THIS WEEK’S GLOBAL ANTI-SEMITISM REPORT
This past week in Ohio, defeated congressional candidate Nina Turner lashed out with antisemitic overtones after her electoral loss, blaming “evil money,” and voter turnout in heavily Jewish neighborhoods.
Iran’s new president appointed as interior minister a suspect in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in the Buenos Aires, that claimed more than 85 Jewish lives. In Norway, an imam who had led interfaith dialogue projects was suspended by his organization for having said “Jews should be killed” on social media.
In New York City, anti-vaccine flyers featured the yellow Stars of David the Nazis forced Jews to wear during the Holocaust. In France, a former far-right parliamentary candidate was arrested for brandishing a virulently antisemitic sign at a “Mais Qui?” (“But Who?”) protest. Elsewhere in France, a memorial to late Auschwitz survivor and human rights icon Simone Veil was vandalized with swastikas, along with several other incidents stemming from the growing “Mais Qui?” movement.
Poland’s parliament passed a bill preventing Holocaust restitution to heirs of property stolen by the Nazis, and in Moscow, an elderly scientist was physically attacked on a bus by an assailant shouting, “Hitler should have finished the job.” Jewish cemeteries and Holocaust memorials were also targeted in Greece, Moldova, and Ukraine, and antisemitic anti-vaccine demonstrations were seen in the Baltic states.
Across the world, Holocaust distortion and Jew-blaming related to Covid-19 vaccines, are emerging as a dangerous trend that fits the pattern of scapegoating Jewish people for social tensions throughout history. Meanwhile, South Korea became the first Asian country to endorse the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, joining thirty-two other countries that have already done so to combat Jew-hatred.
CAM’s weekly global antisemitism report highlights 40 new media reports of antisemitic incidents, including 14 (35%) from the far-right, 11 (27.5%) from the far-left, 7 (17.5%) with Islamist motivations, and 8 (20%) unidentifiable in nature.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SPECIAL FEATURES
IHRA CHAIR URGES ALL CENTRAL AMERICAN NATIONS TO ADOPT INTERNATIONAL ANTISEMITISM DEFINITION
Ambassador Chris J. Lazaris — Chair of the Greek Presidency of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) — addressed the Central America Forum for Israel last week, and urged the nations of the region to adopt the IHRA working definition of antisemitism to help combat rising Jew-hatred worldwide.
TEXAS GOVERNOR GREG ABBOTT HIGHLIGHTS ‘DEEP AND ENDURING BOND’ BETWEEN HIS STATE AND THE JEWISH PEOPLE
Texas Governor Greg Abbott addressed the Central America Forum for Israel last month, and highlighted the “deep and enduring bond” between his state and the Jewish people. “We share in the blessings of freedom, as well as in the burdens of vigilance,” Governor Abbott said. “Working together, we will continue to combat antisemitism and ensure an even brighter and safer future for all.”
ANTISEMITISM ENTERED MAINSTREAM OF POLITICAL DISCOURSE AROUND WORLD IN JULY, CAM REPORT FINDS
The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) tracked a total of 132 media reports of antisemitic incidents worldwide in July 2021, a 25% decrease from June. CAM’s Monthly Antisemitism Report classifies incidents of Jew-hatred (including physical assault, verbal harassment, vandalism, and hate speech) by the ideologies of the perpetrators. Of July’s incidents, 38% (50) had far-right motives, while 26% (34) had far-left motives, and 18% (24) had Islamist motives. The remainder — 18% (24 incidents) — had unidentifiable motives.
NEW STREET MURAL HONORING DIPLOMAT WHO SAVED JEWS DURING HOLOCAUST TURNS HEADS IN PORTUGAL
A new mural painted by renowned street artist Mr. Dheo to honor the late diplomat Aristides de Sousa Mendes, who saved thousands of European Jews during the Holocaust at great personal cost, is turning heads in the northern Portuguese city of Vila Nova de Gaia. The piece — created with support from the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) — is part of Artists4Israel’s “Righteous Among the Nations” Global Mural Project.
