UK, Canada record highest ever incidents of antisemitism in 2024
Canada's increase is almost double the growth of hate crimes against Jews in the US since October 7
The United Kingdom and Canada both recorded their highest-ever incidents of antisemitism for the first half of 2024, according to two reports released on Thursday.
The UK-based Community Security Trust reported 1,978 antisemitic incidents across the country, the highest ever reported by the organization in the first six months of any year.
This follows the third-highest beginning half of a year on record. While noting that the incidents dropped since the October 7 attacks on Israel by Gazan terrorists, the nearly 2,000 cases recorded are "unprecedented."
In Canada, the World Zionist Organization described a similar rise, with a 670 percent increase compared to 2023.
Even though Jewish people represent just 1.4 percent of the population, they are the victims of 70 percent of the religious hate crimes.
Since October 2023, Canada has witnessed four shootings targeting Jewish institutions and the burning of a bus belonging to a Jewish community. In Toronto, the police report that 19 percent of hate crimes in 2023 were directed against Jews, a figure all the more alarming as events related to the conflict only began in the last quarter of the year. While the United States has seen a 340 percent increase in anti-Semitic incidents over the past 10 months, in comparison to the same period last year, Canada's increase is almost double that.
Both reports stated the phenomenon of increased hate crimes against Jewish people during times of war in Israel.
Most notably in the current conflict are members of the young generation, who have taken over campuses in North America and across the world in protest of the Israel-Hamas war.