Abstract: This article examines the impact of the 2023–2025 Israeli–Palestinian conflict—particularly the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas attack, subsequent war in Gaza, and the international public opinion reactions to those events—on Jewish community in Krakow, Poland. While pro-Palestinian protests in Poland were limited compared to those in Western countries, they marked an unprecedented local development, sparking debate within Jewish circles. Using Krakow as a case study, the article explores whether and how these events shifted discourse around Zionism, Israel, and Jewish identity. It employs discourse analysis, supplemented by comparative methodology, the study relies on the data from the semi-structured interviews, and analyses of the official statements and media report as well as the social media discourses. The article addresses two questions: (1) how and why did the Jewish community in Krakow respond to the escalation of the Middle East conflict and the subsequent events, particularly pro-Palestinian activism? (2) do the observed dynamics reflect global trends or local particularities?
Abstract: At the time of writing, one consequence of Israel’s response to the massacre that took place in Israel by Hamas on 7 October 2023 is an unprecedented surge in global antisemitism. This massacre was the largest mass murder of Jewish civilians since the Holocaust; its scale, brutality and sadism have led to comparisons with the Holocaust, and to more and deeper sensitivities and controversies in Holocaust Education. In an attempt to address this, the proposed chapter will discuss the relationship between Holocaust Education and Antisemitism Education, and its relevance to Religious Education (RE) in schools.
Holocaust Education comprises learning about and from the Holocaust (Cowan and Maitles, Understanding and teaching Holocaust education. Sage, 2017). The former focuses on the historical narrative; the latter focuses on moral issues related to active citizenship. Research findings in England (Foster, Pettigrew and Pearce et al., What do students know and understand about the Holocaust? Evidence from English secondary schools. Centre for Holocaust Education, UCL Institute of Education, 2016, p. 1) were that 68% of students (n = 7952 students) were “unaware of what ‘antisemitism’ meant”. Similarly, during a group interview, following their return from a visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau organised by the Archdiocese of Glasgow, Scotland, each of the four students indicated that they did not understand the term “antisemitism” (Cowan & Maitles, 2017, p. 139). Further, Short’s discussion of the failings of learning from the Holocaust included the lack of reference to “the key role played by Christian antisemitism in preparing the groundwork for the Holocaust” (Short, Learning from genocide? A study in the failure of Holocaust education. Intercultural Education, 16(4), 367-380, 2005; Failing to learn from the Holocaust. In As the Witnesses Fall Silent: 21st Century Holocaust Education in Curriculum, Policy and Practice (pp. 455–468), 2015). Cowan and Maitles (2017, p. 56) further assert that historical antisemitism contributes to understanding present-day antisemitism.
Abstract: CST recorded 1,521 antisemitic incidents across the UK in the first half of 2025, the second-highest total ever reported to CST in the first six months of any year. This is a decrease of 25% from the 2,019 antisemitic incidents recorded by CST in the January- to-June period of 2024, which was the highest figure ever reported to CST for the first half of any year. CST recorded 965 incidents in the first six months of 2023, 823 from January to June 2022, and 1,371 in the first half of 2021.
The 1,521 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded in the first six months of 2025 is a fall from the half-year record reported in 2024, but it is a significant total, fuelled by ongoing reactions to the conflict in the Middle East. It is 11% higher than the third- highest six-monthly figure of 1,371 incidents recorded in 2021, which itself was a result of antisemitic reactions to an escalation of conflict in the Middle East across May and June that year. Antisemitic incidents have been reported to CST at an increased rate since the Hamas terror attack in Israel on 7 October 2023. After an immediate and notable spike in anti-Jewish hate immediately following that date, observed before Israel had coordinated any large- scale on-the-ground military response in Gaza, incident levels eventually settled at a substantially higher average than prior to the attack.
In the six months leading up to 7 October 2023, CST recorded a monthly average of 161 antisemitic incidents per month. In the first six months of 2025, this monthly average stood at 254 incidents, a 58% increase from that earlier period. CST had only ever recorded monthly incident totals exceeding 200 on five occasions prior to October 2023, each correlating with past periods when Israel was at war.Since the 7 October attack, the only month in which CST logged an incident figure below 200 was December 2024. The current war in the Middle East has lasted the entirety of the period covered in this report and has continued to impact the volume and discourse of antisemitism reported to CST in the first six months of this year, as it has every month since October 2023.
Abstract: Face à la multiplication des actes antisémites depuis quelques années et leur déferlement après le 7 octobre, l'inquiétude des Français juifs grandit : ont-ils encore un avenir dans leur pays ?
7 octobre 2023. Israël est frappé par l'attaque terroriste la plus meurtrière de son histoire. Quelques semaines plus tard, la France bascule : + 1 000 % d'actes antisémites.
