More than 4,000 antisemitic incidents recorded by Jewish charity in UK in 2023 – with ‘explosion in hatred’ blamed on Hamas attacks
More than 4,000 antisemitic incidents were recorded in the UK by a Jewish charity in 2023, with the all-time high attributed to the “sheer volume” which took place after the Hamas attacks on 7 October.
The Community Security Trust (CST), a charity which provides protection for British Jews against antisemitic attacks, said the “explosion in hatred” is an “absolute disgrace”.
The charity, which also monitors antisemitism in Britain, said that for the first time ever it had recorded at least one antisemitic incident in every single police region in the UK.
The CST recorded 3,328 incidents of abusive behaviour, 266 of assault, 305 of threats and 182 of damage and desecration across the whole year.
The charity said there was a total of 4,103 antisemitic incidents in the UK in 2023, up from the previous annual record of 2,261 which had been reported two years previously.
Its report, published on Thursday, reads: “This record total is due to the sheer volume of antisemitism perpetrated across the UK following Hamas’ attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.
“Of the 4,103 instances of anti-Jewish hate reported, 2,699 (66%) occurred on or after 7 October.
“This figure alone exceeds any previous annual antisemitic incident total recorded by CST, and marks a rise of 589% from the 392 instances of antisemitism reported to CST over the same time period in 2022.”
The charity said it received reports of 416 antisemitic incidents in the week after 7 October, which it said was higher than for any subsequent week.
A sign from a march in London shows a snake in Israeli colours encircling the world. Source: @BellaWallerstei
Its report said: “The speed at which antisemites mobilised in the UK on and immediately after 7 October suggests that, initially at least, this increase in anti-Jewish hate was a celebration of the Hamas attack on Israel, rather than anger at Israel’s military response in Gaza.”
The CST said the first such incident took place on 7 October, with the charity receiving a report of a vehicle driving past a synagogue in Hertfordshire with a Palestinian flag attached, windows wound down and an occupant shaking their fist in the air towards the synagogue.
Other incidents included “Free Palestine” graffiti being sprayed on a bridge in Golders Green, which is home to one of London’s largest Jewish communities; the defacing with swastikas of a poster in London of a baby kidnapped by Hamas; and a visibly Jewish man being verbally abused and threatened by people who were attending a pro-Palestinian demonstration.
Among its wide-ranging findings, the CST noted a “worrying proportion of children perpetrating antisemitism”, with almost a fifth of the 2,086 incidents recorded where the offender or offenders’ approximate age was provided involving perpetrators thought to be under 18.
The CST said it received a further 2,185 reports of potential incidents in 2023 but they were not deemed to be antisemitic – instead involving anti-Israel activity rather than anti-Jewish language, motivation or targeting – so were not included in the 2023 total.
Read more:
Massive increase in antisemitism in London, say police
Rise in antisemitic incidents related to Holocaust, figures show
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From November 2023 Thousands march against antisemitism
Home Secretary James Cleverly MP described the rise in antisemitism in recent months as “utterly deplorable” and said he “will do everything in my power” to ensure the Jewish community is safe and feels safe.
Labour’s Yvette Cooper, shadow home secretary, said the rise was “appalling and intolerable” and a “stain on our society”.
Her comments come as the Labour party faces criticism around its handling of antisemitism allegations after a second parliamentary candidate was suspended over remarks about Israel.
The party has insisted there are “strong checks” on would-be MPs, after parliamentary candidate Graham Jones was suspended on Tuesday, only a day after Labour was forced to suspend and withdraw its backing for Rochdale by-election candidate Azhar Ali.
CST chief executive Mark Gardner said: “British Jews are strong and resilient, but the explosion in hatred against our community is an absolute disgrace.
“It occurs in schools, universities, workplaces, on the streets and all over social media.”
The CST provides security advice and training for Jewish communal organisations, schools and synagogue across Britain. It also provides security at over 650 Jewish communal buildings and approximately 1,000 events every year.
Zoe Ball is leaving her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show after six years.
The 53-year-old, who recently lost her mother to cancer, will present her last show on Friday, 20 December.
Ball leaves Wogan House with her replacement, Scott Mills. Pic: PA
She said she was leaving to focus on family, but will remain part of the Radio 2 team and will give further details next year.
Announcing the news on her Tuesday show, she said: “After six years of fun times alongside you all on the breakfast show, I’ve decided it’s time to step away from the early alarm call and start a new chapter.
