Antisemitic incidents spiked in UK after Bob Vylan's Glastonbury anti-IDF chants

The Guardian

a day ago

Reports of antisemitic incidents in the UK spiked the day after punk duo Bob Vylan's anti-IDF remarks at Glastonbury, campaigners have said.
There were 26 incidents reported on 29 June – the highest daily total of incidents in the first half of 2025 – the monitoring and Jewish community safety organisation, the Community Security Trust (CST), said.
A day earlier, rapper Bobby Vylan, one half of the group Bob Vylan, chanted 'Death, death to the IDF' – referring to the Israel Defense Forces – during his Saturday afternoon set at the Glastonbury music festival in Somerset, which was livestreamed by the BBC.
The CST said the incidents reported to the charity on 29 June involved anti-Jewish responses to events at Glastonbury, as well as to the CST's subsequent statement on X, which described the chants as 'utterly chilling'.
The CST says sentiment towards Israel is influencing and driving 'contemporary anti-Jewish discourse', though recorded incidents have declined from last year's peak.
The second-worst day for what the CST described as 'anti-Jewish hate' in the first half of this year was 17 May, when 19 incidents were recorded – coming a day after Israel announced an expansion of its military operation in Gaza.
The CST said: 'Both of these cases (29 June and 17 May) illustrate how sentiment and rhetoric towards Israel and Zionism influence, shape and drive contemporary anti-Jewish discourse, online and offline, often around totemic events.'
The organisation said there was a total of 1,521 antisemitic incidents across the UK in the first half of this year – at least 200 every month.
This is the second-highest total ever reported to the organisation in the first six months of any year but is down by a quarter from the record high of 2,019 incidents recorded between January and June last year.
Just over half (51%) of all incidents in the first half of this year 'referenced or were linked to Israel, Palestine, the Hamas terror attack (of 7 October 2023) or the subsequent outbreak of conflict', the CST said.
This was a similar proportion to the same period last year, and up from 16% in the first six months of 2023, reflecting a rise in 'anti-Jewish hate in the UK when Israel is at war', the CST said.
There were 774 antisemitic incidents recorded by the CST in Greater London, a drop of 26% over the same timeframe in 2024, and 194 cases in Greater Manchester, a decrease of 28% compared with the previous year.
Outside these cities, the areas with the highest number of reports were West Yorkshire (73), Hertfordshire (52), Scotland (36), Sussex (32) and the West Midlands (39).
June 2025 saw the highest number of incidents this year, with 326 being recorded after heightening tensions in Gaza.
A total of 76 violent anti-Jewish assaults were recorded by the charity in the first six months of 2025, including three categorised as 'extreme violence' that resulted in either grievous bodily harm or a threat to life.
The CST added that 84 cases of damage and desecration of Jewish property were recorded, as well as 21 incidents of mass-produced antisemitic literature and 1,236 incidents of verbal or written abuse.
Giving examples of the range of incidents reported, CST's chief executive, Mark Gardner, said: 'It involves racial hatred, yelled at Jewish schoolchildren, scrawled on synagogue walls and thrown at anyone who is Jewish or suspected of being Jewish.
'We thank those politicians and police officers who have supported our community.'
Home secretary Yvette Cooper said antisemitic incidents and crimes 'remain shamefully and persistently high'.
Avon and Somerset Police said last month that inquiries were continuing in relation to comments made on stage during Bob Vylan's performance.