At least 89 antisemitic incidents reported to CST since Saturday

The charity that protects British Jews from antisemitism and related threats recorded 89 antisemitic incidents in just four days.

For comparison, CST recorded 21 antisemitic incidents over the same four days in 2022. It represents an increase of 324% this year compared to the same period last year.

The incidents break down into 66 reports of abusive behaviour, 14 direct threats, 3 incidents of property damage and 6 assaults.

The reports were made between 7-10 October 2023, from the beginning of the Hamas terror attack on Israel on Saturday morning to the end of Tuesday.

50 of the antisemitic incidents were in Greater London, 12 in Greater Manchester, 5 in the West Midlands, 4 in West Yorkshire, 3 in Hertfordshire and the remaining 15 incidents were spread across 10 different locations around the UK.

Sixty-seven of the 89 antisemitic incidents occurred offline and 22 were online. Many of the online incidents were ‘pile-ons’ involving multiple antisemitic posts and comments all in the same thread or conversation; CST records these as a single incident.

CST say the numbers are only provisional and likely to increase once all reports have been verified and logged.

CST says: “Make no mistake: these are anti-Jewish racist incidents and hate crimes in which Jewish people, property and institutions are singled out for hate, including death threats and abuse. In many cases, the perpetrators of these disgraceful incidents are using the symbols and language of pro-Palestinian politics as rhetorical weapons with which to threaten and abuse Jewish people.”

Examples of the antisemitic incidents recorded by CST since Saturday include:

1. An Orthodox Jewish man on a London bus was approached by a man in his 40s who hit him in the face and tried to take his religious hat.
2.  A Jewish person walking to synagogue in London on Sunday morning got called “dirty Jew” by a stranger, who said “no wonder you’re all getting raped”.
3. A Jewish person was on Oxford Street in London and the occupant of a passing van shouted “you f**king Jew I will kill you whole”.
4. Graffiti reading “From the River to the Sea Palestine will be Free” was daubed on the former home of a Rabbi in Nottingham.
5.  A group of children in a school cornered a Jewish pupil, said they were “Jewphobic” and blamed him for the killings of Palestinians.
6. A Holocaust survivor posted on X/Twitter about Israel and somebody replied “F**k you jew pig”
7. A women in a Hijab shouted “Viva la Palestine” at a visibly Jewish woman as she left a synagogue in Hertfordshire.
8. A Jewish student in Birmingham received an Instagram message from somebody they didn’t know that read: “May a slow and painful death be granted to you and every other Zionist like you.”

CST urges everyone who experiences or witnesses antisemitism to report it to police and to CST so that those who are trying to intimidate and threaten our community can be investigated, arrested and prosecuted.

To report an antisemitic incident to CST, please use our online form or for urgent or out-of-hours reports please call our 24/7 National Emergency Number 0800 032 3263.