Week of February 2, 2023
This Week's
GLOBAL ANTISEMITISM REPORT
This week, we continued to monitor antisemitism around the world while advocating for more actions to be made.
In Jerusalem, a Palestinian terrorist murdered seven people in a shooting outside a synagogue during Shabbat services on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The deadly attack, which was condemned by the U.S. government as a “horrific act of violence,” was celebrated in some Palestinian communities with fireworks and street parties.
Meanwhile, in New Jersey, a ski mask-wearing man hurled a firebomb at the door of a Reform synagogue, and a mass shooting was threatened against a Chabad synagogue in Nevada. Threats against Jewish institutions were also reported in California, and New York.
In Maryland, a Jewish man was assaulted at a supermarket by a group of attackers who invoked the name of antisemitic rapper Kanye West, and chalk markings reading “#YeisRight” were found at the University of Alabama campus. Similar incidents were reported at Florida State University, and the University of Florida.
In Ohio, the state’s Education Department is investigating a neo-Nazi homeschooling network that teaches kids to say “Sieg Heil” in class, and claims public schools are run by “Zionist scum.” Anti-Israel marchers in Brooklyn, New York, chanted slogans lauding Palestinian terrorist organizations and their “steadfast and valiant fight” to “reclaim Palestine from the river to the sea.”
In London, England, a Jewish boy was grabbed and thrown off a public bus by a 50-year-old man, while police in Italy charged 24 people for online harassment of Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre. A Holocaust memorial in Helsingborg, Sweden, was desecrated with white paint, and a Jewish cemetery in Belgrade, Serbia, was defaced with Nazi graffiti.
The Spanish government approved a national plan to fight Jew-hatred, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced the appointment of a new national coordinator for combating antisemitism. French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne unveiled a new initiative to tackle racism, antisemitism, and discrimination, and lawmakers from ten Latin American countries urged the adoption and implementation of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism.
This week’s global antisemitism report highlights 39 new media reports of antisemitic incidents. The total includes 15 (38.5%) from the far-right, 3 (7.7%) from the far-left, 12 (30.8%) with Islamist motivations, and 9 (23.1%) unidentifiable in nature.
UNITED STATES
‘YEAH, DO IT FOR KANYE’: A DC-AREA ASSAULT VICTIM SAYS HIS ATTACKERS MADE ANTISEMITIC COMMENTS
By RON KAMPEAS
A man who was beaten at a supermarket in a Washington, D.C., suburb says his attacker used antisemitic epithets and was encouraged by others who invoked Kanye West, the antisemitic celebrity. The police in Montgomery County, Maryland, said that the victim said he had approached a group of people tossing fruit and stealing doughnuts at a Giant supermarket in Gaithersburg, and rebuked them. When the victim removed his jacket to defend himself, the group noticed he was wearing a Star of David pendant, and one man attacked him while making antisemitic statements. “Yeah, do it for Kanye,” the victim told police, others in the group had said.
SKI-MASK WEARING MAN THROWS FIRE BOMB AT DOOR OF NEW JERSEY SYNAGOGUE
By CAM
Police in Bloomfield, New Jersey, are investigating an incident in which a firebomb was hurled toward a synagogue in the town over. Summoned to the scene after a report of property damage, police determined a Molotov cocktail had been tossed at the front door of Temple Ner Tamid. A review of surveillance footage revealed that an unidentified ski-mask wearing individual — believed to be a Caucasian male — had approached the synagogue and lit and threw the incendiary device, before escaping.
MAN THREATENS MASS SHOOTING AT LAS VEGAS SYNAGOGUE
By David Charns
Las Vegas Metro police arrested a man for threatening a mass shooting at a synagogue. Michael Sanchez, 37, faces a charge of making threats or conveying false information concerning acts of terrorism. Sanchez identified himself to police as an Army veteran who served two deployments in Iraq. A rabbi at the Chabad of Southern Nevada contacted the FBI to report the threats he received. The threats came from a caller who said he was “going to come shoot the synagogue,” police said. The rabbi was able to provide the phone number to authorities, which returned to Sanchez. “[The rabbi] stated that Michael accused him, and the people that attend his [synagogue] of being child molesters and killers.” “[The rabbi] stated that Michael stated something in between the lines that they do not deserve to live.”
