Jewish people in Britain have experienced the worst wave of hate incidents in modern times with more than 1,000 recorded after the Hamas massacres in Israel, experts in countering antisemitism have said.
The Community Security Trust said on Friday it had recorded the highest 28-day total since it started counting in 1984.
Since 7 October, 1,019 hate incidents have been recorded across the UK, the date Hamas launched a series of attacks on Israel that left 1,400 dead, and more than 200 people taken hostage.
The figures include 47 assaults, with other incidents including the targeting of children and schools.
In the same period last year there were 160 antisemitic incidents, meaning there had been a 537% increase, according to CST data.
The level of incidents triggered by the current crisis is higher than at other times when Israel has been involved in military action. Incidents reported to the CST include highly offensive remarks about Jewish people, covering schools, colleges and even a Holocaust library.
This week the sign marking the Wiener Holocaust library in London had the word “Gaza” daubed on it in a graffiti attack.
Dave Rich, the director of policy at the CST, said: “The milestone of 1,000 antisemitic incidents since 7 October is a shocking indictment of the level of anti-Jewish hatred happening right now in our country. It is even more appalling when you remember that this wave of antisemitism began as a reaction to a terror attack on Israel that caused the largest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust.”
The CST suspects the figures are an underestimate and do not include other incidents, including “possible hostile reconnaissance at Jewish locations”.
Most of the incidents were in the real world, and the remainder, 702, online.
In London, 578 antisemitic incidents were reported; 188 in Greater Manchester; 37 in West Yorkshire; 31 in Hertfordshire; 18 in the West Midlands; and 17 across Scotland.
More than 60 incidents affected schools and schoolchildren. Other incidents include the ripping down of posters calling for the release of those snatched by Hamas from Israel.
The Metropolitan police had 657 reports of antisemitic incidents from 1 October to 1 November this year, compared with 49 incidents in the same period last year.
There were 230 Islamophobic incidents reported to police in London in the same period, compared with 71 incidents in the same period last year.
