Attacks against individual Jews and Jewish institutions have become so numerous, that only a sample may be listed here.

A few notable examples include: 

• In Venice, visibly Jewish tourists were attacked by a large group of Muslim migrants who chased them and shouted “free Palestine.” One tourist was attacked by a dog belonging to the migrants;
• In Athens, an Israeli brother and sister were attacked by Palestinians and then arrested. The pro-Hamas Hind Rajab Foundation has demanded the brother be investigated on charges of “war crimes”;
• In Sydney, several hundred pro-Hamas protestors attempted to take over a beach in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Bondi Beach for a demonstration, but were met by pro-Israel counter-demonstrators. A brawl ensued but no arrests were made;
• Jewish facilities including synagogues were vandalized in London, Chile, Halifax, Chicago, and Princeton and Tenafly, NJ,  In Philadelphia, the Weitzman National Museum of Jewish History was vandalized twice in one week;
• In Los Angeles, an Israeli was attacked after pro-Hamas protestors heard him speaking Hebrew;
• In Italy, widespread disruptions and rioting were organized by left-wing labor unions, attributed to the government’s refusal to recognize “Palestine.” Rioters in Milan, Bologna, and Rome blocked major train stations and roads, while in Genoa, dockworkers blocked access to the port;
• In New York City, a mass protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s appearance at the UN brought thousands of people from around the country. The protest was organized in part by the Chinese Communist Party backed People’s Forum.

Universities continue to complain about the settlements reached by Brown, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania over allegations of antisemitism and systematic discrimination, with insiders describing these as shakedowns 

Momentum toward a settlement with Harvard has slowed, with the Federal government stating in September that the university has not complied with requests for data regarding race-based admission. Some reports have also indicated the question of third party monitors, such as that agreed on by Columbia, is a major sticking point.

With student protests growing, universities find themselves needing to act. Cognizant of the new levels of Federal and public scrutiny, Columbia and New York University announced anti-discrimination investigations in response to early semester incidents of antisemitic vandalism. Regulations regarding the time, place, and manner of demonstrations have also been put into place at many universities, along with complex speech rules.

In one such development, Harvard’s new guidelines noted that calling someone a “terrorist sympathizer” could violate its anti-discrimination policy.

A more systematic form of control was revealed by a House Committee on Education and Workforce investigation, which included an interview with now ousted Northwestern University president Michael Schill. Committee staff members revealed the agreement between Northwestern and the Qatar Foundation regarding the university’s campus in Qatar, which stipulates “NU, NU-Q, and their respective employees, students, faculty, families, contractors and agents, shall be subject to the applicable laws and regulations of the State of Qatar, and shall respect the cultural, religious and social customs of the State of Qatar.” 

A small number of faculty members took the lead in berating Charlie Kirk and applauding his murder. This echoed the extremist stances of faculty regarding Israel.

Similarly, a new study of Jewish faculty points to the central role of anti-Israel faculty in driving campus antisemitism. The study noted that on 77% of campuses with a Faculty for Justice in Palestine chapters, faculty were engaged in anti-Israel programming, 80% helped organize anti-Israel demonstrations, and 85% endorsed BDS campaigns.

Overall, 73% of Jewish faculty reported witnessing anti-Jewish activities or statements from faculty, administrators or staff. The intense outpourings of anti-Israel and antisemitic hatred from pro-Palestinian faculty cannot be explained as mere political beliefs, but suggest deeper devotion to a secular religious cause.

The full implications of faculty hatred of Israel as both a foundational pedagogical structure and basis for personal behavior was demonstrated at Cornell University, where a noted anti-Israel professor, Eric Chayfetz, was suspended for allegedly prohibiting an Israeli student from participating in a class on Gaza.

Cheyfitz, formerly a faculty advisor to the school’s Jewish Voice for Peace chapter, taught the class “Gaza, Indigeneity, Resistance,” in the spring.

Student protests have also escalated on campus. Examples include picketing at job fairs at the University of Louisville, Cornell University, and the University of Massachusetts, where corporations accused of “complicity” with Israel were present, such as GE Aerospace, Raytheon Technologies, L3Harris, and Toyota.

At the University of Pisa, pro-Hamas students stormed a classroom of a professor they accused of being Zionist, beating students and waving flags. The professor had criticized the university’s decision to cut ties with Israeli institutions.

At the Polytechnic University of Turin, students stormed a lecture being given by an Israeli faculty member who defended the war in Gaza and the Israeli military. The faculty member was then suspended by the university. 

A BDS resolution proposed in the University of Connecticut student government failed. The University of Maryland student government voted overwhelmingly to demand that the school “formally and publicly acknowledge the ongoing situation in Gaza as a genocide” and “issue a public statement urging for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.” A vote on a BDS resolution originally scheduled for Rosh Hashanah, but after protests was rescheduled for Yom Kippur approved.

In another example of anger regarding university responses to the post-October 7th campus environment, the group Northwestern Graduate Workers for Palestine protested required antisemitism and “Islamophobia” bias training. Some 300 students have been prohibited from registering for classes and may lose financial aid and access to campus housing.

In a rare acknowledgment that arms embargoes were impacting Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel might have to become an “autarkic characteristics” which he described as a “super-Sparta.”

