Antisemitism in Britain remains close to record levels, with almost 2,000 incidents recorded in the first six months of the year, the UK’s Community Security Trust (CST) said on Wednesday.
Two Jewish worshipers were stabbed on a street in the Golders Green area of north London in April in the most notable of the incidents, an attack which police are treating as a terrorism attack. There was also a spate of arson attacks on Jewish synagogues and premises in London, including the torching of four ambulances belonging to a Jewish volunteer emergency service.
In total, there were 1,926 anti-Jewish hate incidents between January and June, a rise of 21% compared to the same period last year, according to the CST, which advises Britain’s estimated 280,000 Jews on security matters.
That was the second highest figure ever recorded for the first half of a year, CST added.
It marks a significant rise on base levels of antisemitism before the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Before October 7, 2023, CST recorded a monthly average of 161 antisemitic incidents. Across the last half-year, this average was 321 a month.
Incidents spiked since start of US-Iran war, CST says
There was a notable spike following the start of the US and Israeli war with Iran in February, with the British authorities since accusing Tehran of using proxies to carry out attacks in Britain and across Europe. Iran has repeatedly denied any involvement.
There were 89 antisemitic incidents reported to CST in the week following the airstrikes, a 71% increase from the 52 incidents logged during the week preceding them.
Dave Rich, head of policy at CST, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday that the high level of incidents and the fact that the most common type of language used in these incidents relates to Israel and the Middle East is “as we expected.” He said that the spikes after the arson attacks, the stabbing and the Iran war were “shocking” but “predictable.”
What Rich did say was more unusual was the shift in the demographics of the perpetrators.
“Previously, whenever there was a big spike in incidents when Israel’s at war, there is a shift in who’s perpetrating them away from white perpetrators toward perpetrators who are South Asian or Arab in appearance. And that’s shifting back. More than half the incident perpetrators are white. There’s still a big chunk who are Arab or North African.”
According to Rich, this suggests that the incidents are not just coming from one part of society.
“Antisemitism is becoming more normalized, more diffuse across kind of a wider range of perpetrators. So that’s troubling.”
Also troubling is that the number of incidents in the school sector went up, Rich added.
Rich to 'Post': UK governmental measures against antisemitism insufficient
The Post asked Rich whether the persistently high level of incidents suggests that governmental measures up until this point have been ineffective at combating antisemitism.
“The numbers have been consistently high for so long, that alone would suggest that the measures that have been put in place have not yet managed to bring them down,” Rich told the Post. “Of course, you could argue without those measures that could be even worse - but that’s a hypothetical.”
The government has put new measures in place over the last few months. Since the attacks in March and April, there has been a massive surge of police numbers in Jewish community areas. The government has committed £250 million over three years to supporting this. There are also many more and much quicker prosecutions happening for low-level day-to-day antisemitic hate crimes
Rich hopes that this will start to have a tangibly positive effect.
“Hopefully, if that is sustained, then that will have a deterrent effect. And it will mean that over time, the number of incidents falls. But that can only tackle one type of incident. It cannot tackle the whole world of antisemitism on social media.”
Almost three years after the October 7 massacre, there comes a risk of Jews developing “reporting fatigue” whereby reporting every incident begins to feel pointless. This in turn can make the numbers of incidents look lower than they are in reality. Is this something CST is seeing?
“We’ve had a huge increase in reporting of suspicious behavior, potential information collection at Jewish community buildings and in Jewish community areas,” he said, adding that this reflects the fact the community is much more alert to anything suspicious.
“So in that respect, the community is much more alert and perhaps more motivated to report. But conversely, on the other side, I think there is definitely an element of reporting fatigue about the kind of day-to-day antisemitism, the comments that people overhear or experience, the stuff that perhaps in the past people would have reported and now has become normalized and people are brushing off.”
Rich said this is especially the case with Jewish students, for example, who are “used to it now and don’t report it”, which he said, in a “weird way, could be interpreted as them becoming more resilient.”
Nevertheless, he stressed the need for people to continue to report incidents, as then “something can be done about it.”
“We always want people to report, even if people feel they personally aren’t affected by an antisemitic incident. We still want them to report it to us so that action can be taken.”
Responding to CST’s report on Wednesday, policing minister Sarah Jones said: “Antisemitism goes against our country’s values, and I will do everything in my power to protect our Jewish communities.”
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Hatred has flourished unchecked on Britain’s streets, campuses and communities. Thousands of Jewish families are living in fear in their own country, and it is completely unacceptable.”
Philp called antisemitism a “national emergency” and called for increased police presence, urgent prosecutions, a moratorium on marches, a comprehensive audit of counter-terrorism cases involving antisemitic motivation, and the deportation of foreigners who express antisemitic views or support for violence or terrorism.
The Government’s Independent Advisor on Antisemitism, Lord Mann, said the latest figures from CST demonstrate that anti-Jewish racism in the UK continues to pose a significant threat to British democracy.
He thanked CST and the police for their efforts to protect the British Jewish community, and promised to continue working alongside them to ensure “zero tolerance for anti-Jewish hatred.”