The numbers don’t lie – antisemitism is at crisis levels in the UK

As a schoolboy, I remember telling my parents a joke one of my friends had told me, about Jews having oversized noses, and them having to explain what it meant.

A few years later, I remember my indignation at two salespeople who, on being turned away from my house, shouted through the door that I was stingy because I was a Jew.

At university, I remember being screamed at and labelled a ‘Zionist pig’, as Chair of the Jewish Society.

And as a young researcher, I remember having to screen antisemitic messages sent to my then-boss, including one from a major transport company employee who hadn’t bothered to use their personal account.

Antisemitism has been ever-present in my life, but the collar feels tighter each day.

The Community Security Trust (CST), a charity that monitors incidents and protects British Jews, has reported that the second-highest total of anti-Jewish hate incidents ever recorded in the UK took place in 2025, documenting a growing culture of antisemitism in the UK.

Reading the statistics takes a toll. It feels like a relentless strain, with its reinforcement that things are this bad.

Prior to the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023, it was rare for the CST to ever record more than 200 incidents in a month.

Last year, they recorded an average of 308 every four weeks. 

And according to Home Office statistics from 2024, Jews are 12 times more likely than other groups to be victims of religious hate crimes. 

The staggeringly high figures are concerning enough, but the ripple effect from each individual incident is enormous.

In a tiny community totalling around 0.5% of the UK population, the fear, consternation and anxiety spreads.

I am routinely asked whether Jews have a future in the UK. I am asked what more is being done or can be done.

There is a a burden of responsibility given the role I have but a shared concern given my communal roots.

When news broke of the fatal antisemitic attack just over four months ago at Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester, when worshippers Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby were killed, the overwhelming sentiment among British Jews was shock, but not surprise.

After all, we had spent the past two years witnessing what many of us saw as the mainstreaming of antisemitic discourse in the UK; in schools, universities and workplaces – even the NHS – not to mention on social media.

And while British Jews were grieving the murder of two of our community, the highest daily totals of antisemitic incidents in 2025 were recorded the day of and the day following the attack.

Although this was not the majority response (and the messages of solidarity, concern and support I received in the aftermath from parliamentarians, leading figures across faith communities and friends were appreciated), these shocking statistics reveal the true nature of the antisemitism being bred in UK communities today.

Antisemitism is becoming increasingly violent. In 2025 CST recorded four incidents in the category of ‘extreme violence’ – which refers to grievous bodily harm or a threat to life – more than the previous three years combined.

It’s worrying.

This violence grows out of normalising hateful language and turning a blind eye to increasing antisemitism. 

Whether it’s an antisemitic placard on a protest, the ostracisation of a Jewish doctor in the NHS or the deployment of Holocaust inversion and antisemitic tropes by politicians, every act of anti-Jewish hate contributes to and culminates in a climate of fear.

Our institutions must be held to account.

To ensure that Britain remains a place in which a Jewish way of life can continue to thrive, we must uphold our boundaries and democratic values.

There are no excuses; there can be no looking the other way.

The government’s response to the Manchester attack was strong. Increased funding for community security and a review of public order legislation were welcome.

But it wasn’t enough.

We must get to the heart of what drives antisemitism in this country; what makes somebody decide one morning to pick up a knife and target Jews for murder.

We need a robust strategy and consistent policy on extremism. We need a stronger and bolder approach to regulation of online harms, including moves to strengthen the Online Safety Act and holding tech companies to account when antisemitism circulates online.

Whether they be from the government, policy makers, colleagues or friends, platitudes are no longer enough.

In a climate where racism has become permissible and hateful rhetoric drowns out robust and thoughtful dialogue, extremism thrives.

And it kills.

We cannot keep showing up only to offer our condolences when Jewish people are grieving. We have to stop this hatred in its tracks, before we get anywhere close to a murderous outcome.

The CST’s 2025 report reminds us of the sobering truth: we are a long way off where we need to be for Jews to feel safe in Britain – and even further away from this country being in a position to proudly badge itself as a thriving liberal democracy which is safe for every one of its citizens.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. 

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