Israel-Hamas war: A look at antisemitism, anti-Zionism amid rising hate crimes in West

The war between Israel and Hamas has seen a rise in antisemitsm and anti-Zionism across the West. In the United States, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) says incidents have spiked 300 per cent year on year since the Hamas attack while police in the United Kingdom say London has seen a ‘massive spike’ in such suspected incidents. France has reported dozens of antisemitic acts while authorities in Germany have vowed to do ‘everything possible’ to protect Jews. But what is antisemitism? What is antizionism? How are the two different? And what is happening in Western nations? Let’s take a closer look: What are they? How are they different? The ADL defines antisemitism as any behaviour or belief hostile towards Jews because they are Jewish. This may be on the basis of religious scriptures which declare Jews are inferior or include political attempts to “isolate, oppress or injure” Jews. This may also comprise holding opinions about Jews that are biased or stereotyped.

The ADL defines anti-Zionism as being opposed to Zionism.

Zionism is a movement that stands for the Jews’ right to self-govern and have a state of their own in their ancestral land of Israel. As per the BBC, Zionism as a political movement originated in 19th Century Europe. The movement’s aim was the settling of a Jewish state and opposing antisemitism. The word Zion, in the Hebrew bible, refers to Jerusalem. Anti-Zionism is essentially rejecting the notion that Jews have a right to their own state and the right to self-govern. It can also include disparaging and demeaning individuals and groups associated with Zionism as well as displaying the Jews’ link – both physical and spiritual – with Israel. [caption id=“attachment_13230692” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] People attending a vigil outside Downing Street in London for victims and hostages of Hamas attacks, organised by The Board of Deputies of British Jews, in London. AP[/caption] Anti-Zionism as a concept seeks to undermine and even negate the legitimacy of the Jews having their own state, as per the ADL website. While a person criticising the government of Israel – say over the carpet bombing of the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the Hamas attacks or not giving Gazans enough time to leave – is not being antizionist or antisemitic per se. However, it isn’t quite that simple. As per BBC, some, like Labour peer Lord Levy argue the term “Zionist” is used as a slur to attack Jews. Levy told the BBC, “There can be criticism of the state of Israel, but anti-Semitism, using the word ‘Zionist’ as another form of anti-Semitism, frankly can no longer be tolerated. Others like ex-London mayor Ken Livingstone say the Israeli government and its backers in the West often conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism to ward off disapproval of their actions. Livingstone, who was suspended from Labour membership after a series of controversial remarks on Israel, told The Daily Politics, “Don’t confuse anti-Semitism with criticism of the Israeli government policy and treatment of the Palestinians.” “Few would deny there are anti-Semites who call themselves anti-Zionists, or that it’s possible to criticise Israel without being a racist or a bigot. But agreement on how exactly the two relate appears elusive,” the BBC piece noted. What’s happening in Western nations? Sadly, antisemitic sentiment and incidents seem to be on the rise in Western nations since the Hamas attack and Israel’s response. The ADL noted that “antisemitic rhetoric spiked across social media platforms, particularly on extremist favorites 4chan and Telegram. This includes a rise in the use of phrases that call for violence against Jews, Israelis and Zionists.” In the United States, members of the Jewish American community fear being targeted.

This, after antisemitic incidents in the US touched an all-time high in 2022 as per data from the ADL.

