A man says he’s been driven out of his home in London’s East End because he’s a Jew, the Metro reports.
Yisro’el Shalom, 52, has moved from his home in Newham to North London, leaving behind his friends and neighbours after being targeted dozens of times by racist thugs. He is a Scottish-born Jew who lived in Plaistow for 20-years until last May.
“I was driven out of my home,” he said. “I had to flee my home just because I was a Jew. I can’t go into Newham because I am a Jew. You hear about these no-go areas for police in France. But I never thought for a second that would happen in Newham.’
Mr Shalom said that between March 2010 and March 2013 he was verbally abused 65 times, spat at in the street and Nazi swastikas were sprayed across his house.
He said twice he was savagely battered and beaten up by a gang as they screamed ‘kill the Jew’ and found men trying to break into his house.
Now living in Finchley, north London, Mr Shalom has recently been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following his ordeal.
He told the Newham Recorder: “I can’t even go into Newham. I’ve got good friends and neighbours living there that I haven’t seen in over a year since I left because I can’t go back there.”
“I’m supposed to be able to walk down any damn street that I want in this country but sadly that’s just not how it is. When you see these things, we are at the beginning of what we said ‘never again’ to 70 years ago.”
Mr Shalom said he even started wearing a stab-proof vest after being threatened at knifepoint and he installed bars and a metal gate in an attempt to protect his home.
The former stand-up comedian, who moved to London from Aberdeen, said death threats and sinister Nazi symbols were daubed on to his home in June 2011.
‘After the graffiti attack I only ever went out for Shabbat (Sabbath or holy day) to the synagogue. I never went out on the streets because I needed to be in the house all the time.
