THIS WEEK’S GLOBAL ANTI-SEMITISM REPORT
This past week, Catholic Bishop Georg Bätzing, chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, called for resolute resistance to antisemitism in a New Year’s sermon, saying “Christians should stand up and raise their voices when cheeky and blatant antisemitic slogans are shouted again and crimes are committed.”
Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Knapen announced his government will cut funds to a Palestinian NGO over its ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) — designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., the European Union, and others.
Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan will put forward a resolution opposing Holocaust denial and distortion at the U.N. General Assembly, amid a marked rise in Holocaust trivialization, distortion and denial worldwide. The CAM Information Hub tracked 118 incidents of Holocaust trivialization in the second half of 2021, and is calling on leaders and the public at large to combat this growing phenomenon.
Meanwhile, David Bateman — the founder of Utah-based tech firm Entrata — has resigned following a mass email he sent to a group of prominent associates in which he claimed “the Jews” were using the Covid-19 vaccine to “euthanize the American people,” among other antisemitic conspiracies.
In what has become a pattern, another Orthodox Jewish man was attacked by two assailants in Brooklyn, leaving him hospitalized with lacerations to the head. In Paris, France yet another elderly Jewish woman fell victim to an antisemitic home invasion, was robbed of all of her Jewelry, and beaten by the two attackers. A visibly Jewish man was also punched in the face on a street in Manchester, England.
A rabbi’s mailbox was blown up with fireworks in Miami Gardens, Florida, and Nazi symbols were painted on a Jewish residence for senior citizens in Munich, Germany.
In Seattle, Washington, an assistant police chief was suspended for displaying the Nazi SS insignia on his office door and for joking about the Holocaust. A staffer for U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, called Israel a “racist European ethnostate,” and dozens of Belgian soccer fans sang about gassing and burning Jews while giving Nazi salutes and praising Hamas.
This week’s global antisemitism report highlights 33 new media reports of antisemitic incidents. The total includes 18 (54.5%) from the far-right, 3 (9.1%) from the far-left, 6 (18.2%) with Islamist motivations, and 6 (18.2%) unidentifiable in nature.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SPECIAL FEATURES
‘THERE IS NEITHER GREEK NOR JEW’: A RECEPTION HONORING ‘RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS’ LOUKAS KARRER AND DIMITRIOS CHRYSOSTOMOS FOR INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY
Just before International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the Combat Antisemitism Movement will co-host a virtual LIVE reception on January 25th, at 6 PM Greece time (11 AM EST), to honor the late Greek heroes Loukas Karrer and Dimitrios Chrysostomos ahead of the 44th anniversary of their “Righteous Among the Nations” designation by Yad Vashem. This commemorative event will tell the story of the courageous efforts of Karrer and Chrysostomos to save the Jews of the Greek island of Zakynthos from the Nazis during World War II, and highlight its relevance to the contemporary fight against antisemitism.
MEET OUR PARTNER FIGHTING IRANIAN DISINFORMATION IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE: THE CENTER FOR A SECURE FREE SOCIETY
The Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS) is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank pursuing a society of free, responsible, and vigilant individuals advancing peace and prosperity based on the shared values of individual liberty, limited government, free enterprise, national sovereignty, and strong national security. “Our mission is to advance freedom and security worldwide, but particularly in the Western Hemisphere,” SFS Executive Director Joseph M. Humire said. “If your neighborhood is in disarray, that’s going to affect you at home.” Among its activities, the SFS tracks and reports on digital threats, such as the dissemination of false information in Latin America by the Iranian regime and its proxies.
COMBAT ANTISEMITISM MOVEMENT DATABASE OF HOLOCAUST TRIVIALIZATION INCIDENTS SINCE SUMMER 2021
As debates over Covid-19 pandemic-related health measures implemented by governments have grown more rancorous, the trivialization of the Holocaust has become an all-too-common trend in the public sphere. These trivialization incidents have included the wearing of Stars of David and mock concentration camp uniforms at protests, the performance of Nazi salutes at city council and school board meetings, the vandalization of Holocaust memorials, the likening of modern-day government officials to Nazi leaders, and the distribution of flyers propagating conspiracy theories about Jews. The comparison of contemporary health policies to the systematic persecution and extermination of European Jews by the Nazi regime not only minimizes their suffering, but also disregards the unique horrors that Jews and other victims of the Nazis endured during the Holocaust.
UNITED STATES
‘IT DOESN’T STOP’: ORTHODOX JEWISH MAN RUSHED TO HOSPITAL FOLLOWING VIOLENT ATTACK IN BROOKLYN
By Algemeiner Staff
An Orthodox Jewish man was badly beaten up by at least two assailants in Brooklyn, in an attack that is now being investigated by the New York City Police Department’s Hate Crimes Unit. The attack took place near the corner of Gerry Street and Bartlett Street in the borough’s Williamsburg section. The victim, a 26-year-old man, was chased down by two individuals who then struck him with what police described as an “unknown object,” resulting in a laceration to his head.
