Please forward to your family and friends and ask them to take the Combat Anti-Semitism pledge today! Taking a pledge can be the start!
THIS WEEK’S CONTENT
TAKE ACTION
(1 Piece)
1. H.R. 3545 – H.R.3545 – National Opposition to Hate, Assault, and Threats to Equality Act of 2019
This week we ask you to take action by learning about the National Opposition to Hate, Assault, and Threats to Equality (NO HATE) Act of 2019, which seeks to provide incentives for hate crime reporting, provide grants for State-run hate crime hotlines, and establish additional penalties for individuals convicted under the Matthew Shephard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. The NO HATE Act was introduced on a bipartisan basis in the House of Representatives by Rep. Donald Beyer, Jr. (D-VA) and Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX).
To learn more about the NO HATE Act of 2019 please view the language of the bill here.
Bipartisan bill would improve reporting of hate crimes
By Tal Axelrod
Reps. Don Beyer (D-Va.) and Pete Olson (R-Texas) introduced legislation to improve reporting of hate crimes and expand resources for victims. Beyer and Olson unveiled the National Opposition to Hate, Assault, and Threats to Equality (NO HATE) Act in response to high-profile attacks on the LGBTQ, Jewish, Muslim and other communities. They say reporting of such incidents by law enforcement has not kept up with a rise in the crimes. The NO HATE Act seeks to expedite the implementation of the National Incident-Based Reporting System, which would allow law enforcement agencies to record and report detailed information about hate crimes and other incidents to the FBI. It also would provide grants to create state-run hotlines to record information about hate crimes, help victims and witnesses get in touch with law enforcement and empower local officials to adopt policies that would identify and investigate hate crimes. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is introduced companion legislation in the Senate. Read Here
Notable Supporters
CAS is pleased to announce that Sarah Idan has signed the Combat Anti-Semitism pledge! Sarah Idan is an Iraqi-American model, television host, musician and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned as Miss Universe Iraq 2017. In December 2017 she and her family were forced to flee Iraq due to outrage from many Iraqis over her posing for a photo with Miss Israel. Miss Idan has since become a human rights advocate and speaks out about anti-Semitism in the Arab world.
CAS is also pleased to announce that Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander has signed the Combat Anti-Semitism pledge! Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander is President and Rosh HaYeshiva of the Ohr Torah Stone network of 27 educational institutions, leadership development initiatives, outreach endeavors, women’s empowerment programs, and social action projects. Previously, Rabbi Brander served as Vice President for University and Community Life, as well as the inaugural David Mitzner Dean of The Center for the Jewish Future at Yeshiva University. Until moving to Israel in the summer of 2018, Rabbi Brander was also a member of the Jewish Federations of North America’s Rabbinic Cabinet Round Table.
UNITED STATES
(19 Articles)
1. Fears of anti-Semitism hang over New Jersey attack probe
By AP and TOI STAFF
US investigators are looking to pinpoint what prompted a deadly attack on a Jewish market in Jersey City amid fears that it was motivated by anti-Semitism. A gun battle and standoff at the JC Kosher supermarket turned the neighborhood into a virtual war zone and left four people dead. Officials believe the two dead attackers identified themselves as Black Hebrew Israelites, a movement whose members have been known to rail against white people and Jews. Authorities have found social media postings from one of the attackers that were anti-police and anti-Jewish. Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop called the bloodshed a hate crime against Jews, as did New York’s mayor and governor, as well as Jewish groups. Read Here
2. Teenagers in Brooklyn throw rock at school bus carrying Jewish kids
By JTA
Three teenagers threw a rock at a school bus transporting children from a Jewish elementary school in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights. The rock cracked a window on the side of the bus. The students attend Bais Rivka, a Chabad school. Read Here
3. Republican neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier to run for Congress (again) in Illinois
By JACKSON RICHMAN
Holocaust denier and neo-Nazi Arthur Jones has filed to again run for the Republican nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives in the Illinois 3rd Congressional District. Jones, who was once a member of the American Nazi Party, received 57,885 votes, losing in 2018 against incumbent Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski, as no other Republican entered the primary in the heavily Democratic congressional district. “If I really believed the Holocaust had taken place, I wouldn’t have joined the Nazi Party,” the anti-Semite told The Daily Southtown last year. Read Here
4. DC police arrest suspect in anti-Semitic vandalism of historic synagogue
By OMRI NAHMIAS
The Washington Police Department arrested a suspect under suspicion of vandalizing the Sixth & I synagogue with swastika graffiti. A bench warrant was issued for 28-year-old Luis Montsinos, who has no fixed address. He was arrested not far from the synagogue and was placed under arrest for defacing and destructing property and resisting arrest. Read Here
5. Bernie Sanders campaign parts ways with staffer after report of homophobic and anti-Semitic tweets
By Ryan Nobles
Bernie Sanders’ campaign has parted ways with a newly hired staffer after a conservative website unearthed a series of tweets allegedly from the staffer that contained anti-Semitic and homophobic language. Darius Khalil Gordon announced that he had taken a job with the campaign as the deputy director of constituency organizing. Read Here
6. Linda Sarsour clarifies her comment that Israel is ‘built on the idea that Jews are supreme to everyone else’
By JOSEFIN DOLSTEN
Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour took to Twitter to clarify recent comments she had made about Israel at the annual conference of American Muslims for Palestine where she criticized progressive Zionists. “Ask them this, how can you be against white supremacy in America and the idea of being in a state based on race and class, but then you support a state like Israel that is based on supremacy, that is built on the idea that Jews are supreme to everyone else.” Read Here
7. Racist graffiti found at New York Holocaust museum for second time in two weeks
By JNS
Racist graffiti was discovered at a New York Holocaust museum for the second time in two weeks. The Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County in Glen Cove was defaced with swastikas and other vandalism. Read Here
8. West Virginia corrections officers give Nazi salute in class photo
By Adam Schrader
Several employees of the West Virginia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation have been suspended after posing for a photo while giving a Nazi salute under the text “Hail Byrd!” The picture features 30 blurred faces and appears to have been recently taken for the state’s “Basic Training Class #18.” Republican Gov. Jim Justice condemned the photo and has “ordered the termination” of participants in the picture. Read Here
9. Bucks County 21-year-old arrested for sending anti-semitic texts to Jewish man on Thanksgiving
By ADAM HERMANN
A Bucks County man who spent Thanksgiving sending a Jewish man a “stream” of anti-semitic text messages and videos has been arrested. Hunter Robert-William Ryan, 21, of Warwick Township, was arrested and arraigned on misdemeanor charges of ethnic intimidation and harassment. Ryan sent the man images of Nazi flags and symbols, a video of Adolf Hitler, and an image of Anne Frank in tandem with an image of ashes, among anti-semitic text messages. Read Here
10. Woman Attacked With Anti-Semitic Slurs in Crown Heights
By CoLlive Staff
A Jewish woman at a train station in Crown Heights was verbally attacked by a woman who hurled racist slurs and threatened her. The Jewish woman was approached by an African American woman who began hurling anti-Semitic remarks at her about her Jewish religion and her wig. The woman also threatened to throw the Jewish woman onto the tracks. Read Here
11. Accused Canadian Neo-Nazi Soldier Who Went AWOL Was Smuggled Into U.S.
By Aiden Pink
A disgraced Canadian soldier who went missing after being accused of being a recruiter for a neo-Nazi cell was smuggled into the United States and is being hidden by group members there. Master Cpl. Patrik Mathews, an explosives expert, went missing in August after an undercover reporter with the Winnipeg Free Press exposed his work on behalf of the neo-Nazi group “The Base.” His abandoned car was found less than 10 miles from the American border. Read Here
