North London's Jewish community is shaken by a violent attack
A local Shomrim representative told Mishpacha that although Middle Eastern crises invariably result in a rise in hate incidents, the spike since October 7 has been unprecedented.
“We average around 150 reported hate crimes per year, about three per week,” he said. “Since the attacks, we’ve had 96 crimes reported in less than two months.”
The true figure is thought to be at least 50% higher given the tendency of chareidi communities to underreport incidents. This past Shabbos, a Holocaust survivor in his eighties, visiting from the States, had “Heil Hitler” shouted at him from a car window, and a bochur was assaulted in broad daylight.
But what makes last week’s incident a watershed event for Stamford Hill residents is that whereas until now they have primarily been subjected to verbal assaults — with shouts of “Free Palestine,” references to Hitler, and other anti-Jewish epithets — the attacks have now turned physical.
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