(AP/Matt Dunham)
UK police

Anti-Semitism in England

Anti-Semitic sign at soccer match in Belgrade in Sept. 2014 held by team from Tottenham, England. (AP)

Vicious anti-Semites assaulted three young Jewish men in Manchester, England on Saturday night. A 17-year-old victim remains in serious condition.

A Jewish teenager was viciously assaulted and seriously injured in an anti-Semitic attack at a tram stop in North Manchester, the BBC reported Monday.

Two others, 18 and 20, were also hurt in the attack at the Bowker Vale Metrolink station close to midnight on Saturday.

The young Jewish men were waiting for a trolley car when three anti-Semites verbally and physically assaulted them, police said. There are no further details at this time.

The attack, which left the 17-year-old with a severe head injury, is being treated as a hate crime, police confirmed.

The police issued a public appeal, asking anyone with information on the attack to come forward.

Mounting Anti-Jewish Violence in the UK

The United Kingdom has been suffering from a surge in anti-Semitic attacks.

British Prime Minister David Cameron announced a five-year program to combat anti-Semitism and Muslim extremism in July.

David Cameron

UK Prime Minister David Cameron. (AP/Francisco Seco)

In an interview with The Atlantic in April, the British premier lamented the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel climate in his country. “What is frightening at the moment, because of the rise of Islamist extremism, is that you see a new threat – a new anti-Semitism – and not the traditional anti-Semitism,” he continued. “Look, there’s always been some difficulties between religions in European history. But this is a new scale of threat against Jewish communities.”

Cameron told The Atlantic that he would be “heartbroken” if Jews in Great Britain felt compelled to leave. However, a survey conducted in January among Jews in the UK showed that a quarter of respondents had considered emigration in the past two years and that over half believe that Jews have no future in Europe.

A report by the British All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism published in February confirmed a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the UK.

The Communal Security Trust (CST), a London-based organization, in July published its Anti-Semitic Incident Report for January to June 2015, which shows a staggering 53-percent increase in anti-Semitic incidents compared to the same period last year.

CST recorded 473 anti-Semitic incidents during the first six months of 2015, compared to 309 in the first half of 2014. The 2014 figure in itself points to an increase of 38 percent from the 223 anti-Semitic incidents recorded during the first six months of 2013.

By: Max Gelber, United with Israel