Hate crimes related to the 2023 Israel–Hamas war

Hate crimes related to the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
Since the start of the 2023 Israel–Hamas war on 7 October 2023, numerous attacks took place both internally and internationally as part of, and in response to the conflict. These attacks were mostly antisemitic, anti-Israel, anti-Muslim, or anti-Palestinian, but others (usually minority groups) have been targeted.
Attacks against Jews and Israelis
7 October massacres
Roughly 2,500 Hamas fighters launched coordinated attacks on Israeli outposts and settlements on 7 October 2023, firing over 5,000 rockets and burning houses. They killed over 1,400 people, the large majority of whom were civilians and the vast majority of whom were Jews. They also kidnapped over 200 others to Gaza. Israel responded by declaring a state of war.
Hamas fighters killed civilians at Nir Oz, Be'eri, and Netiv HaAsara, where they took hostages and set fire to homes, as well as in other agricultural communities around the Gaza Strip. 200 civilians were killed in the Kfar Aza massacre, 108 in the Be'eri massacre (resulting in a loss of 10% of the kibbutz's population) and 15 people in the Netiv HaAsara massacre, in what has been described as the bloodiest day in Israel's history and the worst single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. In Sderot, gunmen targeted civilians and set houses ablaze, and in Ofakim, hostages were reported during Hamas's deepest incursion. Hamas said it took prisoners (including women, old and young, and minors) to force Israel to release its Palestinian prisoners, claiming it had taken enough prisoners to secure the release of all the imprisoned Palestinians. In Be'eri, Hamas militants took up to 50 people hostage. During a stand-off between militants and IDF forces, videos emerged from Be'eri showing the hostages being led by Hamas militants barefoot across a street in town. Hamas also massacred 260 and injured many more at an outdoor music festival near Re'im that morning and left with hostages. Witnesses recounted militants on motorcycles opening fire on fleeing participants, who were already dispersing due to rocket fire that had wounded some attendees.
Video analysis from The Washington Post shows that some of the captives were executed after their capture.
International attacks
On 8 October, a police officer fired his gun into a group of bus passengers in Alexandria, Egypt. The attack occurred during a trip past Pompey's Pillar. Two Israeli tourists and an Egyptian tour guide were killed, while another Israeli was moderately wounded. The suspect was subsequently taken into custody.
On 13 October an Israeli diplomat was stabbed in Beijing, China, for which a foreign suspect was arrested.
On 17 October the El Hamma synagogue in El Hamma, Tunisia, a historic synagogue and the burial site of 16th-century Kabbalist Rabbi Yosef Ma'aravi, was severely damaged during anti-Israel riots, with hundreds of people filmed setting fire to the building. On the same day the Or Zaruah synagogue in Melilla, a Spanish enclave in North Africa, was attacked by a mob chanting “murderous Israel” while waving Palestinian flags.
On 18 October two Molotov cocktails were thrown at a synagogue in the Mitte neighborhood of central Berlin. One person was arrested.
On 21 October an explosive device was detonated near the Israeli embassy in Cyprus, four men of Syrian origin were detained.
Since 28 October, a wave of antisemitic attacks occurred in the North Caucasus region of Russia.
Attacks against Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims
Outside Chicago, Illinois, a man while reportedly yelling "You Muslims must die" stabbed a 32-year-old Palestinian-American woman, seriously injuring her, and stabbed her six-year-old son 26 times to death. Detectives said the man targeted the family because they were Muslim, and he was upset about the conflict.
In October 19, a man in Dearborn, Michigan was arrested by local police after posting on Facebook a credible threat proposing acts of violence against Palestinian-Americans in Dearborn which is the largest population of Arab Americans in the United States. The man had posted an open invitation to "hunt Palestinians" and claimed to be part of a Jewish group protecting Israel.
The Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Los Angeles called for an investigation to be opened by the University of California, Los Angeles after a group of men entered a space used by students watching a webinar of an ongoing panel titled "The Crisis in Palestine". The men reportedly damaged students property, verbally assaulted them calling them "terrorists" and physically threatening them before campus security removed them from the area. One of the group was allegedly spotted later at a on-campus vigil for Israel. Other chapters of CAIR have reported other instances of Islamophobia since the war began with two alleged assaults' in Brooklyn, New York City and an individual who pointed a gun at pro-Palestine demonstrators outside of the Pennsylvania state capitol.
In Europe, many Muslims fear anti-Muslim reprisals due to the Israel–Hamas war and Islamist attacks (such as the Arras school stabbing and Brussels shooting which occurred in October 2023), which embolden some far-right voices in the west to view Muslims as a fifth column and an internal enemy to state security.
Attacks against Sikhs
The Israel–Hamas war has also led to increased hate crimes and violence against Sikhs in the United States. These attacks are usually by those who mistake Sikh individuals for Muslims, due to having long beards and wearing turbans (which are considered by the attackers to signify Muslim individuals) as part of their religion. Some of these attacks have been lethal.
See also
Aftermath of the September 11 attacks#Backlash and hate crimes
International reactions to the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
List of massacres during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
War crimes in the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
References
Hate crimes
Antisemitic attacks and incidents
Persecution of Jews
Islamophobia
Reactions to the 2023 Israel–Hamas war
October 2023 crimes