Reports of antisemitic incidents in the UK surged significantly the day after punk duo Bob Vylan’s controversial performance at Glastonbury, a charity has revealed.
It is warning that communities are facing "extreme levels of Jew-hatred".
The Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors antisemitism across the UK, said that sentiment towards Israel is increasingly influencing and driving contemporary anti-Jewish discourse.
The organisation recorded a total of 1,521 antisemitic incidents nationwide in the first half of this year.
While this figure marks the second-highest total ever reported to the CST for the first six months of any year, it represents a quarter reduction from the record high of 2,019 incidents logged between January and June 2024.
The data shows at least 200 incidents were reported every month in the first half of 2025, with the highest daily total of 26 incidents occurring on 29 June.
This spike directly followed the performance by Bob Vylan at the music festival in Somerset.
During the set, which was livestreamed on BBC, rapper Bobby Vylan chanted “Death, death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)”.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said that antisemitic incidents and crimes "remain shamefully and persistently high".
The CST said the incidents reported to the charity involved anti-Jewish responses to events at Glastonbury, as well as to the CST’s subsequent statement on X which had branded the chants “utterly chilling”.
Avon and Somerset Police said in July that inquiries were continuing in relation to the comments made onstage during Bob Vylan’s performance.
The second-worst day for what the CST described as “anti-Jewish hate” was 17 May, when 19 incidents were recorded.
That came the day after Israel announced an expansion of its military operation in Gaza.
“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,” the CST said.
Just over half (51 per cent) 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 in 2024, and up from 16 per cent 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.
Mark Gardner, the organisation’s chief executive, said the statistics demonstrated “extreme levels of Jew-hatred, committed in the name of anti-Israel activism”.
June saw the highest number of incidents, with 326 being recorded following 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.
The trust said 572 online incidents were reported in the first half of the year, accounting for 38 per cent of the total and down 12 per cent from the same period last year.
Giving examples of the range of incidents reported, Mr 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.
“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.”
There were 774 antisemitic incidents recorded by the CST in Greater London, a drop of 26 per cent over the same timeframe in 2024, and 194 cases in Greater Manchester, a decrease of 28 per cent compared to the previous year.
Outside of those cities, the police areas with the highest number of reports were West Yorkshire with 73, Hertfordshire with 52, Scotland with 36, Sussex with 32 and West Midlands with 39.
Northern Ireland had nine reports while Suffolk was the only mainland police region not to record a single incident, the trust said.
Ms Cooper said antisemitism “has a profoundly damaging impact both on the individuals affected and the wider Jewish community”, and vowed the Government “remains steadfast in its commitment to root out the poison of antisemitism wherever it is found”.
The Government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, Lord Mann, said the latest data shows “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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