It was a remarkable occasion, and our first major fundraising event since 7 October, when Hamas’ devastating attack on Israel sparked an unprecedented outpouring of anti-Jewish hate across the country. It was humbling and reassuring in equal measure to see so many allies gather together to reinforce their commitment to our mission: protecting our Jewish community and combatting anti-Jewish hate. We welcomed politicians from all the main parties, including Primer Minister Rishi Sunak MP and Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper MP.
CST was also delighted to host pillars of Jewish life in the UK and staunch advocates for the community, such as Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis KBE, Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley QPM, Ms Marie van der Zyl OBE and Lord Mann of Holbeck Moor.
Dr Melanie Lee, Headteacher of JCoSS, gave the evening’s opening address. She gave her thanks to CST, with particular appreciation for the support provided in the wake of the Hamas attack on 7 October:
“Thank you for always being there, for enabling me to reassure our parents, and for ensuring that our children can continue to learn. You enable us to educate our young people, it is as simple as that.”
Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington QPM paid tribute to CST Chairman Sir Gerald Ronson CBE for his strength in standing up to anti-Jewish hate over the decades, and for building CST into what it has become today:
“This position was not reached by accident. This position of fame, or renown, has been achieved by certain people - one man in particular: founder, Chairman, Sir Gerald Ronson…
…There is absolutely no doubt that many lives have been saved by the activity of CST.”
CST Deputy Chairman Sir Lloyd Dorfman CVO CBE then introduced keynote speaker Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, thanking him and his government for their support since 7 October:
“First and foremost, I want to thank you, Prime Minister. I want to thank you - and all your ministers - for the immediate and steadfast support you have shown our community since those terrible events on October 7th…
…Our community reeled – in truth I think we’ve all reeled – from the speed and scale of the anti-Jewish hate we’ve seen on our streets and online: a hatred that had obviously been simmering not very far beneath the surface.”
The Prime Minister was effusive in his praise of CST, the courage of our volunteers, and restated his commitment to keeping the Jewish community safe amidst rising levels of antisemitism:
“We will fight this antisemitism with everything that we’ve got…
…Seeing CST volunteers working with the police to keep us safe just as they are doing here today, just as they do every day. They are some of the most brave volunteers in this country, and on behalf of not just the Jewish community, but the whole nation, I want to say a huge and heartfelt thank you.“
He also announced that the Government Grant of £18m would not only be extended for the next financial year, but that a minimum of £18m would be committed every year over the next four years. This funding contributes to the payment of commercial security guards at the hubs of our Jewish community: our schools, synagogues, and communal buildings. This grant is managed by CST, and will guarantee that these centres of Jewish life remain protected across the country over the next four years.
CST Chief Executive Mark Gardner MBE gave his thoughts before the screening of a short film showcasing the immense challenge that has faced the Jewish community in the UK since 7 October, and the importance of the support that CST gives. He spoke about this challenge, its impact on everyday Jewish life, and how CST has collectively risen to it: we have increased and upgraded our security operations, taken on 11 new staff and trained over 400 new volunteers. He reaffirmed CST’s unwavering promise to all Jews in the UK:
“From day one of this war, our ethos and our message to you, has been “Be Jewish”. It is our democratic right to be Jews; and to lead our Jewish way of life. We will never back down on that.”
Sir Gerald concluded the evening, expressing gratitude for the cross-party political support that CST has received in the battle against antisemitism. He made it clear that the responsibility for the continued safety of the Jewish community is shared amongst everyone who wishes to ensure its survival:
“People keep asking me if their children or their grandchildren will be safe. The answer is - it’s up to you. You have to share the responsibility by supporting CST. Because if you don’t have security, then you won’t have a community.”
He brought his lifelong fight against anti-Jewish hate to the present context:
“The biggest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust: that was the biggest turn on for the antisemites. They are bullies. They are cowards. They prey on the weak. That is why you have to stand up to them.”
The speech ended with an impassioned appeal for the initiative and donations necessary for CST’s vital work to continue:
“The first duty of leadership is protecting your people. I have always taken that responsibility and that is what I ask from all of you here tonight…
…Together we will keep protecting our Jewish community. Please dig deep and do what is needed.”
CST wishes to give its sincerest thanks to everyone who came to the Annual Dinner. It was inspiring and truly meaningful to unite in solidarity with so many people who are taking a stand against those who wish to do our community harm. It is only together, with your help, that we can continue to facilitate Jewish life in the UK.
Donate to CST. For assistance, please call CST Fundraising on 020 8457 3700, or email fundraising@cst.org.uk.
]]>CST’s Antisemitic Incidents Report 2023, published today, shows 4,103 instances of anti-Jewish hate recorded across the UK in 2023. This is the highest annual total ever reported to CST. It is a 147% rise from the 1,662 antisemitic incidents in 2022, and 81% higher than the previous yearly record of 2,261 incidents, reported in 2021. CST recorded 1,684 antisemitic incidents in 2020, and 1,813 in 2019.
A further 2,185 potential incidents were reported to CST that are not included among this report’s statistics as, upon investigation, they were not deemed to be antisemitic. Many of these incidents involve suspicious activity or possible hostile reconnaissance at Jewish locations, criminal activity affecting Jewish people and buildings, and anti-Israel activity that did not include antisemitic language, motivation or targeting.
The record total of anti-Jewish hate incidents in 2023 is a result of the unparallelled volume of antisemitism perpetrated following the Hamas terror attack on Israel on 7 October. Of the 4,103 instances of anti-Jewish hate reported, 2,699 (66%) occurred on or after 7 October. This figure alone exceeds any previous annual antisemitic incident total recorded by CST, and marks an increase of 589% from the 392 instances of antisemitism reported to CST over the same time period in 2022.
There were 1,330 instances of antisemitism were reported to CST in October, 2023, more than the three previous highest monthly totals combined: May 2021 (661 incidents), July 2014 (317 incidents), and January 2009 (289 incidents). These spikes also reflected the surge in anti-Jewish reactions to the escalation of conflicts involving Israel. In 2023, the increase in antisemitism following 7 October occurred on a larger scale. Between 1 January and 6 October, CST had recorded an average of five antisemitic incidents per day; from 7 October to 31 December, this rose to an average of 31 antisemitic incidents per day.
