‘Hate and Intimidation’: Two Jewish Schools in London Vandalized, Doused in Red Paint

London police said it was treating the two incidents as hate crimes that “have sent shockwaves” through the Jewish community.

By Dion J. Pierre, Algemeiner

Law enforcement and Jewish security groups in the UK are seeking those responsible for dousing two Jewish primary schools in the Stamford Hill section of London with red paint.

The first instance of vandalism took place on Thursday. The neighborhood watch group Shomrim Stamford Hill shared what it described as surveillance footage of the incident on social media. It purportedly showed a suspect approaching Vishnitz Girls’ School and hurling the paint on its doors and windows while wearing a hooded jacket and completely concealing their face.

“We condemn these acts of hate and intimidation,” Shomrim Stamford Hill said on Monday. “In response, Shomrim is escalating patrols and collaborating with Hackney Metropolitan Police Services and local authorities to enhance the safety of our community. We’re advocating for an increased police presence and reassurance patrols.”

Then, on Monday, another Orthodox Jewish place of learning, Beis Chinuch Lebonos Girls School, was also targeted, with red paint thrown on the front gate. The Community Security Trust (CST), a British charity that provides security to the Jewish community in the UK, told The Algemeiner that someone also splashed two Jewish girls with red paint during the incident.

The act was “a disgraceful attempt to intimidate and harass our community,” said Dave Rich, head of policy at CST. “We urge anyone with any information about this appalling example of anti-Jewish hatred to contact police.”

London police said it was treating the two incidents as hate crimes. Shomrim said the attacks “have sent shockwaves” through the Jewish community in London.

The security of Jewish institutions and the Jewish population has been a point of concern for British authorities following Hamas’ terrorist onslaught against Israel last weekend, which triggered a wave of pro-Hamas demonstrations. Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist group in control of the Gaza Strip, murdered about 1,300 Israelis, injured thousands more, and took dozens hostage in its brutal invasion of the Jewish state.

However, the threat facing London’s Jewish community is not new.

Jewish Londoners have experienced an antisemitic crime wave for the past two years, according to a slew of reports by Shomrim Stamford Hill. In May, for example, the group reported on a stranger approaching a Jewish woman and shouting, “One day I will kill all you Jews.” Other incidents highlighted by Shomrim include the defacement of a Jewish family’s door and theft of their mezuzah and a Jewish mother and her infant being verbally abused and spit on, leaving the mother “traumatized and seeking support.”

At least 491 antisemitic hate crimes have occurred in London so far this year, according to data reported by the Metropolitan Police Service. Members of the city’s Orthodox Jewish community, one of the largest in Europe, were victims in a substantial portion of the thousands of antisemitic hate crimes that MPS has recorded since 2018.