In January 2020, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte appointed Professor Milena Santerini as the first-ever National Coordinator for the Fight Against Anti-Semitism. As Ms. Santerini’s first year in the role comes to a close, the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement (CAM) spoke with her to discuss the phenomenon of contemporary anti-Semitism in Italy and her office’s new national strategy to combat anti-Semitism throughout Italian society. Read Here
This week, public Hanukkah celebrations were targeted with vandalism, violence and hate speech in California, Kentucky, Ukraine, the Palestinian Authority and elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Minister called Jews “kikes” in a media interview, and the European Court of Justice ruled that authorities can ban Kosher slaughter – threatening the continuity of Jewish life in the European Union.
At the same time, the world also witnessed a Hanukkah miracle. With anti-Semitism on the rise in Europe, North American and elsewhere, we are witnessing an unprecedented reduction in anti-Semitism across the Middle East.
Public Hanukkah celebrations were held across the UAE and Bahrain, and delegates from both countries also took part in a Hanukkah lighting ceremony at the Western Wall. Morocco became the first Arab nation to mandate the teaching of Jewish history and culture, and Saudi Arabia was found to have removed anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist teachings from textbooks.
THIS WEEK’S CONTENT
SPECIAL FEATURE
ITALY’S NATIONAL COORDINATOR AGAINST ANTI-SEMITISM CALLS FOR RENEWED COMMITMENT BY WHOLE OF ITALIAN SOCIETY
By CAM
SHARANSKY RESPONDS TO TLAIB, LAMONT HILL, BEINART PANEL: SO-CALLED PROGRESSIVES PORTRAY JEWS AS ‘OPPRESSORS,’ HIJACKING HUMAN RIGHTS
By CAM
Human rights icon Natan Sharansky said that too many so-called progressive voices regard Jews as ‘oppressors’ and are not protecting individual freedoms and human rights. Sharansky was joined by a range of high-level speakers and activists, amplifying the voices of actual Jewish leaders to provide an accurate account of anti-Semitism. The online event was organized by the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement and the Tel Aviv Institute. Read Here
ELLIE COHANIM DISCUSSES COEXISTENCE & DECREASE IN ANTI-SEMITISM IN WAKE OF ABRAHAM ACCORDS
By Israel Gulf Report
Ellie Cohanim, the U.S. Assistant Special Envoy to Monitor & Combat Anti-Semitism, has been in the UAE during Hanukkah holding important meetings and seeing directly the importance of the Abraham Accords. In an interview with Seth Frantzman, she emphasizes that “there is a direct correlation between normalization of relations with Israel and a corresponding decrease in anti-Semitism in any society.” Read Her Full Interview Here
IMPORTANCE OF HOLOCAUST EDUCATION AMONG NON-JEWS
By Walid Tamtam
Walid Tamtam, a Muslim Canadian student activist who fights anti-Semitism, writes for the CAM contributor network on the importance of effective Holocaust education among non-Jewish communities, to combat contemporary forms of anti-Semitism throughout the world. Read Here
UNITED STATES
ASSAULT REPORTED AT CHABAD OF THE BLUEGRASS MENORAH-LIGHTING IN LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY
By PHILISSA CRAMER
A Chabad center in Lexington, Kentucky, saw increased police presence during Hanukkah after an assault during the community’s public menorah lighting. A driver directed anti-Semitic language at people lighting the menorah. When someone tried to urge the driver away, the driver accelerated, dragging the community member and running over his leg. Read Here
MIAMI COPS ARREST KNIFE-CARRYING MAN WHO UNLEASHED ANTI-SEMITIC TIRADE AGAINST JEWISH FATHER AND SON
By Algemeiner Staff
Police in Miami, Florida arrested 39-year-old Lamont Collins who is suspected of showering a Jewish man and his son with anti-Semitic abuse while they were walking in the city. from Kentucky was arrested on Monday on charges that included assault. Collins was alleged to have chanted anti-Semitic epithets at the man and his son. Read Here
WORLD NEWS
United Kingdom
CORBYN GIVES INTERVIEW TO WEBSITE UNDER INVESTIGATION BY GOVERNMENT ANTI-SEMITISM ADVISER
By Lee Harpin
Jeremy Corbyn has taken part in what he said was a “fantastic” interview with The Canary – a website currently under investigation by the government’s independent adviser on anti-Semitism, Lord Mann. The former Labour leader also appeared in a video podcast with The Canary’s notorious editor-in-chief, Kerry-Anne Mendoza. Read Here
LABOUR SHADOW MINISTER BACKS ‘ANTI-SEMITISM IS ISRAELI SMEAR’ CANDIDATE FOR PARTY ELECTION
By Lee Harpin
