2y ago

Open hatred of Jews surges globally, inflamed by Gaza war

www.reuters.com

Global surge in antisemitic incidents following the conflict between Hamas and Israel, affecting Jewish communities in various countries.
Antisemitic acts range from verbal abuse to physical assaults, often justified by anger over the Gaza conflict.
In areas like the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, and South Africa, antisemitic incidents have increased several hundred percent compared to the same period last year.
Official responses vary, with Western authorities generally quick to support Jewish communities, while some countries like China have not taken steps to curtail antisemitic content online.

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117 comments

- People just love to have a reason to hate. Just like when COVID started and Asians were getting attacked all over despite having zero connection to China.
- A lot of people just seem to hate jews, and now the masks have come off (again).
- I feel like there needs to be more discussion of how people can be anti-Zionist without being antisemitic. There are elements of many faiths that people can object to without being considered antagonistic of that faith. People might not hate all people who are Jewish, but also might not be too enthusiastic about the Israeli State and all of its actions, which does not make them antisemitic.
  
  There's also lack of understanding that when saying "anti-Zionist" you're calling for the non-existence of the state of Israel, not for Israel to not be an apartheid state. Rabin was a Labour Zionist: He would have liked to live in peace and social democracy with Palestinians. He was killed by a Religious Zionist, people who have a long history massacring Palestinians, the kind of people who prop up Netanyahu and settle the West Bank. On the flipside there's plenty of anti-Zionist Jews around, for secular or religious reasons ("trying to force the third temple prophecy"). Broadly speaking "Zionist" simply means "patriot of Israel" and there's also plenty of those out there helping Palestinians with their olive harvest so that settlers don't come over and gun them down (because shooting Israelis, even leftists, would have consequences).
  The Israeli right-wing of course doesn't care, if a Jew says something they'd accuse others of antisemitism for they're switching to "self-hating Jew".
- You're conveniently ignoring though that Israel has over the last decades made themselves basically synonymous with Jews worldwide and have been quick to hide their atrocities behind the word "antisemitism".
  I'm not saying it's okay, but it's not far-fetched.
  
  Yes, but it's only consistent to reject that false framing and clearly delineate between supporters and opponents of Israel. Everything else just serves Israel by mudding the water.
  
  theyre not conveniently ignoring it, it just wasnt relevant to the comment
  the israeli government absolutely carries massive responsibility for the conflation of jews and israelis, and that absolutely does not have any effect on the amount of responsibility jewish folks carry when it comes to the actions of israel
- What the fuck is with these comments.
  What comments? Are you trying to manufacture outrage again?
Criticalness of Israel is not hatred of Jews. Any attack on someone based on their nationality should be a hate crime (including illegal immigrants at the USA Southern border). Walking past a protest and being offended by their message isn't being attacked. Israel is way over the line and has historically been looking for reasons to absorb the Gaza strip into their control.
- They cite the airport in Russia. Those people were explicitly carrying Palestinian flags and targeting the fleeing colonists, people who actively were on the side of the regime in Israel.
  I'd like to see the posts. And in fairness I've seen a lot of Nazi shit pop up on posts so anecdotally I believe anti semitism is increasing.
  However, I despise the Israeli government and I've been called all sorts of shit for it. So I'm sceptical.
  
  I did not read the article, nor do I have time, temperament, brain space, or blood pressure to read a percentage point of the articles that have come out about this war, or the other fucking war, or probably ww3 when it begins. My statements were a generality that I felt comfortable expressing in an aggregating website, I may have chosen the incorrect thread to put them out into, but this is where they were dumped to. Apologies for being overwhelmed at the amount of propaganda being pushed from all sides. I would ask you to allow me to exist in my gray middle area of "everyone should chill the fuck down". Glory to Ukraine, peace in the middle east.
- Israel voluntarily got out of Gaza, it would be suicide to go back, both temporarily (as is done now) and of course permanently.
  The amount of money spilled from all over the world into Gaza could have made it a beautiful paradise, or a second Tel Aviv.
  People there are refugees because hamas is happy with them being refugees.
  Israels government are a bunch of criminals, but not for anything to do with Gaza. It's an impossible conflict in which the only winners are the extremists on both sides who use it to show the world how there is no other way than force. Hamas justifies hiding under hospitals by saying that's the only way to defend themselves, the corrupt, incompetent, extremist, Israeli government now want to blame the 2006 government for leaving Gaza and by that bringing this assault upon them.
  
