Antisemitic offenses in Spain increased by 86% last year, according to a Spanish government report that also recorded the country’s highest number of hate incidents since data collection began.
Jews were the targets of 69 hate crimes and incidents in 2025, up from 37 in 2024, Spain’s Interior Ministry said in the report released last week. Islamophobic incidents also rose, increasing from 15 to 35 over the same period.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said in a Facebook video that his ministry documented 2,417 hate incidents last year, the highest annual total since records began in 2014. Spain is home to an estimated 70,000 Jews, according to the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain.
The ministry defined antisemitism as any act of hatred, violence or discrimination directed at Jews or “nationals of the State of Israel.”
The rise comes as Spain has taken an increasingly critical stance toward Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has described the offensive as genocide, and Spain imposed a full arms embargo on Israel in 2025. Madrid also permanently withdrew its ambassador in March, following Israel’s withdrawal of its ambassador to Spain in 2024.
According to the Interior Ministry, offenses motivated by racism and xenophobia made up the largest category of hate crimes, with 934 reported incidents. Grande-Marlaska accused “public officials” of using rhetoric and policies that he said fuel xenophobic attitudes.
The report was released as Spain’s far-right, anti-immigration Vox party promotes a “national priority” policy that would give Spaniards preferential access to public aid and benefits, including subsidized housing and healthcare. Vox has recently reached agreements with the conservative People’s Party to include the clause in regional coalition pacts in Extremadura, Aragón and Castile and León.
“The national priority is xenophobia,” Grande-Marlaska said. “It is institutionalized xenophobia, protected and promoted by public officials who legitimize and amplify hate speech that, in the past, would have been condemned when it entered the public sphere.”
Vox has voiced strong support for Israel, whose government has maintained ties with the party despite a history of neo-Nazi associations within its ranks. Vox leader Santiago Abascal visited Israel in 2024 to express support for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Sánchez recognized a Palestinian state.