“It’s absolutely shocking – a giant symbol of hate”: Swastika spray-painted on car near Bristol over Yom Kippur

A swastika was spray-painted on a car near Bristol over the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.

The incident took place in Kingswood, a small town in Gloucestershire near Bristol.

A Jewish man who lives next door to where the graffiti was found said that he was “absolutely shocked” to see it. “It’s awful, it’s a gut punch. Me and my wife, who is the granddaughter of Holocaust survivor, feel anxious about this…We used to feel it was quite a safe neighbourhood. It has put us on edge. It’s a sign that people are starting to feel empowered enough to do something like this. It’s absolutely shocking – a giant symbol of hate.”

Police have opened an investigation.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s analysis of Home Office statistics shows that an average of over three hate crimes are directed at Jews every single day in England and Wales, with Jews almost four times more likely to be targets of hate crimes than any other faith group.