Councils have taken a key role as they seek to tackle rising community tensions stoked by events in Israel and Gaza.
The Community Security Trust said there were five times more anti-Semitic incidents last week compared to the same period last year, including abuse, threats, criminal damage and assaults.
Leeds City Council chief executive Tom Riordan told The MJ the conflict in the Middle East had provided a spark to ignite existing tensions.
He said: ‘There’s still an underlying concern about poverty and inequality, and that finds its way through to community issues at times so when something happens in foreign policy that adds to that sense of tension then it’s something we’ll need to be vigilant about and very sensitive to.’
Richard Gold, cabinet member for communities at Bury MBC, which is among the areas to have reported an escalation in attacks on its Jewish community, said: ‘We are working with police to keep people safe and take action against those who would stir up trouble, damage property or issue threats.’
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If this article is of interest, then check out our feature, 'How do you manage the risk of community tensions?'
