Physical attacks on Jewish people in Britain rose by 82 per cent in the first half of 2026, according to the Community Security Trust (CST) — the highest six-monthly total ever recorded by the charity. The organisation's Antisemitic Incidents Report, published on Wednesday, logged 135 assaults between January and June, up from 74 during the same period last year. CST said the increase followed a wave of arson attacks on synagogues and the terror stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green, north London, in April.
Synagogue Arsons and Terror Stabbing Fuel Record Violence
CST recorded 1,926 antisemitic incidents overall in the first six months of 2026, a 21 per cent rise on the 1,598 logged in the same period last year. This is the second-highest total ever recorded by the charity for a January-to-June period.
Physical attacks, including one incident of extreme violence, made up 7 per cent of all incidents, up from 4 per cent last year. Sixty-nine per cent of these violent incidents took place in the 77 days following the arson attack on Finchley Reform Synagogue on 15 April.
CST's data points to the Middle East conflict as the single biggest driver behind the surge. Some 41 per cent of all incidents referenced Israel, Gaza or the war in the region alongside anti-Jewish language, while 676 incidents showed explicit anti-Zionist motivation combined with antisemitic abuse.
Golders Green Stabbing Fuelled Further Hate
In the Golders Green attack, two visibly Jewish men were stabbed on 29 April — an attack police later declared a terrorist incident. CST said the assault triggered 71 further antisemitic incidents over the following three days, 16 of which directly referenced the stabbing.
The attack came weeks after arsonists torched four Hatzola ambulances in Golders Green in March. CST linked these fires, along with attacks on Finchley Reform Synagogue, a Jewish charity's former offices in Hendon and Kenton United Synagogue, to a group called Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (HAYI), according to the CST report. The UK government proscribed HAYI, along with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, under the National Security Act in July.
Synagogue-related incidents rose 31 per cent, while antisemitism affecting schools jumped 59 per cent to 178 cases, the highest total CST has ever recorded for a first half of the year.
Government Pledges £251M as Charity Warns of Organised Threat
CST chief executive Mark Gardner said the attacks 'should concern everyone who cares about Britain and the threats against it, whether state-directed from Iran, or internally driven by Islamist, far Right, far Left, or other ideological extremes'.
Policing Minister Sarah Jones called the figures 'appalling', adding the government would 'never stop fighting to rid society of this evil'. Jones pointed to a £251 million funding package announced by the Home Office in July, which includes more than 500 additional police officers deployed to protect Jewish neighbourhoods, schools and synagogues.
The data confirms that violent antisemitism in Britain is no longer confined to online abuse or isolated incidents. It is increasingly tied to organised activity linked to HAYI, a group proscribed alongside Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, with an 82 per cent rise in assaults following specific attacks that authorities have connected to these actors.
For Jewish communities, particularly in Barnet, Salford and Bury, where the largest share of incidents occurred, the figures represent a tangible shift towards more frequent, direct confrontation rather than abstract hostility. The report also shows that children accounted for 38 per cent of assault victims, raising fresh concerns for school safety heading into the new academic year.
CST also recorded 343 antisemitic incidents reported directly by police in the first half of 2026, up from 303 in the same period last year, reflecting closer collaboration between the charity and law enforcement. The figures present a clear challenge for the government's new security package: protecting communities from organised, violent antisemitism now requires more than additional officers. It demands a sustained strategy that addresses the state-linked networks driving the threat.
