Anti-semitism 'up 300%'

ANTI-SEMITISM has risen by 300 per cent in Scotland, according to a study which claims hate crimes are being driven by events in the Middle East.

The incidents, which range from verbal abuse to vandalism of synagogues and cemeteries, have tripled in one year, according to a new report written by two Scottish academics which will be published this week in the Journal of the Institute for Global Jewish Affairs.

The report accuses the Scottish Trades Union Congress of bias after it called for sanctions against Israel last year. The study was compiled by Ephraim Borowski, director of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities and former head of the philosophy department at Glasgow University, and Kenneth Collins, Scottish Jewish Archives Centre chairman.

In 2008, ten out of 541 anti-Semitic incidents in Britain (1.8 per cent) took place in Scotland. Last year the figure increased to 30, according to the Community Security Trust, a Jewish charity.