Yorkshire's largest police force sees two huge spikes in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate crime

The same force then logged an increase in Islamophobic offences in the wake of the stabbings in Southport in July this year and the subsequent violent disorder in towns and cities such as Rotherham, Leeds and Hull.

Similar trends in relation to anti-Muslim hate crimes were seen in South Yorkshire and Humberside.

A Jewish charity called the findings “unacceptable”, while campaigners against anti-Muslim abuse said they were “not seeing the action to tackle this problem”.

Dame Diana Johnson, a Home Office minister and Hull MP, said the Government was “determined to stamp out the toxic vitriol which is spread by a minority of people”.

Three Yorkshire forces responded to freedom of information requests (FoI) by the PA news agency.

North Yorkshire Police was the only force which did not reply to the requests.

Anti-Semitic offences recorded by West Yorkshire Police averaged six a month from January to September in 2023.

They then jumped to 44 in October, when Hamas attacked Israel and triggered the Israeli invasion of Gaza, before falling back to lower levels.

One such incident included the former Jewish chaplains at the University of Leeds being bombarded with a campaign of rape and death threats.

Zecharia and Nava Deutsch told the Times they received more than 400 calls and messages in one night threatening death and horrific sexual violence, after Israeli rabbi Zecharia served as a reservist in the IDF.

Three people were subsequently arrested and the family have since left the city.

West Yorkshire Police said that it is continuing to work to “better improve the investigation of hate crime and the outcomes for victims”.

Islamophobic offences averaged 33 a month in 2023 and 39 a month from January to July 2024, before rising to 94 in August then 73 in September.

While in South Yorkshire, anti-Muslim hate crimes had averaged seven every month, over the previous 12 months, prior to the violent disturbances which saw hooligans attempted to set fire to a Holiday Inn hotel housing asylum seekers following the Southport attacks in July.

Then in August, that figure shot up to 22. The force also saw a rise in anti-Semitic incidents following the October 7 attacks the previous year.

Humberside Police saw a rise in Islamophobic offences, but thankfully no increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes.

Simon Myerson KC, Chair of the Leeds Jewish Representative Council, told The Yorkshire Post: “The Home Office’s figures show Jews are 12 times more likely to be the victims of hate crime than any other minority.

“That directly translates to a threat to Jewish citizens of Yorkshire.

“This is a worldwide trend, which has seen Jewish communities all over the world become less safe.

“Synagogues have been shot at in Australia and Canada. No one but a fool could be confident that will not happen here.

“It is therefore time for minority communities to speak out to both protect themselves and to condemn anyone in their community who turns to hatred of other residents of this country.”

He added: “Responsible people need to start asking themselves if their casual acceptance of views and actions that truly threaten their Jewish neighbours are worth it. Otherwise I genuinely fear a catastrophic event.”

Iman Atta, director of Tell Mama which monitors anti-Muslim hate, said: “Anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia spikes repeatedly when there are international issues and when there is far-right agitation, extremism, continued finger-pointing at a political level against Muslims, and even post the Brexit vote. So these figures are not surprising.

“We have assisted over 5,000 British Muslims this year and the number keeps rising.

“Yet we are not seeing the action needed to tackle this problem. In fact, we are seeing anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia being treated as though it is not the significant problem it is.”

Dame Diana Johnson, Home Office minister for policing, fire and crime prevention, said: “These numbers are deeply troubling. We are determined to stamp out the toxic vitriol which is spread by a minority of people, and perpetrators of hate crime should be in no doubt that they will face the full force of the law.

“The significant increase in antisemitic and Islamophobic hate crime is very serious, which is why we have committed up to £47.4 million per year in protective security funding for Jewish and Muslim communities to 2027-28.

“We must have zero tolerance for antisemitism, Islamophobia and every other form of heinous hate in Britain, and we back the police in taking strong action against those targeting specific communities.”