Anti-Semitic hate is surging. It’s time to take a stand

Anti-Semitic events have been on the rise since October 7 – Richard Baker

Many records were broken in 2023. The World Health Organisation celebrated a landmark year for disease elimination. Advancements in artificial intelligence now empower us to do anything from writing a Beatles-inspired song to identifying individuals at high risk of pancreatic cancer. Meanwhile, Taylor Swift made music history by simultaneously charting 10 albums on the US Billboard 200, and Prince Harry’s memoir, “Spare” secured the title of the fastest-selling non-fiction book ever.

However, 2023 also marked a much darker milestone. The Anti-Defamation League recorded its highest ever number of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States. The staggering 8,873 incidents constitute a 140 per cent increase from 2022, which was already a record-breaking year. This alarming figure isn’t confined to domestic concerns within the United States; it’s a global wake-up call.

After Hamas’ horrendous attack on Israeli innocents, anti-Semitic incidents skyrocketed around the globe, with 5,204 recorded post-October 7 in the United States alone. We must confront this reality head-on and call it what it is: a global state of emergency.

On August 3, a group of Jewish students in Melbourne, Australia were on a public bus. A self-proclaimed “Nazi” threatened them with a knife and chased them, shouting anti-Semitic slurs. Some 16,000 kilometers away on September 9, a young man made his way to synagogue in Marseille, France. Attackers tried to run him over with their car and yelled “I’m going to massacre you, get on your knees, you dirty Jew”. On December 18, a Jewish man was violently assaulted in London’s Finsbury Park by an attacker who was shouting “kill the Jew.”

These aren’t just statistics; they are real attacks on real people.

This truth became even more evident last month when I had the honor of hosting a group of Jewish leaders from around the world. During a collaborative roundtable discussion at our annual Never Is Now summit, we brought together 60 inspiring leaders from dozens of Jewish communities across the globe, including the UK, Argentina, Australia, France, South Africa, Chile, and many more. Each community grappled with a different form of the same rise in hate.

Preliminary findings from a survey ADL fielded earlier this year in the seven countries with the largest Jewish diasporas, show that the percentage of British adults who harbor significant anti-Semitic attitudes has more than doubled within the last year. This alarming rise in anti-Semitic attitudes in the UK parallel the alarming spike in hate crimes targeting Jewish individuals and institutions in the country.

As the transatlantic parallels of anti-Semitism spikes become increasingly evident, Britons cannot afford to ignore the data emerging from the United States. The rising tide of hatred knows no borders, and we have no choice but to stand in solidarity against anti-Semitism wherever it rears its head. Recognising the interconnectedness of our experiences and the shared responsibility to combat bigotry, we must acknowledge a fundamental truth: anti-Semitism concerns us all.

While distinctive in its nature, anti-Semitism shares a common trait with other forms of hate – it thrives in silence and flourishes in complacency. By standing together against it, we send a powerful message that discrimination of any kind has no place in our communities.

Marina Rosenberg is the Senior Vice President (International Affairs) for the Anti-Defamation League, and a former ambassador and diplomat

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