WORLD NEWS
UNITED KINGDOM
A MAN THREW A JEWISH BOY OFF THE BUS IN LONDON
By Shomrim Stamford Hill
A 12-year-old Jewish boy travelling home from school was attacked on a 476 TFL bus in London by a 50-year-old Male who grabbed the child by his throat and threw him off the bus.
GERMANY
NEW POSTER CAMPAIGN AIMS TO MAKE RACIST AND ANTISEMITIC VIOLENCE VISIBLE
By Sonntagsblatt
In order to make the extent of right-wing violence in Bavaria visible and to support those affected, the BUD counseling center has started a poster campaign. Under the inscription “Reporting Violence on Rights” you can see a QR code as well as a telephone number and e-mail address for the counseling center. “We call on everyone to report incidents of right-wing violence that they have experienced or observed themselves.”
OTHER WORLD NEWS
SERBIA – BELGRADE JEWISH CEMETERY DESECRATED
By N1 Belgrade
A statement quoted unofficial reports that the graffiti was painted by a group of ultra-right supporters of a Belgrade football club. It called the public to report any wrongdoing or plans to inflict harm on the Jewish community to the Jewish Community or the police. The Sephardic and Ashkenazi cemeteries in Belgrade are the only two Jewish graveyards still in use in Serbia.
ITALY: 24 PEOPLE CHARGED FOR HARASSING ITALIAN AUSCHWITZ SURVIVOR ONLINE
By TASH MOSHEIM
The 92-year-old senator, an Italian symbol of the fight against antisemitism, accused 24 people of antisemitic attacks, including death threats and defamation. The suspects have been charged by the Italian police – the Milan Carabinieri – for insults against Senator Segre, sources told ynetnews. The suspects include Italian celebrity chef Gabriele Rubini and Nicola Barreca – the secretary of the Reggio Calabria Branch of the League Party of Matteo Salvini.
ITALY – ANTISEMITIC GRAFFITI AND A SWASTIKA NEAR THE MONUMENT TO THE MEMORY OF THE LA STORTA MASSACRE
MIDDLE EAST
AT LEAST SEVEN DEAD IN JERUSALEM SYNAGOGUE ATTACK, ISRAELI POLICE SAY
By Richard Allen Greene, Hadas Gold, Amir Tal and Tara John
Israeli police say at least seven people were killed and three were injured in a shooting near a synagogue in Jerusalem on Friday. “As a result of the shooting attack, the death of 7 civilians was determined and 3 others were injured with additional degrees of injury,” police said. Five of the shooting victims were pronounced dead at the scene, Israel’s Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency rescue service said: four men and a woman. Five people were transported to hospitals, where another man and woman were declared dead.
TWO WOUNDED IN SHOOTING IN JERUSALEM, POLICE SAY, AFTER SYNAGOGUE ATTACK LEAVES SEVEN DEAD
By Richard Allen Greene, Hadas Gold, Amir Tal and Tara John
Two people were wounded in a shooting attack in Jerusalem on Saturday, emergency services say, the day after a gunman killed at least seven people near a synagogue in the city. The two men injured in the City of David area of Jerusalem on Saturday, one aged 22 and one in his 40s, are father and son, according to police. A 13-year-old who police say shot and wounded the pair was “neutralized and injured” by “two passers-by carrying licensed weapons.”
AL-JAZEERA PRESENTERS, JOURNALISTS IN QATARI PRESS, QATAR-BACKED MUSLIM CLERICS: TERRORIST ATTACK NEAR JERUSALEM SYNAGOGUE WAS ‘BRAVE ACT’ OF ‘LEGITIMATE RESISTANCE,’ ITS PERPETRATOR IS A ‘HERO’
“SACRED RETALIATION” – PALESTINIAN SONG DEDICATED TO KHAIRY ALQAM, PERPETRATOR OF JERUSALEM SYNAGOGUE SHOOTING
ANTISEMITIC BOOK THAT SPURRED ISRAELI COMPLAINT IS TAKEN OFF SHELVES AT CAIRO FAIR
ON CAMPUS
KANYE WEST-LINKED ANTISEMITIC GRAFFITI ALARMS ALABAMA UNIVERSITY
By International The News
Kanye West’s toxic antisemitic slurs approval graffiti appeared on several spots at The University of Alabama. According to Advance Local, #YeisRight, appeared on the campus written in chalk, signaling the rapper’s hateful remarks. The university released a statement saying it was notified of the “anonymous chalkings concerning language targeting our Jewish community” Monday morning. “We condemn these chalkings, which violate our Capstone Creed, our campus culture, and our core values,” the statement said.
