One of the UK's richest men has said Britain has become "so hostile" for Jewish people that he is applying for German citizenship in the event he needs to leave. Cardiff-born investor Sir Michael Moritz, who is the richest Welshman to ever live, has previously written about his family's experience with the Nazis and how antisemitism is "always in the air". He has revealed that he is applying for a German passport as an "insurance policy", citing incidents like the attacks on Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester last year.

His grandparents, Max and Minnie Moritz, were among those killed during the Holocaust. Moritz had spent most of his working life in the US, where he said antisemitism was present, but not as bad as it is in the UK. He told BBC News that he has cousins "who live less than half a mile from the Heaton Park synagogue", recalling the October 2025 attack that took the lives of Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby. "And while they weren't members of that particular synagogue, they knew a whole bunch of people who were there," Moritz said.

He also said there were kids in the North East of England who were no longer wearing their school blazers in fear that people would recognise them as students of a Jewish school. "It's all these anecdotes that strike home more than anything else," he said.

Explaining why he is now applying for a German passport, he revealed: "I think it's the one place in Europe where what happened [nearly] 100 years ago forms a very central part of the educational system, so you have generations that have been reared with that as part of their consciousness.

"Does that mean it will prevent dreadful things happening in the future? No, but it gives me some mild form of reassurance."

The volunteer-run Community Security Trust (CST), an organisation that provides security and monitors antisemitism in the UK, said it received a spike in reports following the Heaton Park synagogue attack last year.

It revealed that 40 incidents were recorded on the day of the attack and 40 the day after, saying that more than half of the incidents involved reactions to the attack. Three involved "face-to-face taunting and celebration of the attack to Jewish people", while 39 took place online.

According to the CST, 3,700 anti-Jewish hate incidents were recorded in 2025, up 4% from 3,556 in 2024. Last year, it reported 217 incidents which involved damage and desecration to Jewish property, including the homes and vehicles of Jewish people as well as synagogues.