In a stark warning, Donald Trump’s former antisemitism envoy has highlighted the alarming rise of antisemitic sentiments across the United Kingdom, urging political leaders to take decisive action. Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, during a brief visit to the UK, emphasized the urgent need for intervention, particularly calling on Sir Keir Starmer to address the increasing wave of protests.

Rabbi Kaploun shared that he has been overwhelmed with pleas from British Jews seeking assistance. “Visiting England was prioritized by my office,” he explained to The Telegraph. “We’ve received numerous requests from individuals in the UK, appealing for help in collaborating with the government to curb the rampant antisemitism affecting various regions of the country.”

The call for action comes in the wake of a significant spike in antisemitic incidents following the attacks by Hamas on October 7, 2023. A report from The Community Security Trust underscores this surge, noting an unprecedented rise in hostility against Jewish communities.

Alarmingly, over the past year, there have been 3,700 recorded incidents targeting Jews, a figure Rabbi Kaploun describes as indicative of a severe breakdown in public order during Starmer’s tenure as leader. The rabbi’s remarks underscore the pressing need for strategic measures to combat this troubling trend.

In the last year alone, 3,700 incidents of hate towards Jews were recorded.

Rabbi Kaploun said the ‘alarming’ statistics were representative of a ‘tremendous breakdown in law and order’ under Starmer’s leadership. 

He added: ‘It’s a record that is sad because we’re dealing in a society that, instead of being able to work on programmes that decrease antisemitism, we’re seeing a tremendous rise. 

‘It’s kind of a sad indictment that we’re not learning from history to protect our children and give them a better future.’  

The US President’s antisemitism tsar Rabbi Yehuda Kaploun, 57, has claimed antisemitism is ‘running riot’ in the United Kingdom

He urged Sir Keir Starmer to take action in a bid to stop protests from antisemites across the country (Pictured: Starmer at 10 Downing Street on Feb 11, 2025)

Two men were killed on October 2, 2025, when Jihah Al-Shamie targeted Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue in a terrorist attack. 

Al-Shamie was shot dead by police at the scene after ramming his car into the place of worship and stabbing Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, to death. 

In a call made to 999 moments after the killings, he reportedly told call handlers: ‘I have killed two Jews in the name of the Islamic State.’

Rabbi Kaploun has now accused authorities of allowing antisemitism to fester in the UK in the lead up to the attack, which he says was ultimately inevitable. 

‘It didn’t come in a vacuum,’ the Orthodox rabbi admitted. ‘If you’re going to have three years of rising incidents of antisemitism, it escalates. 

‘And if it goes unchecked, and if it goes without law and order, which is the basic premise for people to be able to live freely, then you’re going to get unfortunate results that occurred in Manchester on Yom Kippur.’ 

Police launched an investigation only this week after a group of pro-Palestine canvassers were accused of engaging in a ‘Jew hunt’ when they went door-to-door in Sheffield asking locals to boycott Israeli products.  

Campaigner Jean Hatchet and her partner confronted members of the Sheffield Apartheid-Free Zone (AFZ) campaign on Sunday as they walked through the Woodseats area of the northern city.

Two men were killed on October 2, 2025, when Jihah Al-Shamie (pictured) targeted a synagogue in Manchester

Tributes to Adrian Daulby, 53, and Melvin Cravitz, 66, were laid outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation following the attack 

The altercation turned ugly as Ms Hatchet and her partner yelled ‘Jew Hunt’ at the trio of men. One of the men appeared to headbutt Ms Hatchet’s partner.

And later, after being followed to outside a local Asda, another activist appears to grab a sign out of Ms Hatchet’s partner’s hand and fold it up; video footage appears to show the woman’s hand grabbing his backpack before he spins around.

Police say they are investigating multiple reports of assault. They are also enquiring whether video footage of the incidents was ‘edited’.

The Sheffield AFZ is one of a number of grassroots groups that has sprung up seeking to encourage people not to support Israeli businesses amid the country’s ongoing war with Hamas in Gaza.

But critics say that groups like these may actually encourage antisemitism – or leave Jewish people frightened if they are confronted on their own doorsteps.

Ms Hatchet – who is not Jewish – told the Daily Mail that she and her partner went to find the doorknockers after being alerted to their activities on social media. 

She later shared multiple videos of the confrontation online. Some were filmed on her phone, while others were captured on her partner’s body-worn camera, which appeared to be worn underneath a jacket.

‘We thought we’d go down there and see what they were doing,’ Ms Hatchet said.

‘That was the only intention we had, to see if it was as bad as it looked and sounded.

‘We found these guys in the street and as you can see in the video it was a few questions about what they were looking to do.

‘They were handing out leaflets that they were targeting a specific set of people [Jews] even if they weren’t naming them.

Pro-Palestine activists got into an altercation with people who accused them of ‘Jew hunting’ in Sheffield last weekend 

Jean Hatchet’s partner (pictured) carried a sign that read ‘no tolerance for Jew hatred’

‘One of the men stood on the path and he headbutted her. We began shouting what we thought they were doing, which was “Jew hunt”, trying to embarrass them into leaving, which worked.

‘They packed up and headed off down the street. We were walking behind them when one of them grabbed the sign from my partner. She reached to grab it and she was assaulted. She has put that to the police.’

Ms Hatchet said that video footage showing the man in red stumbling backwards before he headbutted her partner was the result of ‘a very steep hill’, and alleged that he had stepped into her path.

The AFZ activists say they are advocating for a boycott of Israeli products because Israel ‘thrives on international support’.

A leaflet it makes available online reads: ‘When we choose not to buy Israeli goods, it hits them where it hurts most – their economy. Boycotts have worked before.

‘They were a powerful factor in ending South African apartheid and together we can make them a success again.’ 

Last week, Jewish activists in Brighton accused pro-Palestine canvassers of engaging in a ‘campaign of intimidation’ by knocking on the doors of locals and asking them to boycott Israeli products.

Members of the Brighton and Hove Apartheid-Free Zone group were filmed going door-to-door in the city on February 7, asking residents to sign a pledge against goods manufactured in Israel.

The group says it is expressing solidarity with Palestinians who have been killed and displaced in Gaza, taking inspiration from the Anti-Apartheid Movement that targeted South Africa in the latter half of the 20th century.

But local Jewish activists have accused the group of engaging in a targeted campaign to whip up feelings of antisemitism towards British Jews. 

Israeli boycott groups like the Brighton and Hove AFZ have sprung up in greater numbers following Israel’s incursion into Gaza following the October 7 attacks by Hamas, which killed over 1,200 people, mostly Israelis.

Since then, the war with Hamas has killed an estimated 72,000 Palestinian people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Authority. It has also levelled most of the Gaza Strip and displaced 1.9 million Palestinians.

Israel’s actions in Gaza under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have prompted accusations of genocide and ethnic cleansing, which it denies.

But those who believe Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians are behind campaigns like the AFZ and calls to boycott companies that do business with the state, and companies of Israeli origin. 

In the years since the October 7 attacks, and Israel’s ongoing campaign in Gaza, there has also been a rise in antisemitic incidents across Britain.

A poll by YouGov last year, commissioned by the Campaign Against Antisemitism, also found that half of young Brits feel uncomfortable spending time with people who openly support Israel.

It also concluded that half of Brits believe Israel is treating Palestinians in the same way that Nazis treated the Jews.