An angry crowd stormed an air terminal at the airport in Dagestan, a Caucasus republic in Russia, last Sunday, shouting anti-Semitic slogans and searching for Israeli passengers who were supposedly arriving on a flight from Tel Aviv.
The action of hundreds of young men who flooded the terminal was encouraged and coordinated through messages on an Islamist Telegram channel, according to a BBC investigation, and took the authorities by surprise. About 60 people were arrested.
On October 14, a man stabbed and killed a 6-year-old Palestinian boy in the United States and injured his mother. Authorities are investigating it as a hate crime. The defendant, according to court documents that cite an interview with his wife, was concerned about reports that there was going to be a “National Jihad Day.”
These are just two examples of how the escalation of conflict in the Middle East is having consequences for Jewish and Muslim communities around the world.
And especially in Europe. In recent days in Paris, stars of David have appeared painted on buildings where citizens of Jewish origin supposedly live.
In Germany, a synagogue was attacked with Molotov cocktails and a building in Berlin where Jews reside was painted with swastikas.
Both Germany and France have banned demonstrations by groups advocating for the Palestinian cause, because they consider them an incitement to anti-Semitism, which has been criticized as a violation of the right to protest and freedom of expression.
Many argue that criticizing Israel for the military response on Gaza, which has caused 8,500 Palestinian deaths, following the attack by the Hamas group on October 7, which left 1,400 Israelis dead and more than 250 kidnapped, is not anti-Semitic.
“Alarming increase”
“Before October 7, there were already worrying expressions of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia,” he told BBC News Mundo. Benjamin Warddeputy director for Europe of the human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW).
But there has been “an alarming increase” since the start of hostilities between Hamas and Israel, mainly in European countries with sizeable Jewish and Muslim communities such as the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
In Germany, the chancellor and the president strongly denounced a rise in anti-Semitism and stressed that it is unacceptable that such hatred flourishes in the country that perpetrated the Holocaust.
Most of the incidents that HRW has been able to record have been anti-Semitic in nature because there is very good official data they receive from France, Germany and the United Kingdom, says Ward. They have also received credible reports of similar incidents in other countries in Europe.
“There is often a correlation between events in the Middle East and the increase in anti-Semitic incidents in Europe,” he stressed.
However, he highlighted that Although there has been an increase in reported cases of Islamophobia, there is not the same official data as there is on anti-Semitism..
Unlike the United Kingdom, France and Germany do not record such incidents of anti-Islamic hate, which creates a problem in combating it.
“It’s a big void,” Benjamin Ward said. “It is very difficult for authorities to respond appropriately when they do not know the scale of the problem, they do not know the type of incidents or they do not know where they are taking place.”
Peaceful protest is also a right
In addition to monitoring these incidents, HRW is also concerned with the defense of other rights, such as freedom of expression and protests, who have been affected by the responses of European governments to the war.
In the United Kingdom there have been massive demonstrations in solidarity with the inhabitants of Gaza. Among the protesters was a minority calling for the “disappearance” of Israel, prompting British Home Secretary Suella Braverman to describe the protests as “hate marches” without making a distinction between the majority of peaceful participants and the radical minority.
In France, for example, the Ministry of the Interior attempted to impose a total ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations. before the Council of State – the highest administrative court – declared that measure illegal.
For humanitarian organizations this is a serious problem.
“It is important to ensure a space for people to express their peaceful opinions and protest peacefully, even if they are saying things that other people or their governments do not agree with,” said the deputy director of HRW.
Recognize that One of the reasons with which governments justify the veto of demonstrations against the conflict is to prevent anti-Semitism from being promoted.but Ward warns against a situation “in which the right of Europe’s Jews to live free from violence and discrimination only comes at the expense of the rights of others who wish to express their opinions about what is happening in the Middle East.” .
In that sense, he thinks that the police strategy in London has been more successful. “They have certainly made arrests when they believe someone is inciting hatred or violence, but they do not use the intent of a small number of people within a very large group of protesters as a pretext to ban the protest.”
Creating a link between pro-Palestinian protests and anti-Semitism creates a real risk that can generate enmity towards Muslims, Arabs and other people from the Middle East.
“This reminds us quite a bit of the overwhelming discourse in Europe after the 9/11 attacks on New York, which had a stigmatizing effect on migrant communities,” recalls Benjamin Ward.
Dismissals and harassment
The specter of this stigmatization has also been raised in the United States, where the impact of the war between Hamas and Israel has also shaken the numerous Palestinian and Arab communities – Muslim or Christian – who have relatives in Gaza.
“The blood (of the conflict) rolls into the courtyards of our houses because sometimes it has been a brother, a mother, a son of residents in the United States who has lost his life,” Wilfredo Amr Ruiz, director of Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) media.
Amr Ruiz assures that “those who advocate for the Palestinian cause are often treated as if they were sympathizers of terrorist organizations, which they are not.”
“In the state of Florida, the governor made a public statement saying that all residents of Gaza were anti-Semitic,” the CAIR spokesperson said.
That perception, he says, has an effect on the “disproportionate” way in which law enforcement approaches pro-Palestinian protesters and has also had an impact on the work environment and in schools with the dismissal of employees and harassment of students of Palestinian origin. .
Reports of violence against the Muslim community have tripled, according to CAIR. As of October 25, they had received 774 complaints since October 7. To compare, in August they received 63.
“Historical levels” of antisemitism
The acts of violence in Gaza and Israel have also been overwhelming for the Jewish community in the United States.
FBI Director Christopher Wray warned that anti-Semitism in the country is reaching “historic levels,” telling a panel of senators Tuesday that the 60% of all religious hate crimes are perpetrated against Jewish people.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, there has been a 400% increase when comparing incidents in October of this year to last year.
At the prestigious Cornell University in New York, online messages were posted Tuesday threatening Jewish students.
The messages came out the same day that anti-Israel graffiti appeared on the university campus, reported the local newspaper Cornell Daily Sun, which also reported the publication of derogatory posts against Muslim students on a website.
“We have seen an increase in threats across the country. They are focused on Jews and people in the Muslim community,” said Robert J. Contee III of the FBI.
Benjamin Ward of Human Rights Watch stressed that it is important that there be political statements focused on bridging the divisions that are emerging in society around the world as a result of the conflict.
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