THIS WEEK’S GLOBAL ANTI-SEMITISM REPORT
This week, vile antisemitic hatred was again seen on the streets of the U.S., with anti-Israel demonstrators in New York City chanting “Globalize the intifada” and “Zionism is terrorism.”
U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib was accused of antisemitic dogwhistling for comments in which she referred to people “behind the curtain” profiting from racism against Palestinians and Americans, and footage emerged of a CUNY adjunct professor, Imam Mohammad Abbasi, saying Muslims would “erase this filth called Israel,” while speaking of the “corruption” of Jews.
In the German capital of Berlin, a bottle was thrown at a synagogue, and Jewish doctors in France reported being harassed by anti-vaccine activists. In Italy, anti-vaccine protesters have disturbingly appropriated yellow Stars of David, like those the Nazis forced Jews to wear during the Holocaust. Elements within the growing anti-vaccine movement in Europe are showing alarming signs of moving beyond Holocaust distortion, to wholesale blaming Jews for the pandemic, and the vaccine.
Turning to the Middle East, an investigative report exposed the dissemination of antisemitic conspiracy theories and celebrations of violence against Jews by dozens of UNRWA teachers who work in Palestinian schools. In the online realm, a new study revealed that 84% of reported antisemitic posts are not removed by the largest social media companies.
Meanwhile, top diplomats, human rights, and international legal voices came together to speak out against the upcoming celebration at the UN of the 20th anniversary of the Durban World Conference Against Racism, which infamously turned into an antisemitic hatefest with long-lasting harmful consequences for Israel and the Jewish people.
CAM’s weekly global antisemitism report highlights 26 new media reports of antisemitic incidents, including 10 (39%) from the far-right, 5 (19%) from the far-left, 6 (23%) with Islamist motivations, and 5 (19%) unidentifiable in nature.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SPECIAL FEATURES
GUATEMALAN PRESIDENT, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER JOIN TOP LAWMAKERS FROM ACROSS AMERICAS TO STAND AGAINST RISING ANTISEMITISM AND CELEBRATE TIES WITH JEWISH STATE
Guatemalan President Dr. Alejandro Giammattei was joined by Israeli Foreign Minister and Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid, along with senior parliamentarians, religious leaders, and communal figures from across the Americas and Israel for the first-ever Central America Forum for Israel. Representatives included speakers from Israel, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Nicaragua, and the United States of America. Global organizations represented included the Central American Parliament and the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
FORMER U.S. ANTISEMITISM SPECIAL ENVOY ELAN CARR URGES BOYCOTT OF BEN & JERRY’S AND UNILEVER OVER ANTI-ISRAEL DISCRIMINATION
Elan Carr — the former U.S. Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism who is a Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) Advisory Board member — is calling for a boycott of Ben & Jerry’s and its parent conglomerate Unilever over the ice cream brand’s recent decision to end sales of its products in the “Occupied Palestinian Territory.” “Hatred of the Jewish state is hatred of the Jewish people,” Carr said. “And discrimination against the Jewish state is discrimination against Jews.”
IBSI’S DUMISANI WASHINGTON SPEAKS TO IMPORTANCE OF CULTIVATING BLACK-JEWISH ALLYSHIP
The Combat Antisemitism Movement hosted an engaging virtual conversation with Pastor Dumisani Washington, founder and CEO of the Institute for Black Solidarity With Israel (IBSI). IBSI is dedicated to strengthening the bonds between the State of Israel, the Jewish people, and people of African descent. Washington talked about the work of IBSI, which aims to cultivate Black-Jewish ties through educational and advocacy activities.
FIGHTING BACK AGAINST DURBAN’S HATE WITH THE IHRA DEFINITION OF ANTISEMITISM
With the 20th anniversary of the infamous World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa, coming up next month, this analysis by Thomas Getman looks at the conference’s antisemitic history, its lasting harmful consequences, and how the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism can be used as an effective tool to fight the hate it fueled.
