2024 Second-worst Year for Antisemitism in Britain

Thursday, 13 February 2025 | Britain tallied the second-highest annual total of antisemitic incidents in 2024, according to a Jewish security group, which published its report on Wednesday.

The Community Security Trust [CST], a British-Jewish body that advises communities on security, counted 3,528 incidents, “reflecting sustained levels of hatred towards Jews.”

“While the number of incidents fell 18% compared to 2023, last year’s figure was still far higher than annual levels recorded before the recent conflict in the Middle East,” the CST said in a statement on its website.

According to CST’s Antisemitic Incidents Report 2024, last year’s number is 56% higher than the next highest figure of 2,261 incidents in 2021. There were 1,662 recorded antisemitic incidents in 2022, and 1,684 in 2020.

CST recorded 201 incidents in the category of “Assault,” a drop of 26% from 273 such incidents in 2023. One additional incident was classed as “Extreme Violence,” (involving “grievous bodily harm or a potential threat to life”).

Physical attacks on Jews made up 6% of the total incidents in 2024, the same as in 2023.

The record antisemitism levels come in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.

“In 1,844 incidents—52% of the annual total—the offender used discourse relating to Israel, Gaza, Hamas and the war in the Middle East,” CST reported.

“There were 1,533 incidents that showed explicitly anti-Zionist motivation alongside anti-Jewish language or targeting, 422 employing variations on the terms ‘Zionism’ or ‘Zionist,’ often as euphemisms for ‘Jewishness’ and ‘Jew,’ or in conjunction with other anti-Jewish sentiment, and 327 wherein equivalences were drawn between Israel or Jewish people and the Nazis,” it added.

Cases of damage and desecration to Jewish property rose by 19%, from 195 incidents in 2023 to 157 in 2024.

There were 250 incidents in the category of “Threats” in 2024, a fall of 20% from 314 in 2023; 2,892 incidents in the category of “Abusive Behavior,” 17% below the 3,491 reports in 2023.

CST recorded 1,240 cases of online antisemitism in 2024, down 9% from the 1,360 online incidents reported in 2023. Of these, 885 (71%) were directly related to Israel and events in the Middle East.

“In all categories bar ‘Extreme Violence and Literature,’ 2024 saw the second-highest annual figures ever reported,” the report said.

School antisemitism was high. In 2024, there were 260 instances of antisemitism affecting schools, schoolchildren and staff, second only to 335 in 2023. Also in higher education, CST recorded 145 cases of anti-Jew hate involving students, academics or student unions, societies or other representative bodies. That is a drop of 23% from the 189 incidents reported in 2023.

Synagogues, congregants and staff were targeted in a record 223 incidents, up from 207 in 2023. Jewish organizations and businesses received antisemitic abuse in a record 652 instances, compared to 498 the previous year. Public figures received anti-Jewish abuse in a record 179 cases, a rise from 145 in 2023.

By region, Greater London reported 1,847 antisemitic incidents, down 24% from 2023’s total of 2,441. Greater Manchester experienced 480 recorded antisemitic incidents, down 13% from 556 in the previous year. The two cities combined accounted for 66% of the total.

The next highest levels of reported antisemitism in 2024 were in West Yorkshire (184); Hertfordshire (117); Scotland (74); Thames Valley (65); and West Midlands (63).

On December 8, as many as 32,000 people marched through central London, demanding government action against antisemitism in the United Kingdom, which has been rising since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks.

“Over the past year, antisemitic hate crimes have quadrupled; Jews are now the most targeted faith minority in the country, despite our minuscule numbers,” a spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism told JNS at the time. “With extremism changing our country before our eyes, we know that the safety of our Jewish community is not something that we can take for granted.”