British Jewish college students struggling a ‘wave of anti-Jewish hatred’ on college campuses – as variety of reported antisemitic incidents hit a report excessive
British Jewish students have suffered a ‘wave of anti-Jewish hatred’ on university campuses in the last two years as the number of reported antisemitic incidents hit a record high.
The Community Security Trust [CST], an antisemitism awareness charity, recorded 325 university-related antisemitic incidents across British universities in the last two academic years.
This was more than double (up 117 per cent) the number of university-related anti-Jewish incidents in the previous two academic years.
The vast majority of these – 272 of them – took place in 2023/24 in the wake of the October 7 Hamas terror attack which saw a spike in antisemitic incidents in Britain.
The damning report documents ten incidents of violent assault against students and 23 incidents of threats – including death threats and a bomb hoax inside a synagogue used by Jewish students.
At St Andrews University visibly Jewish students had eggs thrown at them as they returned from an event with the Chief Rabbi in November 2023 and in May 2024 a student wearing a Jewish society fleece was spat at as they walked down the street.
In April 2024, a university Jewish Society, along with numerous other Jewish communal organisations received a bomb threat via email.
The email stated: ‘I placed multiple explosives inside of the Synagogues. The explosives are well hidden and they will go off in the morning. Everyone inside will die in a pool of blood.
A man wearing a kippah pushes his bicycle past a banner reading ‘Jews for a free Palestine’ at Oxford University in May
Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate outside SOAS University of London as students occupied part of the campus in May
’Of the 23 university-related antisemitic incidents involving threats recorded during the academic year 2023/24, 11 were recorded in October 2023 five days after the October 7 attacks.Some 15 of the 23 recorded threats during that year were carried out online.
This included a Jewish student at the University of Birmingham receiving the message ‘May a slow and painful death be granted to you and every other Zionist like you’ on a University WhatsApp group.
On October 12, 2023, a Jewish society freshers WhatsApp group chat was infiltrated in a coordinated attack and scores of threatening messages were sent to students.
The perpetrators began by engaging in a fake conversation between themselves in which one asked ‘U selling any kosher meat? Struggling to find some round here [SIC]’, after which one asked ‘Everyone agree w [with] what’s going on in Israel right?’.
This was immediately followed by the three individuals sending a tirade of messages including: ‘F*** ISRAEL’, ‘F_G DIRTY TERRORIST C****’; ‘F_G DIRTY JEWISH C****’; ‘MURDERING B******S’.
There were also 21 instances of desecration to Jewish property reported in Nottingham, Birmingham, Leeds, Kent, Norwich, London, Sussex, Oxford, Sheffield, Brighton, and Canterbury.
Tents in a student encampment outside the Oxford University Museum of Natural History
A poster pinned on a tree by UCL Marxist Society reading ‘Intifada until victory’
This included a case of ‘FREE PALASTIAN [sic]’ being graffitied on to a Chabad house which provides services to university students in the Midlands.
By comparison there were zero cases of damage to university-related Jewish property in the 2020/21 or 2021/22 academic years.
At last year’s NUS conference in April 2024 there were at least two occasions where swastikas were graffitied in different toilets in the venue.
Other disturbing incidents include Jewish students being screamed at from cars while walking home from Jewish events, and a Jewish society freshers fair stall – which was unmanned due to it being a religious holiday – being vandalised.
It also includes many cases of explicit and implicit support of terrorism.
Responding to the disturbing findings Sami Berkoff, Union of Jewish Students (UJS) President said: ‘Universities must not be indifferent to the rise of antisemitism within their institutions.
‘Let us all unite against hate, ensuring that campuses remain spaces for education, not exclusion.’
A Swastika scrawled on a toilet in Blackpool
Responding to CST’s report Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: ‘These findings are sickening.
‘It is an absolute disgrace that Jewish students feel unable to participate fully in university life due to the abhorrent rise in antisemitic abuse detailed in this report and we are determined to change this as a matter of urgency. It shows we have a long way to go to combat antisemitism in our society.
‘The Government remains firmly committed to tackling antisemitism across the country and stamping out hatred wherever it occurs.
‘We have pledged £7 million to combat antisemitic abuse in schools, colleges, and universities, with £500,000 already allocated to the University Jewish Chaplaincy to support student welfare.’
