The graffiti-tagged buildings marked just one of the recent examples of antisemitic incidents, which have surged globally since the attack by Hamas gunmen on southern Israel on Oct. 7 and subsequent war on the Islamist group launched by Israel in the Gaza Strip.

History student, Valentin Guillon: "It's shocking, it's worrying, with the current context, I feel like they're marking the Jewish families of the neighborhood. It's dangerous. It's unimaginable."

In the United States, White House officials expressed alarm this week at reports of anti-Jewish incidents.

Karine Jean-Pierre: "We can't stand by and stand silent in the face of hate."

Biden administration officials also met with American Jewish leaders to discuss ways to stem the rising tide of antisemitism at U.S. universities specifically.

Yoni Kurtz: "With my own eyes, I have witnessed Columbia students resort to base bigotry. I've seen them parrot foul anti-Semitic tropes."

Yoni Kurtz, a Jewish student at Columbia University, called on the school's administration to support students facing antisemitism.

Kurtz: "Institutionally, I feel abandoned... The university's inaction has made us question whether Columbia University can actually maintain an environment where all students feel welcome and safe on campus."

At another Ivy League school, federal prosecutors charged Cornell University student Patrick Dai for allegedly making online threats against Jewish students last weekend.

In one of the most chilling antisemitic incidents globally, an enraged mob stormed an airport in Russia's Dagestan region over the weekend, looking for Jews to harm after a flight arrived from Tel Aviv.

In countries where figures are available from police or civil society groups, including the United States, Britain, France, Germany and South Africa, the pattern is clear: the number of antisemitic incidents has gone up since Oct. 7 by several hundred percent compared with the same period last year.

In some countries, such as the United States and Britain, Islamophobic incidents have also increased since Oct. 7.