Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Antisemitism envoys from 24 countries call on governments to ensure ‘necessary security assistance’ for Jews following Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel

“Jewish communities are fearful and are being threatened,” said the statement

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The antisemitism envoys of 24 countries, including the United States, made a joint call for governments to protect their local Jewish communities in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

The statement was posted Monday with the signatures of 30 officials. In addition to representatives of countries across Europe and North and South America, it includes signatories from multinational organizations like the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Organization of American States. It comes after the governments of the United States and other nations have reported and condemned a spike in antisemitism over the past month.

There have “been demonstrations in many countries – including in some countries and regions which we represent – in which individuals praised these heinous actions of Hamas, ‘celebrated’ the murder of Jews, and even called for more antisemitic assaults,” said the statement posted Monday, while noting there has also been widespread condemnation of the Oct. 7 attack, which killed more than 1,400 and wounded thousands. Hamas terrorists also took more than 200 people captive.

“Jewish communities are fearful and are being threatened,” said the statement, among whose signatories is Deborah Lipstadt, the State Department’s envoy to monitor and and combat antisemitism.

The statement  asks governments and law enforcement agencies to ensure “necessary security assistance” for Jewish communities; calls on university administrators to ensure Jewish students are safe; asks civil society organizations “including sports federations, religious communities, the cultural sector and academic circles” to not remain silent; and demands that social media platforms address the surge of “antisemitic messages, disinformation, hate speech, and terrorist content, which instigate real world hate crimes and threaten the very social cohesion that binds our democratic societies together.”

“Synagogues and other Jewish sites have been attacked,” it said. “Schools have closed since they can no longer guarantee the safety of their students. Shabbat gatherings require the presence of armed guards for protection. In some cities, Jews are being harassed and accosted on the streets. Posters of the captive hostages are defaced and torn down. Antisemitism online has surged in an unprecedented way.”

The statement makes no mention of the war sparked by Hamas’ invasion, in which Israel has counterattacked Hamas in the Gaza Strip through airstrikes and a land invasion, with the stated goal of deposing the terror group. More than 10,000 residents of Gaza have been killed in the fighting, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza, including more than 3,000 children. It is not known what proportion of those figures are civilians, and what proportion have been killed by misfired rockets launched by Palestinian attackers.

The statement arose out of conversations between the envoys, led by Lipstadt and Katharina Von Schnurbein, the European Commission ‘s coordinator on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life.

This article originally appeared on JTA.org.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.