THIS WEEK’S GLOBAL ANTI-SEMITISM REPORT
Alarming statistics were reported this week, showing a nearly 300% increase in antisemitic hate crimes in New York City, and a 34% increase in the UK, in addition to a study that found nearly 3/4 of French Jews have been the victim of an antisemitic act.
A sudden spike in coordinated social media activity calling for the release of convicted “Lady Al Qaeda” terrorist Aafia Siddiqui preceded the Jan. 15th hostage-taking incident at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, in which a British Islamist extremist demanded the U.S. free her from prison, new research released by CAM and conducted by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) shows.
Amid this backdrop in the U.S., Dr. Deborah Lipstadt, the nominee to be U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, appears bound for Senate confirmation following a hearing with bipartisan support.
During another congressional hearing, the rabbi held hostage in Colleyville urged representatives to double security funding for religious institutions. Additionally, a U.S. House Homeland Security Committee hearing addressed domestic antisemitism threats, in light of a homeland security department warning of extremism after the Texas synagogue attack.
CAM monitored a 50% increase in antisemitic incidents this week. Two teenagers in Florida were arrested for property damage and painting the word “Jew” across the driveway of a local Chabad center. A JCC in Tucson, Arizona received a bomb threat, and a wood plank was thrown through the window of a London synagogue. Further, four different Holocaust memorials were vandalized in Germany.
The New York Police Hate Crimes Unit is investigating two antisemitic assaults, and a swastika vandalism on a Jewish school bus. An 89-year-old Jewish woman was also kicked to the ground in Brooklyn, and a 76-year-old man was attacked outside a Baltimore synagogue.
A Chicago man yelled “all of you should be killed” at a group of Jewish students, and a federal complaint was filed on behalf of two Brooklyn College students, who allegedly faced a hostile environment as Jews. A Jewish mother Tennessee says her child was taught “how to torture a Jew” in a public school Bible class.
Muslims groups in Indonesia are demanding the closure of the country’s first ever Holocaust exhibition, and the Islamic Republic of Iran unveiled a new ballistic missile that it named “Khaybar buster,” referring to a Jewish oasis in the Arabian Peninsula that was conquered by Muslim warriors in the 7th century.
This week’s global antisemitism report highlights 75 new media reports of antisemitic incidents. The total includes 42 (56.0%) from the far-right, 10 (13.3%) from the far-left, 5 (6.7%) with Islamist motivations, and 18 (24.0%) unidentifiable in nature.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
UNITED STATES
TWO TEENS ARRESTED FOR ANTISEMITIC ATTACK IN BONITA SPRINGS, FL
By WFTX Digital Team
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Sheriff Marceno announced the arrest of two teens for crimes relating to antisemitism at the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff, Marceno said that the victim, Rabbi Mendy Greenberg of the Chabad of Bonita Springs, had a damaged mailbox along with his vehicle window that was shattered, and the word, “Jew’s” was painted in orange across the driveway. The Sheriff announced that he will be enhancing their first-degree misdemeanor to a felony.
SUSPECT SOUGHT AFTER YELLING ‘ALL OF YOU SHOULD BE KILLED’ AT JEWISH STUDENTS IN CHICAGO
By Stephen Sorace, Fox News
Police in Chicago are searching for a man who threatened a group of Jewish students at a school, yelling “all of you should be killed.” The incident happened outside the Yeshivas Tiferes Tzvi Academy on North Carolina Avenue, Chicago police said. The suspect, described as a Black male between 40 and 49 years old with a black mustache and beard, yelled profanities and threats at a teacher and her students.
NEW YORK POLICE’S HATE CRIMES UNIT INVESTIGATING 3 ALLEGED ANTISEMITIC ATTACKS
By Luke Tress
The New York police’s hate crimes unit said that it was investigating three alleged antisemitic attacks. The three incidents took place during Shabbat in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood. Two were physical assaults and one was antisemitic graffiti. In one attack captured by security cameras, an ultra-Orthodox man and woman were seen walking down a sidewalk. An assailant trailed them behind a row of parked cars, then ran up behind the man and struck him in the back of the head, knocking his hat to the ground. Another assault was reported in the same area. Details were not immediately available, and it was not clear if the attacks were connected.
‘JEOPARDY!’ WINNER NOT SURPRISED AT ANTISEMITIC RESPONSE TO HER SUCCESS
WORLD NEWS
United Kingdom
PLANK OF WOOD THROWN THROUGH SYNAGOGUE WINDOW IN NORTH LONDON
By Campaign Against Antisemitism
A plank of wood has been thrown through a synagogue window in Stamford Hill, North London. Haringey Police are treating the incident as a hate crime. The incident occurred on Franklin Street and was reported by Stamford Hill Shomrim.
