A new, first-of-its-kind study to be published ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day as part of Tel Aviv University’s annual report on antisemitism worldwide presents a profile of perpetrators of antisemitic crimes in Western countries. The study is based on an analysis of indictments filed between 2020 and 2025 in the four countries with the largest Jewish populations outside Israel: the United States, France, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Researchers at Tel Aviv University reviewed hundreds of court cases and media reports, and interviewed defense attorneys representing suspects in antisemitic crimes, as well as local journalists. The study was led by Dr. Carl Yonker in collaboration with researchers Noah Abrahams, Eli Hua and Antonio Peña.
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The terrorists who carried out the attack at Bondi Beach in December
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Professor Uriya Shavit, editor-in-chief of the annual report on antisemitism, said that “the failed struggle against antisemitism relies on many slogans and clichés, but lacks solid research and data that could support policing and intelligence efforts against offenders. The new study is intended to fill that gap.”
The study found that most defendants accused of antisemitic crimes did not operate within organized hierarchical groups, but rather acted alone. According to the researchers, the defendants were largely “lone wolves, who carried out their acts independently, sometimes without prior planning. This reality poses a significant challenge for law enforcement authorities, as it is more difficult to identify intentions in advance and prevent attacks when perpetrators act on their own.”
However, the study notes that at least two indictments filed in France point to suspected Russian involvement in initiating antisemitic attacks, aimed at destabilizing Western Europe.
The research paints a complex picture of the defendants. “Contrary to common assumptions, perpetrators of antisemitic crimes are not a single homogeneous group,” according to the study. Most defendants are men “from a wide range of age groups, ethnic backgrounds and places of residence. The majority belong to one of two political extremes that are increasingly penetrating mainstream Western politics: Christians who espouse white supremacist views, and Muslims who express protest over the Middle East conflict in antisemitic ways.”
Burning ambulances in London
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The study also found that a significantly higher proportion of defendants were unemployed, worked in low-wage jobs or suffered from mental health issues compared to their share in the general population.
The defendants examined in the study were charged, among other offenses, with physical assaults against Jews, vandalism of Jewish institutions, online threats and the dissemination of antisemitic hate.
Yonker said that “the absence of organizational frameworks in which the defendants were exposed to antisemitic incitement indicates that even those for whom there is no clear evidence have likely undergone radicalization on social media. It will not be possible to combat antisemitism effectively as long as the owners of digital platforms refrain from meaningful oversight of the content posted on them or face significant sanctions if they fail to do so.”
A study published in Tel Aviv University’s 2024 annual report on antisemitism found that only a small proportion of complaints filed over antisemitic attacks lead to arrests and indictments. According to Dr. Yonker, “where perpetrators of hate crimes are not punished, such crimes multiply and become more severe.”
Yonker added that in the past year there has been growing concern over the penetration of overt antisemitism — including admiration for Hitler and Holocaust denial — into mainstream currents within the Republican Party in the United States. He said that social media makes combating the phenomenon extremely difficult, at times nearly impossible. He further noted that the United States is currently experiencing a broad and dangerous drift against Israel, and that antisemitism is flourishing at levels not seen since World War II.