Antisemitism in the UK appears to be at a modern record high. The Community Security Trust (CST) is an organisation dedicated to protecting Jewish communities. According to the most recent data it has collected, there were 2,255 antisemitic incidents in the UK in 2021.
This is the highest number ever collected by the CST in a single year. It represents a 34% increase from 2020 and breaks the previous record of 1,813 incidents set in 2019. The organisation explains this rise, in part, as being a consequence of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The flare-up in hostilities in the Middle East that took place in May 2021 led to a sharp spike in antisemitism here in Britain.
These shocking figures alert us to the current threats facing British Jewish communities. For many, the type of antisemitism monitored by CST and found online is a modern phenomenon. Evidence of anti-Jewish hatred, though, can be traced back across two millennia.
