The US Senate has unanimously passed an important resolution condemning anti-Semitism and should be saluted! The resolution did not however call out anti-Zionism or the BDS movement. Read below a recent report to the UN by the president of the Louis Brandeis Center explaining “Zionism has been for thousands of years, a fundamental component of Jewish religious identity” and “Anti-Semitism today is expressed not only as a hatred of Jews, but also as opposition to the existence of a Jewish state.” Please let us know your reaction to the Senate resolution in our poll below.

The Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan resolution on Thursday that denounced anti-Semitism in each of its manifestations…Senator Ted Cruz, who co-sponsored the resolution along with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), said on the floor of the Senate Thursday, “We are in the midst of a wave of anti-Semitism seen both here in the United States and all over the world. Read Here.

Read The Resolution Here.

A bipartisan group of members in the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, urging Germany to officially designate Hezbollah as a terrorist group. This week, the German parliament rejected a bill to ban Hezbollah from the country. “The threatening influence of Hezbollah extends beyond Israel and poses a tremendous risk to the security interests of Europe as a whole…as you know, your intelligence service has detailed that the number of Hezbollah members and supporters has increased to 1,050 in 2018. The growth of support for Hezbollah will also contribute to the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, which has already resulted in deadly attacks against Jews…” Read Here.

A Jewish candidate for Seattle City Council has been subjected to anti-Semitic threats on the online message board 8Chan and on social media. Ari Hoffman, a married father of three, is one of nearly 50 candidates for seven of the nine council seats. The original 8Chan post identifies Hoffman and says he has an Israeli flag hanging outside his home. The post asks what should be done about him…one comment called to kill Hoffman and to burn the flag. Another suggested throwing a Molotov cocktail at his home. Another comment features an ethnic slur about his son…” Read Here.

A Bay Area man…wanting to emulate the Poway synagogue shooter “except with a Nazi uniform on” is in county jail and facing three felony charges…Ross Anthony Farca, 23, was charged with making criminal threats, as well as manufacturing and possessing an assault weapon…steming from comments Farca posted to his account on a popular video game platform. Farca’s screen name was “Adolf Hitler (((6 Million))),” In posts, Farca allegedly expressed a desire to massacre Jewish people, livestream it, and then murder as many police officers as he could before they killed or captured him. “I would probably get a body count of like 30 (Jews) and then like five police officers because I would also decide to fight to the death…” Read Here.

A man waiting for a subway train in Brooklyn shouted anti-Semitic slurs at a fellow-rider and then threw the Jewish man’s cellphone on the tracks in an attempt to destroy a recording of his tirade. The two men were arguing while waiting for the train. One started referring to Hitler and screaming “F–k all Jews” and “Kill all Jews.” The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating the incident. Read Here.

Joshua John Leff, 40, was arrested in Fort Myers and charged with intimidation, sending written threats to kill and possession of a weapon by a convicted felon. He made the threats on social media sites Bitchute and Gab, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said. The department began its investigation after receiving a tip about Leff’s statements and videos inciting violence against minority groups including blacks, Jews, and gays. Guns and ammunition were found at his home during a police search. Read Here.

American actor John Cusack retweeted an anti-Semitic meme captioned with a neo-Nazi quote, then apologized and deleted his retweet following backlash from his social media followers. The meme retweeted by Cusack depicted a giant hand emblazoned with a blue Star of David crushing a group of people beneath it, accompanied by the quote: “To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.” The meme incorrectly attributed the quote to French thinker Voltaire, but it’s actually an excerpt from a 1993 essay by American neo-Nazi Kevin Strom. Cusack added his own caption to his since-deleted tweet, telling followers to “follow the money.” Read Here.

French Imam Hassen Chalghoumi, currently heading a delegation of French Muslims in Israel, said that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism, and blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for incitement against Jews in France and Belgium. Chalghoumi is on his second visit to Israel, which has been organized by ELNET, an NGO dedicated to strengthening Europe-Israel relations. He is leading a group of several young Muslim political, media and social leaders from France and Belgium on a tour of the country. “Anti-Zionist propaganda is a mask; it is actually anti-Semitic but is used to say anti-Semitic things in a more polite manner.” Read Here.

