Anti-Semitic crimes in Britain have surged to their highest levels on record, new figures from a monitoring group have revealed.
According to records compiled by the Community Security Trust (CST), there were 1,309 incidents of anti-Semitism across 2016, a figure which surpassed the previous record of 1,182 recorded in 2014.
The majority of crimes against the Jewish community in Britain took place in just two cities, Greater London and Greater Manchester, homes to the country’s two largest Jewish communities.
Among incidents recorded were verbal abuse, hate mail and anti-Semitic graffiti; damage and desecration to Jewish property (which increased by 25%); 107 violent anti-Semitic assaults (the highest number since 2010), and hundreds of anti-Semitic incidents involving social media.
The CST cited numerous reasons for the recent spike in incidents, including the Brexit referendum and recent rows within the Labour Party on the issue of anti-Semitism.