12. This S.F. lake is named after California’s most anti-Semitic politician. One man is trying to change that.
By GABRIEL GRESCHLER
Golden Gate Park’s Stow Lake, built in 1893, is a popular site where people stroll on a mile-long path that snakes around the lake. But the lake’s serenity is spoiled by its namesake: William W. Stow was the most openly anti-Semitic politician in California history. Steve Miller, a Jewish San Francisco resident, is aiming to correct history by convincing local lawmakers to change the lake’s name. Read Here
13. Meet the ‘groyper army,’ a movement that wants conservatives to be racist and anti-Semitic
By RON KAMPEAS
Led by Nick Fuentes, a 22-year-old YouTube personality, the so-called “groyper army” has regularly and publicly challenged mainstream conservatives for their views on the USS Liberty as part of a broader effort to paint them as subservient to Israel. At events around the country, groypers have heckled mainstream conservatives and asked provocative questions — often about Israel, in an effort to unmask them as “fake” conservatives and “frauds.” Named for a more grotesque version of the cartoon Pepe the Frog, the goal appears to be to move conservatism closer to white nationalism and “to make racism and anti-Semitism mainstream.” Read Here
14. Facebook Refuses to Delete Anti-Semitic Post by NAACP
By David Caplan
Facebook has refused to remove anti-Semitic remarks and a corresponding article from a well-known conspiracy theory-driven, fake news website posted on the NAACP’s Passaic, New Jersey, branch’s Facebook page with the caption, “blacks dying so Jews can live.” The NAACP New Jersey State Conference said that the organization — at both the national and state levels — considers the caption and the accompanying story abhorrent. He said a former member of the branch who held such beliefs who was given the boot in August is likely behind the post. Read Here
15. Swastika, graffiti lead to hate crime charge for West Seneca teen
By Barbara O’Brien
A video surveillance camera and an alert employee helped West Seneca catch a repeat graffiti vandal who drew anti-Jewish and racist slogans in the bathroom of the town’s new library and community center. The 17-year-old was charged with a hate crime, and is facing two felony charges. Read Here
16. Poway shooting survivor sues synagogue, citing lax security
By EMMANUEL MORGAN/TNS
A man who was wounded during a shooting at a suburban San Diego synagogue is suing the house of worship, alleging that Chabad of Poway did not use federal funds meant to hire security to protect its congregants. In the 12-page lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Almog Peretz says that the synagogue did not have proper security despite a rise in anti-Semitic attacks nationally and that it did not use a $150,000 grant to upgrade security measures. Read Here
17. Bail revoked in ongoing case of East Bay Nazi sympathizer Ross Farca
By GABE STUTMAN
A judge in Contra Costa County revoked bail for Ross Farca, the Concord man accused of threatening to kill Jews, less than two weeks after a federal magistrate judge did the same, ruling that Farca poses a “danger to the community” and ordering that the 24-year-old be held in federal custody without bail until further notice. Read Here
18. Rabbi films as he’s accosted at Costco, told ‘Nazis will finish you off’
By Marcy Oster
In a Facebook post, Rabbi Avrum Fri wrote that the man said to him in the restroom of the store in Lawrence, Long Island, “[expletive] Jew, the Nazis will finish you off.” Fri said he followed the man out of the bathroom and told him to make the comment to his face while the rabbi was recording with his cellphone. The man — identified as Justin Pichizaca, 20, of Queens — twice made a move toward Fri to hit him and said “Record all you want because a Nazi is going to f***ing kill you.” Pichizaca also threatened another Jewish customer, saying “I’m going out to get my gun and will come back to shoot you up.” Fri said no one interceded during the extended rant. Read Here
19. Real estate industry decries anti-Semitic remarks recorded at DOB
By Rich Bockmann and Georgia Kromrei
Landlords are upset over a New York City Department of Buildings complaint containing anti-Semitic language that was registered on the agency’s website. The language in the complaint included references to a Jewish landlord who, according to the complainant, was “too cheap” to make necessary repairs. The comment was entered as-is into the city agency’s database. Read Here
ISRAEL AND THE REST OF THE WORLD
(4 Pieces)
1. IN-DEPTH: THIS WEEK’S NEWS ON ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE UK
Jewish Labour candidate Joshua Garfield: ‘Jews in the party get thrown under the bus’
By Rosa Doherty
In past elections, 24-year-old Joshua Garfield says, Labour would have stood “a lot more Jewish candidates” like him but that was before the party, which has always been a political home for Jews, was marred by allegations of institutional anti-Semitism. Mr Garfield, who is taking on a Tory in Braintree, is one of seven Jews standing for the party after an exodus of members. Read Here
Wiesenthal Center names UK’s Corbyn top anti-Semite of 2019
By TOI STAFF
The Simon Wiesenthal Center named UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as the top anti-Semitic person or event for 2019, and warned that Britain would become a “pariah” if it elects the hard-left leader as prime minister this week. Jewish groups and others have rung alarm bells over the prospect of Corbyn’s promotion to 10 Downing Street with increasing distress as the December 12 British election has approached. Read Here
British paper publishes op-ed calling settlements ‘the trouble with Jews’
By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
A British newspaper published an op-ed by influential philosopher Slavoj Zizek that defends Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn against allegations of anti-Semitism. Zizek himself made a statement in his article in The Independent that is being attacked as anti-Semitic: “There is no conflict between the struggle against anti-Semitism and the struggle against Israeli occupation…the trouble with Jews today is that they are now trying to get roots in a place which was for thousands of years inhabited by other people.” Read Here
JLM submits bombshell dossier on Labour hate to investigation by Equality watchdog
By JC Reporter
Seventy serving and former Labour officials have given sworn statements as part of a Jewish Labour Movement dossier into the party’s handling of anti-Semitism allegations. The evidence submitted by JLM to the equality watchdog says Labour is suffering from the “corrosive disease” of institutional racism through “unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping.” Read Here
Thousands of British Jews and Supporters Hold Major Rally Against Anti-Semitism in London
By Algemeiner Staff
Thousands of British Jews and their supporters came together for a major rally against anti-Semitism in London’s Parliament Square. At the rally, prominent actress and media personality Tracy Ann Oberman said, “Rabbis beaten up in the streets, people abused on the Tube, Nazi tropes at Glastonbury, anti-Semitic murals approved by politicians, Holocaust denial. How did it come to this?” Read Here
UK Labour’s No. 2 admits anti-Semitism row could hurt party at the ballot
By MICHAEL BACHNER and TOI STAFF
A top leader of Britain’s Labour party apologized for “the suffering we’ve inflicted” on the British Jewish community and admitted that the anti-Semitism scandal rocking the party could affect its prospects in the country’s December 12 general elections. “We’re doing everything possible and we are going to learn more lessons and we want to be the shining example of anti-racism that the Labour party should be,” John McDonnell, a close ally of Labour’s far-left leader Jeremy Corbyn and his effective number 2, said. Read Here
Jewish man given Nazi salute in vile anti-Semitic abuse in Manchester kebab shop
By ITV
Police released images of two men they want to speak to after a Jewish man was subjected to vile anti-Semitic abuse in a Northern Quarter kebab shop. Marlon Solomon, 40, was in Al-Faisal, in the Northern Quarter, when two men started to talk to him with ‘unfriendly banter. ‘ He said it quickly became heated and turned racist and one man reportedly asked: “Are you a f*****g Jew?” Marlon says he responded ‘I am a f*****g Jew’, which he said sparked a torrent of anti-semitic abuse from the two men. He said the men began saying Jewish people should be “wiped out” and denied the Holocaust took place, before giving a Nazi salute. Read Here
Luciana Berger vows she would never ‘in good conscience’ help Corbyn become PM
By Jack Sommers
Luciana Berger has vowed she will never “in good conscience, do anything to facilitate Jeremy Corbyn and his ilk becoming Prime Minister…I have been and will continue to be categorical in my answer. I have opposed ant-Semitism in the Labour Party and beyond for the last few years at great personal and political cost to myself.” Read Here
Police release CCTV images of attack on rabbi in north London
By Matthew Weaver
Police investigating a violent anti-Semitic assault in north London have released CCTV images of the two suspected attackers who shouted “kill the Jews” before punching a rabbi and shoving him to the ground. They have also challenged concerns in the Jewish community about the speed of the police response to the incident. The images from Stamford Hill overground station show two young men in black hooded jackets, one wearing dark jeans and light trainers and carrying a rucksack, and the other with light torn jeans and black trainers. Read Here
