Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have been fighting in European cities for two weeks, amid a large police deployment in front of synagogues and mosques and under the political slogan of “zero tolerance” towards hate crimes. In London, incidents of antisemitism in the last two weeks have soared by 1,350% (from 15 to 218) while cases of Islamophobia have increased by 140% (from 42 to 103).
In France, with the largest Jewish community in Europe, There have been 320 “acts of anti-Semitism” and 180 arrests by incidents from threats made at the entrances to synagogues to graffiti like the one that appeared on a stadium in Carcassonne: “Killing the Jews is a duty.”
In Germany, police are investigating the throwing of two Molotov cocktails at a mosque in Berlin last Wednesday, although there were no injuries or significant material damage. The Central Council of Jews has meanwhile denounced the appearance of stars of David painted at the entrance of houses as an “act of intimidation” in various parts of the city.
The tension is also very evident in the Jewish quarter of Rome, where it was celebrated precisely these days the 80th anniversary of the raids and deportations to Auschwitz. In Milan, graffiti with swastikas and graffiti such as the one written at the entrance to a hospital has appeared in the last two weeks: “Jewish murderers, to the crematorium.”
The Golders Green neighborhood in London, recently visited by Home Secretary Suella Braverman, has also become a fort after the appearance of graffiti “Free Palestine!” in several Jewish establishments. In Camden, a man was arrested this week for tearing down posters of children kidnapped by Hamas within hours of being posted.