There have been 116 anti semitic incidents in Greater Manchester since the outbreak of fighting in the Middle East following the Hamas terror attack on Israel
In the 18 days the Charity the Communities Security Trust recorded at least 704 antisemitic incidents across the UK.
This is the highest ever total reported to CST across a nineteen-day period. CST has been recording antisemitic incidents since 1984.
The CST have reported incidents of Jewish hostages have been removed or defaced in Manchester, as well as in London and Leeds, and ‘free Palestine’ was shouted at a group of Jewish girls in Manchester.
For comparison, CST recorded 96 antisemitic incidents over the same 19 days in 2022. This means that we have seen an increase in anti-Jewish hate acts of 633% this year compared to the same period last year.
These are all instances of anti-Jewish racism, wherein offenders are targeting Jewish people, communities and institutions for their Jewishness. In many cases, these hateful comments, threats to life and physical attacks are laced with the rhetoric and iconography of pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel politics.
Even compared to periods of previous conflicts involving Israel, these statistics are unprecedentedly high.
The last time a significant spike in antisemitism related to events in the Middle East was recorded occurred in May 2021. During the first 19 days of that escalation in violence, 561 antisemitic incidents were reported to CST.
Over the entire month of that conflict, from 8 May-7 June, 691 instances of anti-Jewish hate were recorded; a total now surpassed by reports from the last 19 days.
Across the first 19 days of the conflict in July 2014, we recorded 186. Bear in mind, when comparing these to the 704 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded since Saturday 7 October, that the figures for 2021 and 2014 are final totals including all late-reported incidents, whereas the current total of 704 incidents is only provisional and will almost certainly increase further.
In addition to the 704 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded so far, CST also logged at least 406 incidents that have not been classified as antisemitic.
These include criminal acts affecting Jewish people and property, suspicious behaviour near to Jewish locations, and anti-Israel activity that is not directed at the Jewish community or does not use antisemitic language.
Many of these potential incidents involve suspicious activity or possible hostile reconnaissance at Jewish locations, and they play an important role in informing CST’s provision of protection to the Jewish community.