PASSAGE OF POLISH BILL LIMITING HOLOCAUST RESTITUTION SLAMMED AS ‘DISGRACEFUL’
Poland is facing withering global criticism, including from the U.S. and Israeli governments, after its parliament passed a bill that would effectively prevent future restitution to heirs of property stolen by the Nazis during World War II. Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) Executive Director Sacha Roytman-Dratwa stated, “The disgraceful decision by the Polish authorities to curtail the rights of the victims of the Holocaust and their descendants to reclaim their stolen property, is nothing more than an attempt to stifle and suppress the voices of the victims of the darkest period in human history.”
UNITED STATES
US JEWISH GROUPS, CONGRESSWOMAN EXPRESS CONCERN AFTER OHIO CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE BLAMES ‘EVIL MONEY’ FOR DEFEAT
By Benjamin Kerstein
Jewish groups expressed concern after a defeated Ohio congressional candidate made a statement they said carried antisemitic overtones. Nina Turner, who lost a primary race for Ohio’s 11th district to Councilwoman Shontel Brown, said in her concession speech, “We didn’t lose this race. Evil money manipulated and maligned this election.” “They took evil money to come in here and do this.” Jewish voters in the district played a major role in Turner’s loss to Brown, while pro-Israel Democrats had campaigned for and donated to her opponent. Read Here
ANTISEMITIC ‘NOT VACCINATED’ FLYERS ABUSING MEMORY OF NAZIS’ JEWISH VICTIMS DISCOVERED ON NEW YORK’S UPPER EAST SIDE
By Ben Cohen
Antisemitic flyers comparing New York City’s impending vaccine pass requirement for entry to public places with the genocidal policies of the Nazi regime towards Jews during World War II were distributed in New York City. Bearing the image of a yellow “Judenstern” (“Jews’ Star”) from the Nazi era with the words “Not Vaccinated” substituted for “Jew,” the flyers were discovered at several locations on Second and Third Avenues on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Read Here
JEWISH LEADERS CONDEMN TLAIB’S ‘ANTISEMITIC DOG WHISTLE’ IN RECENT COMMENTS
WORLD NEWS
United Kingdom
RADIO HOST WHO SAID JEWS WERE ‘LIKE RATS’ AND NEEDED TO BE ‘WIPED OUT’ IS JAILED
By Mathilde Frot
A Cornish radio host who spouted antisemitic hatred on his online show has been sentenced to 32 months’ imprisonment. Examples of Graham Hart’s radio rants detailed in court included him saying Jews were “filth”, “like rats” and that they needed to be “wiped out”. The court heard he said: “If you’re listening Mr Jew we’re coming to get you. Let’s get rid of the Jews, it’s time for them to go. After Christmas I’m going to work, going on the attack because I’ve had enough. I don’t want bloodshed but if that’s what it takes to get it done.” Read Here
MUSLIM POLICEWOMAN INVESTIGATED OVER ANTISEMITIC TWEETS
By JC Reporter
A Muslim Metropolitan Policewoman is under investigation over claims that she has tweeted antisemitic comments. The woman had run a Twitter account under a different name since 2012. During the 2014 Gaza conflict, the constable allegedly wrote: “Dirty Zionist. Jahannam [hell] is awaiting.” Another read: “Israel have no limits. Scumbags. I can’t wait for the day they get severely punished.” Later that year, she tweeted: “Zionists have no hearts! They’ll get what’s coming to them subhanallah [glory be to God].” Read Here
CANADA
B’NAI BRITH CONDEMNS TORONTO INACTION ON ANTISEMITISM
By B’nai Brith Canada
At this latest Toronto protest, attendees chants asserted that “From the water to the water, Palestine is Arab!” and proclaimed support for an “Intifada,” or violent attacks on Israeli Jews. Protesters also chanted: “We don’t want no two states, we want ‘48” and “Smash the Zionist settler state,” making it clear that they would accept nothing but Israel’s complete destruction and the expulsion. Issam al-Yamani, a former member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror group, addressed the crowd. Read Here
‘EXTREMIST’ MUSLIM SPEAKER WIPED FROM A CANADIAN EVENT AFTER CIJA UNVEILS ANTISEMITIC RECORD
FRANCE
FORMER FRENCH PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATE ARRESTED FOR BRANDISHING ‘ABJECT’ ANTISEMITIC SIGN AT VACCINE REFUSAL DEMONSTRATION
By Ben Cohen
