South Yorkshire sees a 650% spike in antisemitic attacks
A charity which provides security for Jewish groups has reported a 650% increase in antisemitic incidents in South Yorkshire since Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israeli civilians.
The incidents, reported by charity Community Security Trust UK (CST UK), include eggs thrown at the car of a visibly Jewish man while he was inside, shouts of “f****** Jew”, Nazi flags on display in windows and grotesque online death threats.
The organisation reports they responded to thirty antisemitic incidents between 7 October 2023 and 15 February 2024. The thirty incidents included nineteen in Sheffield, five in Rotherham, four in Barnsley and two in Doncaster. This time last year, there were only four incidents.
South Yorkshire sees 650% spike in antisemitic incidents since Hamas attack
A charity that provides security for Jewish groups has reported a 650% increase in antisemitic incidents in South Yorkshire since the 7 October Hamas attack on Israeli civilians.
The incidents, reported by charity Community Security Trust UK (CST UK), include eggs thrown at the car of a visibly Jewish man while he was inside, shouts of “f****** Jew”, a Nazi flag on display in a window, and a grotesque online death threat.
The organisation reports that they responded to thirty antisemitic incidents between 7 October 2023 and 15 February 2024. The thirty incidents included nineteen in Sheffield, five in Rotherham, four in Barnsley and two in Doncaster. This time last year, there were only four incidents.
This data represents one in thirty-four Jewish people in Sheffield experiencing an incident reported by CST UK since the Hamas attack.
In a speech at Sheffield’s Holocaust Memorial Day event, Police & Crime Commissioner Alan Billings said: “Hatred is a failure of imagination. An inability to put yourself in the shoes of others. And those hatreds diminish our humanity, and they wreck our communities.”
Sheffield’s Jewish population is small, with only 649 Jewish people listed on the 2021 census in a population of 556,500. The Reform Jewish community in Sheffield is so small that it does not have a rabbi.
Jane Ginsborg, chair of the committee that manages Reform synagogue Seven Hills Shul in the absence of a rabbi, said: “Certainly I am hearing that Jews feel more frightened than they have ever felt before in Sheffield, including the parents of school children, university students and lecturers, as well as older members of both synagogues.”
South Yorkshire Police also reports a steep increase in antisemitic hate crime, though the numbers are small given the Jewish population size. In the month from 7 October to 7 November, there was an increase in hate crimes coded “Racial Hate – Jewish” from one in 2022 to nine in 2023, as well as an increase in hate crimes coded “Religious Hate – Jewish” from four in 2022 to fourteen in 2023.
Dr Billings said: “Of course when the police are involved that’s inevitably after the fact. There’s already been a hate incident or hate crime. ”
South Yorkshire’s spike in antisemitic hate incidents is part of a wider trend. CST UK recently reported a 589% increase in antisemitic incidents across the UK from 7 October.
Dr Billings said: “The opposite of hatred is empathy. But how do you do it? That’s not a police matter, that’s a matter for all of us. So I think we need to talk more about prevention than enforcement.”
Brawling Blades fail to cut through Wolves
Sheffield United remain welded to the bottom of the Premier League after a narrow defeat at the hands of Wolverhampton Wanderers, in a game overshadowed by a heated scuffle between two Sheffield teammates.
Pablo Sarabia scored the game's only goal with a flicked header, leaving goalkeeper Gribic rooted to the spot, which was just one of two shots on target that Wolves conjured all game.
United crafted a decent selection of chances, but the game will be chiefly remembered for an on-field brawl between Robinson and Souza.
Robinson berated his team mate shortly after Sheffield conceded, then the two locked horns, butting one another and aiming a several wayward swipes before the scrap was broken up.
A quick VAR review deemed there had been no violent conduct and the two faced no punishment.
Under-fire manager Chris Wilder played down the incident, saying: "I'm not going to be too critical about it as long as it didn't overstep the line which obviously it didn't.
"They're two passionate boys who want to win, and got frustrated. We move on."