REVEALED: BORIS JOHNSON’S JIMMY SAVILE SLUR SPARKED ANTISEMITIC HATE AT KEIR STARMER
CANADA
B’NAI BRITH CALLS FOR HATE CRIME CHARGES IN EXTREME ALBERTA CASE
By ;nai B’rith Canada
B’nai Brith Canada is demanding that fresh hate crimes charges be laid against an Alberta man who published extreme anti-Jewish propaganda and has illegally stockpiled firearms in the past. In August of 2018, Loki Hulgaard was arrested after trying to spread currency defaced with antisemitic messages such as “Zionist Occupied Government.” He was also found to possess four firearms,two with their serial numbers removed, three over-capacity magazines and 1,200 rounds of ammunition. B’nai Brith has now discovered that Hulgaard is at it again. In fact, he has published a series of antisemitic works through a far-right U.S. website, with such lurid titles as “Jewish White Genocide,” “Who Is the Jew?: The Jew Identifier Document” and “How (((They))) Ruined My Life: Autobiography of Loki Hulgaard.”
ANTISEMITIC MESSAGES SENT TO ABIGAIL BIMMAN
GERMANY
A PROMINENT GERMAN HOLOCAUST DENIER IS ESCAPING ARREST BY HIDING IN BRAZIL
By CALEB GUEDES-REED
A far-right German extremist who has been convicted of denying the Holocaust is taking shelter in Brazil. Nikolai Nerling, 41, told Brazilian news site Globo that he fears he will be arrested if he returns to Germany. Nerling was fired in May, 2018 from a Berlin elementary school where he taught from 2009 to 2018 after a report in a local newspaper showed that he was disseminating neo-Nazi content. He arrived in Brazil on a tourist visa in November 2021 and has spent the last few months touring cities in southern Brazil and creating more content for his channels, often denying the Holocaust.
GERMAN BROADCASTER DEUTSCHE WELLE FIRES 5 STAFFERS AFTER PROBE ON WORKPLACE ANTISEMITISM
By TOBY AXELROD
Germany’s public broadcaster Deutsche Welle has fired five employees, four of them from its Arabic desk, following a damning audit on antisemitism in the workplace. The audit, based on a two-month investigation, found isolated cases of antisemitism but no systemic problem. Several freelancers were dropped as well; another eight cases are still under investigation. At issue were virulent antisemitic statements made by staff on and off the job, as well as failures in recruiting staff and inviting a variety of guest speakers.
SWASTIKA SCRATCHED INTO THE STELE OF THE HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL IN BERLIN
FRANCE
ANTISEMITIC ZOOMBOMING DURING A VIDEOCONFERENCE IN STRASBOURG
By Le Figaro
Two associations sent a complaint to the Strasbourg public prosecutor’s office after the irruption, in a videoconference on women rabbis, of people uttering antisemitic insults. The Ecumenical Association Charles Péguy and the Strasbourg section of Amitié Judéo-Chrétienne de France organized a videoconference entitled “Women, feminism and Judaism: women rabbis?” “After 7 or 8 minutes, we started to hear the sound of keyboards, then pornographic images were inserted, and antisemitic insults, ‘a good Jew is a dead Jew’, ‘the Holocaust does not exist not’, or even ‘we are going to heat the Jews in the oven’” , declared to AFP Jacqueline Cuche, vice-president of the Ecumenical Association Charles Péguy.
FRENCH COURT FINES NEO-NAZI ACTIVIST AND CATHOLIC PRIEST FOR VIDEO INCITING HATRED OF JEWS
OTHER WORLD NEWS
ROMANIAN POLITICAL FIGURE PRAISES ANTISEMITIC FASCIST LEADER ON PRIMETIME TV
By MARCEL GASCÓN BARBERÁ
A Romanian political hopeful praised an antisemitic 1930s fascist leader during a primetime TV interview. Calin Georgescu said Corneliu Zelea Codreanu “fought for the morality of the human being.” Codreanu led the fiercely antisemitic Legionnaire Movement until his execution in 1938. Two years after its founder’s death, the movement entered the government of Romania’s pro-Nazi dictator Ion Antonescu. In January 1941, the Legionnaires rose against Antonescu in a three-day rebellion, during which more than 120 Jews were killed and several synagogues and Jewish businesses were destroyed. The events are known today as the Bucharest Pogrom.
