A recent spike in antisemitic attacks should serve as a “wake-up call” for anyone who thinks the “scourge of antisemitism” has been defeated in Britain, Ed Miliband warned on Tuesday.

In a post on his Facebook page, the Labour leader called for a “zero-tolerance approach” to antisemitism and said that some Jewish families had told him they felt scared for their children.

Miliband intervened after the Community Security Trust, which provides training for the protection of British Jews, recorded a 400% increase in antisemitic incidents in July this year compared with the same month in 2013.

The Labour leader highlighted what he described as “shocking attacks” on Luciana Berger, the shadow public health minister, and Louise Ellman, the chair of the Commons transport select committee.

The two senior Labour MPs, who are Jewish, were targeted by antisemitic trolls after a man was jailed for four weeks after he admitted sending what Miliband described as a “vile” tweet. The Jewish Chronicle reported that Garron Helm was jailed after tweeting a photograph of Berger superimposed with a yellow star - as used by the Nazis to identify Jews during the war.

Miliband called on social media sites to do more to identify the perpetrators. He wrote: “There have been violent assaults, the desecration and damage of Jewish property, antisemitic graffiti, hate-mail and online abuse. The shocking attacks on my colleagues Luciana Berger and Louise Ellman have also highlighted the new channels by which antisemites spread their vile views. That is why it is vital that Twitter, Facebook and other social media sites do all they can to protect users and crack down on the perpetrators of this sickening abuse.”

He said that the rise in attacks took place during the recent conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and that it was important to be temperate in discussing Israel.

“More than half of the anti-Semitic incidents recorded by the CST in July involved direct reference to the conflict and the previous highest number of monthly incidents recorded by CST (January 2009) also coincided with a period of fighting between Israel and Hamas. We need to tackle this head on because I am clear that this can never excuse antisemitism, just as conflicts elsewhere in the Middle East can never justify Islamophobia. All of us need to use calm and responsible language in the way we discuss Israel, especially when we disagree with the actions of its government. A zero-tolerance approach to anti-Semitism and prejudice in all its forms here in Britain will go hand-in-hand with the pursuit of peace in the Middle East as a key focus of the next Labour government’s foreign policy.”

Miliband, who is Jewish, was recently criticised by the actor Maureen Lipman after he voted in favour of recognising Palestinian statehood.

In an article in Standpoint, Lipman wrote: “Just ... when our cemeteries and synagogues and shops are once again under threat. Just when the virulence against a country defending itself, against 4,000 rockets and 32 tunnels inside its borders, as it has every right to do under the Geneva convention, had been swept aside by the real pestilence of IS, in steps Mr Miliband to demand that the government recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel.”

The New York Times recently reported on Miliband’s vote in favour of Palestinian statehood under the headline: British Labour Chief, a Jew Who Criticizes Israel, Walks a Fine Line. Its London correspondent Stephen Castle wrote: “Britain’s center-left Labour Party often sympathizes instinctively with the Palestinian cause, and Mr Miliband is not the first party leader to criticize Israel. Yet his willingness to speak about his family’s story and connections to Israel – showcased in a high-profile visit there this year – has brought a personal dimension to a loaded issue.”