‘Zoom-bombing’ fuelled record rise in Anti-Semitic abuse during lockdown
‘Zoom-bombing’ fuelled record rise in Anti-Semitic abuse during lockdown: Charity warns of alarming trend of racists hijacking video chats to spout hate amid 34% spike in abuse of Jews
Anti-semitic abuse hit a record high last year – rising by a third from 2020 Rise partly fuelled by ‘zoom-bombing’ when perpetrators hacked video calls There was a total of 2,255 incident in 2021, up 34% from 1,684 the previous year Peak numbers were at time of heightened conflict between Israel and Palestine Priti Patel said figures were ‘reminder that antisemitism hasn’t been eradicated’
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Anti-Semitic incidents in Britain reached a record high last year, fuelled by the emergence of a new form of online attack dubbed ‘zoom-bombing’.
The annual report by the Community Security Trust (CST), which advises Britain’s estimated 280,000 Jews on security matters, found there had been 2,255 anti-Semitic incidents reported in 2021, a rise of 34 per cent from the previous year.
The charity said the rise was partly fuelled by online attacks during Covid lockdowns that saw perpetrators hijack Jewish video conferences in order to bombard them with anti-Semitic material.
The CST said, as synagogue services and educational events moved online in March 2020, they started receiving reports of people hacking into the conferences – usually held on Zoom – and abusing the people attending.
The method of abuse – dubbed ‘zoom-bombing’ – was ‘unheard of prior to the Covid outbreak’, CST said, but ‘quickly became a method by which anti-Semites could access and disturb Jewish people and spaces acclimatising to the new landscape’.
The CST said it received 16 reports involving the hijacking of video conference events in 2021, as well as 19 in 2020.
After receiving reports in March 2020, the CST said it issued guidance to those hosting Zoom conferences which included limiting the amount of people who received links to the meeting.
A spokesman for the charity said the guidance ‘likely reduced the total number of these incidents in 2019 and 2020’.
The annual report by the Community Security Trust (CST), which advises Britain’s estimated 280,000 Jews on security matters, found there had been 2,255 anti-Semitic incidents reported in 2021, a rise of 34 per cent from the previous year
‘The pandemic has not only given rise to new discourses through which perpetrators can communicate their prejudice, but also a new medium,’ the CST added.
In 2021, there were 552 online anti-Semitic incidents, according to the CST, a 13 per cent drop from the 638 of this kind reported in 2020. There were 700 incidents of online anti-Semitism recorded in 2019 which remains the record high.
However, the CST said the number of separate incidents is ‘much larger’ as multiple abuse against one individual could be reported as only one incident.
The CST said it always encourages people who report incidents to them to also reach out to the police to investigate such cases.
The charity added: ‘In some cases, social media has been used as a tool for coordinated campaigns of anti-Semitic harassment, threats and abuse directed at Jewish public figures and other individuals.
Where this is the case, CST will record a coordinated campaign as a single incident, even if it involves multiple tweets, posts, messages or comments.’
CST’s Chief Executive Mark Gardner said the ‘record levels of anti-Jewish racism’ reported by the Jewish community ‘shows how difficult last year was for Jews across Britain’.
The CST recorded 1,844 incidents of abusive behaviour such as abuse verbally or via social media, anti-Semitic graffiti, and one-off hate mail
CST’s Chief Executive Mark Gardner said the ‘record levels of anti-Jewish racism’ reported by the Jewish community ‘shows how difficult last year was for Jews across Britain’
The number of incidents spiked when there was an increase in conflict between Israel and Palestinian militants, the report said.
Last May, 661 incidents were reported – the highest monthly total – with another 210 in June, and a third of all the incidents involved language or images related to issues in the Middle East, or included an anti-Zionist motivation.
These included a convoy of cars with Palestinian flags driven around a north London suburb, its passengers accused of using offensive language and issuing threats against Jewish people.
The CST said that, last year, Manchester and London saw 155 instances of people shouting abuse from cars, over half of which were in May and June. Nationally there were 502 incidents using Nazi themes.
The CST also said there had been 176 violent attacks reported, an increase of 76 per cent from the year before.
The report detailed the convictions of a number of people for anti-Jewish related crimes, including one man who was jailed for setting up a neo-Nazi group which had encouraged ‘the eradication of Jewish people’ and another who had posted anti-Semitic homemade videos on social media.
‘These statistics are shocking and a stark reminder that the racism of anti-Semitism has not been eradicated,’ Home Secretary (interior minister) Priti Patel said.
’Our Jewish community has been subject to appalling hatred and it is through the strength and determination of the Community Security Trust that we continue in our work together to stop such terrible attacks.
’In addition to supporting the work of CST, I continue to support the police to ensure they have the resources to tackle these despicable incidents so that perpetrators can then be punished with the full force of the law.’
Last May, 661 incidents of anti-Semitic abuse were reported – the highest monthly total – which included a convoy of cars with Palestinian flags being driven around a north London suburb, its passengers accused of using offensive language and issuing threats against Jewish people
Nationally, across the whole year, there were 502 incidents that used far right or Nazi themes, including 90 where the Holocaust was celebrated.
The number of hate incidents involving schools hit 182, the most reported in any year and up from 54 in 2020, with 99 involving pupils or staff at non-faith schools, up from 14 in 2020.
The CST said: ’It is unusual for such a high proportion of school-related incidents to take place at non-faith schools and CST supported many schoolchildren and teachers who felt isolated and fearful about returning to their place of education and work.’
There were 128 incidents where the victims or offenders were university students or academics, or involved student unions or other student bodies, up from 44 in 2020.
Home Secretary Priti Patel (pictured) said the ‘shocking’ statistics were ‘a stark reminder that the racism of antisemitism has not been eradicated’
CST chief executive, Mark Gardner, said: ’These record levels of anti-Jewish racism, reported by our Jewish community to CST and police, show how difficult last year was for Jews across Britain.
’These hatreds boil away, taking any excuse to publicly burst out against Jews. This is exactly what happened during and after the Israel-Gaza war of May 2021, from schools and universities, through to the carloads of people who repeatedly drove to Jewish areas and yelled vile abuse at anyone who looked Jewish.’
The CST figures include 176 violent anti-Semitic incidents, including three classed as extreme because they involved GBH or a threat to life, and 82 instances of damage or desecration of Jewish property.
It recorded 1,844 incidents of abusive behaviour such as abuse verbally or via social media, anti-Semitic graffiti, and one-off hate mail. There were 10 incidents of mass-mailed anti-Semitic leaflets or emails.