ISRAELI UN AMBASSADOR, CANADIAN ANTISEMITISM SPECIAL ENVOY, TOP HUMAN RIGHTS VOICES URGE COUNTRIES TO STAY AWAY FROM DURBAN ANNIVERSARY EVENT
Leading voices in the world of non-governmental and human rights organizations came together on Tuesday for a forum to examine the upcoming UN commemorations of the Durban Conference and the antisemitic rhetoric surrounding the “Durban Strategy” of demonizing and delegitimizing the Jewish state. The discussion was organized by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM), NGO Monitor, International Legal Forum, and UK Lawyers for Israel, in partnership with B’nai B’rith International and the Lantos Foundation, and was titled “A Festival of Hate: How to Defeat the Durban Strategy – A Primary Vector of 21st Century Antisemitism.”
U.S. SENATORS LANKFORD AND ROSEN MAKE BIPARTISAN CALL FOR WIDER ADOPTION OF IHRA ANTISEMITISM DEFINITION
Last week, U.S. Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Jacky Rosen (D-NV) — co-founders and co-chairs of the Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism — addressed the Central America Forum for Israel, and both called for wider adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism to help fight surging Jew-hatred worldwide.
UNITED STATES
PROTESTORS IN NEW YORK CRY ‘GLOBALIZE THE INTIFADA’ AT DEMONSTRATION
By JEREMY SHARON
Several hundred protesters took part in a pro-Palestinian rally in Brooklyn, using inflammatory rhetoric against Israel. They lauded “intifada” uprisings and called for taking control of Israeli territory, the West Bank and Gaza Strip. During the protest, demonstrators marched behind three large banners: “Globalize the intifada,” “Zionism is terrorism,” and “We will free Palestine within our lifetime.” Marchers chanted, “We don’t want no two states, we want all of it,” referring to the two-state solution that has formed the basis of peace proposals. Read Here
TLAIB SAYS PEOPLE “BEHIND THE CURTAIN” EXPLOIT PALESTINIANS, AMERICANS AND ADL CEO CITES “ANTISEMITIC DOGWHISTLING”
By Aaron Bandler
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt accused Rep. Rashida Tlaib of “antisemitic dogwhistling” for saying that there are people “behind the curtain” who are exploiting Palestinians and Americans. Greenblatt tweeted out a video of Tlaib saying, “…I don’t care if it’s the issue around global human rights and our fight to free Palestine, or pushing back against those that don’t believe in a minimum wage… I tell those same people, that if you open the curtain and look behind the curtain, it’s the same people that make money, and yes they do, off of racism. There is someone there making money.” Read Here
WAYNE, PA. RESTAURANT RECEIVES HATE-FILLED EMAILS AFTER REQUIRING PROOF OF VACCINE
WORLD NEWS
United Kingdom
TOTTENHAM ‘APPALLED’ WITH ANTISEMITIC REMARK AIMED AT DANIEL LEVY ON TALKSPORT
By Luke Brown
Tottenham Hotspur have said they are “appalled” after the radio station talkSPORT broadcast an antisemitic remark about the club’s chairman, Daniel Levy. The station’s live YouTube stream broadcast a caller making the remark while talking to the presenters on The Sports Bar show. When asked by how much Tottenham chairman Levy should demand for Harry Kane, who is wanted by Manchester City, the caller responded: “Levy, he’s a Jew. He’s not going to let him go for nothing, is he?” Jarrett Bryan and Groves quickly moved on, without referencing the slur. Read Here
BIGOTED THUGS HUNTED AFTER SICK SLURS SPRAYED ACROSS SCOTS SKATE PARK
GERMANY
A BOTTLE WAS THROWN AT A SYNAGOGUE IN BERLIN
By Eli Nahum
After a bottle was thrown at a synagogue in Berlin, the state security department of the State Criminal Police Office is investigating a 24-year-old man. The drunk suspect and a 23-year-old companion were detained by property guards after the incident and handed over to the police. The filled beer bottle broke on a pillar of the synagogue on Oranienburger Strasse in the Mitte district without damaging it. Read Here