Pendant plus d'un an, Dov Maïmon et Didier Long ont mené une enquête inédite, sillonnant la France, questionnant ministres, policiers, juges antiterroristes, politologues, citoyens et hommes de foi de toutes confessions. Entre autres.
Ils ont aussi eu accès à des données jamais révélées à ce jour, issues de rapports confidentiels des services secrets français et israéliens.
En s'appuyant sur ces sources, les auteurs analysent les menaces qui pèsent sur les Français juifs aujourd'hui.
Dans un contexte social délétère, la montée de l'islamisme laisse présager un basculement vers un régime autoritaire ou une guerre civile.
Une question se pose alors : les Juifs de France doivent-ils partir avant qu'il ne soit trop tard ?
Abstract: Las siguientes reflexiones afrontan, en clave victimológica, el conflicto palestino-israelí, y más concretamente la actual Guerra de Gaza. El desencadenante de la operación militar israelí contra la población palestina fueron los salvajes atentados cometidos en Israel por la organización terrorista Hamás el 7 de octubre de 2023, con imágenes dantescas que dieron la vuelta al mundo. Sin embargo, en el concreto caso de España, dicho ataque y su rotunda condena fueron silenciados por las instituciones universitarias, no mostrando empatía alguna con la población israelí y judía. Todo lo contrario, sucedió con la operación militar en Gaza por parte del ejército hebreo, la cual dio lugar no solo a concentraciones de protesta en favor del pueblo palestino, sino también a todo tipo de proclamas, amenazas e insultos contra Israel. La actual situación ha conducido a que la población judía residente en Occidente se haya vuelto prácticamente invisible, habiéndose reducido al mínimo la vida judía en Europa por miedo a ataques y atentados contra un colectivo, sin tener en cuenta que un importante sector del mismo condena sin paliativos la Guerra de Gaza y sus repercusiones sobre la población palestina.
Abstract: Projekt Overview
This study explores the experiences, perceptions, and coping strategies of Jewish individuals in Germany in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Our research aimed to provide a comprehensive understanding of how Jews in Germany, with or without Israeli migration background, navigated the complex emotional landscape of collective trauma and rising antisemitism.
Key Objectives
Examine the immediate and ongoing impacts of the October 7 events on Jewish individuals in Germany
Investigate changes in experiences of antisemitism and perceptions of societal responses
Identify coping strategies and resilience mechanisms employed by Jewish individuals
Explore the influence of these events on Jewish identity and community engagement
Assess concerns and hopes for the future of Jewish life in Germany
Methodology
We conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 18 Jewish individuals living in Germany, including both Israeli and non-Israeli backgrounds. Participants ranged in age from 23 to 68 years old and represented diverse socioeconomic backgrounds and levels of religious observance.
Key Findings
Profound emotional disruption and trauma following the October 7 attacks
Significant changes in social relationships, often leading to social withdrawal
Increased community engagement and activism among Jewish individuals
Heightened sense of insecurity and vigilance in expressing Jewish identity
Complex coping strategies, including humor, community involvement, and selective avoidance
Abstract: Reports have indicated an increase in anti-Jewish hostility and antisemitic incidents following the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza. In two studies (NStudy1 = 354 and NStudy2 = 490), we experimentally investigated the impact of priming with material referring to the war in Gaza on hostility toward Jews, and on antisemitism as well as other various ethnic groups (to determine whether this exposure specifically affected attitudes toward Jews or had a broader impact on ethnic attitudes in general). We also examined the indirect relationship between political orientation and anti-Jewish hostility and antisemitism, through sociopolitical factors such as global identification, out-group identity fusion, social dominance orientation, and misanthropy. Our results showed an experimental effect of increased negative attitudes toward Jews, as well as toward Britons and Scandinavians, but did not reveal an increase in antisemitism. This effect was not replicated in Study 2, possibly due to reduced media attention. The indirect effects suggested that political orientation (left vs. right-wing) was positively associated with anti-Jewish hostility and antisemitism through social dominance orientation. In contrast, conservative political orientation was negatively associated with antisemitism through out-group identity fusion with the Palestinian people. Our findings imply two distinct political pathways to antisemitism: one linked with classical political right-wing orientation and the other to a complex identity-based conflation of attitudes toward Israel with prejudice toward the Jewish ethnic group.
