A bus full of Jewish teens celebrating Hanukkah was attacked in London earlier this week, leading to renewed worries about rising antisemitism.
It was a joyful scene that turned frightening in an instant. Jewish teens were dancing in the London streets as they celebrated the first night of Hanukkah. Footage taken from inside their bus then shows several young men approaching, spitting on the bus, tapping the windows, and making obscene gestures towards those inside.
Rabbi Shneor Glitsenstein, who was on board, told the Jewish Chronicle that the men were shouting “Free Palestine” at them and making what appear to be Nazi salutes.
As the bus leaves, one man chases after, slamming his fist on the window.
The incident drew widespread media attention and condemnation in England, and is being treated as a hate crime by the Metropolitan Police.
Still, many are wondering how such a heinous attack could take place on the first night of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights.
Is antisemitism on the rise? And how can we stop it?
A Disturbing Attack
The bus passengers were from the outreach organization Chabad, and were handing out food and putting up menorahs around London in celebration of the beginning of Hanukkah.
But it wasn’t such a happy Hanukkah for those London bus passengers on November 28.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the attacks, calling them “disturbing and stating that “racism of any kind will never be tolerated in our society and we will continue to do all we can to root it out.”
And London Mayor Sadiq Khan tweeted that “antisemitism has no place whatsoever in society and I utterly condemn these disgusting acts. No one should have to experience this.”
While Metropolitan Police were eventually called to the scene, the attackers could not be located and no arrests were made.
The incident - along with other high-profile attacks - have many Jews on high alert during what should be a time of celebration. The NYPD is currently investigating two late November attacks against Jewish children in Brooklyn, including the assault of a three-year-old.
Hate Crimes on the Rise
According to the NYPD’s own hate crimes division, attacks against Jews are rising at an alarming pace. They’ve recorded 416 hate crimes in New York City this year, 144 of them committed against Jews, a 55% increase over the same time frame last year. Indeed, one-third of Jews report hiding their faith, out of fear of reprisal.
And according to a watchdog that monitors antisemitic attacks in London, 2021 saw “the highest number of antisemitic incidents ever reported… in the first six months of any year.”
So how do we stop this?
UNESCO has identified a four-pronged strategy to combat antisemitism:
- First, “to recognize antisemitism as a problem to be addressed internationally”;
- Second, “to develop education programmes that address antisemitism in a framework of human rights and global citizenship”;
- Third, “to build the capacity of educational systems to address antisemitism, conspiracy theories and all other forms of hate speech” ;
- Fourth, an increased investment in social cohesion.
No one should be persecuted for their faith. And yet attacks like this are all too common.
What is your reaction?
36 comments
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Reverend Kurt
United we stand, divided we fall. The religions of the world advocate unity through diversity. ( Christians this means love thy neighbour ) All religions see the need for us to unite as a species, Enter politics who need division and issues for their very support and existence. Division and conflict is their golden egg that keeps on giving. In this specific example, shocking as it is, Clearly political agendas are clear winners. EG The Palestinian case advertised, Jewish outrage and a call for action in regard to antisemitism, the British government gets traction for more police powers, tougher and increased terrorism laws and government spending.
It is every humans right to practise and participate their own beliefs, more so today than in the past, as it is now enshrined in global human rights. Politics is the real evil here. This is where the worst of humanity is exploited and where major reforms need to happen.
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Gwendolyn Lord
Yes indeed. Politics engineered to keep us at each other's throats, so the 1 or 2 percent can control everything, and plunder safely.
Race and religion, who you have sex with, what gender you embrace...all used as tools to obscure the fact that there is a class war ongoing. Rich versus everyone else.
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Reverend Kurt
Just wondering if the antagonists were not "rent a crowd" for political gain?? Thugs have been hired allthrou7gh the ages to achieve political and religious goals.
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Dr. Samuel D Goldman, Ph.D. D.D.
Rabbi Samuel Goldman
I have been teaching Holocaust studies for 40 years and have experienced antisemitism, anti humanism in all forms. We have as a society and world people become disenfranchised from G-d and ourselves. We have moved backwards in our selfishness. The societal norms that people call a change or new, are neither. We only have to look at our past to see our future. Blame & Hatred are not new, they hide until acceptance urges them into the fore ground, both are a distraction by peoples and governments to exclude G-d's work of understanding that all peoples are just an extension of his grace.
Buying into what is happening instead of seeing the truth and holding people accountable for their own actions and acting as we should brings us back to our past not a seeing forward.
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Rev. Dr. G. Waldron
What do we expect in a world where hate is so accepted. The same scene could have been played out in the US. Some extreme Congress men and woman are suggesting a requirement to have anti-communism taught in schools. Of course they don't care to add anti-fascism to the curriculum. It seems so many Cuban-Americans in Miami hate communism but are okay with dictator actions like restricting voting in favor of one party. Remember Batista was a dictator before Castro. I don't think one is better than the other.
Anyone trying to take the middle ground is looked at as a traitor from the left and right. No neutral ground anymore, just hate anyone who disagrees.