A school teacher and former parliamentary candidate for two far-right parties in France has been arrested by the authorities after she brandished a virulently antisemitic sign at a COVID-19 vaccine refusal demonstration. At a demonstration in the city of Metz, Cassandre Fristot carried a home-made sign listing a group of overwhelmingly Jewish personalities as “traitors.” The words “Mais Qui?” — “But Who?” — were scrawled in large red letters on the sign, with devil’s horns marking the letter “Q,” a reference to a now infamous television interview with a retired French army general who embarked on an antisemitic rant that avoided using the word “Jew.” Read Here
OTHER WORLD NEWS
NORWEGIAN IMAM WHO HAS PROMOTED INTERFAITH DIALOGUE SAID JEWS SHOULD BE KILLED
By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
A Muslim imam in Norway who has led interfaith dialogue projects has made antisemitic statements on Facebook, including on how Jews are dangerous and “should be killed,” for years. The Norway branch of Minhaj-ul-Quran, an international Muslim organization that is considered moderate and geared toward outreach, suspended Noor Ahmad Noor indefinitely following an expose published by the Vartland newspaper on his antisemitic statements. Police have launched an investigation into his remarks. Read Here
RUSSIAN SCIENTIST, 82, BEATEN ON MOSCOW BUS BY ASSAILANT SEEKING TO ‘FINISH HITLER’S JOB’
By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
An 82-year-old prominent scientist was assaulted on a bus in Moscow by a much younger assailant who shouted that “Hitler should have finished the job, so I’ll do it for him.” The assailant began hitting Vladimir Tselin, a researcher of radiation who has worked on the Russian space program, soon after Tselin boarded a bus on his way to work. Shouting about Jews and Hitler, the man followed Tselin out of the bus after Tselin got off to escape the assailant. Read Here
ISRAELI LEADERS PAN ‘DISGRACE’ AS POLAND PASSES LAW CURBING WWII PROPERTY CLAIMS
By TOI STAFF and AGENCIES
The Polish parliament passed a law that will effectively prevent future restitution to heirs of property seized by the Nazis during the Holocaust. The law will prevent property ownership and other administrative decisions from being declared void after 30 years, which would mean that pending proceedings involving Communist-era property confiscations would be discontinued and dismissed. It affects Polish, Jewish and other property claims that are subject to contested previous determinations. Read Here
LITHUANIA: USE OF HOLOCAUST MEMORY AT ANTI-VACCINATION RALLY IN VILNIUS
THE MIDDLE EAST
IRAN’S RAISI TAPS MINISTER WANTED FOR ROLE IN BUENOS AIRES JEWISH CENTER BOMBING
By AP and TOI STAFF
Iran’s new president presented a cabinet dominated by hardliners, among them a foreign minister known for close ties to Hezbollah and an interior minister wanted by Interpol over his alleged role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires. President Raisi appointed Gen. Ahmad Vahidi — a former defense minister blacklisted by the US in 2010 — as his interior minister. He was the head of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, its international operations arm, at the time of the bombing of the AMIA Jewish Center in Argentina’s capital. His name appeared on an Interpol “red notice” list regarding the attack on the AMIA building. Read Here
UNRWA ACCUSES NGO OF ‘POLITICALLY-MOTIVATED ATTACKS’ AFTER REPORT ON ANTISEMITIC HATRED AMONG AGENCY EMPLOYEES
ON CAMPUS
OUTRAGE AS UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL PROFESSOR MILLER SET TO TEACH ‘OFFENSIVE’ MODULE DESPITE INVESTIGATION
By Felix Pope
Professor David Miller is to teach two modules this term despite being under investigation since March after calling the university’s Jewish society “political pawns [used] by a violent, racist foreign regime”. Prof Miller was initially placed under investigation after students said they did not feel safe while he taught at the university. But module information released for the coming year reveals that he is to teach two courses: ‘Understanding terrorism’ and ‘Harms of the powerful’. Leaked slides from the course show Miller classifying a range of British Jewish communal bodies as tools of Israeli foreign policy and causes of Islamophobia.
