The statistics do not lie. Antisemitic incidents in Britain are at an all-time recorded high. The annual report from the Community Security Trust released yesterday made for depressing reading, showing that in the forty years of collecting data, there has never been a larger total. In 2023, 4,103 incidents were recorded, a mixture of physical, verbal and online attacks. Well over half were in London, unsurprising perhaps since that is where British Jewish life is concentrated, with approximately four in five British Jews living in the capital.
How did the incidents rise so high and we sink so low? The answer is that contemporary antisemitism comes from the far-right, the radical left and extreme Islamism. Much of it is fixated on Israel, particularly since the terrorist atrocities on 7th October and Israel’s ongoing military response in Gaza. But it also plays on Jewish tropes of money and influence, and appalling stereotypes. It has infected different institutions and areas of public life from the Labour party (where it persists despite the gallant efforts of the leadership) and trade unions to universities and media organisations.
