'Rabbi of America' Shmuley Boteach: Britain suffering 'a tsunami of anti-Semitism and Israel hatred'

Schmuley Boteach, the self-dubbed "Rabbi of America", has claimed that Britain is suffering from "a tsunami of anti-Semitism and Israel hatred", describing the UK as "easily the most hostile to Israel in all of Europe".

In an interview with The Independent newspaper, Boteach said that "I love Britain [...] that is why I am so shocked to see how hostile Britain has become to Israel."

"When I say that Britain hates Israel more than any country in Europe, I mean just based on the parliamentary and public facts of non-stop attacks against Israel, which betray the whole British ideal of liberal democracy," said the 48-year-old preacher in his interview with the Independent.

"You can't be a Jew and not love Britain, which alone fought Hitler when the whole world gave up. So when I see Britain turning on the only open liberal democracy in the Middle East, when I see a tremendous rise in anti-Semitic violent attacks against Jews, well beyond anything that happened when I lived here, that is very troubling."

Boteach is famous in the US for his outspokenness and has authored 30 books and host a number of TV shows.

Anti-Semitic incidences in the UK have risen by more than a third in the first six months of this year, before the current conflict in Gaza even began.

According to a report released by the Community Security Trust, a charity which records anti-Semitism and provides security for the Jewish community, the number of recorded anti-Semitic incidences rose by 36% between January and June.

The CST figures show that 304 anti-Semitic incidences were reported in that period, a rise from 223 incidences in the corresponding period of 2013.