Two synagogues and a Jewish cemetery are the latest targets in the spate of anti-Semitic daubings in Britain. Nazi-type slogans were painted on synagogues in Leicester and Derby and at a cemetery at Waltham Cross, east of London. They are believed to be part of a concerted campaign by the right-wing British Movement.
Yesterday, two Liverpool men were jailed for six months for damaging graves at the city’s old Hebrew congregation cemetery. The case made national headlines today because one of the men was defended by a Jewish lawyer, Rex Makin, some of whose relatives are buried in the cemetery. He said his client, who pleaded guilty, had been “seduced” by the British Movement, which he described as “nothing more than a vicious hand of thugs.”
Although Makin had been criticized by fellow Jews in Liverpool, Martin Savitt, chairman of the defense committee of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Said Makin was justified in carrying out his professional duties. His client had known that Makin was Jewish and pleaded guilty to the offense.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
