The European Commission has condemned the jump in anti-Semitism across the EU since the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East, saying “European Jews today are again living in fear,” AFP reports.

“The spike of antisemitic incidents across Europe has reached extraordinary levels in the last few days, reminiscent of some of the darkest times in history,” the commission said in a statement.

“We condemn these despicable acts in the strongest possible terms. They go against everything that Europe stands for,” it said.

Citing anti-Semitic incidents in Austria, France, Germany, and Spain, as well as “demonstrators chanting hate slogans against Jews”, the commission, which is the European Union’s executive arm, said it was essential to push back against both anti-Semitism “as well as the rise in anti-Muslim hatred that we have been witnessing over the past weeks — which has no place in Europe”.

Anti-Semitic acts have soared across the world amid the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Gaza Strip.