ANTISEMITISM IN ...
ERICA ZEMAN
Present situation of antisemitism in the U.K., Ukraine, Poland, Germany and Moldavia!
U.K. North- London: In Golders Green the young Israeli Shalev Ben Yakar was brutally attacked by a gang of Arab speaking men at 2pm in the night on the 18th of May 2026. He described this violent assault as being kicked like an animal. The attack endured for five minutes. Even in his battered condition, Shalev Ben Yakar was able to contact the neighbour for help. Speaking Hebrew threw the terrorists into a frenzy beating. The Community Protection Team of the U.K. has stepped up its volunteer training program to encounter more effectively this violence against the Jewish people in Britain. One hundred officers have been allocated for special protection for the Community.
Tel Aviv University reported that including the Bondi Beach massacre 20 Jewish people have been murdered within this year. The Times of Israel news describes the shift from on-line antisemitic tropes to physical violence as a new stage of antisemitism.
Politicians who do not see the consistent protection of the Jewish Community as priority will endanger Jewish- and Non-Jewish lives, particularly when accusing the British population of being Islamophobic. The Prime Minister K. Starmer’s wish to create a Society of Harmony and Unity between the minorities is unrealistic, as Islam speaks the language of Conquest and intimidation, not of compromise to enhance democratic principles of Western Culture.
Poland’s Parliament in Warsaw underwent a shocking situation as the vice-chairman of the Nadzieja (New Hope) party Konrad Berkowicz stood up for a speech on the 14th April 2026 Holocaust Remembrance Day, swaying a blue-white flag of Israel, with a swastika in the centre. He is convinced that Israel is an Apartheid State and killed many Gazan children, although he never has been in Israel or in the Gaza strip to see realities. Such accusations against Israel are not only outrageous lies but also appear to be used to gain convenient attention and fame for the ignorant speaker. The Polish Ministry denounced K. Berkovicz’s action as ‘antisemitic horror’ and as deeply offensive. K.Berkowicz slanderous display of a ‘Jewish swastika flag’ comes at a point of time in which the Polish Government is in the process of signing its first ‘National Strategy for Counteracting Antisemitism and Supporting Jewish Life (2025-2030). It is also important to emphasise that Poland stands firmly against any cultural erosion and prohibits Muslim immigrants to enter the country. K. Berkowicz antisemitic assault may test Poland’s resolve in this matter.
Germany, in contrast to Poland has at the present time 17-21 million immigrants. With Chancellor Angela Merkel in office from 2005-2021, the flow of immigrants came not only from Turkey, and Yugoslavian States, but also from Syria, especially during the thirteen years of Syrian Civil War.
Although an estimated 320,000 Syrian nationals have integrated into Germany and are occupied with their careers, nevertheless 480,000 immigrants are without work. According to Migrando news one-third of Syrian immigrants are underaged, still in educational institutions or not ‘available for the labour market’. Sarah Demrich and team in ‘Zeitschrift fuer Religion, Gesellschaft und Politik’ news, detail the traditional tendencies of Syrian towards antisemitism which 30-35% profess. S. Demrich also highlights the increasing willingness of Syrians since 7th October 2023 to be radicalised to ‘participate in unauthorised demonstrations, readiness for self-sacrifice, sympathies for Islamist actors, and acceptance of violence and terrorism as a means to enforce Muslim interests.’
The Times of Israel speaks about the Syrian man on the 21st of April 2026, which was handled robustly by the German police as he plotted to knife ‘infidels’ and Jewish people in Berlin. The potential murderer engaged himself mentally with jihad and martyrdom in the social media of Telegram and Tik Tok while planning his acts. Two months earlier in February 2026, another Syrian man stabbed a Spanish tourist at Berlin’s Holocaust Memorial. He was sentenced to thirteen years in prison.
Germany’s government is aware of the increase in crime and daily antisemitic harassments. Bonuses for any returning Syrians are offered with the assisting millions of Euros handed to the new Syrian government for the repair of the country. Chancellor Merz’ plan to see 80% of the 1 million Syrians returning home has so far not been materialised, as Germany’s career prospects are too appealing for Syrians to stay or see the political situation in their former home still as too unstable. InfoMigrants wrote on the 7th of April 2026 that only about 6, 500 Syrians chose to return to their country in 2025.
Aware that this Section with regards to Germany’s struggle controlling antisemitism is long, it needs to be emphasised that any advice as coming from UN Special Envoy Francesca Albanese stating that ’Germany should forget its Holocaust guilt’ is highly inappropriate, unnatural and gruel. Her suggestion stipulates ignoring the mass murder of 6 million Jewish people connected with the grief of surviving family members. Forgetting the Holocaust also changes the historic narratives for the perpetrators by eliminating Jewish History on European ground. Remembering the Holocaust means to deter future generations of repeating the same antisemitic nihilism.
Ukraine has at present a population between 3-40 million people. The country’s history stretches to one-thousand years with long years of antisemitism starting in the 12th Century, and continuing in the 13th,17th, 18th, 19th and 20th Century. Ukraine’s repeated aim to be independent was always at the price of Jewish Life. From the Orthodox Church supported Cossack pogroms in the 17th century to the Civil war for National Independence, Jewish Communities were destroyed. It is like Germany a blood- stained land. The aftermath of world War I, 1918-1921 plus the BabI-Yar/ Kiev massacre carried out by Nazi Germany in 1941, were the greatest disasters Ukrainian Jewish people experienced. Therefore, an estimated 5,800 Jewish people fled to Israel during 2014 when Russia’s President Putin annexed the Crimean Peninsula. An early definition of legally combating antisemitism took shape in 2021, which was redefined on the 15 April 2026 under President’s Zelensky’s government. Criminalising antisemitism has brought criticism amongst the Ukrainians, who either view the law as pure political move, as symbolic gesture or as preferential treatment for the Jewish population. Debates were running on line, which varied from political tactic in argument to ‘critical and hostile’ discourses. Disregarding this law can bring fines or imprisonment from 3-8 years.
The present Jewish Community in the core of 34,000-45,000 people focuses on the well- being of Jewish Community life paralleled with the increasing number of Ukrainians discovering their Jewish identity. There is little concern about antisemitism, which is present in Ukrainian slurs and vandalism. It is said that the Ukrainian Government shows greater concern for the jewish population in the former North- East Soviet area. In doing so the fear of repression and harassment has its recent war memories on these borders. According to political observers, the Ukraine shows much lesser antisemitism than its neighbouring countries.
