Day after notorious Bob Vylan chant was worst for antisemitism in 2025
CST report shows second highest number of incidents in six month period since records began
Bob Vylan’s notorious chants of “death to the IDF” at Glastonbury was immediately followed by the worst day for recorded antisemitic incidents in the first half of 2025, a new report has revealed.
The Community Security Trust recorded 1,521 incidents of Jew-hate between January and the end of June – the second highest total on record and topped only during the first six months of 2024 which saw 2,019 antisemitic incidents following the immediate aftermath of the 7 October Hamas terror attack on Israel.
In a clear sign that responses to October 7th continued to dominate discourse, 779 January-June 2025 incidents – 51% of the overall total – referenced or were linked to Israel, Gaza, the Hamas terror attack or the subsequent conflict.
Every month in the first half of 2025 saw at least 200 incidents, as has every month bar one since the 7 October attack. For comparison, in the first half of 2023, a period unaffected by a significant trigger event in the Middle East, this discourse was present in just 16% of antisemitic incidents.
But the figures also showed that overall antisemitic incidents had fallen by 25% from January-June 2024’s all-time high in the months after the terror attack in southern Israel.
The highest monthly total in the first half of 2025 came in June, with 326 incidents, coinciding with an escalation in the Israeli military operation in Gaza and war between Israel and Iran.
The highest daily total for antisemitic incidents in the first half of 2025 was 26 incidents reported on 29 June, the day after the punk-rap group, Bob Vylan, had led mass chanting of “Death, Death to the IDF” at the Glastonbury Festival, broadcast by the BBC.
The second worst day for anti-Jewish hate was 17 May, when 19 incidents were recorded, 11 of which involved antisemitic placards at an anti-Israel demonstration in London, the day after Israel announced an expansion of its military operation in Gaza.
In all these incidents, anti-Jewish language, motivation or targeting was evident alongside rhetoric linked to Israel and the wider conflict.
Yvette Cooper MP, the Home Secretary, said: “Antisemitic incidents and crimes remain shamefully and persistently high and every incident has a profoundly damaging impact both on the individuals affected and the wider Jewish community. This Government remains steadfast in its commitment to root out the poison of antisemitism wherever it is found.”
CST Chief Executive, Mark Gardner added: “These are extreme levels of Jew-hatred, committed in the name of anti-Israel activism. It involves racial hatred, yelled at Jewish schoolchildren, scrawled on synagogue walls and thrown at anyone who is Jewish, or suspected of being Jewish.
“In such difficult times, CST is proud to give strength to British Jews when they most need it. We thank those politicians and police officers who have supported our community, especially when Jew-hatred is effectively sanctioned in so many spaces that falsely claim to oppose all forms of racism.”
While Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner added: “No one should face fear or hatred for their beliefs. We stand with our Jewish communities and remain firm in our commitment to stamp out antisemitism wherever it occurs. I want to thank the CST for their continued and vital work.”
CST said that over this period 76% of all incidents showed evidence of one or more political or ideological discourses or motivations – whether anti-Zionist, far right, Islamist or other – alongside anti-Jewish language, motivation or targeting.
The number of incidents involving Holocaust-related language and imagery fell by 7% to 477, compared to 513 in the first half of 2024.
Nevertheless, incidents celebrating the Holocaust or wishing for its repeat increased from 61 in the first half of 2024 to 107 this year. This was far more common than incidents of Holocaust denial which occurred 26 times from January to June 2025.
CST said both cases illustrate how sentiment and rhetoric towards Israel influences, shapes and drives contemporary anti-Jewish hate, online and offline, often around totemic events that grab mainstream public attention.
It recorded 76 violent anti-Jewish assaults in the first six months of 2025, three of which were so severe as to be recorded in the category of Extreme Violence (meaning they involved GBH or a threat to life).
Taken together, these acts of violence comprise 5% of the overall half-year total: the lowest proportion for several years. There were 84 cases of Damage & Desecration of Jewish Property; 96 incidents of Direct Threats; 21 incidents of mass- produced antisemitic Literature; and 1,236 incidents in the category of Abusive Behaviour, which includes all forms of verbal and written abuse, online and offline.
Overall, there were 372 online incidents reported to CST in the first half of 2025, 38% of the total and a fall of 12% from the corresponding period last year.
CST recorded 774 antisemitic incidents in Greater London in the first six months of 2025, a decrease of 26% from 1,051 over the same timeframe in 2024; and 194 antisemitic incidents in Greater Manchester, a decrease of 28% from the 270 incidents reported last year.
These figures constitute 64% of the UK’s six-monthly total, compared to 65% between January and June 2024.
These communal hubs are home to the majority of the Jewish community in the UK, and the consistency in these percentages suggests overall reliability in the trends shown by the figures, even if the true numerical totals will be considerably higher due to under-reporting.
Elsewhere in the UK, the police regions with the highest half-year antisemitic incident figures were West Yorkshire with 73 incidents, Hertfordshire with 52 incidents, West Midlands with 39 incidents, Scotland with 36 incidents, and Sussex with 32 incidents. The only mainland police region where CST did not record a single incident in the first six months of 2025 was Suffolk.
Responding to the latest CST figures, the Jewish Leadership Council said: “CST’s antisemitic incidents report for January to June 2025 highlights that Jews continue to face disturbingly high levels of antisemitism across the UK. While this should be a shock to British society, it will not be a surprise for a Jewish community who have been experiencing this rise in hatred. For the past 22 months, our community has faced this onslaught in our workplaces, schools, hospitals, streets and media.
“We appreciate the government’s support for security at Jewish locations. However, we feel this has not been matched with efforts to understand and address why antisemites are emboldened in modern Britain. This is a matter which requires urgent attention.”
Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust added: “Today’s report from the Community Security Trust highlights the alarming levels of antisemitism that continue to persist across our society in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023.
“A significant 75% increase in incidents where the Holocaust – the state-sponsored murder of six million Jewish men, women and children – is celebrated, its architects glorified, or calls are made for its atrocities to be repeated stands out as a deeply troubling statistic.”
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