the Rising anti-Semitism The aftermath of the October 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist massacre in Israel paved the way for attacks on Jewish communities around the world. Throughout the past year, schools, community centers and places of worship have faced threats, intimidation and physical violence.
Rabbi Moshe Hauer, executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, told Fox News Digital that throughout 2024, the “supposed level of security” experienced by the American Jewish community has changed. “It's hard, when you have a place that you call home, and suddenly it doesn't feel like home.” As the environment of “rampant anti-Semitism” in the United States becomes “an accepted part of daily life,” Hauer said the issue “is still considered a problem for the Jewish people and not a stain on society.”
Hauer said the surprise of the transformation was striking. “It was as if we were a source of darkness,” he explained. “All those who we stood shoulder to shoulder with to fight for their needs and fight for their rights suddenly didn’t recognize us, so this is paradoxical.”
Calls on us to do more as anti-Semitism surges in Europe: 'Extremely painful'
Anti-Semitic hatred appears at anti-Israel demonstration in London. Anti-Semitism in the UK has reached record levels since the Hamas terror attacks on 7 October. (Campaign Against Antisemitism on X)
The Anti-Defamation League counted more than 10,000 anti-Semitic incidents between Oct. 7, 2023, and Oct. 6, 2024, up from 3,325 incidents during the previous year, representing the highest annual total counted by the group. It includes more than 8,000 incidents of harassment, 150 physical assaults, and 1,840 acts of vandalism. More than half of these incidents combined occurred at anti-Israel rallies (more than 3,000) or at Jewish institutions (more than 2,000).
Some politicians and the United Nations have stoked domestic hatred against Israel. In January, the Chicago City Council passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza without also calling for the disarmament of Hamas, drawing widespread condemnation from Jewish community leaders.
Despite being condemned by many US officials and the State Department for spreading anti-Semitism, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese visited several US universities in October while presenting her latest report to the UN General Assembly. During a stop at Barnard College, Albanese described Israel's war in Gaza as genocide, justified the October 7 attack, and questioned Israel's right to exist. The Times of Israel reported.
The victim, described by the United Jewish Fund as a “member of the Jewish community,” was shot in the shoulder in Chicago in an anti-Semitic hate crime. (Fox 32 Chicago)
The hatred that had been seeping onto college campuses took a new form when anti-Israel encampments appeared at educational institutions across the country during the spring semester. During some protests in the camps, Jewish students were excluded from their campus spaces.
Terrorist flags were raised in American streets and universities during anti-Israel protests. School administrators and business leaders who angered anti-Israel protesters have had their homes and businesses branded With an inverted red triangle Used by Hamas to refer to military targets. In July, demonstrators replaced the American flag with the Palestinian flag in Washington, D.C., and wrote “Hamas is coming” on a statue of Christopher Columbus.
In September, Canadian and American authorities thwarted an ISIS-inspired attack on the Jewish community. On October 26, a Mauritanian national who entered the country illegally in March 2023 shot a Jewish worshiper in Chicago before engaging in a shootout with police and paramedics. Chicago leaders waited five days before confirming the religious identity of the suspect's target and suggesting that the shooter intentionally targeted the Jewish community.
Jewish students at El Camino Real Charter High School go on strike to protest anti-Semitic incidents at the Woodland Hills, Calif., school on Tuesday, February 27, 2024 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Sarah Ringwertz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)
Brooke Goldstein, a human rights attorney and founder of The Lawfare Project, addressed the motivation behind the climate of intolerance, telling Fox News Digital that “President Biden and largely Democratic leaders in major cities across the country have failed to act to rein in Jews.” Hate because it is politically inexpedient for them to enforce the civil rights of Jewish Americans and ensure public safety.”
She said, “For years, the progressive left ignored the hatred of Jews coming from within its ranks, and chose to ignore the fact that the Jewish people are a minority that still needs legal protection support in the face of Marxist tendencies.” Islamist-inspired attacks on their identity, their indigenous right to their ancestral homeland, and their ability to enjoy equal protection under the law, and their politicians downplay Jewish identity to avoid being accused of hypocrisy, given their support for social justice for all people. Another of Jews – and even to avoid prosecuting attacks against Jews as hate crimes, especially when the attackers are members of other minority communities.
