THIS WEEK’S GLOBAL ANTISEMITISM REPORT
The White House announced the establishment this week of an inter-agency task force to “develop a national strategy to counter antisemitism,” with U.S. President Joe Biden declaring that Jew-hatred had “no place in America.”
Meanwhile, New York Governor Kathy Hochul unveiled a new Hate and Bias Prevention Unit to address the rising number of antisemitic and other hate crimes in her state.
The past week saw a group of Jewish boys being chased by assailants firing a taser gun and shouting “Run Jews! Get out of here!” in Brooklyn. Students at Colgate University in upstate New York dedicated a new Hanukkah menorah after the campus’ original menorah was vandalized.
In Ottawa, Canada, police and local school officials launched an investigation after a swastika was found at Sir Robert Borden High School, while in London, England, an Orthodox Jewish woman was stalked and assaulted by an unknown perpetrator who called her a “dirty Jew” and stole her shopping bag.
In Helsinki, Finland, more than 200 artists pledged to boycott the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art over its ties with a Finnish-Israeli philanthropist. The Bishop of Helsinki, among other public figures, denounced the boycott as antisemitic. An antisemitic cartoon circulated on Iranian social media depicted Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev with a huge nose, sidelocks, and wearing a kippah.
A review of past social media posts by Francesca Albanese, the Italian lawyer heading the UN Human Rights Council’s investigation into Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, revealed a history of antisemitic rhetoric, and U.S. lawmakers are pressing the FBI over gaps in its 2021 hate crimes report.
According to new data published by the Los Angeles County Commission this week, Jews were the most-targeted religious group for hate crimes in the county, America’s most populous, in 2021.
This week’s global antisemitism report highlights 31 new media reports of antisemitic incidents. The total includes 10 (32.3%) from the far-right, 7 (22.6%) from the far-left, 4 (12.9%) with Islamist motivations, and 10 (32.3%) unidentifiable in nature.
Meanwhile, New York Governor Kathy Hochul unveiled a new Hate and Bias Prevention Unit to address the rising number of antisemitic and other hate crimes in her state.
The past week saw a group of Jewish boys being chased by assailants firing a taser gun and shouting “Run Jews! Get out of here!” in Brooklyn, and students at Colgate University in upstate New York dedicating a new Hanukkah menorah just days after the original menorah at the local Chabad center was vandalized.
In Ottawa, Canada, police and local school officials launched an investigation after a swastika was found at Sir Robert Borden High School, while in London, England, an Orthodox Jewish woman was stalked and assaulted by an unknown perpetrator who called her a “dirty Jew” and stole her shopping bag.
In Helsinki, Finland, more than 200 artists pledged to boycott the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art over its ties with a Finnish-Israeli philanthropist, a move denounced by the Bishop of Helsinki, among other public figures, and an antisemitic cartoon circulated on Iranian social media depicting Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev with a huge nose and sidelocks and wearing a kippah.
A review of past social media posts by Francesca Albanese, the Italian lawyer heading the UN Human Rights Council’s investigation into Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, revealed a history of antisemitic rhetoric, and U.S. lawmakers are pressing the FBI over gaps in its 2021 hate crimes report.
According to new data published by the Los Angeles County Commission this week, Jews were the most-targeted religious group for hate crimes in the county, America’s most populous, in 2021.
This week’s global antisemitism report highlights 31 new media reports of antisemitic incidents. The total includes 10 (32.3%) from the far-right, 7 (22.6%) from the far-left, 4 (12.9%) with Islamist motivations, and 10 (32.3%) unidentifiable in nature.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
UNITED STATES
‘RUN JEWS, GET OUT OF HERE!’: ASSAILANTS WITH TASERS CHASE JEWS IN BROOKLYN
By TZVI JOFFRE
A group of Jewish boys was chased by attackers firing a taser gun and shouting “Run Jews! Get out of here!” in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, the local chapter of Shmira, a Jewish public safety group, reported on Sunday. The incident took place on Avenue J and East 16 Street, right near the Flatbush Yeshiva and Touro College’s Lander College of Arts and Sciences. The area is home to a large Jewish community and many Jewish schools and businesses. Surveillance camera footage from the scene shows a group of Jewish boys running down the street as a group of assailants runs after them shouting. The flash of the taser can be seen in the footage as well. The antisemitic attack is under investigation by the New York Police Department’s 70th Precinct and the Flatbush Shmira chapter.
