The London police refer to a "
torrent of anti-Semitic insults
".
On the night of July 2-3, a Jewish man was the victim of two violent verbal assaults within an hour, in the heart of London, reports
The Guardian
.
The first time on a bus to Oxford Street, and the second time on the escalator at Oxford Circus underground station.
According to his brother, who testified for the British daily, Yosef was targeted because he “
looked clearly Jewish
”, since he was wearing a kippah.
The free weekly Jewish News published a video of the two assaults, filmed by the victim.
Insults and death threats
A researcher in north London, Yosef was first accosted by a passenger while on a bus, shortly before midnight.
The latter would then have launched "
horrible racist insults and death threats
", says his brother.
“
It wasn't just a verbal assault.
He was very close to being physically attacked by this vicious man,
”he adds.
The suspect would have tried to strike a blow at Yosef, but the latter would have arrested him.
"
I'll give you an uppercut,
" he allegedly yelled twice before exiting the bus when the driver called the police.
To read also: "No longer confronting anti-Semitism is gradually becoming commonplace"
A few minutes later, as he descended the escalators at Oxford Circus tube station, Yosef was violently insulted by another man who was loudly declaiming "
hate Jews
".
In both cases, the victim's brother expressed concern that the suspects were "
not concerned about the repercussions
" of their actions.
U.K. anti-Semitic acts on the rise
In any case, the London police took the matter very seriously, opening two separate investigations.
No arrest has yet taken place.
These two events take place against a backdrop of an upsurge in anti-Semitic acts in the United Kingdom.
From May 8 to 31, the Community Security Trust (CST), an organization responsible for monitoring malicious acts against the Jewish community, recorded 351 anti-Semitic incidents throughout Britain, a record since 1986.
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For the CST, this worrying increase could be linked to the recent escalation of violence between Israel and Gaza. In fact, the last peak of anti-Semitic incidents (314), in July 2014, coincided with the war in Gaza, which pitted the State of Israel against various Palestinian paramilitary forces.