European official: Antisemitic, anti-Muslim hate crime have ‘exploded’ in EU since Oct. 7

By AFP and ToI Staff 8 February 2024, 7:56 am

Edit

A man walks next to a building the façade of which was covered with Stars of David painted during the night, in the Alesia district of Paris, on October 31, 2023. (VAN DER HASSELT / AFP)

Antisemitic and anti-Muslim hate crime have “exploded” in the EU since the devastating October 7 Hamas onslaught and the subsequent war, a European Commission vice president says.

“Many Jews and Muslims living in Europe are fearing for their own safety,” with firebombs being thrown at synagogues, Jewish shops destroyed and swastikas and anti-Muslim “slurs” painted on mosques and homes, Margaritis Schinas tells the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.

Online, anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim messages have “exploded,” he says, including slogans calling for Israel’s destruction and Jews to be killed, and for Muslim migrants “to be killed or expelled, and Muslim women raped.”

“This is simply unacceptable,” Schinas says, calling for EU member countries to get behind national and European efforts to stamp out antsemitism and racism.

He also underscores the role of a new EU law cracking down on illegal online content, the Digital Services Act, and increased funding for fact-checkers to help battle antisemitism in social media posts.