Annual report on global antisemitism as Israel marks National Holocaust Remembrance Day
Tel Aviv University report finds violent attacks against Jews in the West reach highest levels in over three decades, with sharp rises in Australia, Canada, and the UK
A new annual report from Tel Aviv University published on National Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel (Yom HaShoah) finds a sharp rise in violent antisemitic incidents worldwide in 2025, with the number of killings of Jews reaching its highest level in more than three decades. The findings attribute the surge to the backdrop of the war in Gaza and document record levels of attacks in several Western countries.
The report, published by Tel Aviv University’s Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and the Irwin Cotler Institute, states that 20 Jews were killed in four separate attacks across three continents in 2025. It also records a significant increase in physical assaults on Jews in multiple countries, while overall incident trends vary by country but remain well above pre-war levels.
According to the report, "In 2025, there was a surge in the number of severe violent incidents against Jews in the West," and "That's higher than in three decades: 20 murdered in four incidents across three continents.” It adds that Australia and Canada recorded particularly severe figures, with Australia registering what it describes as its highest number of incidents ever recorded.
According to Prof. Uriah Shavit, the chief editor of the 152-page report, "The data raise concerns that a high level of anti-Semitic incidents is becoming a reality that people get used to. The peak in the number of incidents was recorded in the months immediately following the October 7 attack, after which we saw a relative downward trend – but unfortunately, this trend was halted in 2025."
This sharp increase in violence did not come as a surprise to Shavit, who observed that "the rule that applies to all types of crime also applies here: when law enforcement authorities are indifferent to minor crimes, the result is major crimes."
In Australia, the report cites an increase in total incidents from 1,727 in 2024 to 1,750 in 2025, alongside major attacks including the Hanukkah attack near Sydney in which 15 Jews were killed. This is compared to 1,200 incidents in 2023 and 472 in 2022. The data indicates that the end of the war actually led to a relative increase in the number of incidents: compared to 492 recorded in October-December 2024, 588 incidents were recorded in the corresponding period in 2025.
In Canada, incidents rose from 6,219 in 2024 to 6,800 in 2025, more than triple the 2022 level, which was at 1,662. In the United Kingdom, incidents increased from 3,556 to 3,700, with a notable rise in the months following the end of the Gaza war. While between October and December 2024 there were 741 incidents recorded in the kingdom, in the corresponding period in 2025, following the war, the number jumped to 1,078.
The report also shows mixed trends across Europe and North America. France recorded a decline in total incidents but a rise in cases involving physical violence. Germany saw a decrease in overall incidents but relatively stable levels of violent attacks. In Belgium, the number of incidents increased from 129 in 2024 to 232 in 2025, and the number of physical assaults rose from 27 to 32. In the United States, New York recorded a decline in total incidents but an increase in the months following the end of the war period.
Professor Irwin Cotler, former Canadian Minister of Justice and a leading figure in the global fight against antisemitism, said the data reflects not only a rise in incidents but also in the severity of hate crimes targeting Jews. He stated, “We are witnessing not only an unprecedented surge in the number of anti-Semitic incidents since their documentation began in the 1970s, but also an unprecedented surge in the number of hate crimes against Jews.”
The report also includes analysis by Dr. Carl Yonker, who examines antisemitism within parts of the conservative movement in the United States. Yonker warned that “existential concern is raised by the infiltration of blatant anti-Semitism, including admiration for Hitler and Holocaust denial, into the mainstream currents of the Republican Party.”
He added that social media has significantly amplified the phenomenon, stating that it makes efforts to counter it “particularly difficult, and perhaps impossible,” and concluded that antisemitism in the United States is experiencing “a massive and dangerous surge… as it has not since World War II.”
The authors of the report also criticize government responses to antisemitism, stating that 'the government contributed nothing to the fight' and that it 'expanded the scope of the term "antisemitism" and diluted it from its meaning.' The annual report has been published since 2001 and is widely cited internationally, based on data from law enforcement agencies, Jewish communities, and field research.