According to the non-governmental group Campaign Against Antisemitism, nearly 1,000 crimes against Jews were reported in 2015. The survey called National Antisemitic Crime Audit says this is a new worst year on record, with 25.7% increase compared to 2014. While only 746 anti-Jewish crimes were reported to British police forces in 2014, 938 were reported in 2015.
196 (approximately 20%) of all crimes against Jews were violent crimes, which is 50.8% increase since 2014.
These numbers are accompanied by a decrease in absolute number of cases charged by police, 128 cases having been charged in 2015, compared to 138 in 2014.
Additional analysis of statistics in time shows that, while in 2014 there were evident peaks in criminal activity corresponding to the Israeli military Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip, in 2015 crimes are distributed evenly throughout the year. According to the report, "Expectations that anti-semitic crime would gradually return to levels seen prior to the 2014 war in Gaza were proved incorrect."
Campaign Against Antisemitism's chairman Gideon Falter expressed his concerns regarding these numbers, threatening that, should criminal activity against Jews rise and number of cases charged decrease, British Jews will "have no choice but to emigrate."
According to Falter, should the trends remain the same, "the [British] Jewish community will be faced with the kind of rampant antisemitism seen in other European countries, which has left Jews feeling fearful and abandoned."
CAA's official position regarding reasons for increase in antisemitic crimes is connected with rise of "violent ideologies of Islamism and neo-Nazism."
"Whilst Islamists and neo-Nazis agree on little, they both agree that Jews are their enemy and must be violently oppressed," the CAA statement says.
