Earlier this year, CAM sat down with Josh Reinstein to discuss a range of issues including rising global anti-Semitism, and interfaith partnerships between the Jewish and Christian communities. Josh Reinstein is the Director of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus and works to build direct lines of communication and cooperation between Jews and Christian leaders around the world. Read Here
THIS WEEK’S GLOBAL ANTI-SEMITISM REPORT
This week, vandals painted a swastika on a Brooklyn yeshiva; a French Jewish family was violently assaulted in their car; and the runner-up in the Miss France beauty pageant faced online anti-Semitic harassment after revealing her Israeli heritage.
Meanwhile, the Halle synagogue gunman was sentenced to life in prison by a German court, and the United States Congress increased security funding for houses of worship and for religious non-profits. Enhanced security measures for Jewish institutions are critical for safeguarding Jewish life – as is holding violent offenders accountable for their crimes.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SPECIAL FEATURE
CHRISTMAS INTERVIEW: THE POWER OF FAITH-BASED DIPLOMACY WITH JOSH REINSTEIN
By CAM
WATCH: ALBANIA – THE JEWS’ SAFE HAVEN
By CAM
Elise Nake, a high school student and member of the American-Albanian community, addresses the heroic efforts of Albania, which saved its Jewish population during the Holocaust, in a documentary film she produced for a school project. Elise visited Israel where much of the documentary was filmed. She features the testimony of the representatives of the Albanian-Jewish Community in Israel and interviews them to learn their personal histories. Read Here
UNITED STATES
NEW YORK: MEN SPRAY-PAINT SWASTIKA ON BROOKLYN YESHIVA, CUOMO DIRECTS STATE POLICE TO INVESTIGATE
By 1010 WINS Newsroom
Gov. Andrew Cuomo asked state police to help the NYPD investigate swastika graffiti spray-painted on a Brooklyn yeshiva. Video released by the NYPD shows two men scrawling the graffiti on the Mesilas Bais Yaakov High School in South Slope. Read Here
FLORIDA: VENICE JEWISH CONGREGATION SIGN VANDALIZED
By Olivia Hyde
A sign outside of a Jewish center in Venice was vandalized and changed to an anti-semitic statement. The Jewish Congregation of Venice (JCV) was displaying a sign announcing the postponement of the 2021 Jewish Food Festival when a vandal changed the sign to read “Jews postponed until February 22.” Read Here
WORLD NEWS
United Kingdom
LIB DEMS OPEN INVESTIGATION INTO ‘FAKE ANTI-SEMITISM’ SPEECH BY BROMLEY PARTY ACTIVIST
By Lee Harpin
The U.K. Liberal Democrats have launched an independent investigation into a speech made by a party spokesperson in Bromley, south London, who claimed the “fake anti-Semitism campaign against Labour is the worst single episode of misinformation I have ever witnessed.” Jonathan Coulter was a speaker at the launch of an organisation called the Campaign for Free Speech, co-organised by groups which have attacked claims of anti-Semitism. Read Here
‘DEEPLY UPSETTING’ ANTI-SEMITIC INCIDENTS LEAD TO INCREASED POLICE PATROLS
By Holly Chant
Shomrim, a voluntary neighbourhood watch, reported that a Jewish man was chased by another man who was holding empty glass bottles and shouting anti-Semitic remarks. Shomrim has also reported several instances of hate speech scrawled on walls in Stamford Hill this month and police arrested a man in his 60s. Read Here
GERMANY
SYNAGOGUE ATTACKER SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON
By DW
A German court has sentenced the attacker behind a deadly 2019 attack on a synagogue and surrounding areas in Halle to life in prison, the maximum sentence Germany allows. Far-right extremist Stephan B. was found guilty of two murders and more than 60 counts of attempted murder at the end of his 26-day trial. Judge Ursula Mertens noted the particular severity of the crimes, repeatedly describing his murderous acts as “cowardly” and “cruel.” Read Here
CULTURAL MANAGERS REVIVE DISCUSSION ABOUT ANTI-SEMITIC BDS MOVEMENT
By The Berlin Spectator
Dozens of managers of cultural venues in Germany signed a declaration in which they criticized an anti-BDS resolution adopted by the Bundestag. The resolution calls the BDS movement’s methods anti-Semitic. Thirty-two persons, among them the directors of prestigious theatres and cultural institutes, signed in critique of the Bundestag’s resolution. Read Here
OTHER WORLD NEWS
FRANCE: MISS FRANCE RUNNER-UP BECOMES TARGET OF ANTI-SEMITIC TWEETS
By Thomas Adamson
The Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation to identify the authors of online anti-Semitic comments directed at the runner-up for Miss France 2021, who has Israeli origins. April Benayoum, 21, placed second in the televised Miss France pageant, but her moment in the limelight was quickly sullied. Read Here
