Back in 2016 a series of swastika-based ‘anti-Semitic hate crimes’ occurred in London’s famously jewish area Stamford Hill, but despite the shrieking of London’s Shomrim and the ‘Campaign against Anti-Semitism’ it is rather evident that ‘anti-Semitism’ had nothing to do with these swastikas.
The ‘Jewish Chronicle’ began shrieking how:
‘Police have been alerted after a swastika was found carved into a pavement in Stamford Hill.
Shomrim, the Jewish neighbourhood watch group, contacted officers after the Nazi symbol was discovered close to a synagogue.
Witnesses have been urged to call the police with information.
Over the past week, a spate of swastikas printed on posters have appeared in a children’s playground in Stamford Hill.
Shomrim said it was "the first co-ordinated and repetitive act of antisemitism the area has ever seen".
Shulem Stern, spokesman for the group, said: "There is a sense of anxiety and fear amongst parents. This is the first targeted and repetitive act we have had to deal with. Normally it is isolated incidents, but this is no longer isolated. It is really unpleasant."
It is not know whether the playground swastikas and this latest incident are connected.’ (1)
And what were those ‘playground swastikas’ mentioned?
As explained by ‘The Guardian’ at the time:
‘A rabbi has warned of a rise in rightwing extremism after drawings of swastikas were left in a children’s playground in what he described as an attempt to “instil fear”.
The Nazi symbols have appeared four days in a row at Amhurst Park in Stamford Hill, north London, in one instance being stuck to the back of a car.
The presence of an Ajex house – a home for Jewish ex-British service personnel – nearby is no coincidence, said Rabbi Herschel Gluck.’ (2)
Note Rabbi Gluck’s attempt to claim that the ‘playground swastikas’ were actually intended to be an ‘anti-Semitic hate crime’ against the jewish home for ‘Jewish ex-British service personnel’ - of which there aren’t very many - because they ‘near it’.
The same vagueness also characterises the report in the ‘Jewish Chronicle’ concerning the swastikas ‘carved’ on the pavement - actually scratched on pavement but ‘carved’ sounds more ominous and menacing that a bloke with a key scratching stuff on the pavement – since we aren’t told why said swastikas are ‘targeted’ against jews other than being easy to create symbols that will cause upset.
A similar logic is used in similar case in November 2016 of swastikas being painted on vans in Stamford Hill ‘near’ Beis Malka Jewish Girls School with the article in the ‘Evening Standard’ uncritically presenting the incident as an ‘anti-Semitic hate crime’.
The problem of course is that the photos of the incident do not support an ‘anti-Semitic’ motive in the same way that the swastikas being ‘near’ some jewish institution is hardly evidence that they were motivated by ‘anti-Semitism’ any more than an upside-down pentagram is proof graffiti was motivated by ‘Satanism’.
In this particular case the swastikas were accompanied by assorted other graffiti including random long lines painted on the vandalized vans as well as a cartoon penis and the words ‘Fuck off’ which then puts the alleged ‘anti-Semitism’ severely into doubt because it clearly shows the graffiti is just meant to be destructive and/or offensive not targeted specifically against jews.
Rabbi Gluck – the same chap who believes a bloke scratching a swastika into a concrete paving slab is evidence of ‘rising anti-Semitism’ and ‘targeting of jews’ – also makes an appearance in the article on the Beis Malka Jewish Girls School incident in the ‘Hackney Citizen’ where he explicitly blames the swastikas on ‘rising far-right extremism’; Rabbi Gluck has gone from ‘rising anti-Semitism’ to magically knowing exactly who is responsible for this ‘rising anti-Semitism’ and ‘anti-Semitic vandalism’. (4)
Rather more sagely (and telling) his fellow jew Abraham Jacobson – local councillor – has pointed out there is nothing ‘anti-Semitic’ about all this graffiti blaming it rather more plausibly on pranksters. (5)
Indeed, he showed rather more intellectual perspicacity and cultural awareness than Rabbi Gluck when he simply that stated:
‘It only takes five seconds and it’s all over the national news. Any prankster can do it.’ (6)
I rather suspect Jacobson is right as much as I’d like to say these acts were emblematic of ‘rising right-wing anti-Semitism’ I just don’t think that can reasonably be argued to be the case and unlike Rabbi Gluck: I am intellectually honest enough to admit it.
References
(1) https://www.thejc.com/news/swastika-found-carved-in-stamford-hill-pavement-ul6pvuwp
(2) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/20/swastikas-london-playground-instil-fear-rabbi-rightwing-extremism
(3) https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/swastikas-scrawled-on-vans-near-jewish-girls-school-in-stamford-hill-a3394846.html
(4) https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2016/11/15/nazi-swastikas-painted-outside-jewish-school-stamford-hill/
(5) Ibid.
(6) Ibid.