The first incident inspired by Hamas’ attack was reported to CST at 12:55pm on 7 October, when a vehicle drove past a synagogue in Hertfordshire with a Palestinian flag attached, windows wound down and an occupant shaking their fist in the air towards the synagogue where congregants were celebrating the festival of Simchat Torah. CST recorded 31 cases of anti-Jewish hate on that day, compared to ten the day before. Daily totals increased over the coming days, peaking on 11 October with 80 antisemitic incidents – the highest number ever reported to CST on a single day. In the week following 7 October, CST recorded 416 anti-Jewish hate incidents, higher than any subsequent week. It indicates that it was celebration of Hamas’ attack, rather than anger towards Israel’s military response in Gaza, that prompted the unprecedented levels of antisemitism across the country.
Events in the Middle East informed the language and content of incidents reported to CST. The most common form of anti-Jewish discourse used in antisemitic incidents throughout the year either referenced or was linked to Israel, Palestine, the Hamas terror attack, or the subsequent war. This rhetoric was evident in 1,774 (43%) of the 4,103 cases reported to CST, rising from the 246 recorded in 2022 – a year without a significant trigger event in the region. Of these, 85% happened in the aftermath of Hamas’ attack. A total of 1,299 antisemitic incidents exhibited anti-Zionist motivation (compared to 149 in 2022) alongside antisemitic language or targeting while the terms “Zionism” or “Zionist” were used on 260 occasions, often as euphemisms for “Judaism” and “Jew”, or alongside other antisemitic language. In at least 427 instances, the phrase “Free Palestine” was employed in speech or writing in an antisemitic way. Although not an inherently antisemitic statement, each of these cases were deemed as such because these words were used to abuse Jewish people or institutions simply because they were Jewish, or formed part of a larger outburst including explicitly anti-Jewish sentiments.
These incidents form part of the 2,631 cases wherein CST recorded at least one political, religious and racist discourse, conspiracy theory or ideology; 233 (9%) of these 2,631 reports combined two or more. There were 955 antisemitic incidents in 2023 in which the offender made reference to Hitler, the Nazis, or the Holocaust; an increase of 104% from the 469 such incidents reported in 2022, when it was the most common type of discourse. Among these 955 incidents, there were 70 cases of Holocaust denial and 184 of Holocaust celebration. One hundred and eighteen (64%) of these 184 incidents that glorified the Holocaust occurred after 7 October and followed one of two distinctive trends. Perpetrators either glorified Hamas’ act of terror as a repeat of the Nazis extermination of the Jews during the Holocaust, or lamented Hitler’s failure to eliminate world Jewry entirely, in the context of Israel’s existence and response to the Hamas attack. There were 243 incidents wherein the offender directly compared Israel with the Nazis, thereby bridging Holocaust- and Israel-related discourses (and counted amongst the totals for each), rising from 32 such incidents reported in 2022. One hundred and twenty-two antisemitic incidents recorded by CST in 2023 contained discourse relating to Islam and Muslims, over four times the 27 reported in 2022. In 48 incidents, another religious ideology was present, compared to 31 in 2022.
CST recorded 266 incidents in the category of Assault in 2023, a rise of 96% from the 136 incidents of this type reported in 2022, and the most ever recorded in a year. They form 6% of the annual total, down from their proportion of 8% in the two previous years. None of these incidents was severe enough to be classed as Extreme Violence, compared to one incident in 2022.
Cases of Damage & Desecration of Jewish property increased by 146% from 74 incidents in 2022 to 182 in 2023, the highest ever annual figure in this category. There were 305 incidents reported to CST in the category of Threats in 2023, a rise of 196% from the 103 incidents of this type recorded in 2022, and is also this category’s highest ever annual total. CST recorded 22 incidents in the category of mass-produced antisemitic Literature in 2023, increasing by 144% from the nine such incidents recorded in 2022. There were 3,328 incidents in the category of Abusive Behaviour in 2023, more than in any other year and a rise of 149% from the 1,339 instances of Abusive Behaviour reported in 2022. This figure alone eclipses the incident total across all categories recorded in any preceding year, and forms 81% of all antisemitic incidents reported to CST in 2023.
Just as during previous wars involving Israel, a sharp rise in school-related anti-Jewish hate was reported to CST. In 2023, there were 87 antisemitic incidents recorded at Jewish schools. An additional 111 incidents involved Jewish schoolchildren away from school, often on their way to or from home. One hundred and twenty-seven incidents involved Jewish schoolchildren or staff at non-faith schools. This constitutes a record annual total of 325 antisemitic incidents affecting people and property in the school sector, an increase of 232% from 98 such incidents recorded in 2022. Of these, 229 (70%) took place after 7 October.
Anti-Jewish hate was also reported in record quantities within the sphere of higher education. In 2023, CST recorded 182 antisemitic incidents in which the victims or offenders were students or academics, or which involved student unions, societies or other representative bodies. It is an increase of 203% from the 60 such incidents recorded in 2022. Seventy-two of these 182 university-related incidents took place on campus or university property, and 110 away from campus, of which 77 were online. Of these 182 incidents, 148 (81%) occurred following 7 October, and 134 (74%) overtly referred to Israel and events in the Middle East over the course of the year.
CST recorded 1,282 cases of online antisemitism in 2023, more than in any previous year, and a 257% increase from the 359 online incidents reported in 2022. These form 31% of the total of 4,103 antisemitic incidents in 2023, whereas in 2022 online incidents constituted 22% of the annual total. Of the 1,282 online incidents recorded in 2023, 704 occurred on X (formerly Twitter), a 249% rise from the 202 instances of anti-Jewish hate on X reported in 2022. On X, antisemitism was more likely to display an ideological strand of antisemitic rhetoric beyond basic insult and abuse of Jews. Among the 704 X-based incidents, 648 (92%) contained at least one specific discourse conveying a political, ideological or religious motivation on the part of the offender, or used conspiracy theories or stereotypes about Jewish people. This was the case in 423 (73%) of the 578 reports of antisemitism that took place via other online services and platforms.
In 2023, 2,410 antisemitic incidents were reported to have taken place in Greater London, rising by 161% from 2022’s total of 923 London-based incidents. CST recorded 555 antisemitic incidents in Greater Manchester, an increase of 163% from the 211 incidents in the corresponding area in 2022. In both cases, these are record annual totals for anti-Jewish hate incidents in these locations, and their combined contribution to the overall figure is 72%, slightly higher than 68% in each of the two preceding years. These communal hubs are home to the largest Jewish populations in the UK, which remain the principal targets of antisemitism. Within Greater London, there were 323 instances of antisemitism reported: among London’s boroughs, more were only recorded in Barnet (864 incidents). It is unusual for Westminster to have the second-highest incident total but, as the capital’s political hub, it was the location of many of the anti-Israel demonstrations post 7 October. While many of their attendees were there in peaceful protest, these marches attracted individuals who were reported for antisemitic placards or hate speech. It was also the site of many of the vigils for Hamas’ victims, which were sometimes targeted by passers-by with anti-Jewish activity. In total, at least 44 of the Westminster-based incidents took place at, or on the way to or from, anti-Israel protests or vigils for the hostages, and two occurred at public Menorah lightings.
