Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on June 4, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 23, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleAntisemitic incidents in Germany nearly doubled in 2024, with 8,627 cases reported. Far-right groups are primarily responsible, amid ongoing debates about antisemitism definitions.
By Thomas Escritt
BERLIN (Reuters) - The number of antisemitic incidents in Germany almost doubled last year, at a time of continued war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, the semi-official German body that tracks antisemitism reported on Wednesday.
The Federal Research and Information Point for Antisemitism (RIAS) said it had registered 8,627 incidents of violence, vandalism and threats against Jews in Germany last year, almost twice the 4,886 recorded in 2023, and far ahead of 2020's 1,957.
"Objectively, the risk of being persecuted as a Jew in Germany has increased since October 7, 2023," Benjamin Steinitz, head of RIAS, told a news briefing on the report, referring to the start of the Gaza war.
"But debates about what counts as an expression of antisemitism seem to take up more space than empathy for the victims."
The largest category of incidents reported by RIAS - about 25% of the total - fell within the category of "anti-Israeli antisemitism", which covers criticisms of Israeli policy that some regard as legitimate political expression in a democracy.
In a report published last month, Jewish activist group Diaspora Alliance questioned what it said was RIAS methodology equating such criticism with antisemitism.
Alliance activist Jossi Bartal said RIAS' approach "delegitimises criticism of the Israeli state, marking every expression of Palestinian identity as suspect", alluding to Israeli policy towards Palestinians in occupied territories.
Steinitz told the briefing in response to questions that the Diaspora Alliance report distorted RIAS' work. "I think the aim of publishing the report now was to present our work as somehow controversial and discredit the experiences of victims."
Antisemitic violence, vandalism and threats have surged in recent years, with far-right Germans responsible for around three times as many incidents as Islamists, RIAS reported.
For Germany, tracking such incidents and countering antisemitism is central to its post-war project of atoning for the Nazi-era Holocaust of Europe's Jews.
(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; editing by Mark Heinrich)
The number of antisemitic incidents in Germany almost doubled last year, with 8,627 incidents reported compared to 4,886 in the previous year.
The report indicates that about 25% of the incidents fall under 'anti-Israeli antisemitism', which includes criticisms of Israeli policy that some consider antisemitic.
According to the RIAS report, far-right Germans are responsible for around three times as many antisemitic incidents as Islamists.
Tracking such incidents is central to Germany's post-war project of atoning for the Nazi-era Holocaust of Europe's Jews.
The Diaspora Alliance criticized RIAS' methodology, claiming it equates legitimate criticism of the Israeli state with antisemitism.
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