London launches bus route for Jews to make them feel ‘safe’

“We must be good allies to our friends and neighbors of Jewish faith”. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has set up a new experimental bus route in north London, between Stamford Hill in Hackney and Golders Green in Barnet, to help Jewish Londoners feel more at home. “safe when traveling”explains the BBC.

The line, which runs daily from 7am to 7pm, was one of Sadiq Khan’s re-election campaign promises, the councillor told the British channel. The councillor added that the Jewish communities of Stamford Hill and Golders Green were putting pressure on “for 16 years now”so that a direct link can be established between these two districts.

“Massive rise in anti-Semitism”

“I have been struck by the conversations I have had in recent months with the Jewish community. They have been frightened by the massive rise in anti-Semitism since October 7th last year.”he further deplored to the BBC. And the mayor added: “Families have told me stories of how when they change buses from Stamford Hill to Golders Green to Finsbury Park they are frightened by the abuse they have suffered.” Representatives of the London Jewish Forum and the Board of Deputies of British Jews said: “healed” of the new bus line. “This bus brings a significant improvement to our strictly Orthodox community.”they announced in a statement.

A measure that comes in the context of galloping anti-Semitism in the United Kingdom. The Metropolitan Police recorded 2,065 incidents of anti-Semitic hate crimes between October and July, including 390 recorded in the Barnet neighborhoods, 277 in Westminster, 250 in Hackney and 190 in Camden, the BBC reports. In its latest report published on August 8, the Community Security Trust (Community Security Fund, a British charity that aims to ensure security and provide advice to the Jewish community) reveals that violence against the British Jewish community has never been so significant and so high during the first half of 2024.