Grapevine

Surge in anti-Semitic incidents in UK over past year: Charity

More than 5,500 cases of abusive behaviour recorded since war broke out on October 7, the highest-ever yearly tally.

The number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United Kingdom has soared since Israel launched its assault on Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, according to a Jewish charity.

The Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors anti-Semitism in the UK, released its latest figures on Wednesday, reporting 5,583 anti-Semitic incidents across the country between October 7, 2023 and September 30, 2024 – the highest tally recorded in any 12-month period since it began its count in 1984.

In the month of October 2023 alone, following Hamas’s attack on Israel – in which at least 1,139 people were killed and around 250 were taken as captives, sparking Israel’s retaliatory war on Gaza – the charity logged 1,400 anti-Semitic incidents.

CST said that anti-Semitism had gone up 204 percent compared to the previous year, stating in a report focused on the months between January and June that the “unprecedented” spike in abusive behaviour was caused by people directing “their anger over this geopolitical conflict towards British Jews”.