Mayor in new row

Ken Livingstone risked fresh controversy today by declaring racist attacks on Jews are far less frequent than against Muslims and black people.

Asians are the "primary targets of the extreme Right," the Mayor said - also accusing Israel of promoting a "wholly distorted picture" of anti-Semitism in Europe.

Mr Livingstone, who described Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon as a "war criminal", was reacting to the latest criticism of his offensive remarks against an Evening Standard reporter who is Jewish. The Board of Deputies of British Jews called again on Wednesday for the Mayor to issue an apology for his description of Oliver Fine-gold as behaving like a "concentra-tion camp guard".

Figures released earlier this year showed Jewish communities in London and Manchester had suffered the highest level of anti-Semitic attacks since records began.

Desecration of cemeteries and attacks on synagogues has also risen in France and Germany. But in an article in today's Guardian, Mr Livingstone suggests that the rise in discrimination against Jews has been exaggerated.

"The Israeli government is helping to promote a wholly distorted picture of racism and religious discrimination in Europe, implying that the most serious upsurge of hatred and discrimination is against Jews," he says.

"All racist and anti-Semitic attacks must be stamped out. However, the reality is that the great bulk of racist attacks in Europe today are on black people, Asians and Muslims - and they are the primary targets of the extreme Right."

He goes on to say that he has pressed for police action over anti-Semitic attacks, backed an Anne Frank exhibition at City Hall and supported establishing an Eruv religious zone in Golders Green.

He added that "anger and violence across the world" is fuelled by Israeli "terror" attacks against Palestinians. He says: "For a mayor of London not to speak out against such injustice would ignore the threat it poses to the security of all Londoners."

The Board of Deputies was swift to attack Mr Livingstone's latest remarks. "He seems to be claiming anti-Semitism doesn't matter," a spokesman said. "Once again the Mayor has shown an inability to understand and show consideration for the Jewish community."

One of Mr Livingstone's sternest recent critics was Zvi Heifetz, the Israeli ambassador to London. He accused the Mayor of besmirching "the memories of all those Jews who survived the concentration camps [and] the thousands of British troops who died fighting the Nazis".

The Mayor's comments will particularly anger those documenting a sharp rise in anti-Semitic attacks in the UK and the rest of Europe.

Figures released last month showed Jews in the capital and Manchester suffered more than 400 attacks, with children on their way home from school and people returning from synagogue being assaulted.

Anti-Semitic abuse in the UK rose by 42 per cent in 2004 to 532 incidents, including 83 assaults. For the first time in five years, assaults outnumbered incidents of damage to property.

There has also been a marked increase in synagogue and cemetery desecration. Since 2000 there has been a 400 per cent increase in attacks on UK synagogues.