British Jewish leaders said on Tuesday that an anticipated apology from the Church of England for anti-Semitic laws enacted in 1222 is “better late than never”, JTA reports.
On Sunday, the Telegraph reported that the Church of England will apologize on the 800th anniversary of the Synod of Oxford, a set of laws that restricted Jews’ rights to engage with Christians in England.
The laws ultimately led to the expulsion of England’s Jews in 1290. They were not officially readmitted until 1656.
“The phrase ‘better late than never’ is truly appropriate here. The historic trauma of medieval English anti-Semitism can never be erased and its legacy survives today — for example, through the persistence of the ‘blood libel’ allegation that was invented in this country,” Dave Rich, the policy director of a British anti-Semitism watchdog group, said in response to the report.
“But at a time of rising anti-Semitism, the support and empathy of the Church of England for our Jewish community is most welcome as a reminder that the Britain of today is a very different place,” Rich added.
The apology comes amid a surge in anti-Semitic incidents in Britain, particularly in the wake of the recent round of fighting between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas terrorist rulers.
Just last week, a British Jewish man was threatened with violence twice in less than an hour while traveling on public transportation in London.
In May, a rabbi was attacked near his synagogue in London. The suspects hurled anti-Semitic insults at the rabbi and allegedly stole his phone. The rabbi suffered moderate injuries and was hospitalized.
Two men were later arrested in connection with the attack, which police labelled a hate crime.
On the same day as the assault on the rabbi, British police arrested four men over a viral video showing a group shouting anti-Semitic abuse from moving vehicles.
The video posted online showed a convoy of cars bearing Palestinian Arab flags driving through a Jewish community in north London and broadcasting rape threats against Jewish women and other anti-Semitic messages from a megaphone.
In February, a report on anti-Semitism in Britain found that the number of anti-Semitic incidents recorded in Britain has fallen from record levels but still remains high.