Statistics released by France and Belgium on Thursday show that the number of anti-Semitic acts in both countries has soared since Hamas’ attack on Israel and the start of the Gaza war.
French Ministry of the Interior and Service for the protection of the French Jewish community (SPCJ) announced on Thursday that France recorded 1,676 anti-Semitic acts in the country in 2023, compared to 436 in 2022. The report observed that the number exploded after Hamas’s date of October 7, 2023. It said the attack in Israel would bring the total number of anti-Semitic acts in the country over the next three months equal to the total for the past three years.
In neighboring Belgium, According to the Federal Center for Equal Opportunities and Anti-Racism (Unia), between 2018 and 2022, 291 files were opened on grounds of anti-Semitism, but the number of applications has increased due to the conflict between Israel and Hamas. It is said that there has been a sudden increase. In the two-month period from October 7, 2023 to December 7, 2023, Unia recorded his 91 reports, while the average number of reports was In 2022, the number was 4-5 per month. Hate messages accounted for 65 percent of incidents, but there were still 10 percent of incidents involving acts of violence.
by World Jewish Congress, France has the world With approximately 500,000 people, it is the third largest Jewish community, surpassed only by Israel and the United States. There are approximately 29,000 self-identified Jews in Belgium, most of whom live in Belgium’s two largest cities, Brussels or Antwerp, and make up 0.25 percent of the country’s total population.
Besides France and Belgium, many European countries, including Denmark and the United Kingdom, Anti-Semitic acts are reported to have increased following the Israel-Hamas war.
On January 18, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Resolutions are non-binding.