Antisemitism rose in several states in 2025 despite the US brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the fourth quarter of the year, deviating from a decline in Jew hatred charted the previous year, according to a Monday report by Tel Aviv University’s Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and the Irwin Cotler Institute.
The centers’ annual Antisemitism Worldwide report, which reviews data sets from local organizations, found that not only did many countries suffer from increases in antisemitic incidents in 2025, some even saw an increase in anti-Jewish acts in the months following the ceasefire when compared to similar time periods.
Yet even in countries where there was a decline in 2025 when compared to 2024, the post-ceasefire landscape appeared to be more hostile to Jews when compared to the years before the October 7 Massacre.
“The data raise concern that a high level of antisemitic incidents is becoming a normalized reality,” report editor-in-chief Prof. Uriya Shavit said in a statement. “The peak in the number of incidents was recorded in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attack, after which we began to see a downward trend – but unfortunately, that trend did not continue in 2025.”
Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, Belgium, Italy, Spain, New Zealand, Czech Republic, and Bulgaria all followed the trend reversal that the centers’ 2024 report had identified, with increased levels of antisemitism in 2025. The UK and Australia both had more antisemitic incidents from October to December in 2025 than the same period in 2024.
New York City, the US city with the highest concentration of Jewish Americans, had fewer antisemitic incidents than in 2024, but had seen more incidents in the post-ceasefire period than the previous year. 2025’s fourth quarter was only eclipsed by the immediate post-October 7 period, rising higher than the 2022 pre-war period. With 324 antisemitic incidents in NYC during 2025 and 264 in 2022, the post-ceasefire conditions saw significantly more antisemitism than the pre-war period.
France, Argentina, Germany, Brazil, South Africa, Switzerland, Spain, and Norway were found to have fewer antisemitic incidents in 2025 than in 2024, but remained at far higher levels than 2022. While Service de Protection de la Communauté Juive (SPJC) data showed that France saw an overall decrease of incidents, incidents involving physical violence increased from 106 to 126 from 2024 to 2025. Other countries also followed this trend, with Belgium, Italy, New Zealand, Bulgaria, and Norway seeing assaults becoming a greater share of their antisemitic incidents in 2025 than in 2024.
Increase in cases of antisemitism is not surprising
“The steep increase in the number of cases of severe violence is not surprising,” said Shavit. “The rule that applies to all types of crime applies here as well: when law-enforcement authorities are indifferent to small crimes, the result is big crimes.”
The report also explored similarities and common characteristics between antisemitic attackers in the four countries with the largest Jewish populations outside of Israel: the US, France, Canada, and the UK. Reviewing almost 100 cases through court records and media reports, the centers found that antisemitic incidents were largely uninvolved with extremist organizations, and their actions mostly not premeditated. While offenders were diverse in age, residence, and ethnicity, the report contended that they were usually male and aligned with Christian white supremacism or were Muslims “who apply antisemitism as a response to grievances about Middle Eastern political developments.” The report also detailed that many antisemitic attackers had or claimed to have mental illness, and were disproportionately unemployed or working low-paying jobs.
The centers’ forward was deeply critical of the Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry, which released its own antisemitism report the same day. The centers alleged that the ministry had not contributed meaningfully to countering antisemitism, and had at times served as an “embarrassment” while engaging in “petty politics.” It also called for the ministry’s absorption into the Foreign Ministry.
The report also criticized US President Donald Trump for his toleration of antisemites within his political camp, as well as inflammatory comments toward geopolitical allies. The report noted that it could not rely on antisemitism data against Russia, which it described as “fascist,” and praised Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky as “the greatest living Jew of our time.”
Former Canadian justice minister Irwin Cotler warned that the world was witnessing an “unprecedented global explosion in incidents of antisemitism since audits began in the 1970s.”