Andrew Percy MP said he was “trying to keep the conversation about potential risks a little light-hearted”. Photo: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images
A Jewish MP told his staff what to do if he was attacked after he faced a rise in anti-Semitic abuse, The Telegraph has been told.
Conservative MP Andrew Percy said he had spoken to his staff several times about the “potential risks” posed by the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
This newspaper spoke to Jewish MPs from across party lines about anti-Semitism, with which they have faced in recent months. ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day on Saturday.
Labour MPs Charlotte Nichols and Dame Margaret Hodge said they had had to make significant changes to security arrangements.
Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge said her “parliamentary team feared for my safety”. Photo: Ian Vogler/Getty Images
Dam Margaret has increased the number of plainclothes police officers at her constituency meetings, with some voters becoming “hostile” to her for the first time.
'Everything seems more edgy'
G- Ms Nichols said she “basically can't go anywhere alone anymore” and that “everything seems much more edgy now.”
Mr Percy, MP for Brigg and Goole, said: “I have spoken to my team about the potential risks arising from the current conflict.”
“I have tried to keep the conversation a little light-hearted, telling people that they should remember or what they should do if someone tries to deceive me.”
Mr Percy and Dame Margaret read poetry at a candle-lighting ceremony held in Parliament this week to mark Victims' Day of Remembrance Holocaust.
Mr Percy said discussions with his staff about potential attacks included his “private preferences as to what I would like to do”, but declined to detail the specific agreements reached.
Community Safety Trust (CST) , a charity providing advice and safety to the British Jewish community, has recorded more than 2,000 anti-Semitic incidents across the UK since 7 October.
This compared with 330 reported incidents in the same period a year earlier, an increase of 534 per cent.
Labour MP Charlotte Nichols said she “can't go anywhere alone anymore.” Photo: DAVID WOLFALL
Charlotte Nichols, MP for Warrington North, told a parliamentary debate earlier this month that she had been approached on the street and given a 'killer' call.
'All it takes is one psycho'< p>Of the incident, she said: “It's a relatively low level and there were people around who intervened, but you worry about what would happen if someone like that caught you when you were alone and how the situation could easily escalate.
“There are various local Facebook forums where people encourage each other to do things like this, and it only takes one crazy person to do it.”
One social media post about Dame Margaret's recent visit to Israel received almost 2,000 rule-breaking comments. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism, as monitored by CST.
Mr Percy said of antisemitism directed at him on social media: “In the last two weeks alone I have been called 'Zionist scum' they said that “nobody cares about the Jews” and described the civilian hostages as “…these Zionist rat hostages.”
He was also accused of “lusting for blood and wanting to kill Palestinian children just for supporting the State of Israel” .
Mr Percy called the pro-Palestinian events “potentially radicalizing events”; Photo: Peter Marshall/Alamy Live News
However, Mr Percy said his main concern was the language used during some pro-Palestinian protests.
At one event, participants chanted “jihad” and called the Palestinian territories a “concentration camp.” . The Home Office has since decided to declare Hizb ut-Tahrir, the group behind the protest, a terrorist organization.
Mr Percy said: “These protests are potentially radicalizing events as police appear to , stands aside and allows the chanting of slogans openly calling for the extermination of the Jews.
“The abundance of radical extremist material relating to this conflict and the horrific hatred of Jews that we saw at the marches really makes us much more aware of the risks at the moment.”
Dame Margaret, 79, added that she decided not to leave her house on the morning of one of the protests as she thought it would be “provocative”.
The veteran MP also faced personal violence after she criticized Labour's updated guidelines on the fight against anti-Semitism. in 2018.
“Desensitisation” to anti-Semitic insults
Dame Margaret said: “I'm not recognized by as many people today as I was then, but I still get recognized and that was enough to make my parliamentary team fear for my safety.”
The Barking MP added that She is now “very desensitized” to anti-Semitic abuse, having “dealt with a lot” over the years.
She has been in contact with police in recent months about abuse directed at her, however, although there have been no specific threats to her life was.
Andrew Percy said he had also spoken to police as part of Operation Bridger, which gives MPs access to extra security at their homes and constituency offices.
The program was created following the murder of Labor MP Jo Cox during surgery in her West Yorkshire constituency in 2016.
Mr Percy said: “There was no no specific threats to my life, but at the same time, two of my colleagues were killed while doing their jobs, despite the fact that they had never been attacked before.”
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