According to an annual study released by Tel Aviv University, last year marked the highest level of deadly violence against Jews globally in over three decades, with 20 individuals killed in antisemitic attacks. The report was published on Monday and highlights a concerning trend of increasing violence against Jewish communities.
The violence escalated following the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, and Israel's subsequent military actions in Gaza, which the report’s authors claim initiated a notable spike in antisemitic incidents. Uriya Shavit, the report’s chief editor, commented on the alarming data, noting that the high frequency of antisemitic incidents appears to be becoming a normalized reality.
Specific incidents reported included a fatal attack during a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, where 15 people lost their lives in December. Additional fatalities were recorded from antisemitic attacks in Washington, D.C., and Colorado in the United States, along with two deaths at a Manchester synagogue in the United Kingdom during Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
The annual report is published by Tel Aviv University’s Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and the Irwin Cotler Institute for Democracy, Human Rights and Justice, and coincides with Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day dedicated to memorializing the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust.
The report also cataloged a rise in antisemitic attacks that resulted in physical harm, including beatings and stone-throwing incidents. Notably, 2025 has been documented as the deadliest year for antisemitic violence since 1994, the year when a bombing at a Jewish community center in Argentina resulted in the deaths of 85 people and inflicted injuries on over 300 others. An Argentine court has attributed the attack to Iran and its Hezbollah proxy.
In terms of overall trends, the study indicated a moderate increase in the total number of antisemitic incidents in the past year compared to 2024. However, this total has seen an enormous rise from 2022, prior to the military conflict in Gaza. The reported incidents encompass a range of activities from physical attacks and vandalism to verbal threats and harassment on social media platforms.
Shavit noted that the peak in antisemitic incidents was observed immediately after the October 7 attack. While there was a subsequent downward trend, the decrease did not persist into 2025, raising concerns about ongoing violence. In the United Kingdom, antisemitic incidents rose to 3,700 in 2025, an increase from 3,556 incidents in the previous year. Similarly, Canada experienced a rise in incidents from 6,219 in 2024 to 6,800 in 2025, marking a figure more than three times higher than reported in 2022.
The study found that even after the ceasefire in Gaza was enacted in October, antisemitic incidents continued to surge compared to the same timeframe the previous year. Australia reported 588 antisemitic incidents from October to December 2025, an increase from 492 during the same period in 2024. In total, Australia recorded 472 antisemitic incidents throughout 2022.
Most physically violent attacks were perpetrated by individuals acting independently, making prevention efforts particularly challenging. Carl Yonker, the study's research director, explained that the majority of attacks were carried out by extremist white Christians aligned with white supremacy or radical Muslims, oftentimes involving individuals facing unemployment and financial difficulties.
The statistics compiled in the report stem from various sources, including police reports, national authorities, and local Jewish communities, underlining the grave situation of antisemitism across multiple countries and communities.
