The number of people killed as a result of anti-Semitic violence in Western countries is set to reach a record high in 2025, according to data compiled by Tel Aviv University.
The new report, published ahead of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 14, shows that 20 Jews were murdered in four separate deadly attacks last year, the highest number in more than 30 years.
Other types of physical harm, acts of vandalism against Jewish institutions and incidents involving online hate increased in all Western countries surveyed compared to 2022, the year before Hamas’ October 7 attacks and Israel’s war in Gaza, Lebanon, and the subsequent war with the US over Iran.
Attack on Australia’s Bondi Beach
Tel Aviv University has been publishing its reports on anti-Jewish violence since 2001, relying on data provided by law enforcement agencies, Jewish communities around the world, NGOs, and other groups. The 2026 report also includes a study on anti-Semitism in the health care sector and metadata analysis of documented perpetrators.
The most significant anti-Semitic attack in 2025 was the December 14 shooting at a Jewish community Hanukkah event in Bondi Beach, Australia, near Sydney, which killed 15 people and injured dozens of others.
The total number of anti-Semitic incidents in Australia rose slightly last year, from 1,727 in 2024 to 1,750 in 2025. Both years showed sharp increases from similar data in 2022, a year that saw 472 cases.
A similar trend of increase in anti-Semitic cases was recorded in Canada, the United Kingdom and Belgium.
Anti-Semitism in America ‘worrying’
In the US, home to approximately 6 million Jews, the world’s largest Jewish community outside Israel, the report highlighted “the normalization of anti-Semitic rhetoric in American political discourse” as the most worrying development of the year. It exposed US President Donald Trump and his ties to “deep-seated, vile anti-Semites within his camp”.
“Binding the destiny of Israel specifically and happily [Trump’s] “Let alone boasting about the influence Israeli politicians or philanthropists have on him is existentially irresponsible folly,” the report said, pointing to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s public comments about what he called a “special relationship” with Trump.
US leaders are a “threat to the future”, according to report [United States]and liberal democracy at large”, which was labeled Trump’s “inflammatory, offensive political rhetoric”, as well as his lack of recognition of “the evil of fascist Russia” and his “contempt for the rule of law”.
The report also noted declining support for Israel among US residents in both Republican and Democratic circles as a cause for concern for local Jews.
Government cuts to education in Germany are a threat
While the report said the number of incidents in Germany had declined – 5,729 last year compared to 6,560 in 2024 – the number of cases involving physical violence remained the same. 144 such cases were recorded in 2025, while 148 attacks took place in 2024. The data is taken from Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA).
Police in Germany recently told parliament that many anti-Semitic crimes are directly related to the escalation in 2023 following Hamas’ October 7 attack and Israel’s war in Gaza, according to the Berlin daily. daily Mirror Informed.
While many of the reported crimes included attacks on synagogues and other Jewish institutions, the issue of criminalizing certain words and symbols related to the pro-Palestinian movement has sparked discussion in Germany.
One such example is “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” Since 2023, in the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attacks, Germany has legally classified the use of the term as a criminal offence, sparking criticism from activists and human rights organizations around the world.
Other motives for anti-Jewish violence include Islamism and right-wing extremism.
While the fight against anti-Semitism is often mentioned as one of the goals of the German government, Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s current coalition led by the center-right Christian Democratic Union has cut the budget for education programs, which has also affected many non-governmental institutions that deal with the prevention of anti-Semitism.
Israel’s anti-Semitism office the meaning of the word ‘blank’
One of the issues outlined in the report is the handling of the issue by the far-right Israeli government as well as local Israeli media.
According to the authors, Israeli politicians and media have “continuously expanded” the meaning of the term anti-Semitism, “sometimes absurdly or hastily,” thus “emptying it of analytical meaning.”
The report is particularly critical of the Israeli Ministry of Immigrant Affairs, led by right-wing politician Amichai Chikli, and its handling of anti-Semitism, saying, “The label of anti-Semitism is harsh and should only be applied after careful consideration and based on concrete criteria.”
The report said that Chikli’s ministry “has not contributed in any meaningful way” to the fight against anti-Semitism, while in some cases it caused “embarrassment”. It recommended closing the ministry entirely after Israel’s legislative elections in October, with the report describing the move as “mandatory”.
The ministry has often been criticized by Jewish communities in Europe due to Chikli’s ties to far-right European politicians. The most prominent example came in March 2025, when several high-profile participants withdrew from an anti-Semitism conference organized by the ministry due to the participation of far-right politicians from Hungary, Spain, Sweden, and other countries.
Among the participants who canceled their participation were world-renowned Jewish philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, Felix Klein, the German government commissioner for the fight against anti-Semitism, and Volker Beck, the head of Germany’s most important pro-Israel lobby group.
Several important Jewish institutions also avoided attending the conference, notably the World Jewish Congress and the American Jewish Committee.