On 7 October, Dave Rich and his team of volunteers at the Community Security Trust were doing what they always do on Jewish festivals: organising security.
‘That weekend was a Jewish festival, supposed to be a very happy, celebratory time for Jewish people,’ David tells Nosheen Iqbal. ‘This meant that we at CST had a security operation in place for that weekend anyway, because there is an ongoing, very longstanding threat of terrorism that Jewish communities around the world face.’
When the news of Hamas’s attack reached the UK, he knew they needed to act.
‘The first thing we did was see how we can increase security, get on the phone to the police to see how they can increase policing. It’s a sad sign of where we are in society that that has to be our first thought.’
Since the Hamas attack and the Israeli government’s bombardment of Gaza, there has been an increase in hate crimes against Jewish people recorded in the UK. Dave tells Nosheen about the incidents the CST has recorded and how the conflict is affecting the Jewish community
Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images
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