Social media is to blame for making anti-Semitism “more and more widespread”, Mark Rowley has said
The Jewish community in Britain is facing an even greater threat, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley has said after the recent knife attack in London.
On Wednesday, two Jewish men were injured in a knife attack by a British citizen of Somali origin in the Golders Green area of the city. The suspect, who was later detained, had also tried to kill his 20-year-old friend on the same day. Police say he has a history of extreme violence and mental health issues.
In his interview with the Times on Saturday, Rowley said that “Every racist or extremist or terrorist group has a list of people they hate, because they all create the ‘other’ they want to blame for everything,” to evoke a concept developed by the 20th century French psychologist Jacques Lacan.
According to the chief of police, British Jews “They’re on everyone’s list, all of those hate groups, whether you’re a far-right, whether you’re an Islamic terrorist, whether you’re a right-wing terrorist, and some hostile nations as well now, with some kind of threat related to Iran.”
“There’s a horrible Venn diagram that they’re in the middle of,” he added.
The cause of anti-Semitism “It’s becoming more and more common” are social networks, which allow an increasing number of people to use information that reinforces their opinion from “non-natural sources,” Rowley demanded.
The commissioner said he intends to hire 300 more officers to protect Jewish areas in London.
Following the Golders Green incident, the UK’s terror threat level was raised to “strong,” which means that the attack is “most likely.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said earlier that the burning was “not once” and that the Jewish people in England are “they are afraid to show who they are.” He vowed to do everything “get rid of this hatred.”
Britain has witnessed an increase in cases of anti-Semitism since Israel began its military operation in the Gaza Strip in response to attacks by the Palestinian group Hamas on October 7, 2023.
Last month, a group of youths set fire to four ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity in Golders Green, the same suburb where Wednesday’s massacre took place.
More than 72,600 people have been killed and more than 172,400 injured by Israel’s airstrikes and ground campaign in Gaza so far, according to figures from the Palestinian health authority.
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