  Oh yes, the paradise open air prison created by Israel, which they now try to "re-build" to create a moon-style amusement park.
  And while I don't hate Jews or any other race, I find it strange that no one here is talking about the elephant in the room. That the recent surge in hate crime is directly linked with the war in Gaza, and that people are tired of seeing Israel's government overstepping their limits once again and trying to level up the whole of Gaza by carpet bombing it, without any consideration of human life.
  Have you ever thought that if Israel has found a peaceful solution of the Gaza/Hamas problem there would be a hate crime surge?
  And what about the hate crime against the Palestinians in the West Bank, which is documented, unprovoked and happening with the silent endorsement of the IDF? I am sorry but I find it a bit cynical to say the least.
  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/31/west-bank-palestinian-villages-israeli-army-settlers
- Sorry I can't see your comment in thread to respond there, I don't mean to, or care if, we have this conversation in private or where others can take from it.
  I don't think we are seeing "a sight more than" criticalness of Israel by anyone other than those who were already predisposed to hate Israel for hateful reasons. I do not support those who would kill anyone for religious reasons, and I'm offended that you would be so quick to put me in that camp. You're too quick in putting people onto one side or the other, and that will only cause people who want to be on your side to find others who will 'be open to supporting' them, and while I align myself with where you're coming from, the people who open their arms to those you turn away are maligned with the intent to corrupt those you turned away against you.
  It's a very dangerous (or very troll -esque) thing you do with your quick to judge words.
- You just did the opposite, and took hatred of Jews and equated it with criticalness of Israel and Israel's war crimes.
If you keep telling people that any criticism of Israel is antisemitism, and the IDF goes out and commits war crimes, don't be surprised if people say "well if I'm gonna be called antisemitic for hating war crimes I might as well go all the way to actual antisemitism". It seems kind of obvious.
- If the only thing keeping you from being a bigot is people patting you on the tummy then... you are a bigot.
  The issue that has become increasingly apparent throughout this (and any other time people remember that the Palestinians exist) is that: Yes, you can be anti-Zionist (for a range of definitions of "zionist") without being anti-Semitic. But it is REAL easy to not stop with the former when there is such a strong push to be incredibly careful how we refer to Hamas (the de facto government of Gaza) and Palestine with almost no care being given toward the IDF (and Mossad and Netanyahu) and Israel. Or why the Israelis are in the region to begin with or how much of their demographics are refugees from nearby Arab nations.
  Which kind of gets back to the idea of: When your rant is indistinguishable from that of a bigot...
  To make it clear: The IDF are horrifying monsters who are actively engaging in genocide. Hamas are terrorists. And this is more or less a war between two countries at this point. But when talking points are "Fuck Israel, they never deserved to be there in the first place. Kick them all out" without even an acknowledgement of WHY they are there (and why "The West" supported them going there in the 40s...)? Well, if it quacks like a duck...
  
  Yeah, this is a great example of why I make an effort to specify the government when criticizing countries. Russia's invasion of Ukraine? I call Putin and his government evil but never the Russian people at large. China's genocide of the Uyghurs? I call Xi Jinping and the CCP evil but never the Chinese people at large. Israel's apartheid state and ethno-religious cleansing? I call Netanyahu and his government evil but never the Israeli people at large (and certainly not Jews at large).
  The allure of treating entire demographics or populaces as a monolith and blaming them for the crimes of their government is exactly why genocidal rhetoric is so dang pervasive, and I won't abide by it.
  (Yes, I will also criticize civilians who actively support these crimes, but I make sure to be clear in distinguishing between them and the rest of the civilian population.)
  
