Violent anti-Jewish protest have broken out throughout Europe in response to Israelis’ invasion of Gaza in an attempt to disrupt Hamas ability to fire rockets into Israeli which has significantly increased since the kidnapping of three Israeli teens who were walking home on June 12th 2014 and later found shot to death. The teens were found on June 30th in an open field and their bodies burnt.

The increase in rocket fire from the Gaza strip soon followed with the first barrage of rockets from Gaza on July 1st when 18 rockets fell into Israeli territory. In response to the increase in rocket fire, the IDF (Israeli defense force) began Operation protective edge on July 8th in which Israeli defense forces invaded the Gaza strip in hopes of disrupting Hamas network of tunnels and rocket sites.

“#IDF has commenced operation protective edge in #Gaza against #Hamas in order to stop the terror #Israeli’s citizen’s face on a daily basis”. A tweet read by the Israeli defense on July 8th at 1:30 to announce the official beginning of the ground operation into Gaza. Following the ground invasion of Gaza and the violence that has followed, there has been an increase in anti-Semitic protest which have erupted throughout European capitals in response to the ground invasion. In one instance, police in Berlin prevented people from chanting who were making references to the holocaust.

The anti-Jewish protest began on Sunday in the French capital of Paris in which Palestinians clashed with riot police in support of Palestinians in the Gaza strip. In another insistence at a pro-Palestinian rally in Berlin on Tuesday, one sign said “Jew cowardly pig, come out and fight”.

Antisemitism on Rise?

“Anti- Jewish agitation, hate speech against Jews, attacks against people of Jewish belief and against synagogues cannot be tolerated in our societies in Europe” a statement released by the foreign ministers of Germany France and Italy read.

The statement went onto say, “We strongly condemn the outrageous anti-Semitic statements, demonstrations and attacks (there have been 8 synagogues attacked in Paris over the last couple of days) in our countries  in recent days”, the joint foreign minister’s questions went onto say.