Former Labour minister urges voters to back Tories and stop Corbyn becoming prime minister
By Andrew Woodcock
A former Labour minister has issued a plea to voters to back the Conservatives to keep Jeremy Corbyn out of 10 Downing Street. Ivan Lewis, who was Labour’s MP for Bury South for 22 years and served in the administrations of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as well as Ed Miliband’s shadow cabinet, cited “serious anti-Semitism” within the party and Mr Corbyn’s “hostility” towards key allies as reasons for abandoning Labour. Read Here
Lapid accuses UK Labour leader Corbyn of ‘old-school, plain anti-Semitism’
By RAPHAEL AHREN
Israeli MK Yair Lapid called UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn a racist and anti-Semite, urging British voters to keep that in mind as they vote for a new government. “Usually you’re not supposed to interfere with elections in other countries but in this case I’ll make an exception. Jeremy Corbyn is an anti-Semite,” Lapid declared. “This isn’t even a new form of anti-Semitism. This is old-school, plain anti-Semitism, just using new excuses. Read Here
Anti-Semitism stokes fear and election angst in UK’s ‘bagel belt’
By JAMES PHEBY
Labour party candidate Holly Kal-Weiss sums up the mood of Jewish constituents she’s met on the election campaign trail in the “bagel belt” constituencies around north London. “People are frightened,” she said as she canvassed in the area, “You can hear it in their voice.” Kal-Weiss, who is running in the Hertsmere seat south of St Albans, admitted Labour had “underestimated the in-built fear” within the community. Read Here
Plymouth Labour councillor suspended over ‘anti-Semitic’ comments
By BBC
A Labour councillor who claimed Zionists “quashed the truth” about their “collaboration with Nazis” has been suspended by her party. Margaret Corvid, a member of Plymouth City Council, is being investigated for anti-Semitism after allegations made against her in a blog post by researcher David Collier. Read Here
Tories investigate three candidates over alleged anti-Semitism
The Conservatives are investigating three parliamentary candidates over anti-Semitism and are facing calls to suspend them before the election. Sally-Ann Hart, standing in the Tory marginal seat of Hastings, shared a video with an image implying that the billionaire George Soros controls the EU, and also liked a Nazi slogan on Facebook. Lee Anderson, standing for the Conservatives in Labour-held Ashfield, is an active member of Ashfield Backs Boris, a Facebook group where Soros conspiracy theories have been promoted. Richard Short, the candidate for St Helens South and Whiston, is being investigated for asking whether a Jewish journalist was more loyal to Israel than to Britain. Read Here
EWA JASIEWICZ, WHO VANDALISED THE WARSAW GHETTO, NOW CAMPAIGNS FOR LABOUR
By Campaign Against Anti-Semitism
A woman who was roundly condemned for vandalising the Warsaw Ghetto to advance her political opinions about Israel is now campaigning for the Labour Party. Activist Ewa Jasiewicz sprayed political “Free Gaza and Palestine” on the walls of the Warsaw Ghetto in 2010. Read Here
WATCH NEW VIDEO OF CORBYN EMBRACING RADICAL ANTI-SEMITIC CLERIC RAED SALAH AFTER HE WAS FOUND TO HAVE DISSEMINATED ANTI-SEMITIC BLOOD LIBEL
By Campaign Against Anti-Semitism 
New video has emerged of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn embracing the firebrand Islamic cleric, Sheikh Raed Salah, after Sheikh Salah was found by the Court of Appeal to have promoted the anti-Semitic blood libel that Jews bake bread using the blood of non-Jewish children. Sheikh Salah is a prolific anti-Semite who claims that Israel planned 9/11. Yet Mr Corbyn has said that “Salah’s is a voice that must be heard” and publicly told Sheikh Salah: “I look forward to giving you tea on the terrace because you deserve it!” Read Here
WATCH YET ANOTHER INCIDENT OF MEN TARGETING JEWISH MAN AT SYNAGOGUE AND THROWING HIS HAT TO THE GROUND
By Campaign Against Anti-Semitism
A group of men entered the Satmar Synagogue premises in Stamford Hill and threw a religious Jew’s hat to the ground. The incident took place at the Clapton Common synagogue of the Satmar community and was reported by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol. Read Here
Scottish Labour candidate apologises for sharing anti-Semitic WhatsApp message
By Herald Scotland Online
Labour’s election candidate for West Dunbartonshire has become the latest politician to issue an apology over anti-semitic comments after sharing a message about BBC reporter Nick Robinson’s Jewish heritage. Jean Anne Mitchell forwarded a post about Mr Robinson’s ‘media bias’ in a private WhatsApp group that contained references to Mr Robinson’s German-Jewish grandparents who fled to Shanghai in the 1930s. It stated: “That makes him Jewish.” The post continued: “At University, he was president of the Oxford University Conservative Association in 1985. So not at all biased then. Read Here
2. IN-DEPTH: THIS WEEK’S NEWS ON ANTI-SEMITISM IN GERMANY
German activists apologize for using ‘ashes of Auschwitz victims’ in protest
BY AP
An activist group apologized to outraged Jewish organizations over an urn placed outside the German parliament that the activists claim holds the remains of Holocaust victims. The Center for Political Beauty said it hadn’t intended to hurt the feelings of Holocaust survivors and their descendants when it placed the urn in front of the Reichstag building. It said its intention was to highlight the dangers of far-right extremism. Read Here
As German Rapper Slammed for Anti-Semitic Lyrics Starts National Concert Tour, Jewish Leaders Sound Alarm
BY Ben Cohen
The German rapper Kollegah — whose lyrics have mocked Jewish inmates of the Auschwitz concentration camp and urged a second Holocaust — was in the public eye again, as Jewish leaders and educators sounded the alarm over the start of his national concert tour. The rapper came to international attention in 2018 after he won the hip hop/urban category award at Germany’s prestigious Echo Music Awards, resulting in a storm of protest from fellow musicians and corporate sponsors alike. Read Here
Modern ‘Nazi hunters’ are fighting anti-Semitism online
By Itamar Eichner,Liran Friedmann
After a years-long legal battle by the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists (IAJLJ), the German government ordered Holocaust revisionist publisher Castle Hill Publishers to shut down its online store. The British-based anti-Semitic publishing house founded by convicted Holocaust denier Germar Rudolf specializes in the distribution of books and periodicals in English and German that deny the Holocaust. Read Here
No Place for Right-Wing Extremists in Ranks, German Army Says
By Ezel Sahinkaya , Rikar Hussein
German armed forces are working to keep far-right extremists away from their units or to remove them once they have been identified. A spokesperson for the Military Counterintelligence Service said the military was expanding its cooperation with German security authorities and international partners to analyze links and connections of suspected right-wing extremists to try to expose them. Read Here
Young socialists urge Germany to stop its anti-Israel votes at UN
By i24 News
The youth organization of Germany’s Social Democratic Party condemned its leadership’s anti-Israel voting record at the UN. The Young Socialists (Jusos) organization wrote that the “disproportionate condemnation of Israel, the only democratic state in the Middle East” is a problem affecting UN bodies “that is carried out not only by states of the Middle East, but also European states who pass, or abstain from, anti-Israel resolutions.” Jusos wants Germany to “dissociate from the initiatives and alliances of anti-Semitic member states in the bodies and agencies of the United Nations.” Read Here
Nazi camp survivor recalls Stutthof horrors in trial of guard
By DW
Holocaust survivor Abraham Koryski gave evidence in court, detailing the horrors he and other inmates endured at the Stutthoff concentration camp in the final years of World War II. The 92-year-old Israeli citizen traveled to Germany to give evidence in the trial of Bruno D., a former SS private accused of 5,230 counts of being an accessory to murder at Stutthof from 1944 to 1945. Read Here
Nazi symbols discovered at the Jewish cemetery in Heidelberg, Germany
By RNZ
Nazi graffiti was discovered at the Jewish cemetery in the Heidelberg Weststadt. Swastikas and a crossed-out Star of David were applied to tombstones of the last resting place of the Heidelberg Jews. Police are now seeking witnesses and hoping for clues to suspects. Read Here
3. IN DEPTH: THIS WEEK’S NEWS ON ANTI-SEMITISM ACROSS THE MIDDLE EAST
Palestinian ‘Al-Hayat Al-Jadida’ Daily Publishes Post By Hebron Resident Thanking Palestinian Authority For Making Regular Payments To His Family For Two Of His Brothers Who Were Involved In Terrorist Operations
By MEMRI
The December 1, 2019 issue of the Palestinian Authority daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida features a post from Thair Al-Haymouni, a Palestinian from Hebron, in which he thanks the PA for the payments it makes to his family. The payments are made for two of Al-Haymouni’s brothers, Hamas activist Ghazi Al-Haymouni, who was killed in 1994 while attempting to carry out a stabbing attack near the Cave of the Patriarchs and Fatah activist Mu’taz Al-Haymouni, who is in prison for recruiting the terrorist Andalib Taqatqa and planning the attack she carried out in a Jerusalem marketplace on April 12, 2002, in which 6 people were killed. Read Here
Palestinian convert to Judaism freed from Hevron jail
By DONNA RACHEL EDMUNDS
