Police today were investigating the painting of swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans in various parts of London last night. The Finchley Synagogue was smeared with red paint and tar, and swastikas were painted on its doors. In north London, a three-foot-high sign, “Kill the Jews.” was painted. After a debate on Palestine by Maurice Orbach, Labor candidate in the Willesden by-election, the election head-quarters were defaced with swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans were chalked on walls throughout the constituency.
Anti-Semitism springs from a vicious nationalism and a profound ignorance of the people, Hensley Henson, bishop of Durham, declared today, addressing a rally of the British Legion in Durham. “We have more Jews in England, proportionally, than Germany,” the Bishop said. “When we are told that this dreadful minority of less than one per cent is strangling the whole life of the community, we say unhesitatingly, ‘you are talking non-sense!” Unless the British Legion and other citizens watch against this anti-Semitism, he warned, it may grow up and lead the country to the most shocking excess of injustice.
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.