Across Europe, Israelis are facing a disturbing surge of targeted attacks and hostility, as a wave of antisemitic incidents — from violent assaults and vandalism to protests and legal actions — spreads amid rising tensions following recent conflicts in the Middle East.

On Wednesday, a group of Israeli teenagers was physically assaulted by dozens of pro-Palestinian assailants — some reportedly armed with knives — on the Greek island of Rhodes.

This latest antisemitic incident took place after the Israeli teens left a nightclub, when a group of pro-Palestinian individuals followed them to their hotel and violently attacked them, leaving several with minor injuries.

According to police reports, the group of 20 Israeli tourists were seen shouting pro-Israel slogans at a bar, which provoked a response from around 10 pro-Palestinian supporters who began calling them “murderers.”

This latest attack came less than a day after pro-Palestinian protests at the port of another Greek island, Syros, forced an Israeli cruise ship to cancel its stop, leaving around 1,600 Israeli passengers stranded and raising safety concerns.

Around 300 protesters gathered at the dock, waving Palestinian flags and holding banners reading “Stop the Genocide” and “No AC [Air Conditioning] in Hell,” while chanting antisemitic slogans.

Last week in Athens, a group of pro-Palestinian activists vandalized an Israeli restaurant, shouting antisemitic slurs and spray-painting graffiti with slogans such as “No Zionist is safe here.”

The attackers also posted a sign on one of the restaurant’s windows that read, “All IDF soldiers are war criminals — we don’t want you here,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces.

Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, antisemitic incidents have surged to alarming levels across Europe. This recent attack is just one of the latest in a wave of anti-Jewish hate crimes that Greece and other countries have witnessed in recent months.

In Switzerland, a series of antisemitic attacks in Davos, a town located in the eastern Swiss Alps, has caused significant concern and outrage within the local Jewish community.

Jonathan Kreutner, secretary general of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG), informed the newspaper Jüdische Allgemeine of three incidents believed to have been carried out by the same individual.

Local law enforcement is now investigating an unidentified assailant who verbally harassed a Jewish couple at a local store in Davos, spat on them, and physically attacked them in an attempt to force them out.

This same individual is alleged to have later spat on another elderly Jewish couple and insulted a Jewish person on a bus while making threatening hand gestures.

In Germany, four masked individuals vandalized a Jewish restaurant in Freiburg, southwest of the country, on Monday by throwing eggs at its windows and inside the premises.

In Berlin, the planned launch event for a new restaurant by Israeli chef Eyal Shani and entrepreneur Shahar Segal was canceled over the weekend amid an anti-Israel protest.

The restaurant Gila and Nancy, originally set to open this week, will now launch in about three weeks following a surge of online campaigns and boycott calls targeting Israeli-owned businesses.

In Belgium, two IDF soldiers were arrested and interrogated by local authorities following a complaint filed by the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), an anti-Israel legal organization dedicated to pursuing legal action against IDF personnel.

According to HRF, the soldiers attending the Tomorrowland music festival were accused of involvement in war crimes.

The organization said they were seen waving the flags of the IDF’s Givati Brigade, which has been “involved in the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza and in carrying out mass atrocities against the Palestinian population.”

In France, airport authorities acknowledged a breach of protocol earlier this month after a staff member was filmed chanting “free Palestine” while inspecting passports, reportedly of passengers from Israel.

The post Europe Sees Sharp Rise in Attacks Targeting Israelis Amid Growing Antisemitism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

An academic group of Israeli and international scholars is claiming that the field of Israel Studies is faring far better than depicted in a recent report which argued that the field is under sustained ideological attack by the pro-Palestinian movement and lacks a clear vision for the future.

The Association of Israel Studies (AIS)—founded in 1985 to promote the growth of the field—claimed Tuesday that the conclusions of a report published by the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI) in June—titled “Israel Studies at American Universities: Is There a Path Forward?“—were “anecdotal” and warped by a “profound lack of appreciation” for the subject’s success in higher education.

The report, written by University of Haifa professor Sara Yael Hirschhorn, claimed that Israel studies is working through a crisis of identity caused by competing visions of its scope and mission. As an interdisciplinary field serving as a “big tent” for other disciplines relevant to the study of Israel, the report said it winds up being open to “almost everyone who wants to affiliate” even as they undertake courses of study that are “haphazardly cobbled together into what has been called a discipline, with its attendant academic conferences, publications, employment, grants, and community that often lack coherence.”

Hirschhorn called on the leaders of Israel Studies to take steps to ensure its survival, recommending uniform standards of what constitutes “an original contribution to the field,” a shared consensus of what constitutes mastery of the subject, and new, bold fundraising strategies which stress the enormity of the changes underway in higher education, America, and the world.

But such claims are speculative and lacking the explanatory power of “critical metrics,” the AIS said in a statement shared with The Algemeiner on Tuesday.

