Jewish community in the Czech Republic reports record number of antisemitic incidents in 2024

PRAGUE (AP) — Antisemitic incidents in the Czech Republic reached record levels last year amid the conflict in Gaza, the country’s Jewish community said on Friday.

In its annual report, the Federation of the Jewish Communities said it registered 4,694 antisemitic incidents in 2024, almost 8.5% up from 4,328 in the previous year. In 2023, the reports jumped by 90% following the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, an assault that triggered the war in Gaza.

Petr Papousek, head of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Czech Republic, said that his country was no exception to “a global explosive wave of antisemitism which erupted immediately after the Hamas attack.”

Papousek said that hatred of Jews especially in the form of demonization of the state of Israel, has become a socially acceptable attitude and has dominated the public space. He said the attacks showed “an unprecedented synergy” between the far right, the far left, Islamism and the disinformation media.

“The unifying element is hatred of Israel, which works with the motives, narratives, conspiracies and myths of traditional antisemitism,” he said.

Most incidents, almost 96%, were expressed online, mostly through social media, it said.

But a record of four cases of physical attacks were registered in last year compared to none in 2023. All of them were linked to the Middle East conflict. Twelve cases of desecration of Jewish cemeteries, monuments and damage of other objects were reported, double the number from the previous year.

In one case, five teenagers were detained after an attempted arson attack against a synagogue in January 2024 in the second largest Czech city of Brno. Police said they were radicalized online by the militant Islamic State group and charged two of them with terror-related crimes.

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