February 16, 2023
THIS WEEK’S GLOBAL ANTISEMITISM REPORT
This past week, two Jewish men leaving a synagogue in Los Angeles, California, were shot in a drive-by attack, and the Holocaust memorial in Boston, Massachusetts was desecrated with vandalism. Meanwhile, a wave of antisemitic propaganda continued to appear in the form of leaflets in Florida, California, and Washington.
In the UK, a police leader shared content promoting the destruction of the state of Israel, and in Poland, antisemitic graffiti was found at Auschwitz as well as in the Kristallnacht memorial plaque in Opole. In Spain, Israel’s ambassador was attacked by pro-Palestinian activists at Madrid University.
In Brazil, police arrested a teen wearing a nazi armband that had threatened to carry out a school bombing. Police in Canada are investigating an arson at a Jewish camp near Ottawa. Russia’s state-owned TV condemned Israel for meeting with the “Nazi state,” in reference to Ukrainian officials.
Terror attacks continued against Jewish civilians in Israel, including a ramming attack on a Jerusalem bus stop which killed three, including two children.
This week’s global antisemitism report highlights 35 new media reports of antisemitic incidents. The total includes 14 (40%) from the far-right, 4 (11.4%) from the far-left, 10 (28.6%) with Islamist motivations, and 7 (20%) unidentifiable in nature.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
UNITED STATES
SECOND JEWISH MAN SHOT IN PICO, CALIFORNIA
By Aaron Bandler
A second Jewish man was shot in the Pico-Robertson area in as many days. The Los Angeles Scoop first reported on the shooting, saying that the victim was shot in the arm on S. Bedford and Pico Boulevard after leaving synagogue on February 16 and is in stable condition. American Jewish Committee Los Angeles Regional Director Richard S. Hirschhaut said in a statement to the Journal, “Within 24 hours, two members of the LA Jewish community have been targeted for attack by a gunman who remains at large. While the motive for this horrific violence remains unclear, a presumption of antisemitism looms large.
JEWISH MAN SHOT TWICE FROM PASSING VEHICLE AFTER LEAVING SYNAGOGUE IN LOS ANGELES
By KEENE / THE FORWARD
A Jewish man was shot twice on Wednesday while walking to his car following morning services at a synagogue in Los Angeles, California. The victim — who was wearing a kippah at the time of the incident — was transported to a hospital, where he was treated and released later in the day. The suspect was reported to be a middle-aged Asian male with a goatee, who opened fire while driving a vehicle near the intersection of Shenandoah Street and Cashio Avenue at around 10 AM local time.
CALIFORNIA IMAM – MUSLIMS WILL KILL ALL JEWS AND RETAKE THEIR PLACE AS MASTERS OF THE WORLD
By WORLD JEWISH NEWS
Dr. Moustafa Kamel, the imam and director of the Alansar Mosque in Anaheim, California, cited a hadith describing how Muslims will kill the Jews, a “bigoted and arrogant breed of people” opposed by “all the living creatures.” He prayed for Allah to “awaken the Islamic nation so it once again assumes its natural position [as] the masters of the world, under the banner of the Quran.”
MASSACHUSETTS: HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DESECRATED AS SURVEY SHOWS ANTISEMITISM ON THE RISE
By JORDYN JAGOLINZER
The New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston was desecrated over the weekend, as a new survey released by the American Jewish Committee shows antisemitism on the rise. On Friday night, a group of people kicked the glass panels paying tribute to the victims of the Holocaust at the Boston memorial. Boston City Council President Ed Flynn says it’s been vandalized in the past and the attack is unacceptable. “They didn’t necessarily cause any damage, but they insulted the memorial,” said Flynn.
MASSACHUSETTS: SWASTIKA FOUND IN LAWRENCE ICE RINK LOCKER ROOM PROMPTS INVESTIGATION
WORLD NEWS
UNITED KINGDOM
UK EQUALITIES WATCHDOG ‘SATISFIED’ WITH LABOUR ACTION ON ANTISEMITISM
By Robert Wright
The Labour party has successfully introduced reforms to tackle antisemitism in the party, according to the UK equalities watchdog, marking what leader Sir Keir Starmer called “an important moment” in the organization’s history. The Equality and Human Rights Commission on Wednesday released the results of its monitoring, which followed a damning report into the problem in October 2020. The party agreed to follow the EHRC’s recommendations to tackle the problems identified and submit to official monitoring to ensure appropriate action had been taken.
