Jewish 100, 2014: Eric Pickles – Government
by Algemeiner Staff
Eric Pickles
British Communities Secretary
The avuncular Communities Secretary in the current British government, Eric Pickles is among the handful of European politicians to have grasped that antisemitism today remains a deadly force. After a record upsurge in hate crimes against British Jews last year, Pickles warned that “there has been a revolting relapse of this ancient evil,” triggered, this time, by a visceral loathing of the State of Israel. Pickles has introduced extra measures to protect the Jewish community, including extra security at schools, a “zero tolerance” approach to expressions of antisemitism on the internet, more Holocaust education, and a new initiative to combat antisemitism on campus.