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A person injured during the recent violent incident at a synagogue in Manchester was serving with the CST, an organization credited for averting an more severe tragedy.

Recognizable Sight of Helpers

The sight of helpers in the organization's high-visibility bibes has become a familiar presence at Jewish synagogues, schools, and other locations in recent years.

For decades, the group has also influenced government strategies by monitoring and combating anti-Jewish sentiment, while additionally addressing hostility against other communities.

Rising Anti-Jewish Offenses

Over the past 24 months since the October 7th, 2023 attacks in Israel and the start of the conflict in Gaza, the organization's staffing has increased by approximately 33% against the backdrop of a surge in antisemitic offenses.

According to government statistics, there were over three thousand religious hate crimes targeted at individuals of Jewish faith in the 12 months ending March 2024, up from around 1,500 in the previous year.

Additional statistics from the CST, based on the count of anti-Jewish events notified to the group, 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, grouped by the assumed faith of the victim.

Established Recording and Training

Although it attained non-profit organization in 1994, the Community Security Trust and its predecessors have been recording and releasing antisemitic incident figures in the UK since 1984.

Today, its activities involve more than 100 employees and two thousand committed volunteers who receive comprehensive instruction in everything from emergency medical care to carrying out protective tasks.

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 to date.

Management Response and Security Measures

"Our thoughts are for his ongoing healing and commend the courage of all those who assisted in halting the attacker from entering the shul," said the CST’s chief executive.

The organization's deployment at sites often comprises a mixture of its own volunteers, including trained congregants, as well as contracted protection officers.

Being a beneficiary of funding from the Home Office, the trust allocates an 18 million pound public funds that covers commercial security guards.

These were deployed last year at locations encompassing 200 nurseries, 260 Jewish temples, and fifty prominent communal buildings.

The organization independently depends on donations.

Wider Activities and Collaborations

Not as apparent is the CST’s wider work in education, providing security guidance, and its long-standing study into antisemitism from origins including neo-Nazis and radical Islamists.

These efforts in this sphere have led to legal proceedings including the imprisonment in 2021 of a man who was at the time one of the UK’s most active far-right antisemitic video streamers.

Counter-terrorism police were notified about his activity by the organization.

The non-profit also collaborates extensively with allies such as a national anti-Muslim hate monitoring project – the UK-wide initiative that documents and tracks Islamophobic events in the UK, and which has referred to the CST’s work as "groundbreaking."

Both are in a formal partnership with additional anti-prejudice groups as part of the CATCH alliance.

Additional Programs and Public Engagement

The trust's operations, which different groups have utilized, also encompasses its guide for security procedures for places of worship.

Additionally, it operates customized youth street awareness courses for teenagers in conjunction with Maccabi GB, under the Streetwise GB programme.

Additional activities includes partnerships with the police and with elected officials, while it meets regularly with government representatives and feeds into public strategies on antisemitism.

While the CST serves the Jewish community, an group called a community watch organization also monitors antisemitism and works on behalf of Haredi Jewish groups.