GERMAN JEWISH LEADER’S BODYGUARD SENT NAZI MESSAGES ON POLICE WHATSAPP GROUP
By ROB HYDE
A German detective hired to protect the life of a high-profile Jewish figure has been demoted to a police officer for sending multiple antisemitic and pro-Nazi messages. Growing threats from the far-right in Germany mean that Charlotte Knobloch, 90, president of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria and former chair of Germany’s Central Council of Jews, has often needed two bodyguards when attending events. But one man hired to protect her in recent years, Munich detective, Michael R, whose name is protected under Germany’s privacy laws, sent antisemitic messages on an internal police WhatsApp group with seven other officers.
NAZI-ERA ‘RESISTANCE FIGHTER’ EXPOSED AS CONCENTRATION CAMP GUARD
CANADA
POLICE SUSPECT ARSON IN FIRES AT A JEWISH CAMP NEAR OTTAWA
By RON KAMPEAS
Firefighters were battling a blaze before dawn on Sunday at one building at Camp B’nai B’rith in Pontiac, Quebec, when another building burst into flames, CTV News reported. “At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that this was an antisemitic or racially motivated act,” said the statement from police in the municipal regional council of Collines-de-l’Outaouais. “However, it is still too early in the investigation to rule out this possibility.”
OTHER WORLD NEWS
AMSTERDAM: MESSAGE PROJECTED ONTO ANNE FRANK HOUSE SUGGESTS DIARY WAS A FORGERY
By REUTERS
The words projected onto the building referred to Frank as “the inventor of the ballpoint pen,” a reference to debunked conspiracy theories about her diary. Frank, who was Jewish, wrote her diary from July 1942 to August 1944 while in hiding with her family in a cramped secret space above a canal-side warehouse. The museum where the message was projected is now located at the spot. The Netherlands’ Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Friday described as “reprehensible” a message projected by laser onto the Anne Frank House Museum in Amsterdam this week suggesting Frank’s diary was a forgery or that she had not written it.
BRAZIL POLICE ARREST TEEN IN NAZI ARMBAND AFTER THWARTED SCHOOL BOMB ATTACK
By AP
Sao Paulo police said the 17-year-old was arrested with explosives and a hatchet, and that he had been filmed removing these items from a car parked outside the school. Police also said they seized an airsoft gun and Nazi propaganda at the teenager’s home. No one was injured in the incident in Monte Mor, a municipality of 56,000 residents about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo, the city hall said in a statement.
TOLL FROM JERUSALEM TERROR RAMMING UP TO 3 AFTER BROTHER, 8, OF 6-YEAR-OLD VICTIM SUCCUMBS TO WOUNDS
By i24NEWS
The death toll from Friday’s deadly terrorist attack climbed to three after an eight-year-old boy succumbed to his wounds on Saturday, a Jerusalem hospital announced. Palestinian streets erupted in celebration and terror groups assembled in praise after the attack. “The heroic action in Jerusalem is a natural response to all the crimes of the occupation against the Palestinian people,” said Hazem Kassem, spokesman for Gaza’s governing Hamas terrorist movement.
ISRAELI TEEN HURT IN STABBING ATTACK IN JERUSALEM’S OLD CITY; SUSPECT, 14, ARRESTED
By EMANUEL FABIAN
An Israeli teenager was lightly hurt in a stabbing attack in Jerusalem’s Old City on Monday afternoon, and the alleged Palestinian assailant — also a teenager — was arrested, police and medics said. The victim, 17, told medics he was stabbed in the back while walking near the Chain Gate entrance to the Temple Mount before managing to flee toward the Western Wall. Police said officers arrested the alleged stabber, a 14-year-old Palestinian from the Shuafat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, who initially fled the scene and hid on the Temple Mount.
ISRAEL’S AMBASSADOR TO SPAIN ATTACKED BY PRO-PALESTINIAN ACTIVISTS DURING CONFERENCE IN MADRID UNIVERSITY
By YOSSI LEMPKOWICZ
Israel’s Ambassador to Spain Rodica Radian-Gordon was attacked by several dozen pro-Palestinian activists during a conference she gave at Universidad Complutense of Madrid on Wednesday. There was a moment when the security of the Ambassador was in danger of being overwhelmed, so it was necessary to send urgently riot police to dissuade the mob from their intentions of physical aggression. The Ambassador had to be evacuated to a safe room in the face of imminent physical danger and her security entourage had to take deterring measures.
