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 organisation was praised for its role in preventing an even worse atrocity.
The sight of volunteers in the charity’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 also playing a role countering hatred towards other communities.
In the two years since the 7 October 2023 attacks in Israel and the start of the war in Gaza, the organisation’s staffing has increased by about a third against the backdrop of a rise in antisemitic offences. There were 3,282 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.
Graph shows average number of hate crimes recorded per 10,000 people, categorised by the perceived religion of the victim.
While it became a charity in 1994, the CST and its predecessors have recorded and published antisemitic incident figures in the UK since 1984.
Today, its work revolves around more than 100 members of staff and 2,000 dedicated volunteers who undergo intensive training in everything from first aid to carrying out security. While its volunteers have been hurt in the past, the severe injuries to one of its personnel in Manchester is believed to be the most serious yet.
“We pray for his continuing recovery and salute the courage of all those who helped stop the terrorist from getting into the shul [synagogue],” said the CST’s chief executive, Mark Gardner.
The CST presence at sites is often a mixture of its own volunteers, including trained congregants, as well as private security guards. As a recipient of funding from the Home Office, the CST distributes an £18m government grant that pays for commercial security guards. These were deployed last year at sites including 200 nurseries, 260 synagogues and 50 high-profile communal buildings. The CST itself relies on donations.
Less visible is the CST’s wider work in training, advising on security and its long-standing research into antisemitism from sources including neo-Nazis and radical Islamists.
Its work in this sphere has contributed to cases including the jailing in 2021 of a man who was then one of the UK’s most prolific far-right antisemitic video streamers. Counter-terrorism police were alerted to his activity by the CST.
The charity also works closely with partners including Tell Mama – the national project that records and measures anti-Muslim incidents in the UK, and which has described the CST’s work as “groundbreaking”.
Both are in a formal partnership with other anti-hate organisations as part of the Community Alliance to Combat Hate (CATCH) partnership.
CST’s work, which other communities have drawn on, also includes its guide for security procedures for places of worship. In other areas, it runs tailored youth street awareness courses for teenagers in conjunction with Maccabi GB, the sports, health and wellbeing charity, under the Streetwise programme
Other work includes partnerships with the police and with MPs, while it meets regularly with ministers and feeds into government policy on antisemitism. While the CST works across the Jewish community, an organisation called Shomrim also monitors antisemitism and works on behalf of Haredi Jewish communities.
