Israel attacks on Gaza spark anti-Semitic incidents in London

LONDON - Police patrols have been increased in areas of London with a large Jewish community following a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Britain following Israel's attacks in Gaza.

As four men continued to be questioned Monday by the Metropolitan Police after being arrested in the British capital on suspicion of racially aggravated public order offences, police stepped up patrols in the St John's Wood and Golders Green areas of London.

The arrest came after reports of anti-Semitic abuse was heard being shouted from a car covered with Palestinian flags passing down Finchley Road.

The Met said police in London received reports Sunday of people shouting anti-Semitic abuse from a car traveling within a convoy of vehicles through the St John's Wood area.

Meanwhile, local police also reported that a Jewish rabbi was taken to hospital at Chigwell in Essex after he was attacked outside his synagogue on Sunday.

Reports of other threatening verbal attacks on Jewish people have also been reported in other parts of Britain, with police in Greater Manchester also increasing patrols in the city's Jewish areas.

The reports came amid rising tension between Israel and Palestinians in the Middle East, where Israel has conducted dozens of air strikes on the Gaza Strip.

Thousands of people attended a protest on Saturday in London, calling on the British government to step in and "stop allowing Israel's brutal violence against and oppression of the Palestinian people to go unpunished."

In an emergency debate Monday in the House of Commons, British Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick told lawmakers of a deeply disturbing upsurge in anti-Semitism.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also condemned the abuse as "shameful racism" that have no place in society.

"This behaviour was utterly shocking and will not be tolerated," said Superintendent Jo Edwards, who is in charge of the policing operation.

Conservative lawmaker Robert Halfon told the Commons that a community security trust had reported a record number of attacks on Jewish people since 2018, including 1,800 incidents in 2019.

He said Jewish schools, synagogues and Jewish community centers now had to have guards on duty.

Jenrick said the government has allocated 65 million pounds (about 92.05 million U.S. dollars) to keep these places safe.