WORLD NEWS
UNITED KINGDOM
“LITTLE JEW NEEDS SKINNING ALIVE”: CONSERVATIVE MP JOHNNY MERCER REPORTS OF ONLINE DEATH THREATS
By CAA
Conservative Party MP Johnny Mercer, representing Plymouth Moor View, posted screenshots to his Twitter account earlier today which appear to show death threats directed toward him. In one screenshot, an online user seemingly wrote of Mr Mercer, who is not Jewish: “Little Jew needs skinning alive and rolled in salt (non kosher).” The comment appears as though it was written as a reply to another, which wrote: “Opportunity to kill a few globalists.” Mr Mercer stated that “people should know the price of being an MP before criticizing those colleagues who choose to step down,” before thanking CST for bringing the threats to his attention.
JEWISH LONDONER ASSAULTED, CALLED ‘DIRTY JEW’ IN LATEST ANTISEMITIC OUTRAGE
By DION J. PIERRE
An Orthodox Jewish woman in the Stamford Hill neighborhood of London was stalked and assaulted by an unknown perpetrator, a Jewish community watch group reported on Wednesday. The suspect followed the woman, shouting “Dirty Jew,” and then snatched her shopping bag, “spilling her shopping onto the pavement whilst laughing,” according to Shomrim Stamford Hill, which provides security and support to London’s Orthodox Jewish community. Antisemitic hate crimes have been an ongoing problem in London all year. In October, shortly before Halloween, what Shomrim has described as a “hate crimes pandemic” began in the area, leading to over a dozen attacks targeting Orthodox Jews. Recently, a 16-year-old, believed to be responsible for six of them was arrested.
CANADA
MORE GUESTS AT PARLIAMENT PALESTINIAN ‘SOLIDARITY’ EVENT LINKED TO ANTISEMITIC, PRO-TERRORIST VIEWS
By BRYAN PASSIFIUME
Yet another guest at a Palestinian “solidarity” event held on Parliament Hill allegedly made controversial comments online about the Holocaust and publicly praised a Palestinian terrorist group leader. On Wednesday, B’nai Brith revealed that Montreal’s Mahmoud Khalil was also in attendance at a reception held November 29 to mark the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The event was hosted by Toronto-area Liberal MP Salma Zahid, chair of the Canada-Palestine Parliamentary Friendship Group.Khalil, B’nai Brith alleges, has a history of antisemitic social media posts, including one Instagram post mocking Marvel superhero Sabra, whose fictional biography revealed her to be an Israeli woman born in a kibbutz near Jerusalem and worked as both a police officer and Mossad agent.
ANTISEMITIC GRAFFITI FOUND OUTSIDE CHURCH IN TORONTO’S EAST END
OTHER WORLD NEWS
‘THIS IS ANTISEMITISM,’ FINNISH BISHOP DECLARES AS ARTISTS BOYCOTT HELSINKI MUSEUM OVER LINKS TO ISRAELI BUSINESSMAN
By BEN COHEN
More than 200 artists have signed a statement pledging to boycott Finland’s leading gallery of contemporary art because of its links with a Finnish-Israeli philanthropist, in a move denounced as “antisemitic” by the Bishop of Helsinki and other public figures. In the statement, the signatories pledged to “refuse to sell our labor and art” to the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki as long as it maintained links with the Zabludowicz Art Trust, an initiative of Chaim “Poju” Zabludowicz, a London-based billionaire who hold dual Finnish and Israeli citizenship. “Our stance is based on the fact that organizations Chaim ‘Poju’ Zabludowicz funds support the apartheid regime imposed on Palestine and the Palestinian people by the State of Israel,” the statement declared. Responding to the statement on Thursday, Helsinki’s Lutheran Bishop charged the artists with having adopted an antisemitic stance.
