UK anti-Semitic incidents hit record high in 2023 — charity

LONDON, United Kingdom — Reported anti-Semitic incidents in Britain hit record levels last year, with a surge after Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, a Jewish charity said Thursday.

The Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors anti-Semitism in Britain, recorded 4,103 "anti-Jewish hate incidents" in 2023, its highest annual tally since it began counting them in 1984.

It represented a 147-percent increase on the 1,662 incidents recorded in 2022.

"The record total of anti-Semitic hate in 2023 is due entirely to the surge in incidents following the 7 October Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, and the scale of the increase is unprecedented," it said in a statement.

The charity noted two-thirds of the incidents occurred after the Hamas assault, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

The attack prompted Israel's invasion of Gaza and a sustained military campaign, which has killed at least 28,576 people, mostly women and children, according to the latest health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory.

Britain has also seen a spike in Islamophobia and hate crimes against Muslims in recent years and since the long-running Middle East conflict's latest eruption, according to other advocacy groups.

Tell MAMA, which measures anti-Muslim attacks, said in December it had recorded a seven-fold rise in cases -- to 1,432 -- between October 7 and December 13.

Meanwhile, annual interior ministry statistics show 3,400 "religious hate crimes" against Muslims recorded by the police in the year to March 2023.

That represented 44 percent of the total, compared to 19 percent targeting Jewish people.

'Deplorable'

The CST said anti-Semitic incidents in Britain increased in 2023 to an average of 31 per day after October 7, calling it "a watershed" moment in the country.

Incidents included assaults, damage and desecration of Jewish property, threats, verbal and online abuse, as well as graffiti and hate mail.

"British Jews are strong and resilient, but the explosion in hatred against our community is an absolute disgrace," CST chief executive Mark Gardner said.

He noted the community was being "harassed, intimidated, threatened and attacked by extremists" in Britain's schools, universities, workplaces and streets, as well as online.

"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," Gardner added.

The UK government in November announced £7 million ($8.8 million) in increased funding over the next three years to tackle the issue in schools and universities.

Last month it also added the Sunni Islamist political organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir to a list of dozens of proscribed groups, in part over its "praise" for the October 7 attacks and "associated incidents".

In comments released by the CST, Interior Minister James Cleverly called the documented rise in anti-Semitism "utterly deplorable".

"We know the Jewish community need to continue to see that tackling anti-Semitism is a priority for us," he said, vowing to "do everything in my power" on the issue.