The number of incidents of antisemitic abuse in Wales has risen\nsignificantly, according to a new report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Community Security Trust\u2019s annual report shows that\nantisemitism across the UK is at a record high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The number of incidents in Wales was eight times higher than\nthe previous year, with the majority concentrated in South Wales. Although Wales\nis still far behind places with significant Jewish populations like London and\nSalford, abuse on social media has driven a rise across the UK. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The figures themselves may not tell the full story. A source\nclose to the CST told CJS News that their figures suggest up to 74% of cases go\nunreported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report documents only the most serious forms of anti-Semitism. But Euan Philipps, of Labour against Anti-Semitism says: \u2018A huge amount of anti-Semitism is basically a suspicion that Jewish people are lying about antisemitism for some kind of underhand reason, and that kind of mindset needs to be tackled.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Labour Assembly Member for Cardiff Central Jenny Rathbone was\nbriefly suspended by the Labour Party in 2018 after suggesting that \u2018siege\nmentality\u2019 caused synagogues to exaggerate their security concerns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She told CJS News that \u2018being aware of the language we all\nuse and making sure it isn\u2019t offensive is really important\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The AM has since sought to increase education on issues of\nantisemitism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Obviously it\u2019s a wake-up call for all of us [in Wales]. The\nfear of the unknown is a well-known issue and that is something we need to\ncombat.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Both were keen to emphasise the responsibility of social\nmedia companies in the spread of hate speech. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018We need to be very robust in the demand that we make on these\nsocial media companies, most of whom are fabulously wealthy organisations\u2019 says\nthe AM. \u2018They need to take responsibility for what they\u2019re doing\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report found that the motive for almost 45% of all cases\nwas related to the Labour Party, which Euan Philipps says this was inevitable: \u2018Within\nthe Labour Party they left it far too late to sort themselves out.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the AM says the party are working to solve the problem: \u2018We\nneed to flush it out wherever it exists, however small a minority it is\u2019. She\nadded that whoever the new leader of the Labour Party is, she fully expects them\nto sign up to both the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and the recommendations\nof the Board of Deputies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the CST Report refers to South Wales as a whole,\nCardiff Council responded to the figures: \u2018the authority abhors discrimination\nof any sort\u2026The Council has strong links with both Cardiff Synagogues, and\nmembers of the local Jewish community are represented on the local Community\nCohesion Group\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cardiff Council formally adopted the IHRA definition of antisemitism last year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The number of incidents of antisemitic abuse in Wales has risen significantly, according to a new report. The Community Security Trust\u2019s annual report shows that antisemitism across the UK is at a record high. The number of incidents in Wales was eight times higher than the previous year, with the majority concentrated in South Wales. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":229,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[743,744,1775,750],"tags":[1744,1829,1832,1831,403,1834,1833,1830],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/cjsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24498"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/cjsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/cjsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/cjsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/229"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/cjsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24498"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/cjsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24558,"href":"https:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/cjsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24498\/revisions\/24558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/cjsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/cjsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jomec.co.uk\/cjsnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}