FRANCE
‘QUI?’ ANTISEMITIC PROPAGANDA FLOODS ANTI-VACCINATION MOVEMENT IN FRANCE AS JEWISH DOCTORS REPORT HARASSMENT BY ACTIVISTS
By Ben Cohen
The political movement in France opposed to the COVID-19 vaccine is flooded with antisemitic propaganda. As more than 100,000 people took part in protests denouncing the vaccine, multiple signs displayed the word “Qui?” (“Who?”). The rapid spread of the “Qui?” meme among anti-vaccination activists followed an interview with a retired French army general who embarked on an antisemitic rant that avoided using the word “Jew” then added sarcastically: “Who are these people?” The adoption of “Qui?” as a campaigning theme by the anti-vaccination movement has overlapped with an increasingly explicit antisemitism. Read Here
OTHER WORLD NEWS
PRO-ISRAEL ADVOCACY GROUP IN SPAIN DENOUNCES GLORIFICATION OF PALESTINIAN TERRORIST GROUP AT PUBLIC EVENT
By YOSSI LEMPKOWICZ
A pro-Israel advocacy group in Spain denounced the glorification of a Palestinian terrorist group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) during an event organized by the pro-independence Galician Nationalist Party (BNG). The event was attended by representatives of separatist Catalonian and Basque parties as well as by diplomat ‘’comrades’’ from Venezuela. ‘’It is absolutely deplorable that a political party with institutional representation and a partner of the President of the Spanish government contributes to the justification of genocidal and Jew-hating violence,’’ said Action and Communication on the Middle East (ACOM). Read Here
ITALY: EUROPEAN PROTESTERS COMPARE VACCINE PASSES TO HOLOCAUST, APARTHEID
By Colleen Barry
Shouts of “Liberty!” have echoed through the streets and squares of Italy and France as thousands show their opposition to plans to require vaccination cards for normal social activities, such as dining indoors at restaurants, visiting museums or cheering in sports stadiums, with many comparing restrictions to the oppression of the Jews under Nazi Germany. About 80,000 people protested in cities across Italy last weekend. Some protesters in Italy have worn yellow Stars of David, like those the Nazis required Jews to wear. Read Here
THE MIDDLE EAST
NEW REPORT EXPOSES DOZENS OF UNRWA TEACHERS FOR ANTISEMITISM, INCITEMENT TO VIOLENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
By CAM
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has come under fire from a watchdog after more than 100 employees at the agency — which provides educational services to Palestinian children — were found to have publicly promoted violent and antisemitic views on social media. In “Beyond the Textbooks,” the report released by Geneva-based NGO UN Watch, Facebook users identifying themselves as UNRWA staff members were scanned for hateful content, with researchers finding 113 incidences in which violence against Jews and Israelis was either celebrated or promoted. Read Here
POLAND’S DECISION NOT TO RETURN STOLEN HOLOCAUST PROPERTY ENDS “ZIONIST EXTORTION,” CHEERS COLUMN IN PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY DAILY
HAMAS OFFICIAL MUSA ABU MARZOUK: WE ACCEPT ANY AID OFFERED, EVEN FROM THE AMERICANS, BUT IRAN HELPS HAMAS MORE THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, IN TRAINING, WEAPONS, AND EXPERTISE
ON CAMPUS
CUNY FACULTY MEMBER: MUSLIMS WILL ERASE FILTH CALLED ISRAEL
By Jerusalem Post Staff
An adjunct professor at the City University of New York (CUNY) stated that Muslims will “erase this filth called Israel” and that Jews cause corruption around the world, during a sermon given at the Islamic Center of Union County, New Jersey, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). Abbasi has also spoken at the American Muslims for Palestine conference in the past, alongside Linda Sarsour and former CNN contributor Marc Lamont Hill, both of who have come under fire for antisemitic remarks.