A Palestinian man who converted to Judaism has been released from jail where he was being held by the Palestinian authorities and beaten by fellow prisoners. Upon his release, David Ben Avraham, formerly Sameh Zeitoun, was taken to United Hatzalah of Israel’s headquarters in Jerusalem for a medical checkup before being transferred to Shaare Tzedek hospital in Jerusalem. Ben Avraham spent 58 days in jail before finally being released. Read Here
Plaque honoring teen suicide bomber at entrance to PA high school for girls
By Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Every day when Palestinian girls enter their high school in Bethlehem the Palestinian Authority reminds them that the suicide bomber who was their age, 17-year-old Ayyat Al-Akhras who murdered 2 and wounded 28, is their role model. At the entrance to this PA school is a sign in memory of the “Martyrs” of the second Intifada in which more than 1,100 Israelis were murdered, many in suicide bombings. The memorial, which was established in cooperation between the Education Directorate under the PA Ministry of Education and Fatah’s Shabiba Youth Movement, specifically names suicide bomber and Fatah member Ayyat Al-Akhras who blew herself up near a Jerusalem supermarket on March 29, 2002. Read Here
Jordan jails man for plotting gun attack on Israeli embassy
By AFP
A Jordanian court sentenced a man to eight years in prison for plotting to attack the Israeli embassy in Amman. The state security court ruled that Khaled Abu Raya “threatened to carry out terrorist acts.” According to the charge sheet the 33-year-old Jordanian planned “to open fire on the embassy and its employees in a bid to kill a large number of Israelis.” Read Here
4. IN DEPTH: OTHER WORLD NEWS
EA Removes Marco Van Basten from FIFA 20 Following Nazi Remark
By Aaron Greenbaum
If you booted up FIFA 20 recently, you probably encountered a message stating Marco van Basten has been suspended from the game “until further notice.” The three-time Ballon d’Or winner will no longer be an available character in the game because of his recent comments where he said, “Sieg Heil” on live television. Read Here
‘Artsy’ Auschwitz-Birkenau accessories for sale on Pixels.com
By IDAN ZONSHINE
Pixels.com, a site that sells art, fashion and accessories printed with designs from independent artists, seems to have joined the disturbing trend of selling merchandise branded with images from the Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. In total, there are 166 prints featuring images from the death camp. Most problematic are the very awkward combinations such as shower curtains branded with an image of gas chambers, duvet covers branded with cramped wooden bunk beds, and yoga mats branded with the infamous “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign. Read Here
European Retail Giant Withdraws Home Decorations Promoting Deadly Anti-Semitic Stereotypes From Polish Outlets
By Ben Cohen
Europe’s largest DIY and home improvements retailer abruptly withdrew a range of home decorations being sold in its Polish outlets that played on anti-Semitic stereotypes, following an online protest over the sale of framed pictures showing Orthodox Jews counting gold coins. Read Here
Belgian teacher shares Facebook video of imam’s sermon about jihad on Jews
By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ/JTA
A high school teacher in Belgium shared a Facebook video of an imam calling for a jihad, or holy war, against the Jews and those who “conspire” with them. Talal Magri, who teaches about Islam as part of the religions major at the Royal Agri Saint-Georges Athenaeum, posted the video of an unidentified man preaching in Arabic. “Those who cooperate, work, conspire with the Jews, Allah, take them without delay. Shake their bases and topple their buildings, Allah. Read Here
Dieudonné faces Swiss legal case for racist comments
BY SwissInfo
Controversial French comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala is facing legal proceedings in Geneva. He is accused of using racist speech during shows he gave in Switzerland. A complaint has been brought by the Coordination against Anti-Semitism and Defamation (CICAD), which says Dieudonné denied the existence of Nazi gas chambers during shows in Nyon and Geneva, violating Swiss criminal laws on racism and anti-Semitism. Read Here
Ex-Nazi death squad soldier to be deported from Canada after losing appeal
BY DAVID LAZARUS/JTA
The Supreme Court of Canada court declined to hear the appeal of a former Nazi who is facing deportation after gaining citizenship deceitfully six decades ago. Helmut Oberlander, 95, of Waterloo, Ontario, has no further recourse following the court’s actions. He became a citizen in 1960 without disclosing his wartime record as an interpreter for the Einsatzkommandos, mobile killing squads that targeted Jews in the Soviet Union. Read Here
Jewish journalist’s nose possibly ‘doctored’ on Swedish ID card
By ILANIT CHERNICK
Swedish-Jewish journalist Annika Hernroth-Rothstein took to Twitter to reveal a picture of her national ID that shows her nose having possibly been doctored. In the picture, Rothstein’s nose is distorted – it looks like a stereotypical Jewish caricature nose used in anti-Semitic cartoons – while the rest of her face appears untouched. Rothstein said she can’t say with total certainty that it was an anti-Semitic incident, “but what I do know is that no other part of my face has been changed, and it’s only my nose and it’s been changed in a very specific and stereotypical way.” Read Here
New Zealand rugby star apologises for racist slur
By J-Wire
Crusaders halfback Bryn Hall has apologised to the Jewish Council over a comment he made on live television in which he labelled an All Black player a “Jew”. Hall made the slur against his teammate Jack Goodhue on TV. Hall said: “[He] doesn’t want to pay for his wedding, so he’s actually looking for Women’s Weekly to try and get behind and pay for his wedding, so red card for being a Jew, Jack, so there you go mate.” Read Here
Bookseller withdraws Mein Kampf
By PETER KOHN
A MELBOURNE bookstore proprietor has agreed to remove copies of Mein Kampf from sale after The AJN asked him why Adolf Hitler’s toxic book should be offered to shoppers at Southland. Gurinder Singh, owner of Best Books 4 Less at the shopping centre, had earlier been approached by two customers distressed that the book was for sale. Read Here
Catholic group to honor activist promoting sanctions on Israel at Holocaust museum
BY CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
A promoter of sanctions against Israel who said its supporters “vastly inflate” anti-Semitism is scheduled to receive an award for promoting peace at Belgium’s main Holocaust memorial museum. The Forum of Jewish Organizations protested in a letter to Belgian government officials, including Flemish Region Prime Minister Jan Jambon, the plan to honor Brigitte Herremans, an aid worker for the Catholic Broederlijk Delen organization who in 2016 was banned from entering Israel. The honor is set to be presented at Kazerne Dossin, a transit camp from which Belgian Jews and Romani were sent to concentration camps during the Holocaust. Read Here
Jewish Group Urges New Canadian FM to Combat Anti-Semitism, Delegitimization of Israel
By Algemeiner Staff
B’nai Brith Canada is urging the country’s new foreign affairs minister to counter global anti-Semitism and efforts to delegitimize Israel. In a proposed mandate, B’nai Brith Canada called on François-Philippe Champagne to fully implement the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism across all bodies of Canadian diplomacy. The group also called for the establishment of a special envoy to combat anti-Semitism, which would serve as Canada’s envoy to the IHRA, and for Canadian officials to condemn “those who espouse Holocaust denial or distortion, as well as Nazi and neo-Nazi glorification.” Read Here
Italian town says ‘no’ to Holocaust memorial, calling it divisive
BY ROSSELLA TERCATIN
The municipal council of the Italian town of Schio has rejected a proposal to honor its citizens who perished in the death camps with Stolpersteine, the engraved brass stones placed as a memorial in front of the homes where Holocaust victims once lived. Alberto Bertoldo, a member of the governing coalition, said that an initiative of this kind would have risked “generating new hatred and division.” Valter Orsi, the mayor of Schio, defended the rejection. “We do not support political exploitation.” Read Here
Israeli student in Paris says he was beaten unconscious for speaking Hebrew
By TOI Staff
An Israeli student was assaulted in the Paris metro after he was heard speaking Hebrew. France’s National Bureau of Vigilance Against anti-Semitism identified the student as B. Yogev, 30. It said he entered the train at the Château d’Eau station in Paris and answered a phone call from his father before he was accosted by two men, described as tall and of African origin. One of those men attacked the student, striking him on the head, body and face. The student fainted on the floor of the train car. Read Here
ON CAMPUS
(13 Articles)
1. NYU graduate:’My university failed to protect its Jewish students’
By Arutz Sheva Staff
US President Donald Trump brought New York University graduate and pro-Israel activist Adela Cojab on stage at the 2019 Israeli American Council (IAC) National Summit to share her story of experiencing anti-Semitism on campus. “My University failed to protect its Jewish community from ongoing harassment. From attacks on social media, to resolutions on student government, to boycott, flag burning and physical assault,” Cojab said. Read Here
2. What To Do About The Increasingly Vicious Anti-Jew Campus Protests
By Beth Bailey