Apart from Greater London and Greater Manchester, the police regions with the highest levels of reported antisemitism in 2023 were Hertfordshire with 112 incidents, Essex with 75, West Yorkshire with 75, Scotland with 68, and West Midlands with 63. For the first time ever, antisemitic incidents were recorded in every single police region in the UK.
Read the full Antisemitic Incidents Report 2023.
CST Chief Executive Mark Gardner said:
“British Jews are strong and resilient, but the explosion in hatred against our community is an absolute disgrace. It occurs in schools, universities, workplaces, on the streets and all over social media. Our community is being harassed, intimidated, threatened and attacked by extremists who also oppose society as whole. We thank the government and police for their support, but this is a challenge for everyone and we condemn the stony silence from those sections of society that eagerly call out racism in every other case, except when it comes to Jew hate.”
Home Secretary James Cleverly MP said:
“The rise in antisemitic hatred and abuse we have seen in the UK in recent months is utterly deplorable. We’ve taken strong steps to confront this head on – increasing funding for protective security at Jewish schools and places of worship, working with the police to ensure that hate crime and expressions of support for the terrorist organisation Hamas are met with the full force of the law, and proscribing Hizb ut-Tahrir, an antisemitic organisation that actively promotes and encourages terrorism. But we know the Jewish community need to continue to see that tackling antisemitism is a priority for us. I recently met with members of the community, including the very professional Community Security Trust who have been doing such vital work, and heard first-hand the impact on their feeling of safety. I will do everything in my power to ensure they are safe, and just as importantly feel safe.”
Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said:
“The appalling and intolerable rise in antisemitism we have seen over recent months is a stain on our society and we must never relent in our work to root it out. We must not allow events unfolding internationally to play out in increased hatred and prejudice here in our communities. There must be zero-tolerance for antisemitism in Britain and those who proliferate that poison on the streets and online must face the full force of the law. I want to thank CST for the remarkable and tireless work they do, alongside the police, to keep our Jewish communities safe, but these record high levels are an urgent reminder of the responsibility on all of us to stamp out the scourge of antisemitism wherever it is found.”
HM Government’s Independent Adviser on Antisemitism, Lord Mann said:
“The figures noted in CST’s Antisemitic Incidents Report 2023 should be a reminder to British civil society of the serious nature of antisemitism and the impact that it has on the Jewish community. As we have seen over the years, when tensions rise in the Middle East there is an increase in antisemitism around the world however this scale is unprecedented and is, for the first time ever, widespread across every police region in the United Kingdom. This country will not tolerate the abuse or intimidation of any of its citizens and I will continue to make sure that it remains a safe place for our Jewish community."
Paul Giannasi, the National Policing Advisor for hate crime, said:
]]>“We all watched in horror on 7th October as details of the terrorist attacks of Hamas emerged, and our thoughts remain with all involved. Sadly, we now know that the events of that day were a catalyst for some to spread hate and division here in the UK. A national policing response was quickly established as soon as the severity of the initial attacks by Hamas became clear. This work links with, and functions alongside, established Counter Terrorism Policing structures, who have continued to lead on protective security. This report starkly outlines the unacceptable abuse suffered by Jewish communities here as the conflict progressed. However, our long-standing and trusted relationship with CST helped us to swiftly understand the impact antisemitic hate crimes were having on our society and to look for ways to mitigate the harm they cause. The collaboration at a national and local level enabled swift responses to threats and challenged us where necessary. As emotive as this situation has been across all our communities, we have been clear that there is absolutely no excuse for anybody using it to engage in criminality, and that we will not tolerate hate crime. We have made arrests and are well prepared to continue to do so. The UK remains amongst the safest places in the world for Jewish people to live but we understand that this unacceptable rise in antisemitism and the widespread fear of crime in everyday life damages our society. We will continue to work alongside CST and other partners to reassure communities and bring hate crime offenders to justice. The right to live free from targeted abuse is a fundamental right that we all share and we will continue to work to bring offenders to justice. I encourage anyone who suffers such a crime to report it, either to the police or to CST.”
Once in Gaza, the two Brits met with Hamas, the Islamist Palestinian terrorist group. It was at this meeting, in an apartment in Gaza, that the two men posed in front of a Hamas flag, both dressed in full combat fatigues, adorned with Hamas headbands, holding AK47s and holding a Quran between them. This was also where the pair collected their improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and recorded their martyrdom message, stating on video that, “we have come from Britain to commit an act of Jihad for the sake of Allah”.
The pair then made their way back into Israel to their Tel Aviv hostel. In the early hours of 30 April 2003, Asif Hanif, over 2,000 miles from his Hounslow home, detonated his device at the Mike’s Place bar in Tel Aviv. The explosion killed three Israelis and injured over 50 others. Omar Khan Sharif, his accomplice, did not detonate, his IED failing. Sharif was found dead nearly two weeks later, floating just offshore the Tel Aviv beach. They were among the earliest cases of British suicide bombers.
The case of the Mike’s Place bombers now seems a distant memory. We have become inoculated to the phenomenon of Islamist terrorism, suicide bombers and foreign fighters. But the story of Omar Khan Sharif and Asif Hanif is as instructive as ever, especially in the wake of the 7th October Hamas massacre. Both Hanif and Khan’s radicalisation journey started and developed in the UK. Both had links to Hizb ut-Tahrir and its more extreme offshoot, Al-Muhajiroun. The same Hizb ut-Tahrir that has been openly calling for ‘jihad’ at their protests on the streets of London, and calling on “Muslim armies” to invade and attack Israel. Hanif and Khan were both motivated by an extreme Islamist ideology, channelled through deep layers of anti-Israel hate that ultimately found an outlet in an act of terrorism.
Whilst the actuality and perpetration of violent terrorism is hard for many to stomach, it still seems that is less the case when the victims are Israeli Jews. The key to this is simple, just a little bit of marketing and PR spin. First, don’t call it terrorism; resistance is much more palatable. Resistance evokes images of noble warriors fighting for a just cause. Next, don’t label the dead as victims; they’re simply occupiers, or colonisers – this makes it much easier to stomach when they’re being murdered. The result is a much more acceptable, sanitised form of violent extremism, that even your local far-left activist group can get behind. This results in providing a more widely accepted and legitimised form of violent extremism that will ultimately draw in disenfranchised, angry Brits.
