Antisemitism during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war

On 8 October 2023, an Egyptian police officer shot and killed two Israeli tourists and an Egyptian tour guide in Alexandria, Egypt.[4][5][6][7]

On 18 October 2023, the El Hamma synagogue of El Hamma, Tunisia, which is a Jewish pilgrimage site and contains the tomb of 16th-century Kabbalist Rabbi Yosef Ma'aravi, was severely damaged during anti-Israel riots, with hundreds of people filmed setting fire to the building.[8][9][10]

After the war began, the Associated Press noted a rise in antisemitism on Chinese social media substantive enough that the Israeli embassy in Beijing had to filter comments on its social media account.[11]

An Israeli employee of the Israeli embassy in Beijing, China was stabbed and injured on 13 October.[11]

On 18 October, two molotov cocktails were thrown at a synagogue in the Mitte neighborhood of central Berlin. One person was arrested.[12] Following the firebombing, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declared, "Attacks on Jewish institutions and acts of violence on our streets are despicable and cannot be tolerated. Antisemitism has no place in Germany."[13][14]

On 22 October, Chancellor Scholz said, "I am deeply outraged by the way in which antisemitic hatred and inhuman agitation have been breaking out since that fateful October 7, on the internet, in social media around the world, and shamefully also here in Germany. Here in Germany, of all places. That is why our 'never again' must be unbreakable."[15]

In response to a rise in antisemitic incidents in France, the French government banned pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the country. In a televised address on 12 October 2023, French President Emmanuel Macron warned, "Let's remember that antisemitism has always been the precursor to other forms of hate: one day against the Jews, the next against the Christians, then the Muslims, and then all those who are still the target of hate due to their culture, origin or gender."[16]

At a pro-Palestinian protest in Warsaw on 21 October, Norwegian medical student Marie Andersen was pictured holding an antisemitic poster that showed the flag of Israel in a trash can alongside the text "keep the world clean."[17][18]

On 18 October 2023, the Or Zaruah synagogue in Melilla, a Spanish enclave in Morocco, was attacked by a mob chanting "murderous Israel" while waving Palestinian flags.[19][20][21]

On 13 October 2023, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said, "There's been a quite frankly disgusting rise in antisemitic incidents."[22] On 20 October 2023, The Guardian reported that according to the Metropolitan police, there has been a 1,350% increase in hate crimes against Jewish people since the war started.[23]

On 17 October 2023, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, "Since this conflict broke out, there has been a very scary rise of antisemitism here at home."[24]

On 25 October, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported antisemitic incidents in the U.S. had increased 388% since the war began, including assault, harassment, and vandalism.[25]

On October 9, a sukkah at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt was vandalized with anti-Israel graffiti.[26]

On October 10, a man threw rocks through the glass doors of a synagogue and cafe in Fresno, California, the second with a note reading “All Jewish businesses will be targeted”.[27]

On October 11, at Columbia University, a woman assaulted an Israeli man with a stick after he confronted her for ripping down posters with pictures and information about kidnapped Israelis. She has been charged with a hate crime.[28]

On October 11, a man was arrested for sending threatening emails to a synagogue in Charlotte, North Carolina.[29]

On October 14, a man in New York's Grand Central Terminal punched a woman in the face, telling her it was because she was Jewish.[30]

On October 15, in Berkeley, California, a billboard calling out antisemitism was defaced with antisemitic and anti-Israel graffiti, praising the Hamas attacks. Several buildings in San Francisco were also vandalized with similar messages, sparking condemnation from mayor London Breed and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.[31]

A Cornell University professor, Russell Rickford, spoke at an October 15 rally, calling the Hamas attacks "exhilarating". The university leadership condemned his remarks, and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Congresswoman Claudia Tenney called for him to be fired. He subsequently apologized for the remarks in The Cornell Daily Sun. On October 21, it was announced that Rickford would be taking a leave of absence for the remainder of the semester.[32]

On October 19, the Illinois Comptroller's office fired one of its lawyers, Sarah Chowdhury, over antisemitic remarks she made on the Instagram page of another lawyer, who is Jewish. Chowdhury was also fired from her position as president of the South Asian Bar Association of Chicago.[33]

On October 20, building next to a Jewish fraternity at the University of Pennsylvania was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti reading "The Jews R Nazis".[34]

On October 25, several Jewish students were barricaded inside a library at Cooper Union college while a crowd of pro-Palestine protestors pounded on the doors and windows and shouted slogans. The ADL, American Jewish Committee, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul condemned the incident.[35]

A man broke into a Jewish family's home in Los Angeles on October 25, yelling "Free Palestine" and "Kill Jews".[36]