Anti-Jewish harassment recorded in 98 countries in 2023, Pew finds

The number of countries with “high” or “very high” levels of social hostility toward religious groups increased by 22%, from 45 in 2022 to 55 in 2023, according to a Pew Research Center survey released on Monday.

Israel was one of six countries placed in the report’s “very high” category for religiously motivated social hostilities.

The findings were part of the center’s social hostilities index, which measures “various kinds of harassment and violence by private individuals and nongovernmental organizations (including terrorist groups) that are motivated by religion or that target religious communities,” per the center.

The center said the increase in countries with “high” or “very high” social hostility scores was due in part to the Hamas-led terrorist attacks against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The attacks increased Israel’s score because they were terrorist attacks targeting a religious group on Israeli soil, per the center. The other countries in the “very high” category included India, Syria, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Pakistan.

“With the exception of Jews, all religious groups analyzed in the study also faced harassment in more countries by governments than by private individuals or social groups,” the center stated. “In 2023, Jews faced government harassment in 69 countries and faced harassment by private individuals, groups or organizations in 92 countries.”

David Michaels, director of United Nations and intercommunal affairs for B’nai B’rith International, told JNS that “Pew continues to affirm what we know: that social strife has been rising, and that the targeting of individuals on religious grounds has been rising.”

“But Jews are not just another target. Our community has faced exponential growth in harassment, discrimination, threats and violence, both online and real-world,” Michaels said. “This wildly disproportionate victimization in places where Jews are present may generally be the work of ‘private individuals,’ but it is often encouraged and also tolerated by governments, and undermines the stability of entire societies.”

“It is past time that this wave of hate is tackled as the toxic scourge it is,” he added.

‘Shockwaves across continents’

Vladislav Khaykin, head of North American advocacy for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told JNS that “the Pew findings only put numbers to what Jews around the world have felt in their bones since Oct. 7.”

“The violence that began in the Middle East did not stay there,” he said. “It sent shockwaves across continents, awakening old hostilities and turning Jews, once again, into targets for who they are. Jews now encounter harassment not only from faceless strangers online, but from classmates, colleagues and neighbors.”

The study found that harassment on the basis of religion by individuals, groups or organizations occurred in 175 countries in 2023, up from 164 the previous year and the highest level recorded since Pew began tracking the data in 2007. Government harassment of religious groups was reported in 185 countries, down slightly from 186 in 2022.

The number of countries in which Jews faced harassment increased from 90 in 2022 to 98 in 2023, despite making up less than 1% of the global population, per the center.

Twelve countries moved into the “high” social-hostility category in 2023: Belgium, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guatemala, Norway, Russia, Sierra Leone, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Tanzania, Thailand and Turkey.

Pew cited increased harassment of Jews and Muslims in Spain and Norway as factors behind their higher scores, including synagogue vandalism in Spain and incidents in Norway involving Quran burnings and the removal of a mezuzah from a Jewish home.

In Russia, the report cited a 2023 incident in which an antisemitic mob stormed Makhachkala Airport in Dagestan in search of passengers arriving on a flight from Israel.

Christians and Muslims did face harassment in more countries than any other religious groups in 2023, according to the center, although the number of countries in which Christians faced harassment slightly declined from 166 in 2022 to 165 in 2023. The number of countries in which Muslims faced harassment declined from 148 in 2022 to 143 in 2023, the center stated.