Report: Record High UK Anti-Semitic Acts in 2018

A new report from the Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit that focuses on Jewish safety in the United Kingdom, found that there was a record amount of anti-Semitic instances there in 2018

The Jerusalem Post reports that the CST found that U.K. anti-Semitic incidents increased by 16 percent from 1,420 in 2017 to 1,652 in 2018. Around 1,300 involved “abusive behavior, including verbal abuse, hate mail, anti-Semitic graffiti on non-Jewish property and anti-Semitic content on social media.” Of the more than 1,600 anti-Semitic incidents, 173 were due to hatred of Israel. An additional 148 were the result of the allegations of anti-Semitism plaguing the UK Labour Party.

The CST concluded that the number of anti-Semitic incidents was at its highest during the Labour Party’s debates over anti-Semitism and during the Hamas-led Gaza riots in April and May.

However, violent attacks and property damage against Jews declined by 17 percent and 16 percent, respectively.

A European Union poll in December found that 80 percent of UK Jews think that anti-Semitism is a serious problem in the country and almost one-third of UK Jews might leave the country as a result of it.

The Labour Party has been accused of insufficiently dealing with anti-Semitism in its ranks under leader Jeremy Corbyn, who has called Hamas and Hezbollah “friends” and laid a wreath for the 1972 Munich terrorists.