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First antisemitism report conducted with the Polish Jewish community shows how ‘Jew’ is used to discredit enemies
WARSAW (JTA) — A Jewish association has released what is being called the first report on antisemitism conducted with direct input from Polish Jewish community organizations, counting 488 incidents in 2022 submitted via an online portal and collected through extensive interviews with community members.
The incident total released on Monday by the Czulent Jewish Association is more than four times the number reported for 2021 by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.
The report’s lead author, Anna Zielińska, said 86% of incidents involved online harassment and insults. She added that the word “Jew” is frequently used online to label an “enemy” as “disloyal, an outsider and unpatriotic.”
“There is not a Polish politician who hasn’t been called a Jew,” Zielińska told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Czulent’s 2022 report detailed one violent act that resulted in injury, four additional violent attacks, 20 threats, 34 instances of damage to Jewish property and memorial sites, 68 cases of antisemitic mass mailings and 372 instances of “abusive” behavior. Zielińska said there was no way to know the real number antisemitic incidents that occur because the “internet is a bottomless pit of hate.”
She is convinced that Czulent, a nongovernmental organization promoting tolerance that cooperates closely with Polish Jewish communities, has just scratched the surface.
“Time and again when I interviewed people they told me they were reluctant to report incidents because it wouldn’t change anything,” said Zielińska, a member of the Warsaw Jewish Community, one of the multiple communal groups under the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland umbrella.
Antisemitic hate speech is more part of the public discourse than it was a decade ago, she added, and focuses on conspiracy theories such as a Jewish involvement in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Czulent report documented 84 cases of public antisemitic statements that were also anti-Ukrainian. When Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki met earlier this month with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is Jewish, the Polish leaders were accused online of serving Jewish causes, according to Zielińska.
“The context of the Ukrainian-Russian war was used to attack Jews more freely and seemingly legally,” said Zielińska. “In this way antisemitism is being used to discourage the public from supporting Ukrainian refugees.”
Over the past four years, some of the most high-profile antisemitic language in the political arena has been deployed by Grzegorz Braun, a leader of the far-right Confederation Liberty and Independence Party. Braun’s most recent target has been Ukrainian refugees, whom he accuses of seeking to create a “Ukro-Poland” — a reference to “Judeo-Poland,” an expression popularized in the early 20th century by politicians who said Jews wanted to replace Poland with their own state.
In 2019, while he was campaigning, Braun said the United States was a “political and military tool of Jewish blackmail against Poland” and wrote that “Jews have waged war against the Polish nation for centuries, in fact against the whole Christian world.” His party, referred to in Poland as Confederation, is the country’s third most popular, with support from 11% of the electorate, according to a March survey by the independent polling agency Ipsos.
In the upcoming fall parliamentary elections, some analysts have predicted that the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party, which spends significant funds on Jewish monuments and culture, will need the support of Confederation and its voters to form a government. That is one reason some Law and Justice leaders have at times turned a blind eye towards antisemitism, the party’s critics allege.
“We wrote Law and Justice that they had antisemitic comments on their Facebook feed and they didn’t remove them,” Zielińska added.
Over the past five years, specific political developments have fueled negative attitudes towards Jews, she noted. In 2019, thousands of Polish nationalists protested in front of the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw against U.S. efforts to require Poland to compensate Jews whose families lost property during the Holocaust.
Michael Schudrich, Poland’s chief rabbi, said that although he agreed that online public discourse in Poland could be antisemitic, violent acts of antisemitism were incredibly rare. In 2006, a man who yelled “Poland is for Poles,” hit Schudrich and attacked him with pepper spray.
“Thousands of Hasidim come to Poland each year for various anniversaries and there has never been a real problem” he said. “And as for me, the only time anyone attacked me was under a left-wing government.”
He said he sees no evidence that antisemitism in Poland is on the rise, but he believes the government’s push for a nationalistic patriotic narrative of the past — focused on Polish heroism during the Holocaust — and its courting of the extreme right has had consequences.
“Antisemites today feel more empowered to say what’s on their minds,” he said.
Jews in Poland range in number from more than 15,000, according to a government census, to fewer than 10,000, according to the World Jewish Congress.
