Unprecedented explosion of Jew-hate in 2023

Record after record fell. October saw the highest monthly number of anti-Jewish incidents at 1,330 (more than the three worst previous months put together), while the 80 on October 11 were the worst for a single day.

In its annual report, the CST noted, “The speed at which antisemites mobilised in the UK on and immediately after October 7 suggests that, initially at least, this increase in anti-Jewish hate was a celebration of the Hamas attack on Israel, rather than anger at Israel’s military response in Gaza.”

From the first incident after news of the Hamas outrage broke – someone driving a car with a Palestinian flag past a Hertfordshire synagogue shaking their fist – the floodgates opened.

In one case, a man walking home from Shabbat morning shul was accosted by a group attending a pro-Palestinian protest in London. “We are going to rape your mother, you dirty Jew,” they yelled and began to kick him, calling him “filthy Yahud”.

A headteacher of a Jewish school received a threatening note referring to “Beheadings and intifadas” and ending “From the river to the see [sic] we shall be free, you Zionist!”.

In November, a man having a haircut overheard two other customers, with one saying, “Maybe Hitler was right, he knew what he knew”, to which the other replied, “Definitely. That’s why he left some of them, so we could see.”

The number of incidents involving schools (325) and campuses (182) were both triple the previous highs for each.

A “worrying proportion” of the perpetrators were children, the CST reported.

Of the 960 incidents involving ordinary Jews in public, 40 per cent of them were identifiable through dress or insignia.

The vast majority of incidents – 81 per cent – involved abusive behaviour.

Online platforms continued to be “fertile ground” for expressing antisemitism, with the CST fearing that X/Twitter in particular might be becoming “a more appealing place for the congregation… of antisemites”.

In as many as 955 cases, Hitler and the Nazis were invoked. In the aftermath of October 7, two trends related to this became apparent, one that “glorified Hamas’ act of terror as a repeat of the Nazis’ extermination of the Jews” and the other lamenting Hitler’s “failure to eliminate world Jewry entirely”.

While Barnet, the London borough with the largest Jewish population, had the highest number of incidents in the capital, unusually, Westminster came second.

The central London borough was the location for a number of anti-Israel marches, the CST reported. “While many of their attendees were there in peaceful protest, these marches attracted individuals who were reported for antisemitic placards or hate speech.”

At least 44 of the Westminster-based incidents “took place at, or on the way to or from, anti-Israel protests or vigils for the hostages, and two occurred at public menorah lightings”, it stated.

But for the first time an antisemitic incident was recorded in every police region in the country.

“This hatred exists and is articulated in all parts of the country, regardless of proximity to Jewish life,” it said.

In 43 per cent of cases, Israel/Palestine was referenced. There were 427 instances of the slogan “Free Palestine” targeted at a Jewish person or institution.

Previous spikes in antisemitic incidents have happened when Israel was at war in 2009, 2014 and 2021.

The CST discounted more than 2,000 reported incidents as not meeting its criterion for classing as antisemitism.

CST chief executive Mark Gardner commented: “British Jews are strong and resilient, but the explosion in hatred against our community is an absolute disgrace. Our community is being harassed, intimidated, threatened and attacked by extremists who also oppose society as whole. We thank the government and police for their support, but 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.”

Home Secretary James Cleverly described the rise in hatred as “utterly deplorable”.

The government, he said, had taken “strong steps to confront this head on – increasing funding for protective security at Jewish schools and places of worship, working with the police to ensure that hate crime and expressions of support for the terrorist organisation Hamas are met with the full force of the law, and proscribing Hizb ut-Tahrir, an antisemitic organisation that actively promotes and encourages terrorism.

“But we know the Jewish community need to continue to see that tackling antisemitism is a priority for us.”

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “The appalling and intolerable rise in antisemitism we have seen over recent months is a stain on our society and we must never relent in our work to root it out.

“We must not allow events unfolding internationally to play out in increased hatred and prejudice here in our communities.”

There must be, she added, “zero-tolerance for antisemitism in Britain and those who proliferate that poison must face the full force of the law”.