There have been 150 cases of antisemitism against UK uni students in the past two years

There have been 150 antisemitic incidents affecting Jewish students, academics and student bodies in the last two years, a new report by antisemitism charity CST has found.

These included incidents across 30 university cities. Over the past two years, six university cities saw five or more recorded incidents of university antisemitism: 30 in London (across 10 unis, including 12 at UCL alone), 14 in Bristol, 12 in Birmingham, 10 in Oxford, eight in Coventry and six in Nottingham.

95 cases, the total for the 2020/21 academic year, is the highest total CST has ever recorded in a single academic year. The charity recorded a further 55 cases last academic year, 2021/22.

In the past two years there were three reports of assault, one each in Lancaster, Birmingham, and Bristol. One of these involved a Jewish student being hit with a rubber bat when returning to their student accommodation, and having antisemitic slurs shouted at them.

47 of the incidents took place on campus, including in lectures or seminars, in halls, or at events hosted on campus.

Antisemitic posters, of Israeli flags with swastikas replacing the Star of David, were found placed around campus at Royal Holloway in London in 2021. CST says it was in contact with local police, where two arrests were made in connection with the case and both were released on bail.

At Warwick in May 2021, a student was forced to apologise after making an antisemitic poster and taking it to an on-campus protest.

Most Read

Vanessa reveals heartbreaking reason she unexpectedly quit The Ultimatum with Dave

OnlyFans model Lily Phillips reduced to tears after sleeping with 100 men in 24 hours

How rich is Benny Blanco?! That whopping diamond ring has nothing on his net worth

In October of the same year, there were reports of antisemitic messages written on t-shirts at a university hockey club’s white t-shirt social, where one member’s t-shirt read “What do me and Hitler have in common?”, with the answer: “How much we hate the Jews”. The student was suspended pending investigation, and the whole team was given antisemitism awareness training.

82 of the cases happened online, including sending antisemitic messages to Jewish students or societies, antisemitic messages in group chats, or antisemitic social media posts made by students, staff or SU officers.

In 2021, Jewish girls from universities across the country were added to an antisemitic group chat. One of students, from Birmingham, told The Tab at the time: “It is terrifying that things like this are happening”, with a Leeds student saying she “felt so intimidated and threatened”.

In the past two years, seven threats were made to Jewish students – four 0f these were online, and all were off campus. One Leeds first year had several missed calls from a number, and when they finally answered, heard a pre-recorded message that said: “I want to shoot all your family […] I hate the Jews”.

Following a rise in antisemitic threats, including a Jewish UCL student being sent a photoshopped image of her under a guillotine, in 2021 UCL announced plans to increase police presence around the campus.