-Din Jabbar “hit Adi head-on, crushing his legs and head, dragging him along the road, and pushing his friend to the side.”
While praising the hospital as operating at an “incredible standard” and saying that “we are receiving exceptional care,” Hagai said that “despite their travel insurance, a single day of hospitalization here costs roughly the equivalent of the entire annual budget of Israel’s healthcare system combined. The expenses will exceed a million dollars.
“We are facing a long recovery ahead. He’s spent two weeks in the emergency room and will need several months in rehabilitation with complex surgeries. We won’t return to Israel before April.” Hagai said.
The post Father of Israeli Wounded in New Orleans: ‘Part of his Skull is Missing’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Netanyahu Hosts Trump Envoy on Gaza Hostage Talks
Steve Witkoff, founder of the Witkoff Group, gestures during a rally for Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden, in New York, US, Oct. 27, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
JNS.org – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Saturday afternoon with President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, in what was described as a “surprise visit” to discuss the multilateral negotiations with Hamas for the release of Israeli hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza.
Witkoff arrived in Israel after talks in Doha with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
Channel 12 cited a “senior Israeli” saying that Trump has been personally involved in the matter over the last couple of days, expressing his desire to urgently cement a deal before he enters office on Jan. 20.
Netanyahu is expected to hold a security assessment after which he will decide whether to send an Israeli delegation to Doha headed by Mossad and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) chiefs David Barnea and Ronen Bar, respectively.
According to Ynet, “additional progress” has been made in the negotiations but disagreements remain.
The report mentioned the transition from stage one of the proposed truce—a “humanitarian” phase of releasing hostages—to stage two as the main hurdle. The sides are arguing about legal wordings and each is insisting on keeping a degree of “freedom of action,” Ynet reported.
Qatari-owned, London-based newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed quoted a senior Hamas official as saying, “The final vision of the agreement is finished. There are arrangements between the mediators regarding the announcement of the agreement. We are all waiting for the envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to arrive in Doha and render his approval for the latest amendments.”
However, various Arab- and Hebrew-language reports gave conflicting reports on whether Hamas agreed to hand over a list of live hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
During a press conference at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Tuesday, Witkoff, a Jewish businessman and longtime friend of the president-elect, expressed optimism about the ongoing discussions.
“I believe they’re doing an excellent job in Doha,” Witkoff said. “I’m hopeful that by the [Jan. 20] inauguration, we’ll have positive news to share on behalf of the president. It’s really the president’s vision, his reputation, and his words that are driving these negotiations. So, hopefully, everything will come together, and lives will be saved.”
When asked whether a deal could be reached before his inauguration, Trump said, “There better be.” He reiterated his stark warning about the fallout for Hamas if the hostages are not released.
The post Netanyahu Hosts Trump Envoy on Gaza Hostage Talks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Los Angeles Issues New Evacuation Orders as Thickening Smoke Causes Health Emergency
Flames rise from a structure as the Palisades fire burns during a windstorm on the west side of Los Angeles, California, US, Jan. 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ringo Chiu
i24 News – The Palisades fire raging in the Los Angeles region shifted east on Friday night, triggering new evacuation orders and further aggravating the titanic health and safety emergency in America’s second largest city.
Palisades is the largest of six simultaneous wildfires that have devastated Los Angeles County neighborhoods stretching across an area larger than San Francisco since Tuesday, killing at least 11 people and damaging or destroying around 12,000 structures. The numbers are expected to rise once it is safe enough for firefighters to conduct house-to-house searches.
The LA Department of Public Health said it had declared a local health emergency and issued a public health officer order in response “to the widespread impacts of the ongoing multiple critical fire events and windstorm conditions.”
The statement further said that “the fires, coupled with strong winds, have severely degraded air quality by releasing hazardous smoke and particulate matter, posing immediate and long-term risks to public health.”
Allegations of leadership failures and incompetence were flying, with Governor of California Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass singled out for opprobrium.
Newsom ordered state officials to determine why a 117 million-gallon (440 million-liter) reservoir was out of service and some hydrants ran dry, calling it “deeply troubling.”
Los Angeles fire chief, Kristin Crowley, said city leadership failed her department by not providing sufficient funds for firefighting. She also pointed out the lack of water. “When a firefighter comes up to a hydrant, we expect there’s going to be water,” she said.
The post Los Angeles Issues New Evacuation Orders as Thickening Smoke Causes Health Emergency first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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