FRANCE: COPS ARREST PERPETRATORS OF VIOLENT ASSAULT ON JEWISH FAMILY SINGING HANUKKAH SONGS
By Algemeiner
French police arrested four individuals in connection with an “incredibly violent” assault on a Jewish family in a Paris suburb. The unsuspecting Jewish family was sitting in their car singing Hanukkah songs when four individuals descended on the car and screamed, “F— the Jews.” They then began shaking the car violently while smashing glass bottles against it. Read Here
THE MIDDLE EAST
ISRAEL/WEST BANK: MOTHER-OF-SIX MURDERED IN WEST BANK, IN WHAT POLICE BELIEVE WAS TERROR ATTACK
By Judah Ari Gross
A sign outside of a Jewish center in Venice was vandalized and changed to an anti-semitic statement. The Jewish Congregation of Venice (JCV) was displaying a sign announcing the postponement of the 2021 Jewish Food Festival when a vandal changed the sign to read “Jews postponed until February 22.” Read Here
ON CAMPUS
TUFTS U PASSES REFERENDUM REMINICENT OF ‘ANTI-SEMITIC BLOOD LIBEL’
By Jerusalem Post
A student reform group at Tufts University that champions Jewish rights condemned a recent referendum with anti-Israel rhetoric passed by the school’s student government that intends to demilitarize the campus police department. The referendum, sponsored by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), essentially claims that Israel is responsible for any and all police violence carried out by the campus police department in the past. Read Here
COLLEGE CONDEMNS ANTI-SEMITISM AFTER DARTMOUTH GREEN MENORAH VANDALIZED
By Abigail Mihaly and Kyle Mullins
Hanover, New Hampshire police are investigating the vandalism of the large menorah installed on the Dartmouth Green.Aan unidentified perpetrator shot holes through seven of the nine lights in what campus groups and the College condemned as an anti-Semitic act of violence. Read Here
ANALYSIS & OP-EDS
STUDIES & STATISTICS
ISRAEL IS THE NUMBER ONE COUNTRY ON HACKERS’ TARGET LIST, NEW STUDY REVEALS
By Raphael Kahan / CTech
Research by U.S. data protection company F5 Labs, reveals that in the past quarter of 2020, Israel has become the number one target of hackers and cybercriminals. According to the study, Israel has surpassed India, the U.S., Russia, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. This is the first time it is the leader, with 180,000 hacking attempts. Read Here
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
U.S.: AFTER ATTACKS, CONGRESS DOUBLES SECURITY FUNDS FOR HOUSES OF WORSHIP, NONPROFITS
By RON KAMPEAS
Congress is set to double security funding for nonprofits to $180 million next year. The funding goes to hardening targets with “barriers, gates, safety gear, surveillance equipment.” The grants have dramatically increased in part because of a spate of deadly attacks on Jewish targets since 2018. Read Here
OHIO: LAWMAKERS VOTE TO LAUNCH HOLOCAUST EDUCATION COMMISSION
By RON KAMPEAS
Lawmakers in Ohio launched a Holocaust education commission amid increased concern about Holocaust awareness in the U.S. The 12-member Holocaust and Genocide Memorial and Education commission will “promote public awareness of issues relating to Holocaust and genocide memorial and education through public education programs.” Read Here
HUMANITY
‘HANUKKAH IS HOPE FOR TOMORROW’: MOROCCAN UN ENVOY LIGHTS MENORAH WITH ISRAELI COUNTERPART
By Algemeiner
Israel’s UN envoy, Gilad Erdan, hosted a menorah-lighting ceremony in which his counterparts from Bahrain, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates all took part. Morocco’s UN ambassador, Omar Hilale, attended the event — held to mark the eighth and final night of Hanukkah — in person and jointly lit a candle with Erdan. Read Here
ISRAEL’S SEPHARDI CHIEF RABBI VISITS UAE, INAUGURATES JEWISH SCHOOL
By Judah Ari Gross
Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef traveled to Dubai in the first-ever visit by a sitting chief rabbi to an Arab country. “During his visit, he met with senior Emirati officials, inaugurated the newly certified Jewish [nursery] school, and, in a special ceremony, invested Rabbi Levi Duchman as rabbi of the Emirati Jewish community.” Read Here
The Combat Anti-Semitism Movement is a non-partisan, global grassroots movement of individuals and organizations, across all religions and faiths, united around the goal of ending anti-Semitism in all its forms. Since its launching in February 2019, 294 organizations and 299,000 individuals have joined the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement by signing the campaign’s pledge. The CAM Pledge draws upon the IHRA international definition of anti- Semitism and its list of specific behaviors used to discriminate against the Jewish people and the Jewish State of Israel.
