According to the SEAS, governments, law enforcement agencies, and community groups spanning continents – from Europe to North America, from Australia to South Africa – have reported an alarming rise in antisemitic behavior.

Lipstadt revealed that these incidents are not just restricted to hateful words but also include tangible acts of violence.

“Violent incidents throughout the world in October have included harassment of and attacks on Jewish individuals, and defacement of and attacks on Jewish sites,” she detailed.

Drawing a clear line between antisemitism and global politics, Lipstadt emphatically stated, “targeting Jewish communities with hate, intimidation, or violence in relation to the conflict in the Middle East is intolerable and antisemitic – and without justification. Full stop.”

She further underscored the erroneous nature of blaming global Jewish communities for regional political conflicts. “Jewish people around the world should never be held responsible for the words and actions of the Israeli or any other government,” Lipstadt emphasized. 

“While the United States fully supports freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, we condemn antisemitic imagery and rhetoric, which can lead to violence,” she affirmed, adding, “We emphasize there is no place for hatred of Jews, Muslims, Arabs, Palestinians, Israelis, or anyone else.”

October 7 massacre shakes Jewish communities worldwide

The news of October 7 emerging as “the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust” has shaken communities worldwide.

This somber event is a stark reminder of the longstanding history of antisemitic violence. The memories evoked by such incidents, as Lipstadt notes, bring forth “painful memories and scars left by millennia of antisemitism and the genocide of the Jewish people by the Nazis and their collaborators.”

A report published on Friday unveiled a deeply troubling trend of antisemitism on university campuses across the United States: A staggering 45 reported antisemitism incidents occurred on university campuses in just three days, out of a total of 134 documented cases in the past two weeks.

The report was conducted by the Diaspora Affairs and Combatting Antisemitism Ministry and Mosaic organization. According to the report, this surge in antisemitic activity has “raised grave concerns about the safety and well-being of Jewish students across American campuses. These reported incidents span a range of concerning behaviors and expressions, providing a stark illustration of the scale of the issue and its impact.”

Among the most disturbing incidents reported was at Cornell University, where a lecturer categorized as “antisemitic,” described the Hamas’s massacre during the celebration of Simchat Torah in western Negev settlements as an “exciting event.” Meanwhile, at UC Davis in California, a lecturer took to social media to call for violence against Jewish students.

At the University of Michigan, nearly 1,000 lecturers and staff members signed a document accusing Israel of atrocities attributed to the terrorist organization Hamas. This response came in reaction to the university president’s condemnation of the deadly terror acts on October 7.

Antisemitic incident in Russian airport

In addition, thousands of local residents in Makhachkala in the Russian Republic of Dagestan stormed an airport in the city in an attempt to attack any Jews and Israelis set to arrive on a “Red Wings” flight from Tel Aviv on Sunday, according to local media reports.

No Israeli casualties were reported from the incident according to the Foreign Ministry, although about 20 people have been injured and are currently receiving medical treatment according to Dagestani health officials.

Footage reportedly from the scene shared on local Telegram channels showed rioters chanting “Allahu Akbar” and stopping cars in order to check the documents of passengers to ensure they were not Israeli or Jewish. The Russian state-owned RIA Novosti outlet reported that police officers and the National Guard were present at the scene while the riots took place and that the airport had been closed due to the entry of rioters to the airport.

The rioters could also be seen carrying Palestinian flags while running through the airport and even rioters reaching planes on the runway. Russian security forces were not recorded to have intervened amid the violence.

An Israeli security official stated that a number of Israelis and Jews were “isolated and secured” at the airport.

“We are working for them to take off from there for a connecting flight to Moscow as soon as conditions permit.”

The Republic of Dagestan, which sits along the coast of the Caspian Sea, is an autonomous republic within the Russian Federation. A few thousand Caucasian Jews are estimated to live in the republic. 83% of the population in Dagestan is Muslim, according to a 2012 survey.

Rioters search hotel for Jews

In Khasavyurt, also located in Dagestan, rioters gathered at a hotel where Israelis who had fled the fighting were reported to be staying, with some of the rioters entering the hotel and only leaving after ensuring that no Israelis were in the hotel.