Oren Segal, the vice president of the Anti-Defamation League Center, told _ABC, “_We’ve already seen spikes in antisemitic incidents reported to us at ADL, and this is a trailing indicator. We know that in the weeks and and months ahead, there’s going to be even more reporting for this moment in time. So the Jewish community is feeling vulnerable and the incidents that are happening are backing that up.” Meredith Weisel, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League in the DC area, told the Washington Post, “Immediately, as we woke up to the news on Saturday, we talked to law enforcement.” “We have requested that they continue to increase patrols of Jewish institutions.” Britain has seen its number of antisemitic incidents quadruple compared to the same period the previous year, a Jewish charity has said. The Community Security Trust (CST), which advises Britain’s estimated 280,000 Jews on security matters, said further incidents could be reported in the coming days. BBC quoted CST as saying it recorded 89 “anti-Jewish hate” incidents from 7 to 10 October. The same period last year saw 21 “anti-Jewish” incidents. The CST in one incident an individual walking to synagogue on Sunday was called a “dirty Jew" by a stranger. The stranger also added, “No wonder you’re all getting raped”. Another incident in London saw a car outside a synagogue slow down and its occupants waving a Palestinian flag while exclaiming “Kill Jews" and “Death to Israel”. “Make no mistake: these are anti-Jewish racist incidents and hate crimes in which Jewish people, property and institutions are singled out for hate, including death threats and abuse. In many cases, the perpetrators of these disgraceful incidents are using the symbols and language of pro-Palestinian politics as rhetorical weapons with which to threaten and abuse Jewish people," the CST said in a statement as per BBC. The CST says any escalation in violence in Israel and Gaza often leads to antisemitic reactions in Britain. [caption id=“attachment_13265602” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] People gather outside the European Council on 9 October in Strasbourg, eastern France, two days after Hamas’s attack on the West Asian nation. AP[/caption] As per The Guardian, two Jewish schools in north London have shut in recent days over security concerns. Sky News reported that a third Jewish school in north London also shut down “in the interest of the safety”. The schools said they were requested to “raise the fence” to make it harder for people to “reach over”. BBC quoted Met Police deputy assistant commissioner Laurence Taylor as saying antisemitic incidents including intimidation outside synagogues and loudly playing German military music have occurred in London.

Taylor said that while Islamophobic incidents have also increased it is “nothing like the scale of the increase in antisemitism”.

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On Monday, hundreds of people gathered at two locations in central London to mark the attacks, with supporters of Israel gathering near the prime minister’s residence at Downing Street to hold a vigil, and pro-Palestinian protesters demanding an “Intifada revolution” near the Israeli embassy. Police said they had made three arrests at the demonstrations. Antisemitic incidents in Britain hit a record high in 2021, fuelled by a rise in violence in Israel and Gaza, and last year the CST recorded 1,652, down 27 per cent from the previous year. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has expressed his solidarity with Britain’s Jews and has said he would work to make sure they felt safe, while police have stepped up patrols to provide reassurance to Jewish communities. Taylor told the BBC a “very significant policing operation” has been put in place. “We have got more than a thousand officers dedicated to providing reassurance and security patrols across vulnerable locations,” he said. “Those patrols will continue into the foreseeable future”. Germany has seen vandals painting stars of David on several Jewish homes in Berlin. The Israeli embassy in Berlin called the incidents ‘reminiscent of the Third Reich’. Antonia Yamin, an Israeli reporter for German tabloid Bild, reported that the Star of David was scribbled on the front door of a Jewish home in Berlin. The owner of the home in the Prenzlauer Berg neighbourhood was instructed by the police to remove the scrawling and file a plaint online. “I have a mezuzah outside my apartment door, and I’m worried. I will not visit a synagogue tonight, I will not leave the house with a Star of David necklace and I will not speak Hebrew on the street today,” the resident told the reporter on Friday, adding that “the police have not contacted me until now.” The Israeli embassy in Berlin, responding to the report, said the case “brings back the worst memories, especially in Germany, and is unbearable.” “Antisemites make no distinction between Israelis and Jews in the Diaspora. They want to destroy all of us without exception.” Anna Staroselski, the vice president of the Deutsch-Israelische Gesellschaft, also posted other examples of similar incidents on X.

Berichte aus der jüdischen Community in Berlin. Gestern wurden private Wohnhäuser, in denen Jüdinnen/ Juden leben, mit Davidsternen markiert. pic.twitter.com/ZeL4Uw93sC