UNIVERSITY OF DENVER POLICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATES RECENT ANTI-JEWISH ACTS OF HATE
By RICK SALLINGER
The University of Denver sent a letter to all students and staff this week informing them about three antisemitic incidents within the past week stating”these facts are not acceptable.” Religious items called mezuzahs were removed from Jewish students’ doors. Two dorm rooms were hit at Nagle Hall. At Johnson-McFarlane Hall, pork, which is against Jewish kosher dietary laws, was left on a student’s door. A female student outside of Johnson-MacFarlane residence hall said, “I feel it’s horrible. I honestly don’t know why someone would be compelled to do that.”
ANALYSIS & OP-EDS
STUDIES & STATISTICS
FORTY PERCENT OF AMERICAN JEWS FEEL LESS SECURE THAN A YEAR AGO, AJC SURVEY FINDS
By MARC ROD
More than four in 10 American Jews felt less secure in 2022 than the year before —a 10-point jump from 2021 — with rising antisemitism resulting in a “frightening impact” on the comfort levels of members of the Jewish community. That was a key takeaway from a survey released Monday morning by the American Jewish Committee, which measured attitudes on antisemitism both within and outside the Jewish community. In the American population at large, 36% of respondents reported having personally seen an antisemitic incident — the vast majority of which occurred online. Sixty-eight percent of Americans said that antisemitism is a problem, compared to 89% of Jews who said the same.
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
RICHMOND MAYOR LEVAR STONEY URGES FELLOW US CITY LEADERS TO CELEBRATE JEWISH AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH
By CAM
The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) has an initiative underway to encourage mayors across the United States to celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month (JAHM). A critical first step in this effort took place when Richmond, Virginia Mayor Levar Stoney recently distributed a letter encouraging his fellow mayors in the U.S. Conference of Mayors to join him in proclaiming and celebrating JAHM in cities across the nation this upcoming May.
JEWISH LEADERS, OFFICIALS GATHER AT U.N. FOR ANTISEMITISM SUMMIT
By TORI BERGEL
Fresh off of a five-day trip to Poland and Germany, during which he spoke with government and faith leaders about combating antisemitism worldwide, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff delivered the keynote address during a global antisemitism event at the U.N. led by U.S. Ambassador to the U.N Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Thursday evening. “My message to all of you is the same message that I carried with me throughout my trip to Europe,” Emhoff said during his opening remarks. “We must all speak out against antisemitism and call out those who don’t. Silence is not an option.”
UNDER SHADOW OF CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA AG SETS UP ANTISEMITISM TASK FORCE
By GABBY DEUTCH
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares last week announced the creation of a statewide task force that will monitor and combat antisemitism in Virginia, citing the deadly 2017 Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally as the guiding influence behind the move. “The idea is having a coordinated response,” explained Miyares. “The best way to fight bad information is good information, and having that level of coordination both on law enforcement and education, so everyone knows this is a broad problem. It’s not just siloed in our colleges, it’s not just siloed in raised threat levels at our synagogues. It’s not just siloed on insane conspiracy theories on the internet.”
HUMANITY
IDF TEAM SAVES 19 IN QUAKE-STRUCK TURKEY
By YOSSI LEMPKOWICZ
The Israel Defense Forces’ “Operation Olive Branches” in Turkey had as of Saturday rescued 19 people from the rubble caused by the massive earthquakes that killed more than 28,000 people in that country and Syria. The IDF’s 400-plus-strong delegation is being supported by emergency medical specialists from the defense and health ministries, fire and rescue services, Magen David Adom, United Hatzalah and Zaka, among others. The IDF has sent 230 medical and emergency response experts to set up a field hospital in Kahramanmaraş, in addition to a 150-member Home Front Command team that continues to operate on the ground.
OVER 375,000 INDIVIDUALS AND 550 ORGANIZATIONS HAVE JOINED OUR MOVEMENT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
The Combat Antisemitism Movement is a global coalition engaging more than 375,000 people and 550 organizations from a diverse array of religious, political, and cultural backgrounds in the common mission of fighting the world’s oldest hatred. We act collaboratively to build a better future, free of bigotry, for Jews and all humanity.