MUSLIM GROUPS IN INDONESIA DEMAND CLOSURE OF COUNTRY’S FIRST-EVER HOLOCAUST EXHIBITION
By JORDYN HAIME
Some Muslim groups in Indonesia are demanding the closure of the country’s first permanent Holocaust exhibition, charging that it is part of an effort to normalize Indonesia’s relations with Israel. The exhibit launched timed to International Holocaust Remembrance Day. “Shoah: How is it Humanly Possible?” was created by the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center, which is based in Israel. But groups protesting the exhibition say they see it as part of Israel’s attempts to normalize relations with Indonesia and the occupation of Palestinian. “We demand any exhibition be stopped and the museum be canceled [and] discontinued,” said Sudarnoto Abdul Hakim, the head of foreign relations and international cooperation of the country’s Indonesian Ulema Council, a top Islamic clerical body known as MUI.
MELBOURNE RABBI CALLED ‘RABBI APARTHEID,’ ‘JEWISH SCUMBAG MOTHERF***ER’
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A rabbi in Melbourne, the capital of the Australian state of Victoria, was called late at night to receive two antisemitic phone calls, leaving him traumatized and shocked. “Hello Jewish scumbag, I’d just like to congratulate you on your new label, Captain Apartheid, because that’s how Jewish people are going to get named,” the first call began. The caller made references to perceived Israeli apartheid practices, harshly criticizing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. “That’s how Israel is gonna get remembered from now until the end of time, for apartheid, because you are true f***ing c***s,” the caller said. “You f***ing Jewish scumbag, motherf***er, go f*** yourself, shalom.”
THE MIDDLE EAST
IRAN UNVEILS NEW MISSILE NAMED FOR JEWISH OASIS OVERRUN BY MUSLIMS
By REUTERS
Iran unveiled a new domestically-made missile with a range of 1,450 kilometers, state TV reported, a day after Tehran and Washington resumed indirect talks to salvage a 2015 nuclear deal. Iran says its ballistic missiles have a range of up to 2,000 km (1,200 miles) and are capable of reaching its arch-foe Israel and US bases in the region. State TV displayed the new surface-to-surface “Khaybar Shekan” (Khaybar buster) missile, which refers to an ancient Jewish oasis called Khaybar in the Arabian Peninsula’s Hijaz region that was overrun by Muslim warriors in the 7th century.
KUWAIT BANS ‘DEATH ON THE NILE’ BECAUSE OF ISRAELI ACTRESS GAL GADOT
By JOSH KAPLAN
The Kuwaiti government has announced that they are banning an Agatha Christie film from cinemas in the country because of the appearance of Israeli actress Gal Gadot in the movie. Death on the Nile, a remake of the Agatha Christie classic directed by Kenneth Branagh, is set to be released later this week but millions of Kuwaitis will miss out after the country’s information ministry banned the film from all cinemas in the Arab emirate.
“THE JEWS ALWAYS WORK IN THE SHADOWS”: HOUTHI HEALTH MINISTER CLAIMS JEWS CONTROL GLOBAL ECONOMY IN TELEVISED RANT ABOUT “JEWISH HATEFULNESS”
ON CAMPUS
FEDERAL COMPLAINT ALLEGES HOSTILITY TOWARD JEWISH STUDENTS IN BROOKLYN COLLEGE GRADUATE PROGRAM
By Ben Sales
Two students attending a master’s degree program in mental health counseling at Brooklyn College claim in a federal discrimination complaint that they faced a “hostile environment” toward Jews in their courses. The complaint was made under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. It was filed to the U.S. Department of Education on behalf of the students by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law. The two students who submitted the complaint — one of whom is Hispanic — told eJP that they faced consistent pressure from other students and faculty to identify primarily as white, rather than Jewish, during class discussions of their personal identities, and were assumed to benefit from “white privilege” because they were Jews.
TENNESSEE WOMAN SAYS HER CHILD WAS TAUGHT ‘HOW TO TORTURE A JEW’ IN PUBLIC SCHOOL BIBLE CLASS
By SHIRA HANAU AND ANDREW LAPIN
A Jewish woman in Chattanooga, Tennessee, says her child was taught “how to torture a Jew” in a public school Bible class. The woman, Juniper Russo, wrote about the incident in a Facebook post that is no longer public. In it, she alleged that the teacher engaged in “blatant Christian proselytizing” in a Bible history class that was meant to be “non-sectarian.” Hamilton County Schools, the Chattanooga public school district, is investigating the incident. “[The teacher] wrote an English transliteration of the Hebrew name of G-d on the whiteboard. This name is traditionally not spoken out loud, and is traditionally only written in the Torah. She then told her students, ‘If you want to know how to torture a Jew, make them say this out loud,’” Russo wrote.