  Yeah, it's basically terrible people shooting at terrible people at the behest of terrible people with tons of civilians (on both sides) having to suffer because of it. And because of how the situation works it's hard for anyone involved to not get sucked into this maelstrom of hatred.
  And to think that there have been a number of times when this could've been avoided but hasn't because the people with the power to do so either didn't care or deliberately made things worse to further their own interests. (Or tried but were removed from power by more ruthless people.)
  It's a horrible, convoluted, heartbreaking, multicontinental multi-century mess that's almost impossible to even talk about without wronging someone.
  And some assholes take that as an excuse.
  
  This is a war between two terrorist groups not countries
- Acting like a hate filled piece of shit because people call you one means you really were a piece of shit in the first place.
- It seems kind of obvious.
  if you're a bigot.
- Ahh, the "if you call me a Nazi I might as well act like one" defence.
- It's interesting how often people who oppose the existence of Israel (not to be confused with being rightfuly critical of its actions) are the first too make us feel unwelcome and tell Jew who facing antisemitism outside of Israel, that we just need to deal with it (and even expect it, acording to you), and if we don't like it, we should just leave.. But where is it we should be going..?
  It's almost as if what you really want is for Jews to just not exist.
  
  It's as if antizionism is like antisemitism 🤔
  Oh wait, they're literally the same. Most "antizionists" I've known and also seen online are covert antisemites.
  
  And yet the israelis keep expanding into the west bank.
  How about they just stay in Israel and quit expanding into other peoples countries?
- So you need reasons to not act on your anti semitism? You are just repressing it.
- This is fucking ridiculous tbh.
- Nah, it just shows that the masks have fallen down
I don't get why people hate that particular religion so much.
Me, I would do away with all religions, I think they're all nonsense invented to control people or as a way to escape from reality, but that doesn't mean I'd ever hate a religion or go to wild lengths to genocide it's followers.
People who think there's a magical man in the sky are a bit batty, but people who persecute others just for believing in magical sky men are truly off their rockers.
- My experience is that the hate is for the ethnic group, not necessarily the religion.
  
  To the people downvoting you: Do you think islamophobes distinguish between Arab Muslims or Arab Atheists when they provoke a scene? Or that antisemites distinguish between practicing Jews and non-believing Jews (who stay in the community for various reasons)?
  
  Ethnicity and religion is intertwined in this case though, in a way that is quite unique. And which is probably significantly influenced by the way Jewish people were treated.
- A lot of it is an instinctual response.
  Hearing 'jews this, jews that' since birth causes people to want to 'fit in' and go along with what everyone else is doing even if they don't understand it.
  I was surprised by how much anti-Semitism existed when I went to high school, because I never experienced it before outside of South Park. For everyone else, it was just normal and understood (even if they didn't support it.) It really cemented the idea in my mind that most people do things without thinking just to fit in with others.
- A lot of people who are ethnically Jewish and identify as Jews don't practice or believe in Judaism.
  
