The number of anti-Semitic incidents in Britain last year fell by more than a quarter from a record high seen in 2021, but an increasing number of children are becoming victims of hatred, a Jewish advisory body said on Thursday.
The annual report by the Community Security Trust (CST), which advises Britain’s estimated 280,000 Jews on security matters, recorded 1,652 anti-Jewish incidents in 2022, down 27% from the number the previous year.
“Each month, CST receives well over 100 reports of anti-Jewish hatred. This is what everyday anti-Semitism now looks like and it is without any particular trigger event, whether domestic or overseas,” CST Chief Executive Mark Gardner said.
“The devil in the detail is the growing number of children who feature as both victims and perpetrators.”
The 2021 record number was fuelled by the reaction to a rise in violence in Israel and Gaza, and last year was still the fifth-highest annual total reported since the CST began collecting data in 1984, with a monthly average of 138 incidents.
“While I welcome the reduction in the number of anti-Semitic incidents recorded by the Community Security Trust, it is a sobering reminder that anti-Semitism continues to be a scourge on our society, and we cannot be complacent,” Home Secretary (interior minister) Suella Braverman said.
(Reuters)
