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Is It A Bad Time In London For Jews? ‘Beware Of Jews’ Sign Looks ‘Professional’

By Sounak Mukhopadhyay
Published on: 21:49 PST, Mar 14, 2017

Is it a difficult time in London for the Jewish community? In the northern part of the city, a “Beware of Jews” sign was found fixed to a lamp-post. The red triangle warning sign in Stamford Hill has the silhouette of an Orthodox Jewish man, who is wearing a traditional Fedora hat. Unlike previously recorded hate crimes, this looks to be a planned one.

The racist sign was found by a Jewish neighborhood watch group called Shomrim. The group reported the incident to the Metropolitan police and Hackney council. According to the group, the warning sign has caused “alarm and distress to local people.” This is the first time such a sign has been found in the area. The incident is believed to be alarming because of the careful planning involved in the act.

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A ‘Beware of Jews’ sign was found fixed to a lamp-post in North Lon/don. [Image by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images]

Nevertheless, according to Barry Bard, the people of Stamford Hill are used to verbal abuse or anti-Semitic assault. The operational supervisor of Shomrom in Stamford Hill said there were personal attacks, but the nature of such hate crimes was unprofessional. One might question if it is a difficult time in London for the Jewish community.

“The person who planned (this sign) has obviously gone to an effort to cause alarm and distress to local people,” Bard said.

The Community Security Trust released hate crime-related data that showed the number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United Kingdom reached a record level last year. There were 1,309 incidents of anti-Jewish hate crimes in 2016. The year before, it was 960, and 1,182 in 2014.

The Hackney council was supposed to remove the “Beware of Jews” sign on Wednesday morning. Stamford Hill is located in the middle of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. It is primarily a Hasidic community with an estimated population of 30,000, the Guardian reports.

Will London Mayor Sadiq Khan to be sacked?
Will London Mayor Sadiq Khan to be sacked? [Image by Jack Taylor/Getty Images]

This time in London, the attack looks a bit different because it looks “organized.” People on Twitter have started giving their reaction to the “Beware of Jews” sign. Some of them are demanding that London Mayor Sadiq Khan should be immediately terminated. Former England International beach soccer player Gareth Icke wondered if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would blame Iran for the sign.

U.S. President Donald Trump said earlier this month that Jewish people might be carrying out anti-Semitic hate crimes themselves just to make “others look bad.” His views about this “neo-Nazi” conspiracy theory echo the same by Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Trump expressed his views to Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Josh Shapiro, when the latter went to the U.S. president to talk about recent threats against Jewish community centers, the Independent reported.

Mostly, people were found to express solidarity with the Jewish community.

Do you think it is a difficult time in London for the Jewish community? Express yourself in the comments section.

[Featured Image by Michael Thomas/Getty Images]

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