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UK Police Investigate Security Incident Near London’s Israeli Embassy
A Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) car. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
British police said on Friday they were investigating a security incident near the Israeli embassy in London after a group reported online that it had targeted the premises with drones carrying “dangerous substances.”
Matt Jukes, the head of counterterrorism at London police, said there were no signs the embassy had been attacked, but officers in protective clothing were assessing “discarded items” found near the building.
The embassy said in a statement all its staff were safe.
COUNTERTERRORISM POLICE INVESTIGATE
“Counter Terrorism Policing London are aware of a video shared online overnight in which a group claim to have targeted the nearby embassy of Israel with drones carrying dangerous substances,” Jukes said in a televised statement.
“And whilst we can confirm that the embassy has not been attacked, we’re carrying out urgent inquiries to determine the authenticity of the video and to identify any potential link between it and the items discarded in Kensington Gardens.”
The pro-Iranian group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya, or Movement of the Companions of the Right Hand of Islam, had posted a video which included footage of drones along with two figures dressed in protective clothing and a message that the Israeli embassy was being targeted.
The group has claimed responsibility for a spate of attacks across Europe on US, Israeli, and Jewish targets, including an arson attack which destroyed several ambulances belonging to the Jewish volunteer emergency service Hatzola which were parked near a synagogue in the Golders Green area of north London.
Jukes said the police presence had been stepped up and cordons had been put in place, meaning there was no public access to Kensington Gardens and the surrounding area.
“We do not believe there to be any increased public safety risk at this time, and we would urge people, nonetheless, to avoid the area while officers carry out their work,” Jukes said.
The Israeli embassy said in a statement that a suspected security incident was being investigated in an adjacent park.
“We wish to clarify that all embassy staff are safe and that the embassy was not attacked,” it said. “As always we remain in close and continuous contact with the local authorities.”
It was the latest in a number of incidents involving the embassy and Jewish sites in the British capital since the ambulances were torched last month.
Earlier this week, two suspects were arrested over an attempted arson attack on a synagogue in north London.
In March, two men were charged with being tasked by Iran to carry out hostile surveillance on the Israeli embassy and other Jewish targets, while earlier this week a man from Kuwait went on trial accused of planning a terrorist attack on the embassy.
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Kanye West Concert in Poland Will Be Canceled, Venue Says
Kanye West walking on the red carpet during the 67th Grammy Awards held at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, CA on Feb. 2, 2025. Photo: Elyse Jankowski/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
A Polish stadium said on Friday that it will cancel a concert by US rapper Kanye West days after he postponed a show in France amid a furor over his past antisemitic comments and celebration of Nazism.
“We would like to inform you that the Ye [Kanye West] concert planned for 19 June 2026 at the … Slaski stadium will not take place due to formal and legal reasons,” stadium director Adam Strzyzewski said in a statement posted on Facebook.
The decision by the Slaski stadium in the western city of Chorzow, first reported by Wyborcza newspaper on its website, comes just over a week after Britain blocked the 48-year-old from traveling there to headline a festival.
There was no immediate comment from the rapper, now known as Ye, who in January apologized for his behavior, which he attributed to untreated bipolar disorder, and renounced past expressions of admiration for Adolf Hitler.
Authorities in Poland had already signaled they would seek to ban the planned June 19 concert.
“In a country scarred by the history of the Holocaust, we cannot pretend that this is just entertainment,” Polish Culture Minister Marta Cienkowska said on Thursday.
More than 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, were murdered at the Auschwitz death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland during World War II. Nazi Germany killed more than 3 million of Poland‘s 3.2 million Jewish population.
Ye was barred from Australia last year after releasing a song promoting Nazism and advertising swastika T-shirts on his website.
He has performed in the United States and Mexico City this year, with further concerts planned in Europe and Asia.
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Iran Says Hormuz Strait Open After Lebanon Truce, Trump Expects Iran Deal ‘Soon’
An Iranian flag lies amidst the rubble of a building of the Sharif University of Technology, which was damaged in a strike, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, April 7, 2026. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the Strait of Hormuz was open following a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, while US President Donald Trump said talks could take place this weekend and he believed a deal to end the Iran war would come “soon.”
Araqchi said in a post on X the Strait was open for all commercial vessels for the remainder of the US-brokered 10-day truce agreed on Thursday between Israel and Lebanon to halt fighting between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Trump told Reuters on Friday that the US will work with Iran to recover its enriched uranium and bring it back to the United States as part of any deal.
