The number of antisemitic incidents in schools has more than tripled in two years, according to a report published today.
There were 162 cases of antisemitism affecting people and property in schools reported in the first half of this year, according to a report by the Community Security Trust, a charity that supports the Jewish community in the UK.
This is the highest half-year figure since the charity started collecting data in 2014.
It also amounts to a 119 per cent increase from the 74 cases reported in 2023, and more than three times the 52 cases recorded over the same time period in 2022.
Shift ‘typical at times of escalated conflict’
Half of the 162 incidents this year involved schoolchildren or staff at non-faith schools. This is a larger proportion than in 2023, when a third of cases were at non-faith schools.
The report says the shift “is typical at times of escalated conflict in the Middle East”.
Israel has been carrying out a military campaign in the Gaza Strip since the terror attack by Hamas on 7 October 2023.
Of the 162 incidents recorded in today’s report, 16 were classed as assault, five saw damage and desecration to Jewish property, and 14 involved direct threats. Some 125 were classified as abusive behaviour and two involved mass-produced literature.
The report also finds that the number of antisemitic incidents recorded at Jewish schools in the first half of 2024 almost doubled year on year, from 17 in 2023 to 30 in 2024.
Some 81 incidents involving schoolchildren or staff at non-Jewish schools were recorded, rising from the 27 cases logged in the first six months of 2023.
More than quarter of incidents ‘related to schools’
Of the abusive behaviour incidents logged between January and June 2024, 125 of the 437 related to schools.
In one case study, a girl at a non-Jewish school in Kent was called a “dirty Jew” and members of her class said “Heil Hitler” at her. The same group later added her to a WhatsApp group titled “Holocaust”.
There was also a report of an edition of Oliver Twist “prescribed as school reading material in which Fagin was illustrated with the features of an overtly antisemitic caricature”.
Overall, some 1,978 antisemitic incidents were recorded by the charity across the UK in the first half of 2024. The report states that the figure “is a reflection of the ongoing high volume of anti-Jewish hate reported since the Hamas terror attack in Israel on 7 October 2023”.
Earlier this year, the former prime minister Rishi Sunak pledged to give the charity more than £70 million over four years, as part of the Jewish Community Protective Security Grant, to increase security at a number of settings including schools.
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said that the union was “very sad to hear of this rise” in antisemitic incidents.
He said that “schools and colleges are working incredibly hard to defuse tensions, counter disinformation, and promote respect and cohesion”, but added that it would be helpful for social media companies to do more “to prevent false information and spiteful content being posted on their platforms”.
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