The number of antisemitic incidents committed in Germany almost doubled in 2023 compared to the year before, according to a new report by a group that tracks antisemitism in the country.
The Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (Rias) reports that a total of 4,782 antisemitic incidents were recorded last year, an 80% increase on the previous year, with two-thirds of these cases occurring after October 7th.
On that day, the Palestinian terror group Hamas brutally massacred 1,200 Israeli civilians and kidnapped more than 200 more, after which Israel launched an offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The war has been ongoing since, and the offensive has sparked anti-Israel protests all across Europe, mainly within Muslim-majority communities.
Out of the 4,782 antisemitic incidents in Germany, seven were categorised as being extremely violent, including an arson attack against a synagogue in Berlin and serious bodily harm caused to an Israeli Jew in a train station in the capital. Other cases include 121 physical attacks, 329 instances of property damage—mostly with antisemitic graffiti and stickers—and 183 threats. An example cited by Rias was a letter written to the Jewish community leaders in Freiburg, stating that there would soon be another Reichskristallnacht, a pogrom against Jews.
The majority of incidents, more than 4,000, fall into the category of ‘offensive behaviour,’ such as anti-Semitic insults and hateful social media posts. According to the report, there have been more than 800 anti-Israel protests since October 7th, and a recurring pattern is that Jews in Germany are being held responsible for the actions of the Israeli government.
Of last year’s incidents, 1,583 took place in the street—more than double the previous year’s figure—and 999 on the internet, an increase from 853 in 2022. Rias recorded 471 incidents at educational institutions and 311 on public transport, both more than double the previous year.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Criminal Police Office have separately reported the rise of antisemitism since last autumn, according to Süddeutsche Zeitung. “An open but above all carefree Jewish life has become even less possible in Germany as well since October 7th,” says Benjamin Steinitz, managing director of Rias.
As we previously reported, a stunning 80% of the Jewish religious congregation leaders surveyed at the end of last year stated that life has become more unsafe for Jews—specifically Jews who wish to express their faith in public in any form—since the October massacre.
A senior official with Germany’s Central Council of Jews, Daniel Botmann, said that “we are not currently seeing the effect of an emigration of Jews from Germany,” contrasting that with movement that has been seen from neighbouring France in recent years.
A quarter of French Jews say they have been the victim of an antisemitic act since October 7th, and 366 antisemitic incidents were recorded in the first quarter of 2024, representing an increase of 300% compared to the first three months of 2023. Last month, French police shot dead a man armed with a knife and a crowbar who was trying to set fire to a synagogue in the northern city of Rouen. In an even more horrendous incident last week, a 12-year-old girl was raped and beaten by three minors because she was Jewish.
