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LABOUR needs to show “political leadership,” anti-racism campaigners urge as police data today reveals huge spikes in religious hate crimes after the Gaza invasion and summer race riots.
Increased security funding will not be enough to reverse the rise in Islamophobic and anti-semitic hate crimes, warned Stand Up to Racism (SUTR).
Police forces revealed a double spike in types of religious hate crime in the past 18 months following a freedom of information request.
The numbers jumped after Hamas’s actions on October 7 2023, which kicked off Israel’s war on Gaza and again following the Southport attacks this summer, figures reveal.
Anti-semitic offences recorded by forces including Greater Manchester, West Midlands and the Metropolitan Police, rose sharply in the weeks following the outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East in October last year.
The same forces then logged an increase in Islamophobic offences in the wake of the stabbings in Southport in July this year and the subsequent violent disorder in towns and cities.
SUTR co-convener Sabby Dhalu told the Morning Star: “The rise in Islamophobic and anti-semitic hate crimes following 7th October 2023 and the racist riots in the summer of this year must be reversed.
“We welcome the increase in security funding for these communities.
“What is also required is political leadership in rooting out all forms of hatred and racism in order for communities to live here in peace.”
Home Office minister for policing, fire and crime prevention Dame Diana Johnson said: “These numbers are deeply troubling.
“We are determined to stamp out the toxic vitriol which is spread by a minority of people, and perpetrators of hate crime should be in no doubt that they will face the full force of the law.
“The significant increase in anti-semitic and Islamophobic hate crime is very serious, which is why we have committed up to £47.4 million per year in protective security funding for Jewish and Muslim communities to 2027-28.
“We must have zero tolerance for anti-semitism, Islamophobia and every other form of heinous hate in Britain, and we back the police in taking strong action against those targeting specific communities.”