A Labour shadow minister urged members of her local party to back a hardline anti-Zionist activist who accused the “Israeli diplomatic service” of being behind an anti-Semitism “smear campaign” against Jeremy Corbyn. West Ham MP Lyn Brown, the current Shadow Minister for Prisons and Probation, emailed her local party to declare her support for Roger Silverman as their candidate in the National Executive Committee (NEC) elections. Read Here
PIERS CORBYN DISTRIBUTING LEAFLETS IN JEWISH NEIGHBOURHOODS COMPARING COVID VACCINES TO AUSCHWITZ
By Campaign Against Antisemitism
GERMANY
JOINT AUSTRIAN-GERMAN POLICE OPERATION TARGETS NEO-NAZIS, SEIZES ARMS
By AFP
Austrian police seized automatic weapons, explosives and narcotics during raids on neo-Nazi sympathizers, and arrested several of them. German police also arrested two suspects in connection with the operation. The weapons were to be used to “establish a far-right network” in Germany, Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said. Read Here
THE MIDDLE EAST
SCARLETT JOHANSSON CRITICIZED FOR BEING A ZIONIST AFTER SUPPORTING JAILED HUMAN RIGHTS WORKERS IN EGYPT
By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
Scarlett Johansson’s recent intervention on behalf of civil rights in Egypt is prompting a mixed response there ranging from gratitude to anti-Semitic rebuke. The responses on social networks are to the Dec. 1 video by the Jewish actress to the arrest of four members of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights as part of a broader wave of political arrests. Read Here
IRANIAN FM ZARIF: WE WANT TO RESOLVE THE PROBLEM OF ISRAEL BY POPULAR REFERENDUM, NOT BY THROWING THE ‘KIKES’ INTO THE SEA
By MEMRI
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif in an interview with Iranian journalist Mehdi Nasiri said that he cannot conceive of a situation in which Iran would officially recognize Israel. Furthermore, he said that Iran’s strategy for confronting the issue of Israel would not be to throw the “kikes” into the sea…but rather it has suggested to the U.N. that a popular referendum would resolve this matter. Read Here
OTHER WORLD NEWS
‘JEWS TO THE GRAVES,’ UKRAINIAN ULTRANATIONALIST SHOUTED AS HE TOPPLED KYIV HANUKKAH MENORAH
By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ 
A Ukrainian ultranationalist filmed himself toppling a Hanukkah menorah in downtown Kyiv while shouting about death to Jews. As the man, identified as Andrey Rachkov, toppled the large menorah, he shouted: “To Ukrainians the power, Jews to the graves.” Read Here
EU COURT RULES AUTHORITIES CAN BAN KOSHER AND HALAL SLAUGHTER IN BELGIAN REGION
By AFP and TOI STAFF
The European Court of Justice ruled that authorities can order that animals be stunned before slaughter in a case that Jewish and Muslim groups warned could curb religious freedom. The court backed a regulation imposed in the Flemish region of Belgium to ban the slaughter of livestock that have not been stunned. But Jewish and Muslim groups argued the measure was an attack on their traditions and rituals and urged the European court to prioritize religious liberty. Read Here
ON CAMPUS
LONG ISLAND JEWISH DAY SCHOOL’S WEBSITE HACKED WITH ANTI-SEMITIC MESSAGES, NAZI IMAGERY
By Algemeiner Staff
Parents and students at a Jewish school in Long Island, New York, were left deeply shaken after hackers using the name “K-ke Slayer” defaced the institution’s website with Nazi imagery and anti-Semitic invective. Visitors to the website of the Great Neck North Shore Hebrew Academy High School were bombarded with “Nazi songs, imagery and messages.” Read Here
UCL ACADEMICS DELAY VOTE ON RESCINDING IHRA DEFINITION OF ANTI-SEMITISM
By Jewish News 
The Academic Board of University College London (UCL) had been due to vote on whether to rescind the 2019 adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism, but at the last minute it was rescheduled for January “to allow proper debate”. Read Here
ANALYSIS & OP-EDS
EUROPE CAN’T FIGHT ANTI-SEMITISM WHILE IGNORING THREATS TO ISRAEL
By David Harris, CEO of American Jewish Committee
STUDIES & STATISTICS
SAUDIS REMOVE ANTI-SEMITISM AND ANTI-ZIONISM FROM TEXTBOOKS — MONITORING GROUP
By TOI Staff
There has been a notable reduction of anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist content in Saudi Arabian textbooks for the coming school year, Jerusalem-based monitoring group IMACT-se found in a report. It found that the books no longer include a religious prediction of a war in which Muslims would kill all the Jews — a prophecy it said had served as a foundation for much of the anti-Semitic attitudes in the Muslim world. Read Here
CAMPUS ANTI-SEMITISM IN BRITAIN 2018-2020
By Community Security Trust
A new investigation by CST, published in a report titled Campus Antisemitism in Britain 2018-2020, has found 123 anti-Semitic incidents affecting Jewish students, academics and student bodies in 34 different towns and cities across the UK during the past two academic years. Read Here
ONLINE ANTI-SEMITISM PEAKS DURING MOMENTS OF NATIONAL TENSION. AND IT’S BEING PARTLY DRIVEN BY RUSSIAN TROLLS.