According to Paris writer Marc Weitzmann, such is the situation for Jews in France today that many play down, if not conceal, their Jewish identity in public. Weitzmann himself readily admits to not exhibiting outward signs of his Jewishness when circulating in the city. Having just spent the past four years studying the resurgence of Jew-hatred in France for his new book, Weizmann is keenly aware of the potential, sometimes lethal, danger Jews face in his native country. Read Here.

A senior state historian of Ukraine said that protests by Poland and Israel about his country’s glorification of Nazi collaborators was Russian propaganda. Volodymyr Vyatorovych, director of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, offered his opinion last week in connection with a joint letter of protest by the Israeli and Polish ambassadors to Ukraine. The two diplomats wrote to the mayor of the Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankisvsk protesting the unveiling there of a monument honoring Roman Shukhevych, a collaborator with the Nazis who is implicated in the murder of countless Jews… Read Here.

The council head of a West Bank Palestinian village was removed from his office after video from his son’s wedding showed that four Jews participated in the party. Radi Nasser was dismissed from the Fatah Party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and was fired from his position in the Palestinian Education Ministry. The four Jewish men reportedly arrived with invited guests from the community, claiming that they work together… Read Here.

Argentinean and international Jewish organizations are demanding action from local and regional authorities amid recent violent anti-Semitic attacks in the country. The Argentinean Jewish political umbrella DAIA labelled Sunday’s attack on Rabbi Shlomo Tawil in Rosario as “brutal anti-Semitic aggression” and demanded an investigation into the climate that may have spawned such violence. Read Here.

A swastika was spray-painted on a Holocaust memorial in the northeastern Argentine city of Resistencia. The Monument to Humanity commemorates, among other victims, Irene Schwimmer de Korytnicki, the last survivor of the Holocaust who lived in the capital of the Chaco region. She died this year. The Resistencia Jewish community, the Hebraica of Resistencia Jewish Community Center and the local representative branch of the national Jewish umbrella group DAIA condemned the attack as “part of the anti-Semitic events that are taking place in Argentina, which threaten the coexistence and democratic values of society.” Read Here.

The ECJ is currently considering a request from France’s top tribunal “for clarification of rules on labeling goods” from Judea and Samaria, eastern Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. While the ECJ is not obliged to follow Advocate General Gerard Hogan’s advice, the former Irish judge’s legal opinions are considered influential in the bench’s deliberations. The Lawfare Project said that if the ECJ adopts Hogan’s recommendation, “it would open a Pandora’s box of lawsuits” against European companies that fail to “properly label products from relevant countries of origin” unless the requirements were applied only to Israel, in which case it would be a ‘flagrant act of discrimination.’” Read Here.

Adelphi University wants to bring a chapter of Hillel to campus, hoping the Jewish student organization will draw in more Jewish applicants and make current Jewish students feel more at home. But opponents at the private New York university are pushing back, accusing Hillel of shutting down conversations with those who don’t support Israel and refusing to collaborate with them. Hillel is the largest international Jewish campus organization. “[Hillel’s] standards prevent students from sponsoring certain events under the Hillel name,” Margaret Gray, associate professor of political science at Adelphi and BDS supporter said. Read Here.

North American Jewish teens have forged lifelong attachments to the Jewish state in the intimate petri dish of an overnight Jewish camp environment, where friendships, values and Jewish peoplehood are born and raised. This inspiration and connection come at a crucial time in American and Jewish history as the college campuses these youngsters will soon walk onto become increasingly hostile to Israel, and sometimes, even to Jews. …Roughly half of [the] 66 campus BDS resolutions have passed, according to AMCHA Initiative, a watchdog group that monitors anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activities on North American campuses. Read Here.

