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The Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism on Sunday presented its first report on the rise of antisemitism around the world, encompassing the entire year of 2024, the first such review since the October 7 massacre. The report was to be presented to ministers during the meeting of the government.
According to the report, antisemitism became more organized in 2024 and receives funding from official international institutions and even some governments. The report provides data on the rise of antisemitism in different countries in the West compared to the first 10 months of 2023, before the massacre.
The report finds that in Canada antisemitic incidents increased by 970%; in Australia 320% and a 260% rise in antisemitic violence; in the United States a rise of 200%; and in France, a 300% increase in antisemitic incidents.
The report also finds that 64% of French citizens believe Jews are right to live in fear in France; 84% of Jews living in Germany think they are no longer safe; and 90% of Britain's Jews avoid areas in city centers during anti-Israel protests.
The Diaspora Ministry report points to Spain and Ireland as the most antisemitic countries in Europe and ranks France, Britain, Canada and Australia as showing "moral ambiguity" in the way they responded to antisemitism while expressing disproportionate criticism of Israel, in a manner that puts Jewish communities at risk.
French President Emmanuel Macron is especially noted in the report after he made statements regarding the killing of women and children by Israel during the war in Gaza, and claims that by his remarks, the president has legitimized antisemitic rhetoric by the French far-left.
The report accuses Macron of legitimizing Luc Mélenchon, leader of the far-left La France Insoumise (LFI) Party, who tried to minimize the number of antisemitic incidents in France, after a report by the French Interior Ministry found a rise of 300% in antisemitism in the first quarter of 2024. Only 44% of supporters of the far left in France regard Hamas as a terror organization.
In Britain, the report noted that the chief rabbi criticized the UK's Labour Party for imposing an arms embargo on Israel. In Canada, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) expressed shock after the government of former prime minister Justin Trudeau decided to condemn Israel in the United Nations in December 2023, just two months after the Hamas massacre, and warned that it would lead to additional hatred toward Canadian Jews.
In fact, in 2024, Canada was branded the "champion of antisemitism" with antisemitic attacks rising by 7.5 times in the past year. Some 85% of Jewish Canadians believe the Trudeau government did not do enough to respond to antisemitism.
The report also criticizes the UN and the Palestinian Authority and accuses the TikTok social media platform of being the major instigator of antisemitism. It noted that an Israeli executive in the company resigned after he called the platform "an existential threat to Israel and identified those responsible for policy who were supporters of Hamas and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Columbia University was described in the report as the most antisemitic campus in the United States after 127 incidents of antisemitism were reported in 2024 alone. According to the report, nearly 90% of antisemitic incidents on university campuses in September resulted from far-left ideologies.
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The BBC was also noted in the report for its refusal to call Hamas a terrorist group. A former employee of the British broadcaster reported that complaints about antisemitism were covered up by BBC management. Leaders of the Jewish community in Britain said the conduct of the BBC contributed to antisemitism around the world and to denials of the atrocities committed by Hamas or to diminishing their veracity.
The report calls for recognition of the IHRA definition of antisemitism and for enforcing the laws against hatred of Jews. It demands that governments act against one-sided criticism of Israel or indifference in the face of antisemitism, putting Jewish communities around the world in danger.