Since 7th October, this more digestible brand of extremism has become widespread. From university campuses to the streets of Western capitals and the digital sphere, we’ve become accustomed to this simmering support for, and excusal of, terrorism. A cursory look on Twitter will find numerous accounts proudly displaying an upside-down red triangle emoji, drawn from Hamas’ use of the symbol in footage they release of their attacks on the Israeli military. Many seem to clearly forget that Hamas are designated as a terrorist group by the UK, US, EU, Canada, Australia, and others, including multiple Arab states. In the UK, expressing support for or glorifying Hamas is a terrorist offence that carries with it the risk of arrest, charge and imprisonment. Indeed, many people in the UK already have started to see the consequences of allegedly breaking terrorism legislation for this exact reason.
Despite this, we continue to see widespread apologism and legitimising in the UK of Hamas’ actions. A number of influential Islamist blogs, clearly careful not to overstep the bounds of terrorism legislation, talk in glowing terms about “the resistance”, often stating that they have to choose their words carefully. Legally, it’s a wise move, but fundamentally it reveals their true attitudes.
The harsh reality of all of this is deeply concerning, not only in the massive spike in global antisemitism, but the potential for this to be followed by a new wave of jihadist terrorism across the West. Terrorism does not simply appear out of thin air: it needs to be cultivated, nurtured and built on a larger foundation of unchecked extremism. The fear is that these foundations are currently being built. Nearly two years after the Mike’s Place attack in Tel Aviv, an associate of Omar Khan Sharif, Mohamed Siddique Khan, led a cell of four British Islamists in a coordinated series of suicide attacks on the London transport system, the attacks we know as 7/7. If we collectively fail to deal with the extremism that is currently taking hold, we risk once again the violent consequences in the coming years, against both Jews and non-Jews alike.
]]>
The report looks back at events in 2022 and does not include the recent rise in antisemitism in the UK since 7th October, which will be covered in next year’s report.
]]>The report looks back at events in 2022 and does not include the recent rise in antisemitism in the UK since 7th October, which will be covered in next year’s report.
The report shows that antisemitism continued to play a role in the national discourse in Britain during 2022.
There was extensive coverage in 2022 around antisemitism on university campuses and within the National Union of Students (NUS). The Education Secretary led an online summit to address the rise in antisemitism across UK universities and then Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that he was establishing a taskforce “devoted to rooting out antisemitism in education at all levels”.
Serious concerns were raised about systemic antisemitism within the NUS. The government temporarily disengaged from NUS and an independent investigation was established. It followed the election of Shaima Dallali as NUS President, despite reports of antisemitic and problematic social media posts. Dallali was suspended and her contract was terminated.
Allegations of antisemitism continued to be directed at the BBC. The appearance on a BBC discussion programme of controversial journalist Abdel Bari Atwan led to a letter of complaint to the Director-General. An online petition to launch a parliamentary inquiry into the BBC’s coverage of Jews and Israel led to the announcement of a cross-party inquiry.
The Conservative and Labour Parties both took strong action against members and candidates accused of antisemitic comments or social media posts. The continued existence of these complaints indicates that antisemitism retains a purchase in parts of mainstream politics, even while party leaderships are firmly committed to combating it.
Lord Mann, the government’s Independent Advisor on Antisemitism, published a report on tackling antisemitism in the UK. The report was a reaction to the record number of antisemitic incidents reported in 2021 and 2022, the changed political landscape since 2015 and the growth of alternative social media platforms.
A report on ‘Antisemitism in Schools’ was published by the Henry Jackson Society, which highlighted a 173.3 per cent rise in antisemitic incidents in schools over the last five years.
An internal report produced by the Royal Court Theatre showed that it had inadequate measures in places to prevent the antisemitism controversy over its production of the play Rare Earth Mettle. As part of its attempt to make amends, the Royal Court commissioned a new production called, “Jews. In Their Own Words.” After the premier, the theatre received online abuse.
Ofcom issued strong rulings against two TV stations, Islam Channel and Ahlebait TV, for broadcasting antisemitic content in their TV programmes.
Christian and Jewish representatives attended a service at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the Synod of Oxford, which introduced a number of antisemitic measures in England.
Download the full Antisemitic Discourse Report 2022.
]]>In just over eight weeks, CST has recorded more antisemitic incidents than the total reported throughout the entire year prior to Hamas’ attack on Israel, between 1 January and 6 October 2023, and more than in any year apart from 2021, when escalation in the Middle East conflict triggered CST’s highest ever antisemitic incident annual total.
This is also a provisional total that is almost certain to increase further as we receive more delayed reports of incidents covering this period, and while we continue to verify and log all the reports that we have currently received.
For comparison, CST recorded 330 antisemitic incidents over the same 68 days in 2022. This means that we have seen an increase in anti-Jewish hate acts of 534% this year compared to the same period last year.
These are all instances of anti-Jewish racism, wherein offenders are targeting Jewish people, communities and institutions for their Jewishness. In many cases, these hateful comments, threats to life and physical attacks are laced with the rhetoric and iconography of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel politics.
Even compared to periods of previous conflicts involving Israel, these statistics are unprecedentedly high. The last time a significant spike in antisemitism related to events in the Middle East was recorded occurred in May 2021. Over the entire month of that conflict, from 8 May – 7 June, 691 instances of anti-Jewish hate were recorded. After 7 June, antisemitic incident levels in the UK returned to what CST would consider a “normal” level (which is still shamefully high, averaging over 100 incidents per month). At present, there is no sign that the volume of anti-Jewish hatred is subsiding to this “normal”.
Across the conflict in July and August 2014, we recorded 552 antisemitic incidents. Bear in mind, when comparing these to the 2093 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded since Saturday 7 October, that the figures for 2021 and 2014 are final totals including all late-reported incidents, whereas the current total of 2093 incidents is only provisional and will almost certainly increase further.
In addition to the 2093 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded so far, CST also logged at least 1288 incidents that have not been classified as antisemitic. These include criminal acts affecting Jewish people and property, suspicious behaviour near to Jewish locations, and anti-Israel activity that is not directed at the Jewish community or does not use antisemitic language. Many of these potential incidents involve suspicious activity or possible hostile reconnaissance at Jewish locations, and they play an important role in informing CST’s provision of protection to the Jewish community.
