Following Hamas’s brutal attacks on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,400 Israelis and injuring and kidnapping many others, antisemitic incidents were up 581% in the United Kingdom, compared to the same dates in 2022.
From Oct. 7 to Oct. 16, there were 320 antisemitic incidents, including 15 assaults; 14 instances of damage to and desecration of Jewish property; 46 direct threats; 244 examples of “abusive behavior,” including “online abuse”; and one example of mass-produced antisemitic literature. These statistics were documented by the Community Security Trust, a nonprofit that protects the Jewish community in the United Kingdom.
“In addition to the 320 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded so far, CST also logged at least 209 incidents that have not been classified as antisemitic,” it stated. “These include criminal acts affecting Jewish people and property, suspicious behavior near to Jewish locations and anti-Israel activity that is not directed at the Jewish community or does not use antisemitic language.”
Of the 320, CST noted: “This is 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.”
Some of the incidents, according to CST, are “‘Free Palestine, kill Jews’ shouted at the heart of a Jewish community in London”; “a threat made over the phone to a kosher shop in Liverpool, saying, ‘We are coming to get you’”; and “two Jewish schools were splattered with red paint in London.”
Days ago, when CST data showed a 324% increase in antisemitic incidents from Oct. 7 to Oct. 10, British Minister of State for Security Tom Tugendhat said he was “very concerned.”
He added that “what the Nazis were doing is exactly what Hamas is doing today. It is preaching a blood libel, preaching a hatred for Jews and preaching a hatred that extends around the world.”
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visited Jewish schools in North London on Monday, saying he stands with Israel and the Jewish community in the wake of “the horrific attacks in Israel.”
He is expected to visit Israel this week.
