Anti-Semitic hate crimes increased by 21 per cent in California in 2018 from the previous year.

A report issued on Tuesday by the California Department of Justice found that there were 126 hate crimes motivated by anti-Semitism in 2018, up from 104 incidents in 2017.

A high of 160 anti-Semitic hate crimes were reported in 2009, according to the report.

There were a total of 201 hate crimes based on religion in 2018, down from 207 the previous year. The religion with the next highest incidence of hate-crimes were Muslims, with 28 incidents down from 46.

There were a total of 1,066 hate crimes in California in 2018, down from 1,093 the previous year.