There has been a slight decrease in the number of anti-Semitic incidents in 2020 across the United Kingdom, even though the numbers remain relatively high, a report published by the Community Security Trust on Thursday reveals.
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According to the CST, which is the UK's Jewish communal security group, a total of 1,668 anti-Semitic incidents were recorded in 2020, an 8% drop from 2019.
The four highest monthly totals in 2020 were January with 188 incidents, February with 140 incidents, June with 178, and July with 180.
"They correlate neatly with the periods in the year that lockdown measures were either not-yet-existent or most relaxed [in the case of the latter two]," the report stated.
Of the 1,668 anti-Semitic incidents, 97 were assaults, 72 were classified as "Damage & Desecration" to Jewish property, 19 were reports of online events "hijacked" with anti-Semitic content and 85 were incidents of threats to people, property or institutions.
Also explained in the report was "a new type of anti-Semitic incident" that surfaced during the pandemic in which educational, religious and social online events were "hijacked with anti-Semitic content," also called "Zoombombings.'"
The report said 19 "Zoombombings" were recorded last year, and "this problem became so prevalent CST had to develop specialist online security advice to counter it."
"CST had hoped that anti-Semitic incidents would fall by more than this during 2020," the group's chief executive Mark Gardner said. "The fact that they didn't means we must remain even more vigilant for 2021, especially as the economic impact of COVID-19 may cause more extremism and division within society."
Reprinted with permission from JNS.org
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