THIS WEEK’S GLOBAL ANTISEMITISM REPORT
This week’s global antisemitism report highlights 25 new media reports of antisemitic incidents. The total includes 11 (44.0%) from the far-right, 1 (4.0%) from the far-left, 5 (20.0%) with Islamist motivations, and 8 (32.0%) unidentifiable in nature.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
UNITED STATES
MAN YELLS ANTISEMITIC STATEMENTS, DOES NAZI SALUTE AT SEATTLE AIRPORT
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A man at a Seattle airport began yelling Nazi slurs at passengers who were about to board the plane on Sunday, videos on social media showed.The incident occurred while passengers were boarding a flight between Seattle, Washington to Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. The man’s name is Nicholas Edward Letney, according to the nonprofit organization StopAntisemitism. “You go to the gas chamber!” and “Race war!” were among the numerous antisemitic statements he made as people were boarding the plane, all while doing a Nazi salute.
TRUMP HOSTED HOLOCAUST DENIER AT MAR-A-LAGO ESTATE DURING VISIT WITH KANYE WEST, A WEEK AFTER ANNOUNCING 2024 RUN
By MAEVE RESTON
Former President Donald Trump hosted White nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes and rapper Kanye West at his Mar-a-Lago estate this week, demonstrating his continued willingness to associate with figures who have well-publicized antisemitic views as he embarks on another White House run. West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, posted a video Thursday on Twitter in which he claimed that Trump “is really impressed with Fuentes,” who has repeatedly made antisemitic and racist comments as chronicled by the Anti-Defamation League.Fuentes, West said in the Twitter video, “is actually a loyalist” to Trump, unlike others who he said abandoned the former president after the 2020 election. In a text message conversation tweeted by West on Thursday, he and Fuentes said they both met with the former president. A source familiar with the dinner confirmed to CNN that Trump on Tuesday met with Fuentes and West, who became engulfed in controversy after repeating antisemitic conspiracy theories and making other offensive claims during an appearance on a podcast in October.
NFL EX-STEELERS RB RASHARD MENDENHALL DEFENDS KANYE WEST’S ANTISEMITIC STATEMENTS
WORLD NEWS
UNITED KINGDOM
LEEDS MAN IN HIS 70S ASSAULTED NEAR BRAMLEY ALDI IN ANTISEMITIC HATE CRIME AS POLICE HUNT SUSPECT
By RICHARD BEECHAM
The victim, who is aged in in seventies, was crossing Stanningley Road, in Bramley, to the Aldi store when a male on a pedal cycle approached him travelling the wrong way on the cycle path and without lights. An altercation ensued during which the suspect swore at the victim and threatened violence. A security guard from the store intervened and the suspect left the scene before returning to remonstrate with the victim again.
‘IT GRINDS YOU DOWN’ – SAYS CHESTERFIELD JEWISH MAN FOLLOWING ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS
GERMANY
HELL’S ANGELS GANG LEADER ACCUSED OF COORDINATING ATTACKS ON JEWISH TARGETS IN GERMANY ON BEHALF OF IRANIAN REGIME
By BEN COHEN
Police in Germany believe that the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was behind a series of attacks on Jewish targets during November under the direction of a former leader of the Hell’s Angels biker gang. Shots were fired at the Old Synagogue in Essen, an attempted arson attack was recorded at a synagogue in Dortmund and a Molotov cocktail was hurled at a Jewish school in Bochum. All three cities are located in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia. Earlier this month, police arrested a 35-year-old German-Iranian man who was allegedly responsible for the attack in Bochum and who attempted to recruit another individual for the attack in Dortmund. According to the ARD broadcaster’s Kontraste program on Thursday night, local police suspect that the man is connected to Ramin Yektaparast, the founder of the Hell’s Angels chapter in the city of Mönchengladbach.
GERMAN BISHOP TASKED WITH FIGHTING ANTISEMITISM PREACHED ANTI-ISRAEL IDEAS
By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
A former German state bishop recently appointed to fight Jew-hatred delivered a sermon in 2017 in which he stated that Israel’s “occupation” of the disputed territories “deforms souls.” “On a meeting trip with members of the Lutheran World Federation to Israel-Palestine in November, we were able to experience how the time of occupation weighs on people, deforms souls, restricts freedom; how border controls degrade people and how this all breeds new violence,” said Bishop Gerhard Ulrich. In an interview with Catholic news outlet Domradio that same year, Ulrich also slammed Israel’s security barrier, comparing it to the Berlin Wall.
HOW COVID TRUTHERS BREATHED NEW LIFE INTO AN ANTISEMITIC SYMBOL
CANADA
CANADIAN ACTIVIST LAITH MAROUF, RECENTLY DEPLATFORMED AND DEFUNDED FOR ANTISEMITISM: ZIONISTS ARE PART OF THE WESTERN RULING SYSTEM; WE ARE AT WAR, WE MUST CONFRONT THEM ON ALL BATTLEFIELDS
By MEMRI
On November 22, 2022, Mayadeen TV (Lebanon) aired an interview with Canadian political activist Laith Marouf, who has recently been banned from several social media platforms and who has had his contracts with the Canadian government as an “anti-racism” trainer canceled due to antisemitic statements he has made. Marouf said that the Zionists have “forced” social media companies like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok to “circumvent” laws, and that the Zionists have created a situation in which they – instead of the courts – get to define racism and antisemitism, since Zionism is otherwise indefensible. He criticized the Canadian government and legal system for being unjust, and he said that Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims must confront the Zionists “on all battlefields” since there is an “open war” with them.
