IN her flat adorned with menorah candlesticks in the heart of Golders Green, Caroline Levey wipes away a tear.
Her sister Esther Marcus had a lucky escape when Hamas terrorists went on their blood-soaked rampage in Israel on Saturday.
Paul EdwardsPolice patrol the predominantly Jewish area of Golders Green in North London[/caption]
Nigel HowardCleaners remove ‘Free Palestine’ graffiti from a bridge in Golders Green[/caption]
Paul EdwardsMeni Edreyi said: ‘Every Jewish person’s heart is crying’[/caption]
“Everyone in Golders Green has connections to someone in Israel,” Caroline says.
“Esther was trapped in a safe room with her family.
“Right next door to her kibbutz there was a hostage situation.
“It’s too awful for words.”
Then the blowback of events 2,000 miles away in the Israeli desert came to the bustling North London suburb.
Following the terror attack — in which over a thousand were butchered and dozens taken hostage — graffiti appeared around Golders Green.
On a Tube train bridge spanning Golders Green Road that runs through this community of synagogues and kosher restaurants, someone had daubed “Free Palestine”.
While above some railway arches the words “Palestine will be free” were graffitied.
Grandmother-of-four Caroline, 60, revealed: “To see that makes me feel sick.
“To know that has happened this week is horrible.
“It upsets me but a lot of it is ignorance.”
David Hirsch, of the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, said the graffiti was an act of Jew-hatred.
The academic said that “in the context of the pogrom in Israel that killed a thousand Jews on Saturday”, the graffiti in this centre of Jewish London was “antisemitic” and an “incitement to violence”.
Dave Rich from Jewish safety charity the Community Security Trust said anti-semitic incidents had surged since Saturday.
He said the Golders Green graffiti was “a deliberate attempt to intimidate the Jewish community”.
Kosher restaurant Pita, beneath the railway bridge, had its glass door shattered with a gas canister and a cash register stolen.
Police are treating it as burglary rather than a hate crime.
Enjoying a lunchtime shawarma at Pita yesterday, property developer Meni Edreyi, 49, told me: “Every Jewish person’s heart is crying.
“It’s the most tragic news you could wake up to.
“Every day I watched the number of dead Israelis rise from 300 to 400, 700 then 900.
‘Incitement to violence’
“I can’t think properly.
“I have family members all over Israel.”
The Israeli-born dad of four, who has lived in Britain for 20 years, added: “On Saturday I went to eat with neighbours at 1pm and tried to celebrate our holiday.
“Then, 20 minutes later, I said, ‘Guys, I’m sorry’ and I walked back and left my family there.
“As I’m walking I saw some Arab-looking people.
“I was literally hiding and feeling insecure.
“I just wanted to go home.
“When Israel is under attack the anti-semitic abuse goes up here.”
Also dining in the restaurant, accountancy student Mario, 44, told me: “Someone shouted to my 25-year-old nephew walking through Golders Green on Sunday night, ‘There’s too many Jews here’.”
A middle-aged woman on the next table said: “I’m a bit worried about going out at night.
“One of my friends said someone shouted out the car window at her.”
Every Jewish person’s heart is crying. It’s the most tragic news you could wake up to. When Israel is under attack the anti-semitic abuse goes up here.
Meni Edreyi
Mum-of-three Loretta Cohen, 75, said of the terror outrage: “I lived in Golders Green practically all my life, everyone in the community is devastated.”
Of the antisemitic incidents, she said: “I think a lot of Jews are scared.
“I’m not going to let people scare me.”
Long thought of as the heart of Jewish London, in the 2021 census just over 53 per cent of Golders Green North residents were Jewish.
Some 30 synagogues dot the area which boasts kosher butchers and the aroma of falafel and bagels being served.
Despite the savage mass murder, rape and abduction of children by Hamas, some took to Britain’s streets with glee.
On Saturday, Countdown presenter Rachel Riley tweeted a video that claimed to be of a group apparently celebrating the Hamas atrocity outside a cafe in Acton, West London.
She wrote: “People have been brutally murdered and kidnapped and there are people in London dancing.”
At a rally in Brighton on Sunday a Palestinian woman told a rally the terror attack was “inspiring”, “beautiful” and a “success”.
While pupils at the Jewish Free School in Kenton, North London, no longer have to wear their blazers if they are worried for their safety.
A security firm is helping students travel to school safely.
Golders Green resident Richard Verber, a spokesman for the United Synagogue, said there was “deep concern” in the community.
‘Singled out by racists’
“Sadly, whenever there’s violence in the Middle East, the ramifications are felt here,” he said.
“We don’t vote for Israeli governments, we have no say on what goes on over there.
“But we find we are singled out here by racists for anti-semitic attacks.”
Police officers patrolled on foot along Golders Green Road yesterday and on Monday Home Secretary Suella Braverman was there offering reassurance to locals.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attended an evening of prayer at the nearby Finchley United Synagogue on Monday, saying: “We have already seen vile words on our streets and attempts to stir up community tensions.
“I say: Not here. Not in Britain.
“We will not tolerate this hate, we will not tolerate this antisemitism. And I promise you: I will stop at nothing to keep you safe.”
Back in Golders Green, mum-of-three Caroline added: “The Prime Minister spoke brilliantly.
“It reassured me.
“If everyone spoke like him, Britain would be a better place.”
Paul EdwardsCaroline Levey said: ‘Everyone in Golders Green has connections to someone in Israel’[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
