Illustrative. Photo: Reuters / Vincent Kessler.

The number of hate crimes targeting Jews in England and Wales more than doubled in a year, according to new data published by the UK Home Office this week.

A total of 1,326 such offenses were recorded in 2018/19, up from 672.

Jews were the targets of 18 percent of all hate crimes. Muslims were the most-targeted group, at 47 percent (3,530 offenses).

The Jewish Chronicle quoted a spokesperson for the Community Security Trust (CST) as saying, “The doubling in antisemitic hate crime over the past year is further shocking evidence that antisemitism is an urgent problem in this country that needs to be tackled.”

“It is vital that these hate crime reports lead to prosecutions and CST will continue working with Police and the CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) to try to ensure this is the case,” the spokesperson added.