THIS WEEK’S GLOBAL ANTI-SEMITISM REPORT
In this week’s global anti-Semitism report, CAM covers 37 new anti-Semitic incidents (46% far-right, 27% far-left, 14% Islamist, and 13% unidentifiable).
The FBI arrested a white supremacist who boasted of his desire to gas Jews. The British Jewish community expressed outrage over a BBC program in which four non-Jews debated whether Jews should be considered a minority group.
Just this morning, a knife-wielding man was arrested outside of a Jewish school and Kosher grocery store in France. In the Middle East, the Palestinian Authority published a cartoon depicting Prime Minister Netanyahu as Hitler and a new report from IMPACT-se shows that textbooks in Turkey now refer to Jews as “infidels.”
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that the Biden Administration “enthusiastically embraces” the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, including its examples. The University of California – San Diego student government and the Global Student Forum adopted the IHRA definition this week.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SPECIAL FEATURE
ABRAHAMIC FAITHS UNITE TO FIGHT ANTI-SEMITISM, REMOVE EXTREMISM FROM ‘HALLS OF POWER’
By TARA KAVALER
Leaders of the Abrahamic faiths came together for the inaugural Combat Anti-Semitism Movement (CAM) Summit to fight another global pandemic: anti-Semitism. Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who received the CAM Global Leadership Award for fighting hatred against Jews, celebrated the US-brokered Abraham Accords. Leaders within the Abrahamic faith traditions discussed reasons for getting involved in the battle against the anti-Semitism. Read Here
AT CAM SUMMIT, CONGRESSMAN TED DEUTCH URGES US GOVERNMENT TO ADOPT IHRA ANTI-SEMITISM DEFINITION
By CAM
Congressman Ted Deutch (D-FL) urged the US government to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism. In remarks delivered at CAM’s Annual Summit, Deutch declared, “Anti-Semitism left unchecked will only keep spreading. That applies to both the anti-Semitism on the political left and on the political right. And we can only effectively fight anti-Semitism if we are willing to call it out wherever it appears.” Read Here
CAM DIRECTOR TO ANSWER QUESTION ‘IS THERE JUSTICE FOR JEWS?’ AT CAEF EVENT
By CAM
CAM Executive Director Sacha Roytman Dratwa will share his insights on anti-Semitism in Europe during an online event next week hosted by the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation (CAEF). The event — which is part of CAEF’s “JUSTICE FOR JEWS!” web series – will begin at 2 PM EST on Tuesday, March 9th. In his remarks, Roytman Dratwa will answer the question, “Is there justice for Jews in Europe?” Read Here
UNITED STATES
‘JEWISH IDEAS POISON PEOPLE,’ STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL WRITES ON CHRISTIAN NATIONALIST BLOG
By ASAF SHALEV
A U.S. State Department employee named Fritz Berggren has been moonlighting as a blogger devoted to attacking Jews and promoting white Christian nationalism. “Jesus Christ came to save the whole world from the Jews…,” Berggren wrote in an Oct. 2020, post. Later in the post he writes, “Jewish ideas poison people.” Berggren has been sharing his anti-Semitic views under his real name for years while working as a mid-level civil servant. Read Here
FBI SEIZES WHITE SUPREMACIST WHO TROLLED JEWS AND BLACKS ONLINE DRESSED AS BATMAN VILLAIN
By Algemeiner Staff
FBI agents arrested a Florida-based white supremacist who boasted of his desire to “gas” Jews on social media. Federal agents swooped on a residence in Fort Lauderdale where they took 32-year-old Paul Miller — a New Jersey native described as a “volatile white supremacist-accelerationist” — into custody. Read Here
WORLD NEWS
United Kingdom
ANGER OVER “RIDICULOUS” BBC PANEL DISCUSSION ON WHETHER JEWS ARE ETHNIC MINORITY
By Rachel Steinberg
PinkNews CEO Benjamin Cohen expressed anger after Politics Live on BBC discussed whether Jews should be classified as an ethnic minority. The panel of four non-Jews each offered their view, with Mr Cohen commenting as a guest. After the programme he tweeted: “…the BBC literally just asked four non-Jews if they agreed with me that Jews are an ethnic minority. Imagine if I was Black and four white people were asked to judge if I was a member of an ethnic minority. It would be as offensive.” Read Here
POLICE INVESTIGATING “UK ZIONIST POLICE STATE” GRAFFITI DAUBED ON BUILDING
By Jewish News
Graffiti in east London branding the UK a “Zionist police state” is being investigated by police. The daubing appeared on Rothbury Road near the Queen’s Yard in Hackney Wick, by the Olympic Park. It was reported by concerned Jewish local resident, Martin Sugarman. Police said it is “aware of it and contacted the council to get it removed as a matter of urgency.” No arrests have been made. Read Here
GERMANY
HUNDREDS OF GERMAN POLICE SWOOP ON MEMBERS OF BANNED ANTI-SEMITIC ISLAMIC GROUP
By AP
Hundreds of German police officers conducted coordinated raids in Berlin and Brandenburg in the investigation of an organization banned over allegations of Islamic extremism. Some 850 police, including SWAT teams, were involved in the raids of apartments linked to members of the organization known as Jama’atu Berlin. Read Here
OTHER WORLD NEWS
MAN WIELDING KNIFE ARRESTED OUTSIDE JEWISH SCHOOL, KOSHER STORE IN FRANCE
By TOI STAFF and AP
A man armed with a knife attempted to enter a kosher grocery store near a Jewish school in the city of Marseille, before being overpowered by security personnel and arrested. The man was spotted by security guards at the Yavne Jewish high school in the city emerging from a vehicle with a knife. Media reports said he had a piece of cloth, possibly a towel, wrapped around his head. Read Here
