Hate crime spiked in West Midlands following Southport stabbing and Middle East conflict

Antisemitic 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.

The Express & Star took a dive into local figures for the West Midlands, which were obtained by PA using a Freedom of Information request. 

Stats from West Midlands Police showed that antisemitic hate crimes had more than doubled between 2021/22 and 2023/24 from 27 crimes to 83. 

Islamophobic incidents remained high with over 370 recorded crimes each year.

But when looking at religious hate recorded by the force month to month, there were noticeable increase in antisemitic crimes in October and December 2023.

There was also an increase in Islamophobic crimes in August this year, with 61 recorded crimes, compared to 28 in August 2023.

A Jewish charity called the findings “unacceptable”, while campaigners against anti-Muslim abuse said they were “not seeing the action to tackle this problem”.

The Government said it was “determined to stamp out the toxic vitriol which is spread by a minority of people”.

Dave Rich, spokesman for the Jewish charity, the Community Security Trust (CST), said: “These figures show similar trends as CST’s own antisemitic data, with a sharp rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes following the October 7 attack last year to levels that have still not returned to what used to be considered ‘normal’.

“The increases are even more shocking when set against the relatively small size of the Jewish communities in some of these places.

“This kind of anti-Jewish hatred should be unacceptable to all, and we will continue to work closely with police and the CPS up and down the country, alongside local Jewish communities, to reduce the impact of this hatred.”

Hamas launched a series of attacks on southern Israel on October 7 2023, prompting Israel to launch a ground invasion of the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

Separately, riots and disorder broke out in parts of the UK after the knife attack at a Southport dance studio on July 29 2024 that left three girls dead.

Violent disturbances took place outside a mosque in Southport, a Holiday Inn Express in Manvers near Rotherham that was housing more than 200 asylum seekers, plus a hotel in Tamworth, while anti-immigrant demonstrations occurred in several cities including Bristol, Hull, Liverpool and London.

Iman Atta, director of Tell Mama which monitors anti-Muslim hate, said: “Anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia spikes repeatedly when there are international issues and when there is far-right agitation, extremism, continued finger-pointing at a political level against Muslims, and even post the Brexit vote. So these figures are not surprising.

“We have assisted over 5,000 British Muslims this year and the number keeps rising. Yet we are not seeing the action needed to tackle this problem. In fact, we are seeing anti-Muslim hate or Islamophobia being treated as though it is not the significant problem it is.”

Dame Diana Johnson, Home Office minister for policing, fire and crime prevention, 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 antisemitic 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 antisemitism, Islamophobia and every other form of heinous hate in Britain, and we back the police in taking strong action against those targeting specific communities.”