The 2093 antisemitic incidents recorded over this sixty-one-day period fall into the following categories:
CST has recorded 1223 antisemitic incidents in Greater London; 338 in Greater Manchester; 66 in Hertfordshire; 49 in West Yorkshire; 39 in Scotland; 33 in the West Midlands; 29 in Sussex; 28 in Thames Valley; 19 in Avon & Somerset; 17 in Nottinghamshire; and the remaining 252 incidents were spread across 34 different police regions around the UK.
Of the 2093 antisemitic incidents, 1468 occurred offline and 625 were online. Many of the online incidents were ‘pile-ons’ involving multiple antisemitic posts and comments all in the same thread or conversation; CST records these as a single incident.
One hundred andfifty-four antisemitic incidents were related to universities across the UK. In the first six months of 2023, CST recorded just 17 incidents of this kind, and 56 in the whole of 2022. Meanwhile, 133 incidents were related to the school sector. Fifty-nine of these affected students and teachers at non-Jewish schools; 45 involved Jewish schoolchildren abused on their way to or from school; 21 targeted Jewish schools; and eight involved offenders from non-Jewish schools abusing adult members of the public or Jewish locations. Between January and June 2023, 67 incidents in the school sector were reported to CST, and 94 in the whole of 2022.
Whenever Israel is at war, CST records an increase in anti-Jewish hate across the country, and an acute rise is usually reported specifically in and related to places of education.
Examples of antisemitic incidents recorded by CST since Saturday 7 October include:
CST will not stand for this anti-Jewish hatred and nor should anybody else. We urge everyone who experiences or witnesses antisemitism to report it to police and to CST so that those who are trying to intimidate and threaten our community can be investigated, arrested and prosecuted.
To report an antisemitic incident to CST, please use our online form or for urgent or out-of-hours reports please call our 24-hour National Emergency Number 0800 032 3263.
]]>In just over eight weeks, CST has recorded more antisemitic incidents than the total reported throughout the entire year prior to Hamas’ attack on Israel, between 1 January and 6 October 2023, and more than in any year apart from 2021, when escalation in the Middle East conflict triggered CST’s highest ever antisemitic incident annual total.
This is also a provisional total that is almost certain to increase further as we receive more delayed reports of incidents covering this period, and while we continue to verify and log all the reports that we have currently received.
For comparison, CST recorded 301 antisemitic incidents over the same 61 days in 2022. This means that we have seen an increase in anti-Jewish hate acts of 528% this year compared to the same period last year.
These are all instances of anti-Jewish racism, wherein offenders are targeting Jewish people, communities and institutions for their Jewishness. In many cases, these hateful comments, threats to life and physical attacks are laced with the language and symbols of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel politics.
Even compared to periods of previous conflicts involving Israel, these statistics are unprecedentedly high. The last time a significant spike in antisemitism related to events in the Middle East was recorded occurred in May 2021. Over the entire month of that conflict, from 8 May – 7 June, 691 instances of anti-Jewish hate were recorded. After 7 June, antisemitic incident levels in the UK returned to what CST would consider a “normal” level (which is still shamefully high, averaging over 100 incidents per month). At present, there is no sign that the volume of anti-Jewish hatred is subsiding to this “normal”.
Across the first 61 days of the conflict in July 2014, we recorded 546 antisemitic incidents. Bear in mind, when comparing these to the 1890 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded since Saturday 7 October, that the figures for 2021 and 2014 are final totals including all late-reported incidents, whereas the current total of 1890 incidents is only provisional and will almost certainly increase further.
In addition to the 1890 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded so far, CST also logged at least 1213 incidents that have not been classified as antisemitic. These include criminal acts affecting Jewish people and property, suspicious behaviour near to Jewish locations, and anti-Israel activity that is not directed at the Jewish community or does not use antisemitic language. Many of these potential incidents involve suspicious activity or possible hostile reconnaissance at Jewish locations, and they play an important role in informing CST’s provision of protection to the Jewish community.
The 1890 antisemitic incidents recorded over this sixty-one-day period fall into the following categories:
CST has recorded 1062 antisemitic incidents in Greater London; 326 in Greater Manchester; 63 in Hertfordshire; 50 in West Yorkshire; 35 in Scotland; 30 in the West Midlands; 27 in Thames Valley; 26 in Sussex; 19 in Avon & Somerset; 16 in Nottinghamshire; and the remaining 236 incidents were spread across 34 different police regions around the UK.
Of the 1890 antisemitic incidents, 1301 occurred offline and 589 were online. Many of the online incidents were ‘pile-ons’ involving multiple antisemitic posts and comments all in the same thread or conversation; CST records these as a single incident.
One hundred and forty antisemitic incidents were related to universities across the UK. In the first six months of 2023, CST recorded just 17 incidents of this kind, and 56 in the whole of 2022. Meanwhile, 126 incidents were related to the school sector. Fifty-six of these affected students and teachers at non-Jewish schools; 44 involved Jewish schoolchildren abused on their way to or from school; 19 targeted Jewish schools; and seven involved offenders from non-Jewish schools abusing adult members of the public or Jewish locations. Between January and June 2023, 67 incidents in the school sector were reported to CST, and 94 in the whole of 2022.
Whenever Israel is at war, CST records an increase in anti-Jewish hate across the country, and an acute rise is usually reported specifically in and related to places of education.
Examples of antisemitic incidents recorded by CST since Saturday 7 October include:
CST will not stand for this anti-Jewish hatred and nor should anybody else. We urge everyone who experiences or witnesses antisemitism to report it to police and to CST so that those who are trying to intimidate and threaten our community can be investigated, arrested and prosecuted.
To report an antisemitic incident to CST, please use our online form or for urgent or out-of-hours reports please call our 24-hour National Emergency Number 0800 032 3263.
]]>In the UK, many (perhaps most) activists have deployed tired, familiar euphemisms of supporting “the right to armed struggle” and “victory to resistance” by “whatever means they choose”. These are accompanied online by equally euphemistic hashtags such as #resistanceisduty or #glorytofreedomfighters.
Britain’s Socialist Workers Party (SWP), for example, wasted no time. Within hours of the attacks, the Trotskyist group’s Socialist Worker posted an article titled “Why Palestinians are right to resist Israel”. With much excitement, the article reported that, “Palestinian fighters launched resistance attacks”, had “won huge military gains” and “effectively controlled all illegal Israeli settlements at the Gaza border”. For the SWP, all Israeli communities west of the Jordan River are illegal settlements that, like Israel itself, must be dismantled to make way for a binational state.
