Anti-Israel protesters march in Germany, March 26, 2025. Photo: Sebastian Willnow/dpa via Reuters Connect

Over half of Europeans view antisemitism as a serious problem in their countries, with almost seven in ten saying the war in Gaza influences how Jewish people are perceived, according to a new European Union survey published this week as hostility toward Jews and Israelis across the continent shows no sign of easing.

Released on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the European Commission’s Eurobarometer, which surveyed some 25,000 respondents, found that 69 percent of Europeans now believe that “conflicts in the Middle East” influence how Jewish people are perceived — up from 54 percent in a previous survey before the conflict.

The data also revealed that 55 percent of respondents consider antisemitism an “important” problem in their home country, with nearly half saying it has grown over the past five years and a large majority warning that hostility toward Jews in public places remains a serious concern.

Western countries, especially those with large Muslim-majority immigrant populations, expressed the greatest concern about rising antisemitism and were most likely to link it to Israel, revealing sharp differences across European Union member states.

For example, only 9 percent of respondents in Estonia said antisemitism was a problem, followed by Finland, Latvia, Malta, and Slovakia ranging from 16 to 21 percent.

However, 70 to 74 percent of respondents in countries such as France, Italy, Sweden, Germany, and the Netherlands saw antisemitism as a serious threat.

“Jewish culture is woven into the fabric of European history. We must protect and nurture this today and well into the future,” EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner said in a statement. 

Today, Europe is home to nearly 30 percent of all Israelis living outside the country — roughly 190,000 to 200,000 people — with their population steadily increasing across the continent, according to a report from the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR).

Yet governments and Jewish security organizations across the continent have documented a dramatic rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. 

Germany recorded more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents in 2024 — nearly double pre-Oct. 7, 2023, levels. 

In the UK, the Community Security Trust (CST) — a nonprofit charity that advises Britain’s Jewish community on security matters — recorded 1,521 antisemitic incidents from January to June last year. This was the second-highest number of antisemitic crimes ever recorded by CST in the first six months of any year, following 2,019 incidents in the first half of 2024.

France presents a similar pattern. According to the French Interior Ministry, the first six months of 2025 saw more than 640 antisemitic incidents, a 27.5 percent decline from the same period in 2024, but a 112.5 percent increase compared to the first half of 2023, before the Oct.7 atrocities.