University student groups affiliated with major German political parties passed an anti-BDS resolution at the first German-Israel student conference in Frankfurt. “An alliance across the political spectrum sending a strong signal against any kind of anti-Semitism and against BDS – I hope with this unity we are more effective in excluding anti-Semitism from universities and creating spaces where Jews feel welcome and safe any time,” Felix Schmitz, a spokesman for the campus Greens, wrote on Twitter. The resolution further noted: “The boycott campaign against Israel represents a particularly aggressive expression of Israeli anti-Semitism, for which there can be no room at German universities.” Read Here.

Northeastern University officials will meet Monday with a student after he reported finding paper questionnaires inside a campus library book that included references to Hitler, had a link to an alt-right blog, and asked readers to indicate their areas of interest in fascist topics. Matt Bowser, 28, who is pursuing a doctorate in history, said he was researching fascist movements of the 1930s for his dissertation at the university’s Snell Library when he discovered 10 questionnaires inside Robert Paxton’s “The Anatomy of Fascism.” The cover of the questionnaire was titled Northeastern University European Resistance and bore an image that resembled the Nazi eagle symbol. Read Here.

As a Jewish woman who frequently shares her opinions on social media, I’ve been targeted online by white supremacists, communist bots from China, die-hard Donald Trump fanatics, Polish nationalists…But the worst abuse I’ve received has been from my political home: the left. Whenever I speak up against anti-Semitism, hordes of liberal men dogpile me, informing me I have a “bad take,” and calling me “stupid,” a “dumba– s—,” “fragile,” “delusional” and a “basic, petty worm.” Sometimes, they send me images of male anatomy…Unfortunately, I’m not alone. Read Here.

During the panel discussion “Can anti-Semitism be stopped or are Pittsburgh and Poway the new normal?” at the Jerusalem Post Conference…Brooke Goldstein, founder and executive director of the Lawfare Project, said “There needs to be a complete shift in our language: let us begin to call BDS illegal commercial practice and racism,” emphasizing how there is no difference between choosing to not entertain business relations with someone because of their national origin, and owning a restaurant with a sign stating. “No Chinese allowed.” Goldstein stressed how “no matter how anti-Semitic one is, they will act out of their own best interest.” Therefore, she suggested, they might not care about letters or op-eds against them, but they will care about lawsuits, criminal charges or damages to pay. “The beauty of liberal democracy is that civilians can take advantage of the judicial system and set civil rights precedents…” Read Here.

While the situation of Jews remains far more precarious in Western Europe than in the U.S., there is plenty of reason to worry—such is the consensus of a panel of experts who recently gathered to discuss the subject.

The veteran pollster John McLaughlin cites extensive survey data showing overwhelmingly favorable attitudes toward Jews and Israel among Americans

Mitchell Silber, a former New York Police Department intelligence analyst, surveys the far more disturbing data from Britain.

Going back to the early 1990s, the French journalist Marc Weitzmann explains the strange convergences of far-right, far-left, and Islamist anti-Semitism—and their anti-American corollaries—in his country.

Finally, the French Jewish activist Simone Rodan-Benzaquen urges American Jews, and their allies, to avoid the mistakes made in Europe, where Jews did not begin fighting back vigorously against rising anti-Semitism until much of the damage was already done.

Studies and Statistics

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1. S.F. panel takes deep dive into anti-Semitism statistics

By Gabe Stutman

Rabbi Andrew Baker believes the Jews of Europe today are experiencing a level of discrimination they could not have imagined 20 years ago. An expert on European anti-Semitism and the director of international Jewish affairs at the American Jewish Committee, Baker addressed the topic at a forum held at San Francisco’s Congregation Emanu-El. Baker said most Jews had “thought anti-Semitism was receding into history. The forum, titled “The Rise of Anti-Semitism in America vs. Europe,” …included two short presentations…[showing] that anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. have increased 48 percent since 2016. While the number has decreased over the past 40 years, 14 percent of Americans still hold anti-Semitic views, according to an ADL survey. Globally, the figure is 26 percent, or about 1 billion people. Read Here.

