Submission of NGO Monitor to Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues Regarding Their Upcoming Visit to the European Union
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Antisemitism across the European Union has reached levels unseen in decades. The Hamas-led massacre of October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza triggered an explosion of antisemitic violence, intimidation, and hate speech throughout Europe. From Paris to Berlin, Brussels to Amsterdam, Jews have been harassed, assaulted, and vilified in schools, public transport, and online. Synagogues have been defaced, Holocaust memorials vandalized, and Jewish institutions forced to close temporarily under police protection.
According to data collected by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), Jewish communities across Europe reported a more than 400% increase in antisemitic incidents following October 7. In its 2024 survey, the FRA found that 96% of Jewish respondents across 13 EU countries had personally experienced or witnessed antisemitism in the preceding year, an alarming statistic that underscores the breadth of the problem.
These antisemitic incidents have included physical violence, intimidation of Jews, and open calls for genocide, conduct that goes far beyond protected speech. In Berlin in October 2023, just days after the brutal Hamas massacre, 65 police officers were injured during “Free Palestine” protests. According to a statement published by the Berlin police, “colleagues have been injured in the past hours due to stones, burning liquids and acts of resistance, among other things.” In May 2024, the Nożyk Synagogue in Warsaw was hit with three firebombs. In November 2024, Amsterdam banned demonstrations for three days after violent antisemitic attacks on Israeli soccer supporters hospitalized individuals by what the mayor called “antisemitic hit-and-run squads” and a “Jew hunt.”
These actions do not constitute protected free expression but instead foster an environment of cultural violence where antisemitism flourishes and Jews are targeted. The scale of this surge reveals that, despite a comprehensive EU framework for combating hate crimes and discrimination, implementation remains gravely inadequate. The EU Framework Decision on Combating Racism and Xenophobia (2008) and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and the EU Anti-Racism Action Plan (2020-2025) each commit member states to prevent and prosecute hate crimes motivated by antisemitism. Yet, in practice, many police and judicial authorities fail to recognize antisemitic motives, while political leaders and institutions hesitate to confront antisemitism when it appears under the guise of anti-Israel activism.
The inability or unwillingness to apply existing legislation leaves Jewish minorities uniquely vulnerable. In many European capitals, demonstrations in which crowds chant for the destruction of Israel or glorify terrorist organizations frequently proceed with little intervention. Such permissiveness emboldens extremists and normalizes antisemitism within mainstream discourse. Antisemitism, whether expressed through physical violence, social exclusion, or denial of Jewish self-determination, must be treated not merely as a matter of prejudice, but as a fundamental human-rights concern. The failure to protect Europe’s Jewish citizens undermines the credibility of the EU’s broader human-rights agenda and weakens its moral authority in promoting tolerance abroad.