The Socialist Worker article explicitly stated that, “Palestinian people have every right to respond in any way they choose to the violence that the Israeli state metes out to them every day”. Staying true to brand, the SWP also made sure to mention that “the revolt included a powerful strike by Palestinian workers”, as though a purported workers’ rebellion somehow mitigated the nature of the atrocities committed. (One can’t help but reminded of the peasant in Monty Python’s Holy Grail shouting, “Oh, there you go, bringing class into it again”.)
On 10 October, three days later after the attack, another Socialist Worker article was literally titled “Rejoice as Palestinian resistance humiliates racist Israel”. It tried to comfort readers with the notion that “no revenge will wipe out what was achieved” and that “Resistance can win”.
And on 21 November, the paper reiterated that “heroic Palestinian resistance” was a key component in fighting global imperialism, adding that, “Capitalism is a death machine, and our resistance to it is ever more urgent. The slaughter carried out by Israel in Gaza, and the support from the US and Britain, shows the true face of imperialism.”
Similarly, Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, the UK branch of the international Islamist group, also described the attacks as “a moment of unparalleled joy and celebration” that evoked “a wave of joy and elation among Muslims globally”. They too referred to the terrorist attackers as “a group of determined resistance fighters” and also as “the lonely mujahideen who resisted the occupiers”. All this, without explicitly praising Hamas or any of the other Palestinian terrorist factions that took part in the attacks.
But unlike Hizb ut-Tahrir and other groups in the UK, the SWP has not stopped at merely supporting “Palestinian resistance”. The Socialist Workers Party has, in fact, revealed itself to be one of the UK’s most open and flagrant supporters of Hamas. A week after the attacks, the Socialist Worker explicitly wrote about “our support for Hamas”, maintaining that, “the resistance by Palestinians against the racist Israeli terror state is wholly justified”. Shrugging off differences of opinion with Hamas over class or LGBT+ rights, the SWP also doubled down on its mantra that their support of Hamas is “unconditional but not uncritical”.
The key passages are important to quote at length:
“Our slogan is that our support is ‘unconditional but not uncritical’. Socialist revolutionaries do not agree with Hamas over class politics women’s and LGBT+ rights or many other questions.
But we don’t make our support for Hamas against Zionism and imperialism conditional on their adoption of a socialist position around these issues.
We are for the Palestinian resistance always and everywhere, even if it does not accept our views on other matters. Anything less is a collapse into pro-imperialism.
Today much of the left says it can’t support the resistance because Hamas is 'backward' or uses violence.”
Several branches of the SWP’s student wing, the Socialist Worker Student Societies (SWSS), posted infographics of this same Socialist Worker article on their Instagram accounts. This includes SWP Manchester/Manchester SWSS, Trinity SWSS, Oxford SWSS and Swansea SWSS.
A couple weeks later, the Socialist Worker expanded on these points by writing as follows:
"A defeat for Israel would be the best outcome, and it’s why we hope Hamas hurls back the offensive.
It would give confidence to others fighting back to overthrow their oppressors. It would guarantee the end of Netanyahu and his far right coalition.
We do not share Hamas’s politics. But its victory would be a further humiliation for Israel and the US and a massive blow against global imperialism".
Since November 2021, Hamas in its entirety has been a proscribed terrorist organisation under UK law. Hamas’ armed wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassem Brigades, was banned over 22 years ago, in March 2001. UK terrorism legislation makes it a criminal offence to engage in various activities in support of any proscribed group, regardless of ideology. This includes, among other offences, the following:
On these grounds, UK police have to date charged numerous individuals with offences allegedly showing their support for Hamas, including three women who displayed images of a paraglider, seemingly in support of Hamas, during a London demonstration on 14 October. (None of these charges are in any way connected to the SWP or Hizb ut-Tahrir.)
To be clear, the SWP’s support for Hamas predates the current conflict. Earlier this year, the Socialist Worker published a revised edition of its 2014 pamphlet, “Palestine - Resistance, revolution and the struggle for freedom". This text is replete with justifications for Hamas’ “courageous armed resistance”, as well as the “right to resist” by Hamas and other armed Palestinian factions.
But the pamphlet also includes an article, also originally penned in 2014, by a representative of the Revolutionary Socialists in Egypt titled “Towards a revolutionary perspective on Hamas”. Crucially, this featured piece minces no words:
“We consider Hamas to be a resistance movement against Zionism and imperialism. From this perspective we unconditionally support Hamas when it is engaged in military or non-military struggles against Israel”.
The piece also distinguishes between groups such as Islamic State (which is considered “reactionary”) with Hamas and Hizbollah that “came into existence to resist imperialism and entered into many confrontations and struggles with Zionism and imperialism”.
The fact that the revised edition of this pamphlet still contains such deliberate support for the military and political objectives of Hamas is a cause for serious concern. And these concerns are amplified when considering that SWP stalls have openly displayed this pamphlet during recent pro-Palestinian demonstrations in London; that SWP’s student wing at the University of Bristol, Bristol SWSS (Socialist Worker Student Societies), reportedly sold copies of the pamphlet to students during a walkout and protest on 18 October; that a student reported receiving a copy of the pamphlet in a public space on the grounds of City University campus; and that recent issues of the Socialist Worker newspaper continue to promote their pamphlet after The Sun newspaper publicised its contents.
While the SWP’s fervour for armed resistance and Hamas has not shifted, the Socialist Worker has joined others in denying or minimising the extent of Hamas’ atrocities despite documented evidence. “Israel makes up lies too, that Palestinians rape people and kill babies”, claimed one piece. Another article, titled “Don’t believe official version of 7 Oct events”, even advised readers that, “NOBODY can believe a word that comes from official Israeli sources. There are growing doubts about what exactly happened on 7 October”. Any Israeli news, then, is treated as a lie.
The SWP has decades of form agitating against Zionism and issues relating to the Middle East. Shockingly, almost exactly 17 years ago, the Socialist Worker even published a cartoon invoking the antisemitic trope blaming Israel (read: the Jews) for killing Jesus Christ. The cartoon remains on the website as of this writing.
In the late 1970s, the Trotskyists of the Socialist Workers Party were the primary activists trying to ban Zionism on British university campuses. In 1977, an activist from the SWP’s York University student wing was quoted in the Socialist Worker saying that, “It is because we oppose all racism that we oppose an openly Zionist and racist Jewish society”.
In the late 1980s, the SWP published one of its ‘classic’ pamphlets, “Israel: The Hijack State-America’s Watchdog in the Middle East”, conveying the traditional Trotskyist position that Israel is the Middle East garrison of imperialist America. In these and other publications, the group revised the history of Israel’s establishment, minimized historical Jewish links to the land of Israel, glorified “Palestinian resistance” and branded Israel a “terrorist state.”
