Religious hate crime at record high after Israel-Hamas conflict

Religious hate crime recorded by police in England and Wales has risen by 25% over the past year, driven by a rise in offences against Jews and Muslims since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict, Home Office figures show.

The vast majority of the 140,561 hate crime offences recorded – about seven in 10 – are shown to have been motivated by race, according to the data.

But the increase in religious hate crimes is mainly driven by a rise in antisemitic offences, the department said.

Hate crimes targeted at Jewish people more than doubled, while incidents against Muslims were up 13% on the previous 12 months, according to data.

The Home Office said this is the highest annual count in religious hate crime offences since the department began collecting data in the year ending March 2012.

More recent figures, recorded by community organisations rather than police, have shown record highs in antisemitism and Islamophobia up to the end of September.

Publishing the statistics on Thursday, the Home Office said the 25% increase “was driven by a rise in hate crimes against Jewish people and to a lesser extent Muslims and has occurred since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict”.

The hate crimes figures, supplied to the Home Office by the 43 territorial police forces across England and Wales and British Transport Police, showed a 5% decline in the overall number of hate crimes.

But over the year ending March 2024 there were 3,282 religious hate crimes targeting Jews, more than double the previous year (1,543).

The spike in such incidents coincided with the start of the conflict in the Middle East, and though the number decreased, by the spring it had not returned to levels identified before the conflict.

The data corresponds to what has been reported by Jewish charities over the past year, with the highest number of offences reported in Greater London.

Jewish charity the Community Security Trust (CST) said the 5,583 incidents recorded across the UK between 7 October 2023 and 30 September is the highest total of any 12-month period and was three times that of the previous 12-month period, which saw 1,830 incidents recorded.

The figures also show there were 3,866 religious hate crimes targeting Muslims, up 13% from 3,432 recorded the previous year.

It means 38% of recorded religious hate crimes were targeted against Muslims, and the figures do not yet include the unrest following events in Southport in the summer.

Tell Mama – which records anti-Muslim incidents – said it had recorded 4,971 incidents of hate and discrimination across the UK in the year since the 7 October 2023 attacks, the highest total it had noted in more than a decade.

“The appalling levels of antisemitic and Islamophobic hate crimes outlined in today’s figures are a stain on our society, and this government will work tirelessly to tackle this toxic hatred wherever it is found,” said Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.

“We must not allow events unfolding in the Middle East to play out in increased hatred and tension here on our streets and those who push this poison – offline or online – must face the full force of the law,” she said.

The police numbers do show that there were decreases in recorded disability hate crimes (down 18%) and those targeting people for their sexual orientation (down 8%), and a 2% fall in transgender hate crimes.

But they also show that while there was a 5% fall in race hate crimes, 98,799 were still recorded over 12 months, and it remains by far the most common motivation in such offenses.

Hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation have fallen for the second year in a row to 22,839 reported incidents.

It means that these types of hate crime have fallen a total of 13% since March 2022 – which was the highest number on record.

The Home Office says these decreases have been driven by falls in malicious communications offences, as well as reports of incidents causing public fear, alarm or distress.

Simon Blake, CEO of LGBT campaigning charity Stonewall, told BBC News that hate crime reported to police “is only part of the picture”.

He said: “It’s vital that all those affected have access to support. The fight against hatred is shared, so we must work together to build a society where everyone is safe and respected and free from harm.”

Danielle St James, chief executive of trans charity Not A Phase, told the BBC that trans people are often reluctant to report hate crimes.

She said: “After many years in which hate crimes against trans people have soared, the news that these are down by 2% is certainly welcome.

“That being said, we know all too well that there is a reluctance to report these crimes on the part of the community, so it’s always worth taking stats such as these with a pinch of salt.”