THIS WEEK’S GLOBAL ANTISEMITISM REPORT
Addressing the Knesset, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said antisemitism was contrary to European values, and vowed to combat resurgent Jew-hatred. Meanwhile, lawmakers in New York State passed Holocaust education legislation.
U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt gave her first key-note address in New York at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organization’s Convening on Antisemitism. The Ambassador described antisemitism as “free-flowing and coming from all directions,” noting both how the Buffalo mass shooting demonstrated a pervasive antisemitic ideology, and that “we cannot ignore the connection between antisemitism and attacks on Israel,” pointing out that “some criticism of Israel is a foil for antisemitism.”
The same day, Iran’s Foreign Minister speaking at the World Economic Forum said “The national interests of the United States have been taken hostage by the Zionists.” Iraq’s parliament passed legislation to execute or imprison for life citizens who have contacts with Israelis, which the U.S. State Department said fosters “an environment of antisemitism.”
In a shocking provocation, members of the Goyim Defense League, dressed in Nazi uniforms, shouted antisemitic rhetoric through a megaphone in Los Angeles, saying “Nazis are coming,” “You got six million?” and “Come on Jewboy.” The group drove around in a truck covered in antisemitic messages such as “Jewish Lives Matter Most” and “Resisting the Great Replacement = Greatest Threat??”
In New York City, a woman threw fiery objects at a synagogue, a Baltimore JCC received a second bomb threat, and a menorah at the University of Cincinnati was vandalized for the fourth time. In London, a Jewish-owned Israeli restaurant was targeted with ‘Free Palestine’ graffiti, and a group of Jews were told “Hope you die in another Holocaust, f***ing Jews” after leaving another restaurant. Two Jewish cemeteries were also vandalized in Germany, one with Nazi symbols.
This week’s global antisemitism report highlights 36 new media reports of antisemitic incidents. The total includes 17 (47.2%) from the far-right, 6 (16.7%) from the far-left, 8 (22.2%) with Islamist motivations, and 5 (13.9%) unidentifiable in nature.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
UNITED STATES
MEN DRESSED IN NAZI UNIFORMS HARASS GUESTS AT BEVERLY HILTON
By Aaron Bandler
A group of men dressed in Nazi uniforms were harassing guests at the Beverly Hilton hotel and then proceeded to drive through the streets of Beverly Hills shouting antisemitic rhetoric. Video footage showed the men shouting the “Nazis are coming!” at the hotel guests. Other video footage showing what appears to be the same men driving around Beverly Hills and shouting into a loudspeaker, “How many baby penises have you sucked today? You got six million?” “Come on Jewboy,” and “My name’s Gary and I’m from the Synagogue of Satan.”
TRUCK COVERED IN ANTISEMITIC MESSAGES IN WEST HOLLYWOOD BEING INVESTIGATED AS HATE INCIDENT
By Michelle Valles and Maggie More
A truck covered in antisemitic messages is being investigated by authorities as a hate incident, after driving through West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. The vehicle, a rented box truck, was covered in racist and antisemitic slogans such as “Jewish Lives Matter Most” and “Resisting the Great Replacement = Greatest Threat??” Video shared by the WeHo Social Justice Coalition showed several people angrily confronting two men holding cell phones outside the truck, while the truck was parked at the gas station. The two men appeared to be filming the angry reactions from the crowd.
NYPD SEARCHES FOR WOMAN SEEN TOSSING LIT BOOK AT SYNAGOGUE
By JNS
New York City Police is offering a reward of up to $3,500 for information leading to the arrest of a woman seen on video lighting a book and piece of cloth on fire before tossing them both at the entrance of a Manhattan synagogue. The suspect threw the flammable items through the front gate of the Brotherhood Synagogue on Gramercy Park, said police. The incident is being investigated as a hate crime. A video of the suspect shows the woman walking down a sidewalk in all-black attire, wearing a white baseball cap and carrying a green bag.
WORLD NEWS
United Kingdom
ISRAELI-OWNED RESTAURANT TARGETED WITH ‘FREE PALESTINE’ GRAFFITI
By Lee Harpin
A popular brasserie in Woodside Park, north London, has been targeted in an apparent antisemitic graffiti attack. An entire front window of Michaels Brasserie, was sprayed with slogan “Free Palestine” in yellow and black paint. Owner Michael Levi confirmed he was left “hurt and upset” after he spotted the graffiti after arriving at the shop at around 6.30am to bake that day’s bread supplies. He immediately telephoned police, who arrived at the store within 45 minutes, and officers proceeded to take photographs and a statement from the chef.
“HOPE YOU DIE IN ANOTHER HOLOCAUST, F***ING JEWS”, GROUP OF JEWS TOLD IN HENDON
By Campaign Against Antisemitism
A group of Jews were told “Hope you die in another Holocaust, f***ing Jews” after leaving a restaurant in Hendon. Two Caucasian men directed a series of expletive-laden antisemitic insults in the direction of the group as the victims walked up Church Lane. One of the group told Campaign Against Antisemitism: “What a pitiful way to end our enjoyable evening. The abusers didn’t even appear to be drunk, only hateful. Saddest of all was how unremarkable it felt – a sad reminder of how common this sort of unreported and under-the-radar antisemitism still is in the UK.”
