Facing Facts Toolkit in a time of crisis
02/11/2023
Synagogues, kosher restaurants, Israeli embassies and apartments of Jewish residents have been vandalised with antisemitic content in Berlin, Oporto, Paris, London, Madrid, Rome and around the world. Muslim communities are on heightened alert in London and elsewhere, after Muslim women had their head scarfs tugged from their head and several mosques were targeted in Oxford, Lancashire in the UK, in Castrop-Rauxel, and Recklinghaus in Germany and in Bayonne, France. Antisemitic and anti-Muslim incidents are mounting across Europe, as the numbers indicate (updated on 22.12.2023).
- In Germany, Facing Facts Network member CLAIM documented from 9 October to 29 November, 187 violent anti-Muslim assaults, threats, insults and discrimination against individuals, including 24 attacks on religious institutions. In addition, 240 anti-Muslim hate comments were counted online in just five day (October 21 – 25, 2023), relating to a total of just 13 articles shared via the online platform X. Bundesverband RIAS registered 202 antisemitic incidents between 7 and 15 October. This is an increase of 240% compared to the same period last year. These numbers have been updated to 994 verified antisemitic incidents in the period from 7 October to 9 November 2023. The Federal Criminal Police Office in Germany (BKA) also documented a strong increase of antisemitic hate crimes, with 680 antisemitic crimes that have been reported to BKA since 7 October.
- Across the UK, between 7 October and 13 December, CST recorded at least 2093 antisemitic incidents across the UK. This is the highest ever total reported to CST across a sixty-eight-day period. CST has been recording antisemitic incidents since 1984. The Metropolitan Police said it had recorded 408 antisemitic offences against Britain’s Jewish communities in October, compared to 28 in the same period last year, and anti-Muslim hate crime was up from 65 offences in October 2022 to 174 so far in October. Tell Mama’s latest figures of 1432 anti-Muslim cases cover 7 October to 13 December, and represents the largest rise in reports to our service across 68 days.
- In France, according to the Minister of Interior, since 7 October, 588 antisemitic incidents have been reported to the police. This number has now been updated to 819 antisemitic acts, which have been reported in France: these are more incidents in three weeks than over the past year. This number has been updated to 1518 antisemitic cases and more than 140 anti-Muslim acts.
- In Austria, Facing Facts Network member ZARA – Civil-Courage and Anti-Racism-Work documented between 7 October and 30 November 55 cases of anti-Muslim racism and 37 cases of antisemitism. The figures are a small sample of the current situation and relate exclusively to cases that have been reported to ZARA. They include various offences motivated by prejudice such as graffiti, insults, assaults, etc. Since 7 October, Dokustelle documented 341 cases of anti-Muslim racism. The Jewish Community of Vienna, registered between 7 to 19 October, 76 antisemitic incidents, a 300% increase. This number has been updated to 400%.
- In the Netherlands, the number of antisemitic incidents has increased by a staggering 818 percent since October 7, according to CIDI. The number of incidents has been compared with the monthly average of the past three years.
The data will be periodically updated to include data coming from Facing Facts members. These numbers represent a drastic increase in antisemitism and anti-Muslim racism in places, where reporting systems are functioning well. Nevertheless, one has to take into account that numbers might be even higher due to under-reporting.
The increase of bias-motivated cases in Europe shows how the events in the Middle East function as fuel in the spread of misinformation, disinformation and hate speech online. This can lead to hate crime and attacks by violent extremists, leaving Jewish and Muslim communities insecure. Hate incidents require swift verification, investigation and responses by authorities to ensure increased protection, safety and justice for victims.
As active participants and contributors to the High Level Group on combating hate speech and hate crime, we support the work of the European Commission in creating spaces for improving multi-stakeholder cooperation for better hate crime and hate speech responses, valuing the importance of monitoring, data collection for the sake of victims support and access to justice.
As a European civil society initiative that has been building capacities of various actors and advocating for victims’ rights and better prevention measures, we invite you to read through our toolkit to better understand, prevent and respond to the increase of hate crime and hate speech during global/international crises.
Find the whole toolkit here.
