Jews are victims of one in six religious hate crimes, while making up less than 1% of UK population

Jews are the victim of over a sixth of religious hate crimes, despite making up a tiny fraction of the UK population, a Home Office report for England and Wales shows. 

While the proportion of religious hate crimes aimed at Jews fell slightly from a record high of 1,919 in the year ending March 2022 to 1,596 in the year ending March 2023, this number continues to be substantially higher than in recent years – more than twice the number of antisemitic hate crimes record in 2017/2018 (672).

With under 300,000 Jews living in the UK, the statistics confirm the community was disproportionately targeted during the 12-month period.

The number of overall religious hate crimes increased by 9 per cent even while the total number of hate crimes recorded by police in England and Wales fell.

Jews were the second most commonly targeted religious group behind Muslims. In the year ending March 2023, where the perceived religion of the victim was recorded, nearly two in five (39%) religious hate crime offences were shown to be targeted against Muslims.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “There is no place for hate in our society, it does not reflect the values of modern Britain, and we remain committed to ensuring these abhorrent offences are stamped out.

“We are pleased there has been an overall reduction in hate crimes recorded by police, and the numbers of sexual orientation, race and disability hate crimes all fell. But any instance is one too many.

“We expect the police to fully investigate these hateful attacks and make sure the cowards who commit them feel the full force of the law.”