Official hate crime statistics published Thursday by the Home Office show that despite making up a tiny fraction of the UK population, Jews were the victims of nearly a quarter of all hate crimes.

The report also showed that between March 2021 and March 2022, there were 1,919 hate crimes targeting Jews, an increase of 49 per cent from the previous year.

Antisemitic hate crimes accounted for 23 per cent of all religious hate crimes in the UK, despite being less than 1 per cent of the total religious population.

Hate crime statistics

Chart showing number and proportion of reported religious hate crimes in the UK (Credit: UK Home Office)

The 1,919 figure is almost triple that of the 672 antisemitic hate crimes recorded in 2017/2018.

It is believed, as has previously been the case with other periods of Israeli conflict, that this dramatic increase was due to the flaring of hostilities between Israel and Gaza in May of 2021.

Outside of antisemitic incidents, overall religious hate crimes increased by 37 per cent (to 8,730 offences) from the previous year (6,383 offences) and this year also saw the largest number of religious hate crimes since recording began in 2012.

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Home Office chart showing the rise in hate crimes since records began in 2012

Jews were the second most commonly targeted religious group behind Muslims with Buddhists being the victims of the fewest number of hate crimes last year.