Antisemitism at UK colleges has soared 80% since Oct. 7

Antisemitism on British college campuses continued to rise during the past academic year, continuing a trend beginning after the October 7 invasion.

By World Israel News Staff

Antisemitic incidents involving British universities rose during the 2025/26 academic year, according to a new report that found anti-Jewish activity on campuses remains substantially more common than before the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

The Community Security Trust recorded 95 university-related antisemitic incidents during the latest academic year, a 14% increase from 83 in 2024/25.

The figure was 79% higher than the 53 incidents recorded during 2022/23, the final full academic year before the October 7 attack and the subsequent Gaza war.

The latest numbers remain well below the extraordinary surge immediately after October 7, when 272 incidents were recorded during the 2023/24 academic year. But the watchdog said the subsequent decline has not returned universities to their earlier baseline.

Across the two academic years covered by the new report, CST documented 178 antisemitic incidents. That was 65% higher than the combined 108 incidents recorded during the two comparable academic years preceding 2023/24.

“Figures have fallen from their post-7 October 2023 peak, but are still far higher than before that dreadful day,” CST chief executive Mark Gardner said.

The report also recorded what CST described as the first university-related incidents of “extreme violence” in its records. Two such cases occurred during the 2024/25 academic year, although none was reported in 2025/26.

Six assaults were recorded across the two-year period, along with eight incidents involving damage or desecration of Jewish property, 10 threats and three cases involving mass-produced antisemitic literature.

By far the largest category was abusive behavior. CST documented 149 such incidents, accounting for 84% of the total.

The category includes verbal abuse, antisemitic comments made online or in person, graffiti and written abuse targeting Jewish students, staff or organizations.

Five of the eight cases involving damage or desecration occurred in student accommodation.

The watchdog said incidents were recorded at 52 higher-education institutions in 27 cities.

Of the 178 cases, 111 occurred offline and 67 online. Seventy-nine of the offline incidents took place on university campuses, with classrooms and student accommodation among the most frequently identified locations.

Offline incidents increased from 48 in 2024/25 to 63 in 2025/26, a rise of 31%.

The report also found that antisemitic incidents were disproportionately concentrated near the beginning of the academic year.

Some 42% occurred during September, October and November, despite those months making up only one-quarter of the period examined.

CST said the pattern could reflect a combination of freshman activities, increased Jewish visibility around the High Holy Days, student society events, anniversaries connected to October 7 and interactions among newly arrived students.

Students themselves were the largest identifiable group of perpetrators, with 61 incidents attributed to students during the two years. Twenty-four occurred in 2024/25 and 37 in 2025/26.

Another 28 incidents involved student societies or their representatives. Sixteen of those involved Palestinian societies or events organized by them.

University employees were identified as perpetrators in 16 incidents, including seven cases occurring in classroom settings. Staff accounted for 9% of incidents, compared with 3% in CST’s 2020-22 reporting period and 7% in 2022-24.

“It is particularly troubling that a growing proportion of the anti-Jewish actions involve university staff,” Gardner said, pointing to the authority that lecturers and other employees can exercise over students.

Jewish students were the most frequently identified victims, targeted in 61 incidents. Jewish university employees were targeted 12 times, while 23 incidents were directed against Jewish campus organizations or representatives, including the Union of Jewish Students and Jewish chaplains.

The overwhelming majority of incidents also contained a political, ideological or religious component. CST found such elements in 83% of cases.

References to Israel, Gaza, Hamas, the October 7 attack or the wider Middle East conflict appeared in 62% of incidents alongside what the watchdog classified as anti-Jewish language, motivation or targeting.

CST stressed that criticism of Israel or Zionism is not automatically antisemitic, saying it distinguishes political activity from cases in which terms such as “Zionist” are used as substitutes for Jews or are combined with traditional anti-Jewish stereotypes.

Explicitly anti-Zionist rhetoric appeared alongside antisemitism in 55% of the incidents.

Holocaust and Nazi-related references were also common. Twenty-six percent of incidents included references to Hitler, the Nazis, Holocaust imagery or Holocaust comparisons.

Such language was particularly frequent in incidents involving university employees: 56% of staff-perpetrated cases contained Nazi or Holocaust references, while 38% explicitly compared Israel with Nazi Germany.

Education Secretary Lucy Powell described the findings as “deeply troubling.”

“No student should have to choose between expressing their identity and feeling safe on campus,” Powell said.

She said universities were expected to adopt a zero-tolerance approach toward antisemitism and said the government was providing training intended to help university employees identify and respond to incidents.

Universities UK, which represents more than 140 institutions, similarly said universities have a responsibility to protect Jewish students and employees while ensuring campus communities understand the point at which political expression becomes antisemitic harassment.

Gardner said universities needed to move beyond expressions of concern.

“Sympathy is not enough,” he said, calling for action against people who abuse, threaten or target Jews.

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