After their 5-0 hammering by Brighton last week, the Blades put in a much improved performance, and will justifiably feel unfortunate to come away from Molineux empty-handed.
Rhian Brewster blasted a shot over the bar early on, and another quick counter-attack saw James McAtee one-on-one with Wolves keeper Jose Sa, but his weak effort was comfortably saved.
For all their chances it was Wolves who got the breakthrough after Sarabia drifted into the penalty area unmarked to direct Rayan Ait-Nouri's into the goal.
Sheffield pushed for an equaliser, with McAtee sweeping wide and Brewster forcing a decent save out of Sa, but no cutting-edge could be found.
Wilder said: "I thought the players showed tremendous character. The team gave everything today, but we need to find that better moment, which they found for that goal and which we could not find for the second half."
United's leaky defence once again proved to be their downfall, and they have now conceded 66 goals after 26 games, the most by any team at this stage of a Premier League season.
The blades will now be looking ahead to their next game, where they will welcome in-form Arsenal. They have lost back-to-back home games 5-0, while Arsenal have scored 15 goals in their last three league games.
It does not bode well for Wilder's men, and a return to the Championship seems more likely than not.
Martha Kearney to step down from BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme
Martha Kearney will step down from BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, after the general election to front new shows.
The journalist will be moving on to front a new series called, This Natural Life.
Kearney said: "I have loved working on Today with its incredible reach and influence.
"I have been planning my move for a while now and the general election, which will be my eleventh, is the right point to move on.”
Rishi Sunak visits York ahead of Cabinet meeting
The cabinet meeting to be held in Yorkshire will cover Sunak's plans to redistribute the funds from HS2 into transport links across the North and the Midlands.
In an interview with BBC Radio York, Mr Sunak also spoke about the continuing NHS strikes. He said:
“I come from an NHS family, of course I don’t want to run it down.
“We’re putting a record amount of investment in, more funding, so that’s never been higher – more doctors, more nurses, and we’re making improvements.
“Now, look, that’s not going to happen overnight. But if you look at the performance of ambulances and emergency departments this winter, it’s better than it was last winter. So that is progress."
The Sheffield Cat Shelter gets “exciting” new venue
Sick and abandoned cats are being cared for by The Sheffield Cat Shelter which has opened a new store in Broomhill to raise funds.
Store Manager Antonio Cruz, 32, said: “There was quite a queue at the opening, it was quite exciting. I’ve never seen that before in my 12 years of working in retail.
“We need to make the money through our retail stores because we need more space. If we can generate more money, we could have a bigger shelter or get more cats."
The Sheffield Cat Shelter takes between 80 and 100 cats and has a large waiting list. It looks after cats in need of care with hopes of rehoming them.
They are based in Broomhall and have two charity shops, one on Ecclesall Road and the other in Hillsborough.
“Most of the cats have been neglected and treated poorly, so it’s great when they get to a place of feeling normal again and feel like they can be loved," said Cruz.
Frankie Seaman, patron of The Sheffield Cat Shelter, said: “Our big goal now is to find a plot of land where we can build somewhere because it’s been 126 years that this charity has been around so we want to make sure that we can look after it for the future generations of cats that we can help.”
Becky Churcher, 49, has adopted cats from the Sheffield Cat Shelter.
She said: “We went to the Sheffield Cat Shelter and met Snowy. He had been abandoned along with his sister and had been brought into the shelter with cat flu. He had been in the shelter for quite some time.
“The Sheffield Cat Shelter get as much information as they can about the cats to make sure they are placed in the right homes. They treat the cats with love and care.”
The shelter is looking for volunteers in a range of roles such as socialising with the cats, cat cleaning, admin roles and retail staff.
Sheffield councillors accept the application for D’Ahni’s bar and grill.
An application to convert the premises of The Barrel Inn on London Road has been accepted by Sheffield councillors today.
