LONDON: Transport authorities in London have introduced a new public bus service linking two areas of the capital with large Jewish populations, as anti-Semitic incidents hit record levels.
London mayor Sadiq Khan said he had been struck by the fear felt by Jews who told him they had received abuse when changing buses to travel between the two areas.
The new service, which began this week, provides a direct link between Golders Green and Stamford Hill, removing the need for passengers to change buses.
The new service was welcomed by Jewish groups.
“In a period where our community is encountering unprecedented anti-Semitism, any measure that bolsters the confidence of Jewish individuals in using public transport is immensely valued,” said co-chairs of the London Jewish Forum Andrew Gilbert and Adrian Cohen.
Khan said the Jewish community has been campaigning for a direct transport link for 16 years.
The Jewish community was “frightened because of a mass increase in anti-Semitism since October 7 last year” when Hamas attacked southern Israel, he told BBC radio.
“I was told stories by families who, where they changed buses from Stamford Hill to Golders Green at Finsbury Park, were frightened about the abuse they had received,” he said.
Passengers using the service on Friday told AFP they were happy it was now available.
“I feel safer and its very convenient,” said one woman with her four-year-old son wearing a kippa.
She said she had “never had a problem myself. But antisemitism is rising for sure.”
“I avoid going out in the evening,” she added.
Another passenger, Jochanan, 70, said he usually took a taxi to visit family in Golders Green because the area where you had to change buses was “known to be violent.”
He said he was very concerned about the current situation in London.
“The old generation say the situation now reminds them of Germany before the war in the 1930s,” he said.
Anti-Semitic incidents in the UK hit record levels in the first half of this year, according to one Jewish charity.
The Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors anti-Semitism in Britain, recorded 1,978 such incidents from January to June, its highest six-month tally since it began its count in 1984.
It said it was the continuation of a surge seen after the October 7 attack.
The number represented a 105-percent increase on the 964 incidents recorded in the same period in 2023, the trust added.
New bus to help Jewish Londoners feel safer
https://arab.news/z2rwb
New bus to help Jewish Londoners feel safer
- London mayor Sadiq Khan said he had been struck by the fear felt by Jews who told him they had received abuse when changing buses to travel between the two areas
- The new service was welcomed by Jewish groups
Trump invites Colombia’s Petro to White House after earlier threat of military action
- Relations between Trump and Petro have been frosty since the Republican returned to the White House in January 2025
WASHINGTON/BOGOTA: Days after threatening Colombia with military action, US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said arrangements were being made for the country’s President Gustavo Petro to visit the White House, following a call between the two leaders. Trump and Petro said they discussed relations between the two countries in their first call since the US president on Sunday said that a US military operation focused on Colombia’s government “sounds good” to him. That threat followed Trump ordering the US capture of the president of neighboring Venezuela, who was flown to the US to face drug and weapons charges.
“It was a great honor to speak with the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who called to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had. I appreciated his call and tone, and look forward to meeting him in the near future,” Trump wrote on social media.
Trump added “arrangements are being made” for a meeting in Washington between himself and Petro, Colombia’s first leftist president, but gave no specific date for a meeting.
“We have spoken by phone for the first time since he became president,” Petro told supporters gathered at a rally in Bogota meant to celebrate Colombia’s sovereignty, adding he had requested a restart of dialogue between the two countries.
A source in Petro’s office told Reuters the call was “cordial” and “respectful.”
Relations between Trump and Petro have been frosty since the Republican returned to the White House in January 2025.
Trump has repeatedly accused the administration of Petro, without evidence, of enabling a steady flow of cocaine into the US, imposing sanctions on the Colombian leader in October.
On Sunday Trump referred to Petro as “a sick man, who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.”
The US in September had revoked Petro’s visa after he joined a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York following a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly and called on US soldiers to “disobey the orders of Trump.”
Petro, who has been a vocal opponent of Israel’s war in Gaza, had accused Trump of being “complicit in genocide” in Gaza and called for “criminal proceedings” over US missile attacks on suspected drug-running boats in Caribbean waters.
The Trump administration has carried out more than 30 strikes against suspected drug boats since September, in a campaign that has killed at least 110 people.