Institutions of higher learning are increasingly in thrall to anti-Israel groups that disguise bigotry and anti-Semitism behind flowery manipulations of the truth. The way we amplify the actions and alarming speech of anti-Semitism, and the words we choose for ourselves, are especially important. It is only by using our voices to spread truth that we can conquer hate and promote dialogues that create solutions rather than rancor. Read Here
3. After racist, anti-Semitic incidents, Syracuse adds security patrols and cameras on campus
By David Robinson
Authorities have added security patrols and cameras at Syracuse University amid an active investigation into a series of racist and anti-Semitic incidents on campus. The security crackdown comes after at least a dozen incidents of graffiti, racist heckling and other issues have been reported to campus police. Read Here
4. Arizona State U student government passes a resolution to support Jewish students
By JTA
The undergraduate student government of Arizona State University passed a resolution in support of the Tempe school’s Jewish students. The resolution says the student government supports “all students in mutual civil dialogue and debate in an environment that is free from threat and intimidation,” and that it “does not support anti-Semitism, and stands by the Jewish community.” Read Here
5. 88 groups call on DeVos to prevent federal funding of anti-Israel Mideast programs
By JNS
Some 88 education, civil-rights and religious organizations called on U.S. Department of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to prevent federal funds from being used by higher-education Middle East Studies programs that support an academic boycott of Israel. The groups, led by the AMCHA Initiative, asked DeVos to issue a statement warning NRC directors and affiliated faculty that implementing an academic boycott of one of the countries in the NRC’s purview would be a direct subversion of the stated purpose of Title VI funding. Read Here
6. Brown U urged to divest from companies ‘facilitating rights abuses in Palestine’
By JTA
A Brown University advisory committee has recommended that the college divests from “companies identified as facilitating human rights abuses in Palestine.” Six of the nine members of the Advisory Committee on Corporate Responsibility in Investment Practices voted in favor of the motion. The advisory committee at the university makes nonbinding recommendations about investment and “issues of ethical and moral responsibility” to the school’s president and governing body. It is made up of members representing the faculty, staff, students, and alumni. Read Here
7. York University suspends pro-Israel, pro-Palestinian groups following protest
By Alex Rose
York University has suspended the local chapters of Herut Canada and Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA), pending an investigation into the events of Nov. 20, when SAIA organized a protest against a Herut event that brought IDF reservists to campus. The protests turned ugly when pro-Israeli counter-protesters showed up and clashed with the SAIA-led protest. York sent Herut a letter saying that after a “preliminary internal review,” the school has decided that “a more immediate intervention is needed” with both suspended groups, to avoid “a further escalation that has the potential to significantly impact the safety of all members of the York community.” Read Here
8. Swastikas found on posters in Marshall University academic hall
By WSAZ News Staff
Swastikas were found on posters in an academic building at Marshall University. The discovery was made on two copies of a Department of History course poster in Harris Hall. According to a university release, the posters “were found defaced with hate symbol graffiti, specifically swastikas, which were drawn on the face of a public figure.” Read Here
9. Canadian Jewish Groups Hail McGill University’s Backing of Student Targeted Over Israel Trip
By Karys Rhea
Canadian Jewish groups have welcomed McGill University’s decision to stand by a student who was targeted over her intention to participate in a free trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories offered by the school’s Hillel chapter. In response to outrage from the Jewish community and beyond, the deputy provost of student life at McGill sent out an email rejecting the motion against Wright and characterizing SSMU’s behavior as “discriminatory.” Read Here
10. Police investigating swastikas found in restroom at Worcester State University
By Jackson Cote
Police are investigating after swastikas were found in a restroom at Worcester State University. The anti-Semitic graffiti was found by a university employee in the third-floor restroom of the school’s Learning Resource Center. Read Here
11. ‘Anti-Semitic abuse hurled’ at Jewish students at Corbyn Rally in Bristol
By Isaac Haigh
Several Jewish Bristol University students have alleged they were attacked and called anti-Semitic names by members of the public with Labour badges at a rally hosted by the party on College Green. Students claim Labour supporters said to them ‘F**k you, you filthy Jew’, ‘Who’s funding you?’ and ‘I bet the Israeli Government has paid you to be here’. They also claim they were called ‘Tory operatives’ and that they were ‘selfish’ for ‘only caring about anti-Semitism.’ Read Here
12. ‘Daily Princetonian’: Student government candidate not eligible due to IDF service
By JACKSON RICHMAN
An opinion piece published by Princeton University’s student newspaper stated that a candidate for president of the student government should not be elected because he served in the Israeli military. Braden Flax stated that David Esterlit is a “poor choice” to be president of the Undergraduate Student Government “given his front-and-center background as a member of the Israeli Defense Forces…calls into question both his ability to represent the student body and his moral standing.” Read Here
13. Dickinson College rejects student resolution to ban Sabra hummus
By JACKSON RICHMAN
The administration at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., rejected a resolution passed by the student government to ban Sabra hummus, an Israeli product, as part of a campaign on campus to boycott the Jewish state. The administration said, “Dickinson encourages students to voice their opinions and affect change through our governance structure. We are pleased that the discussion about this issue at the Student Senate meeting was civil, and that competing opinions were articulated. “As an institution that deeply values global diversity and civil discussion and debate, Dickinson opposes this boycott.” Read Here
ANALYSIS
(8 Pieces)
1. Leave the Holocaust out of your self-promotion, political agenda, and profit-seeking
By Jonathan Greenblatt
The use of Holocaust references by high-profile public figures such as entertainers trivializes history and the political use of the Holocaust stops civil discussion dead in its tracks. In calling out those who misuse the memory of the Holocaust, one must distinguish between the motives of the offenders. There are meaningful differences between those who must be called out for their evil intent, those who are undermining rational discussion about serious issues and those who are guilty of self-promotion at the expense of the victims of genocide. Read Here
2. Anti-Zionists’ new best friends: neo-Nazis
By Juhani Huttunen
So, we are dealing now with the concepts of anti-Zionism and Zionism. The question is, whether anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism or not. It looks to me as if it would be easier for European masses to show sympathy to Jews when they become victims of neo-Nazis than showing sympathy to Jews when Israel is attacked by terrorists. Read Here
3. Anti-Semitism is a public health crisis
By Jeffrey Salkin
It is now happening almost every other day, anti-Semitic incidents and attacks. Make anti-Semitism socially unacceptable. Make it as socially unacceptable as homophobia or misogyny. Call it out wherever and whenever it crawls out of the muck, stigmatize it, and take action on the national and international level. Read Here
4. Defining Anti-Semitism in France; Refugees Around the World
By People of the Pod
On this episode of People of the Pod, we speak to Simone Rodan-Benzaquen, Director of AJC Europe, about this week’s decision by the French National Assembly to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Working Definition of Anti-Semitism. Then we’re joined by Aboud Dandachi, a former Syrian refugee, to share his perspective on the wave of anti-Zionism sweeping college campuses, and Yotam Polizer, CEO of IsraAID, an Israeli NGO that serves refugees and others in need around the world. Listen Here
5. Marginalizing womanhood and Judaism on campus
By Bianca Kermani
Our universities, especially mine, pride themselves on values of inclusivity, equity and diversity. As a college student and first-generation American, I am no stranger to balancing my mix of identities and juggling them in the various groups with which I spend my time. For the most part, I am accepted—at least, at first. Once, I became open about my support for the Jewish state, relationships completely shifted. As a woman, I was shamed for not standing with my female Palestinian peers. As someone in Thurgood Marshall College—one of the six undergraduate colleges at the University of California, San Diego—I had to now fight for my seat at the table when discussing issues of immigration, apartheid and equality; I was depicted as a supporter of the problem. It was as if someone had etched “Zionism” on my forehead. This was my only identity—a clear contradiction to anything else I thought myself to be. My other identities were no longer valid. Read Here