Abstract: From Introduction:
As the world marks the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, the J7 – Large Communities’ Task Force Against Antisemitism is releasing its first J7 Annual Report on Antisemitism. This report offers a comprehensive and sobering overview of the current state of antisemitism across seven countries with the largest Jewish communities outside Israel: Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The J7 Task Force was established in July 2023 to foster cooperation among these communities in response to growing concern about the resurgence of antisemitism worldwide. This crisis has only intensified following Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which was followed by a marked rise in antisemitic incidents across the world, including in the J7 countries. In the months following the attack, reports of antisemitic activity increased by hundreds, and in some cases, thousands, of percentage points, compared to the same period the previous year, with incidents targeting Jewish schools, synagogues, businesses, and individuals.3 The data presented here is troubling. Across all seven countries, there has been a clear rise in antisemitic incidents, particularly violent ones. From 2021 to 2023, antisemitic incidents increased by 11 percent in Australia, 23 percent in Argentina, 72 percent in Germany, 90 percent in the United Kingdom, 83 percent in Canada, 185 percent in France, and 227 percent in the United States. In two of the four J7 countries that published incident numbers for 2024, namely Australia and the United States, the number of antisemitic incidents continued to rise, showing the lasting impact of the tsunami of antisemitism unleashed by Oct. 7.
Abstract: Antisemitismus als leidenschaftliche Welt(um-)deutung findet nicht erst seit dem 7. Oktober 2023 über den Kreis der „üblichen Verdächtigen“ im Rechtsextremismus hinaus Anklang. Der Band zeigt die Persistenz, Wandelbarkeit und globale Verbreitung judenfeindlicher Vorstellungen und Äußerungsformen auf und verfolgt sie von der Antike bis in die Telegram-Chats, Universitätshörsäle und Demonstrationen der Gegenwart.
Der interdisziplinär ausgerichtete Band versammelt antisemitismuskritische Studien junger Antisemitismusforscher*innen, die neue Schlaglichter auf die Akteur*innen, sich wandelnden Kommunikationsmodi und milieu- und kontextabhängigen Spezifika eines zunehmend global vernetzten antisemitischen Diskurses werfen. Über die offenen Erscheinungsformen judenfeindlicher Ressentiments hinaus verweist er auf die Virulenz latenter, halb- und unbewusst tradierter sowie bewusst codierter Vorstellungen über „die Juden“, „das Jüdische“ oder den jüdischen Staat Israel. Letzterer ist nicht erst seit, aber gegenwärtig wieder verstärkt infolge des Hamas-Pogroms vom 7. Oktober 2023 Gegenstand antisemitischer Agitationen, wobei gefühlte Wahrheiten über den Staat und den arabisch-israelischen Konflikt den öffentlichen Diskurs prägen. Die Analysen des Bandes stellen die Gemeinsamkeiten dieser Vorstellungen und Äußerungen heraus, in denen „die Juden“ oder Israel als Projektionsflächen für die Ängste und Wünsche der antisemitisch denkenden Subjekte dienen, und verweisen auf die Notwendigkeit einer kritischen und hörbaren Antisemitismusforschung nach der Zäsur des 7. Oktober.
Abstract: On October 7, 2023, a Hamas-led terrorist attack in Israel killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped about 250 others. The almost immediate spread of news and images of the attack produced heavy emotional reactions in public opinion in many countries. The article analyzes data from a representative survey on the attitudes toward Jews and Muslims of Italian undergraduates conducted between late September and late October 2023, encompassing both those dramatic events and the war that followed. Four main findings emerge. First, Italian students tend to organize attitudes towards Jews around three main dimensions, those toward Muslims around one. Second, attitudes towards the two groups vary according to cultural values of reference, commitment to study, and political orientation. Third, negative attitudes towards Muslims are more prevalent than those toward Jews, but this difference narrows between center-left and left-leaning students and, in some cases, reverses. Finally, the analysis shows that one of the dimensions organizing unfavourable attitudes towards Jews experienced very substantial growth on the days immediately following October 7, that is, the date of the Hamas terrorist attack inside Israeli territory.
Abstract: CST recorded 3,528 antisemitic incidents in the UK in 2024, the second-highest total ever reported to CST in a single calendar year. This is a decrease of 18% from the 4,296 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded by CST in 2023, which remains the record annual total ever reported, and was fuelled by responses to the 7 October terror attack by Hamas on Israel that year. CST recorded 1,662 antisemitic incidents in 2022, 2,261 in 2021, and 1,684 in 2020.
Although the 3,528 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded in 2024 is a fall from the all-time high of 2023, it remains an unusually large total: 56% higher than the third-highest annual figure of 2,261 incidents reported in 2021. It is a reflection of the sustained levels of antisemitism that have been recorded across the UK since the Hamas terror attack in Israel on 7 October 2023. CST’s Antisemitic Incidents Report 2023 charted the immediacy and scope of the rise in anti-Jewish hate following that attack, before Israel had set in motion any extensive military response in Gaza. The subsequent ongoing war, and the public attention that it continues to hold, impacted both the volume and content of antisemitism in 2024.
