Concern over rising antisemitism since the Gaza conflict was voiced by Manchester Jewish leaders in a meeting with David Miliband during the Foreign Secretary’s visit to the city last Thursday.

Regional student chaplain Rabbi Y Y Rubinstein told the minister that religious students were being advised not to wear kippot. “The very thin line between anti-Zionism and antisemitism is always crossed when things are going on in the Middle East. The minister listened to this and took written notes,” Rabbi Rubinstein said afterwards.

Mr Miliband was also pressed over comparisons by politicians between the Holocaust and the Israeli action in Gaza. “He listened to our concerns about the provocative use of language in Parliament and in the media,” reported barrister David Berkley.

Conservative peer Lord Steinberg and former local UJIA chairman Dov Hamburger were among others at the meeting in Wilbraham Road Synagogue, near Manchester University.