'No longer safe': Jewish children and teens brutally assaulted in London

In the United Kingdom, Jewish teens and children have become the latest targets of antisemitic attacks. On Thursday, two buses carrying students from a London Jewish school were attacked at a bus stop by a group of around ten teens from a nearby school who were armed with large rocks, according to the Jewish Chronicle.

A group of four teenagers got on a double-decker bus and headed to the upper level, where they started to insult and give the middle finger to other students. A 12-year-old student, who claimed to be frightened by the incident, recounted how the teens were swearing at them, saying "F--- Israel, nobody likes you. F--- off, you bitches. They were filming us like they were enjoying it. There were many people in the street, but no one tried to intervene," to The Jewish Chronicle.

The four teens got off the bus and began throwing heavy rocks at the buses. An 11-year-old student remembered, "I don’t know where they got the rocks from – maybe they had them in their bags. None of us knew what to do." She reported that some students ran off the bus, but she remained aboard. "They were swearing at us and filming us," she explained. "We don’t know what they are going to do with that video or why they did what they did."

"A spokesperson from the British organization Campaign Against Antisemitism stated to Planet Chronicle Digital that the incident did not occur in a vacuum and that they had previously warned of the dangers of unchecked Jewish hate."

According to the Campaign Against Antisemitism, 69% of British Jews are less likely to display their Judaism in public. The spokesperson stated that this indicates that the streets are no longer safe for British Jews and their children. Therefore, it is necessary to make arrests and hold those who violate the law accountable.

The number of antisemitic incidents in the UK has increased significantly following the Hamas terror attacks in October 2023. According to CST statistics, 1,978 incidents occurred during the first six months of 2024, compared to 964 during the same period in 2023. However, the Metropolitan Police's data reporting was hindered for three months due to technical difficulties, which may have resulted in an underestimation of the actual number of incidents.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism has documented the emotional impact of the past year on British Jews. Their research shows that 42% of British Jews considered leaving the country over the past two years due to antisemitism. This number rose to 85% when considering antisemitism in politics. Additionally, the organization found that only 26% of British Jews believe the Crown Prosecution Service does enough to safeguard the Jewish community.

Another act of violence has occurred on a school bus on Thursday, following the recent incident in East London where a man threw glass bottles at a group of Jewish teenage girls, resulting in one of them being hospitalized with serious but non-life threatening head injuries. The incident is being investigated as a potential antisemitic crime, and the Campaign Against Antisemitism has stated that the victim was visibly Jewish.

In 2023, over half of the 4,103 antisemitic incidents recorded in the UK took place in London.

The Israeli Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, previously labeled London as the "most antisemitic city" due to the "atmosphere created by Hamas supporters."