THIS WEEK’S GLOBAL ANTI-SEMITISM REPORT
The U.K. government took a step towards banning the antisemitic BDS Movement. In the U.S., the Governor of Massachusetts adopted the IHRA working definition of antisemitism, as did the State House in Kansas by unanimous bipartisan consent. Through the work of Kansas-based volunteer Marjorie Robinow, CAM played an important role in advocating for the resolution.
Germany’s Interior Ministry released a report showing a 30% increase in attacks targeting Jews in 2021, noting that nearly half of the incidents occurred during the conflict between Israel and Hamas. The Interior Ministry also condemned as antisemitic two Pro-Palestinian demonstrations that took place this week in Berlin.
Fireworks were thrown at a group of Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn, New York, and antisemitic flyers were distributed in Colleyville, Texas – the site of the recent synagogue hostage situation.
In a growing campaign by the Goyim Defense League (GDL), antisemitic flyers accusing Jews of controlling the Biden administration and orchestrating the pandemic were found in dozens of more municipalities in at least ten US states including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Texas, and Virginia.
On campus: At Indiana University, an antisemitic tirade posted on a Greek life website accused men in Jewish fraternities of being “east coast Jews” with an appetite for “money, greed, and sexually assaulting women,” continuing, “Their families are in positions of power therefore they get away with everything…Get them off our campus.”
At the University of South Florida a Jewish fraternity student had a swastika drawn on his body without his consent, and a Princeton University pro-Palestine group picketed outside the Center for Jewish Life. A Jewish Toronto public school teacher and second generation Holocaust survivor, was surrounded by students who gave her Nazi salutes.
This week’s global antisemitism report highlights 56 new media reports of antisemitic incidents. The total includes 38 (67.9%) from the far-right, 7 (12.5%) from the far-left, 3 (5.3%) with Islamist motivations, and 8 (14.3%) unidentifiable in nature.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
UNITED STATES
FIREWORKS DETONATED NEAR GROUP OF JEWISH MEN WALKING IN WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN
By JNS
For the fourth week in a row, the Jewish community in Brooklyn, NY, has been subject to an incident of antisemitism. In the most recent event, a car drove slowly down a street in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Williamsburg. On security tape, the vehicle is seen stopping close to a group of Hassidic men as someone tosses something on the ground. Moments later, an explosion could be heard as fireworks detonated near the Jewish men.
ANTISEMITIC FLYERS DISTRIBUTED IN COLLEYVILLE, TEXAS, SITE OF RECENT SYNAGOGUE HOSTAGE CRISIS
By SHIRA HANAU
Residents of Colleyville, Texas, the community where a rabbi and three of his congregants were held hostage for 12 hours at the local synagogue last month, woke up over the weekend to find antisemitic flyers on their driveways and yards. The flyers, which were strewn about the town in plastic zip-top bags with pebbles in them to weigh them down, were similar to ones that have been distributed in several cities across the country since last year. They have often been distributed by members of the antisemitic Goyim Defense League group. The town’s synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel, released a statement condemning the flyers and said some members of the synagogue had found the flyers on their properties. Colleyville police said that the number of flyers was in the hundreds. One flyer stated that “every single aspect of the COVID agenda is Jewish” and another said “Black lives murder white children.”
WHITE SUPREMACISTS ‘ZOOM BOMB’ NY LAWMAKER’S EVENT WITH SLURS, PORNOGRAPHY
WORLD NEWS
United Kingdom
“DON’T GET OFF THE BUS F***** JEW,” SERIAL OFFENDER SAYS, AS SHE BLOCKS PREGNANT JEWISH WOMAN FROM ALIGHTING BUS
By Campaign Against Antisemitism
An alleged serial offender told a pregnant Jewish woman “Don’t get off the bus F***** Jew,” as she prevented the victim from alighting the bus. The incident took place on a 253 bus and was reported by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol. The assailant was described as a black woman aged around 25 with a medium build and a ponytail. She was wearing a mustard colour jumper.
