Violent Antisemitic Attacks Rising Globally

(New York, N.Y.) – Coinciding with and immediately following the 11-day conflict between Israel and the U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), reports of antisemitic hate crimes, bigotry, and intolerance are spiking across the globe.

Around the United States and Europe, Jews are being targeted for physical attacks. In the United States, antisemitic acts reportedly rose by 80 percent this month, leading President Joe Biden to condemn “this hateful behavior at home and abroad.” Earlier this month in Los Angeles, a group of pro-Palestinian activists verbally and then physically assaulted Jewish patrons at a local restaurant. In New York, a Jewish man was beaten during a pro-Palestinian rally. Between May 9 and May 24, Britain’s Jewish community recorded 116 antisemitic incidents, compared to 11 during the same period in 2020. On May 16, for example, a convoy of at least 10 cars brandishing Palestinian flags drove approximately 200 miles across England to the predominantly Jewish London neighborhood of Golders Green. Police arrested at least four people after one participant shouted, “f— the Jews, rape their daughters.” The hatred is also spreading over social media, where more than 17,000 variations of “Hitler was right” have appeared recently on Twitter.

While Jewish communities vary in their opinions on and support of Israel, in 2021 Israel’s fight against Hamas and PIJ further highlighted the violent repercussions of the accusations that all Jews—merely by association—are responsible for the actions of Jewish state. Holding all Jews accountable—let alone enacting physical retribution—for the policies of Israel is a clear manifestation of antisemitism in our times.

In January, the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) released new resources evaluating the historical aspects of antisemitism and its modern manifestations. In CEP’s Antisemitism: A History and Antisemitism Resurgent: Manifestations Of Antisemitism In The 21st Century reports, CEP outlined information for understanding modern antisemitism and its resurgence in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East.

Antisemitism must be uniformly condemned in all of its forms, from all sides. Both the far left and the far right are guilty of promoting antisemitism. Far left antisemitism attacks the legitimacy of the Jewish nation-state in the form of anti-Zionism and targeting all Jews as representatives of Israel. Conversely, the far right is largely responsible for targeting Jewish life itself through violent attacks, such as the 2018 assault on Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue. Both sides have been responsible for violence, stemming from a common artificial fear of perceived Jewish power and the need to defend against it.

To read CEP’s report Antisemitism: A History, please click here.

To read CEP’s report Antisemitism Resurgent: Manifestations Of Antisemitism In The 21st Century, please click here.

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