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Bishop William Dusenberry, DD
As a ULC Bishop, whose been sainted twice, I offer the following bits of advice, about what motivates such abhorrent behavior.
As Dr. Steven Weinberg so eloquently expressed:
Good people do good things;
And, bad people do bad things;
But in order to get good people to do bad things;
All that it takes is religion.
And may the “Holy Ghost” (AKA, Nature);take a liking to you.
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Keith Allen Steele Eash
And that is the biggest problem right there. Relegating the Holy Spirit to paganism:nature. Bishop of what? Fake religion. Bishops exist only in the Christian faith and Mormonism.
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Nicholas J Page
Rev Nick Page UK Yes I saw it on TV and the press absolutely disgusting how did those thugs know the passengers were Jewish. I'm appalled to be British.
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Keith Allen Steele Eash
Because they were celebrating on the bus for 9ne thing. Probably because they looked Jewish and probably dressed with something that showed they were. Common sense. You could tell the perpetrators were Muslim.
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Minister Carlos Ricardo Walls
Respect all ethic groups and their culture.Live and let live? Stop the insanity?
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Rev Mark D
Morons.
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David Arthur Lewis
That's a pretty clear video. Should be no problem for the police to round up this gang of terrorists. But this story is not about religion at all. It's about HATE CRIMES.
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Gwendolyn Lord
Yes, it's all the fault of those damned Jews. For centuries, singled out and persecuted. I guess the horror of the Holocaust means nothing.
On my meanest day, I can't imagine going after someone for their religion, ethnicity, gender, or sexual preferences. Just craziness.
We are all ONE, Citizens of the World, maybe the universe, if there is intelligent life out there. There is precious little of it on our planet.
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Keith Allen Steele Eash
Oh. I HATE THAT GLOBALISM CRAP. I AM NO CITIZEN OF THE WORLD. I'M AN AMERICAN. I BELIEVE IN NATION STATUS. AND ISRAEL IS A NATION AND SHOULD BE RESPECTED AS SUCH. FROM THAT JEWS AROUND THE WORLD OR ANYONE FOR THAT MATTER SHOULD BE RESPECTED.
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David Arthur Lewis
Please stop shouting.
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Keith Allen Steele Eash
No we are not all one. We are individuals who.make up one. Don't put everybody in the same basket. That is disgusting. Don't compare me to murderers, jackasses like Bill Gates, Klaus Schwab, Obama, etc. I refuse to be classified with such people as we are all one. Being classified as a member of the Body of Christ is better. Christianity recognizes the worth of the individual, not this globalist bs.
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Stephen Richard Jennings
Thought Christianity believed in love and forgiveness oh well whatever suits your mood or politics
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Keith Allen Steele Eash
Notice it's Muslims doing it.
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David Arthur Lewis
Who Would Jesus Hate?
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Shawn L Blumenfeld
No one.
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John P Maher
HOW ABOUT, WHERE ARE THE POLICE ? WHERE is THE PROTECTION WE PAY TAXES, HIGH TAXES and ONLY THE ELITE and RICH GET PROTECTED, DEFUND THE POLICE EVERYWHERE or MAKE THEM DO THEIR JOB, CIVILIAN REVIEW BOARDS EVERYWHERE, PEOPLE FROM THE NEIGHBORHODDS of EACH AND EVERY PRECENT ARUND THE WORLD, WE THE PEOPLE !!!
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David Arthur Lewis
Please stop shouting. This is NOT Twitter.
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Richard Lee Cornell
Jews get the blame for anything that happens. If it does not rain the Jews did it. If it rains too much it is the fault of the Jewish God. What happens when you still have wave and wave of Muslims that enter the country. Who hate anything not Islam and are devout believers of Sharia Law when their numbers become great enough to over throw the country.
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Rev Frankie PG
Universality is one of the Core Values of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), which is backed by another Core Value of Impartiality. In theory these look to be like two GREAT core values for any corporation, nation, group and person to have, but in all honesty it's not attainable. No one person is going to agree with another 100% of the time without some type of regret. Concessions are given so that a peaceful, harmonious, good order and disciplined cohesion may take place, hence another one of the IFRC Core Values: Humanitarian.
There are going to be people throughout that are so good, they could be recognized as saints, while there are others that are so evil that they mine as well be displaying the horns and speared trail of the devil, now. One of the areas that I don't agree with the Bible is where it states that even men like them and the rapist a few days ago, will be accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven just because they've accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, while others, maybe like the good people on the bus, are not admitted due to their strong held beliefs and not accepted the Lord.
While here on earth though, the more we praise misdeeds against good order and discipline (ie- NYC BLM Leader) and condemn those that bring rise to good order and discipline (ie- All Lives Matter) then we will have more division and hate being developed and acted upon.
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Reverend Gary
The Bible tells us that,
“a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.”
I’m surprised a bunch of drunken yobs even know anything about the Palestine issue, but hatred finds a way. Might as well blame all Catholics for pedophile priests, as Jewish teens for Israeli abuses.
