
OpEds

Antisemitism closes curtain on Jewish life in the West
“Skyrocketing rise”; “Spreading a fire already out of control”; “Like a dam burst”; “Open season on Jews”; “A year of disbelief”. Reports on what Jewish communities the world over have been experiencing since 7 October 2023 are replete with such phrases.
There are those that might ask whether the gravity of the situation is perhaps being overstated, but even a superficial acquaintance with the bald statistics will quickly dispel any doubts on that score.
Globally, antisemitism has been on the rise from the very start of the present century. However, 7/10 and its aftermath has taken things to an altogether different level. According to a recent report, issued by the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University, antisemitic incidents across the world have been rising at a rate unseen since World War II and if this situation persists or deteriorates, Jewish people around the world will no longer be able to live as Jews in safety and freedom.
Though most diaspora communities have yet to release complete reports on antisemitism in their respective countries for 2024, the preliminary figures that have become available are sobering enough.
Over the past 15 months, there has been a pronounced rise in recorded attacks – a high proportion of them involving serious acts of violence – on Jews and Jewish institutions. Parallel to this is the increasingly poisonous discourse around Jews – their identity, history, and beliefs, particularly on social media and university campuses. It may be that few Jews today live in countries where antisemitism is official state policy – quite to the contrary – but what’s happening on the street is a different matter.
Paradoxically, it’s in the world’s most democratic, human rights-compliant regimes that people have been showing less and less compunction about expressing – and with increasing regularity acting out – their anti-Jewish hatred.
Historically, South Africa has always experienced its highest levels of antisemitism at times of intensified conflict between Israel and its neighbours, and this has certainly been the case since 7/10. According to figures jointly compiled by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) and Community Security Organisation, in 2023, there was the highest ever number of antisemitic attacks for a single calendar year recorded.
Of the more than 200 incidents logged, about three-quarters occurred in the final three months of the year. During 2024, antisemitism levels fluctuated from month to month, sometimes being markedly higher than comparable periods in the past while at others, dropping to levels that could almost be called “normal”.
In the end, though, more than 125 incidents were recorded, the third highest total since detailed records began to be kept by the SAJBD from the mid-1990s. By local standards, there was also a relatively high number of incidents (14) involving physical violence, including assault and damage and desecration to Jewish property. The great majority of incidents, however, took the form of verbal insults and threats, targeted social media, and other hate mail.
An area of concern was the prevalence of boycott campaigns against Jewish-owned or headed businesses, although the actual impact of these initiatives appears to have been fairly limited.
While South Africa has certainly witnessed a steep rise in antisemitic attacks over the past 15 months, it’s striking to note how much worse the situation has been in other major diaspora countries. This has consistently been the situation ever since the start of this century, when the collapse of the peace process in the Middle East triggered off a global wave of antisemitism that has since progressively intensified.
Whereas in a normal year, South Africa averages only a few dozen incidents, the comparable figures for countries like the United Kingdom (UK), Canada, Australia, France, and Germany has routinely been in the hundreds, and of late in the several thousands.
So serious has the situation become in Canada that in October, the Israeli government took the unusual step of releasing a report singling out that country as a hotbed of antisemitism since 7 October.
Whereas the neighbouring United States experienced a 340% increase in antisemitic incidents over the previous 10 months, in comparison to the same period, Canada’s increase was almost double that. Though comprising just 1.4% the population, Canadian Jews are the victims of 70% of religious hate crimes.
An especially disturbing feature was the mounting instances of Jewish schools being targeted for violent attacks. Among other incidents, in May alone, both the Belz Yeshiva Ketana in Montreal and Bais Chaya Mushka in Toronto were fired at by masked gunmen.
The situation in the UK is hardly any better. According to the Community Security Trust, 5 583 antisemitic incidents across the country were recorded between 7 October 2023 and 30 September, 2024, the highest tally recorded in any 12-month period since annual figures began to be compiled in 1984. The total included 302 incidents of assault and 266 involving “damage and desecration”.
When assessing the impact of ubiquitous and rising antisemitism across the globe, it’s important also to look beyond the actual incidents of anti-Jewish hostility to consider their broader emotional and psychological impact on the communities thus targeted.
Here, a survey conducted by the Central Council of Jews in Germany has special poignance. The report “spoke of an atmosphere thick with hostility, fear of violence, and a chilling sense of vulnerability” that members of the community were feeling. Many had chosen to erase public markers of their Jewish identity, concealing who they were to avoid becoming targets.
Commented one of those interviewed, “I no longer show publicly that I am Jewish. Most of my family was murdered in the Holocaust, and I never imagined that, as a Jew, I would have to hide again in Germany.”
One can also quote here Uriya Shavit, one of the compilers of the above-mentioned Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry report: “If current trends continue, the curtain will descend on the ability to lead Jewish lives in the West – to wear a Star of David, attend synagogues and community centres, send kids to Jewish schools, frequent a Jewish club on campus, or speak Hebrew.”
However difficult things have been for the South African Jewish community over the past year and more, we can be thankful that in our own country at least, we’re still a good way away from that situation.
- David Saks is the former associate director and current consultant to the SAJBD.
