The Observer reports:

A group of prominent MPs, alarmed at the rise of anti-semitism in Britain, will accuse some left-wing activists and Muslim extremists this week of using criticism of Israel as ‘a pretext’ for spreading hatred against British Jews.

The charge is made in a hard-hitting report – by MPs from all three major political parties – which will be unveiled at a Downing Street meeting with Tony Blair on Thursday. The report is published in the wake of an alarming increase in verbal harassment, abusive emails and letters, and even violent assaults on British Jews. The number of incidents that took place in July, which came in the middle of escalating violence in the Middle East, was the third highest on record.

The 10-month inquiry into anti-semitism in Britain was chaired by the former Europe Minister Denis MacShane and included the former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith and the Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Chris Huhne.

Details of the report are being kept confidential until its formal release. However, a draft of the document – seen by The Observer – reveals that incidents of verbal abuse, harassment and violence against Jewish community members and their institutions is reaching worrying levels. It urges more consistent action by police, prosecutors and the government. All have failed to tackle antisemitism with the same determination as other forms of racism, the report suggests.

The report voices particular concern over ‘a minority of Islamic extremists who are inciting hatred towards Jews’, and it criticises recent moves by left-wing academics to boycott links with Israel. Though emphasising the right of people to criticise or protest against Israeli government actions, it says ‘rage’ over Israeli policies has sometimes ‘provided a pretext’ for anti-semitism. ‘Calls to boycott contacts with intellectuals and academics working in Israel are an assault on academic freedom and intellectual exchange,’ the report says, adding that the response of university vice-chancellors to such campaigns has been patchy.

Interesting, because this report appears to echo the conclusions of the 112-page European Union report on anti-semitism that was suppressed in 2003. Still, while it’s refreshing to see these views finally get a proper airing by a government body, I’m not holding much hope that it will provoke a thoughtful debate in the UK. I expect the typical knee-jerk rejectionism, not least because the study was chaired by Denis MacShane, who pissed off all the usual suspects when he gave a speech in 2003urging imams and other Muslim leaders to use “clearer, stronger language” to speak out against terrorism. (MacShane also recently had harsh words for some members of the British government. See this recent letter to the Telegraph, where he writes: “I see a number of named Cabinet minister are joining William Hague and Sir Menzies Campbell in attacking Israel. European politicians such as Jacques Chirac and Joschka Fischer have made clear their view that Iran and Syria are using Hizbollah as a proxy to launch war against Israel.What is it in the DNA of the British Establishment that blames the Jews first, last and always?”)

Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne is another matter–and his track record will make the endorsement of this report a bit more difficult to dismiss. In February 2006, for instance, he gave an interview to thealways-wacky Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MAPCUK), wherein he spoke out against Britain’s recent anti-terrorism legislation, criticized the Danish cartoons as “insensitive,” blamed the invasion of Iraq for the rise of domestic terrorism, and supported continued financial aid for Hamas.

So, it promises to be an interesting week. Any British readers want to comment on this?