Antisemitism on the rise in Luxembourg since October, says RIAL president

The RIAL ("Recherche et information sur l’antisémitisme au Luxembourg") president appeared on RTL Radio to discuss rising antisemitism in Luxembourg, saying recorded incidents often involve questioning Israel's right to exist as a state, and advocating for terrorism.

In 2021, RIAL noted a record number of 80 antisemitic incidents. This year, 105 incidents have been reported to the non-profit organisation, 70 of which have occurred in the last two months alone, since the terrorist attack in Israel on 7 October.

Gottlieb said the majority of incidents had been recorded on social media, with no physical cases of aggression reported in the Grand Duchy to date. Other manifestations of antisemitism would take the form of intimidation and provocation, the RIAL president said.

Antisemitism in schools

A number of antisemitic incidents at schools and universities have been reported abroad in countries such as the US and France, whereas there are more isolated cases in Luxembourg.

Gottlieb pointed to an incident this summer, where a student in Esch-sur-Alzette became radicalised. He said he believes there have been more incidents in schools since October, but there has been no official data published on the topic.

Unofficially, however, Gottlieb described how a teacher contacted RIAL to report a dispute between an Israeli pupil and a very pro-Palestinian classmate, although he stressed these were isolated incidents.

Something 'concrete' needs to happen

At the end of September, Luxembourg unveiled a new national action plan to combat antisemitism - known as PANAS - following a European directive. The plan aims to better comprehend the phenomenon behind antisemitism, which is not currently the case, according to Gottlieb.

The RIAL president criticised the fact that different organisations have different definitions, meaning there is no global vision of the phenomenon. The non-profit is calling for a harmonised definition to stop each organisation "tinkering in its own corner".

The seven measures retained by the PANAS plan are the result of consultations with different actors affected by the issue. "Having a plan and a direction is good, but now there must be work. There has to be something concrete happening," Gottlieb stressed.

Addressing the Israel stand's absence at the Bazar International 

The Israeli stand, one of the Bazar International's founding members, cancelled plans to join this year's event at the last minute after organisers sent an official letter encouraging them not to participate for security reasons, citing the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

Gottlieb said he could understand concerns over security in general, but described this as "a problem in itself. It's exactly what terrorists want, to make people have doubts and fear."

He was particularly unhappy with the letter sent by the Bazar's organising committee. "I'm allergic to those who say 'we are taking these measures for your own good'," he said, explaining that he believes everyone can decide for themselves what they should or should not do. In addition, he said the Grand Ducal police had expressed no reservations regarding security at the event.