The number of anti-Semitic incidents reported in the United Kingdom hit a record high in 2019 and increased for the fourth consecutive year, according to figures released on Feb. 6 by the Community Security Trust.
There were 1,805 anti-Semitic incidents in 2019 in Britain, a rise of 7 percent from the previous year and the highest number ever recorded by the CST.
CST chief executive David Delew said “2019 was another difficult year for British Jews, and it is no surprise that recorded anti-Semitic incidents reached yet another high. It is clear that both social media and mainstream politics are places where anti-Semitism and racism need to be driven out, if things are to improve in the future.”
The CST said increases in the number of incidents occurred “at a time when Jews, anti-Semitism and the Labour Party were the repeated subjects of national controversy,” and that the “debate about Brexit also made this a politically contentious time during which recorded hate crime rose more generally, affecting many communities.”
Thirty-nine percent of all incidents in 2019 were related to online anti-Semitism, with the vast majority taking place on Twitter. A total of 157 physical assaults were reported in 2019—up 27 percent from 2018.
CST also identified 224 incidents as “Labour Party-related” and 126 as far-right.
The trust stated that heightened media coverage of anti-Semitism and the Labour’s anti-Semitism problem in specific may have led to increased attacks in 2019, while on the far-right, “relative stability points to an anti-Semitism that is less volatile and reactive.”
(JNS)
{Matzav.com}