VICAR ACCUSED OF ANTISEMITISM FACES REMOVAL FROM CHURCH OF ENGLAND AT DISCIPLINARY HEARING
GERMANY
ALTONA JEWISH CEMETERY DAUBED WITH NAZI SYMBOLS
By t-online
At the Jewish cemetery in Hamburg -Altona, parts of a wall were sprayed with symbols of National Socialism, according to the Hamburg police. The investigators are assuming politically motivated damage to property. The symbols were found on Monday, an exact time of the crime could not be given, a police spokesman said. According to the police, the smearings are two victory goons, which are primarily known as symbols of the Nazis’ Schutzstaffel (SS) in the Third Reich.
OTHER WORLD NEWS
ISRAEL IS AN ‘EVIL STATE THAT MUST BE DESTROYED’ – SOUTH AFRICA’S EFF
By Jpost Staff
Israel is an “evil state which must be destroyed as a matter of urgency,” South Africa’s radical left-wing communist party Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said after the violent clashes during the funeral of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. The EFF, the third-largest party in the South African parliament, is a pan-Africanist faction that “draws inspiration from the broad Marxist–Leninist tradition,” according to its constitution. The party and its leader, Julius Malema, have been criticized for encouraging racist sentiments against whites and Indians and Malema himself was twice convicted of hate speech.
ITALY: ANTISEMITIC INSULTS OF THE LAZIO ULTRAS
MIDDLE EAST
IRAQI PARLIAMENT PASSES LEGISLATION CRIMINALIZING CONTACT WITH ISRAEL ON PAIN OF DEATH
By Ben Cohen
Iraq’s parliament has passed legislation that would make contact between Iraqi citizens and Israelis a crime punishable with a lifetime prison sentence or even the death penalty. At a session attended by 275 members of the 329-seat Iraqi parliament, the legislative body voted in favor of a bill with the title “Criminalizing Normalization and Establishment of Relations with the Zionist Entity.” The bill outlaws “contact and communication of any kind and means with the occupying Zionist entity, its nationals, and representatives, whether individuals or institutions or organizations, for any reason.” Also prohibited are any “financial or moral assistance” to the State of Israel or Israeli organizations, alongside the “promotion of any ideas, ideologies, principles, or Israeli or Zionist conduct, in any form.” Those found guilty of breaching the law would face “execution or lifelong imprisonment.”
IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: ‘THE NATIONAL INTERESTS OF THE UNITED STATES HAVE BEEN TAKEN HOSTAGE BY THE ZIONISTS’
By Jacob Miller
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian appeared to repeatedly invoke antisemitic stereotypes when discussing the Iran nuclear deal. “The national interests of the United States have been taken hostage by the Zionists,” Amir-Abdollahian said. CNN host Fareed Zakaria, who was moderating the discussion, did not acknowledge Amir-Abdollahian’s comment. Amir-Abdollahian dismissed a report that Iran evaded international nuclear investigations using secret U.N. documents, saying, “Unfortunately the Zionists are spreading a lot of lies.” Amir-Abdollahian also blamed “Zionists” for the stalled talks aimed at restoring the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. “I think if the Zionist lobby distances itself from the national interests of the U.S. just a little, Mr. Biden will be able to make the decision required for making a good deal,” he said.
ON CAMPUS
ANTI-ISRAEL COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER SPARKS ANOTHER ANTISEMITISM DEBATE AT CUNY
By Jacob Henry
A speaker with a history of anti-Israel statements gave a commencement speech at a CUNY School of Law graduation ceremony, prompting yet more accusations of antisemitism at the public university system. Nerdeen Kiswani created the pro-Palestinian advocacy group Within Our Lifetime, which has held rallies calling to “globalize the Intifada.” During her speech, Kiswani said that she is “facing a campaign of Zionist harassment by well-funded organizations with ties to the Israeli government and military on the basis of my Palestinian identity and organizing.” In a video of the speech, thunderous applause can be heard. Kiswani also liked a since-deleted Instagram post that said, in Arabic, “Glory to the axe of resistance.” The post referred to the May 5 murder of three Jewish fathers in the Israeli city of Elad by Palestinian attackers wielding axes.
MENORAH AT UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI JEWISH CENTER VANDALIZED FOR FOURTH TIME
By Dion J. Pierre
A menorah on the lawn of the Chabad Jewish center at the University of Cincinnati was vandalized for the fourth time in several years, UC Chabad Rabbi Yitzi Creeger told The Algemeiner. Footage of the latest incident was first shared by the watchdog group StopAntisemitsm, and shows a young man sporting a knapsack walking up to the menorah and toppling it before running away. “I can’t even tell if it’s the same person who’s done it multiple times or not, it’s really hard to know,” Creeger said. “I’m not sure what’s better or worse; is it one person or five or six different people?” Rabbi Creeger said he hopes to meet with the university over the issue, and that he would want the perpetrator to be educated, not punished, if apprehended.