Featured Partner

1. WRITTEN SUBMISSION ON ANTI-SEMITISM FOR THE UNITED NATIONS SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF

By Alyza Lewin, President & General Counsel

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law is an independent, unaffiliated, nonprofit corporation established to advance the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and promote justice for all. LDB conducts research, education, and advocacy to combat the resurgence of anti-Semitism on college and university campuses.

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.

1. Special Envoy Carr On the Record with Al Jazeera

2. The Special Envoys Combatting Anti-Semitism

By World Jewish Congress

Statistics on hate crimes against Jews are staggering, and numerous gov’ts have introduced special envoys working specifically towards combatting #antisemitism. Jewish community leaders are meeting today w/ the Special Envoys to discuss combating antisemitism together.@ro2019eu pic.twitter.com/Z8E0KRJV0a

— WJC (@WorldJewishCong) June 17, 2019

3. Romania hosts inaugural summit for anti-Semitism envoys

By Cnaan Liphshiz

Government coordinators in the fight against anti-Semitism from over a dozen countries gathered Monday in the Romanian capital for the first professional conference of its kind. Organized by the World Jewish Congress and the government of Romania, the summit included Elan Carr from the United States and Katharina von Schnurbein, the European Commission’s first coordinator on combating anti-Semitism. Envoys from Bulgaria, Poland, Russia and Azerbaijan, among other countries, met leaders of Jewish communities from across the world at the International Meeting of Special Envoys and Coordinators Combating Anti-Semitism. Read More.

4. This mother of 4 is the EU’s ‘indefatigable heroine’ in the fight against anti-Semitism

By Cnaan Liphshiz

…[Katharina Von Schnurbein is] the German-born EU official, who in 2015 was appointed as the European Union’s first coordinator on combating anti-Semitism…von Schnurbein’s relentless efforts generated headlines that drew considerable attention to the problem that she was hired to fight, amplifying its footprint in the media and government. “Because we are looking into it, it is more visible,” she said during the inaugural international meeting of special envoys and coordinators combating anti-Semitism. Indeed, some of the most shocking headlines about anti-Semitism in Europe since 2015 came from work promoted by von Schnurbein…” Read More.

5. EU REAFFIRMS SUPPORT TO JEWISH COMMUNITIES NEEDS IN BUCHAREST SUMMIT

By Jerusalem Post Staff

The Council of the European Union reaffirmed its commitment to contributing and supporting initiatives directed at tackling the challenges facing Jewish communities, in a special summit held in Bucharest on Tuesday. The representatives of over 30 governments and 50 Jewish communities gathered in the Romanian capital for the meeting, which was organized by World Jewish Congress, Romanian Prime Minister and EU Council President Viorica Dăncilă, and the Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania. The final EU presidency declaration identified four relevant areas of commitment: Jewish communities’ security, hate crime data collection, Holocaust Remembrance, and the promotion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of anti-Semitism. Read More.

6. A message of hope from Elan Carr, US Special Envoy for combating anti-Semitism

By World Jewish Congress

“This [anti-Semitism] is a global problem, and we are all in this together. All of our countries; fighting this shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm.”

Watch Special Envoy’s Carr’s message of hope below:

7. ‘Every synagogue, every JCC needs guards’

By Arutz Sheva Staff

The U.S. Special Envoy for Combating Anti-Semitism Elan Carr warned Wednesday of the dangers caused by the rise in global anti-Semitism, including the spreading of anti-Semitism under the cover of anti-Zionism. Carr spoke at the GC4I (Global Coalition 4 Israel) conference against BDS hosted by Minister Gilad Erdan’s Ministry for Strategic Affairs in Jerusalem, lambasting anti-Zionism and the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement as anti-Semitic. “Anti-Zionism is pure hatred of Jews,” said Carr, warning that while the US was the most “philo-Semitic country in the world,” the rise of anti-Semitism presented “a danger to the future of the Jewish community in America”. Carr then went on to say after being asked about the rise of violent anti-Semitism throughout the world: “Any synagogue, every JCC, should have guards. God willing, may they never be needed, but they should be there.” Read More.

