Reports of antisemitism in Britain spiked after a rap duo led an anti-Israel chant at the Glastonbury festival, a Jewish charity said Wednesday, August 6.
The Community Security Trust (CST) recorded 1,521 antisemitic incidents in early 2025. This is the second-highest on record, though down from 2024.
The group’s frontman chanted “Death, death to the IDF,” referring to Israel’s military, during the set, and is being investigated by police.
“Both of these cases illustrate how sentiment and rhetoric towards Israel and Zionism influence, shape and drive contemporary anti-Jewish discourse,” the CST said in its report.
The charity said it tried to distinguish between antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment in the report, and did not classify claims that Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza as anti-Semitic.
But, the CST said incidents that equate Israel to Nazi Germany “would normally be recorded as antisemitic because the comparison is so deeply hurtful.”
“Antisemitic incidents and crimes remain shamefully and persistently high, and every incident has a profoundly damaging impact both on the individuals affected and the wider Jewish community,” UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in a CST press release.