BOMB AND GUN THREATS CALLED INTO JCHS AND KEHILLAH JEWISH HIGH SCHOOLS
By The Jewish News of Northern California
Phoned-in threats targeted two Bay Area Jewish high schools Thursday, leading to an all-school evacuation at one. A bomb threat was called into Kehillah Jewish High School in Palo Alto, while Jewish Community High School of the Bay in San Francisco received a call from the same number threatening the school and mentioning a firearm.
TAUGHT TO SAY ‘SIEG HEIL’: OHIO-BASED NEO-NAZI HOMESCHOOLING NETWORK UNMASKED
By Andrew Lapin
Ohio’s department of education is investigating a homeschooling network that claims public schools are run by “Zionist scum,” teaches kids to say “Sieg Heil” in class and instructs fellow parents not to give their kids “Jewish media content.” These are the more than 2,500 members of the “Dissident Homeschool Network,” a channel on the social network messaging app Telegram. The “dissidents” are a group of Nazi parents who share homeschooling lesson plans extolling the virtues of Hitler and white nationalism.
ANALYSIS & OP-EDS
STUDIES & STATISTICS
NEARLY 25% OF ISRAELI JEWS EXPERIENCE ANTISEMITISM ABROAD – SURVEY
By JERUSALEM POST
Some 25% of Israeli Jews questioned for a survey reported that they have experienced antisemitism abroad (outside of Israel) and 36% reported that they avoid traveling abroad for fear of being identified as Jews, according to a recent report from the World Zionist Organization (WZO). The study also determined that nearly half of the Israeli public is afraid to wear outward symbols of Judaism in public abroad. When asked about specific countries in which they felt particularly unsafe, 62% of respondents listed Turkey as the most dangerous, followed by France.
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
OFFICIAL’S SPAIN APPROVES THE NATIONAL PLAN TO COMBAT ANTISEMITISM
By RTVE.es
The Government has approved this Tuesday in the Council of Ministers the National Plan to implement the European Strategy to Combat Antisemitism for 2023-2030, which will have a “specialized” protocol for complaints of hate crimes when it refers to Jewish people. At a press conference after the Council of Ministers, the Minister of the Presidency and Democratic Memory, Félix Bolaños, explained that this plan, which advanced last Friday , is intended to “guarantee and strengthen the fight against antisemitism.”
FRENCH PRIME MINISTER UNVEILS PLANS TO TACKLE RACISM
By Elaine Ganley
The four-year plan starts with educating youth with a required yearly trip to a Holocaust or other memorial site exemplifying the horrors that racism can produce. It includes training teachers and civil servants about discrimination and toughening the ability to punish those denounced for discrimination. France’s government has rolled out a succession of plans over five decades, the latest in 2018, to grapple with racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination. Still, the estimated number of victims who suffered as least one racist, anti-Semitic or xenophobic attack was 1.2 million per year, according to the National Consultative Commission on Human Rights.
AT FORMER SS HEADQUARTERS IN BERLIN, EUROPEAN LEADERS TEACH THE U.S. A LESSON ON ANTISEMITISM
By Gabby Deutch
Antisemitism envoys from across Europe gathered in Berlin on Monday for a meeting with Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff and Deborah Lipstadt, the U.S. special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism. The convening took place in the Topography of Terror museum located at the former SS headquarters, on the 90th anniversary of Hitler’s appointment as chancellor. The meeting follows a White House announcement in December that the Biden administration plans to create a national strategy on antisemitism.
SAFETY GELT: FL GOV. DESANTIS PROPOSES $18M FOR JEWISH SCHOOL SECURITY, EDUCATION SERVICES
HUMANITY
HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS SHARE TESTIMONIES IN PERSONAL MEETINGS WITH TOP US MEDIA OUTLETS
By CAM
Coinciding with International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) organized a series of virtual meetings this week where survivors of the Nazi genocide shared their testimonies with senior journalists at several major U.S. media outlets, including The Dallas Morning News, The Tennessean, and The Washington Times.
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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.
