British police have charged a man with multiple counts of racially aggravated criminal damage following a series of anti-Muslim incidents in October and November.
These incidents occurred at the office that serves Palestinian interests, as well as at mosques and businesses in the capital.
Jonathan Katan, 61, from Ealing in west London, was arrested last November after red paint was thrown or sprayed at various locations on 11 occasions between October 16 and November 18.
The Metropolitan Police reported that Katan faces 11 counts of racially aggravated criminal damage and two additional offences related to hate crimes. He is scheduled to appear at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
“This (case) demonstrates how seriously we take allegations of hate crime against any of our communities,” Chief Superintendent Sean Wilson said in the statement.
In addition to these incidents, there has been a significant increase in antisemitic incidents in Britain following the onset of Israel’s war in Gaza, which began after the October 7 attack on southern Israel by the Islamist Palestinian group Hamas.
Earlier this week, two men appeared in court facing charges of planning to attack and kill members of the Jewish community and others with automatic weapons in the northwest of the country.