UK: Antisemitic assaults up 82% in 2026, study finds

Report by the Community Security Trust tallied 1,926 anti-Jewish incidents during the first half of 2026, with record levels of violence affecting Jewish schools, synagogues and visibly Jewish people.

By World Israel News Staff

Antisemitic assaults in Britain rose by 82% during the first six months of 2026, reaching the highest half-year total recorded by the Community Security Trust as a wave of stabbings, arson attacks, threats and harassment intensified fears within the country’s Jewish community.

The Jewish security organization documented 1,926 antisemitic incidents between January and June, an overall increase of 21% from the 1,598 cases recorded during the same period last year. The total was the second highest ever reported for the opening half of a year, trailing only the 2,019 incidents recorded in 2024.

CST recorded an average of 321 incidents per month during the reporting period. That was nearly double the monthly average of 161 recorded during the six months preceding Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. The first-half total for 2026 also exceeded the 1,662 incidents recorded throughout all of 2022, the last full year before the attack and ensuing regional wars.

The sharpest increase came in physical violence. CST recorded 135 assaults, up from 74 during the first half of 2025, along with one attack categorized as extreme violence. Physical attacks accounted for 7% of all incidents, compared with 4% during the equivalent period last year.

Thirty-four victims were punched or kicked, while another 34 incidents involved eggs, stones, bricks, bottles or other objects being thrown. CST recorded 17 spitting attacks, 11 cases in which religious clothing or accessories were pulled from victims, nine attacks involving nonlethal guns and eight cases in which vehicles were used to endanger pedestrians.

At least 80 of the 136 violent incidents targeted people who were identifiably Jewish because of religious clothing, insignia or school uniforms. Of the violent incidents for which victims’ ages were known, 38% involved minors. Eighteen cases involved children assaulting other children.

Among the cases cited in the report was an attack on a Jewish couple in north Manchester by seven teenagers who allegedly threw stones and branches and attempted to take items of religious clothing. In another incident, a Jewish father who confronted a man shouting at his family was threatened: “I’ll kill you. I have killed Jews before and I’ll do it again.”

The sole case classified as extreme violence was the April 29 stabbing of two visibly Jewish men, aged 76 and 34, in Golders Green, north London. Counter Terrorism Policing formally designated the assault a terrorist incident, and a 45-year-old man was subsequently charged with attempted murder.

CST recorded 71 antisemitic incidents during the day of the attack and the following two days. Sixteen explicitly referred to the stabbings, including online messages celebrating the violence, expressing disappointment that more Jews had not been injured and promoting conspiracy theories about Jewish power. The report said the increase showed how “anti-Jewish hate thrives when Jews are perceived to be vulnerable.”

The figures also rose following the beginning of the US-Israel war with Iran on February 28. CST recorded 89 antisemitic incidents during the following week, a 71% increase from the 52 logged during the preceding seven days. Over the 57 days beginning February 28, the organization recorded 656 incidents, 24% more than during the previous 57-day period.

While 787 incidents — 41% of the total — referred to Israel, the Palestinians, the October 7 attack or subsequent wars alongside antisemitic language or targeting, the report identified multiple ideological sources of anti-Jewish hatred. CST chief executive Mark Gardner said, “These attacks should concern everyone who cares about Britain and the threats against it.”

Several serious attacks during the reporting period were attributed or potentially linked to the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right, also known as HAYI, an organization British authorities say is connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The British government imposed sanctions on HAYI in July after the group publicly claimed responsibility for seven attacks against locations associated with Jewish and Israeli communities and Persian-language media. Those included the March arson attack that destroyed four ambulances operated by the Jewish Hatzola emergency service in Golders Green.

British officials said members of the IRGC’s Quds Force “almost certainly” directed HAYI attacks across Europe.

CST recorded 77 incidents involving damage or desecration of Jewish property, including seven cases of arson or attempted arson. Targets included 26 Jewish-owned homes or vehicles, 19 synagogues, 10 Jewish schools, seven Jewish businesses or organizations and a Jewish cemetery.

Antisemitism affecting schools rose even more sharply. The report documented a record 178 incidents involving schools, pupils or staff, up 59% from the first half of 2025. Twenty-one were assaults, including attacks on children commuting to school, assaults by classmates at non-Jewish schools and incidents directly outside Jewish schools.

CST recorded 96 cases at synagogue premises and another 21 involving people traveling to or from religious services, a combined increase of 31% from last year. Ten were assaults and 19 involved damage to synagogue property.

Online antisemitism reached its highest January-to-June total, with 680 reported incidents, up from 605 last year. Online cases represented 35% of the overall figure, although CST said the true volume was far greater because it does not search the internet for content and counts coordinated harassment campaigns as single incidents.

Geographically, Greater London accounted for 994 incidents, up 24%, while Greater Manchester recorded 222, an increase of 14%. Together, the two areas accounted for almost two-thirds of the national total.

Policing Minister Sarah Jones described the figures as appalling and said, “Antisemitism goes against our country’s values.” She pointed to a recently announced £250 million security package intended to provide additional protection for Jewish schools, synagogues, community centers and neighborhoods over the next three years.

Opposition home affairs spokesman Chris Philp called the situation “a national emergency,” while the Jewish Leadership Council said the continuing level of hatred toward Jews should shame the country and demanded that government pledges be followed by concrete action.

CST stressed that its figures reflect incidents reported by victims, witnesses, police and third parties rather than every antisemitic act committed in Britain. The organization excluded another 2,264 reports after determining that they lacked sufficient evidence of antisemitic language, motivation or targeting.

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