Antisemitic incidents in the Czech Republic rose sharply in 2023, says the Jewish community

PRAGUE (AP) — Antisemitic incidents in the Czech Republic sharply increased last year, with their peak appearing in the final quarter of 2023 following the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, an assault that triggered the war in Gaza, the country’s Jewish community said Monday.

In its annual report, the Federation of the Jewish Communities said it registered 4,328 antisemitic incidents in 2023, up 90% from 2,277 in the previous year.

The report said that 1,800 incidents — or 41,59%, of the total — happened in the last three months of the year.

“The Oct 7 was immediately followed by a global explosive wave of antisemitism, which also strongly hit the Czech Republic,” the report said.

The bulk of the anti-Jewish hatred, 98%, was expressed online, most of them through social media, it said.

Those included the publication of false, dehumanizing, demonizing, vulgar and conspiracy theories and stereotypes as well as hatred aimed at the state of Israel, it added.

Antisemitism refers to hatred of Jews, but there is no universally agreed definition of what exactly it entails or how it relates to criticism of Israel. The Israeli government, for instance, regularly accuses its opponents of antisemitism, while critics say it uses the term to silence opposition to its policies.

The raging war in the Middle East and its massive toll on Palestinian civilians has reignited the long debate about the definition of antisemitism and whether any criticism of Israel — from its military’s killing of thousands of Palestinian children to questions over Israel’s very right to exist — amounts to anti-Jewish hate speech.

Despite the rise in antisemitic incidents, the report concluded the Czech Republic remains a safe country for Jews.

It said there was no physical attack registered for the second straight year. But 18 incidents involved antisemitic threats, harassment and verbal insults, more than double than the previous year. The rest of the incidents included demonizing the Jewish community with conspiracy theories and stereotyping, according to the report.

The Hamas attacks on Israel killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians. The militants also took around 250 people hostage.

Israel’s massive and ongoing offensive in response has killed at least 39,580 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.