Over the past five years, the European Union, home to the third-largest Jewish community in the world after the US and Israel, has experienced a wave of antisemitism unprecedented since the end of World War II.
The surge began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Jews were accused, based on popular conspiracy theories, of developing, spreading, and even creating a cure for the virus to “reduce the world’s population” or “increase Jewish control over the world.”
Simultaneously, opponents of anti-COVID measures compared themselves to Jews persecuted by the Nazis. This distorted the memory of the Holocaust, misusing the Jewish experience of victimhood.
Next came the war in Ukraine, which sparked widespread antisemitic conspiracies. Jews were depicted as the “real” warmongers, either by financing Russian President Vladimir Putin or supporting the “Jew” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Once again, both warring sides appropriated Holocaust memory to accuse the other of being Nazis.
Finally, the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023, led to a further explosion of hatred, including during the massacre itself and in the aftermath as Israel defended itself.
The typical antisemitic projection was at play: the victim – Israel – was portrayed as the “aggressor” committing “genocide,” while the genocidal aggressors, the Palestinians, were presented as victims.
Jews across Europe were targeted, primarily by radical Muslims, and far left-wing antisemites. Attacks occurred on the streets, in Jewish institutions, on campuses, in the media, in football stadiums, and even during the Eurovision Song Contest, to name a few.
In some parts of Europe, antisemitic threats and crimes increased by hundreds of percentage points. A survey conducted before October 7 by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) found that 75% to 90% of Jews in different European countries reported that antisemitism affects their daily lives. Since the attacks, most Jewish communities across the EU have reported a drastic deterioration in their situation.
In response, the EU has equipped itself with new tools to combat antisemitism, realizing that it has not disappeared and, in fact, has grown with the influx of immigrants from Arab and Muslim countries.
The EU now has a dedicated coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life, as well as a joint strategy for combating antisemitism and promoting Jewish life through 2030. The widely accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism helps the EU understand what antisemitism entails, including its anti-Israel aspects.
But can the EU truly combat antisemitism without acknowledging its own antisemitism?
One glaring example of the EU’s hypocrisy is the sanctions imposed on the former president of the European Jewish Congress, Dr. Moshe Kantor, following Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Kantor, a former businessman and philanthropist, led the EJC from 2007 until his stepping down in 2022 when he was included in a sanctions list targeting Russians accused of supporting and financing Putin’s war.
He was the only democratically elected leader of a religiously affiliated group to be sanctioned, despite having no business ties to the Russian president or his regime.
Furthermore, he was the only individual on the list whose religious affiliation, Jewish, was explicitly mentioned. The EU Commission was subsequently forced to apologize for this error.
However, the inclusion of Kantor’s Jewishness may offer insight into the bias and carelessness surrounding the sanctions. The EU’s claims against Kantor were based on dubious sources and Google-translated articles from publications that few had ever heard of. To make matters worse, many of these articles were sponsored by anonymous entities that were omitted in the translations.
Astonishingly, the EU Commission, often seen as a champion in the fight against fake news, punished a democratically elected Jewish European leader based on a short list of easily debunked falsehoods.
Kantor had been a prominent figure in leading the European fight against antisemitism, pushing EU leaders to take the issue seriously and move beyond empty rhetoric to actions. While he was celebrated by many European leaders and received national awards for his efforts toward peace, tolerance, and coexistence, he was secretly vilified by others.
Many suspect that the invasion of Ukraine served as an excuse for some to dispose of a leader who had been a thorn in their side, advocating for the safety and security of the Jewish community.
Additionally, Kantor personally funded initiatives that strengthened the security of vulnerable Jewish communities under constant threat from extremists. These communities are now left even more exposed, deprived of a leader who could have made a significant difference to their well-being.
The EU sanctions on Kantor had little to do with the war in Ukraine. It was an overtly antisemitic move by bureaucrats in an institution whose former director, Josep Borrell, at times seemed to encourage antisemitism rather than fight it.
Thankfully, and long overdue, the sanctions against Kantor were finally lifted. It was too little too late, and the champion of fighting antisemitism in Europe was unable to do so at a time when European Jewish communities needed him most.
To make up for lost time and to show a strong commitment to the fight against Jew-hatred, Dr. Moshe Kantor’s name, reputation, and ability to work on behalf of the Jewish community must be restored.
The writer is a Vienna-based Journalist and author, who for the past 25 years has lived in Paris, Berlin, and Vienna, investigating European and Middle Eastern politics, the changes in the region, and their consequences on Europe, writing five books on these issues.