  I come from Jewish parents. I'm an atheist, but I still consider myself Jewish.
  My daughter is half-Jewish and I have advised her to tell no one in school because she will get treated differently, especially since this is Indiana.
  One year in elementary school, one of her teachers assumed she was Jewish after meeting me (I look as stereotypically Jewish as Woody Allen) and singled her out for it multiple times. She thought she was singling her out for it in a good way, to teach the other kids something for example, but it just made my daughter feel embarrassed and othered.
This is yet another reason why why ANY theocracy, of any denomination, is incompatible with modernity.
Not only does it limit the citizenry's representation in terms of beliefs and cultural shifts incompatible with the faith within, it creates a common enemy for idiotic, ancient deity dick measuring squabbles from the outside.
I respect a person's right to pray to whatever pokemon they want. Charizard, Yahweh, Mr. Mime, Allah, whoever speaks to your soul or whatever. I don't respect any person's right to use the pokemon they pray to as a rational to limit the rights of anyone else for any reason, ok you super serious Pokemon Masters?
Israel isn't some great line of defense for the Jews, it's a massive, singular target for the other idiot theocracies in the region that they hate and hate them back to attack, great choice of location by the way if you wanted to feel safe.
Israel is basically the geopolitical equivalent of what John McClain was coerced to do in Harlem in Die Hard 3, only for Israel it was a choice.
- With this line of thinking you could also say it's the Palestinians choice to be there. Why don't just make Palestine somewhere else?
Way to easy to paint any criticism about Israel as hatred towards Jews. Lobby groups with big money define the limits of the discourse.
- It is also about conflating legitimate antisemitic hatred with anti-Zionist sentiments. look at how EU countries are banning Pro Palestine Protest under the pretext that those protesting are systematically anti-Jews. look at how UK's Suella Braveman is trying to quash any criticism of Israel actions under the banner of antisemitism and is working on passing lopsided authoritarian laws to imprison any critics of Israel's genocidal records.
  
  Yes, but we're the comments made while they were protesting with regard to these events? We're they actually anti-semitic, or anti-zionist or anti-Israeli? Those are all different things. Israel would say anyone who expresses the latter two opinions is the former, but that just isn't the case.
- Literally saw a comment here the other day saying that Jews think it’s their turn to commit genocide because of the holocaust
- You just painted any hatred towards Jews as criticism of Israel and blamed rich lobbyists.
  Let's not make the same mistake, but in reverse.
It seems pretty clear a large percentage of the human race associates the actions of any members within an ethnic group as an action by the entire ethnic group. Not 100% culpable, but maybe 60% to 30% depending on age and gender.
- Yeah, people don't seem to realize that culture in Western countries generally is less racist than the global norm (and there is quite a bit of prejudice in Western countries!)
  
  It's the difference of coming from large multi-ethnic empires. Racism is a serious threat to social cohesion and the functioning of the state.
- This is why everyone should stop identifying as a part of a community, and instead identify as an individual
  
  But that doesn't solve the problem of others identifying you as part of a community and blaming you for it
- It also seems that some people embrace violent solutions and feel every other reaction to a problem is not extreme enough.
Antisemitism sucks. So does relentless zionism. Stop accusing all jewish people of being militaristic zionists. Stop comparing Israel to jews. Israel doesn't represent all jews. Saudi Arabia doesn't represent all muslims. Russia doesn't represent all orthodox christians. Being anti Israel doesn't make you antisemitic. Being antisemitic doesn't make you anti Israel. Don't confuse the two. One can cherish jewish people, culture, history and be anti Israel to whatever extent. I'm partly jewish and don't support Israel for example.
- Stop accusing all jewish people of being militaristic zionists.
  The UK has been openly hostile towards its Jewish residents for centuries. Some of its highest ranking political leaders are openly anti-semitic. Much of the Zionism of the 19th century was a direct consequence of British state and popular leaders villainizing Jewish residents and businesses in the exact same manner as the Germans did a decade or two later.
  Meanwhile, state media wants to tie all Jewish people to the Israeli cause, even going so far as to accuse anti-Israeli jewish people and groups as being anti-semitic themselves and hounding any kind of Palestinian peace activists for being "terrorist sympathizers" by default.
  So its sort of a rock-and-hard-place for UK Jews (particularly Hasidic Jews, who categorically reject Zionism) who have had to deal with this kind of state-sanctioned harassment and violence their entire lives, to disassociate from Zionism. Both the anti-Semitic bigots and the pro-Israeli flaks seem intent on tying you to the mast-head of this sinking ship.
  Saudi Arabia doesn’t represent all muslims. Russia doesn’t represent all orthodox christians.
  That's been another kind-of annoying habit of mass media. Every Muslim from Minnesota to Mecca gets treated like the most radical orthodox Wahhabist. We've got US Senators and British PMs alike waxing poetic about "Radical Islamic Extremism" and demanding every practitioner of the faith make formal public apologizes for whatever nonsense MBS or Ayatollah Khomeini is on about this week.
  Similarly, god forbid you know a bit of Cyrillic. People lose their fucking minds over the Russia-Ukraine shit if you're not on the "right" side (which, at least in American politics, varies entirely based on your domestic ideological leaning).
  One can cherish jewish people, culture, history and be anti Israel to whatever extent.
  Not according to the western press. You need to pick a fucking side. And then it becomes a competition to be the most rabid and deranged in your support of that side. Otherwise, you're no better than a traitor.
- And yet you troll and disrespect other peoples beliefs. So what does that make you?
  
