Lisbon’s Wake-Up Call: Antisemitic Graffiti in Baixa Signals a Dangerous Shift

For centuries, Lisbon has been the City of Light—a beacon of hospitality, warmth, and a laid-back embrace of the world. We are a people who pride ourselves on being welcoming. We have opened our doors to tourists, expats, and digital nomads. We have built strong bonds with the Israeli community, who have long described Portugal as a refuge—a place of safety, sun, and refreshing freedom from the daily tension that shadows Jewish life in other parts of Europe.

But walk through Baixa this morning, and you will feel a chill that has nothing to do with the Atlantic breeze.

The writing is literally on the wall, and it is ugly. In the heart of our capital, spray-painted across our historic stones, are messages that should have no place in civil society. "F*** Jews" scrawled in angry paint. "Zionists Out"—sprayed specifically in Hebrew—marking a level of targeted hatred that goes beyond simple vandalism.

This is not the Portugal we know. This is not the Portuguese way.

The Desecration of Memory

If you think this is just "kids with spray cans," look closer at where this is happening. In late 2025, the ugliness reached a new low at the Largo de São Domingos. This is not just any square; it is the site of the Memorial to the Victims of the 1506 Jewish Massacre.

When vandals spray Nazi-style phrases on the very stones dedicated to Jews who were slaughtered centuries ago, they are not "protesting a war." They are celebrating a genocide. It is a direct attack on history, memory, and the dignity of our Jewish neighbours.

The Great Disconnect: High Offices vs. The Street

We are witnessing a disturbing gap between what our leaders say in air-conditioned offices and what is happening on our cobblestones.

Back in April 2025, Katharina von Schnurbein, the European Commission’s coordinator on combating antisemitism, visited Lisbon. There were handshakes with Mayor Carlos Moedas and promises of a "National Strategy." It looked good on paper.

But paper does not scrub walls.

Nearly a year later, the reality on the street has not changed. The strategy is invisible. The police response is, at best, sluggish. The Jewish Community of Lisbon (CIL) has been forced to publicly demand a dedicated nationwide channel for reporting these acts, precisely because the current system is failing them. When a hate crime is dismissed by a desk officer as "minor vandalism," the victim stops reporting, and the statistic disappears. But the fear remains.

A City on Edge

We can no longer pretend this is "business as usual." Even Mayor Moedas has had to admit the truth. In January 2025, he publicly acknowledged that Lisbon is facing a "different level of violence" than we are used to, pleading for more police presence and CCTV.

He is right. We are a country that is sleepwalking. We are allowing ourselves to be bullied by radicals who mistake our kindness for weakness. By ignoring these red flags—the desecration of the 1506 memorial, the Hebrew graffiti, the slurs—we are permitting a takeover of our public spaces by hatred.

The Uncomfortable Questions

We have to ask ourselves the hard questions over our morning bica.

We are NOT Nazi Germany. We are absolutely NOT a racist nation. We are NOT an Islamist country that builds institutions where women have no rights.

But we are importing a conflict that is not ours. We are letting the "politics of the tribe" settle in our streets. When you allow "Zionists Out" to become background noise in Baixa, you are telling every Jewish resident—and every Portuguese citizen who values freedom—that they are no longer safe here.

Every day, we wake up to a situation we never thought we’d be in. It is time for the police to act, for the "National Strategy" to leave the drawer and hit the streets, and for Portugal to remember who it is.

The writing is on the wall. If we don't scrub it off now, it will become the only story left to tell.