AFTER PUSHBACK, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA DEFENDS ANTI-ISRAEL INCITEMENT IN ITS CLASSROOMS
By Peter Reitzes
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) will offer a course titled “The Conflict over Israel/Palestine,” taught by PhD student Kylie Broderick. Broderick promotes the view that Israel should not exist, has publicly demanded that “everyone at UNC … boycott Israeli products,” and believes students should be taught to reject Zionism. Broderick urges graduate students to “speak the f*** up” against what she calls the “ethnic cleansing” of “Palestine,” and declared that a student who failed to do so is a “coward.”
ANALYSIS & OP-EDS
EDITORIAL: THE LA TEACHERS UNION’S OPINION ON THE MIDDLE EAST IS NEITHER NEEDED NOR WANTED
By THE LA TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD
STUDIES & STATISTICS
RECORD LEVELS OF ANTISEMITISM IN UK IN 2021
By Mathilde Frot
The first six months of this year saw record levels of antisemitism and a 491 per cent surge in school-related cases, new data has shown. Cases were driven largely by a spike in May during the Israel-Gaza conflict, according to a new report released by the Community Security Trust. Overall, the report paints a grim picture, with the highest ever number of antisemitic incidents recorded by the charity during the January to June period – at 1,308.
SURVEY FINDS 60 PERCENT OF JEWS IN AUSTRALIA’S QUEENSLAND STATE HAVE EXPERIENCED ANTISEMITISM
By CAM
Six in ten members of the Jewish community of Australia’s northeastern state of Queensland have been targeted by some form of antisemitism, a survey by a regional communal group has found. The concerning findings, published by the Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies (QJBD), also showed that many antisemitic incidents — including abuse, harassment, intimidation, and bullying — occur in the workplace, suggesting a pervasive problem. In particular, 15% of the survey respondents reported experiencing antisemitic hatred linked to Israel and Zionism, which has surged globally following May’s Israel-Gaza flare-up.
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
SOUTH KOREA BECOMES FIRST ASIAN COUNTRY TO ADOPT IHRA ANTISEMITISM DEFINITION
By CAM
South Korea became the first Asian country to recognize the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. In a phone call with his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid, South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Chung Eui-yong said his country had endorsed the definition, which has been adopted by more than thirty nations in Europe and North and South America over the past five years.
US URGES POLAND’S DUDA NOT TO SIGN WWII RESTITUTION LAW PASSED BY PARLIAMENT
By Jacob Magid
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Polish President Andrzej Duda not to sign legislation passed by the parliament in Warsaw that will effectively prevent future restitution to heirs of property seized by the Nazis during the Holocaust. Blinken in a statement said he was “deeply concerned” by the legislation’s passing. “We urge that President Duda not sign the bill into law or that, in line with the authority granted to him as President, he refer the bill to Poland’s constitutional tribunal,” he said.
MAYOR OF NJ TOWN HOME TO UNILEVER HQ: BEN & JERRY’S WEST BANK BOYCOTT ‘HAS GONE TOO FAR’
HUMANITY
MACCABI TA BASKETBALL TEAM SETS OUT TO BEAT ANTISEMITISM
By ILH Sports Desk
The Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball club will soon be trying to score points off the court. The Center for Jewish Impact and the World Zionist Organization have enlisted the team to battle global antisemitism and spread the values of “tolerance, equality and acceptance” through sports. At the end of August, the three organizations will hold a special ceremony to commemorate Nazi Germany’s 1936 Olympics. In addition, Maccabi Tel Aviv will host representatives of Jewish communities during its EuroLeague road games and, together with the center and the WZO, hold lectures for the guests.
The Combat Antisemitism Movement is a non-partisan, global grassroots movement of individuals and organizations, across all religions and faiths, united around the goal of ending antisemitism in all its forms. Since its launching in February 2019, 330 organizations and 341,000 individuals have joined the Combat Antisemitism Movement by signing the campaign’s pledge. The CAM Pledge draws upon the IHRA international definition of antisemitism and its list of specific behaviors used to discriminate against the Jewish people and the Jewish State of Israel.