“You know I think the world of you all, listeners, and it truly has been such a privilege to share the mornings with you, to go through life’s little ups and downs, we got through the lockdown together, didn’t we?
“We’ve shared a hell of a lot, the good times, the tough times, there’s been a lot of laughter. And I am going to miss you cats.”
Scott Mills will replace Ball on the breakfast show following her departure next month.
“Zoe and I have been such good friends now for over 25 years and have spent much of that time as part of the same radio family here at Radio 2 and also on Radio 1,” he said.
“She’s done an incredible job on this show over the past six years, and I am beyond excited to be handed the baton.”
Hugging outside the BBC building on the day of the announcement, Ball said she was “really chuffed for my mate and really excited about it”.
Ball was the first female host of both the BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 breakfast shows, starting at the Radio 1 breakfast show in 1998, and taking over her current Radio 2 role from Chris Evans in 2020 after he left the show.
She took a break from hosting her show over the summer, returning in September.
Ahead of her stint in radio, Ball – who is the daughter of children’s presenter Johnny Ball – co-hosted the BBC’s Saturday morning children’s magazine show Live & Kicking alongside Jamie Theakston for three years from 1996.
She has two children, Woody and Nelly, with her ex-husband, DJ and musician Norman Cook, known professionally as Fatboy Slim.
Ball said in her announcement her last show towards the end of December will be “just in time for Christmas with plenty of fun and shenanigans”.
“While I’m stepping away from the Breakfast Show, I’m not disappearing entirely – I’ll still be a part of the Radio 2 family, with more news in the New Year,” she added.
“I’m excited to embrace my next chapter, including being a mum in the mornings, and I can’t wait to tune in on the school run!”
Helen Thomas, head of Radio 2, said: “Zoe has woken up the nation on Radio 2 with incredible warmth, wit and so much joy since January 2019, and I’d like to thank her for approaching each show with as much vim and vigour as if it were her first. I’m thrilled that she’ll remain an important part of the Radio 2 family.”
Mills, 51, got his first presenting role aged just 16 for a local station in Hampshire, and went on to present in Bristol and Manchester, before joining BBC Radio 1 in 1998.
He’s previously worked as a cover presenter on Radio 2, but this is his first permanent role on the station.
UK
More prisoners are being transferred to less secure jails to tackle overcrowding crisis, Sky News understands
The prison service is starting to recategorise the security risk of offenders to ease capacity pressures, Sky News understands.
It involves lowering or reconsidering the threshold of certain offenders to move them from the closed prison estate (category A to C) to the open estate (category D) because there are more free cell spaces there.
Examples of this could include discounting adjudications – formal hearings when a prisoner is accused of breaking the rules – for certain offenders, so they don’t act as official reasons not to transport them to a lower-security jail.
Prisoners are also categorised according to an Incentives and Earned Privileges (IEP) status. There are different levels – basic, standard and enhanced – based on how they keep to the rules or display a commitment to rehabilitation.
Usually ‘enhanced’ prisoners take part in meaningful activity – employment and training – making them eligible among other factors, to be transferred to the open estate.
Insiders suggest this system in England and Wales is being rejigged so that greater numbers of ‘standard’ prisoners can transfer, whereas before it would more typically be those with ‘enhanced’ status.
Open prisons have minimal security and allow eligible prisoners to spend time on day release away from the prison on license conditions to carry out work or education.
The aim is to help reintegrate them back into society once they leave. As offenders near the end of their sentence, they are housed in open prisons.
Many of those released as part of the early release scheme in October after serving 40% of their sentence were freed from open prisons.
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Overcrowding in UK prisons
They were the second tranche of offenders freed as part of this scheme, and had been sentenced to five years or more.
Despite early release measures, prisons are still battling a chronic overcrowding crisis. The male estate is almost full, operating at around 97% capacity.
Read more from Sky News:
Find out what it’s really like inside prison?
Prison recalls soar as justice system struggles
Campaigners demand IPP sentences are scrapped
Sky News understands there continue to be particular pinch points across the country.
Southwest England struggled over the weekend with three space-related ‘lockouts’ – which means prisoners are held in police suites or transferred to other jails because there is no space.
One inmate is believed to have been transported from Exeter to Cardiff.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The new government inherited a prison system on the point of collapse. We took the necessary action to stop our prisons from overflowing and to protect the public.
“This is not a new scheme. Only less-serious offenders who meet a strict criteria are eligible, and the Prison Service can exclude anyone who can’t be managed safely in a category D prison.”
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