“CST’s Antisemitic Incidents Report shows 2,255 anti-Jewish hate incidents reported nationwide in 2021. This is the highest annual total that CST has ever recorded and is a 34% increase from 2020. 

This is the first time CST has ever recorded over 2,000 incidents in a single year. The UK has seen record annual totals for antisemitic incidents in five of the past six years. CST has recorded antisemitic incidents since 1984. The record figure is driven by the significant spike in anti-Jewish hate reported during and following the escalation in violence in Israel and Gaza last year. Antisemites will use any excuse to attack Jews and wars involving Israel are a common trigger event. Over a third of all antisemitic incidents in 2021 alluded or were related to Israel and the Middle East, evidenced anti-Zionist motivation alongside anti-Jewish language, targeting or motivation, or combined a mixture of these elements.

Offenders used far right or Nazi-related discourse, including ‘Holocaust celebration’, direct comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany, explicit calls for the destruction of Israel, alongside explicitly anti-Jewish comments or abuse aimed at Jewish people.

There were 182 anti-Jewish hate incidents involving schools, school students and teachers in 2021, the most reported in any year. Ninety-nine of these incidents involved Jewish schoolchildren or staff at non-faith schools, rising considerably from 2020. CST recorded 176 violent antisemitic incidents in 2021, the most ever recorded in any year and an increase of 78% from the 97 violent incidents in 2020. They form 8% of the overall figure, in line with the proportion of incidents that involved physical attacks pre-pandemic. Three of the 176 violent incidents were serious enough to be classified as ‘Extreme Violence’, meaning they involved potential grievous bodily harm (GBH) or a threat to life, while the other 173 incidents were in the category of Assault.”