Europol Report: Anti-Semitism Becomes Unifying Narrative Across EU Terror Groups
Europol’s 2026 terrorism assessment finds antisemitism crossing ideological lines, as jihadist, right-wing, and left-wing extremists exploit the Gaza war to radicalize supporters and threaten Jews
Europol’s 2026 assessment identifies anti-Semitism as a cross-ideological narrative among some jihadist, right-wing, and left-wing terrorist and violent extremist actors. It says the conflict following the October 7 Hamas attack was used to mobilize support and reinforce anti-Israel, anti-Semitic, and anti-Western narratives, in some cases contributing to violence against Jewish targets.
The assessment says anti-Semitism served as a “unifying narrative among diverse terrorist and violent extremist actors.” Among left-wing and anarchist actors, anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli or anti-Zionist sentiment was explicitly expressed in seven of 10 reported responsibility claims.
Jihadist Exploitation of Gaza Conflict
Jihadist organizations have systematically weaponized the Gaza conflict to fuel anti-Semitic radicalization. The Islamic State’s weekly Arabic newsletter al-Naba’ dedicated multiple editions to instrumentalizing the conflict, explicitly calling for targeting of Jewish individuals, communities, and institutions. A December 2025 editorial promoted autonomous attacks by sympathizers, leveraging grievances as a motivating framework for violence.
Europol documented 24 jihadist terrorist attacks across the EU in 2025—approximately half of all incidents—resulting in five fatalities and 81 injuries. Nine attacks were completed, with four in Germany, two in France, and individual incidents in Austria, Ireland, and Spain. The vast majority utilized simple methodologies—stabbing accounted for eight of nine completed attacks—directed at civilians in public spaces.
Among 347 individuals arrested for jihadist terrorism offences in 2025, 108 were 18 or younger, indicating that anti-Semitic narratives are proving particularly effective at radicalizing youth. A 16-year-old arrested in Italy in October 2025 exemplified this trend: investigators discovered he administered a messaging app channel disseminating anti-Semitic content while encouraging violence against Jewish people and foreign nationals.
Left-Wing and Anarchist Anti-Semitism
Europol recorded 12 attacks classified as left-wing or anarchist terrorism in 2025. Eleven were completed, including 10 in Italy and one in Greece, and no casualties were reported because the targets were primarily buildings or vehicles. Anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli or anti-Zionist sentiment was explicit in seven of 10 reported responsibility claims.
One concrete example: on January 18, 2025, an improvised explosive device damaged a travel agency in Italy. Responsibility was claimed on January 24 through a parcel sent to the company containing a bullet and a letter stating that transporting “goods and weapons” to Israel was “certainly profitable, but extremely dangerous.”
The claim placed opposition to alleged commercial and weapons links with Israel within the attackers’ broader anti-capitalist and anti-Israel rhetoric.
Rapid Youth Radicalization Through Online Platforms
Europol says young radicalized individuals often display only a superficial understanding of established ideologies, making them susceptible to fluid mixtures of unstable, fragmented and ambiguous ideas. Elsewhere, the report identifies anti-Semitism as one narrative capable of crossing ideological boundaries.
Europol says borderline content on mainstream social media can serve as an entry point, with some interested users progressing to networks sharing explicit terrorist and violent-extremist material before moving to more secure and private platforms.
The report says terrorist and violent-extremist propaganda is tailored to particular platforms and audiences, including young users. It cites mash-ups, memes and GIFs, and says user-generated material was sometimes preferred because it was harder to detect and remove. Users also edited branded propaganda to expand its reach.
Iran’s Proxy Networks and Direct Threats
Europol says Iran-aligned groups mainly used the EU for fundraising and logistical support through 2025, but warns that some may increasingly consider attacks against Jewish, Israeli or other targets. It cites suspected Hamas-linked weapons-procurement cases in Austria and Germany as examples of the potential threat.
In early October 2025, Austrian authorities uncovered a weapons cache in Vienna containing several pistols and linked it to alleged Hamas members connected to a weapons-procurement network in Germany. Europol says a 39-year-old with close ties to Hamas leadership was linked to the cache and was suspected of planning attacks.
That same month, on October 1, 2025, German authorities arrested three suspected Hamas foreign operatives who, according to federal prosecutors, had been procuring firearms and ammunition intended for attacks on Israeli or Jewish institutions in Germany.
The European Union formally designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization on February 19, 2026.
On March 25, 2026, Berlin’s Higher Regional Court sentenced four men for membership in a foreign terrorist organization. The court found that Hamas conducts operational measures in Europe to prepare for possible future attacks on Israeli or Jewish institutions, while noting that no concrete European attack plan had been established. The judgment was not yet final.
Outlook
Europol expects the terrorism and violent-extremism threat to remain highly dynamic. It says international conflicts, hostile rhetoric and online ecosystems will continue to shape radicalization, although the precise form of future threats remains uncertain. The assessment warns that while low-level attacks will persist and potentially increase in frequency, the interaction of strategic factors and identified risk elements points toward possible escalation in attack sophistication and scale.