Volume 4 No 1 - Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

2012] ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS, JANUARY–JUNE 2012 13
FEBRUARY
London, February 1: Four British men pleaded guilty to involvement in an al-
Qaeda-inspired terror cell that was planning attacks on the London School of Economics
and the American Embassy, as well as hits on London’s mayor and two
rabbis. The men were among nine defendants facing trial in London over an alleged
plot to attack the exchange and several other high-profile targets in December
2010. All had initially pleaded not guilty to all the charges against them. But on
Wednesday, four of the defendants pleaded guilty at Woolwich Crown Court to
involvement in the Stock Exchange plot, and the five other British citizens to lesser
charges. The suspects, aged between 20 and 30, were arrested in London, Cardiff,
and Stoke-on-Trent in central England, in what police called the biggest anti-terror
raid for two years.
Manchester, UK, February 2: Nearly half of the 586 antisemitic crimes reported in
the UK were in Greater Manchester, the Community Security Trust (CST) said.
The overall UK figure was the fourth highest since records began in 1984. Greater
Manchester police said the increase reflected a greater reporting of incidents. There
were 244 reported antisemitic crimes in Greater Manchester—including street
attacks, threats, vandalism, and the desecration of Jewish property—with 201 in
London. London’s Jewish population stands at 149,800 compared with Greater
Manchester’s 21,700, the researchers said. One incident of “extreme violence” took
place when a Jewish family was filling up their car at a gas station. “As one of the
family members crossed the forecourt in order to make payment, a car containing
two white women reversed sharply into her, knocking her to the ground,” the CST
report said. “The occupants then got out of their car, shouted ‘Dirty Jew,’ and spat
at the injured woman lying on the ground, before getting back into the car and
driving away.”
Budapest, February 2: Around 300 people gathered outside Budapest’s New Theater
to protest its new director, an actor with links to far-right parties. Dozens of
members of extreme-right groups seeking to disrupt the protest, some wearing face
masks and shouting racist slogans, were kept nearly a block away from the theater
by police in riot gear. A few were detained by police, state news wire MTI
reported. Gyorgy Dorner became head of the theater Wednesday after being named
by Budapest mayor Istvan Tarlos; Tarlos picked Dorner over the theater’s previous
director, Istvan Marta. Dorner initially named far-right playwright and politician
Istvan Csurka, also known for his antisemitic articles, as the theater’s artistic director,
but Tarlos blocked the plan. Dorner has described himself as a “national radical”
and has taken part in rallies of the far-right party Jobbik, which won nearly 17
percent of the votes in the 2010 elections. Dorner is also known in Hungary as the
voice of Eddie Murphy and Bruce Willis in dubbed films.
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, February 2: Police are investigating after several vehicles
and houses in Dundas were marred by a variety of hateful messages, including
“Kill the Jews,” “Hitler,” and at least six swastikas. Vandals wielding spray paint
and markers struck at 12 homes on four streets early on the morning of February 2,
Hamilton Police Service detective sergeant Tom Andrew said. The worst messages
were both antisemitic and racist: a swastika and “Hitler” on a rear deck, two swasti-