Members of the Jewish community cross the road in north London on 20th January, 2015. (Reuters/Andrew Winning)

UK anti-Semitic incidents hit record high in 2021, report says

Anti-Semitic incidents in Britain reached a record high last year, driven by reaction to a rise in violence in Israel and Gaza, a Jewish advisory body said on Thursday.

The annual report by the Community Security Trust, which advises Britain’s estimated 280,000 Jews on security matters, found there had been 2,255 anti-Semitic incidents reported in 2021, a rise of 34 per cent from the previous year.

“These record levels of anti-Jewish racism, reported by our Jewish community to CST and police, show how difficult last year was for Jews across Britain,” the CST’s Chief Executive Mark Gardner said.

The number of incidents spiked when there was an increase in conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants, the report said.

Last May, 661 incidents were reported – the highest monthly total – with another 210 in June, and a third of all the incidents involved language or images related to issues in the Middle East, or included an anti-Zionist motivation.

The CST also said there had been 176 violent attacks reported, an increase of 76 per cent from the year before.

Read the article by Michael Holden in Sight Magazine.