According to the Community Security Trust (CST) report of antisemitic incidents in the U.K. in 2024, 3,528 instances of anti-Jewish hate were recorded across the country.
This is the second-highest annual total ever reported to CST, a charity organization that deals with security of the Jewish community. It is a 18% fall from the 4,296 antisemitic incidents in 2023, and 56% higher than the next highest figure: 2,261 incidents in 2021. CST recorded 1,662 antisemitic incidents in 2022, and 1,684 in 2020.
Physical attacks on Jews made up 6% of the total incidents in 2024, the same as in 2023.
A further 2,479 potential incidents were reported to CST that are not included among this report’s statistics as, upon analysis, they were not deemed to be antisemitic.
Many of these incidents involve suspicious activity or possible hostile reconnaissance at Jewish locations, criminal activity affecting Jewish people and buildings, and anti-Israel activity that did not include antisemitic language, motivation or targeting.
Combined with the antisemitic incidents recorded, CST handled over 6,000 reports in 2024 which, it said, required a mixture of victim support and follow-up, further investigation, security advice, and liaison with police, local authorities and other institutions.
The annual total for 2024 reflects the sustained high levels of anti-Jewish hate that have been recorded across the country since the Hamas terror attack in Israel on 7 October 2023.
A high amount of anti-Jewish hate was recorded in the school sector. In 2024, there were 260 instances of antisemitism affecting schools, schoolchildren and staff, second only to 2023’s figure of 335. Similarly, a high number of incidents were recorded in the higher education sphere. CST logged 145 cases of anti-Jewish hate wherein the victims or offenders were students or academics, or which involved student unions, societies or other representative bodies. It is a fall of 23% from the 189 incidents of this kind reported in 2023. Of these 145 incidents, 65 were online, 66 took place on campus or university premises, and 99 (68%) referenced Israel and events in the Middle East. For context, 52% of incidents not linked to universities contained this rhetoric.
A record 223 incidents saw synagogues, congregants and staff targeted, either on site or on their way to or from prayers, up from 207 in 2023. Jewish organisations and businesses received antisemitic abuse in a record 652 instances, compared to 498 the previous year, while public figures were recipients of anti-Jewish hate in a record 179 cases, a rise from 145 incidents of this nature in 2023.
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 Oct. 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 Behaviour,” 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.
In 2024, 1,847 antisemitic incidents were reported to have taken place in Greater London, falling by 24% from 2023’s total of 2,441 London-based incidents. CST recorded 480 antisemitic incidents in Greater Manchester, a decrease of 13% from the 556 incidents in the corresponding area in 2023. Their combined contribution to the overall figure is 66%, and these areas where Jewish life is most deeply established remain the principal targets of antisemitism.