Over 100 incidents a month, eight months in a row

extremelydistressing.Idon’twanttolive in a country where any member of the Jewishcommunityfeelsunsafe,afraidor discriminated against and it is shocking thatthenumberof antisemiticincidents is on the rise in the UK.”

Incidents detailed in the report include gas canisters thrown at Jewish shoppers in London by men who shouted “Heil Hitler”; the desecration of 16 gravestonesataJewishcemeteryinManchester;abrickthrownthroughthewindowof aJewishhomeinLiverpool;anda JewishgirlinManchesterapproachedby three youths who shouted: “We will call Hitler to shoot you.”

The worst month was May when CST recorded 135 examples of Jew-hatred.

From May to December there were over 100 incidents per month — an unprecedented run of high figures, says the report. In the decade prior to 2016, monthly totals over 100 occurred only six times.

Over three-quarters of the 1,309 incidents recorded last year took place in Greater London and Manchester, the cities with the two largest Jewish communities in the UK.

In the 36-page report CST said there were 813 recorded antisemitic incidents in Greater London – an alarming 65 per cent increase on 2015’s figures.

Some 267 antisemitic incidents, one third of the total for Greater London, took place in the borough of Barnet, home to the largest concentration of Jews in the UK.

There were 89 recorded incidents in theboroughof Hackney,77inRedbridge, 22 in Brent and 17 in Harrow and 17 in Tower Hamlets. In Greater Manchester there were 205 incidents, which represented a fall of nine per cent on the previous year.

Elsewhere, 291 incidents were reported in 96 locations around the country, including 35 in Hertfordshire, of which 17 were in Borehamwood.

There were 21 incidents in Leeds, 16 in Gateshead, 13 in Liverpool and nine in Brighton and Hove.

Mr Rich said: “The worrying thing is

that the monthly total from May is much higher than we were used to.

“Once that continues for month after month you do start to think ‘well, this is just how it is going to be’.”

The report reveals Jewish schools, pupils and teachers were targeted in 83 incidents — a small dip on the 86 similar cases in 2015.

There were also 41 incidents where the victims were Jewish students or academic s—a significant rise on the 21 reported in 2015.

Despite the high levels recorded, CST said it feared there was still “significant under-reporting of incidents” both to themselves and to the police.

The majority of attacks were committed by white males — although CST recorded that a minority of victims reported their attackers as being of “black”, “south Asian” or in a very few cases “Arab or north African” origin.

The report concluded that while “it would not be acceptable to define all anti-Israel activity as antisemitic, it cannot be ignored that contemporary antisemitism occur in the context of, or be accompanied by, extreme feelings over the Israel Palestine conflict.”

There were 236 incidents which showed far-right, anti-Israel or Islamist motivations — making up 18 per cent of all incidents recorded. There were also 287 incidents that involved the use of internet-based-socialmedia—22percent of the total for the year.

The report said: “This reflects the role of social media as a place where Jews encounter antisemitism and the ease with which it can be reported directly to the CST online, rather than being an absolute measure of the amount of antisemitism on social media .” Despite the increase in attacks, no incident involved extreme violence resulting in loss of life or grievous bodily harm.

John Mann, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Anti semitism said the figures were “very worrying”.

He said: “The rise of nationalist populism and a failure to boldly oppose antisemitism are both contributing factors to this increase that must be challenged by us all.”

Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan, National Lead for Policing of Jewish Communities, said: “These figures demonstrate how important it is in the UK for us to all unite to say a loud collective ‘stop’ to those who engage in hate related activity. Antisemitism causes worry in our Jewish communities which must be confronted. If you see, read or hear antisemitism please report it to either the police or CST.”