Violent antisemitic incidents have risen across seven countries with the largest Jewish communities outside of Israel, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)’s J7 Task Force report published Wednesday.
These countries in the J7 report include Germany, France, the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and Argentina.
The report's publication coincides with the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
The J7 Task Force, which was established in July 2023, has sounded the alarm about the intensifying attacks on Jewish communities, especially since Hamas' 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel, when its militants killed around 1,200 people, most of them civilians.
The report states that attacks on Jewish schools, synagogues and businesses, alongside individuals, have increased significantly, in some cases more than doubling in 2023 compared to the previous year.
In Germany, antisemitic incidents increased 75% from 2021 to 2023, 185% in France and 82% in the UK.
Senior vice president of international affairs at ADL, Marina Rosenberg, says that because people are being harassed just for being Jewish, "many Jews around the world are hiding their Jewish symbols," such as the Star of David.
She says that some people from the community are even going as far as changing their names to sound less Jewish on ride-sharing apps.
Political extremes fuel violence
Antisemitism has continued to rise in Germany across both political extremes. Violence fuelled by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party's rhetoric has increased, as well as attacks from Muslims and even the centre of society, who are pro-Palestinian.
According to the report, the continuing rise of the AfD "poses a major challenge. The AfD provides an environment for antisemites to flourish. It has close links to right-wing extremist circles, for whom it acts as the political arm in parliament. It is also a threat to Jewish religious life," the report states.
The perpetrators of the attacks are not just limited to the far-right or far-left.
"We've been seeing a normalisation of antisemitism in societies across the political spectrum. So it's not only an issue of far-right or far-left or from Islamists or jihadists it's all over our societies. And therefore, what is required, not just here in Germany, but around the world, is a whole of society approach," Rosenberg tells Euronews.
Last year, students across Europe took part in pro-Palestinian protests at universities, which in some cases resulted in violence and the arrest of students. In one case, three EU citizens were threatened with deportation from Germany following a sit-in at a Berlin university, where the building was vandalised and members of staff allegedly threatened.
Attacks on the rise
Rosenberg says civil society and universities need to do more to combat antisemitism.
"The threat of antisemitism is not just against Jews. It's against all of society. And it really goes against any democratic values that our liberal societies believe in," Rosenberg explained.
"We've always said that antisemitism is the canary in the coal mine. And what starts with the Jews never ends with the Jews. And we know this here in Germany, and we know it in Europe, and we know it around the world," she added.
The attacks are not just limited to harassment and vandalism, but also physical assaults and violence.
The J7 report states that police statistics show 3,200 crimes motivated by antisemitism between 1 January 2024 and 7 October 2024 in Germany.
This would be a decrease from 2023, but the report also stipulates that RIAS, the civil society reporting office for antisemitic incidents (including criminal offences and non-criminal acts), recorded almost 3,000 antisemitic incidents the previous year, between 7 October 2023 and the end of the same year.
Additionally, RIAS also reported that 1,383 antisemitic incidents had already been recorded during the first half of 2024, which was the highest number in any previous year. 21 of these incidents involved Jewish memorial sites.
"When somebody is silent, when they're seeing Jews harassed in the street, they need to understand not only that morally, it's their obligation to do something, but that they might be next," Rosenberg said.
"If it's immigrants or women or LGBTQ+, etc, when liberal societies fail to protect their minorities, they're failing to protect the democratic values," she concluded.
