"Far more than it used to be David. If you followed people on Twitter and Facebook as I do you would see the extent of Jew hatred."Twitter and Facebook provide platforms for anonymous racists and they do not do enough to prevent the hate. I think that they could be called institutionally anti-Semitic."From the Guardian 9 months ago: anti semitic attacks in the UK have increased for the third year running (and no doubt this year will see a further increase. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/feb/07/antisemitic-incidents-uk-record-high-third-year-in-row-community-security-trust"At least anti-Semitic violence has gone down:-"There was a fall of 17% in the number of violent antisemitic assaults, from 149 in 2017 to 123 last year, including one classified by the CST as “extreme violence”.""A fall of 17%".The report itself:-https://cst.org.uk/data/file/2/9/Incidents%20Report%202018%20-%20web.1549538710.pdfPage 14:-"Overall, CST recorded 148 incidents in 2018 – around nine per cent of the year’s total – that were examples of, or related to arguments over, alleged antisemitism in the Labour Party.This does not mean that all Labour Party members, or supporters of Jeremy Corbyn, are antisemitic, any more than the increase in all types of hate crime following the 2016 vote to leave the European Union meant that everyone who voted to leave the EU has racist attitudes. Rather, it is that an atmosphere of heightened public discussion of antisemitism, racism, hate crime and related issues can excite activity amongst those people who are already predisposed to carry out hate crimes, while also causing heightened concern about antisemitism amongst potential victims and witnesses of hate incidents (which can lead to higher levels of reporting). Another, less tangible, factor is that the prevalence of antisemitism in public debate can encourage more antisemitism, if people perceive that the taboo against expressing hostility or prejudice towards or about Jews is weakening. The more people hear and read antisemitic comments and views, the more likely they are to have the confidence to express such views if they hold similar attitudes themselves.It is likely that the high monthly totals in April and May 2018 were also partly influenced by reactions to violence on the border between Gaza and Israel during those months, in which several Palestinians were killed. Repeated violent clashes in that area peaked on 14th May when 62 Palestinians, many of whom were later reported to have been Hamas members, were killed by the Israeli army. This attracted widespread media coverage and political reaction in the United Kingdom, particularly from supporters of the Palestinian cause, and CST also saw a temporary increase in those months in the number of antisemitic incidents displaying evidence of anti-Israel motivation (alongside evidence of antisemitism). CST recorded 47 such incidents in April and May, over a quarter of the 173 antisemitic incidents that showed evidence of being motivated by anti-Israel sentiments or ideology in the whole of 2018. For comparison, CST recorded just 14 incidents of this type in January, February and March 2018 combined. The 182 antisemitic incidents recorded by CST in May is the highest monthly total CST has recorded since August 2014, when Israel and Hamas last fought a sustained conflict over Gaza, and is the fourth highest monthly total CST has ever recorded."
David Ainsworth ● 2533d