Antisemitic hate crimes rise 10% to second-highest level on record

Hate crimes targeting Jewish people in England and Wales have risen by 10 percent in a year, reaching their second-highest level on record when Metropolitan Police figures are excluded, according to new Home Office data.

Police recorded 3,162 religious hate crimes against Jewish people in the year to March 2026, up from 2,874 the previous year, as overall hate crime rose by 7 percent across England and Wales.

Relative to population size, the police-recorded rate of religious hate crimes targeting Jewish people was around nine times that targeting Muslims.

There were a total of 146,825 hate crimes recorded by police in the two nations in the year to March 2026, according to Home Office data.
Religious hate crime rose by 13 percent from 10,067 to 11,419 offences, while race hate crimes once again made up the majority, at 107,926 offences, which was a rise of 9 percent from 98,890 the previous year.

When figures for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) are excluded because of a change in their crime recording system, both race and religious hate crimes were the highest on record.

Overall, excluding the Met, there were 123,957 hate crimes recorded in total, up 7 percent from 116,000 the previous year.

Excluding the MPS, there were 8,214 religious hate crime offences recorded in England and Wales in the 12 months to March – the highest annual total since records began in the year ending March 2012.

There were 90,378 race hate crime offences recorded in the latest year excluding the Met, which was also a record high since 2012.

Religious hate crimes targeting Muslims increased by 15 percent from 4,479 to 5,132 offences.

Sharp jumps in offences against Muslims occurred in September 2025, which the Home Office said coincided with protests and public disorder, and then in March following the US going to war with Iran.

Not counting Met data, hate crimes against Muslims rose to 3,660, which is their highest annual level since this data was first collected in the year to March 2018.

Meanwhile, the Government-funded British Muslim Trust (BMT) said it has tracked and verified 78 attacks and incidents at Muslim places of worship in the 12 months to July, including vandalism and intimidation.

The trust, in its report published on Thursday, said this averages around one attack every five days in the UK and Channel Islands.

The latest Home Office data covers the period when Peacehaven Mosque in East Sussex was subject to an arson attack in October 2025 and an incident where bacon was left at a mosque in Bristol during Friday prayers in the first week of Ramadan in February.

BMT chief executive Akeela Ahmed said: “The rising tide of hatred in this country requires a whole society response.

“Politicians and those with the loudest voices need to take greater care in what they say, social media platforms have to do more to tackle hate, the authorities must act quickly and decisively, and the rest of us must rebuild the social norms that make clear any form of hatred and prejudice is not acceptable and it is not British.”

Excluding Metropolitan Police figures, 2,003 hate crimes targeting Jewish people were recorded, just below the record high of 2,093 in the year ending March 2024, which covered the months following the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel and subsequent war in Gaza.

The Home Office said hate crimes against Jewish people spiked in October 2025 “following a series of antisemitic crimes after the Heaton Park Synagogue terror attack and have been at an elevated level since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict”.

Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby were killed when Jihad Al-Shamie, 35, drove into the gates of the Heaton Park Synagogue on October 2 last year, and began attacking with a knife while wearing a fake suicide belt.

A series of antisemitic attacks followed in the months after, including in March this year when four Jewish community ambulances were torched in Golders Green, north London.

The Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors antisemitism and publishes its own data on attacks, said the latest figures “show that antisemitic hate crime remains at an unacceptably high level”.

There is “an urgent need to reduce the amount of incitement connected to conflict overseas”, the CST said, adding that “much more needs to be done across society to tackle this problem”.

The latest official Government data was published a day after a number of arrests were made at protests and demonstrations in London on the anniversary of the 7 October attacks.

These included arrests for inciting racial hatred, involving allegedly shouting or chanting slogans calling for intifada in what the Metropolitan Police described as a “spontaneous protest” outside the Board of Deputies in Camden.

These are not reflected in the latest data which covers only the 12 months to March.

Elsewhere, the Home Office data showed falls in hate crimes against people because of their sexual orientation by 1 percent from 21,527 to 21,407, disability hate crimes by 5 percent from 10,649 to 10,140, and transgender hate crimes by 4 percent from 4,120 to 3,955.

Commander Claire Smart, hate crime lead at the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC), said: “The challenge for policing is not simply responding to offences after they occur.

“It is understanding the factors driving harm, identifying tensions early, working with communities and partners, and preventing issues from developing into even more serious crimes.

“Trust and confidence remain fundamental.

“People must feel able to come forward, knowing they will be listened to, treated with dignity and supported throughout the process.

“As offending increasingly moves online and events overseas continue to impact communities here in the UK, policing must continue to adapt.

“We are working with forces, government, communities and partners to strengthen our understanding of emerging threats, improve consistency and ensure that victims remain at the centre of our response.”