Antisemitism reaches record levels in Czech Republic amid Gaza war, Jewish community report says

PRAGUE, Czech Republic — Antisemitic incidents in the Czech Republic reached record levels last year amid the conflict in Gaza, the country’s Jewish community says.

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

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

Papousek says 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 says 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 says.

Most incidents, almost 96%, were expressed online, mostly through social media, the annual report says.

But a record of four cases of physical attacks were registered 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 to other objects were reported, double the number from the previous year.