A Jewish man says he’s been driven out of his home in east London by racist thugs.
Yisro’el Shalom has lived in Plaistow for 20 years and has built up a network of friends in the area.
But he says he has had to move after he was attacked 30 times in three years and verbally abused more than 60 times.
Scottish-born Mr Shalom said he was forced to turn his home into a fortress after swastikas were sprayed across his front door and he found young men trying to break in.
Describing some of the abuse he suffered, he said an Asian man shouted: ‘You die soon for invading our lands’ in 2012, and another man told him he was ‘an insult to Allah’ in the same year.
The year before he was punched and kicked to the ground by five yobs in Canning Town bus station and he said he was twice beaten up by a gang who screamed ‘kill the Jew’.
The father-of-one, 52, said: ‘I had to flee my home just because I was a Jew. I can’t go into Newham because I am a Jew.
‘You hear about these no-go areas for police in France. But I never thought for a second that would happen in Newham under a so-called democratic governance.
‘When you see these things, we are at the beginning of what we said “never again” to 70 years ago.’
East London became home to thousands of Jewish refugees in the build-up to the Russian Revolution, as they fled persecution on the continent.
Many of those fleeing Hitler’s Germany the settled in the area, which is now home to a number of Jewish cemeteries.
But the demographics of the area has changed in recent decades and Newham now has second-highest percentage of Muslims in the UK, after neighbouring Tower Hamlets, at 32%.
Cllr Jo Corbett, cabinet member for equalities, who is also Jewish, insists the borough is a place for everyone to get along.
She said: ‘I am sad to hear about Mr Shalom’s experiences. The majority of our residents have told us that they feel that Newham is a place where people from different backgrounds get on well with each other and as a Jewish woman myself I totally agree.
‘This is a diverse and tolerant borough that welcomes people from all communities, faiths and backgrounds.’
The number of anti-Semitic crimes reported in Newham rose over the last year.
According to Met Police figures, eight incidents were recorded in the 12 months leading up to March this year, four more than the previous year.
A Met Police spokesman said: ‘We will not tolerate hate crime and take positive action to investigate all allegations, support victims and arrest offenders.
‘Victims of hate crime must be assured that they will be taken seriously by the police.
‘No one should suffer in silence, so please report hate crime to us as soon as possible so we can act.’
