The Community Security Trust (CST) released its annual Antisemitic Incidents report on Thursday that found levels of Jew-hatred in the UK slightly decreased last year but were still at dangerously high levels.
The report showed 1,652 anti-Jewish hate incidents in the UK in 2022, a 27 percent decrease from the 2,261 incidents in 2021 but still the fifth-highest annual total since CST began keeping records.
The 2021 total was a record high that CST said was caused by a surge in antisemitism following the conflict between Israel and Hamas that year.
CST recorded 1,684 incidents in 2020, 1,813 in 2019 and 1,690 in 2018. CST has been recording antisemitic incidents since 1984.
“The fall in reported incidents serves to illustrate the unprecedented volume of anti-Jewish hate recorded by CST in May and June 2021, during and following the escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas,” CST said. “In 2022, there was no similar external circumstance to have such an impact on the content or scale of antisemitic incidents in the UK.”
They added that “while the relative drop was predictable, the overall figure remains significant.” CST found that over 100 incidents were reported per month, with an average monthly total of 138.
“Without any relevant trigger event, the 1,652 instances of anti-Jewish hate recorded in 2022 can be considered a ‘new normal’ for antisemitism in the country, far exceeding what was typically observed prior to 2016,” they said.
The report showed that over three-quarters of all antisemitic incidents in 2022, including verbal abuse, assaults, threats, graffiti and hate mail, took place offline (1,294 incidents out of the total of 1,652). The 78 percent of offline cases was the second-highest ever recorded by CST. The number of online incidents reported to CST decreased by 35 percent, from 552 online incidents in 2021 to 358 in 2022.
“It suggests that in-person antisemitic activity has returned in force since the outbreak of Covid-19, during the first full year since 2019 in which no pandemic restrictions were applied in the UK,” CST said.
The report also noted an “alarming trend that began in 2021 persisted in 2022, whereby the proportion of incidents involving children as victims, offenders, or both, was higher than the averages typically observed in previous years.”
In cases where CST obtained the victim's age, 15 percent were minors, and 20 percent of incidents involved child perpetrators. The trend is relatively new. Only 8 percent of victims and 10 percent of assailants were minors in 2020.
“It suggests that the surge in antisemitism enacted by a younger demographic, while initially a reaction to events in the Middle East and responsible for the spike in school-sector anti-Jewish hate last year, runs deeper than the desire to blame Jewish people for wars involving Israel,” CST said. “Offenders under the age of 18 years were also more likely to incorporate politicized, conspiracist or extremist rhetoric within their antisemitism. These figures may reflect a growing exposure of younger people to extremist beliefs and conspiracy theories about Jews, which abound on the social media platforms where this demographic is perhaps more likely to spend a large amount of time.”
CST CEO Mark Gardner remarked that the report reflected years of anti-Jewish rhetoric in British society.
“Years of anti-Jewish hate have left a lasting legacy, and what we consider ‘normal’ today would have been an alarm call just a few years ago. The growing involvement of younger people in antisemitism shows us what the future may hold if we do not address this problem urgently, consistently and with a lasting commitment for action,” Gardner said.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman applauded the report for stressing the need for further action.
“While I welcome the reduction in the number of antisemitic incidents recorded by the Community Security Trust, it is a sobering reminder that antisemitism continues to be a scourge on our society, and we cannot be complacent,” Braverman said.
“I am committed to ensuring the despicable people who commit these crimes feel the full force of the law. Our absolute priority is to get more police onto our streets, cut crime, protect the public and bring more criminals to justice. I applaud the continued efforts of CST to protect Jewish people and stamp out these abhorrent crimes, and I look forward to continuing to work together to tackle antisemitism in all its forms.”
The government’s Independent Adviser on Antisemitism, Lord Mann, described the present level of antisemitism as “unacceptable.”
“Whilst I welcome the fact that there has been a 27 percent decrease, it is unacceptable that the underlying baseline of what is considered normal pre-pandemic is still the fifth-highest total ever recorded,” Mann said. “This highlights the importance of the Community Security Trust for the safety of the Jewish community in Britain. It also acts a reminder that we must remain vigilant. The Jewish community should be able to live their lives free from hatred, abuse and violence both online and offline and these figures demonstrate the vital need for antisemitism education in schools.”
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)