March 16, 2023
THIS WEEK’S GLOBAL ANTISEMITISM REPORT
A man attacked the Chabad Jewish Center of Cape Coral in what authorities are calling an antisemitic attack, just days after the Jewish festival of Purim . An antisemitic drawing, including “multiple swastikas and an image modified to resemble Adolf Hitler,” was found in a dormitory at Stanford University. The drawing was discovered on a whiteboard attached to a Jewish student’s dorm room door.
In the UK, a new wave of antisemitic hate crimes has London’s Orthodox Jewish community on edge, according to reports by neighborhood watch group Shomrim Stamford Hill. This week, the group reported that someone knocked a 16 year-old Jewish boy’s hat off his head “in a completely unprovoked incident,” and that a man wearing an orange hoodie intentionally bumped into an Orthodox man while passing him on the street. Another man, who has been arrested and charged with committing a hate crime, shouted “Heil Hitler, I love Hitler” at Jewish worshipers leaving synagogue on Purim.
In the Middle East, three people were shot and wounded in a terrorist attack in central Tel Aviv, Israel. Police said the Palestinian attacker opened fire at people outside a cafe before fleeing and being shot dead in a shootout with police.
This week’s global antisemitism report highlights 24 new media reports of antisemitic incidents. The total includes 9 (37.5%) from the far-right, 3 (12.5%) from the far-left, 6 (25.0%) with Islamist motivations, and 6 (25.0%) unidentifiable in nature.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
UNITED STATES
FLORIDA: CAPE CORAL JEWISH CENTER VANDALIZED AS PEOPLE INSIDE
By STACEY HENSON
A man throwing bricks, toppling a colorful, large image of a menorah and destroying a car attacked the Chabad Jewish Center of Cape Coral on Saturday in what authorities are calling an antisemitic attack. The attack fell days after the Jewish festival of Purim on March 6 and 7 and three weeks before Passover beginning April 5. Labkowski said the man then went to the sole car in the lot and began throwing bricks at it, destroying it. As soon as people from nearby businesses noticed the commotion, he said they ran toward the center.
WORLD NEWS
UNITED KINGDOM
‘HEIL HITLER’: LONDON ANTISEMITIC CRIME WAVE CONTINUES
By DION J. PIERRE
A new wave of antisemitic hate crimes has London’s Orthodox Jewish community on edge, according to multiple reports by neighborhood watch group Shomrim Stamford Hill. This week, the group reported that someone knocked a 16 year old Jewish boy’s hat off his head “in a completely unprovoked incident” near Stoke Newington Railway Station, and that a tall man wearing an orange hoodie intentionally bumped into an Orthodox man while passing him on the street. Another man, who has been arrested and charged with committing a hate crime, shouted “Heil Hitler, I love Hitler” at Jewish worshipers leaving synagogue on Purim.
‘HONOUR THE PALESTINIAN MARTYRS’ CHANTED OUTSIDE DOWNING STREET
By DANIEL BEN-DAVID
A new chant to “honour the martyrs” was employed on Friday’s “Emergency protest for Palestine” outside Downing Street in London. One chant shouted by the three or four dozen people present seemed to support the actions of Palestinian militants who have died or been arrested following terror attacks against Israeli civilians. During Friday’s emergency demonstration event last week outside the office of the Prime Minister, Palestinian flags were waved and “Friends of Al-Aqsa” stickers and “Resist, exist, return” signs were distributed.
IRAN’S REVOLUTIONARY GUARD IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SHOOTING AT GERMAN SYNAGOGUE, OFFICIALS SAY
By DAVID KLEIN
After a century-old synagogue in Essen, Germany, was struck by two bullets last November, news reports connected it to the shooting at a synagogue in Halle three years earlier that had been perpetrated by a far-right German extremist. But authorities quickly connected the Essen shooting to a different kind of perpetrator: Ramin Yektaparast, a biker gang leader wanted on suspicion of murder in Germany who now lives in Iran and is accused of directing antisemitic attacks from there.
CANADA
DESPITE CANDIDATE’S ANTISEMITIC COMMENTS, ONTARIO NDP STILL FAVORED TO WIN THURSDAY BY ELECTION
By BRYAN PASSIFIUME
Sarah Jama, the NDP candidate for Thursday’s provincial byelection in Hamilton Centre, is strongly favoured to win, despite a history of antisemitic and other radical remarks, because her party affiliation virtually guarantees it, observers say. B’nai Brith is calling for Ontario New Democrat Party (ONDP) leader party leader Marit Stiles to withdraw Jama’s candidacy, despite the cost, to show that her party stands against antisemitism.
FRANCE
JOURNALISTS OF FRENCH STATE-OWNED NETWORK SUSPENDED FOR HITLER, HAMAS PRAISE
By ZVIKA KLEIN
On the heels of the exposé of antisemitic social media posts by four journalists working for France 24, the French state-owned news network has suspended the journalists and is currently investigating their social media pages. The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis’ (CAMERA) exposé demonstrates that the four journalists failed to live up to France 24’s charter of ethics. In numerous social media posts, the journalists can be seen praising Hitler, minimizing the Holocaust, and glorifying Hamas-affiliated terrorists who murdered and maimed scores of Jewish civilians.