AMAZON ACCUSED OF INCITING HATE OVER ITS ‘INTIFADA CLOTHING’ RANGE
CANADA
B’NAI BRITH SEEKS CLARIFICATION FROM MONTREAL MAYOR AFTER COUNCILLOR LIKES BDS
By B’nai B’rith Canada
B’nai Brith Canada is seeking clarification after a prominent Montreal Councillor “liked“ a Facebook post by a virulent anti-Israel group. Alexander Norris, leader of Project Montreal, the incumbent political party, liked a Facebook post by Independent Jewish Voices (IJV). The group advocates for boycotts, divestments, sanctions (BDS) against the Jewish State. In response to Norris’ like, B’nai Brith has written to Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante, asking for clarification to determine if Norris spoke for her administration when he liked the post on Facebook.
GERMANY
GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTER DENOUNCES ‘ANTISEMITIC’ PRO-PALESTINIAN DEMONSTRATIONS IN BERLIN
By Ben Cohen
Germany’s interior minister has sharply condemned two pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Berlin where participants chanted slogans advocating violence against the State of Israel. “We are resolutely opposed to any form of antisemitism and hatred of the state of Israel,” Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser told the Bild. At the first demonstration in the Kreuzberg district of the German capital, protestors chanted “Yalla intifada, from Hanau to Gaza!” At the second demonstration in the Wedding district, some participants waved the flags of Samidoun, a Palestinian prisoner solidarity organization with ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization. The subsequent rally heard speeches from supporters of the BDS campaign.
FRANCE
FRENCH JEWISH LEADER CALLS FOR ‘TARGETED STRATEGY’ TO COMBAT ANTISEMITISM, CRITICIZES EXISTING GOVERNMENT EFFORTS
By Ben Cohen
France’s Jewish community will call for a “targeted strategy” to combat antisemitism that will emphasize the unique features of anti-Jewish bigotry along with the importance of victims filing criminal complaints with the police. In an interview with the AFP, Francis Kalifat — the president of Crif, the umbrella body representing French Jews — stated plainly that the three-year plans to fight racism and antisemitism launched by the French government in 2012, 2015 and 2018 had failed to tackle the problem.
ANTISEMITIC TAGS INSCRIBED ON THE CONSTRUCTION SITE OF THE SAINT-ALBAN-AURIOLLES VILLAGE HALL
OTHER WORLD NEWS
ROBLOX, POPULAR KIDS’ COMPUTER GAME, REMOVES VIRTUAL NAZI GAS CHAMBERS
By SHIRA HANAU
Roblox, a collaborative computer gaming platform for children as young as 7, has faced serious criticism over the years for failing to properly moderate its content — with antisemitism and racism rife, according to multiple reports. Now the platform says it has removed a virtual Nazi concentration camp featuring gas chambers that users could operate. The Daily Mail revealed the existence of the concentration camp game, which included tall watchtowers, gas chambers, and train tracks apparently representing the cattle cars that brought Jews to Nazi death camps to be murdered. The game featured gas chambers which users could operate by pressing a button with the word “execute” or enter to experience death of their avatar, or the computer figure representing the player, by gassing.
DECLARING WAR ON UKRAINE, RUSSIA’S PUTIN CITES GOAL OF ‘DENAZIFICATION’ OF COUNTRY WITH JEWISH PRESIDENT
NEW ZEALAND: HOLOCAUST DISTORTION AND ANTISEMITISM RIFE WITHIN ANTI-MANDATE PROTESTS
ON CAMPUS
‘CLEARLY SOMETHING IS BROKEN’: CANADIAN JEWISH GROUPS CALL FOR ‘IMMEDIATE’ ACTION AFTER LATEST NAZI SALUTE INCIDENT IN TORONTO SCHOOLS
By CAM
Police in Canada are investigating an incident that saw students at Valley Park Middle School in Toronto, Ontario, surround a Jewish teacher — the daughter of Holocaust survivors — and perform a Nazi salute. The act was “very hateful, very hurtful, [and] very upsetting to the teacher,” a Toronto District School Board (TDSB) spokesperson, Shari Schwartz-Maltz, said. She added, “There will be consequences [for the students],” and vowed the TDSB was working to “bring more Holocaust education into our schools.”
