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Transport for London (TFL) announced on Friday the creation of a bus route linking areas of London with a large Jewish community, as a security measure in the face of a rise in anti-Semitism in the country.
“I’ve been shocked by the conversations I’ve had over the last few months with the Jewish community,” Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan told the BBC.
The new line, which has already started operating, was one of Khan’s re-election campaign promises and will connect two neighbourhoods with significant Jewish communities, Golders Green and Stamford Hill.
“Families have told me that when they changed buses between Stamford Hill and Golders Green at Finsbury Park they were frightened by the abuse they received,” the mayor added.
Quoted in the press release from the transport operator, Khan also indicated that he was convinced that this line “will contribute to building a safer, fairer and greener London for all.”
“At a time when our community is facing unprecedented antisemitism, any measure that increases Jewish people’s confidence in using public transport is immensely valuable,” added Andrew Gilbert, co-chair of the London Jewish Forum.
According to a report by the Community Security Trust (CST), a British charity whose mission is to provide security and advice to the Jewish community in the United Kingdom, a record number of 1,978 anti-Semitic acts were recorded in the country in the first half of 2024.
More than half of these anti-Semitic acts referred to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The Hamas attack on October 7 killed 1,205 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data.
The Israeli retaliation, which has caused a humanitarian and health catastrophe in the Gaza Strip, has left 40,878 dead, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.
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