“Anecdotes are not research. Strong statements are not a substitute for rigorous analysis,” said the statement, signed by AIS president  and Fellow at the Israeli Institute for Advanced Studies in Jerusalem, Raphael Cohen-Almagor, Smith College professor of Jewish Studies Donna Divine, former AIS president S. Ilan Troen, among others. “There are now four [Israel studies] journals publishing significant scholarship. Each has published many hundreds of scholarly articles about Israel. Many universities, including Yale, Princeton, Oxford and Cambridge and Indiana continue to produce and welcome solid scholarship. The Association for Israel Studies attracts more scholars than ever. Its annual conferences are attended by hundreds of people from all over the world.”

Israel Studies needs more “support,” AIS’s statement added, taking most exception to Hirschhorn’s suggesting that Israel Studies should find homes outside of culturally progressive institutions of higher education and plant new departments in places that “might prove more hospitable” — denominational Christian colleges, for example, or policy institutes.

“The existence of a malady is not in question,” AIS continued. “Aspects of it are uniquely characteristic of the field of Israel Studies, and others are part of a broader context of ailments afflicting the academy. Based on flawed research, however, the diagnosis proposed in this report compounds the flaws, and the prescription it proposes could well cause irreparable injury to a field of great importance. More support rather than radical surgery is indicated.”

Hirschhorn acknowledged that the report contains some difficult conclusions for the field, but implored practitioners to engage rather than criticize.

“This report is an urgent intervention in the crisis at American universities today and not an obituary,” she said in an interview with The Algemeiner. “The methodology employed in researching and writing this report, which drew upon historical studies (and documents), media coverage, interviewing, data, and trend analysis, was intended to provide a full picture of the complex environment in which Israel Studies is currently situated and to balance the voices of a multiplicity of invested stakeholders, which would assure the project’s independence and integrity.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post ‘The Existence of a Malady is Not in Question’: Scholars Spar Over Fate of Israel Studies in America first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Iran and Russia launched a joint naval drill in the Caspian Sea this week, signaling closer military ties just days before Tehran resumes talks with the United Kingdom, France, and Germany in a bid to prevent the reinstatement of UN sanctions.

The joint maritime rescue and security drill, dubbed CASAREX 2025, marks a show of force and cooperation between Iranian and Russian forces, coming just weeks after Israel — with support from the United States — launched an airstrike campaign targeting Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The three-day exercise, which began Monday, includes participation from the Iranian Navy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, Iran’s Law Enforcement Command, and the Russian Navy, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

On Friday, Iran is expected to resume nuclear talks with Germany, France, and Britain — collectively known as the E3 — after the trio threatened to reinstate UN sanctions on Tehran by activating the “snapback” clause of the 2015 nuclear deal if no new agreement is reached by the end of August.

Officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and several world powers, from which the US withdrew in 2018, imposed temporary restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Iran has warned it will take action if sanctions over its nuclear program are reinstated, without specifying what those measures might be.

“The snapback mechanism is meaningless, unjustifiable, unethical, and illegal,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said during a press conference.

Baghaei also reaffirmed that the Islamist regime has “no plans to hold talks with the US in the current situation.”

Following the 12-day war with Israel, Iran has sought to rebuild its damaged nuclear sites and strengthen its military capabilities by relying on support from Russia and China amid growing international pressure.

On Tuesday, Tehran held talks with Russia and China to bolster their alliance as sanctions threats mount and nuclear negotiations approach.

“We are in constant consultation with these two countries to prevent activation of the snapback or to mitigate its consequences,” Baghaei said during a Monday press briefing. “We have aligned positions and good relations.”

In a Fox News interview aired Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reaffirmed that Iran will not abandon its uranium enrichment program, despite recent Israeli and US strikes on its nuclear facilities.

“We cannot give up enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the top Iranian diplomat said. “Our enrichment is so dear to us.”

Last week, Araghchi met with Russian and Chinese officials at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) security forum, where he called for closer strategic coordination and collective resistance to counter mounting pressure from the West.

China, a key diplomatic and economic backer of Tehran, has moved to deepen ties in recent years — signing a 25-year cooperation agreement, holding joint naval drills, and continuing to purchase Iranian oil despite US sanctions.

Russia has also expanded its ties with Iran to counter Western influence in the Middle East and mitigate the impact of US sanctions. For example, Russia pledged earlier this year to fund the construction of new nuclear power plants in Iran as part of a broader energy partnership that also includes a major gas deal between the two countries.

However, both China and Russia largely held back more concrete and robust support for Iran during the recent conflict with Israel, opting for cautious diplomacy rather than direct backing.

The post Iran, Russia Conduct Naval Drills, High-Level Talks as Tehran Seeks Support Ahead of Nuclear Talks With the West first appeared on Algemeiner.com.