Rabbi tells of attacks on British Jews

Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks today warned that anti-Semitism is being "whipped up" in Britain because of the escalating Middle East conflict.

Dr Sacks said Israel's "very right to exist" was questioned by some commentators. He said people had to understand how life in Israel was being made impossible by terrorism.

His warning followed a series of attacks on synagogues in France after Israeli tanks entered cities in the West Bank. Palestinians claim hundreds were left dead.

Dr Sacks told Radio 4's Today programme: "When you challenge Israel's very right to exist, you are certainly calling into question the Jewish people's right to exist collectively and I am afraid that we have had a certain whipping up of anti-Semitism in this country.

"I think what has not come across in Britain is the extent to which Israel in the last 18 months has been a nation under siege. Since September 2000 Israel has suffered 12,500 terrorist attacks... that is almost one every hour of every day of every week.

"Israel is very much alone in its war against terror. I think people have not understood that it is fighting for its right to be."

Dr Sacks said there was nothing wrong about criticising Israel's actions in the West Bank and said argument was "the normal mode of communication" in Israel.

But he added: "We have to draw very, very clear distinctions between disagreements on policy and the challenge to Israel's very right to exist ... only 57 years after the Holocaust."

Dr Sacks added: "People are simply afraid to walk the streets in Israel."