Campus hate figures soar

Antisemitic incidents in universities shot up by 88 per cent in the first half of this year, according to figures released this week by the Community Security Trust.

There were 49 incidents in the first six months of this year compared to 26 in the first half of 2007. However, only two involved assaults and both of those were off campus; the rest were incidents of verbal abuse or graffiti.

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Retrial for web hate publisher

A man who fled to America after being convicted of publishing racially inflammatory material on the internet will face a second trial in December.

Simon Sheppard, 51, from Selby, North Yorkshire, is being held in Santa Ana jail in California, together with his co-defendant Stephen Whittle, after the pair were detained at Los Angeles airport last month.

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Racist who fled hate trial caught in America

A racist who fled the country after being convicted of five charges of publishing racially inflammatory material has been apprehended in America.

Stephen Whittle, 41, of Preston, Lancs, had written five offensive articles under the pen-name Luke O’Farrell, which were published on the internet.

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Minister pledges to fight hate

A government minister committed financial backing this week to help combat antisemitism.

Jim Murphy, minister for Europe, made his pledge at the launch of a new London-based think-tank dedicated to combating the growth of antisemitic discourse and discrimination.

Mr Murphy said the government would fund the European Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism through the Department for Communities and Local Government.

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Bloggers refuse to apologise over ‘evil Jew’ libel threat

A popular political website is refusing to back down in the face of a threat of libel action from an Islamist activist who denies having referred to an “evil Jew”.

Harry’s Place, the left-of-centre blog, has engaged top lawyers Mishcon de Reya to defend it against a claim from Mohammed Sawalha, the president of the British Muslim Initiative.

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Rabbi gets a police escort to synagogue

A rabbi has been forced to have a police escort for Shabbat services because he fears for his safety.

For the past two years, officers have followed Rabbi Yossi Schwei as he walks the one-mile route from his Luton home on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings.

They began accompanying him as a precaution after youths began hurling verbal abuse at him and his family.

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Siberian editor charged

The editor of a Siberian newspaper has been charged with extremism after running a series of antisemitic articles. Alexander Yaremenko had been criticised by officials in the town of Chita over material printed in his paper.

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Two convicted on race hate charges

Two racists have been found guilty of publishing material with the titles 'Make Niggers History'; 'Dumb Niggers, Gloating Jews' and 'Diversity = Death'.

Bigots Simon Sheppard, from Selby, North Yorks., and his co-accused Stephen Whittle, from Preston, Lancs., were charged with inciting racial hatred.

Leeds Crown Court heard during the trial that 40-year-old Sheppard controlled a website called www.heretical.com and that Whittle, 41, would write articles for it.

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Neo-Nazism ‘on rise’ in Ukraine

Antisemitism is rising in Ukraine following a year of attacks on the Jewish community, according to an Amnesty International report released today [Friday].

The human-rights group said neo-Nazism was “on the march” in the country after authorities failed to challenge racism, often classifying violence as “hooliganism” by “skinheads”.

The report quotes figures from the Eurasian Jewish Congress which recorded 29 violent attacks against Jewish people and their properties in 2007.

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JFS admissions policy backed by judge

A challenge to the admissions policy of the JFS Comprehensive School in Kenton, North West London, appears to have ended today after Mr Justice Munby ruled the policy to be "entirely lawful and proportionate to the aims and objectives of the school." Sitting in Cardiff, the judge said that Jewish status could only be defined by Jewish law, and was not something to be determined by the secular courts.

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