A third of British Jews experienced an anti-Semitic incident after October 7, a new survey has found

A third of Jewish adults in Britain said they had suffered an anti-Semitic incident in the nine months after the October 7 attack, according to a new survey by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR).

This number represents a significant increase compared to 2022, when only 23 percent of the population experienced racism throughout the year.

The most common form of anti-Semitic incidents during Israel's war against Hamas was verbal attacks, followed by online abuse and finally discrimination in the workplace.

While 82 percent of Jews in the UK felt safe in May last year, only 46 percent said this was the case in November.

By June of this year, the number rose to 61 percent.

Women were less likely to say they felt safe than men, and Charedim were more likely to feel vulnerable than other denominations.

According to the Community Security Trust (CST), anti-Semitism increased by 150 percent from 2022 to 2023.

Incidents of anti-Semitism reported to the CST rose from 1,662 in 2022 to 4,103 last year.

However, according to the JPR report, which is based on a sample of 4,500 British Jews, incidents recorded in police or community statistics represent significant undercounts.

His survey, JPR said, likely captured a broader range of anti-Semitic harassment than the CST's numbers because it included events that people would not notice. “There is far more anti-Semitism and far more Jews affected than community and/or police incident data suggest,” the report said.

“Second, although every calculation suggests that the level of anti-Semitism in 2023 was higher than in any previous year for which data is available, the extent to which there has been a rise this year and the nature of that rise is vast “be less clear than necessary” when appropriate strategies are developed to address this.”

Over the last decade, the proportion of Jews who believe anti-Semitism is a problem in Britain has risen significantly.

In 2012, only 11 percent of respondents answered that it was a very big problem, while 37 percent said it was a fairly big problem.

By November last year, these figures had risen to 54 and 33 percent respectively.

In June of this year it had fallen slightly to 46 and 37 percent.

Another poll conducted by Survation for the Jewish Leadership Council found that 87 percent of British Jews perceived anti-Semitism as a problem in Israel, just weeks after the October 7 attacks in Israel and amid a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Britain, “the highest ever recorded.” Share,” JPR explained.

A comparison with data from 2018, during Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labor Party, “shows that twice as many British Jews defined anti-Semitism as a 'very big' problem in the UK in November 2023 than just five years earlier,” JPR said.

Dr. Jonathan Boyd, chief executive of JPR, said: “As much as the attacks on Israel on October 7 sparked a war in Gaza, they also unleashed a wave of anti-Semitism in the UK and across Europe the likes of which most Jews have never experienced today have experienced before.” .

“Anti-Semitism is now much more widespread than incident data shows, and in many countries where Jews live a broader culture is emerging that, whether strictly anti-Semitic or not, feels alienating, threatening and hostile. This is completely unacceptable.”

He added: “At a time of such unusually high levels of concern among Jews, it has become essential to invest in high-quality, professionally conducted independent research as part of a serious government-level strategy to combat anti-Semitism today.”

Since Brexit, the United Kingdom is no longer part of a comprehensive research program on anti-Semitism across the European Union, he emphasized. “We call on the UK government and the charitable community to urgently close this critical gap.”

The report introduced the concept of “ambient anti-Semitism,” in which a Jewish person may not directly experience an incident but feels a sense of alienation and concern through actions such as tearing down hostage posters.