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Dear Friends,
This past week, the president of Poland signed a law preventing Holocaust restitution to heirs of property stolen by the Nazis, drawing harsh criticism from the global Jewish community. In response to the outrage, Poland’s foreign ministry said it is “reviewing” changes to the annual educational school trips from Israel to former Nazi death camps.
Holocaust distortion and pandemic Jew-blaming incidents were seen this week in Montreal, Wisconsin, Missouri, Munich, Sydney, and in many locations in France.
In Melbourne, Australia, a Covid-19 rules violation prompted an outpouring of antisemitic rhetoric, including by a hospital worker who said, “put them in a gas chamber.” In Kiev, Ukraine, a string of vandalism incidents targeting Jews continued, with graffiti saying, “Jews — into the oven” and “Happy Holocoust.”
In London, an elderly Jewish man was assaulted and had his kippah knocked off his head, while near the West Bank city of Nablus, Palestinian demonstrators burned a makeshift Star of David with a Nazi swastika. Swastikas were graffitied outside of a synagogue in Madrid, Spain, and on the campaign posters of two Jewish MPs in Montreal.
Meanwhile, the government of France announced it would become the 11th country to pull out of the UN’s upcoming 20th anniversary commemoration of the Durban World Conference Against Racism, citing concerns about its poisonous antisemitic legacy. The Combat Antisemitism Movement is urging more countries to follow, especially those who have already adopted the IHRA working definition of antisemitism.
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