The “ChP Dagestan” Telegram channel reported that the riots in Khasavyurt began after “a person resembling an Israeli citizen” was seen walking near the hotel.

The Russian Echo FM radio reported that a resident of Dagestan stated “I went into every room, I checked every person. I looked at the passport, looked at the face to see if this face corresponded to the passport. There are no [Jews] there, brothers, you are simply being provoked. We need to go home. Well done to everyone who came, you’re all caring.”

Israeli officials monitoring situation in Dagestan

The Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Ministry stressed on Sunday that “The State of Israel takes seriously attempts to harm Israeli citizens and Jews everywhere.”

The Prime Minister’s Office, the Foreign Ministry, and the National Security Council are monitoring the situation. “Israel expects the Russian law enforcement authorities to protect the safety of all Israeli citizens and Jews wherever they may be and to act resolutely against the rioters and against the wild incitement directed against Jews and Israelis.”

Former chief rabbi of Moscow and the chairman of the Conference of European Rabbis Pinchas Goldschmidt stated that “The Conference of European Rabbis is concerned about the situation of the Jews in Dagestan, with the reports of calls for pogroms against the Jews in the republic’s cities. President [Vladimir] Putin is responsible for the peace of the Jews in his country and we hope that he will give an unequivocal instruction to the local government not to allow riots and pogroms against the Jews.”

Goldschmidt addressed the violence in a post on X as well, writing “Where are the Russian security forces? All in Ukraine? The definition of a pogrom is: inaction of the security forces during riots.”

Zelensky: Riot in Dagestan not an isolated incident

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to the riots on Sunday, stating “This is not an isolated incident in Makhachkala, but rather part of Russia’s widespread culture of hatred toward other nations, which is propagated by state television, pundits, and authorities.”

Zelensky pointed to a number of antisemitic comments made by Russian officials in the past year, saying “for Russian propaganda talking heads on official television, hate rhetoric is routine. Even the most recent Middle East escalation prompted antisemitic statements from Russian ideologists.”

“Russian antisemitism and hatred toward other nations are systemic and deeply rooted. Hatred is what drives aggression and terror. We must all work together to oppose hatred.”

Chief rabbi warns against allowing extremism in Russia

During a recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar told Putin “we have not encountered state antisemitism for many years, and there is no antisemitism on the street either, but we have experience from the past. Therefore, our main request to the authorities, federal and local: a constant and uncompromising fight against extremism.”

After the violence reported on Saturday and Sunday, Lazar stated “We live in very difficult times, and unfortunately, in the last few weeks the difficulties have only increased. Terrorist attacks, conflicts between countries, entire regions are engulfed in violence with no end in sight. Instead of peace, mutual understanding, mutual help for common development – tension, hatred, and even atrocities are increasing. Entire cities, and in some places entire countries, fall under the rule of terrorists who commit crimes against humanity.”

Lazar noted that the relations between different communities in Russia are being “tested.”

“These events did not happen by chance, they were preceded by a passionate propaganda of extremism and terrorism on social networks. It is clear that we cannot really influence what is happening in the Gaza Strip or on the Lebanese border: we can only pray together that peace will finally come. But we can, and even must worry, that the poisonous seeds of extremism and terrorism will not affect, God forbid, from there to here.”

“I have no doubt that the aggressive actions of extremists blinded by hatred in Cherkasy and Benalchik will be severely rejected by the authorities!”

The chief rabbi called on all residents of Russia to work together to “preserve the unique atmosphere of mutual respect and support that makes Russia a good place to live in.”

Local Muslim leaders condemn violence

The Coordination Center for Muslims of the North Caucasus condemned the riots, stating on Saturday “In recent days, we have been faced with provocations of destructive forces who, purely for personal selfish interests, in order to incite interfaith hatred in the North Caucasus, are trying to call on Muslims to take to the streets against all Jews, including Jewish citizens of the Russian Federation who have been living peacefully on our territory for centuries, who have nothing to do with the genocide of Palestinians by Israel, the United States, and their minions.”

The center stressed that the violence “is contrary to the spirit of the Islamic religion and the traditions of the peoples of the North Caucasus. Antisemitism has no place in the multinational North Caucasus.”