A 335% increase in anti-Muslim hate cases in the UK has been recorded since Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October.
In the four months since some 1,200 Israelis were killed and around 250 taken hostage by Hamas from southern Israel, 2,010 cases of online and offline abuse have been recorded by Tell MAMA, a national project which logs and measures anti-Muslim incidents in the UK.
This is the largest recorded number of cases in four months since Tell MAMA started in 2011.
The organisation said the latest data is in stark contrast to a year before, when between 7 October 2022 and 7 February 2023, 310 offline cases and 290 online cases were recorded.
It follows more than 4,000 antisemitic incidents recorded in the UK in 2023 by a Jewish charity, with the all-time high attributed to the “sheer volume” which took place after the 7 October attacks.
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The Community Security Trust (CST), a charity which provides protection for British Jews against antisemitic attacks, said the “explosion in hatred” is an “absolute disgrace”.
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‘Unacceptable in our country’
Cases of anti-Muslim hate included 535 reports of abusive behaviour, which Tell MAMA said involved 77 threats, 83 assaults, 79 acts of vandalism, 69 cases of discrimination, 39 acts of hate speech and 19 examples of anti-Muslim literature.
In one example, inflammatory comments were made towards a Muslim on a bus in east London, and another included reports that the word “Hamas” had been daubed on a Muslim family’s front door.
In over 65% of these cases, women were the target, the organisation said.
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Of the 2,010 cases overall, 576 were reported in London, followed by 71 in the northwest and 41 in the West Midlands.
The areas with the lowest number of cases included Wales with nine and Scotland with 21.
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“We are deeply concerned about the impacts that the Israel and Gaza war are having on hate crimes and on social cohesion in the UK,” Iman Atta, director of Tell MAMA said.
“This rise in anti-Muslim hate is unacceptable and we hope that political leaders speak out to send a clear message that anti-Muslim hate, like antisemitism, is unacceptable in our country.
“There really is no space for hate and more than ever, it is essential that we sustain, nurture and protect the bonds that we have between communities, so that we all feel valued and safe in our communities and in our country”.