6. Who Can Fight anti-Semitism With Words?
By Olivier Jack Melnick
Another committee to discuss how to fight antisemitism is akin to fighting a deadly virus by quarantining the infected until they die. It never solves the problem. Only eradicating the virus does. The virus is antisemitism and it is killing the Jews. Laws must be passed AND enforced in every case until those targeting Jews fear the repercussions. Until then, the only ones fearing…and fleeing France and other parts of the world, are the Jews! We are way beyond using words only! Read Here
7. Three of the impeachment witness lawyers were Jewish, and it matters
By Ron Kampeas
All three impeachment witnesses are Jewish: Noah Feldman of Harvard, Pamela Karlan of Stanford and Michael Gerhardt of the University of North Carolina. So are Schiff and Nadler, and so was the Democrats’ counsel who directed the first 45 minutes of questioning, Norm Eisen. Well, predictably, it mattered to anti-Semites. Ann Coulter, the right-wing agitator, tweeted, “Too little ethnic diversity among the professors for me to take them seriously.” Considering her past flirtations with anti-Semitism, one could conclude that she wasn’t faulting the professors just for being white. TruNews, the YouTube channel run by an anti-Semitic Florida pastor who has coined the term “Jew coup” to describe the impeachment process, took to Twitter to accuse “Jewish socialist Jerry Nadler” and his “three Jewish witnesses” of “escalating the Jew coup.” Read Here
8. Macron’s unsettling words: ‘Until our dead can sleep in peace’
By Ben Cohen
One of the criticisms leveled at the numerous Holocaust memorials dotted around Europe is their alleged tendency to, as an American Jewish leader memorably put it to me, “encourage Europeans to commemorate dead Jews, and ignore what’s happening to the living Jews.” But even that goal appears beyond reach these days. French President Emmanuel Macron inadvertently said as much when he pledged, in the wake of the desecration of 107 graves in a Jewish cemetery in the eastern Alsace region, that France would fight anti-Semitism “until our dead can sleep in peace.” Still, his choice of words will have reminded many listeners that Europe’s history means its lands are full of dead Jews, most of them in unmarked graves. They may also have been unsettled by the sense of despair lurking within Macron’s comment: We can’t even protect dead Jews anymore, he seemed to be saying. Read Here
STUDIES AND STATISTICS
(3 Pieces)
1. Chicago Can Do More to Combat Hate Crimes
By Jason Rosensweig and Laurence Bolotin
Alarm bells were ringing for many among our city’s Jewish population when Chicago’s Human Relations Commissioner Mona Noriega announced that hate crimes so far this year are up 60% from 2018. While Jews comprise only 4% of our city’s population they have been the targets of 81% of all religion-motivated hate crimes in Chicago — an increase of 70% since last year. Read Here
2. Around 5% of UK Labour Party Election Candidates Tainted by Anti-Semitism, Campaigning Group Says
By Algemeiner Staff
An organization set up to combat anti-Semitism in the ranks of the British Labour party said that 5% of the candidates being fielded by the party in next week’s general elections were tainted by allegations of anti-Semitism. The group, Labour Against Anti-Semitism (LAAS), published a list of 32 candidates whom, it asserted, “in any normal circumstances arguably would not be standing because of allegations regarding anti-Semitism.” Labour’s far-left leader, Jeremy Corbyn, was among the names listed. Read Here
3. Israel boycott opposed by nearly half of British public, survey finds
By Ben Weich
Just under half of the UK public opposes boycotts of Israel while almost a fifth feels “warm attitudes” towards the Jewish state. A nationally-representative survey of 2,026 British adults by Populus, on behalf of the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (Bicom), found that marginally more people felt “warmth” towards Palestine than Israel. Overall opposition to Israel boycotts has fallen by 2% since 2018, and 45% of people believed that “hating” the country and questioning its right to exist was anti-Semitic. Read Here
FEATURED PARTNER
Combat Anti-Semitism is proud to be a partner of Civic Spirit, an organization that empowers schools across faith traditions to enhance civic belonging and responsibility. Learn more about their important work in the video below.
1. New York’s Civic Education Renewal
By Allison Lee Pillinger Choi
America’s present climate of political polarization and discord has coincided with a decades-long decline in civic education. Today’s public education system either ignores civics or buries it in a generalist curriculum called “social studies.” Nonprofit leaders have called for reviving civic education and raising civic literacy standards in high schools. Based in New York City, Civic Spirit is dedicated to reviving civic education in middle and high school classrooms. Through a bipartisan, multidisciplinary approach, the organization creates immersive experiences for students and educators with three goals: give students a sense of belonging in their community and country; instill intellectual ownership over their inherited democratic tradition; and impart skills such as civil discourse and media literacy. Read Here
Civic Spirit educates, inspires, and empowers schools across faith traditions to enhance civic belonging and responsibility in their student, faculty, and parent communities. Through professional support and student programs, Civic Spirit prepares the next generation to be knowledgeable, ethical, and active participants in the civic life of their community and the political life of our democracy. Launched in 2017, Civic Spirit serves 14 independent Jewish and parochial schools totaling 5,000 students.
SPECIAL ENVOY TO MONITOR & COMBAT ANTI-SEMITISM UPDATE
This section also highlights the work of government officials around the world that are combating anti-Semitism in their official capacities.
(24 Pieces)
1. Trump to Sign Order Targeting Anti-Semitism on College Campuses
By Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman
President Trump plans to sign an executive order targeting anti-Semitism on college campuses by threatening to withhold federal money from educational institutions that fail to combat discrimination. The order will effectively interpret Judaism as a nationality, not just a religion, to trigger a federal law penalizing colleges and universities deemed to be shirking their responsibility to foster an open climate for minority students. In signing the order, Mr. Trump will use his executive power to take action where Congress has not, replicating bipartisan legislation that has stalled on Capitol Hill for years. Read Here
2. Trump calls out anti-Semitism and BDS, touts Israeli Americans
By JNS
U.S. President Donald Trump called out anti-Semitism and the anti-Israel BDS movement, vowed to keep pressure on Iran and touted his pro-Israel record in front of 4,000 Israelis living in America. At the Israeli-American Council’s conference, Trump listed his pro-Israel accomplishments: recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the U.S. embassy, defunding U.S. assistance to the Palestinian Authority for rewarding terrorists, withdrawing from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and imposing tough sanctions on the regime, recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights and declaring that Israeli settlements aren’t illegal. Additionally, Trump called out “the vile poison” of anti-Semitism, including the BDS movement. Read Here
Watch the President’s full remarks below:
3. ‘Under Trump’s leadership we will defeat rise of anti-Semitism’
By Arutz Sheva Staff
US Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating anti-Semitism Elan Carr spoke at the 2019 Israeli American Council (IAC) National Summit where he said that President Trump had made the fight against anti-Semitism a “top priority” for the US government. He spoke of his meetings with leaders in Germany and Britain to discuss efforts to combat anti-Semitism in those countries and of America’s role in the passage of the resolution recognizing ani-Zionism as a modern form of anti-Semitism by the French National Assembly. Read Here
4. Elan Carr, Israeli MK Spar Over How to Fight Anti-Semitism
By AARON BANDLER
United States Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Elan Carr, and Israeli Meretz Party Chairman and Knesset Member Nitzan Horowitz shared differing views on how to combat anti-Semitism during a panel at the Israel-American Council National Summit. Speaking on a panel titled “How Can America Win the Fight Against Anti-Semitism,” Carr said there are three sources of anti-Semitism: the far-left demonizing and delegitimizing Israel; white supremacists and neo-Nazis on the far-right; and radical Islamists. All, he said, need to be addressed to adequately fight anti-Semitism. “When you leave two-thirds of a tumor untreated or even one-third of a tumor untreated, the patient doesn’t do well.” Fighting anti-Semitism also involves combating its various manifestations, whether it’s vandalism or anti-Semitic propaganda being disseminated on internet chat rooms, Carr argued.“ Read Here
5. Ellie Cohanim tapped as US deputy envoy on anti-Semitism
By JNS
Veteran TV correspondent Ellie Cohanim has been tapped as the U.S. State Department’s Deputy Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism. Previously, Cohanim served as senior vice president and a special correspondent for the Jewish Broadcasting Service, and has served on the boards of Jewish organizations, including the American Jewish Committee for the New York region. Read Here
6. U.S. pushing Arab states on non-belligerence pacts with Israel
By Barak Ravid
The White House approached several Arab states to encourage them to reach non-belligerence agreements with Israel. One of the Trump administration’s main goals in the Middle East has been to promote the normalization of ties between Israel and the Gulf states. Non-belligerence agreements are an interim step between the secret relations Israel has with those countries now and full diplomatic relations. President Trump’s deputy national security adviser, Victoria Coates, met with the ambassadors of the UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Morocco in Washington. Read Here