NETHERLANDS: “I’VE LOST COUNT” SAYS OWNER OF AMSTERDAM KOSHER RESTAURANT AFTER LATEST ANTI-SEMITIC VANDALISM
By Algemeiner
The owner of a kosher restaurant in Amsterdam said that he had lost count of the times his establishment had been vandalized in recent years after anti-Semitic graffiti was discovered on its windows. An anti-Semitic slogan was scrawled onto the window of the HaCarmel eatery in the Dutch capital. Read Here
CANADA: JEWISH GROUPS RAISE ANTI-SEMITISM CONCERNS AHEAD OF NIKI ASHTON’S CHAT WITH U.K.’S CORBYN
By Christopher Reynolds
Prominent Jewish advocacy groups are voicing concerns about anti-Semitism ahead of a public conversation between NDP MP Niki Ashton and former U.K. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. The planned livestream talk risks pulling New Democrats in a direction “antithetical” to Canadian values, said Shimon Fogel, head of the Toronto-based Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs. Read Here
THE MIDDLE EAST
NETANYAHU IS HITLER – ANTI-SEMITIC FATAH CARTOON
By Nan Jacques Zilberdik
An anti-Semitic cartoon was posted by Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah Commission of Information and Culture. It shows Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as Hitler with Hitler’s mustache and a Nazi uniform with Stars of David on blue instead of Swastikas on red on his tie and arm band. Netanyahu is making a Nazi salute and blood is dripping from his hand. Read Here
ON CAMPUS
MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY FIRES PROFESSOR FOR ANTI-SEMITIC AND RACIST SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
By JTA
Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan fired a professor for using anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic and other inflammatory language on social media. Thomas Brennan, a physical sciences professor, had tweeted about a “Jewish mafia” and called the COVID-19 pandemic a “Jewish revolution.” Read Here
OBERLIN COLLEGE’S PROFESSOR OF PEACE URGED ELIMINATION OF JEWISH STATE
By Benjamin Weinthal
As it works to play down accusations that Oberlin College’s so-called “Professor of Peace,” Mohammad Jafar Mahallati, was involved in crimes against humanity, the liberal arts college is now confronted with new allegations of anti-Semitism as it continues to provide a platform for an academic who has urged the destruction of Israel. Read Here
ANALYSIS & OP-EDS
STUDIES & STATISTICS
WISCONSIN SEES 36% INCREASE IN REPORTED ANTI-SEMITIC INCIDENTS IN 2020
By Eli Nahum
Anti-Semitic incidents reported in Wisconsin increased 36% from 2019 to 2020, according to the Jewish Community Relations Council of Milwaukee Jewish Federation. “2020 was sadly, but not surprisingly, another high-water mark year for anti-Semitic incidents in Wisconsin, surpassing recorded incidents from 2019,” said Brian Schupper, Chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC). Read Here
TURKISH TEXTBOOKS INCREASINGLY DEMONIZE ISRAEL AND ZIONISM, REFER TO JEWS AS ‘INFIDELS,’ SAYS NEW REPORT
By Benjamin Kerstein
A new report found that the latest editions of Turkish school textbooks take a strongly negative view of Israel and now describe Jews as “infidels.” The report by IMPACT-se, which examines education materials on the basis of UNESCO standards related to peace, human rights, and tolerance, has found an increasing “Islamization” of the Turkish curriculum, in accordance with the Islamist government led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Read Here
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
BIDEN ADMIN ‘ENTHUSIASTICALLY EMBRACES’ FULL IHRA DEFINITION OF ANTI-SEMITISM
By Melissa Weiss
Secretary of State Tony Blinken wrote that the Biden administration “enthusiastically embraces” the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism, including its full list of examples. In a letter to the American Zionist Movement, Blinken said the administration is “eager to work with allies and partners to counter Holocaust distortion and combat anti-Semitism abroad while we strengthen our efforts at home.” Read Here
NETANYAHU SLAMS ‘ANTI-SEMITIC’ WAR CRIMES PROBE INTO ISRAEL
By MICHAEL DAVENTRY
The International Criminal Court’s decision to investigate alleged war crimes in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is “the epitome of anti-Semitism and hypocrisy”, Benjamin Netanyahu has said. The Israeli Prime Minister pledged to reverse the decision soon after it was announced by Fatou Bensouda, the prosecutor of the court, which is based in the Hague. Read Here
HUMANITY
BAHRAINI SHEIKH DELIVERS KEYNOTE ADDRESS AT FIRST-EVER PURIM CELEBRATION OF JEWS FROM SIX GULF STATES
By Julie Stahl
For the first time ever, Jewish communities in the Gulf States celebrated a virtual Purim together. Hosted by the brand-new Association of Gulf Jewish Communities (AGJC), the meeting took place in Dubai and Bahrain. It included a keynote address from the H.E. Dr. Sh. Khalid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, of the King Hamad Global Centre for Peaceful Co-existence in Bahrain. Read Here
The Combat Anti-Semitism Movement is a non-partisan, global grassroots movement of individuals and organizations, across all religions and faiths, united around the goal of ending anti-Semitism in all its forms. Since its launching in February 2019, 294 organizations and 299,000 individuals have joined the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement by signing the campaign’s pledge. The CAM Pledge draws upon the IHRA international definition of anti- Semitism and its list of specific behaviors used to discriminate against the Jewish people and the Jewish State of Israel.