CHAIR OF UTAH TECH FIRM QUITS OVER ANTISEMITIC EMAIL CLAIMING JEWISH PLOT TO ‘EUTHANIZE’ AMERICANS WITH COVID-19 VACCINE
By CAM
David Bateman — the founder of the Utah-based tech firm Entrata — has resigned following a mass email he sent to a group of prominent associates in which he claimed “the Jews” were using the Covid-19 vaccine to “euthanize the American people.” The text said, “I believe there is a sadistic effort underway to euthanize the American people….” Bateman declared, “I believe the Jews are behind this. For 300 years the Jews have been trying to infiltrate the Catholic Church and place a Jew covertly at the top. It happened in 2013 with Pope Francis. No one is reporting on it, but the Hasidic Jews in the US instituted a law for their people that they are not to be vaccinated for any reason.”
JON STEWART SAYS J.K. ROWLING IS NOT ANTI-SEMITIC AFTER ‘HARRY POTTER’ COMMENTS GO VIRAL
WORLD NEWS
United Kingdom
VISIBLY JEWISH MAN PUNCHED IN THE FACE IN MANCHESTER
By Campaign Against Antisemitism
CTV footage has shown a visibly Jewish man being punched in the face in Manchester. Reports state that the suspect was drunk and in the midst of a heated argument with a woman, believed to be his partner, before he ran up to the Jewish man on the street and punched him in the side of the face. The male suspect fled the scene, the woman was detained by the authorities.
ANTISEMITISM CONTROVERSIES PROMPT CALLS FOR UK’S BBC PUBLIC BROADCASTER TO ADOPT IHRA DEFINITION
By CAM
The BBC is being urged by UK politicians and Jewish organizations to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, amid ongoing controversies over the public broadcaster’s coverage of Jewish issues and Israel. British MPs Stephen Crabb and Robert Halfon had joined the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Campaign Against Antisemitism, and Jewish Leadership Council in calling on the BBC to adopt the IHRA definition, widely viewed as the most authoritative, comprehensive, and representative tool to delineate all of the contemporary manifestations of Jew-hatred. Furthermore, the Board of Deputies of British Jews demanded the BBC provide its staff with antisemitism awareness training.
GERMANY
NAZI SYMBOLS ON A JEWISH SENIOR CITIZENS’ RESIDENCE IN MUNICH
By Eli Nahum
Swastikas and Victory Runes were left on the exterior of the new Jewish senior citizens’ residence of the Jewish community built on Eugen-Jochum-Strasse in the Oberföhring district of Munich. The perpetrators are said to have used bitumen, a sticky mass that is used in road construction, among other things.
INVESTIGATIONS INTO ANTISEMITIC POSTS IN WESEL TELEGRAM GROUP
FRANCE
ANOTHER ELDERLY FRENCH JEWISH WOMAN BEATEN AND ROBBED BY ANTISEMITIC INTRUDERS IN HER PARIS APARTMENT
By Ben Cohen
Yet another elderly French Jewish woman living alone in her own home has been subjected to a brutal robbery motivated by antisemitism. Two minors, described as Black and of about 16-17 years of age, rang the doorbell of their victim’s apartment, pretending to be members of the building’s security detail. When the victim — a 74-year-old pensioner — answered the door, the two assailants forced their way inside and subjected their victim to a series of heavy blows before tying her up and ordering her to disclose where she kept her jewelry. After having stolen all of their victim’s jewelry, the assailants fled, leaving her badly bruised on the face and legs and in a state of severe shock.
OTHER WORLD NEWS
SOCCER FANS FILMED SINGING ABOUT KILLING JEWS IN BELGIUM
By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
Dozens of soccer fans in Antwerp, Belgium, were filmed giving Nazi salutes while chanting about Hamas and gassing and burning Jews. The incident appeared to have taken place at or outside Café Stadion, a restaurant near a soccer stadium. The men chanted: “My father was in the commandos, my mother was in the SS, together they burned Jews ’cause Jews burn the best,” as well as “Hamas, Jews to the gas” while making the Nazi salutes. They appear to be fans of the Beerschot soccer team of Antwerp
ROMANIAN NATIONALIST PARTY OPPOSES HOLOCAUST EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS
By Madalin Necsutu
The Alliance for the Union of Romanians party, AUR said that the Holocaust represents a “minor issue” and that teaching it in schools would ”undermine the quality of education in Romania”. The AUR was responding after the upper house of Romania’s parliament voted by a large majority for a law making teaching about the Holocaust and Jewish history compulsory. “The ideological experiments on children in Romania must stop! Real education is classical education, which makes citizens aware of their rights and responsibilities, their culture, history and origins,” the AUR said.
AN ANTISEMITIC BOOK ON SALE ONLINE
THE MIDDLE EAST
ON OFFICIAL PALESTINIAN TV, YOUNG GIRL CALLS TO LIBERATE THE LAND FROM JEWS
By TOI Staff
Palestinian Authority television broadcast live a young girl calling to “banish the scoundrels from my land and liberate it from the Jews,” in footage translated by the by Middle East Media Research Institute. During a broadcast on Palestine TV of a ceremony held in honor of Fatah’s 57th anniversary, a young girl at a primary school in Jenin read out a poem asking God to banish the Jews from the region. “Jerusalem is lost. It was sold to the plunderers by our greatest enemies. Oh Lord take them to hell and gather them with sinners like Abu Lahab and save us,” the girl said, referring to Muhammad’s half paternal uncle, who opposed the Muslim prophet during Islam’s formative years.