US-Israeli strikes on Iran began on Feb. 28, triggering Iranian attacks on Gulf neighbors and reigniting the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon.
Thousands have been killed and the conflict effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz – through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually transits – threatening the worst oil shock in history.
OIL PRICES TUMBLE, STOCKS JUMP
Oil prices fell more than 10%, extending earlier losses after Araqchi’s post. Global stocks, already trading near record highs, jumped further on the news.
Major shipping companies reacted more cautiously, signaling it may take more time for traffic through the chokepoint to return to normal levels – about 130 ships a day before the war.
Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd said it would refrain from passing through the strait while it assessed the announcement. The Norwegian Shipowners’ Association said several issues needed clarification, including the possible presence of sea mines.
The US Navy warned in an advisory to seafarers that the mine threat in parts of the waterway was not fully understood and avoidance of the area should be considered.
A senior Iranian official said ships could pass through the Strait only under coordination with Iran‘s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
After a video conference on Friday, more than a dozen countries said they were willing to join an international mission to protect shipping in the Strait when conditions permit, Britain said.
US BLOCKADE REMAINS IN PLACE
Shortly after Araqchi’s statement, Trump posted on Truth Social: “IRAN HAS JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THE STRAIT OF IRAN IS FULLY OPEN AND READY FOR PASSAGE.”
However, he said the US military blockade of ships sailing through the Strait to Iranian ports – announced after talks with Iran last weekend in Islamabad ended without agreement – would remain until “our transaction with Iran is 100% complete.”
An Iranian official later told Fars news agency Tehran would consider the Strait‘s continued blockade by US forces a violation of the ceasefire and would again close the waterway.
Trump told Reuters on Friday there could probably be more talks this weekend. Some diplomats said that was looking unlikely given the logistics of assembling officials in the Pakistani capital, where the talks are expected to take place.
DIPLOMACY PROGRESS
A Pakistani source involved in mediating between the US and Iran said there was progress in backdoor diplomacy and that an upcoming meeting could result in the signing of a memorandum of understanding, followed by a comprehensive deal within 60 days.
“Both sides are agreeing in principle. And technical bits come later,” the source said on condition of anonymity.
A senior Iranian official told Reuters there had been an agreement on unfreezing billions of dollars in Iranian assets, as part of the accord to reopen the Strait, without giving a timeline.
One key sticking point has been Tehran’s nuclear program. At last weekend’s talks, the US proposed a 20-year suspension of all Iranian nuclear activity, while Iran suggested a halt of three to five years, according to people familiar with the proposals.
Iran has demanded the lifting of international sanctions, while Washington has pressed for any highly enriched uranium to be removed from Iran. Two Iranian sources have said there were signs of a compromise on the HEU stockpile, with Tehran considering shipping part of it out of the country.
Trump told Reuters the US would bring Iran‘s enriched uranium back to the United States. “We’re going to go in with Iran, at a nice leisurely pace, and go down and start excavating with big machinery … We’ll bring it back to the United States,” he said during a phone interview.
He mentioned “nuclear dust,” a reference to what he believes remains after the United States and Israel bombed Iran‘s nuclear installations in June last year.
Despite Trump‘s optimism, Iranian sources told Reuters on Friday that “gaps remained to be resolved” before reaching a preliminary deal, while senior clerics struck a defiant tone during Friday prayers.
In Tehran, cleric Ahmad Khatami said: “Our people do not negotiate while being humiliated,” while in Isfahan, the imam said: “We did not accept the terms proposed by the other party.”
In Islamabad, troops were deployed along routes into the capital on Friday, though roads remained open and the government had not ordered business closures, as it did ahead of the previous meeting.
LEBANON CEASEFIRE GOES INTO EFFECT
The US-backed ceasefire agreed between Israel and Lebanon to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah appeared to be largely holding on Friday, despite Lebanese Army reports of some Israeli violations. Paramedics said an Israeli drone strike killed one person in southern Lebanon.
The conflict was reignited on March 2 when Hezbollah opened fire on Israel in support of Tehran, prompting an Israeli offensive.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the reported ceasefire violations on Friday.