European Commission says 'European Jews today are again living in fear'

The European Commission on Sunday condemned the jump in anti-Semitism across the EU since the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East, saying "European Jews today are again living in fear."

"The spike of antisemitic incidents across Europe has reached extraordinary levels in the last few days, reminiscent of some of the darkest times in history," the commission said in a statement.

"We condemn these despicable acts in the strongest possible terms. They go against everything that Europe stands for," it said. 

Citing anti-Semitic incidents in Austria, France, Germany and Spain, as well as "demonstrators chanting hate slogans against Jews", the commission, which is the European Union's executive arm, said it was essential to push back against both anti-Semitism "as well as the rise in anti-Muslim hatred that we have been witnessing over the past weeks –- which has no place in Europe". 

Anti-Semitic acts have soared across the world amid the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Violence flared on October 7, when scores of Hamas militants swarmed into Israel, staging the deadliest attack in the country's history as they killed more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took 240 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

Israel has retaliated by relentlessly bombing the Gaza Strip, the densely populated coastal territory that Hamas has controlled for years, killing at least 9,770 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.