A 26-year-old British man has been arrested following a disturbing incident in Bournemouth, Dorset, where a Jewish teenager was shot with an air rifle in what police are treating as a hate crime, The Telegraph reported.
The attack occurred on August 23 in the East Cliff area as the boy was walking to synagogue. The suspect, reportedly shouting obscenities, fired from a passing car, striking the teen in the forehead. The victim sustained superficial injuries, according to the report.
The same weekend, several homes in the nearby Manor Road area - clearly identifiable as Jewish residences due to visible mezuzahs - were vandalized with swastikas.
Rabbi Alan Lewis of the Bournemouth Hebrew Congregation expressed deep concern, saying, according to The Telegraph, “The young man who was shot is a religious Jew who was wearing a skull cap. It was very obvious he was Jewish. Then several people living on Manor Road woke up to find that swastikas had been painted on their homes. The homes had a mezuzah outside, so it was obvious that Jewish people lived there.”
Dorset Police confirmed the arrest of a man from Ferndown on suspicion of assault and possession of an imitation firearm in a public place. He has since been released on bail pending further investigation.
Britain has seen a sharp rise in incidents of antisemitism in the nearly two years since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.
On Monday, a man was arrested in north London after a string of assaults targeting Orthodox Jewish women and a young child in Stamford Hill.