Antisemitic crimes in Germany surge to new high

Police attributed the vast majority of antisemitic offenses recorded in 2025 to “foreign ideology,” mostly connected to Israel and Gaza.

By The Algemeiner

The number of antisemitic offenses in Germany reached a new high in 2025, according to newly unveiled figures.

Police registered 2,267 of these crimes last year, including violence, incitement, property damage, and propaganda offenses, according to German media.

By comparison, the number of officially recorded antisemitic crimes was significantly lower at 1,825 in 2024. The previous year, there were 900 such offenses, preceded by fewer than 500 in 2022.

Germany, like most countries across Europe and the broader Western world, has seen a shocking rise in antisemitic incidents over the last two years, in the wake of the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The data came as a response from the police and the Berlin Senate to an inquiry from Sebastian Schlüsselburg, a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) serving in Berlin’s state parliament, the Der Tagesspiegel newspaper reported.

“Especially here, in the city where the crime against humanity of the Shoah [Holocaust] was planned and ordered, we have a special historical responsibility to protect Jewish life,” he said in a statement, describing the high number of antisemitic crimes as “shameful.”

Schlüsselburg was a member of Germany’s Left Party but left and joined SPD due to disagreements over Israel and Middle East policy.

The Left Party has been accused of antisemitism due to its treatment of Jews and Zionists and its harsh rhetoric against Israel.

Police attributed the vast majority (1,484 cases) of the antisemitic offenses recorded in 2025 to “foreign ideology,” mostly connected to Israel and Gaza. Many of these crimes occurred during anti-Israel, pro-Hamas demonstrations.

Nearly 350 offenses were motivated by “religious ideology,” primarily Islamists, while right-wing extremism accounted for 327 cases.

There were also 64 violent incidents recorded, with 49 linked to “foreign ideology.”

Officials have noted that the real number of antisemitic crimes is likely much higher, as many do not get reported.

More broadly, antisemitic incidents beyond crimes documented by police have also surged.

According to recently released figures from the German Ministry of the Interior, antisemitic incidents continued to rise last year, with 2,122 offenses reported in Berlin alone, including 60 violent attacks.

This represents a significant increase of 80 percent compared with the already high number of incidents in previous years, with Berlin police recording 901 such offenses in 2023 and 1,622 in 2024.

Last month, the commissioner to combat antisemitism in the German state of Hesse sounded the alarm after an arson attack on a synagogue in Giessen, warning that it reflects a “growing pogrom-like atmosphere” threatening Jewish life across the country.