Anti-Semitic attacks on British Jews at near-record levels following the Hamas terror attack on Israel, shocking figures reveal

Anti-Semitic attacks on British Jews continued at near-record levels last year in the wake of the Hamas terror attack on Israel.

There were 3,528 anti-Semitic incidents in the UK during 2024, the second-highest total ever recorded, a shocking new report reveals today.

The year showed an 18 per cent fall on levels seen in 2023, which witnessed an orgy of vile anti-Semitism in the months after Hamas’s October 7 assaults.

But charity the Community Security Trust (CST), which compiled the figures, said it showed the ‘lasting impact’ of the conflict in the Middle East.

Anti-Semitism remained ‘significantly higher than it had been prior to the Hamas terror attack’, its report concluded, with the total more than double 2022’s figure and up 56 per cent on 2021.

More than half of the recorded incidents featured ‘rhetoric related to the conflict’ as Israel continued its retaliation for the bloody incursions into its territory which left more than 1,200 dead.

Among the incidents against British Jews were one categorised by the CST as ‘extreme violence’, an arson attack on a residential property.

There were also 201 assaults, 157 incidents of damage or desecration, 250 threats and 2,892 reports of abusive behaviour.

There were 3,528 anti-Semitic incidents in the UK during 2024, the second-highest total ever recorded, a shocking new report reveals today (pictured: A protester holds reading ‘Coexist’ during a demonstration in central London, on November 26, 2023, to protest against antisemitism)

The year showed an 18 per cent fall on levels seen in 2023, which witnessed an orgy of vile anti-Semitism in the months after Hamas’s October 7 (pictured: People hold up placards and Union flags as they gather for a demonstration organised by the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism in London in April 2018)

‘In five incidents, the perpetrator deployed a non-lethal firearm and, on a further five occasions, used their vehicle to physically endanger pedestrians,’ the report said.

‘In four instances, a stick or other weapon was employed, while three incidents involved a knife.’

In 56 assaults the victim was punched or kicked, in 37 there were ‘stones, bricks, eggs, bottles or other projectiles’ were thrown.

More than 30 victims were spat at, and 21 had religious clothing such as a skullcap removed.

The report described incidents of anti-Semitic graffiti including swastikas, and the phrases ‘Holocaust fake’ and ‘F*** Jews’.

There were more than 1,200 anti-Semitic posts online, including on social media.The report detailed 260 cases of anti-Jewish hate reported in or around schools, second only to 2023’s figure of 335.

For example, the report said: ‘In November, CST received a report of ongoing anti-Semitism at a school in Essex.

‘The victim had been targeted on repeat occasions by the same classmate, who had said things such as, ‘I hope you get gassed’, ‘I hope we can go back to the old times in the 1940s’, and ‘Heil Hitler’.

Anti-Semitism remained ‘significantly higher than it had been prior to the Hamas terror attack’, the report concluded (pictured: Orthodox Jewish men pass police officers as they patrol around Stamford Hill in October 2023)

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‘He had also made Nazi salutes to the victim between classes.’

There were 27 incidents of mass-produced anti-Semitic literature reported to the CST, up from 23 in 2023.

Additionally, a record 223 anti-Semitic incidents targeted synagogues or their worshippers, up eight per cent on the previous year.

The CST report described how a synagogue in Dorset received an email in August which read: ‘I will take revenge for what your people have done.

‘Tomorrow morning, I will come down and gun down all you Jewish fat loser one by one, I will become Hitler on that early morning.’

The report said: ‘The lasting impact of the conflict in the Middle East on anti-Jewish discourse in the UK is evident in the fact that rhetoric related to the conflict featured in 1,844 (52 per cent) of the 3,528 anti-Semitic incidents reported to CST in 2024, alongside anti-Jewish language, motivation or targeting.’

CST chief executive, Mark Gardner, said: ‘CST is proud to have given strength and support to British Jews at a time when our community is facing more hatred and pressure than it has for many decades.

‘We welcome the defiance and pride that our community has shown, despite everything it has been through.

‘Those who are complicit in this anti-Semitism range from social media giants to the Islamist and far-Left extremists who celebrated the Hamas terror attacks.

‘These hatreds are compounded by the stony silence with which Jewish concerns are met in far too many places of work, education and culture.

‘It leaves Jews feeling ever more isolated and worried for the future.’

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: ‘Anti-Semitism has no place in this country – not now and not ever.

‘This report shows that anti-Semitic incidents in Britain remain unacceptably high, and we must redouble our efforts to root out the poison of anti-Semitism wherever it is found.’

She added: ‘Anti-Semitic hate must never be tolerated. That’s why we have committed to providing the Jewish Community Protective Grant with £18million per year, administered by CST, and why we will always support the police in taking the strongest possible action against those who target our Jewish communities and break our laws.

‘This Government will work tirelessly to tackle the scourge of antisemitism and ensure that Britain’s Jewish communities can always live in freedom from fear.’Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: 

‘Whilst incidents of crime toward the Jewish community have sadly been on the rise, it is through partnership with organisations such as the CST that we can continue to enhance the safety of the Jewish community during uncertain times, and it is vital people of all political parties support them in every way we can.

‘We must drive the scourge of anti-Semitism off our streets.’

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