UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman wrote to police chiefs on Tuesday, saying that experience showed “Islamists and other racists” would use the current conflict to stir up hatred against British Jews.
She called on police to take a tough line, not just against shows of support for Hamas — which is proscribed as a terrorist organization in Britain — but also toward some pro-Palestinian displays.
“Behaviors that are legitimate in some circumstances, for example the waving of a Palestinian flag, may not be legitimate such as when intended to glorify acts of terrorism,” she said in her letter.
“Nor is it acceptable to drive through Jewish neighborhoods, or single out Jewish members of the public, to aggressively chant or wave pro-Palestinian symbols at,” she wrote in the letter published on the government website.
Reports of antisemitic incidents in Britain since the weekend have tripled compared with the same period last year following the outbreak of new Israel-Palestinian conflict, a Jewish charity said on Tuesday.
The Community Security Trust (CST), which advises Britain’s estimated 280,000 Jews on security matters, did not provide exact numbers but said further incidents could be reported in the coming days.
“We don’t have firm numbers yet as we are still logging and verifying everything that has come in, which also means that the number is likely to rise further, but the current rate is roughly triple what it was for the same period last year,” a spokesperson said.
The CST says any escalation in violence in Israel and Gaza often leads to antisemitic reactions in Britain.
On Monday, hundreds of people gathered at two locations in central London to mark the attacks, with supporters of Israel gathering near the prime minister’s residence at Downing Street to hold a vigil, and pro-Palestinian protesters demanding an “Intifada revolution” near the Israeli embassy.
Police said they had made three arrests at the demonstrations.
Antisemitic incidents in Britain hit a record high in 2021, fueled by a rise in violence in Israel and Gaza, and last year the CST recorded 1,652, down 27 percent from the previous year.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has expressed his solidarity with Britain’s Jews and has said he would work to make sure they felt safe, while police have stepped up patrols to provide reassurance to Jewish communities.