JEWISH GROUPS SLAM ‘OUTRAGEOUS’ ACTIVIST STATEMENT ‘DELEGITIMIZING’ RUTGERS HILLEL
By Dion J. Pierre
Rutgers University Hillel denounced a statement from Rutgers’ Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter and other activist groups that described the administration’s funding of the campus Jewish organization as “investments in apartheid Israel.” The statement — published on Instagram by both SJP and Rutgers Mutual Aid, (RMA) — followed Congressman Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ)’s previous call for the university to condemn the “hate-filled misinformation” posed by an earlier faculty union statement on Israel.
UC MERCED PROF WITH ANTISEMITIC TWEETS NOW UNDER FORMAL INVESTIGATION
ANALYSIS & OP-EDS
STUDIES & STATISTICS
ANTISEMITISM RARELY DEALT WITH BY SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS, NEW REPORT FINDS
By CAM
The vast majority of antisemitic posts across five of the world’s largest social media platforms remain online even after being reported. In their study, researchers from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) identified 714 antisemitic posts across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Six weeks after reporting the posts, 84% were still online, having accrued 7.3 million views. Posts included neo-Nazi imagery, conspiracy theories about the Rothschild family, 9/11 attacks, and the Covid-19 pandemic. Even posts containing blatantly racist caricatures of Jewish people and outright Holocaust denial were dealt with only 30% and 20% of the time respectively.
ANTISEMITISM DECREASES WHILE OTHER HATE CRIMES RISE IN SPAIN
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
BLINKEN TELLS SENATE TO CONFIRM ANTISEMITISM AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM ENVOYS
By OMRI NAHMIAS
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on the Senate to confirm the nomination of Rashad Hussain as ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom and Deborah Lipstadt as special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism. “We’re eager for Rashad and Deborah to get to work because this is a critical moment.” Blinken said that in the US, “as in many parts of the world, we’ve seen a rise in antisemitism.” “There’s just one response that we’ll make to that kind of hatred and that’s to become even more committed to the fight against antisemitism. Deborah and Rashad will help us do that.
GERMANY GIVING OVER $40 MILLION TO FIGHT ANTISEMITISM
By AP
The German government will strengthen its battle against the quickly growing antisemitism in the country by investing 35 million euros ($41.5 million) into research and educational projects focused on understanding its causes and effectively fighting hatred of Jews. Police registered 2,351 cases of antisemitism in Germany last year. “This is the highest number in the last couple of years,” German Education and Research Minister Anja Karliczek said. “There’s reason for worry that this is only the tip of the iceberg and that the unreported number of daily attacks on Jews is substantially higher.”
SAN FRANCISCO MAYOR, LAWMAKERS GATHER AT EMANU-EL TO DECRY ANTISEMITISM
HUMANITY
TOP GERMAN FOUNDATION DEDICATED TO FIGHTING NEO-NAZIS CONDEMNS BEN & JERRY’S ‘ANTISEMITIC’ WEST BANK BOYCOTT
By Algemeiner Staff
A leading liberal German foundation dedicated to fighting far-right agitation against immigrants has forcefully condemned ice cream manufacturers Ben & Jerry’s for their “antisemitic” boycott of Israeli communities. In an open letter to the company’s board, the Amadeu Antonio Stiftung decried the move. “We cannot comprehend the decision to boycott Israel in this way,” the letter stated. “We are especially disappointed that the company is following the line of the antisemitic BDS boycott movement.” The foundation’s letter to Ben & Jerry’s argued that the boycott would do little to advance the rights of Palestinians.
BRITISH GOVERNMENT GIVES GO-AHEAD FOR NATIONAL HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL NEXT TO PARLIAMENT IN LONDON
By CAM
After years of discussion and debate over the construction of the United Kingdom’s first national Holocaust Memorial, the project was officially given planning permission by the British government. The memorial will be built in London, in Victoria Tower Gardens, next to the Parliament Building, a prominent location that had drawn objections from critics over environmental and safety-related issues. It will commemorate the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust, as well as other victims of Nazi persecution, including the Roma, gay, and disabled people.
ISRAELI TEAM TO SHARE ‘BEST PRACTICES’ IN COVID-19 TREATMENT WITH PHILIPPINES
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.
