Campus antisemitic incidents rise again, charity reports

Antisemitic incidents affecting students, academics and staff at UK universities increased over the latest academic year, according to the Community Security Trust, a charity that monitors attacks on Jewish communities.

The CST recorded 95 "university-related" incidents during the 2025-26 academic year, up from 83 in 2024-25. The charity said the figure remains "substantially higher" than the levels seen before the escalation of the Middle East conflict, despite falling back from the extraordinary peak recorded in the year immediately after 7 October 2023.

That comparison underlines how volatile the past three years on campus have been. In 2022-23, the final academic year before the Hamas attack on Israel, the CST logged 53 incidents. The following year, 2023-24, that number surged to 272 as the war in Gaza began. Although reported incidents dropped in 2024-25, they have now risen again, suggesting the volatility of recent years has not settled into a steady downward trend.

The trust applies a specific definition to its figures. It counts an incident as university-related if it involves a student, member of staff or academic at a UK university acting "in their academic or student capacity" — a phrase that covers conduct both on campus and online, including social media platforms and online forums used by students and staff groups.

In its report examining the past two academic years, the CST found that the most frequently recorded category was abusive behaviour. That category includes verbal abuse, offensive comments made either face to face or online, and antisemitic graffiti, which on several occasions has appeared in university buildings or on campus facilities.

More serious incidents were also recorded. The report noted that, for the first time, there were two occurrences of extreme violence during 2024-25. Across the two academic years combined, the charity documented six reported assaults, eight incidents of damage or desecration targeting Jewish property — five of which took place in student accommodation — and ten separate threats.

Around two-thirds of reported incidents involved antisemitic language or targeting appearing alongside references to Israel, Gaza, Hamas, the 7 October attack and the wider conflicts in the region. The charity stressed that criticism of Israel and of Zionism is not, in itself, antisemitic, but said its data continue to show anti-Zionist language being deployed "in conjunction with hostility towards Jews and Jewish organisations".

That distinction has become a central fault line in UK higher education, where debates over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict sit alongside wider questions about free expression, institutional neutrality and the line between contentious political speech and targeted harassment. It is a debate that universities say they are increasingly being asked to adjudicate, and one for which they say they are not yet adequately prepared.

Mark Gardner, chief executive of the CST, said Jews remain "very serious campus antisemitism problem" targets — a problem he described as ongoing rather than resolved. He said it was "particularly troubling" that a growing proportion of the anti-Jewish actions now involve university staff, not only students, and argued that institutions have "a duty to ensure that Jewish students and staff can study, work and participate on campus the same as anyone else".

The response from government was immediate and critical of universities. Lucy Powell, education secretary in England, described the findings as "deeply troubling" and said the government expects institutions to take a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism. She said training is being provided to help university staff identify and respond to incidents swiftly, signalling that the issue is likely to remain on the government's agenda.

Universities UK, which represents more than 140 institutions, said its members must "protect Jewish students and staff" and called the findings a "serious concern". Vivienne Stern, its chief executive, said universities have a responsibility both to protect Jewish students and staff from abuse and to ensure that students and staff clearly understand where the expression of a strongly held view becomes antisemitism and harassment.

Stern said UUK has worked with organisations including the CST on guidance for universities, but acknowledged there was "more to do", particularly in building confidence in the effectiveness of disciplinary processes — a signal that campaigners and student groups remain unconvinced that existing sanctions, when applied at all, change behaviour.

Raphi Leon, president of the Union of Jewish Students, said the report "must be a shot in the arm to boost action to support Jewish students and tackle antisemitism", arguing that the findings should prompt rather than placate institutional response.

The background to the figures is the war in Gaza, which began with the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. Israel launched a mass military offensive in response which, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, has killed around 74,000 people. Those figures, and the disputes surrounding them, continue to shape political debate on university campuses and beyond.

The figures should be read with some caution. The CST's totals depend on reported incidents, so changes may reflect willingness to report as much as changes in underlying behaviour — something that can cut either way in a climate of contested events. The definition of "university-related" also sweeps in a wide range of conduct, from direct abuse in person to material posted online.

Even with those caveats, the direction of travel is clear to the charity and to the organisations representing universities and Jewish students. Antisemitism on campus has not returned to pre-2023 levels, and the reaction from government, sector bodies and student unions suggests pressure for firmer enforcement, better staff training and more credible disciplinary action will continue to build.