Reports of anti-Semitic incidents in Britain rose 11 percent in the first half of 2016, to 557 from 500 compared to the same time last year, according to a report published Thursday.
That represented the second-highest number ever recorded in the January-June period since tracking began in 1984, according to Jewish charity the Community Security Trust (CST), which carried out the report.
While the CST said in a statement that incidents spiked as high as 629 in 2009 as a result of the Gaza conflict in January of that year, “there is no obvious single cause for [this year’s] increase.”
British Home Secretary Amber Rudd condemned the “deplorable rise in anti-Semitic hate incidents” and pledged to work with law enforcement and the Jewish community to improve security.
“It is vital that every community which contributes to making us Great Britain has the protection it needs,” Rudd said in a statement. “This is why the government is providing £13.4 million of funding for security measures at Jewish sites.”
The most common incidents involved random verbal abuse of visibly Jewish people, as well as anti-Semitic graffiti and abuse via social media. CST recorded 32 incidents involving damage and desecration of Jewish property, 43 direct threats, and 10 cases of mass-mailed anti-Semitic leaflets or emails. Violent assaults fell by 13 percent compared to the first half of 2015, with 41 such instances reported.
Most of the incidents were recorded in Greater London, where reports spiked year-on-year, and Greater Manchester, where reports fell. The two areas are home to the two largest Jewish communities in the U.K., according to the CST.
CST Chief Executive David Delew in a statement called for more action to deal with the increased number of incidents, and said social media companies must “take their share of the responsibility.”
The U.K. Labour Party has been accused of being a hotbed of anti-Semitism, and an inquiry by Shami Chakrabarti, launched this year following the suspension of MP Naz Shah and ex-London Mayor Ken Livingstone over anti-Semitism claims, found that there is an “occasionally toxic atmosphere” and evidence “of ignorant attitudes” in the party.
Labour MP John Mann, the chair of the all-party parliamentary group against anti-Semitism, said his party ought to do more to deal with reports of anti-Semitism among its ranks.
“This is a worrying rise in incidents set against a backdrop of increasing hate crime across the country,” Mann said in a statement. “Now that the Chakrabarti inquiry into anti-Semitism has concluded I want to see decisive action. I think all parties should adopt the recommendations of her report and that anyone using the word Zionism as a term of abuse should be immediately expelled from the Labour Party and indeed all other parties.”