UN PALESTINIAN RIGHTS OFFICIAL’S SOCIAL MEDIA HISTORY REVEALS ANTISEMITIC COMMENTS
By LUKE TRESS
A lawyer heading the UN Human Rights Council’s open-ended investigation into Israel’s treatment of Palestinians said during a 2014 conflict between Israel and Gaza terror groups that the “Jewish lobby” was in control of the United States. Francesca Albanese, an Italian lawyer, was appointed earlier this year as the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories. Albanese, who now says she regrets the “Jewish lobby” remark, has long been a harsh critic of Israel, and the Israeli mission to the UN in Geneva formally objected to her appointment, arguing that she harbors significant bias against the Jewish state.
MIDDLE EAST
ANTISEMITIC CARTOON CIRCULATES ON IRANIAN SOCIAL MEDIA
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
An antisemitic cartoon depicting Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev with a huge nose and sidelocks, wearing a yarmulke is circulating on Iranian social media. This cartoon is part of a larger campaign of Iranian anti-Azerbaijan content; the two predominantly Shiite countries have been at odds for decades, although they maintain embassies in each other’s capital cities. The campaign has also included propaganda anti-Israel videos circulated by Iran in Azerbaijani. Azerbaijan has classically aligned its interests with the West – particularly the United States and Israel – providing Iranian propagandists with ample reason to give their work an antisemitic twist.
FURY AS IRANIAN CHESS GRANDMASTER PULLS OUT OF MATCH AGAINST ISRAELI OPPONENT
ON CAMPUS
‘A BLATANT ACT OF ANTISEMITISM’: OTTAWA, CANADA JEWISH COMMUNITY CONCERNED AFTER INCIDENT AT SIR ROBERT BORDEN HIGH SCHOOL
By JOANNE LAUCIUS and PETER HUM
The Ottawa police and the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board are both investigating after two students found a swastika on the floor at Sir Robert Borden High School on Dec. 1. The students, who had stayed after school, were called into a room, where they found the swastika. As the students saw it, another student made a Nazi salute gesture, according to a letter sent to families Monday. “This is a blatant act of antisemitism, which is absolutely unacceptable,” said the letter from school principal Matthew Gagnier. “Every student deserves the right to feel safe at school, regardless of religion/creed, race, background, ability, gender or sexual orientation.” In consultation with the parents of those affected, it was determined that the school would wait until the completion of an investigation before communicating with the entire school community about this incident. With the investigation well underway, the students responsible will face proper disciplinary and educative measures, said Gagnier.
VANDALIZED N.Y. CAMPUS MENORAH REDEDICATED AMID BROAD SUPPORT
By BRURIA EFUNE
Thanks to grassroots efforts by students at Colgate University in Upstate New York to combat antisemitism on their campus, a new giant menorah was dedicated on Dec. 13, just five days after the original Chanukah menorah at the local Chabad-Lubavitch center was vandalized. Students decided that they needed to stand up and take the initiative. Sophie Neugarten made a quick Google search to find out the price of a new menorah and set up a gofundme campaign with a goal of $1,950. The students shared the campaign with friends, family and alumni, and in just 30 minutes reached their goal. By Dec. 13, the campaign surpassed $20,000, with donations from 485 individuals.
OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS OPENS INVESTIGATION INTO UC BERKELEY LAW FOR ANTI-ZIONISM
By JNS
The Office of Civil Rights for the U.S. Department of Education (OCR) has launched a formal investigation into UC Berkeley Law School over a controversial anti-Zionist bylaw adopted by some of its student groups in August. The investigation comes in response to a Nov. 18 complaint filed by Gabriel Groisman, a Florida-based attorney and partner at LSN Law, P.A., and Arsen Ostrovsky, an Israel-based attorney and CEO of The International Legal Forum. The attorneys argued that the bylaw violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (1964), which prohibits recipients of federal funding from discriminating on the basis of “race, color, and national origin.”
