According to a study conducted by  The Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University, The Irwin Cotler Institute at Tel Aviv University and the Anti-Defamation League Poland is among the countries with the lowest rate of anti-semitic incidents in Europe. 

“In recent years, escalations on the Gaza front, in which sovereign Israeli territory and Israeli

citizens were targeted by an Islamist group that openly seeks Israel’s total annihilation, have

proven repeatedly to lead to dramatic increases in the number of antisemitic incidents reported across the world,” the authors wrote at the beginning of the study. 

The data indicate that Polish authorities reported only 3.2 antisemitic incidents for 1 million inhabitants. The only country with a lower ratio of such incidents in 2023 was Spain. 

Countries with the highest rate of antisemitic incidents in Europe were: Switzerland (128.9), the United Kingdom (60.9), Germany (43.4), and Sweden (28.8). 

According to the report Between October and December 2023, German authorities recorded 2,249 politically motivated antisemitic crimes compared to 506 in the same period in 2022.

The authors noted that after the October 7 attacks on Israel a special institution dealing with antisemitism in Germany, the Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS) recorded 994 incidents, including three acts of extreme violence, 29 physical assaults, 32 threats and 72 acts of vandalism. Among the incidents was the firebombing of the Kahal Adass Jisroel community synagogue in Berlin.

The authors also pointed to the growing number of antisemitic acts in France: 

“Eighty-five antisemitic incidents involving physical violence were recorded in 2023, compared to 43 in 2022, 60 in 2021, 44 in 2020, and 45 in 2019.”

Source: Antisemitism Worldwide Report for 2023, Tel Aviv University

Photo: @Visegrad24

Tomasz Modrzejewski