Other moves to isolate Israel economically expanded in September. The exclusion of Israeli state owned assets from the Danish sovereign wealth fund on the basis of “international humanitarian principles” and human rights. This followed the August decision by the Norwegian fund to exclude Israeli companies, which became an issue in the September elections, where far left parties demanded the Labor Party expand Israeli boycott as a condition for joining a coalition. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights also added 68 companies to its blacklist of firms doing business in the West Bank.

In a move long sought by the BDS movement, Microsoft disabled Israeli military access to its Azure cloud computing platform. An internal investigation showed that data obtained from surveillance of Palestinian civilian communications was being stored on the platform and that AI services were being used. The company stated this violated its policies regarding privacy and mass surveillance. 

Efforts to boycott and isolate Israel have come as European defense industries struggle to scale up production against growing Russian threats. Fear of competitors, above all Israel and the US, motivate policies even as the need for Israeli and American products and technologies grows.

One example are European plans for continental anti-missile defenses which would integrate Israeli systems, acquisition of which is now threatened by boycott efforts. Another example is Morocco’s continued shift away from French arms to Israeli suppliers, which undermines French political influence in North Africa. Domestic political pressure, including from Muslim populations, however, has motivated the Philippines to terminate an arms contract with Israel. Greece has also delayed a major arms deal with Israel.

These economic challenges provide some of the backdrop for the British decision to ban official Israeli representation from the DSEI UK 2025 arms fair. Israeli companies were permitted to exhibit. Dubai also banned Israeli representation at the UAE air show, ostensibly over comments from Israeli ministers regarding annexation of the West Bank.

The Scottish Parliament’s vote in favor of a full boycott of Israel included demands that the British government adopt a full arms embargo, banned the import of Israeli “settlement goods,” and removed subsidies for Scottish firms accused of involvement in Israeli “genocide.”

Having taken the lead in accusing Israel of genocide, Spain announced a total arms embargo on Israel and canceled three major defense contracts. Shipments of arms to Israel will also be banned, a decision that brought criticism from the US State Department. The Spanish decision jeopardizes use of American military bases in Spain as transshipment points for resupplying Israel.

Efforts continue in the arts and cultural sphere to expel Israelis, Jews, and those who do not explicitly support the Palestinian cause.

In one notable incident, Israeli conductor Lahav Shani was scheduled to conduct the Munich Philharmonic at the Flanders Festival Ghent in Belgium. The invitation was revoked when as organizers determined that “in the light of his role as the chief conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, we are unable to provide sufficient clarity about his attitude to the genocidal regime in Tel Aviv.”

The orchestra and city of Munich condemned the Belgian decision, as did German and Belgian politicians including Prime Minister Bart De Wever.

The demand that Shani clarify his stance on “genocide” is paralleled by those being placed on Israeli pop artists throughout Europe, including signed statements and videos, especially by venue organizers and owners.

Other efforts continue to exclude Israel from international cultural life. Though the next Eurovision song contest will not be held until 2026, Spain, Slovenia, Iceland, Ireland, and the Netherlands have pledged to withdraw if Israel is allowed to participate.

Reports indicate Eurovision organizers have floated the idea that Israeli could be permitted to perform but without their flag or other identification. The sponsoring body, the European Broadcasting Union, has now called for an extraordinary meeting in November at which member broadcasters will vote on Israeli participation.

The hostility toward Israel also took several notable turns in the film industry. At the Cannes Film Festival the film The Voice of Hind Rajab about a Palestinian girl in Gaza who was killed during the Israeli counterattack received an unprecedented 22 minute ovation.

The award was followed by an open letter signed by some 4000 film industry members pledging to boycott the Israeli film industry. The group which promoted the original letter, Film Workers for Palestine, is closely aligned with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Similarly, at the Emmy Awards, a number of actors appeared with “ceasefire now” and other pro-Hamas regalia including pins representing bloody hands, a Palestinian symbol depicting the bloody hands of a Palestinian who had just murdered two Israeli soldiers.

Actor Hannah Einbinder won an award and during her speech stated “Go Birds, f**k ICE and free Palestine,” adding later that “I feel like it is my obligation as a Jewish person to distinguish Jews from the State of Israel, because our religion and our culture is such an important and long standing institution that is really separate to this sort of ethno-nationalist state.”

In contrast, an Israeli documentary on October 7th that organizers had tried to bar won a popular award at the Toronto Film Festival.

Organizers had ludicrously claimed that filmmakers had not obtained permission from Hamas to include video footage shot by terrorists during the attack.

Anti-Israel protests also continue to plague sports. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez reiterated his demand that Israel be banned from all international sports. The call came after pro-Hamas protestors wrecked the end of the Vuelta a España cycling race by blocking the final stages into Madrid.

Sánchez expressed his admiration for protestors who disrupted the race but Madrid mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida condemned both the protestors and Sánchez, as did race organizers.

The impact of the attack, however, prompted the Israeli team’s sponsor, Factor Bikes, to demand the team compete under a different flag. The company’s founder stated “There’s just a certain amount of controversy we can’t afford regarding the brand.” The Israeli team was then not invited to a competition in Italy after threats of violence prompted “safety concerns.”

The author is a contributor to SPME, where a completely different version of this article was published.