Anti-Semitic incidents in the UK are at a record high for the third year in a row, reports the Guardian. A count in 2018 by the Community Security Trust, which monitors anti-Semitism, showed a 16 per cent increase in incidents on the previous year.
A worthy, terrible story, written up by a newspaper that runs thorough coverage of hate crime figures. But it was illustrated with a photo of protests at the Gaza border, as pointed out by Jewish Chronicle journalist Daniel Sugarman:
Short thread:
As you may have seen this morning, the Guardian published a piece on new CST figures showing a sharp rise in antisemitism here in the UK (for the third year in a row).
Except that they published it with this photo. pic.twitter.com/nC3pzUnSw6
— Daniel Sugarman (@Daniel_Sugarman) February 7, 2019
These events were relevant to the story, with the Guardian reporting:
“The biggest number of incidents were in April and May (151 and 182 respectively), when scores of Palestinians were killed and hundreds injured in protests at the border fence between Gaza and Israel.”
Yet by using that image beneath the headline “Antisemitic incidents in UK at record high for third year in a row”, the piece suggests British Jews somehow are associated with, or even responsible for, violence against Palestinians in Gaza. Not a good look, particularly when anti-Semitism on the left in this country is so often disguised as a condemnation of Israel.
The Guardian has now changed the picture: