Security Anti-terrorism charity that helped avert more deaths

One of those injured in Thursday’s attack on a synagogue in Manchester was working for the Community Security Trust (CST), it has emerged, as the charity was praised for its help preventing an even worse atrocity.

- Ben Quinn

The sight of volunteers in the organisation's hi-vis bibs has become familiar to anyone frequenting Jewish places of worship, schools and other sites in recent years. However, for decades it has also informed public policy by monitoring and combating antisemitism while playing a role countering hatred towards other communities.

In the two years since the 7 October attacks in Israel and the start of the conflict in Gaza, the CST’s staffing has increased by about a third against the backdrop of a rise in antisemitic offences. There were 3,282 reports of religious hate crimes targeted at Jewish people in the year to March 2024, up from 1,543 in the previous year, according to Home Office figures.

Separate data from the CST itself, based on the number of antisemitic incidents that have been reported to the charity, recorded 1,521 antisemitic incidents across the UK in the first half of this year.