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Leading British Jews today branded David Cameron’s handling of the Calais migrant crisis “appalling”.

In a strongly worded letter they compared the plight of the migrants to that of Jewish refugees who fled Hitler.

Two hundred people, including 20 rabbis, signed the letter calling on the Prime Minister to be more sympathetic. The signatories criticised Mr Cameron for using the term “swarms” to describe those trying to cross the Channel.

“Many of us in the Jewish community are appalled by the UK’s response to the ongoing situation in Calais,” said the letter, sent from the Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE). “Our experience as refugees is not so distant that we’ve forgotten what it’s like to be demonised for seeking safety.”

This week Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond described migrants attempting to cross over to Britain as “marauding”. Last week about 200 tried to storm the Channel Tunnel, while hauliers say drivers have been threatened by stowaways. Britain has paid for a £7 million security fence.

The letter said: “People fleeing conflict and persecution are not to blame for the crisis in Calais; neither is our welfare system, nor the French government. Above all, we in the UK are not the victims here; we are not being invaded by a ‘swarm’.” The Jewish leaders said refugees were usually seeking a safer society and were not attracted by benefits.

Britain accepted almost 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from Nazi Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland in 1938 and 1939. Among those saved were artist Frank Auerbach, now 84, and Labour peer Lord Dubs, 83.

Dr Edie Friedman, executive director of JCORE, said: “The Jewish refugee experience is still a vivid memory for many in our community.

“The Government’s failure to even consider helping those fleeing conflict and persecution today shames us as a nation. Rather than shut ourselves off from the world, it is vitally important that we work with the rest of Europe to create safe and legal routes for refugees to claim asylum.”

Since June, nine people have died in the Channel Tunnel while attempting to gain access to the UK. However, 2,000 have died in the Mediterranean trying to enter Europe by sea.

Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner said: “No country has a perfect record on immigration. No country could do, such is the complexity of the issue and the lives of those it affects.

“We can, however, take lessons from the very country so many Jews fled from in the last century — Germany. One German MP has taken in two Eritrean refugees, and is helping them find jobs.”