In 2023, antisemitic incidents reached a record high in Denmark since the Jewish community began keeping records ten years ago.
The community said in a new report that there have been 121 recorded antisemitic incidents in the country, an increase of 112 incidents from 2023’s nine incidents. This is more than twice the previous record year of 2014, in which there were 53 incidents. November 2023 was the month with the highest number of incidents, with 42.
Twenty of the recorded incidents were threats of harm or death against Jewish individuals or Jews as a group. Fourteen of these threats were made on social media, five directly to victims, and one in the form of vandalism.
Two cases of vandalism and 88 cases of antisemitic speech were recorded by the group. Almost half, 63, of the incidents occurred online -- but the Jewish community said that it only recorded instances directly addressed to individuals.
“This is an unheard-of increase in both the number of cases and the severity. If there is someone who continues to deny that we have a problem with antisemitism, it is because they do not want to know that we have a problem with antisemitism in Denmark,” said Jewish community chairman Henri Goldstein.
'Antisemitism on steroids'
He noted that 101 of the incidents occurred after Hamas’s October 7 massacre in Israel, which Goldstein said had led to “antisemitism on steroids.”
“It is not the first time that we can observe an increase in Jew-hatred when the conflict in the Middle East escalates. But this time, we have seen a violent escalation, not least fueled by the uncontrolled spread of hatred on social media,” said Goldstein.
Goldstein emphasized that all the incidents were antisemitic, not just criticism of Israel. According to the report, which will be fully released on March 7, 32 of the incidents held Jews or their organizations as collectively responsible for the actions of the State of Israel; 35 cases contained Nazi symbols or references to the Holocaust, including 16 of the 88 incidents related to the Hamas war; 15 cases contained conspiracy theories about Jews; and 7 used classic antisemitic stereotypes about greed or having large noses.
“It is classic antisemitism about Jews as greedy, manipulative, or insane. These are threats and cases of serious harassment. And it is the ‘new’ antisemitism, where we, as Danish Jews, are held responsible for the policy of the State of Israel,” said Goldstein. “We are extremely grateful that we have the attention of Danish politicians. But we must state that we are seeing a very violent and rapid development that requires new solutions.”
The Danish National Police recorded Jews as the largest target of crimes motivated by animus against religion in 2021, a total of 93 of the 164 incidents recorded. There were 521 hate crimes in Denmark recorded in that year.