Watch Special Envoy’s Carr’s at the GC4I conference below:

Humanity

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This section highlights the good deeds of Jews and others working to combat anti-Semitism in their communities.

1. CHELSEA OWNER ROMAN ABRAMOVICH TO GIVE JEWISH AGENCY £4M

By Jewish News Reporter

Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich is to give the Jewish Agency for Israel £3.9M ($5 million) to help in its mission around the world. The Russian-Israeli oligarch announced the commitment on Thursday and continues his recent efforts to counter anti-Semitism. In recent months he has worked with other Jewish football club owners around the world to help use sport to educate fans about the dangers of hatred and intolerance, most recently sending Chelsea directors on a march to Auschwitz. The Jewish Agency works with Jewish communities around the world, especially in countries where Jewish communities are particularly vulnerable. Read Here.

2. HOW ONE SOCCER CLUB IS HELPING EDUCATE FANS ON THE HORRORS OF THE HOLOCAUST

By James Masters

“My father buried his parents and sister with his bare hands … he had to dig the grave himself.” Avram Grant said. Grant is not only committed to telling his father’s story, but also to educating the next generation. That’s why he has embraced a campaign led by Chelsea, the club he once managed, aimed at eradicating anti-Semitism from soccer and society. “When you get to my age, you realize there will be nobody left to tell the younger generation firsthand what happened. That’s why it is so important because we are coming to the end of the Holocaust survivor era.” Read Here.

3. THIS JEWISH LAWYER WANTS TO BREAK THE BACK OF THE VIOLENT WHITE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT

By Ron Kampeas

Roberta Kaplan…wants to make history again and scare white nationalists intent on violence into thinking again. Government efforts to confront the rise of white supremacism have been inhibited over the last decade by free speech considerations: However vile the expressions of people who express hatred toward Jews, blacks and other minorities, the argument goes, the expressions are speech protected under the First Amendment. Kaplan, reviewing the evidence in [Charlottesville’s] aftermath, saw in online conversations between the organizers not speech, but a conspiracy to commit deadly violence. “They intended for violence to happen, it did happen and they celebrated it…”

Kaplan is leading a team that has sued 25 of the alleged organizers of the Charlottesville violence under post-Civil War statutes that cracked down on Ku Klux Klan terrorism in the South aimed at keeping blacks from exercising their newly acquired civil rights. A 1983 amendment to the Ku Klux Klan Act, an 1871 law, allows victims of the terrorism to sue for monetary compensation, not just the government. Their suit, known as Sines v. Kessler, essentially says the defendants used websites and other social media not just to share protected free speech, but to coordinate and plan the racially motivated violence that occurred at the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. Read Here.

Take Action

This section highlights opportunities for you to get involved in combating anti-Semitism. Read the content below to learn more.

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1. Tell Amazon that Nazi memorabilia does NOT belong on its site.

By Gwen Horowitz

Amazon is a huge company– 2/3 of Americans have shopped with them! What they do has an impact on us all and this comes with responsibilities. Let’s insist Amazon remove Nazi memorabilia from its site immediately. NEVER AGAIN means actively doing something to deter racial hatred. Speak up today. Sign the Petition Here.

Join us in taking a stand against anti-Semitism!

Over 100,000 individuals and 120 organizations, including those below, have signed Our Pledge.  Thank you for your support!

“Combat anti-Semitism (CAS) is a non-partisan international grassroots movement of individuals and organizations, across all religions and creeds, united to combat anti-Semitism. CAS attempts to expose anti-Semitic activity in the world today 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 the Jewish people their right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland, Israel and to delegitimize, if not eliminate the profound historic, religious and cultural connection of the Jewish people to Israel, which is an integral pillar of Jewish identity. Humanity flourishes when religious and cultural diversity is respected and we hope to encourage understanding so tragedies like the holocaust never happen again.”

Please sign our pledge today and join the movement! Taking a pledge can be the start!