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LONDON (Reuters): Religious hate crimes in England and Wales rose by 25% in the year ending March 2024, primarily driven by an increase in anti-Jewish offences following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas conflict last October, official data showed on Thursday .
The interior ministry said the number of offences recorded by police as motivated by a person’s religion or perceived religion rose to 10,484 from 8,370 the previous year.
Within that, crimes against those seen to be Jewish more than doubled to 3,282 from 1,543 in the previous year. Crimes against those seen to be Muslim increased to 3,866 from 3,432.
“This increase was driven by a rise in hate crimes against Jewish people and to a lesser extent Muslims and has occurred since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas conflict,” the government said in its summary of the data.
The figures echo data from the Community Security Trust, a Jewish body which monitors incidents, which showed antisemitism rising to record levels since the start of the conflict.
The overall number of recorded hate crimes fell to 140,561, down 5% from the previous year. Over two-thirds of hate crimes were racially motivated, in line with previous years, the government said.
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