Attacks on Jews in Britain rose to record levels last year, a new report shows.
There were 594 antisemitic incidents in 2006, up 31 per cent from 2005, the Community Security Trust (CST) says.
More than one-fifth of the incidents took place during the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon in July and August.
Thi
s is the highest level since the CST began collating antisemitic incidents in 1984 and 12 per cent more than the previous record in 2004.
The total included 112 violent assaults (up 37 per cent on 2005), 70 incidents of damage to property (up 46 per cent), 365 of abusive behaviour (up 34 per cent) and 27 threats (up eight per cent).
Jewish schools or schoolchildren were targeted in 59 of the incidents and Jewish cemeteries were desecrated nine times.
The CST, which aims to en-sure the security of Britain's Jewish community, also recorded 20 cases of mass-produced antisemitic literature, down 26 per cent from the previous year.
It said the figures continued a trend since 2000 of high numbers of attacks occ-urring in association with events here and overseas.
The report notes that last year's increase was "largely a consequence" of the conflict in Lebanon, with a sharp rise recorded after war broke out on July 12.
CST spokesman Mark Gardner said: "Antisemitic hate crime levels have doubled in the last 10 years. This is un-acceptable racism that many Jews had hoped and believed was a thing of the past.
"Today's antisemitism is a wave of hatred, intimidation and abuse against British Jews, who are stupidly blamed and randomly attacked over international tensions for which they bear no responsibility.
"We call upon the police, Government, political parties and democrats everywhere to act loudly and clearly against this hateful trend."
The victims were Jewish individuals in 227 cases, of whom 121 were visibly identifiable as Jewish, the charity said. Another 82 incidents targeted synagogues.
Apart from the Lebanon fighting, the report says other "less powerful" trigger events included the suspension of London mayor Ken Livingstone, later quashed by the High Court, for likening a Jewish reporter to a concentration camp guard – mentioned by the perpetrators of 11 incidents.
The jailing in Austria of Holocaust denier David Irving was mentioned in five other incidents.
The CST received reports of a further 306 incidents that were ruled not to be antisemitic and were not included in the total.
Communities and Local Government Minister Phil Woolas said Britain had one of the strongest legal frameworks for protecting people from persecution on the grounds of faith or race.
He said: "As Ruth Kelly made clear in her speech on Holocaust Memorial Day at the weekend, we will not tolerate racially motivated crime of any kind.
"We understand the concerns of Jewish communities and support the police and prosecuting authorities in taking a tough line to stamp out antisemitism wherever it occurs."
He said the Government would shortly publish a "robust" response to the all-party parliamentary inquiry into prejudice against Jews.
Lee Jasper, director of policing and equalities for Mr Livingstone, questioned the CST's figures, pointing to decreases in offences shown by Metropolitan Police figures.
But Mr Gardner said antisemitic incidents were "far more likely" to be reported to the CST than to police because of its strong links to the Jewish community.
Independent criminological analysis had also found the CST's data likely to be more accurate, he said.
Denis MacShane: Page 13.