In the early and mid-2000s, George Galloway and his supporters, along with elements from the SWP and the Muslim Association of Britain, combined to form a loose coalition comprising the (since defunct) Respect political party. Respect was only one of the manifestations of the left-Islamist alliance in the UK. More broadly, this pragmatic alliance has seen British far-left activists cooperating with British Islamist groups that have had links to the Muslim Brotherhood and sympathies with, or support for, Hamas and Hizbollah.
Notwithstanding some ideological disagreements, the basis of the left-Islamist shared vision generally rested on a mutual antipathy of the imperialist United States, the dream of Israel’s destruction (i.e., the “Zionist project”) and a craving for the collapse of global market capitalism. In great part, today’s displays of this left-Islamist tradition are maintained by some of the groups that organised the large national demonstrations over the last two months, where Socialist Worker placards are ubiquitous.
Over the last 20 years, this combination of jihadist fervour and far-left support for the violence of Third World liberation movements has fostered left-wing sympathy and support for Palestinian suicide bombings and other attacks against Israeli civilians. For activists immersed in this worldview, supporters of Hamas are seen as more “progressive” than even partial supporters of Israel. This outlook was expressed most vividly in the Socialist Worker Party’s International Socialism journal 15 years ago:
“To put the matter as starkly as possible: from the standpoint of Marxism and international socialism an illiterate, conservative, superstitious Muslim Palestinian peasant who supports Hamas is more progressive than an educated liberal atheist Israeli who supports Zionism (even critically)”.
These words, in essence, tells us the whole story. But for how much longer can the Socialist Workers Party continue to express “our support for Hamas” with impunity?
]]>In just over seven weeks, CST has recorded more antisemitic incidents than the total reported throughout the entire year prior to Hamas’ attack on Israel, between 1 January and 6 October 2023, and more than the annual total recorded in 2022.
This is also a provisional total that is almost certain to increase further as we receive more delayed reports of incidents covering this period, and while we continue to verify and log all the reports that we have currently received.
For comparison, CST recorded 263 antisemitic incidents over the same 54 days in 2022. This means that we have seen an increase in anti-Jewish hate acts of 564% this year compared to the same period last year.
These are all instances of anti-Jewish racism, wherein offenders are targeting Jewish people, communities and institutions for their Jewishness. In many cases, these hateful comments, threats to life and physical attacks are laced with the rhetoric and iconography of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel politics.
Even compared to periods of previous conflicts involving Israel, these statistics are unprecedentedly high. The last time a significant spike in antisemitism related to events in the Middle East was recorded occurred in May 2021. Over the entire month of that conflict, from 8 May – 7 June, 691 instances of anti-Jewish hate were recorded. After 7 June, antisemitic incident levels in the UK returned to what CST would consider a “normal” level (which is still shamefully high, averaging over 100 incidents per month). At present, there is no sign that the volume of anti-Jewish hatred is subsiding to this “normal”.
Across the first 54 days of the conflict in July 2014, we recorded 519 antisemitic incidents. Bear in mind, when comparing these to the 1747 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded since Saturday 7 October, that the figures for 2021 and 2014 are final totals including all late-reported incidents, whereas the current total of 1747 incidents is only provisional and will almost certainly increase further.
In addition to the 1747 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded so far, CST also logged at least 1123 incidents that have not been classified as antisemitic. These include criminal acts affecting Jewish people and property, suspicious behaviour near to Jewish locations, and anti-Israel activity that is not directed at the Jewish community or does not use antisemitic language. Many of these potential incidents involve suspicious activity or possible hostile reconnaissance at Jewish locations, and they play an important role in informing CST’s provision of protection to the Jewish community.
The 1747 antisemitic incidents recorded over this fifty-four-day period fall into the following categories:
CST has recorded 989 antisemitic incidents in Greater London; 293 in Greater Manchester; 57 in Hertfordshire; 44 in West Yorkshire; 34 in Scotland; 26 in Thames Valley; 25 in Sussex; 25 in the West Midlands; 18 in Avon & Somerset; 15 in Nottinghamshire; and the remaining 221 incidents were spread across 34 different police regions around the UK.
Of the 1747 antisemitic incidents, 1204 occurred offline and 543 were online. Many of the online incidents were ‘pile-ons’ involving multiple antisemitic posts and comments all in the same thread or conversation; CST records these as a single incident.
One hundred and twenty-three antisemitic incidents were related to universities across the UK. In the first six months of 2023, CST recorded just 17 incidents of this kind, and 56 in the whole of 2022. Meanwhile, 114 incidents were related to the school sector. Fifty-four of these affected students and teachers at non-Jewish schools; 35 involved Jewish schoolchildren abused on their way to or from school; 18 targeted Jewish schools; and seven involved offenders from non-Jewish schools abusing adult members of the public or Jewish locations. Between January and June 2023, 67 incidents in the school sector were reported to CST, and 94 in the whole of 2022.
Whenever Israel is at war, CST records an increase in anti-Jewish hate across the country, and an acute rise is usually reported specifically in and related to places of education.
Examples of antisemitic incidents recorded by CST since Saturday 7 October include:
CST will not stand for this anti-Jewish hatred and nor should anybody else. We urge everyone who experiences or witnesses antisemitism to report it to police and to CST so that those who are trying to intimidate and threaten our community can be investigated, arrested and prosecuted.
To report an antisemitic incident to CST, please use our online form or for urgent or out-of-hours reports please call our 24-hour National Emergency Number 0800 032 3263.
]]>In just over six weeks, CST has recorded more antisemitic incidents than the total reported throughout the entire year prior to Hamas’ attack on Israel, between 1 January and 6 October.
This is also a provisional total that is almost certain to increase further as we receive more delayed reports of incidents covering this period, and while we continue to verify and log all the reports that we have currently received.
For comparison, CST recorded 242antisemitic incidents over the same 47 days in 2022. This means that we have seen an increase in anti-Jewish hate acts of 546% this year compared to the same period last year.
These are all instances of anti-Jewish racism, wherein offenders are targeting Jewish people, communities and institutions for their Jewishness. In many cases, these hateful comments, threats to life and physical attacks are laced with the rhetoric and iconography of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel politics.