PA: THE JEWS STOLE EVERYTHING… “[THEY HAVE] NO DRESS NO FOOD NO ART. IT IS ALL STOLEN”
ON CAMPUS
USC DENOUNCES ANTISEMITISM AFTER MAKING WIESENTHAL CENTER’S TOP 10 GLOBAL ANTISEMITISM LIST
By Aaron Bandler
USC issued a statement denouncing antisemitism after the university made the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s annual Global Antisemitism Top Ten list. The Wiesenthal Center ranked USC ninth over their handling of student Yasmeen Mashayekh, who tweeted about wanting “to kill every motherf—ing Zionist.” The university said: “President Folt and the Board of Trustees have publicly and unequivocally denounced antisemitism in all its forms and are committed to creating an environment which is safe for our Jewish community. The university understands why students, faculty and staff have felt unsafe following a series of hateful tweets that called for violence against both Jews and Zionism…The tweets in question violated USC’s community values and we have addressed that with the student, consistent with California law.”
ANALYSIS & OP-EDS
STUDIES & STATISTICS
SURVEY: 80 PERCENT OF ISRAELIS CONCERNED ABOUT GROWING ANTISEMITISM WORLDWIDE
By JNS.org
A recent Israel-wide survey found that almost 80 percent of Israelis are concerned about antisemitism globally, with almost three-quarters of citizens (73 percent) believing antisemitism is widespread. More than half (61 percent) believe that the problem of antisemitism has only grown stronger during the past five years. The survey of more than 500 Israeli citizens, commissioned by World Likud and conducted by the Shiluv i2r Institute, also found that over half of Israelis (58 percent) feel that Israel’s relations with the Diaspora have been harmed by the current government policy not to allow Diaspora Jews to enter the country due to COVID-19.
WATCHDOG: SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS REMOVE ONLY 25% OF POSTS REPORTED AT ANTISEMITIC
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
ERDAN SEEKS TO PASS RESOLUTION AGAINST HOLOCAUST DENIAL AT THE U.N.
By Tamara Zieve
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan will put forward a resolution opposing Holocaust denial and Holocaust distortion later this month at the U.N. General Assembly. The resolution will be brought to a vote at the General Assembly on Jan. 20, a symbolic date marking 80 years since Nazi officials gathered in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to discuss the Final Solution. The resolution includes an adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of Holocaust denial, sets requirements for combating Holocaust denial and places responsibility on social media companies to take active measures to fight Holocaust denial, including removing such content from their platforms.
DUTCH GOVERNMENT CUTS FUNDING TO LEADING PALESTINIAN NGO, CITING EXTENSIVE INDIVIDUAL TIES WITH PFLP TERROR ORGANIZATION
By Ben Cohen
The Dutch government announced that it was cutting funds to a Palestinian NGO over its ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) — designated as a terrorist organization by the US, the European Union, Israel, Australia, Canada and Japan. The decision means that the Netherlands will not pay out the next installment of an aid grant to the Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC). Ben Knapen, the Dutch Foreign Minister, and Tom De Bruijn, the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade, said that research commissioned by the Netherlands cabinet from an independent consultancy had “provided sufficient evidence that there were ties at the individual level between UAWC staff and board members and the PFLP for a considerable period of time.”
GREENE COUNTY, CITY OF SPRINGFIELD LEADERS RELEASE STATEMENT ABOUT ANTI-SEMITIC FLIERS LEFT ON DOORS
HUMANITY
CHAIRMAN OF GERMAN BISHOP’S CONFERENCE BISHOP BÄTZING: CHRISTIANS MUST STAND UP AGAINST ANTISEMITISM
By Eli Nahum
The chairman of the German Bishops’ Conference, Georg Bätzing, called for resolute resistance to antisemitism in his New Year’s sermon. This is especially true for Christians. “It is important to keep thinking about how closely Jews and Christians are related,” said the Catholic bishop in Limburg. “We come from a single root.” That is why Christians should stand up and raise their voices, “when cheeky and blatant antisemitic slogans are shouted again and crimes are committed”.
DOZENS PROTEST ANTISEMITISM IN NEW YORK AFTER TWO JEWS ATTACKED
By Luke Tress
Around 100 protesters gathered in New York City to decry antisemitism after two Jewish men were attacked on a city street. Blake Zavadsky and Ilan Kaganovich, both 21, were assaulted in Brooklyn for wearing an Israel Defense Forces sweatshirt. The pair reached out after the incident to New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, who organized Sunday’s protest in her district. The protesters carried signs that read “End Jew hatred,” and chanted slogans including, “Jewish blood is not cheap” and “An attack on one is an attack on all.”
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.