By Ben Sales
A report by the Network Contagion Research Institute illustrates how anti-Semitism has been a feature of the Russian disinformation campaigns, with an eye toward sowing division by way of social media. The anti-Jewish slurs from Russian accounts dovetail with increased online anti-Semitism around significant dates like U.S. Election Day or during periods of crisis like the Charlottesville rally or the pandemic. Read Here
FROM OUR PARTNERS
CLUB Z: ANTI-ZIONISM IS “MOST POTENT FORM OF ANTI-SEMITISM”
By Aaron Bandler
Club Z, a Jewish education organization for teens, hosted a webinar arguing that anti-Zionism is the “most potent form of anti-Semitism today.” The webinar featured a presentation explaining the history of anti-Semitism and its various iterations. Read Here
WEBINAR: THE IRANIAN CYBER THREAT
By Alma Research Center
In the past year, there has been a significant increase in Iranian cyberattacks against targets in Israel and in the West, and it is possible that the corona crisis also played a role in this. We will deal with the strategic and political aspects as well as the Iranian ability to carry out cyberattacks on Israel and the western world. Register Here
MEET OUR PARTNER: THE MIRYAM INSTITUTE
EXCLUSIVE SPEAKER SERIES: TAMIR PARDO, DIRECTOR OF THE MOSSAD (2011-2016)
By MirYam Institute
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
THE NETHERLANDS TO GET COORDINATOR TO TACKLE ANTI-SEMITISM AMID MARKING INCREASE IN ANTI-SEMITIC INCIDENTS
By YOSSI LEMPKOWICZ
The Netherlands is to get a new national coordinator to tackle anti-Semitism, and to strengthen the official approach towards dealing with threats, discrimination and intimidation, Dutch Justice Minister Ferd Grapperhaus said. The move follows pressure from the Jewish community amid a marking increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the Netherlands. Read Here
U.S. SENATE PASSES BILL ELEVATING ANTI-SEMITISM MONITOR TO AMBASSADOR
By RON KAMPEAS
The U.S. Senate passed a bill that would elevate the position of the anti-Semitism monitor to ambassador, adding punch to the envoy’s mission. “To equip the State Department to better address rising anti-Semitism, it is critical that we elevate the role of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism to Ambassador-at-Large,”Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., who led sponsorship of the bipartisan bill, said. Read Here
LABOUR’S ANTI-SEMITISM ‘ACTION PLAN’ APPROVED BY EQUALITIES WATCHDOG
By JEWISH NEWS REPORTER
A plan by Labour to tackle anti-Semitism by introducing an independent complaints process and begin stringent checks on candidates’ social media has been approved by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The equalities watchdog accepted the opposition’s formal response following its investigation into racism in the party. Read Here
IN 1ST FOR ARAB WORLD, MOROCCAN SCHOOLS TO TEACH JEWISH HISTORY AND CULTURE
By KAOUTHAR OUDRHIRI
HUMANITY
THE TABLE USED TO STOP MONSEY ATTACKER IS TURNED INTO A MENORAH STAND
By SHIRA HANAU
The coffee table turned defensive weapon has been turned into a dreidel-shaped menorah stand to memorialize Monsey’s own Hanukkah miracle. Emblazoned on its sides are the Hebrew words marked on dreidels typically in Israel — “A big miracle happened here.” Rabbi Yisroel Kahan posted a photo of the coffee table and the menorah stand to Twitter. Read Here
UAE, BAHRAIN DELEGATIONS TAKE PART IN WESTERN WALL HANUKKAH LIGHTING CEREMONY
By TOI Staff
A delegation from both the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain took part in the central menorah lighting at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, in a ceremony described by the site’s chief rabbi as a “Hanukkah miracle.” The group was made up of social activists and opinion leaders from the Gulf countries, visiting Israel as part of the Sharka Project. Read Here
The Combat Anti-Semitism Movement is a non-partisan, global grassroots movement of individuals and organizations, across all religions and faiths, united around the goal of ending anti-Semitism in all its forms. Since its launching in February 2019, 294 organizations and 299,000 individuals have joined the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement by signing the campaign’s pledge. The CAM Pledge draws upon the IHRA international definition of anti- Semitism and its list of specific behaviors used to discriminate against the Jewish people and the Jewish State of Israel.
