British 7 October survivor warns antisemitism ‘running riot’ in UK
'Abandoned by the British government at a time of total vulnerability': Anat Ron-Kendall shares testimony as part of updated report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Israel
The only known UK-based British–Israeli dual national who survived the October 7 attack said she believes antisemitism is “running riot”, as she described feeling “abandoned” after the massacre.
Anat Ron-Kendall, whose father Shlomo Ron was killed that day in 2023, described a scene of “dystopia” and “chaos” as she spoke for the first time about her ordeal.
Her testimony has been given as part of an updated report on the October 7 attack commissioned by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Israel and led by historian and Conservative peer Lord Andrew Roberts.
Ms Ron-Kendall, then aged 55, had been with her son Jordan visiting her parents in the kibbutz of Nahal Oz, where she grew up, on October 7 2023, when Hamas militants attacked.
Having fled to a safe room at their house, she heard gunfire and shouting intensify and called her husband to ask him to tell their children she loved them, believing she would be killed.
When she was eventually evacuated to safety more than 12 hours later, she recalled a “scene of dystopia, it was a scene of chaos”.
She said: “There were bodies which I didn’t want to look at. It was just like something that you imagine in the movies.”
Speaking more than two years on from the attack, she described feeling unsafe in the UK, where she said antisemitism has become normalised.
She said: “I was abandoned by the British government at a time of total vulnerability.
“The British government is allowing what’s going on ever since, in demonstrations and in antisemitism running riot, students in universities suffering – Jewish students, communities affected every day since – and that’s been allowed to happen.
“To me, I still live under threat. I cannot feel safe in a country that normalises this kind of behaviour.
“I had no recognition. I came back to the UK, expected to be grateful that I survived and put that event behind me and just function in my everyday life.”
The first edition of the report was published just over a year ago, naming for the first time all 18 British nationals killed in Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023.
The second edition, published on Wednesday, also contains details on the experience of British-Israeli Emily Damari, who was held hostage for more than 400 days after the attack.
The report states: “She was forcibly taken at 10:33. During the abduction, she was shot in the hand and her leg. Her dog, Chucha, was later found shot dead in her room.”
The report described how Ms Damari’s mother “tirelessly campaigned for her daughter’s release” and how she was “reunited with her family during the January 2025 ceasefire hostage releases.”
Ms Ron-Kendall, whose grandfather fought in the Second World War for the British Army’s Jewish Brigade and was captured by the Nazis and held as a prisoner of war for four years, said she believes it is important for people to read the report and know that the October 7 attack “really did happen”.
She added: “It happened to me. I am a testament that it did happen and I survived it.”
Lord Roberts said: “As we continue to uncover yet more horrors, the updated report continues to serve as a permanent memorial and enduring resource for governments, educators, and civil society in order to safeguard the truth against denialism and distortion.
“The purpose of commissioning our report has always been to chronicle the events of 7 October with clarity and meticulous, fact-checking precision, to ensure it is never forgotten, diminished or disregarded by malign forces intent on washing away the true scale of that fateful day .”
The latest official figures on hate crime recorded by police in England and Wales showed that Jewish people had the highest rate of religious hate crimes targeted towards them than any other faith group.
In the year to March 2025, there were 106 religious hate crimes per 10,000 population targeted at Jewish people, the Home Office said in figures published in October.
Separate figures covering the 12 months of 2025, published earlier this year by the Community Security Trust (CST) concluded the second-highest annual total ever recorded for anti-Jewish hate incidents, at 3,700 – up 4% on the 3,556 incidents recorded in 2024.
The CST, which monitors antisemitism in the UK, said the annual record high remained at 4,298 antisemitic incidents reported in 2023 – the year of the October 7 attack, which prompted a spike in recorded cases of anti-Jewish hate in the UK.
The 2025 report was also the first time more than 200 cases of anti-Jewish hate were recorded in every calendar month.
A Government spokesperson said: “Antisemitism is becoming normalised in the UK, but the Government will not stand by whilst this scourge spreads.
“We are tackling antisemitism in schools, colleges, universities, and the NHS, and we will continue to work closely with Jewish communities to ensure that our efforts fix this scandal.”
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