Another antisemitic attack in London crime wave against Jews continues

A Jewish man on a train was subject to “threatening gestures” and “disturbing verbal abuse” by a fellow passenger.

By Dion J. Pierre, Algemeiner

Another Jewish Londoner has been attacked on while riding the city’s public transportation, a local neighborhood watchdog reported on Wednesday.

According to Shomrim Stamford Hill, which has continuously reported on a widespread epidemic of antisemitic harassment and violence in London that began in 2021, a male wearing dark clothing approached a Jewish community member on the Piccadilly Line of the Underground and made “threatening gestures” while spewing “disturbing verbal abuse.” The group is calling on any witnesses of the incident to come forward.

“The distressing encounter has left the victim deeply affected, and is an alarming reminder of the need for vigilance and solidarity in our community,” the group said.

Jewish residents have also faced persistent harassment at a communal garden in the Stamford Hill neighborhood, with a group of people believed to be from a nearby apartment shouting “Free Palestine” and “Hitler” at them, the group also reported on Wednesday. Shomrim said “this isn’t an isolated incident” and said Jewish residents are “deeply concerned.”

Orthodox Jews in the Stamford Hill section of London have been victims of an onslaught of antisemitic harassment and violence since last year, and there already have been 211 antisemitic hate crimes in London so far in 2023, according to data reported by Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). Members of the city’s Orthodox Jewish community, one of the largest in Europe, were victims in a substantial portion of the 3,280 antisemitic hate crimes that MPS has recorded since 2018. 853 were tallied in 2021 alone.

In December 2022, the British Parliament released a report detailing recommendations to combat antisemitism amid rising antisemitism throughout the UK and a new spate of attacks against London’s Jewish community. Yet the attacks have persisted since then with alarming regularity.

In another incident on the public transport reported on Wednesday, a black males wearing a green hoodie and oval-lensed sunglasses verbally abused two Jewish women on a bus headed towards Stamford Hill. Elsewhere in the neighborhood, an unidentified male smeared grime from his hands on a “visibly Jewish” child and said “This is what you deserve.”

On June 8, a Jewish grandfather was assaulted by a cyclist while taking a walk with his wife and grandchild. He received medical attention at a local hospital. Earlier this month, a “racist gang” of youths kicked open the door of a Jewish family’s home, the second time they have done so since April.