This was the most intense period of anti-Jewish hate seen in the UK in recent years, with record numbers of antisemitic incidents, anti-Jewish chants & placards on demonstrations, incitement from UK extremists and calls from jihadist terror groups for Jews to be killed
CST recorded 628 antisemitic incidents from 8 May to 7 June, more than in any other month-long period and four times normal levels for that time of year. 585 of these involved language, imagery or behaviour linked to the conflict in Israel and Gaza.
In one incident a Jewish woman was driving in Hendon, north west London with her 4y.o. son when two cars with large Palestinian flags chased her down the road and rammed into the back of her car. Thankfully she was able to evade them.
A quarter of all incidents involved abuse, threats and harassment directed at Jewish school children and teachers or university students and staff. When school students shout “Free Palestine” at a Jewish teacher because they are Jewish that is a racist act – plain and simple.
A minority of people on anti-Israel demonstrations brought antisemitic placards or chanted antisemitic slogans calling for Jews to be killed. Even some speakers got in on the act...
At a demonstration in Manchester a speaker pushed an antisemitic conspiracy from the podium claiming: “the main 13 executives that approve the content released by the BBC are actually in fact Jewish. So this means the information released by the mainstream media will be biased.”
At several protests, demonstrators the recited anti-Jewish Arabic chant “Khaybar Khaybar Ya Yahud, Jaish Muhammad Sauf Ya’ud”, which translates as “Khaybar Khaybar oh Jews, the army of Mohammed is returning” and is effectively a call for Jews to be killed.
Three Islamist YouTubers drove a van into Golders Green on Shabbat with a huge screen showing a photo of Holocaust survivors. They stopped Orthodox Jews on the street and challenged them about Israel for a YouTube film called “Muslims Confront Radical Israelis - Police Called”.
This is the kind of behaviour that incites hate and divides communities. It imports a foreign conflict onto British streets. It should not be a surprise when extreme hatred of Israel turns into hatred of Jews, or is used as a cover for antisemitism
When conflict rages in Israel, anti-Jewish hate rises in the UK. 7 October was unprecedented. Incidents started flooding in 𝙗𝙚𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙚 Israel’s military retaliation. 🧵
Yesterday, far-right extremist Gabriel Budasz was convicted of several terrorism offences, including four counts of encouraging terrorism. This thread is the story of how CST’s Open-Source Intelligence team identified, tracked and located Budasz, leading to his conviction 🧵
CST first became aware of Budasz in September 2022, on the encrypted messaging platform, Telegram. He was operating anonymously in extreme right-wing Telegram channels, as well as across other platforms. We quickly ascertained that he was UK-based and held deeply antisemitic views.
This sparked an investigation lasting more than a year, during which CST became increasingly concerned about his posts and livestreams promoting violence against Jews and other ethnic minorities, alongside his right-wing extremism.
A new research briefing from CST titled ‘Covid, Conspiracies & Jew-Hate: antisemitism in the Covid-19 conspiracy movement’, published today reveals the extent of antisemitism within the Covid conspiracy movement 👉 ow.ly/RTTq50JXYKh
The Covid conspiracy movement is a loose coalition of groups and individuals who believe that the Covid-19 pandemic is a scam and is an excuse by the elites to control the world population through lockdowns and vaccinations.
Antisemitic images and language in online spaces used by the Covid-conspiracy movement include conspiracy theories claiming that the virus is a Jewish hoax, and that vaccines have been invented by Jews to poison the population.
🧵 CST’s Antisemitic Incidents Report, published today, shows 2,255 anti-Jewish hate incidents reported nationwide in 2021. This is the highest annual total that CST has ever recorded and is a 34% increase from 2020 📈 Read more in our blog 👇 cst.org.uk/news/blog/2022…
This is the first time CST has ever recorded over 2,000 incidents in a single year. The UK has seen record annual totals for antisemitic incidents in five of the past six years. CST has recorded antisemitic incidents since 1984.
The record figure is driven by the significant spike in anti-Jewish hate reported during and following the escalation in violence in Israel and Gaza last year. Antisemites will use any excuse to attack Jews and wars involving Israel are a common trigger event.
Last week on Holocaust Memorial Day the proscribed far right terrorist group Feuerkrieg Division released photos in their chat group, showing posters that one of their supporters had put up on UK streets. They tried to hide the exact location - this is how we identified it 🧵
The posters were disgusting: violent images of blood-spattered swastikas and gun-wielding figures with slogans declaring “White Revolution” and “Day of the Rope”. They were on lampposts and electricity boxes on a public street, intended to cause fear and alarm.
Feuerkrieg Division did not reveal where in the UK these posters were put up, but each of the photos they uploaded contained clues that allowed @CST_UK to pinpoint the exact location of each poster and alert counter terrorism police to this activity. This is how we did it.
CST completely rejects the claim in today's BBC report that CST confirmed to the BBC on 2nd December that an anti-Muslim phrase had been spoken on the Chabad bus that was attacked on Oxford Street.
CST was not asked for any such confirmation by the BBC and was in no position to provide any confirmation: we had no prior knowledge of the allegation and had not sought to confirm it with any of the witnesses or victims at that point.
Instead, a BBC journalist who had already been in contact with CST over the incident phoned to tell us that (a) an anti-Muslim slur was audible and (b) the BBC was going to include it in their report. He was definite on both points.