— Anna Staroselski (@AStaroselski) October 14, 2023

Stephan Kramer, former general secretary, Central Council of Jews in Germany, told Haaretz the lives of Jews could be under threat in the country. Kramer, now the chief of the domestic intelligence agency of the German state of Thuringia, said Hamas supporters could “no longer just leave it in demonstrations and hate speech and individual physical attacks, but possibly commit concrete attacks against Jewish and Israeli institutions and persons.” “Hamas is now calling again for open violence against Jews, Jewish restaurants, shops and synagogues in all parts of the world. Some Palestinians openly and blatantly demand a kind of Kristallnacht 2.0,” he added. As per The Telegraph UK, Germany has vowed to use ‘all legal means’ to deport Hamas supporters. Interior minister Nancy Faeser reassured the Jewish people in Germany by saying that the government “will do everything to protect you”. Germany has also banned Samidoun – a pro-Hamas group. [caption id=“attachment_13265612” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Representational image.[/caption] In France, police have arrested more than 20 people over dozens of antisemitic acts including harassment of Jewish children by fellow pupils at school, the government said last week. France is home to some of Europe’s largest Muslim and Jewish populations and conflicts in the West Asia can lead to tensions there - which Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the government aimed to avert with heightened police protection of Jewish sites, including schools and synagogues. “It’s important that all French people of Jewish faith know they are protected,” Darmanin said as he and Education Minister Gabriel Attal visited a Jewish school near Paris. Some 10,000 police are protecting 500 sites, Darmanin said.

Politico quoted Darmanin as saying over 100 antisemitic acts had occurred since the Hamas attack.

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Most of these involved graffiti displaying “swastikas, ‘death to Jews,’ calls to intifadas against Israel.” Attal said pupils of Jewish faith had faced problems in their schools, including a pupil in the wider Paris region who had been attacked by fellow pupils who ripped his t-shirt. Any such incidents would be referred to judicial authorities, he said. France has banned pro-Palestinian demonstrations after the Hamas attack. President Emmanuel Macron has urged French people not to allow the war in West Asia to erupt into tensions at home. ’’Let us not bring ideological adventures here (to France) by imitation or by projection. Let us not add national fractures … to international fractures,″ Macron pleaded. ’’Let us stay united.″ The French government has reported 24 arrests for more than 100 antisemitic acts in France since Hamas attacked Israel on Saturday, including verbal abuse, people caught with knives near Jewish schools and synagogues and a drone equipped with a camera spotted over a Jewish cultural center. More than 2,000 cases of antisemitic speech have been reported to an online watchdog force. What do experts say? That this tends to happen whenever Israel is in the news with regard to a conflict in West Asia. “It’s just a sad fact that whenever conflict arises between Israel and the Palestinians, Jews in all parts of the world will suffer some level of hate violence,” Heidi Beirich, co-founder of Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, told VOA.

Indeed, the statistics seem to bear this out.

Brian Levin, an extremism researcher at California State University, told VOA violent protests in Israel in October 2000 resulted in a massive 152 per cent hike in antisemitic hate crimes in the US. In May 2021, when Israel and Hamas clashed, antisemitic hate crimes in New York city spiked 187 per cent. Meanwhile, antisemitic crimes in Los Angeles increased nearly 400 per cent. The US wasn’t alone. “We saw spikes in London, and indeed, nearly every major European country that reported antisemitic hate crimes for 2021 showed increases,” Levin added. Maha Elgenaidi, founder and executive director of Islamic Networks Group in California, condemned acts of antisemitism as “horrific.” “I just think it’s fueling the anti-Semitism that has always existed in the United States and throughout Europe,” Elgenaidi, an Egyptian American, added. Elgenaidi said that while dialogue is the only way forward, it’s too early to have that conversation at the moment. Elgenaidi that people on both sides – in Israel and Gaza – are suffering. “A lot of people that I know have family in Gaza and that have been directly hurt and the same thing with Jewish friends that I’ve spoken with,” she said. In fact, things may get even worse. The Times of Israel quoted the J7 group, which comprises the six largest national Jewish communities outside of Israel and the ADL, as saying “Regrettably, our communities are seeing a shocking increase in antisemitic incidents, which foreshadows a troubling period ahead.” “In Berlin, Germany, Stars of David were painted on the homes of Jews. We expect such worrying reports from other Jewish communities across the globe in the days and weeks ahead,” the statement added. The J7 has demanded that governments and leaders around the world continue to condemn antisemitism in view of “alarming trends,” Government officials “both national and local, must make clear that antisemitism will not be tolerated, not in actions, not in speech, not on the street and not online,” it concluded. With inputs from agencies