HATEFUL ANTISEMITIC POSTS ABOUT JEWISH GREEK LIFE MEMBERS DENOUNCED AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY
By Dion J. Pierre
Indiana University officials and the Jewish community have denounced an antisemitic tirade posted on a Greek life website, as local police attempt to reveal its author. Written on GreekRank.com, a website where students comment on and rank their fraternities and sororities at university, the post accused men in Jewish fraternities of being “east coast Jews” with an appetite for “money, greed, and sexually assaulting women.” “The truth is that their huge noses, afros, and smelliness prevent them from being attractive so they rape and justify it with their sick way of looking at the world,” it said. “Their families are in positions of power therefore they get away with everything and are not scared.”
ANALYSIS & OP-EDS
STUDIES & STATISTICS
‘SHOCKING, NOT SURPRISING’: GERMAN INTERIOR MINISTRY RECORDS STEEP RISE IN ANTISEMITIC CRIMES DURING 2021
By Ben Cohen
Antisemitic outrages in Germany once again rose precipitously in 2021, with a 30 percent increase in attacks targeting Jews, according to data released by the Federal Ministry of the Interior. The data showed that 3,028 antisemitic crimes were recorded in 2021, with incidents involving violence rising as a proportion of the total. The police registered 63 violent assaults in 2021 — six more than in 2020, with a casualty toll that included four deaths and at least 24 injuries. The report noted that nearly half of the incidents (1,306) occurred in the second quarter of last year, during the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip that witnessed antisemitic violence accompanying “Free Palestine” demonstrations around the world.
COVID-19 CONSPIRACY THEORIES TRIGGER FRESH RISE IN ANTISEMITISM IN SWITZERLAND, NEW REPORT FINDS
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
UK GOVERNMENT TAKES FIRST HISTORIC STEP TOWARDS BANNING BDS IN BRITAIN
By KIRSTY BUCHANAN
The UK government has taken the historic first step in outlawing the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement in Britain. Amid protests from some Labour MPs, an amendment tabled by former Communities Minister Rob Jenrick has been passed with the government support to stop local authority pension funds from backing BDS sanctions against UK companies connected with Israel. Changes to the Pensions Service Pensions and Judicial Offices Bill will give the Local Government Secretary new powers to direct Local Government Pension Funds not to make decisions that conflict with government foreign and defense policy.
SEEKING TO ‘TURN DARKNESS INTO LIGHT,’ MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR ISSUES PROCLAMATION ENDORSING IHRA ANTISEMITISM DEFINITION
By CAM
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker issued a proclamation officially endorsing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism. This made Massachusetts the 19th U.S. state to adopt or endorse the IHRA definition, according to Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) Information Hub data. Governor Baker’s proclamation noted, “The IHRA Working Definition provides a clear, comprehensive, and non-legally binding definition that can be used to determine contemporary manifestations of antisemitism including Holocaust distortion or denial, prejudices against Jews, and the denial of Israel’s right to exist.”
HUMANITY
‘APARTHEID’ ISRAEL APPOINTS FIRST MUSLIM AND FIRST SEPHARDI WOMAN SUPREME COURT JUSTICES
By JOSH KAPLAN
Just weeks after being branded an ‘apartheid’ state by Amnesty International, Israel is set to promote its first Muslim Arab justice to a permanent seat on its highest court. Israel’s Judicial Appointments Committee announced four new justices, including Muslim judge Khaled Kubub and Gila Kanfei-Steinitz, who is the first female judge with Sephardi ancestry on the court. The news of these appointments comes just weeks after Israel was branded ‘an apartheid regime’ by human rights group Amnesty International. Born in Jaffa, Kubub studied Law at Tel Aviv University before working in private practice. He was later appointed a judge in the Tel Aviv district court.
GROWING SCHISM ON ECUMENICAL COMMITTEE OVER PRESBYTERIAN ANTISEMITISM
The Combat Antisemitism Movement is a global coalition engaging more than 360,000 people and 440 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.
