JEWISH leaders have asked to meet Alex Salmond amid rising concern over anti-semitism sparked by controversy over the war in Gaza.

Paul Morron, president of the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council, one of the biggest bodies of its kind in the country, sought a face-to-face with the First Minister after getting hundreds of emails from worried Jews.

He told the Jewish ­Chronicle: "The level of anxiety is unprecedented. I consider the situation sufficiently serious to meet with Alex Salmond."

The Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (SCoJeC) recorded around a dozen antisemitic incidents in the first week of August - almost as many as in the whole of 2013 - including graffiti on synagogues and threatening messages.

Jewish groups fear that concern over Gaza has spilled in to anti-semitism.

Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign deny this and, in return, accuse pro-Israelis of deliberately conflating criticism of Israel with criticism of Jews.

Glasgow City Council and West Dunbartonshire Council have flown Palestinian flags in support of the people of Gaza.

And Nicola Sturgeon, the Deputy First Minister, was today scheduled to speak at a Glasgow rally alongside Yvonne Ridley, a former journalist who pledged to make Scotland a "Zionist-free zone".