Free Republic

February 8, 2009 U.K. sees worst rise in antisemitic incidents in decades, including graffiti threatening jihad SNIPPET: "Around 270 cases have been reported in 2009, according to figures compiled by the Community Security Trust (CST), the body that monitors anti-Jewish racism, with most blamed on anti-Israeli sentiment in reaction to hostilities in Gaza. Attacks recorded during the first Palestinian intifida of the late 1980s averaged 16 a month. Scotland Yard is understood to have placed prominent Jewish communities on heightened alert, while the Association of Chief Police Officers' national community tension team is responding to intelligence by issuing weekly patrol...

The charge that he is a bigot has clearly got under Johann Hari's skin.

Jewish leaders in the UK are warning that British Jewry may die out if more is not done to try to combat intermarriage. Studies show between 30% and 50% of young British Jews now marry outside the religion. Britain's Jewish population is in serious decline. The last census for Britain showed that 266,000 people said they were Jewish - 0.5% of the population. Dwindling numbers But 50 years ago figures show there were at least double that number, with about 500,000 British Jews. "Intermarriage and assimilation are the biggest threat to British Jewry right now," says Rabbi Yitchak Schochet, adviser...

(JTA) LONDON – A campaign to repeal laws that guarantee the right to practice kosher slaughter has prompted a rare show of unity among Britain’s Jews. Currently all animals slaughtered for food in Britain must be stunned before their throats are cut, except for those killed by kosher and halal methods, the latter for the Muslim form of ritual slaughter. Both religions forbid stunning, which they believe causes unacceptable suffering to the animal. And both have been the targets of a campaign by groups that say religious slaughter is inhumane. The leaders of the newly formed Shechita UK, which brings...

The Board of Deputies of British Jews has formally complained to the BBC about the profile of Israel that appears on the BBC website. The complaint, lodged on Monday, noted that while profiles of other countries provide factual information, Israel's profile is "partial, inaccurate and entirely misleading." The board asserted that the web site implies that Israel is solely to blame for the failure to reach a peace settlement: "There is a complete omission of the main stumbling blocks to peace - continued terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens and the failure of most of the Arab world to recognize Israel's...