Antisemitic reactions to October 7 in Germany

Nothing has been the same since October 7, 2023. On that day, Hamas terrorists attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip and killed more than 1,200 people in several massacres of mostly civilians.

In Germany, especially at the beginning, there were expressions of solidarity with Israel, but also direct antisemitic and terror-glorifying reactions. Shouts of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” were already documented in Berlin on the evening of October 7. The sharp rise in the number of antisemitic incidents since October 7 has remained at a high level ever since.

October 7 also represented a turning point for Jews when negotiating between visibility and security. Since then, Jewish life in Germany has become less visible. In their everyday lives, Jews are increasingly confronted by a lack of empathy as well as overt antisemitism. They are reporting more and more antisemitic incidents from acquaintances, in their neighbourhoods, at their workplaces or at universities. Against the background of this tense situation both in Germany and worldwide, the Bundesverband RIAS is publishing this second monitoring report, which focuses on antisemitic incidents between October 7 and November 9, 2023.

Read and download the monitoring report