The United Kingdom government adopts a comprehensive plan against antisemitism in schools

The UK has adopted sweeping measures to combat antisemitism in English schools, prompting praise from Jewish leaders and pushback from the country’s largest teachers’ union, which accused Israel of genocide.

The move came after a new government-commissioned review that found that three in five Jewish students reported experiencing antisemitism in English schools. The most common incidents were jokes, stereotypes and comments about Jewish people. About half of respondents who witnessed or experienced antisemitism said the incidents were not reported, most often because they did not think they were serious enough or that they would be taken seriously.

The government accepted 27 recommendations from the report, including dedicated antisemitism training for leaders and staff, improved recording of antisemitic incidents and steps to build a better understanding of Jewish life, identity and contemporary antisemitism.

The government commissioned the report following a spate of high-profile attacks on Jews in Britain, including a fatal attack on a synagogue in Manchester last year on Yom Kippur.

The report’s author, Sir David Bell, the vice chancellor of the University of Sunderland and former chief inspector of schools in England, recommended addressing antisemitism distinctly from other forms of racism. He argued that antisemitism was a “uniquely complex” problem because of intertwined racial and religious dimensions, since Jewish identity can encompass both an ethnicity and a religion, along with expressions of prejudice that hold all Jews responsible for the actions of Israel.

British Education Secretary Lucy Powell called Bell’s review a “generational moment” and said that “implementation is now my priority.”

The government will also encourage English schools to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. The definition is backed by many mainstream Jewish organizations and has been adopted by 47 countries, including the UK, and a range of companies, universities and other organizations.

The report on antisemitism in schools had recommended adopting the IHRA definition. The report found that antisemitism was most likely to occur in social areas, online or on social media and in lessons or classrooms.