Even compared to periods of previous conflicts involving Israel, these statistics are unprecedentedly high. The last time a significant spike in antisemitism related to events in the Middle East was recorded occurred in May 2021. Over the entire month of that conflict, from 8 May – 7 June, 691 instances of anti-Jewish hate were recorded. After 7 June, antisemitic incident levels in the UK returned to what CST would consider a “normal” level (which is still shamefully high, averaging over 100 incidents per month). At present, there is no sign that the volume of anti-Jewish hatred is subsiding to this “normal”.
Across the first 47 days of the conflict in July 2014, we recorded 499 antisemitic incidents. Bear in mind, when comparing these to the 1563 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded since Saturday 7 October, that the figures for 2021 and 2014 are final totals including all late-reported incidents, whereas the current total of 1563 incidents is only provisional and will almost certainly increase further.
In addition to the 1563 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded so far, CST also logged at least 1022 incidents that have not been classified as antisemitic. These include criminal acts affecting Jewish people and property, suspicious behaviour near to Jewish locations, and anti-Israel activity that is not directed at the Jewish community or does not use antisemitic language. Many of these potential incidents involve suspicious activity or possible hostile reconnaissance at Jewish locations, and they play an important role in informing CST’s provision of protection to the Jewish community.
The 1563 antisemitic incidents recorded over this forty-day period fall into the following categories:
CST has recorded 881 antisemitic incidents in Greater London; 278 in Greater Manchester; 52 in Hertfordshire; 42 in West Yorkshire; 33 in Scotland; 23 in Thames Valley; 20 in the West Midlands; 18 in Sussex; 15 in Nottinghamshire; 13 in Merseyside; and the remaining 188 incidents were spread across 33 different police regions around the UK.
One thousand and eighty-nine of the 1563 antisemitic incidents occurred offline and 474 were online. Many of the online incidents were ‘pile-ons’ involving multiple antisemitic posts and comments all in the same thread or conversation; CST records these as a single incident.
One hundred and six antisemitic incidents were related to universities across the UK. In the first six months of 2023, CST recorded just 17 incidents of this kind, and 56 in the whole of 2022. Meanwhile, 105 incidents were related to the school sector. Forty-nine of these affected students and teachers at non-Jewish schools; 32 involved Jewish schoolchildren abused on their way to or from school; 18 targeted Jewish schools; and six involved offenders from non-Jewish schools abusing adult members of the public or Jewish locations. Between January and June 2023, 67 incidents in the school sector were reported to CST, and 94 in the whole of 2022.
Whenever Israel is at war, CST records an increase in anti-Jewish hate across the country, and an acute rise is usually reported specifically in and related to places of education.
Examples of antisemitic incidents recorded by CST since Saturday 7 October include:
CST will not stand for this anti-Jewish hatred and nor should anybody else. We urge everyone who experiences or witnesses antisemitism to report it to police and to CST so that those who are trying to intimidate and threaten our community can be investigated, arrested and prosecuted.
To report an antisemitic incident to CST, please use our online form or for urgent or out-of-hours reports please call our 24-hour National Emergency Number 0800 032 3263.
]]>In just over five weeks, CST has recorded more antisemitic incidents than the 803 reported in the first six months in this year.
This is also a provisional total that is almost certain to increase further as we receive more delayed reports of incidents covering this period, and while we continue to verify and log all the reports that we have currently received.
For comparison, CST recorded 217 antisemitic incidents over the same 40 days in 2022. This means that we have seen an increase in anti-Jewish hate acts of 510% this year compared to the same period last year.
These are all instances of anti-Jewish racism, wherein offenders are targeting Jewish people, communities and institutions for their Jewishness. In many cases, these hateful comments, threats to life and physical attacks are laced with the language and symbols of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel politics.
Even compared to periods of previous conflicts involving Israel, these statistics are unprecedentedly high. The last time a significant spike in antisemitism related to events in the Middle East was recorded occurred in May 2021. Over the entire month of that conflict, from 8 May – 7 June, 691 instances of anti-Jewish hate were recorded. After 7 June, antisemitic incident levels in the UK returned to what CST would consider a “normal” level (which is still shamefully high, averaging over 100 incidents per month). At present, there is no sign that the volume of anti-Jewish hatred is subsiding to this “normal”.
Across the first 40 days of the conflict in July 2014, we recorded 470 antisemitic incidents. Bear in mind, when comparing these to the 1324 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded since Saturday 7 October, that the figures for 2021 and 2014 are final totals including all late-reported incidents, whereas the current total of 1324 incidents is only provisional and will almost certainly increase further.
In addition to the 1324 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded so far, CST also logged at least 865 incidents that have not been classified as antisemitic. These include criminal acts affecting Jewish people and property, suspicious behaviour near to Jewish locations, and anti-Israel activity that is not directed at the Jewish community or does not use antisemitic language. Many of these potential incidents involve suspicious activity or possible hostile reconnaissance at Jewish locations, and they play an important role in informing CST’s provision of protection to the Jewish community.
The 1324 antisemitic incidents recorded over this forty-day period fall into the following categories:
CST has recorded 730 antisemitic incidents in Greater London; 262 in Greater Manchester; 44 in Hertfordshire; 36 in West Yorkshire; 26 in Scotland; 23 in Thames Valley; 19 in the West Midlands; 14 in Nottinghamshire; 14 in Sussex; 13 in Merseyside; and the remaining 143 incidents were spread across 32 different police regions around the UK.
Nine hundred and thirty-one of the 1324 antisemitic incidents occurred offline and 393 were online. Many of the online incidents were ‘pile-ons’ involving multiple antisemitic posts and comments all in the same thread or conversation; CST records these as a single incident.
Eighty-four antisemitic incidents were related to universities across the UK. In the first six months of 2023, CST recorded just 17 incidents of this kind, and 56 in the whole of 2022. Meanwhile, 89 incidents were related to the school sector. Forty of these affected students and teachers at non-Jewish schools; 29 involved Jewish schoolchildren abused on their way to or from school; 15 targeted Jewish schools; and five involved offenders from non-Jewish schools abusing adult members of the public or Jewish locations. Between January and June 2023, 67 incidents in the school sector were reported to CST.
Whenever Israel is at war, CST records an increase in anti-Jewish hate across the country, and an acute rise is usually reported specifically in and related to places of education.
Examples of antisemitic incidents recorded by CST since Saturday 7 October include:
CST will not stand for this anti-Jewish hatred and nor should anybody else. We urge everyone who experiences or witnesses antisemitism to report it to police and to CST so that those who are trying to intimidate and threaten our community can be investigated, arrested and prosecuted.
To report an antisemitic incident to CST, please use our online form or for urgent or out-of-hours reports please call our 24-hour National Emergency Number 0800 032 3263.
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