7. The US should adopt the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism
By Ted Deutch, Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives for Florida’s 22nd congressional district
It is now time for a broader approach that raises the level of our federal government’s strategy for combating anti-Semitism in our communities. Only hours after the desecration of the cemeteries in Westhoffen, the French National Assembly voted to adopt an internationally-recognized definition of anti-Semitism, joining dozens of other countries who have already done the same. This definition can serve as an important tool to guide our government’s response to anti-Semitism. The definition is already used by the Departments of State and Education. It is time for the United States to tackle the scourge of anti-Semitism by identifying, condemning, and combating it wherever it rears its ugly head. It is time to adopt the IHRA definition in the United States, and Congress has a critical role to play. Iit would lay the groundwork for a whole-of-government strategy to combat anti-Semitism. Read Here
8. New York State Attorney General Confronts Hudson Valley Town’s ‘Systematic’ Discrimination Against Hasidic Jews
By Algemeiner Staff
A town in the Hudson Valley has been accused by Letitia James — the state of New York’s attorney general — of engaging in “a systematic effort” to prevent Hasidic Jewish families from moving there. James filed legal papers seeking to join a developer’s suit against Orange County and the town of Chester, 60 miles northwest of Manhattan. The filing marked James’s “first major effort to intervene in the heated housing disputes that have roiled suburban counties north of New York City, as Hasidic Jews seek to build new developments to accommodate their expanding numbers.” Read Here
9. Von der Leyen promises ‘stronger response’ to anti-Semitism
By HANS VON DER BURCHARD
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the creation of a new task force to tackle rising anti-Semitism across Europe. “A rising challenge needs a stronger response from our side,” she told the ‘After Halle: From words to action against anti-Semitism’ conference’, hosted by the European Parliament’s Working Group on anti-Semitism, in Brussels. Von der Leyen said “a new dedicated team” would support the work of Katharina von Schnurbein, the European coordinator on combating anti-Semitism, and report to Commission Vice President for Promoting the European Way of Life Margaritis Schinas. In her speech, von der Leyen stressed how important it was not only to protect but also foster Jewish life. “There would be no European culture without Jewish culture. And there would be no Europe without Jewish people,” she said. Read Here
10. New recommendations on teaching and learning about the Holocaust published in partnership with UNESCO
By UNESCO
UNESCO has partnered with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) to publish new and updated Recommendations on Teaching and Learning about the Holocaust. The new resource was launched at the IHRA Plenary Meeting in Luxembourg City. The Recommendations aim to present educators with fact-based and pedagogically sound techniques for teaching the complex and nuanced history of the Holocaust. Read Here
11. Israel’s Official Day to Commemorate Jewish Refugees from North Africa and the Middle East
By UN Web TV
In honor of the fifth anniversary of Israel’s Day to Mark the Departure and Expulsion of Jews from the Arab Countries and Iran, the Permanent Mission of the State of Israel to the UN and JIMENA, in partnership with The American Sephardi Federation, Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, Justice for Jews from Arab Countries, and World Jewish Congress, hosted a commemoration gathering highlighting unique voices from the Middle East. Distinguished speakers discussed current events related to anti-Semitism, religious minority rights in the Middle East, and international efforts to protect the heritage of Jewish people from North Africa and the Middle East. Read Here
12. Israel said hoping for breakthrough in ties with Morocco
By TOI Staff & Agencies
Israeli officials are hopeful that a breakthrough in normalizing relations with Morocco can be achieved. The report comes after Netanyahu met with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Lisbon, Portugal. After leaving Portugal, Pompeo is slated to travel to Morocco, where he is expected to push normalization with Israel with King Mohammed VI in Rabat. Morocco has unofficially welcomed Israeli investors and tourists. Some 3,000 Jews live in Morocco, the largest community in the Arab world. Read Here
13. In surprise change, 13 countries vote against pro-Palestine UN resolution
By RAPHAEL AHREN
Over a dozen countries abruptly changed their voting pattern at the United Nations in Israel’s favor, opposing an annual resolution expressing support for a pro-Palestinian UN agency traditionally critical of the Jewish state. Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Lithuania, Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Brazil and Colombia for the first time voted against the resolution regarding the Division of Palestinian Rights at the UN Secretariat. Read Here
14. France creates anti-hate crime office as anti-Semitic wave shakes nation
By AP & TOI Staff
The French government is creating a national anti-hate crime office following a wave of anti-Semitic incidents in eastern France. Interior Minister Christophe Castaner made the announcement in the town of Westhoffen, where vandals scrawled swastikas and other anti-Semitic inscriptions on 107 tombs in a Jewish cemetery the day before. A special police unit has begun investigating the incident, Castaner said, and the new national office will seek to fight hate crimes. Read Here
15. Angela Merkel announces Germany will donate $66 million to Auschwitz museum
By JTA
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, making her first visit to Auschwitz, pledged an added $66 million in funding to its memorial museum. Merkel entered the former Nazi concentration camp though the infamous gate under the sign that reads “Arbeit Macht Frei” — work will set you free. Together with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder, Merkel walked through the former death camp where over 1 million people were murdered. Read Here
16. Boris Johnson tells JC the ‘threat’ of Jeremy Corbyn Government is ‘very real’
By Lee Harpin
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned the Jewish community that the threat posed by a Jeremy Corbyn-led government is “very real.” Mr Johnson said he found it “utterly horrifying and bewildering” that the Labour leader had claimed he had taken decisive steps to tackle the anti-Semitism crisis within his party. Mr Johnson added: “We were the first government in the world to adopt the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism. We made my good friend Eric Pickles the global envoy for post-Holocaust issues. “We are putting quite a lot of money into the National Holocaust Memorial and Leaning Centre, which I think will be a great thing.” Mr Johnson also reflected on wider concern by his government on the impact of text books preaching “incitement and hatred against the Jewish people” circulated within Palestinian schools. He added: “We are deeply concerned by the Palestinian Authority’s new curriculum.” Read Here
17. Prince Charles hails ‘immense blessings’ British Jews brought to country
By Justin Cohen
Prince Charles has spoken of the “immense blessings” British Jews have brought to the country – and insisted his support for communal causes “is the least I can do to try to repay” them. The heir to the throne also revealed how his father Prince Philip helped a Jewish boy facing anti-Semitic bullying in 1930s Germany, as he addressed a varied guest-list of 400 at the first Buckingham Palace celebrating the community’s contribution. Describing the ties between Anglo-Jewry and the Crown as “special and precious”, he added: “I say this from a particular and personal perspective because I have grown up being deeply touched by the fact that British synagogues have, for centuries, remembered my family in your weekly prayers. And as you remember my family, so we too remember and celebrate you.” Read Here
18. Belgium requests UNESCO delist parade where Jews were mocked
By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
Belgium has formally asked UNESCO to delist as a heritage event one of the kingdom’s main parades over allegations of anti-Semitism. The request to UNESCO considerably increases the probability for removal of the Aalst Carnival, whose previous edition featured effigies of grinning Jews holding money with a rat on one of their shoulders, from the agency’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Read Here
19. Norway’s ruling coalition wants to freeze aid to Palestinians over incitement
By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
Members of Norway’s ruling coalition demanded that contributions to the Palestinian Authority be suspended over incitement in school textbooks. Coalition lawmakers said they are instructing the government to “reduce or withhold financial support to the Palestinian Authority if they do not provide satisfactory improvements in school materials.” The instruction is not legally binding, but may be politically difficult for Norway’s center-right government to ignore. If implemented, it would spell the loss of $24 million in funding for the Palestinian Authority, according to a statement by the IMPACT-SE. Read Here
20. Nassau, Suffolk Counties Join Forces To Combat Anti-Semitic Hate Crimes
By CBSNewYork
Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, NY are forming an island-wide anti-hate task force. It will bring together elected officials, law enforcement and community leaders to educate about tolerance and find ways to put an end to the rise in hate crimes, after The Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County was vandalized twice in two weeks. Read Here
21. Griff: A ‘symptom of ignorance’
By GARETH NARUNSKY
South Australian Senator Stirling Griff says being Jewish was one of the reasons he was motivated to move a motion repudiating anti-Semitism and calling for more Holocaust education in schools. The motion moved by the Centre Alliance senator cited the Executive Council of Australian Jewry’s annual report on anti-Semitism, noting that face-to-face attacks had increased by 30% in a year. The motion, which was passed unanimously, called for “increased Holocaust education in all Australian schools.” Read Here