ANALYSIS & OP-EDS
STUDIES & STATISTICS
JEWS WERE MOST-TARGETED GROUP FOR RELIGION-BASED HATE CRIMES IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY IN 2021, NEW STUDY SHOWS
By CAM
A total of 81 antisemitic hate crimes were reported in Los Angeles County in 2021, a seven-percent rise from 76 the previous year, according a new study published by the Los Angeles County Commission this week. Jews were the most-targeted religious group in the county. Out of the 111 reported hate crimes based on religion that occurred last year in the county, 74% were perpetrated against Jews. The next most-targeted religious group was Catholics, followed by Muslims. Home to nearly 10 million people, Los Angeles County is the most populous county in the United States. There was an overall total of 786 hate crimes reported in Los Angeles County in 2021, up 23 percent from 2020, and 74 percent were violent in nature.
FBI HATE CRIMES STATISTICS PLAGUED BY GAPS IN REPORTING FROM MAJOR LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES
By MARC ROD
The FBI’s hate crimes statistics for 2021 showed that Jews remained the largest target of religious-based hate crimes, but the overall statistics likely undercounted the overall scope of hate crimes as a result of a significant drop in reporting by local law enforcement agencies, according to the Department of Justice. The statistics showed that Jews were the target of 324 reported hate crimes in 2021. But overall reporting of hate crimes by local law enforcement to the FBI — which is voluntary — dropped significantly, from 81% of law enforcement agencies nationwide in 2020 to just 63% in 2021.
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
‘ANTISEMITISM HAS NO PLACE IN AMERICA’: WHITE HOUSE ESTABLISHES INTER-AGENCY GROUP TO COMBAT RISING JEW-HATRED
By CAM
The White House announced on Monday the establishment of an inter-agency group to “increase and better coordinate U.S. government efforts to counter antisemitism, Islamophobia, and related forms of bias and discrimination.” “As President [Joe] Biden has made clear: antisemitism has no place in America,” a White House statement said. “All Americans should forcefully reject antisemitism — including Holocaust denial — wherever it exists.” Biden, the statement noted, has “tasked the inter-agency group, as its first order of business, to develop a national strategy to counter antisemitism.”
NEW YORK GOVERNOR HOCHUL ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF NEW HATE AND BIAS PREVENTION UNIT WITHIN THE STATE DIVISION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
By OFFICE OF GOVERNOR HOCHUL
Governor Kathy Hochul today announced that the New York State Division of Human Rights is launching a statewide Hate and Bias Prevention Unit, which is charged with leading public education and outreach efforts, serving as an early warning detection system in local communities, and quickly mobilizing to support areas and communities in which a bias incident has occurred. The Hate and Bias Prevention Unit is launching today. “New York State will use every tool at its disposal to eliminate hate and bias from our communities,” Governor Hochul said. “We will not let the rise in hate incidents that we see happening online, across the country and across the world, take root here at home.”
LAWMAKERS PRESS FBI ON GAPS IN HATE CRIMES REPORTING DATA, PROCEDURES
By MARC ROD
Lawmakers from the House Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Antisemitism met yesterday with representatives of the FBI to discuss the agency’s 2021 hate crimes report, released on Monday, which was hampered by the failure of many major local law enforcement agencies to report data. Lawmakers pressed the FBI leaders on the reasons for the gaps, as well as other issues in their hate crimes enforcement procedures regarding antisemitism, according to Rep. Kathy Manning (D-NC), a co-chair of the task force. The reporting lapses — which included non-participation from areas with significant Jewish populations, including New York City, Los Angeles and nearly the entire state of Florida — stemmed from changes in the way the FBI collected data this year.
HUMANITY
BEN PLATT ON RISE IN ANTISEMITISM: “I REALLY NOTICE ALL OF THE SILENCE”
By CHRIS GARDNER
The recent rise of antisemitism in public discourse — driven in large part by Kanye “Ye” West — has so alarmed President Joe Biden that he took to Twitter on Dec. 2. “The Holocaust happened. Hitler was a demonic figure,” he wrote. “Silence is complicity.” When THR crossed paths with Ben Platt recently, he said the same. “This kind of thing seems to be appropriate for a lot of people to pass over and not comment. As a Jew, I really notice all of the silence,” said the actor and performer, now starring in Prime Video’s The People We Hate at the Wedding.That said, he adds, “If anyone happens to read this and wants to say something, either through a simple or even passive showing of support, it means a lot to Jewish people right now.”
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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.
