Antisemitism in Britain often erupts in sudden, violent shocks. In late 2025, two such attacks—a synagogue assault in Manchester that killed two Jewish worshippers and the Bondi beach attack that left 15 dead—plunged Jewish communities into fear and forced the nation to pay attention. Yet, as historian David Feldman notes, the government’s familiar response of swift condemnation and security reviews rarely leads to lasting change, allowing the cycle of hatred to repeat.
The crisis has grown so severe that the United States is reportedly discussing offering amnesty to British Jews. Feldman, director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, argues that understanding the problem requires a longer view. Britain’s Jewish history stretches back centuries, including expulsion in the 13th century and a ban that lasted for centuries. Jews only resettled in significant numbers in the late 1600s, and even then, discrimination was embedded in law and public life.
For example, a 1753 bill to allow foreign Jews to naturalise was abandoned after public outcry, and it was not until 1858 that a practising Jew could sit in Parliament. Benjamin Disraeli, already an MP, had converted to Christianity at age 12. Well into the late 20th century, private schools imposed quotas on Jewish pupils, and barriers existed in the legal and medical professions. As late as 1973, Feldman’s own parents were denied membership to a golf club because they were Jewish.
Today, Britain’s Jewish community is a small minority of about 300,000 people—0.5% of the population—and is far from monolithic, shaped by class, race, politics, and religious practice. Feldman highlights a central challenge: “We are living through a breakdown in consensus over what antisemitism is. That makes the problem harder to deal with, because it makes it controversial, and it feeds into the fear and anxiety being felt by some Jewish people.” Without a shared definition, efforts to confront hatred are likely to remain ineffective.
