Hatred of Jews exploded on the very day Hamas attacked Israel. Why is the number of antisemitic incidents still so high? A conversation with Ernest Herzog, security chief of the World Jewish Congress.
DIE ZEIT: Mr. Herzog, you did not actually want to have this conversation. At first, you were positively outraged at the request to discuss, ahead of the anniversary of October 7, the rapid rise in antisemitic incidents, whose numbers remain high. Why?
Ernest Herzog: Because antisemitism is only one of the many fronts Hamas opened on October 7. And because Islamist terrorism is directed not only against Jews, but against anyone who does not fit into the Islamists’ worldview. I have always had a problem with treating antisemitism in isolation. Anyone who singles Jews out as though they were the only victims, as though they were different from everyone else, does them a disservice. They do exactly what our opponents want: isolate us. The Jewish state and Jews are supposed to stand alone, seen as a problem with which the rest of the West has nothing in common.
ZEIT: Could that be exactly where things stand now? Three years after the war began, many people in the West think Israel is the problem. Or at least that Netanyahu, his government, and the army are the real aggressors. If it weren’t for them, everything would have been resolved long ago: peace. That is also how Jewish intellectuals, many left-wing Israelis, and artists see it. Or am I mistaken?
Herzog: No, but those who think that way are wrong. Israel is not to blame for everything. And I refuse to pretend that we Jews are the only ones targeted by Hamas. For the Islamists, the enemy is the West. Their hatred is our shared problem. It doesn’t just affect us. And this cannot be repeated often enough: those who suffer most are Muslims—the countless millions who want nothing to do with Islamism, let alone terrorism. Unfortunately, the terrorists’ power is growing, and political Islam seems acceptable to more and more young people. If you speak out about that, you are labeled Islamophobic.
ZEIT: You are the security chief of the World Jewish Congress, the largest Jewish umbrella organization, which is present in 103 countries. Hardly anyone knows the situation of Jewish communities as well as you do. What are your responsibilities?
Herzog: In fact, I am responsible for combating antisemitism. My official title is Executive Director for Operations. In any case, our strategy is not to define Jews as victims from the outset in order to benefit politically from that status. Nor do I like complaining about the growing number of attacks on us in the hope that someone will protect us. I have to act proactively to prevent the worst—and cooperate as effectively as possible with our partners.
ZEIT: Who are those partners?
Herzog: The governments and security authorities, of course. Police, intelligence services, investigators, prosecutors. Also the local experts on antisemitism. They know their countries best and have the most data. What matters to me is not only large coalitions such as the J7 Task Force or NGOs such as the Anti-Defamation League, but also newer, smaller partners, whether in Finland or Slovenia.
ZEIT: What specific kinds of antisemitic incidents do you deal with?
Herzog: They range from murder, exchanges of gunfire, arson attacks, beatings, harassment, glorification of Hamas, exclusion from public life, boycotts of businesses, and online hate campaigns to bomb threats and terrorist plots.
ZEIT: What concerns you most at the moment? Who is the most dangerous opponent?
Herzog: The World Jewish Congress used to be fixated on far-right extremists. On the heirs, if you will, of the perpetrators of the Holocaust. That was also the emotional starting point for survivors and their children: the feeling that this must never happen to us again—being defenseless. That is still what drives us. But today my main opponents are different, as I have already said: first, political Islam; second, terrorism.
ZEIT: That order is a little surprising, considering the atrocities the terrorists committed three years ago. Young soldiers were beheaded with blunt instruments, girls were burned alive, children had their limbs chopped off. Volunteers who helped identify the dead saw unimaginable things. Why don’t you see the terrorists as the greatest danger?
Herzog: I really believe that it is the legalistic form, the so-called political Islam, rather than the violent form, that poses by far the greater danger. It creates an environment in which terrorism appears acceptable. It glorifies terrorism as resistance. It preaches that in the struggle for Allah, the end justifies any means. That last point is unfortunately familiar to us. In the 1920s, no one would have believed that this madman Hitler could become electable.
ZEIT: When you look at the growing strength of right-wing parties, at the AfD’s election victory, doesn’t that worry you? Don’t you believe they, too, pave the way for violence?
