An anti-Semitic attack on the Tube was “not a one off” Transport for London (TfL) bosses have said – as they admitted there were two more attacks on the network this week.

A Jewish family were subjected to a torrent of anti-Semitic abuse on the Underground last Friday.

A video circulated on social media showed a man reading anti-Semitic writing to a Jewish man and his two young sons.

The attacker accused Jews of starting the slave trade, and told the man that his wife and children would become slaves.

He also said Jews were responsible for the 9/11 terror attacks.

Members of the public defended the family, leading the attacker to become aggressive and threaten to hit one man.

But Siwan Hayward, head of policing at TfL, said two other instances of anti-semitic verbal abuse on London buses had been reported this week.

She said: “Sadly – and clearly this is a reflection of wider society – the horrific incident we saw on the Tube is not a one off. In the last week we’ve also had two incidents reported on buses.”

Ms Hayward said that as with the incident on the Tube, staff were not aware of the “direct abuse” at the time.

She added: “What is encouraging, while clearly we wish this didn’t happen, is that we are seeing other customers stepping in and challenging that behaviour, supporting the victim or filming it – and that’s really powerful.

“We are confident that the majority of incidents are known to us, either through social media or through customers’ actions.”

Sadly – and clearly this is a reflection of wider society – the horrific incident we saw on the Tube is not a one off. 

There were 453 reported incidents of anti-semitic abuse in London in the first half of this year, according to Jewish protection group the Community Security Trust.

This was down 1 per cent on the previous year, when anti-Semitism hit a national high.

On TfL services, hate crime has increased almost 10 per cent in the last year, with 620 incidents in the first quarter of 2019/20 compared to 564 in the same period last year.

Ms Hayward said TfL hosted 150 events last month to emphasise that these attacks are not acceptable.

Speaking at a TfL customer service panel yesterday, she said: “In partnership with the British Transport Police and the Metropolitan Police we are doing a huge amount of proactive work to raise awareness of the fact that hate crime is not tolerated on our network.”

A spokesperson for TfL said rises in reporting were positive, as it alerted the network to the problem and allowed them to take action.