Antisemitic and Islamophobic hate crimes surge across London, police data shows
Figures show anti-Semitic hate crimes recorded by London’s Metropolitan Police rose by 72 per cent month-on-month in May, while Islamophobic hate crimes rose by a third.
The number of anti-Semitic hate crimes reported by law enforcement rose from 148 in April to 255 in May.
Barnet was the area with the highest number of these crimes last month; With 76 people, it constituted 30 percent of the total. Press Association Analysis of force data.
Barnet includes the areas of Golders Green, Hendon and Finchley, all of which have large Jewish populations.
There were 40 anti-Semitic attacks recorded by the force in Hackney, east London, as well as 29 crimes in Westminster, 16 in Camden and Haringey and 11 in Tower Hamlets.
Overall, 28 of London’s 32 boroughs had at least one anti-Semitic hate crime recorded by the Met last month.
The arson attack on a former synagogue in Whitechapel on 5 May was one of a series of recent antisemitic attacks in the capital; Police officers were sent to the Tower Hamlets area on May 15 after an online video showed a man threatening to “behead Jews”.
The 72% increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes recorded by the Metropolitan Police between April and May was the biggest monthly increase since the end of 2023.
This number rose from 59 in September 2023 to 455 in October, coinciding with Hamas attacks on Israel and subsequent clashes in Gaza.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, a Government-commissioned review of antisemitism in the NHS found “evidence of routine exclusion of Jewish people”; Some Jewish patients are reluctant to seek treatment and staff no longer want to work in the NHS due to concerns about the issue.
Reviewer Lord John Mann, the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism, said the level of anti-Semitic racism in the UK “constitutes a national emergency”.
Data published by the Met Police this week also shows that crimes classed as Islamophobic hate crimes by the police rose by 33 per cent from 135 to 179 between April and May this year. This figure is the highest monthly figure since August 2024.
Such crimes were on a downward trend at the end of last year and early 2026, with an increase in March; The same month, a new agreed UK Government definition of anti-Muslim hostility was published.
At the time, the Government said the definition was “an important step in tackling the unacceptable hostility faced by Muslims”, adding that past attempts to define such hatred “have fallen short, leaving the concept vague and highly controversial”.
The borough of Westminster was the scene of the highest number of Islamophobic hate crimes recorded by the Met on 21 May.
That month’s “Unite the Kingdom” rally, organized by Tommy Robinson, took place in central London and was later criticized by one of the capital’s deputy mayors for examples of Islamophobia on display at the event.
While some protesters demonstrated in front of Parliament and called for the “abolition of Islam”, Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, reposted a video in which he said he would “stop Islam” if he became prime minister, adding: “It is time for many Muslims to leave this country.”
Speaking last month, Debbie Weekes-Bernard, London’s deputy mayor for communities and social justice, said such rhetoric was “not like the London” she knew.
“We know there is a lot of Islamophobia on display and that is not something we advocate here,” he said.