Herzog: Absolutely, and I do not want to downplay that threat. Ten years ago, I was still devoting substantial resources to the extreme right. There were repeated dangerous attacks, such as those in Halle and Pittsburgh. Far-right extremists still exist, and some still believe in the “Fourth Reich.” So I am keeping an eye on them. But when I look at the enormous number of antisemitic attacks since October 7 and where most of them come from, it is clear where I have to focus: Hezbollah, the Revolutionary Guards, Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood … And state powers such as Iran and Qatar. There is a Chinese proverb: if you have to swallow toads, swallow the biggest one first.
ZEIT: The World Jewish Congress’s statistics show how antisemitism escalated in every European country in autumn 2023. In France, for example, roughly as many incidents were recorded in the three months after October 7 as in the preceding three years. The Netherlands reported eight times as many incidents in October 2023 as in September. What is currently the greatest threat to Jewish life?
Herzog: You cannot express that in numbers. Nor can you judge it by the death toll in major attacks, such as those in Australia. What I find most threatening is the normalization of hatred of Jews since October 7: tearing down posters showing the hostages’ faces, intimidating rabbis, bullying Jewish schoolchildren. But it is important to me to distinguish this hostility toward Jews from legitimate support for Palestinians or harsh criticism of the Israeli government.
ZEIT: You know that some people who now hurl abuse at Jews or desecrate synagogues feel justified because they think what the Israeli army is doing to the Palestinians goes too far. Do you understand that?
Herzog: Let me tell you something: the Israeli army did not cause antisemitism. Rather, antisemitism and terrorism are the reasons the army is fighting. Hatred of Israel rose abruptly, already on October 7. The Israelis were still fighting off Hamas and recovering the victims. They did not even know yet who had survived and who had been abducted. The ground offensive was still a long way off. But the glorification of terrorism began immediately. Even the accusations of genocide against Israel were already there. Would you like a figure?
ZEIT: Yes.
Herzog: Antisemitic posts on the platform X increased by just over 900 percent in the week after October 7. The demonization of Israel began immediately: Jews had no right to exist; they were child killers and perpetrators of genocide. Antisemitism uses not only weapons, but words.
ZEIT: And you don’t think today’s hatred is also connected to the images from Gaza—bombed-out homes, women in tattered clothes, emaciated children—the suffering?
Herzog: Yes, I do. Unfortunately, the media have forgotten that the Israelis never wanted this war. And they have not reported fairly on how difficult it is to defeat a terrorist army. In that way, they contributed to the demonization. Moreover, there is no war without suffering. I repeat: Israel did not choose this fight. And there was an explosive increase in hatred of Jews at the very moment the country was attacked. Nevertheless, harsh criticism of Israel’s conduct of the war is legitimate and by no means antisemitic.
ZEIT: One could say that Israel suffered a crushing defeat in the information war against Hamas and Hezbollah. What went wrong?
Herzog: We can spare ourselves the search here for mistakes made by Israel or the West. Antisemitism has existed for 3,000 years. No amount of PR can counter all these lies. We have to win militarily; then we can talk. Antisemitism is not rational. It feeds on fear and hatred. Arguments do not help.
ZEIT: Your job is to protect the worldwide Jewish community from harm. Is there a success you are proud of?
Herzog: Yes: that the number of our dead and injured is relatively low, given the many thousands of incidents each year. Success, for me, is when we do not make headlines. Prevention accounts for the lion’s share of my work: improving security procedures in the communities and making sure the police understand what poses a threat to us. It is not about stopping an attacker at the very last second, but about preventing that from ever becoming necessary. Since our enemies operate internationally, we, too, have to work across borders and build networks.
ZEIT: Please give an example of successful prevention.
Herzog: The attack on the synagogue in Michigan in March 2026. The fact that the attacker managed to ram his truck, loaded with highly explosive material, all the way into the foyer was terrible. But our armed security personnel were so well trained that they reacted immediately and opened fire. If the truck had not been stopped, there would have been a mass murder of the schoolchildren in the synagogue.
This interview was originally published in German on on October 1, 2026 in Die Zeit.
