Are rising levels of antisemitism triggering an ‘exodus’ of British Jews to Israel?

The scene of an arson attack at Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow, north-west London on 19 April 2026

Judy Maltz reports in Haaretz on 21 April 2026:

The number of British Jews immigrating to Israel last year reached a 40-year high. Is this because antisemitism has become so intolerable that they no longer see a future in the country?

A report published this week by the London-based Institute for Jewish Policy Research challenges this claim, which appears to be gaining traction in recent weeks amid a series of attacks on Jewish community institutions.

“The British Jewish community is not on the brink of an exodus,” the report concludes. “The overwhelming majority of Jews are staying and feel able to practice their Judaism in the U.K.”

It notes, however, that “rising levels of antisemitism are making questions of belonging, security and long-term viability notably more salient than before.”

According to Israeli government figures, a total of 742 British Jews immigrated to Israel in 2025 – the largest number since the mid-1980s. This surge coincided with a spike in antisemitic incidents that began after October 7 and has included the first deadly act of terror against a Jewish target on British soil. Two people were killed on Yom Kippur in this attack outside the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in Manchester.

In recent weeks, about half a dozen Jewish institutions in the country have been targeted in a series of attacks that has thus far only caused property damage. But this growing wave, sparked by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, has raised anxiety levels among Britain’s 300,000-strong Jewish community.

Still, an analysis of Jewish emigration trends indicates that last year’s total was not much higher than the norm. Indeed, according to the JPR report, the annual count has remained within a fairly narrow range over the past two decades – somewhere between a low of 400 and a high of 740, with an average of about 550 each year.

“Given the fundamental Jewish connection with Israel and that the size of the U.K. Jewish population has been fairly steady over this period, this is about as low and stable a picture as one can reasonably imagine,” the authors write.

They note that in 2023, only 396 British Jews moved to Israel – the lowest number in two decades – while in 2024, the number totaled 561, which is more or less the annual average for the past 20 years.

“When the figures are smoothed out between 2023 and 2025, it is distinctly possible that the high count in 2025 is simply a ‘catch up’ – due to the particularly low count in 2023, which was likely a result of individuals delaying their Aliyah plans due to the political turmoil in Israel in 2023 prior to October 7 and/or the October 7 attacks and subsequent war,” the authors write, concluding that “a contextual assessment of 2025 data at this point in time suggests that it may be a reflection of business as usual.”

The absolute numbers, according to the report, also remain small relative to the size of the local Jewish community. On average, two out of every 1,000 British Jews make Aliyah every year – as compared with more than six out of every 1,000 French Jews.

Based on the Jewish experience in modern times, the authors write, mass migration occurs when at least 70-75 Jews for every 1,000 in a given country decide to pick up and leave. “So, in a historical and international context, there is nothing close to what one might describe as a Jewish ‘exodus’ from the U.K.,” they conclude.

The report notes, at the same time, that the “internal conversation” among British Jews about leaving has changed somewhat since October 7 and the subsequent rise of antisemitism, citing surveys conducted in the past three years that asked British Jews who were contemplating leaving about how likely they were to act on this impulse.

“Closer analysis indicates that many individuals have moved up a notch or two on the scale over the period shown – mild shifts that do not point to their imminent migration, but suggest that the possibility has become a little more likely from wherever it was previously,” the authors note.

These surveys, however, were conducted before the Yom Kippur synagogue attack and the recent wave of antisemitic attacks that followed the outbreak of the Iran war. Addressing the absence of more updated data, the authors note: “It is possible that attitudes may have shifted somewhat since those major incidents, although it seems unlikely that they will have changed dramatically … Yet, the cumulative effect of multiple troubling if not deadly antisemitic attacks can certainly take a toll over time, and these are occurring far more regularly at present than prior to the October 7 attacks.”

Noting that “migration is not a one-way street,” the report points to the nearly doubling of the number of Israelis living in the United Kingdom since the start of the millennium. According to the report, roughly 26,000 U.K.-born Jews live in Israel, while about 23,000 Israeli-born Jews live in the United Kingdom.

“The similarity of these two figures suggests that migration levels in the two directions have been broadly balanced thus far in the 21st Century – overall, for every one Jew leaving the U.K., there has been one Israeli moving to the U.K.,” the authors write.

“This is critical to bear in mind, and should serve as a reminder that Aliyah data, however dramatic, need to be examined in this context too.”

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