Since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, there has been an unprecedented upsurge in antisemitism throughout Europe. Organised demonstrations and protests against Israel and Jews appeared in many places on the same day as the attacks and before any Israeli response to the attacks, pointing to an already existing structure of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish organisations active at universities and other places.

This paper aims to consider the underlying reasons for this upsurge and investigate the mechanisms that made it possible, and in such a short time. This research will also advance several proposals on how national and European political actors can combat this wave of racist, antisemitic attacks.