There has been an unprecedented surge in antisemitic incidents on British universities, according to leading Jewish groups.
The Community Security Trust, a charity that seeks to prevent antisemitic crimes against Britain’s Jewish population, said that in the wake of the Hamas terror attacks on Israel last month, it has recorded a total of 67 antisemitic incidents on UK campuses from October 7th to November 3rd, alone. This is compared to 12 during the same period last year.
The president of the Union of Jewish Students, Edward Issac told the BBC that they have never seen a comparable spike in antisemitic incidents to that seen over the past month.
A Jewish student at the University of Warwick, Jacob Lederman told the public broadcaster that a Jewish society WhatsApp group established for new students had been infiltrated by anti-Israel agitators, who posted derogatory remarks about Jews and the Jewish religion in the chat.
“It made me feel sick because I think Jews in the UK, we’re used to a kind of undercurrent of antisemitism on social media. I see it all the time. I’ve never seen it this overt before,” he said.
It comes amid a surge of antisemitism throughout Britain following the Hamas terror attacks that killed over 1,400 people in Israel and saw over 240 taken hostage by the Islamist organisation.
This week, the Metropolitan Police in London revealed that they recorded more antisemitic incidents in October than any other month since records began in 2018.
The Met said that it received 554 reports of antisemitic offences during October, compared to 44 during the same time last year. The London police force also said that there had been a rise in Islamophobic offences as well, with 222 incidents being recorded last month, compared to 78 in October of 2022.
The rise in antisemitic offences has come amid large-scale anti-Israel protests throughout Britain. Following a protest last week in which pro-Palestine activists occupied London’s Liverpool Street train station, during which the mob could be heard chanting the genocidal “from the river to the sea” anti-Israel rallying cry, the Campaign Against Antisemitism warned that London is quickly becoming a “no-go zone” for Jews.