A cross-party panel of politicians has confirmed what Manchester’s Jewish community – and Greater Manchester Police - already knew: that anti-Semitism is on the increase in our city. And the degree of violence is shocking.
 | | Rabbi Arnold Saunders |
Rabbi Arnold Saunders is from the Higher Broughton and Crumpsall synagogue: "I was gratuitously punched in the face on the way to the synagogue on a Saturday evening in Cheetham Hill; I had an egg thrown at me from a passing car; and on one occasion, someone I met at a petrol station very late at night got out of their car, came up to me and said: 'We’re going to kill you, Jew.' " Violent attacks An investigation by BBC Manchester’s Jewish programme this summer also revealed a worrying increase in violent attacks. Jewish people in Higher Broughton spoke of cars being driven at them on the pavement; milk, glass bottles and hot curries thrown from passing cars; and stones being thrown at shop windows. Whether these are all anti-Semitic hate crimes - and how much the conflict in the Middle East is fuelling this violence - is unclear. | "Someone I met at a petrol station very late at night got out of their car, came up to me and said: ‘We’re going to kill you, Jew.'" | | Rabbi Arnold Saunders |
However, Superintendent Giladi from Greater Manchester Police agrees that it’s a real problem for the Jewish community and called for more victims to come forward. “We do suffer across Greater Manchester from hate crime which will include racist and religious crime – and unfortunately, anti-Semitic attacks are one strand of that. Hate crime across the board is under reported. I suspect that this is probably a more significant problem in the Broughton Park area and until we find out how big the problem is, it’s very difficult.” On the increase The parliamentary inquiry confirmed that during the past six months, nearly a quarter of all anti-Semitic incidents in the UK happened here in Manchester. Between January and August there were 87 of incidents in our area, and only London recorded more. Whilst the majority of incidents centred on the traditionally orthodox Jewish areas of Broughton Park, Cheetham Hill and Prestwich the report also found instances of anti-Semitic abuse on the campuses of Manchester’s universities. | 