OTHER WORLD NEWS
AUSTRALIA – AFL DRAFT STAR HARRY SHEEZEL TARGETED BY ANTI-SEMITIC ABUSE
By NCA NEWSWIRE
A young AFL player who’s set to star in this year’s draft has been targeted in a stream of vile anti-Semitic abuse.
Harry Sheezel will be the first Jewish player to enter the league in more than two decades and is likely to be taken within the first five picks on Monday night. But the 18-year-old has been on the receiving end of a series of slurs after an article about him hit social media on Sunday night. The comments focused on Jewish stereotypes and made light of the Holocaust. “His teammates should not expect him to shout end of season drinks,” one quip read. Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich said the backlash was the “reality of being a Jewish person in Victoria”. “Australians have to accept the fact that the genie of anti-Semitism is out of the bottle and that the lid has been taken off the sewer as people who might be our neighbours are pouring their anti-Semitic venom and poison on a young man who is simply seeking to play the game he loves,” Mr Abramovich said.
ON CAMPUS
STUDENTS CHANT ‘FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA’ AT CAMBRIDGE UNION EVENT WITH ISRAELI POLITICIAN
By GEORGIA L GILHOLY
Approximately 50 students demonstrated outside the Cambridge Union on Wednesday evening, protesting a talk given by Dan Meridor, Israel’s former Deputy Prime Minister. Mr Meridor, invited for a campus tour by the Pinsker Centre think tank, spoke for approximately an hour at the Cambridge society on a range of subjects including Iran, the Abraham Accords and the peace process with the Palestinians. Outside the venue, students were recorded chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”, a video of which was posted on the Pinsker Centre’s twitter profile. “From the river to the sea” is a common refrain made by anti-Israel campaigners who advocate the dismantling of the Jewish state. It has also long been a Hamas rallying cry. Before the event, student societies at Cambridge and other universities had signed an open letter denouncing Mr Meridor as a “war criminal” and a “torturer” and called on the Cambridge Union to cancel the event.
STUDIES & STATISTICS
THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE OF COUNTER-TERRORISM (UNOCT): EXAMINING THE INTERSECTION BETWEEN GAMING AND VIOLENT EXTREMISM
By UNOCT
The United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism/United Nations Counter-Terrorism Centre (UNOCT/UNCCT) study, ‘Examining the Intersection between Gaming and Violent Extremism’, is the product of expert consultations, focus groups and a survey of gamers conducted last year by Amarnath Amarasingam, Assistant Professor, Queen’s University and Linda Schlegel, Founding Member of the Extremism and Gaming Research Network (EGRN).
The report notes that “one third of the world’s population”, some 3 billion people, play online games, and that particularly during the pandemic, “communities in gaming spaces became a substitute for the lack of offline interaction and grew exponentially.” But while the “the potential nexus between gaming and violent extremism has gained considerable attention in recent times, research findings are sparse,” write Amarasingam and Schlegel. Dispelling of the notion that there is any causal link between playing video games– even the most violent of them– and aggression or violent behavior, the researchers set out instead to explore how terrorists and violent extremists nevertheless use online gaming spaces and communities to “strategically and organically” accomplish their goals.
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
DHS WARNS OF DOMESTIC TERROR THREATS TO LGBTQ, JEWISH AND MIGRANT COMMUNITIES
By JULIA AINSLEY
In a terrorism advisory bulletin, the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday raised concerns about potential threats to the LGBTQ, Jewish and migrant communities from violent extremists inside the United States. Americans motivated by violent ideologies pose a “persistent and lethal threat,” a senior DHS official told reporters in a briefing on the bulletin. Intelligence officials across the federal government have consistently highlighted the growing threat of American extremists in recent years, while explaining that foreign threats such as the Islamic State terrorist group and Al Qaeda are no longer as persistent as they once were.
GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCES CRACKDOWN ON ONLINE ANTISEMITISM
HUMANITY
WITH ANTISEMITISM ON THE RISE, THE DETROIT PISTONS ARE HONORING JEWISH HERITAGE
By GRACE REYES
During a time when powerful voices are amplifying dangerous antisemitic messaging, Detroit Pistons Vice Chairman Arn Tellem is proudly telling his story and representing his Jewish faith. Last month, the Zekelman Holocaust Center honored Tellem and his wife Nancy for their dedication to “ensuring that the lessons of the Holocaust empower people today.” The museum, which is in Farmington Hills, honored the Tellems at its 38th anniversary benefit at Huntington Place in downtown Detroit. With Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Pistons players, coaches and front office personnel watching, Arn Tellem gave insight into his origins and why it’s important for everyone to support the Jewish community in these challenging times. That’s a main reason the Pistons are holding their second Jewish Heritage Night this Sunday when the Pistons will face the Memphis Grizzlies at Little Caesars Arena. Tickets will include an opportunity to meet the Motor City Cruise’s Ryan Turrell, who was the first Orthodox Jew selected in the G League draft in October. The evening will also include kosher friendly foods, discounted tickets, postgame shots on the court and a six-foot-tall menorah on the concourse.
US BISHOPS CALL FOR VIGILANCE ON ANTISEMITISM IN ALL OF ITS FORMS
OVER 375,000 INDIVIDUALS AND 550 ORGANIZATIONS HAVE JOINED OUR MOVEMENT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
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.