They possibly don’t know anything about Palestine, and just have a dislike for those who are obviously Jewish. Could they just have a dislike for anyone that is religious? 🤷🏼
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There is NO such thing as Palestine. It never existed before 1942 and the people there are properly called by EVERY Arab nation as BEDOUINS! And lets not forget that the Merneptah Stele in the Royal Museum of England clearly mentions the Pharaohs of Egypt fighting Israel and its exactly right where it is now except it also included the Temple Mount as well as the left bank and the Sinai, not to mention the dead sea and part of Jordan as well.
So before you go showing your ignorance of History, maybe you should know what history ACTUALLY is. The land the fake nation calls theirs actually isnt and never was. Now if you want Israel to move then fine, but they revert it back to what it was meaning no housing and nothing but sand and scrub. lets see if these fake people want it back then
Actually, Daniel Gray, you are showing your own complete ignorance of history. Here is what the Encyclopedia Britannica (you've heard of them, right?) has to say about the origin of the name Palestine:
"The word Palestine derives from Philistia, the name given by Greek writers to the land of the Philistines, who in the 12th century BCE occupied a small pocket of land on the southern coast, between modern Tel Aviv–Yafo and Gaza. The name was revived by the Romans in the 2nd century CE in “Syria Palaestina,” designating the southern portion of the province of Syria, and made its way thence into Arabic, where it has been used to describe the region at least since the early Islamic era."
So you see, Palestine has been called Palestine for at least 1,400 years. But Israel ceased to exist in 722 BCE, when it was conquered by the Assyrians.
Nor are all Arabs Bedouins. Not at all. The Bedu are nomadic desert herdsmen who travel with their flocks. Arabs are the 'civilized' people who live in towns and farms. Neither word describes ethnicity or race. The difference is lifestyle, not ancestry. Once a Bedouin stops herding and moves to town, he is no longer a Bedouin.
Also, for your information, there is NO such institution as the "Royal Museum of England". It does not exist. SO please, try to fact-check yourself in the future.
Actually I am stating scientific and historical fact. No skin off my nose if you want to go through life believing in a fantasy
Please cite the sources for your so-called "scientific and historical facts". Prove your claims like a real historian and scientist, if you can. But I know you cannot, because your claims are FALSE. Let's see your proof.
My claims are FACT. Check with the Royal Museum in London, or NMEC or the Egyptian National Library, or the Al-Assad National Library or Millî Kütüphane.
But you wont because you cant seem to accept when you are wrong
You are a liar. Prove your claim or stfu.
already did prove it and your vapid whines clearly show you know nothing of history NOR can you use a simple search engine to see a picture of the stone that I am talking about. The Merneptah Stele, is one of the FEW Ancient Egyptian Document that Mentions Israel 1209 to 1208 BCE Permalink The Merneptah Stele known as the Israel stele (JE 31408) in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
The Merneptah Stele known as the Israel stele (JE 31408) in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo.
In 1896 W. M. Flinders PetrieOffsite Link discovered the Merneptah SteleOffsite Link -- also known as the Israel Stele or Victory Stele of Merneptah -- in the first court of Merneptah's mortuary templeOffsite Link at ThebesOffsite Link. It is inscribed on the reverse of a large granite steleOffsite Link originally erected by the Ancient Egyptian king Amenhotep IIIOffsite Link, but later inscribed by MerneptahOffsite Link who ruled Egypt from 1213 to 1203 BC. The black granite stele primarily commemorates a victory in a campaign against the LibuOffsite Link and MeshweshOffsite Link LibyansOffsite Link and their Sea PeopleOffsite Link allies, but its final two lines refer to a prior military campaign in CanaanOffsite Link in which Merneptah states that he defeated AshkelonOffsite Link, GezerOffsite Link, Yanoam and Israel among others. It is preserved in the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities Offsite Linkin Cairo.
"The stele has gained much fame and notoriety for being the only Ancient Egyptian document generally accepted as mentioning "Isrir" or "Israel". It is also, by far, the earliest known attestation of Israel. For this reason, many scholars refer to it as the "Israel stele". This title is somewhat misleading, however, because the stele was clearly not focused on Israel per se— in fact, it mentions Israel only in passing. There is only a single line about Israel: "Israel is wasted, bare of seed" or "Israel lies waste, its seed no longer exists" and very little about the region of Canaan. Israel was simply grouped together with three other defeated states in Canaan (Gezer, Yanoam and Ashkelon) in the stele. Merneptah inserts just a single stanza to the CanaaniteOffsite Link campaigns but multiple stanzas to his defeat of the Libyans. The line referring to Merneptah's Canaanite campaign reads:
Canaan is captive with all woe. Ashkelon is conquered, Gezer seized, Yanoam made nonexistent; Israel is wasted, bare of seed"
Guess this means that its you who needs to follow your advice. Or at the very least educate yourself so you dont sound so ignorant of history
Still waiting to see your citations.
look up child. or are you now going to claim that all this is made up so you dont have to worry about your fake reality bubble being busted?