Not good news, as hostility toward Jews continues rising in Britain: Attacks on British Jews hit record high. (Hat tip: NC.)

LONDON (Reuters) - Violent anti-Semitic attacks in Britain have reached “alarming” record levels, according to a report released, prompting calls by Jewish leaders for more to be done to protect their community.

The Community Security Trust (CST), which represents Britain’s 290,000-strong Jewish community on security matters, said on Thursday there had been 532 “anti-Semitic incidents” — defined as malicious acts toward Jews — in 2004, including a record 83 assaults.

The total, which included abuse and threats, was a rise of 42 percent from the CST’s 2003 figure, and well above the previous record high of 405 in 2000.

“This increase is extremely alarming. The transfer of tensions in the Middle East to the streets of Britain has resulted in an unprecedented level of anti-Semitic incidents,” said Michael Whine, director of communications for the CST. [Which means it is reasonable to assume that, although the article avoids mentioning it, the attackers are mostly Muslims. —ed.]

The Trust said 100 incidents were reported in March 2004 alone. In the worst incident, a Jewish teenager had his jaw shattered in the English south coast city of Southampton.

Last month London police said they were hunting a group of black and Asian men said to be behind a string of racist attacks on orthodox Jewish men in the capital.

A few days earlier, vandals daubed swastikas and other Nazi symbols on 10 gravestones in a Jewish cemetery in Aldershot, southern England, the second time it had been targeted.