The proposed renovation will turn the premises into D'Ahni's Bar and Grill, which will serve a Caribbean-English menu.
Councillors accepted the proposals, despite hearing objections from a local resident.
The establishment is expected to bring further business to London Road.
Serving Met officer charged with rape and stalking
A Metropolitan Police officer has appeared in court charged with rape and stalking.
PC Jake Cummings, from Hemel Hempstead, appeared at Hatfield Magistrates’ Court on Friday, police said.
The 23-year-old is accused of rape, two counts of stalking, two counts of controlling and coercive behaviour, and possession of an offensive weapon, relating to one female victim in Hertfordshire.
The alleged offences took place while Cummings was off duty.
“Powerful” concert for Palestine gets standing ovation
Protesters from South Yorkshire sang in a Sheffield church during a "very powerful" fundraiser for Palestine on Saturday night.
The Tadhamon Singers, a group of 17 women who perform protest songs, sang to a packed crowd at Christ Church in Pitsmoor.
Silence fell in the church after a performance of ‘I Stand with You’. A standing ovation followed, where members of the choir and audience could be seen shedding tears.
Singer Carolyn Leary, 67, called the performance a mark of "respect for the people of Gaza".
She said: "Some of it, we struggled to sing because even we were in tears. I think we make a very powerful connection of solidarity."
The singers formed in 2018 and have performed across the country in protest against the conflict in Gaza. In 2021, they protested outside Israel-based defence contractor Elbit Systems.
Recently, the group sang in Waitrose on Ecclesall Road and temporarily closed down the city’s Barclays branch for two days.
Ms Leary said: “We're obviously utterly committed to nonviolent protest and singing ended up being an amazing way of making connections with people.
“We're kind of keen that we're not just a kind of fundraiser for a good cause. We're actually about motivating political change.”
Among the 12-song setlist was, ‘Coke Busters’, a boycott song of Coca Cola sung to the tune of Ray Parker Jr.'s ‘Ghostbusters’.
Many of its members are involved in other local choirs, such as the Sheffield Socialist Choir. They said they were drawn together as they all shared a common care for Palestine and drew inspiration from similar UK choirs.
Janet Wood, 72, the musical director of the group, said: “I think there is something about singing that just touches people’s hearts. You can march and you can wave the flags and you can talk, but there's something about singing that gets to them on a deeper level.”
Following MP Paul Blomfield’s visit to the West Bank the group arranged their own visit, but were delayed by two years due to the pandemic.
"We just saw levels of violence by the army that I had only ever seen on video. I'd never witnessed it," said Leary.
Following the performance, traditional Palestinian food was served while the group congregated with the audience to share stories.
The group said their support has increased since the conflict escalated on 7 October 2023.
Mrs Wood said: “It obviously touches people and brings them on side really. We'd have children coming running up to us singing bits from our songs. It was just lovely.”
Financier Lord Jacob Rothschild dies at 87
Lord Jacob Rothschild's family has announced that the Financier and member of the Rothschild banking family, has passed away at the age of 87.
New degree unveiled by Sheffield United Community College
Sheffield United Community College have announced they will be running a new Sports Business and Management course starting in September 2024.
This new course is ideal for students who have a passion for sport but do not want to go down the traditional coaching route and instead want to work behind the scenes.
The three-year course is being delivered in partnership with the University of South Wales as part of their contract with the English Football League.
Education Manager, Ryan Collins, said the course will teach students transferable business skills from a sports angle.
He said: “When you use examples from an area of something someone enjoys, they’re going to naturally be more committed to it, especially if they’re getting a placement in a football club.
“They’re going to be living and breathing their passion rather than working for a traditional business”.
Premises for D’Ahni’s bar and grill nearly completed
Owners say they have almost completed renovating the premises for D'Ahni's Bar and Grill, which had previously been the site of The Barrel Inn.
However, environmental concerns have been raised regarding the current premises and owner's will be expected to include environmental provisions.
This includes restricting customers to under 500 people within the premises.