Simon Wiesenthal Center lists 2023’s worst antisemitic incidents

The Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas, which led to the deaths of 1,200 Israeli men, women and children, topped the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s list of 2023’s Top Ten Global Worst Anti-Semitic Incidents, the center announced Tuesday.

The international Jewish human rights organization, which is headquartered in Los Angeles, said in a statement that since that October attack, a “tsunami” of antisemitic hate has surged to an all-time high across North America and Europe.

“There is nothing new about Hamas’ genocidal hate. It is embedded in their founding doctrine and reflected in their unparalleled barbarity,” Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the center’s associate dean and director of global social action, said in a statement.

“While Nazis tried to hide evidence of their crimes, Hamas live- streamed them. What is shocking is the refusal of world humanitarian leaders to call out Hamas’ evil crimes against humanity,” he added.

Cooper also said it was “unforgivable” that presidents of elite universities in the United States have “not done enough” to protect Jewish students from antisemitic crimes.

Earlier this month, the presidents of Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Pennsylvania testified before a U.S. congressional hearing regarding antisemitic incidents on the campuses.

“This year’s list is a call for bipartisan action to halt the hatred that threatens every Jew,” Cooper said.

For second place on the list, the center condemned Iran and Qatar for allegedly arming and financing Hamas.

In the third spot on the list, the SWC criticized the United Nations, its leadership and key agencies for failing to “unconditionally condemn the crimes against humanity and defend Israeli victims.”

In fourth place was the International Red Cross for its alleged “anti- Israel bias.”

Fifth place was the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The center said HRW has been a source of “unadulterated antisemitism in the past” and called out comments about the Oct. 7 Hamas attack by CAIR President Nihad Awad.

Attempts to reach CAIR officials for comment were not immediately successful.

Sixth place was officials at elite U.S. schools for allegedly being too lenient with “call for genocide against the Jewish people.”

In seventh place was a pro-Palestinian teach-in in Oakland in December.

Eight place belonged to social media cites, which the center characterized as “cesspools of hate, terrorism, and antisemitic conspiracies.”

In ninth place was the group Human Rights Watch. The SWC said the group has “aggressively pursued an anti-Israel agenda for years’,’ and pointed to recent comments concerning the war in Gaza.

Attempts to reach Human Rights Watch for comment were not immediately successful.

The final spot was reserved for “global pro-Hamas protesters” for “intimidating Jews” and “mainstreaming vile anti-semitism,” according to the SWC.