Anti-Semites Attack 15 Synagogues Since October 7 Terrorist Attack
Arson and vandalism have struck Jewish sites in several countries, including the United States.
UPDATE: Arsonists struck a synagogue in a suburb ob Montreal, Quebec, on the morning of December 18. This is the second time the synagogue has been subjected to an arson attack in a year.
Since October 7, 2023, at least 15 synagogues have been targeted by arsonists and have been set on fire or attacked. The figure does not include attacks and threats directed against Jewish schools, businesses, institutions, and community centers.
2023
- Oct 17: El Hamma, Tunisia
- Oct 18: Berlin, Germany
- Nov 8: Montreal, Canada
- Nov 18: Yerevan, Armenia
- Nov 19: Lakewood, USA
- Dec 11: Vienna, Austria
2024
- Feb 28: Sfax, Tunisia
- Apr 5: Oldenburg, Germany
- Apr 10: Moscow, Russia
- May 1: Warsaw, Poland
- May 17: Rouen, France
- May 30: Vancouver, Canada
- Jun 24: Dagestan, Russia
- Jul 11: Obninsk, Russia
- Aug 24: La Grande-Motte, France
The first attack on a Jewish site was at Al-Hammah, southern Tunisia, on October 17, 2023. Hours after news circulated about a deadly explosion at the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, which Hamas terrorists falsely blamed on Israel, hundreds of people stormed the pilgrimage site and former synagogue which houses the tomb of the 16th-century Rabbi Yosef Ma’aravi. The mob set the building on fire, severely damaging it. Witnesses said that the vandals used hammers to deface and destroy the interior while shouting their support for Hamas. They raised the Palestinian flag on the roof. Al-Hammah is located about 400 kilometers south of Tunis.
This was not the first attack on Jews in Tunisia in the last year. In May, a terrorist attack on a Jewish pilgrimage of La Ghriba left five dead including two pilgrims. In that case, Tunisian President Kais Saied quickly dismissed international condemnation saying: “Palestinians are killed every day and [that] nobody talks about it." The La Ghriba synagogue had been targeted in 2002 and 1985.
Tunisian Jews were reminded of anti-Semitic rioting in 1967 outside the American Cultural Center at the onset of the Six Day War. Jewish-owned stores in Tunis were attacked, while the main synagogue was burned.
On October 22, 2023, firefighters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, responded to alarms that a dumpster had been set alight outside Congregation Mikveh Israel. On the same day, two men attempted to break into the synagogue, which was founded before the American Revolution. The fire damaged a window at the synagogue.
On October 8, 2024, a police officer shot and killed two Israeli tourists and an Egyptian tour guide in Alexandria, Egypt, for example.In February 2024, an imam at the parliament in Belgium recited a Koranic verse that explicitly calls for Muslims to capture and kill Jews. And in October 2024, a teenaged Jewish boy was assaulted and beaten in Levallois-Perret, France, by assailants who called him "dirty Jew" and kicked in the teeth. In November 2024, Rabbi Zvi Kogan was found murdered in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates. He had been abducted by three assailants from Uzbekistan who fled to Turkey. They were extradited and returned for trial in the UAE. In Canada, there have been attacks on Jewish schools.