Antisemitic incidents ‘surged' after Bob Vylan Glastonbury set
The Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors antisemitism across the country, recorded 1,521 incidents in the first six months of the year — the second-highest total documented by the organisation.
This was 25 per cent less than the 2,019 incidents reported in the same period last year. Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, said that antisemitic incidents and crimes 'remain shamefully and persistently high'.
The charity said that at least 200 incidents were reported every month between January and June, with June proving the worst month, recording 326 incidents amid increasing tension in Gaza. The highest daily total, 26 incidents, was recorded on June 29 — the day after Bob Vylan's appearance at the music festival.
• Change needed at BBC after Bob Vylan fiasco, says Chief Rabbi
During the set, the rapper Bobby Vylan chanted 'death, death to the IDF', referring to the Israel Defence Forces, in remarks that the CST later described as 'utterly chilling'.
The organisation said the incidents reported to the charity involved anti-Jewish responses to events at Glastonbury as well as the CST's subsequent statement on X.
Last month Avon and Somerset police said that inquiries were continuing in relation to the comments made on stage during the performance.
• Police drop investigation into Kneecap's Glastonbury set
The second-worst day was May 17, when 19 'anti-Jewish hate' incidents were recorded — a day after Israel started a major offensive in Gaza.
The CST said: 'Both of these cases illustrate how sentiment and rhetoric towards Israel and Zionism influence, shape and drive contemporary anti-Jewish discourse, online and offline, often around totemic events that grab mainstream public attention.'
Some 51 per cent of incidents in the first half of the year 'references or were linked to Israel, Palestine, the Hamas terror attack of October 7, 2023, or the subsequent outbreak of conflict', the organisation added.
Among the 1,521 incidents were 76 violent assaults, including three categorised as 'extreme violence' resulting in grievous bodily harm or a threat to life. It recorded 84 cases of damage and desecration of Jewish property and 1,236 incidents of verbal or written abuse. Online antisemitism accounted for 572 reports — 38 per cent of the total — marking a 12 per cent decline on the same period last year.
Mark Gardner, the organisation's chief executive, said the statistics demonstrated 'extreme levels of Jew-hatred, committed in the name of anti-Israel activism'.
'It involves racial hatred yelled at Jewish schoolchildren, scrawled on synagogue walls and thrown at anyone who is Jewish, or suspected of being Jewish,' he said.
'In such difficult times, CST is proud to give strength to British Jews when they most need it.
'We thank those politicians and police officers who have supported our community, especially when Jew-hatred is effectively sanctioned in so many spaces that falsely claim to oppose all forms of racism.'
Lord Mann, the government's independent adviser on antisemitism, said the latest data showed 'that antisemitism continues to impact the British Jewish community at an unprecedented level'.
He added: 'Antisemitism must be recognised by everyone as anti-Jewish racism and there must be a no-tolerance approach to it across civil society at all levels.'
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