OTHER WORLD NEWS
AUSTRALIA: LITERARY FEST HOSTS PALESTINIAN WRITERS WHO PEDDLE ANTISEMITIC TROPES
By ASH OBEL
An annual writers’ festival held in the Australian city of Adelaide recently became center stage for a ferocious ideological battle after it invited two Palestinian writers accused of virulent antisemitism to address the crowds. Sarah Abulhawa, an American-Palestinian author, spoke a few times at the festival, which ran from March 4 to March 9, despite intense opposition from local Jewish groups, who pointed to Abulhawa’s previous tweets labeling Israel a “Nazi state” and a “racist colonial Zionist military ‘state’” that will “someday be demolished.”
AUSTRALIA: RACIST HANDWRITTEN NOTE LEFT TO A MAN WHOSE PARENTS WERE MURDERED IN AUSCHWITZ
MIDDLE EAST
3 WOUNDED, INCLUDING 1 CRITICALLY, IN CENTRAL TEL AVIV TERROR SHOOTING
By EMANUEL FABIAN
Three people were shot and wounded in a terrorist shooting near a cafe in central Tel Aviv on Thursday night, police and medics said. Police said the Palestinian attacker opened fire at people outside the cafe on the corner of Dizengoff Street and Ben Gurion Street, an area typically bustling on Thursday night. He then fled the scene while shooting at other people in the area, before being shot dead in a shootout with police officers a short time later.
ON CAMPUS
STANFORD UNIVERSITY POLICE LAUNCH HATE CRIME INVESTIGATION AFTER ANTISEMITIC DRAWING FOUND ON JEWISH STUDENT’S DORM ROOM DOOR
By REBEKAH RIESS
The placing of an antisemitic drawing in a dormitory at Stanford University is being investigated by campus police as a hate crime, officials said. The drawing, which included “multiple swastikas and an image modified to resemble Adolf Hitler,” was discovered on a whiteboard attached to a Jewish student’s dorm room door Friday, the university said in a statement. Due to the criminal investigation, the drawing isn’t considered protected speech and the person or persons responsible could face legal or disciplinary action, the university said.
TULANE UNIVERSITY TO INCLUDE ANTISEMITISM TRAINING IN ORIENTATION PROGRAM
ANALYSIS & OP-EDS
STUDIES & STATISTICS
ANTISEMITIC PROPAGANDA DISTRIBUTION BY US WHITE SUPREMACISTS SOARING, NEW ADL REPORT REVEALS
By BEN COHEN
Propaganda activities by US white supremacist groups soared by nearly 40 percent in 2022 according to a new Anti-Defamation League (ADL) report issued on Thursday, in a further sign of the emboldening of America’s far right. The ADL’s annual assessment of propaganda distribution by neo-Nazi and white nationalist organizations noted that there were 6,751 incidents in 2022, marking a 38 percent increase on the previous year. The ADL’s analysis also observed that reported incidents of explicitly antisemitic propaganda more than doubled, rising from 352 incidents in 2021 to 852 in 2022.
REPORT: ANTI-JEWISH INCIDENTS JUMPED NEARLY 20% IN 2021, FBI FINDS
By BEN SALES
A new FBI report found that anti-Jewish incidents increased nearly 20% in 2021 relative to 2020, but decreased relative to prior years. Overall, the report showed a total of more than 10,800 total hate crimes — the highest number in decades. As in previous years, anti-Jewish incidents comprised the majority of the 1,590 hate crimes based on religion.
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
AT TEXAS COMMISSION BRIEFING, CAM ADVISER ELAN CARR URGES ‘PHILOSEMITIC’ APPROACH TO STATE-LEVEL FIGHT AGAINST JEW-HATRED
By CAM
In a special briefing last week, Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) Advisory Board member Elan S. Carr offered the Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission (THGAAC) a series of additional steps the state could take to address rising Jew-hatred. The THGAAC was established by a bipartisan bill signed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott in June 2021. With the same legislation, Texas adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism. Carr highlighted the importance of states and cities proclaiming and celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month, which falls annually during May, and developing programs to foster understanding of Jewish history and values, as well as appreciation of Jewish contributions to U.S. society over the past two and a half centuries.
B’NAI BRITH CANADA APPLAUDS ALBERTA LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY’S ENDORSEMENT OF IHRA DEFINITION
By ALBERTA JEWISH NEWS
The Alberta Legislative Assembly (ALA) endorsed the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism in a motion passed yesterday. Richard Gotfried, MLA for Calgary-Fish Creek, introduced the motion, which condemned antisemitism, endorsed the IHRA definition and called for its implementation across the province. The motion specifically supported the Government’s action last September, when the province adopted the IHRA definition. “This reminds us that it is the responsibility of us all to combat a concerning surge into antisemitism and indeed other forms of racism,” Gotfried told the Legislative Assembly. “Hence, we must begin by clearly defining it. Because antisemitism knows no borders, it is important that Canadian institutions at all levels embrace the same definition to facilitate collective efforts to combat it.
HUMANITY
SPREAD LOVE NOT HATE: GEN Z SPREADS JEWISH AWARENESS TO TIKTOK VIEWERS
By SOPHIE SCHWARTZ
Despite those who spread positivity, social media is also a breeding ground for hate. The rise of antisemitism on social media platforms is at an all-time high. When popular rappers, basketball stars and football players spread false accusations about our culture, faith and people, we lose sight of the good and channel our emotions into anger. However, Jewish TikTok influencers are fighting back. As Rabbi Light beautifully stated at Zman Kodesh, “We can’t erase their words, but we can minimize their effects by courageously committing to step into our Jewish-ness and finding one extra way each day to show our Jewish pride and express our identity.” This is what Jewish influencers have done on the social media platform TikTok, the world’s destination for short mobile videos that gained popularity midway through 2019.
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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.