LONDON: GOLDSMITHS ASKS STUDENT UNION TO BEGIN ANTISEMITISM PROBE OVER JEWISH LECTURER SLURS
By Lee Harpin
A London university has asked its own student union to start an antisemitism probe after a Jewish academic was branded a “far right white supremacist” and a “racist Zionist” by student leaders. David Hirsh, a senior sociology lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London, was targeted with the slurs after he criticised the National Union of Students (NUS) “decolonise education” campaign claiming it had an “antisemitic edge.”
ANALYSIS & OP-EDS
STUDIES & STATISTICS
NEW B’NAI B’RITH INTERNATIONAL REPORT REFUTES ‘APARTHEID’ SLANDER OF ISRAEL
By CAM
B’nai B’rith International issued the first of a new report — titled “The Apartheid Slander Against Israel and the Ideological Distortion of Human Rights” — which refutes the dangerous and false accusation that Israel is an “apartheid state.” The outrageous claim has come from the United Nations and global human rights organizations, including recent reports from Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International. The B’nai B’rith International report consists of two essays, authored by Professors Eugene Kontorovich and Thane Rosenbaum, both world-renowned international law experts. “The series of coordinated reports by European government-funded NGOs accusing Israel of the crime of apartheid are an example of a ‘Big Lie’ — an accusation so brazenly false, it exists in a separate reality,” Kontorovich wrote in his piece exposing the methodological errors and faulty features of the HRW and Amnesty International reports and challenging their credibility.
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PRESIDENT TO KNESSET: TO BE ANTISEMITIC IS TO BE ANTI-EUROPEAN
By TOI STAFF and CARRIE KELLER-LYNN
Addressing the Knesset, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said antisemitism was contrary to European values, vowed to combat Jew-hatred, and expressed support for Israel and a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “It pains me to say that, today we are seeing antisemitism on the rise. We know that that is a warning sign for humanity. It matters to all of us,” she told Israeli lawmakers. “I will not be ambiguous: To be antisemitic is to be anti-European.” “Every day, we still witness attacks on Jews, on synagogues,” she said. “The European Parliament is committed to breaking the cycle, to combating antisemitism.” She noted that this was her first visit to Israel, and stated that “it will not be my last,” emphasizing her desire to deepen ties between Israel and the EU. “The ties of our people are deep,” Metsola said, adding that Israel and Europe have “a bond made in suffering and in salvation… a bond that has and will withstand the test of time.”
ANTISEMITISM ENVOY DEBORAH LIPSTADT TALKS BUFFALO SHOOTING IN FIRST NY SPEECH
By Jacob Henry
President Joe Biden’s antisemitism monitor, Ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, said the recent Buffalo mass shooting was a demonstration of a pervasive antisemitic ideology in her first-ever keynote address in New York. She said the shooter’s “first objective was to kill Blacks, but the Jews would be dealt with in time.” Lipstadt delivered the speech at a conference arranged by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. Lipstadt described antisemitism as “ubiquitous, free-flowing and moving in and coming from all directions.” “We must never delude ourselves that antisemitism comes from only one political, social, ethnic or religious direction,” she said. She also said that “we cannot ignore the connection between antisemitism and the attacks on Israel.” Lipstadt pointed out that some of the criticism of Israel is a foil for antisemitism. She also said that the Biden-Harris Administration “enthusiastically embraces” IHRA working definition of antisemitism.
HUMANITY
INDIANA UNIVERSITY HILLEL OPENS NEW JEWISH CULTURE CENTER AFTER ACADEMIC YEAR MARRED BY CAMPUS ANTISEMITISM SPIKE
By CAM
The Hillel at Indiana University has opened a new Jewish Culture Center as part of its response to a spate of antisemitic incidents on the Bloomington campus this academic year. The establishment of the center was a request of a student task force set up to address rising Jew-hatred. “It’s really important to work together as a community to learn more about each other and to promote understanding because I think once we get to know each other, we can celebrate our differences, as opposed to being afraid of them,” IU Hillel Executive Director Rabbi Sue Laikin Silberberg said. The purpose of the center is to offer students opportunities to recognize and develop their leadership potential and connect with Judaism in many traditional and creative ways. “Judaism is really more than a religion,” Rabbi Silberberg noted. “It’s a culture, it’s a way of life, it’s a community.”
SIMPLE EXHIBIT STANDS AGAINST HATE DURING JEWISH AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH AT THE WEITZMAN MUSUEM
ALCOHOL BEVERAGE INDUSTRY UNITES AGAINST HATE AND ANTI-SEMITISM: SPIRIT OF TOLERANCE COUNCIL COMPRISES LEADERS IN SUPPORT OF THE MUSEUM OF JEWISH HERITAGE – A LIVING MEMORIAL TO THE HOLOCAUST
The Combat Antisemitism Movement is a global coalition engaging more than 360,000 people and 450 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.