22. Guatemala to designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization
By ARIEL KAHANA AND JNS STAFF
Guatemala’s president-elect Alejandro Giammattei told Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz that he plans to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist group. Giammattei, who is on his first visit to Israel, said he will implement the move once he takes office. He further clarified that he will make sure that members of the Iranian-backed Shi’ite terrorist group will not be able to enter his country or act from within it. “The friends of Israel are our friends and the enemies of Israel are our enemies,” he said. Read Here
23. Honduran president: ‘I will not capitulate to anti-Israel threats’
By BOAZ BISMUTH
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández attended the Israeli-American Council (IAC) summit in Florida where he acknowledged that his willingness to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and open up a trade office in the holy city has hurt his country’s foreign relations. Specifically, Hernández said, the decision cost the country the presidency at the U.N. General Assembly. However, he has no plans to step back from his pro-Israel advocacy, saying he fully intends to move forward in the same direction, with the ultimate goal of relocating his country’s embassy to Jerusalem. Read Here
24. Jared Kushner: President Trump Is Defending Jewish Students
By Jared Kushner
With Wednesday’s executive order, the president takes crucial action to support and defend Jewish students in the United States. For the first time, a president is making clear that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act’s prohibition against discrimination based on race, color or national origin covers discrimination against Jews. When news of the impending executive order leaked, many rushed to criticize it without understanding its purpose. The executive order does not define Jews as a nationality. It merely says that to the extent that Jews are discriminated against for ethnic, racial or national characteristics, they are entitled to protection by the anti-discrimination law. This new order adopts as its definition of anti-Semitism the language put forth in 2016 by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, while also accounting for other forms of anti-Semitism. Read Here
HUMANITY
(11 Pieces)
1. RAF teams up with Chelsea to recount stories of Jewish war heroes
By JACK MENDEL
Inspirational stories of Jewish war heroes have been revealed for the first time, thanks to a new partnership between Chelsea Football Club and the RAF Museum. The Chelsea Foundation has backed the ‘Hidden Heroes’ scheme which calls on Jewish veterans and their descendants to share stories of wartime heroism – ahead of the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Britain next year. Read Here
2. Hitler artifacts bought by Swiss-Lebanese businessman to be given to Yad Vashem
By ADAM RASGON
Hitler artifacts that a Swiss-Lebanese businessman purchased from a controversial German auction house will be donated to the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. Chatila, who was slated to tour Yad Vashem and intends to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp in January, said that he considered the prospect of the artifacts landing in “the wrong hands” a “potential lethal injustice.” He also met with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, who heaped praise on him. Read Here
3. German-Jewish beauty queen campaigns to raise awareness of anti-Semitism in Europe
By ZACHARY KEYSER
Tamar Morali, the first ever Jewish contestant in the Miss Germany Cooperation contest, will be spearheading a campaign titled “SHALOM” to bring awareness to racist or anti-semitic incidents and rhetoric plaguing certain areas of Germany. Using her newly found role as a beauty queen, Morali gathered some of the most influential German personalities to band together, using social media and an audience of more than 30 million followers spread across multiple celebrity accounts, to bring awareness to an issue that hits so close to home for the Jewish beauty queen. Read Here
4. Auschwitz survivor says he fears global rise of anti-Semitism
By CATHERINE TRIOMPHE
As German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits Auschwitz for the first time, 96-year-old survivor Frederick Terna will be at home in New York worrying about a resurgence of anti-Semitism. Terna, in America since 1952, isn’t trying to be “the conscience of the world,” but said he is concerned by similarities he sees between today’s politics and the “narrow nationalism” of the 1930s. Read Here
5. Julian Edleman Donates Cleats to Benefit Israel
By Julian Edeman
Back in 2015 I had the chance to visit Israel for the first time with some of my buddies. It’s hard to describe how meaningful the experience was because looking back it really helped shape my perspective on things. Israel and the Jewish people have always been the scrappy underdogs and it reminded me a lot of my story. This year my cleats will benefit the Israel Baseball Association. They do so much for the Israeli community, bringing together people of all ages through the love of the game. Read Here
6. United Muslim Association of Toledo host pre-Hanukkah dinner
By Tom Henry
About 200 people attended a pre-Hanukkah dinner in Toledo, OH for what representatives of the Muslim and Jewish faiths vow will be a continuing dialogue among each other, with the hope of forging lasting friendships by better understanding one another. Dr. S. Maseeh Rehman, United Muslim Association of Toledo president, said “We are sending a message that we stand against discrimination, hatred, inequality, and injustice. And we are sending a very strong message that we are together when it comes to Islamophobia and anti-Semitism.” Read Here
7. Ron Lauder Pledges $25 Million for Campaign Against Anti-Semitism
By Shane Goldmacher
Ronald Lauder, the cosmetics billionaire and president of the World Jewish Congress, is setting aside $25 million of his own money to start a new organization devoted to rooting out what he sees as the growing tide of anti-Semitism in American politics. Mr. Lauder is a longtime Republican donor, but he said he planned to use the organization to go after both Democrats and Republicans who traffic in anti-Semitic language and tropes. The effort, to be called the Anti-Semitism Accountability Project, or A.S.A.P, will consist of both a nonprofit and a super PAC, with Mr. Lauder as the final arbiter of which politicians will be targeted for defeat. Read Here
8. Lovers in Auschwitz, Reunited 72 Years Later. He Had One Question
By Keren Blankeld
The first time he spoke to her, in 1943, by the Auschwitz crematory, David Wisnia realized that Helen Spitzer was no regular inmate. For a few months, they managed to be each other’s escape, but they knew these visits wouldn’t last. Still, the lovers planned a life together, a future outside of Auschwitz. They knew they would be separated, but they had a plan, after the fighting was done, to reunite. Europe however would be his past, he decided. “I didn’t want anything to do with anything European,” he said. “I became 110% American.” It took them 72 years to reunite…in New York. Read Here
9. Albania hails Israeli engineers helping rebuild after devastating quake
By AP & TOI
Albania’s prime minister hailed the work of Israeli engineers who have come to the country to help in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that destroyed thousands of buildings. The Israelis are among scores of foreign engineers and experts who have arrived in or will be headed to the country to help determine whether buildings left standing can still be inhabited, or to help construct buildings to replace those that were destroyed. Read Here
10. Genesis Prize Foundation names Natan Sharansky 2020 winner
By MAAYAN JAFFE-HOFFMAN
The Genesis Prize Foundation announced Natan Sharansky as its 2020 Genesis Prize laureate. A human rights activist and Jewish leader, Sharansky is being recognized for his lifelong struggle for human rights, political freedom and for his service to the Jewish people and the State of Israel, the foundation explained in a release.
Natan Sharanksy is a founding board member of the CAS Movement Advisory Council and a signer of the CAS pledge. Read Here
11. Jerusalem chief rabbi attends interfaith event in Bahrain
By JNS
Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Shlomo Amar, who previously served as the Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, met Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa during a rare visit to the Persian Gulf state. Amar was invited to Bahrain by the king to participate in an interfaith event, alongside clerics from Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Egypt, India, Jordan, and other Arab and Islamic countries. “The people of the Middle East want peace with Israel and for the leadership to promote it. The Jewish faith includes the value of peace that we all want,” said Amar during his visit. Read Here
OVER 150,000 INDIVIDUALS AND 170 ORGANIZATIONS HAVE SIGNED OUR PLEDGE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
“Combat anti-Semitism (CAS) is a non-partisan, global grassroots movement of interfaith individuals and organizations united to combat anti-Semitism. CAS exposes anti-Semitic activity from across the ideological spectrum and highlights those working to fight against its resurgence. One of the most pernicious forms of modern anti-Semitism is the effort to deny and delegitimize the Jewish people’s right to self-determination and their profound historic, religious and cultural connection to their ancestral homeland, Israel. Humanity flourishes when religious, ethnic, and cultural diversity is respected, and we hope to encourage understanding and set an example through our work. Anti-Semitism is the oldest form of bigotry and by working to eliminate it, we hope tragedies like the holocaust or any incidents of hate inspired speech or violence perpetrated against the Jewish people, Israel, or any discriminated group are reduced significantly.”