An anti-Israel banner reading “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free” during a demonstration near Tulane University in New Orleans. This phrase has been criticized because it calls for the destruction of Israel. (Credit: Ryan Zamos)
Hate all over the world
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean and director of global social action for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told Fox News Digital that he feels the world is “at a turning point” regarding anti-Semitic intolerance. With social media influencers “normalizing” hatred for Israel, national leaders around the world escalating anti-Israel rhetoric and extremists “don’t feel like they will be held accountable” when they target the Jewish community, Rabbi Cooper explained it is “a perfect storm.”
In EuropeAnti-Semitic hate incidents rose by 800% seen in Sweden between 2022 and 2023. Jews across Europe reported that they no longer wore clothing that might identify their religion and sometimes changed their names to avoid being targeted. In France, there was a 430% increase in the number of Jews applying to immigrate to Israel from 2022 to 2023.
Although Ireland has a small Jewish population, it has seen a rise in anti-Semitic hatred and Jewish self-censorship. In December, Israel announced that it would close its embassy in the country, citing statements by Irish leaders.Delegitimization and demonization to the Jewish state.”
The UK has also seen a significant increase in anti-Semitic hatred Community Security Fund A record 1,978 anti-Semitic incidents were reported in the first half of 2024. This included a 246% increase in “damages and desecration of Jewish property” between the first six months of 2023 and the first six months of 2024. The anti-Semitism watchdog said in March, because of its pro-Hamas climate, It became London “The most anti-Semitic city” in the world.
In late November, a bus carrying Jewish schoolchildren was attacked with stones after demonstrators harassed those on board. Days earlier, a man threw bottles at a group of Jewish teenagers, wounding one of his targets and sending him to the hospital.
The headlines about hatred for the Jewish community abroad were appalling. In June, a 12-year-old Jewish girl was raped in France by teenagers because of her religion. In November, the body of Chabad Rabbi Zvi Kogan was found dead in the United Arab Emirates after he disappeared from his home in Abu Dhabi.
Anti-Israel agitators terrorize Americans: Watch the most extreme moments of 2024
At York University in Canada, anti-Semitic graffiti was sprayed on a classroom on October 26, 2023. (Courtesy of the Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus)
More than nine synagogues around the world have been the target of arson since October 7, according to a social media post from Hein Mazij, a senior fellow at the Tel Aviv Institute. The latest attack occurred on December 18 in Montreal at a synagogue that was also targeted in November 2023. Just two days later, shots were fired overnight at a Jewish elementary school in Toronto, the New York Post reported. This was the third school shooting since May, according to The Times of Israel.
Another recent arson attack occurred at a synagogue in Melbourne, Australia, on December 6. The Simon Wiesenthal Center responded to the incident by issuing a travel warning for Australia, explaining that the country's leaders had failed to stand up against “Constant demonization, harassment, Violence against Jews and Jewish institutions.”
A member of the Jewish community retrieves a piece from the Adas Israel Synagogue on December 6, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. An arson attack on Melbourne's Adas Israel Synagogue forced worshipers to flee as flames tore through the building early Friday morning. (I'm Not Afraid/Getty Images)
Just a month ago, the Simon Wiesenthal Center issued a similar warning to the Netherlands after a soccer match led to a “Jew witch hunt,” in which Jewish fans were tracked down and assaulted in the city. The incident sparked another attempted “Jew witch hunt” in Antwerp and attacks on a youth football team in Berlin.
When Cooper's group put out the travel warning for the Netherlands, he told Fox News Digital that “in theory, you could issue a travel warning almost everywhere in Western Europe.”
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Anti-Israel demonstrators carry a banner and chant at a demonstration in London, December 9, 2023. (Photo by Andy Solomon/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
In the United States, as anti-Jewish bigotry permeates elite universities, the workplace, the medical community, and the entertainment industry, Rabbi Cooper concluded that “the challenges ahead will be very daunting.” He also noted that he has hope because of the resilience of the Jewish community and the security that American democracy provides.
Many appointees of President Trump's incoming administration, including incoming U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Elise Stefanik, are “advocates for our community,” Cooper said. And when they start implementing new policies, he said he believes “a lot of good things can happen too quickly.”