  Are you talking about some other comment he made? When was he trolling and disrespecting beliefs?
  
  crickets
- I mean hating Jews was pretty high up in the Nazi's priorities.
  They are monsters but not sure Nazis makes sense.
- Antisemitism isn't and was never exclusive to Nazis
  
  Yeah, but if we don't boil it down to the simplest and most violent response, how do we rile people up emotionally so they stop thinking and only impulsively react?
- Lol, we are calling Israelis Nazis now? And I thought calling Zelenski a Nazi was ridiculous.
- USSR wasn't perfect
Antisemitism was never gone but just hidden away.
- The scary part is I've seen a schism in the left on this. There have been times where people proclaiming rights for Gaza in the same breath compare Jews to Nazis even though the problem is with the state not the people. Everyone on the left agrees it's a human rights issue for both sides but unfortunately some are picking sides.
  Meanwhile the Jewish people are backed into a corner so things are going to get irrational from them as well. Although I am not Jewish myself I am very close to many and all of them are anxious wrecks over this. Every other faith has multiple nations which have their religion as a state religion but Jews have only one choice if that's what they want. The ideal situation would have been surgical strikes against Hamas but Netanyahu gonna Netanyahoo.
  
  Any time people call out the state, the state declares it to be aimed at the people.
The world has been watching the genocide and settlers taking over for 50yrs. The world is tired of your shit Israel
- Israel and Jews is not the same thing. There are many Jews in Israel. There are many more outside it.
  Just as Hamas terrorist attack does not give Israel carte blanche to kill innocent people, Israel's actions don't give a reason to justify antisemitism.
  Criticism of Israel is perfectly valid, but in commenting here, you're equating the two, which is part of the problem.
  
  Didn't say the association if fair. I want peace everywhere. But humans as a whole are not smart.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
In countries where figures are available from police or civil society groups, including the United States, Britain, France, Germany and South Africa, the pattern is clear: the number of antisemitic incidents has gone up since Oct. 7 by several hundred percent compared with the same period last year.
In the case of the antisemitic incidents, most consist of verbal abuse, online slurs or threats, graffiti, and defacing of Jewish properties, businesses or sites of religious significance.
One common thread is that anger over the deaths of thousands of Palestinians as a result of Israel's bombardment of Gaza is invoked as justification for verbal or physical aggression towards Jews in general, often accompanied by the use of slurs and tropes rooted in the long history of antisemitism.
The most chilling antisemitic incident globally was the storming of an airport in Russia's Dagestan region on Sunday by an enraged crowd looking for Jews to harm after a flight arrived from Tel Aviv.
Shneor Segal, the chief Ashkenazi rabbi of Azerbaijan, said the incident showed that "antisemites will use any excuse - the current Middle East crisis being just the latest - to terrorise the dwindling numbers of us that still remain" in the Caucasus.
In the United States and Western Europe, authorities have mostly been quick to express strong support for Jewish communities, denounce antisemitism and in some cases reinforce security at relevant locations.
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117 comments