Britain's Jews mark return under anti-Semitism cloud

LONDON, Sep 6 (Reuters) Britain's Jews will mark the 350th anniversary of their return to the country this month but the celebrations will be clouded by concerns over a rise in anti-Semitic attacks.

A surge in incidents during the month-long war between Israel and Hizbollah has built on a more general rise in anti-Jewish feeling, members of the community say.

''When times are tough, when times are difficult, the Jews become scapegoats. It's happening again,'' said Mark Gardner of the Community Security Trust (CST), which advises Britain's 290,000-strong Jewish community on safety issues.

''We're in a really difficult, dangerous period of time with global terrorism, the Iraq war, the Afghanistan war -- people are becoming very nervous about the future and these are the types of times when Jews get scapegoated.'' The CST said there had been 92 anti-Semitic incidents in Britain in July, coinciding with the conflict between Israel and Hizbollah in Lebanon.

That was the third highest recorded monthly figure and while there were few violent incidents, it included death threats, hate mail and the daubing of graffiti, such as ''kill all Jews'' which was scrawled over the London home of a Jewish doctor.

A 12-year-old girl was also beaten unconscious by seven youths on a London bus after being asked what her religion was.

''The basic trend is now that we are seeing about 75 per cent more incidents than we were during the 1990s and that's something that is really concerning,'' Gardner told Reuters.

The incidents come as the Jewish community marks three and a half centuries since Jews returned to Britain. Expelled in 1290, a small group of Spanish and Portuguese Jews returned and resettled in London in 1656.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, an international Jewish human rights organisation, said the rise in anti-Semitic hate crimes cast a cloud over commemorative events planned for September, including an open-air festival in central London.

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