ANALYSIS & OP-EDS
STUDIES & STATISTICS
ANTISEMITIC HATE CRIMES IN NYC UP BY NEARLY 300% IN JANUARY COMPARISON
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Antisemitic hate crimes in New York City almost quadrupled in January 2022 compared to the same month last year, US media outlets reported, citing NYPD crime statistics. Throughout the month of January, 15 different antisemitic incidents were reported. This is a stark contrast with January 2021, which only saw four incidents reported. But as January ended, antisemitic incidents did not, with more happening in the city at the beginning of February.
UK ANTISEMITISM REACHES RECORD HIGH IN 2021, REPORT SAYS
By Allegra Goodwin and Richard Allen Greene, CNN
More incidents of antisemitism were recorded in the United Kingdom in 2021 than at any point since it began recording such incidents in 1984, UK charity Community Security Trust (CST) said in report. The charitysaid it recorded 2,255 anti-Jewish hate incidents across the country during 2021 — a 34% increase from the 1,684 it recorded in 2020.
THREE-QUARTERS OF FRENCH JEWS HAVE BEEN VICTIM OF ANTISEMITIC ACT, STUDY FINDS
By CAM
A new study highlights the disturbing scope of France’s antisemitism problem, finding that 74% of the country’s Jews have been a victim an antisemitic act in their lifetimes. The French Institute of Public Opinion poll — commissioned by the American Jewish Committee, in partnership with the Foundation for Political Innovation, revealed that 85% of French Jews viewed antisemitism as a widespread phenomenon in their country, with 73% believing it had increased over the past decade. Some 35% of respondents said they avoided wearing items that publicly identify them as Jews, and 41% had refrained from displaying mezuzahs and other religious symbols.
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
WITH BIPARTISAN SUPPORT, LIPSTADT APPEARS HEADED FOR SENATE CONFIRMATION AS ANTISEMITISM ENVOY FOLLOWING HEARING
By Marc Rod
Deborah Lipstadt, the Biden administration’s nominee to be U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, appears bound for Senate confirmation following a long-delayed confirmation hearing, with the support of at least three Republicans. During her testimony, Lipstadt drew a distinction between criticism of the Israeli government’s policies and antisemitism. “I do think there are certain things that cross the line into antisemitism, and criticism can often cross the line,” Lipstadt said. Lipstadt called Amnesty International’s recent report accusing Israel of apartheid “unhistorical” and “part of a larger effort to delegitimize the Jewish state.” Such language, she added, “poisons the atmosphere” for Jewish students on college campuses. Lipstadt also emphasized that she believes fighting antisemitism must be divorced from political concerns.
‘I WELCOMED TERRORIST INTO MY SHUL’: TEXAS RABBI URGES CONGRESS TO UP SECURITY FUNDS
By Jacob Magid
The Texas rabbi held at gunpoint for 11 hours along with three other congregants at his synagogue last month shared how the decision to let the initially unassuming hostage-taker inside has continued to haunt him, as he urged US lawmakers to double security funding for religious institutions during Congressional testimony. Congress doubled funding for the security grant program in late 2020, to $180 million, but faith groups are asking for it to be doubled again. An array of religious groups urged US President Joe Biden to double the funding, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat and majority leader, has joined the effort.
UPPER EAST SIDE LAWMAKER HOSTING TOWN HALL ON ANTISEMITISM
HUMANITY
ART SPIEGELMAN TO SPEAK TO TENNESSEE AUDIENCE AS LONG ‘MAUS’ TAIL EXTENDS INTO SECOND WEEK
By ANDREW LAPIN
Celebrated comics author Art Spiegelman said that, “on the malevolence-to-ignorance scale,” the Tennessee school board that voted in January to remove his book “Maus” was “closer to ignorance.” At the same time, Spiegelman acknowledged that he himself has mixed feelings about his illustrated Holocaust memoir being used in middle schools as “Auschwitz for beginners.” “At first I agreed with the school board. In some cases, he said, it may be better for people to wait until they have reached college before they read “Maus.” But, he said, he found the ways in which the McMinn County school board had objected to his book, including their criticisms of its language, illustrations of dead Jews as mice and depiction of Spiegelman’s mother in the nude as she committed suicide following the events of the war, “deeply troubling.” “They want a fuzzier, warmer, more gentler Holocaust that shows how great the Americans were when coming in to liberate,” he said.
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, 360 organizations and 355,000 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.
