The number of antisemitic incidents reported in the United Kingdom hit a record high in 2019 and increased for the fourth consecutive year, according to figures released on Feb. 6 by the Community Security Trust.
There were 1,805 antisemitic incidents in 2019 in Britain, a rise of 7 per cent from the previous year and the highest number ever recorded by the CST.
CST chief executive David Delew said “2019 was another difficult year for British Jews, and it is no surprise that recorded antisemitic incidents reached yet another high. It is clear that both social media and mainstream politics are places where antisemitism and racism need to be driven out if things are to improve in the future.”
The CST said increases in the number of incidents occurred “at a time when Jews, antisemitism and the Labour Party were the repeated subjects of national controversy,” and that the “debate about Brexit also made this a politically contentious time during which recorded hate crime rose more generally, affecting many communities.”
Thirty-nine per cent of all incidents in 2019 were related to online antisemitism, with the vast majority taking place on Twitter. A total of 157 physical assaults were reported in 2019—up 27 per cent from 2018.
CST also identified 224 incidents as “Labour Party-related” and 126 as far-right.
The trust stated that heightened media coverage of antisemitism and the Labour’s antisemitism problem in specific may have led to increased attacks in 2019, while on the far-right, “relative stability points to an antisemitism that is less volatile and reactive.”
JNS