Activists at a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel demonstration in Ghent chant "Viva viva intifada!" According to a recent survey, most antisemitic incidents today are linked to the political Left, with many rooted in Islamist ideology.

Over the weekend, thousands of people took to the streets in Ghent, Belgium, to show support for Gaza. However, the pro-Palestinian demonstration – as has increasingly become the norm – turned into an anti-Israel and antisemitic protest, where activists repeatedly shouted “Viva viva intifada,” glorifying violent attacks against Israel. Ghent’s liberal mayor, Mathias De Clercq, reportedly took part in the demonstration, which sparked outrage among the local Jewish community, The European Conservative news portal writes.

The Belgian Stop Antisemitism organization stated that they feel abandoned by politicians. According to the group, Jewish residents are so afraid of activist activity that even the most devout Jews no longer dare to ‘walk around with a kippah’ in public. Others are considering leaving the city altogether. The group says,

“Jews in Ghent are in shock and afraid… In Ghent, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES can one visibly be Jewish without fearing attacks in the street.”

Noodkreet van joodse Gentenaar

Een grootschalig protest in Gent, waarbij meerdere malen door een grote menige te mensen is uitgeroepen voor een „intifada”. De Gentse joden zijn in schok en zijn angstig. Er is zelfs sprake om de stad uit angst van gevaar te verlaten. Het is ONDER… pic.twitter.com/xRds8Aq6ML

— Stop Antisemitisme (@s_antisemitisme) May 25, 2025

Belgian philosopher Maarten Boudry also noted that after the protests, a university student in Ghent whom he knows „scraped the Star of David off his laptop and is terrified.” The report recalls that around this time last year, more than 100 students occupied Ghent University in what became the first European protest to fuse Gaza and climate-related causes. Shortly afterward, the university leadership, bowing to pressure, severed all ties with Israeli universities.

In recent months, universities across Western Europe and the United States have become hotspots for anti-Israel and antisemitic demonstrations. Jewish students today face an unprecedented level of hostility. Once seen as strongholds of free thought, universities have, due to unchecked radical activism, faculty bias, and administrative inaction, become breeding grounds for antisemitic extremism, The Post Millennial reported, citing a new study.

Jewish Students Are Not Safe
According to a new report by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), antisemitism rose globally in 2024, increasing by 107.7% compared to the previous year.

The report highlights that antisemitism originating from far-left movements now significantly exceeds that from far-right or other sources.

In 2024, the Antisemitism Research Center (ARC) introduced a structured framework to classify antisemitic activities, called the CHAI system, which categorizes incidents into four ideological groups:

1. Classical – Rooted in far-right, neo-Nazi, white supremacist, or traditional Christian antisemitic stereotypes
2. Holocaust trivialization/denial/distortion – Ranges from full denial to historical distortion
3. Anti-Zionist/Israel-related antisemitism – Includes delegitimizing or demonizing Israel as a genocidal, apartheid, or settler-colonial state, often under the guise of political critique
4. Islamist – Based in radical Islamic ideologies promoting antisemitic rhetoric.

Of the 6,326 documented incidents in 2024, 68.4% were linked to far-left ideologies — a 324.8% increase from 2023. In contrast, far-right-related incidents accounted for just 7.3%, marking a 54.8% decrease year-over-year.

The vast majority (96.4%) of far-left antisemitic incidents were based in anti-Zionist narratives, such as accusations of Israel being a colonial, apartheid, or genocidal state.

Of the 6,326 documented incidents in 2024, 68.4% were linked to far-left ideologies — a 324.8% increase from 2023. In contrast, far-right-related incidents accounted for just 7.3%, marking a 54.8% decrease compared with the previous year.

The vast majority (96.4%) of far-left antisemitic incidents were based in anti-Zionist narratives, such as accusations of Israel being a colonial, apartheid, or genocidal state.

The CAM report warns that such rhetoric often serves to mask antisemitism, distorting Jewish identity and targeting Jews collectively rather than criticizing Israeli policy specifically.

The report also notes that

in 2024, there were 1,069 antisemitic incidents documented on university campuses worldwide, which it describes as representing an existential crisis for Jewish academic life. Jewish students reported being harassed, excluded from student organizations, threatened, and even physically attacked because of their religious or cultural identity.

This wave of antisemitism has been partly fueled by politicized academic curricula portraying Israel as a „settler-colonial” or artificial state, and Jews as „colonizers.” This narrative has emboldened antisemitic activism among students. Between mid-April and mid-May, the movement peaked with the emergence of anti-Israel protest encampments on more than 150 university campuses, becoming centers of antisemitic rhetoric, harassment campaigns, and in some cases, incitement to violence against Jewish students.