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THIS WEEK’S CONTENT
WATCH THE WEEKLY CAM NEWSLETTER SUMMARY BELOW
TAKE ACTION
(1 Piece)
Facebook/Twitter: Take The Anti-Semitic TruNews Pages Down!
By StandWithUS
TruNews is an online media network that has access to White House press briefings and has traveled to cover multiple trips by the President. It has over 250,000 followers between Twitter and Facebook. Established and run by a far-right anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist named Rick Wiles, TruNews is using Facebook and Twitter to spread vicious hatred against Jews, Israelis, and their supporters. YouTube has already removed the TruNews channel from and we need YOUR help to take down their Facebook Page and Twitter account. Sign the StandWithUS petition and report their Facebook page.
Racist, Far-Right Website Peddling Anti-Semitism Must Be Banned
By Lauren Post
Have you heard that Pokemon Go is an elaborate conspiracy to kill Christians? Or that the Israelis were responsible for the 2020 Iowa Democratic primary vote-counting debacle? If you haven’t, you’ve missed out on watching TruNews, a “news network” that spreads conspiracy theories, racism, homophobia and other forms of hate. TruNews made headlines for spreading vicious anti-Semitism, including their recent claim of a “Jew coup” against President Donald Trump. Founder Rick Wiles and his team frequently launch screeds against Jewish Americans and Israel, demonizing them and decrying their supposed control over US policy. Read Here
Special Feature
(1 Piece )
Join the CAM Venture Creative Content Online Award Ceremony
On this Sunday, March 15th at 1:30pm EST, the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement (CAM) will host an online awards ceremony to honor the winners of the first round of our crowdsourcing Venture Creative Contest. Over 140 people from all ages, backgrounds, and nationalities participated in the contest by submitting creative ways to combat anti-Semitism with ideas for social ventures, artwork, essays, action plans, and multimedia initiatives.
We are excited to announce that Natan Sharansky will be a special guest speaker during the ceremony. This exclusive conversation with Mr. Sharansky will give guests the opportunity to learn how the lessons of the Soviet Jewry movement can be applied to today’s fight against anti-Semitism. We will also be joined by Elan S. Carr, US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, who will share insights on his critical work in the fight against anti-Semitism.
UNITED STATES
(11 Articles)
1. Conservatives rebuke Malkin for questioning what is ‘anti-Semitic’
By JNS
Prominent conservatives have rebuked right-wing pundit Michelle Malkin, who spoke at an event hosted by anti-Semitic and alt-right figures, where she questioned what is anti-Semitic. The America First Political Action Conference (AFPAC) featured anti-Semite and Holocaust-denier Nicholas Fuentes; Scott Greer, who wrote for the alt-right Radix Journal and Patrick Casey, executive director of the white-nationalist group Identity Evropa. At AFPAC, Malkin said: “Already right out of the gate, before I even knew who Nick Fuentes was, before I knew who Groypers were, I was being tarred as an anti-Semite. It’s become a useless, meaningless term and everybody knows it…It’s anti-Semitic to question whatever the precise number is of people who perished in World War II.” Read Here
2. Prosecutors to seek death penalty for Poway synagogue shooter
By AP
Prosecutors in California plan to seek the death penalty against a former college student accused of carrying out a 2019 attack on a San Diego-area synagogue that left one woman dead and three others wounded. The San Diego County prosecutors said that they will ask for the death sentence against John T. Earnest in the April 27, 2019, attack on the Chabad of Poway synagogue. Read Here
3. Former Nazi camp guard, 94, who lived in US for years, to be deported
By AP
The US government said that it is deporting a 94-year-old German ex-Nazi who has been in the United States for decades. An immigration judge ordered Friedrich Karl Berger’s deportation after a two-day trial in Memphis. Berger, who’s been living in Tennessee, has 30 days to appeal the ruling. The government says Berger was an armed guard at the Neuengamme concentration camp near Meppen, Germany, in 1945. Read Here
4. Known white supremacist unfurls Nazi flag at Bernie Sanders rally
By RON KAMPEAS
A protester identified as a known white supremacist unfurled a Nazi flag at a Bernie Sanders rally in Phoenix. The incident caught on social media shows a man at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum unfurling the swastika flag. The man was subdued and taken out. The white supremacist was identified as Robert Sterkeson of Glendale, Arizona. Read Here
5. Man Arrested for Allegedly Threatening Property Manager of Jersey City Building Where Deadly Kosher Market Shooting Took Place
By Algemeiner Staff
A man from Jersey City, New Jersey, was arrested on after he threatened the property manager of the building that houses the kosher grocery store that was the site of a deadly anti-Semitic shooting in December. Taylor Stackhouse, 38, was charged for making “terroristic threats” and committing “related bias crimes,” the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office said. Read Here
6. ADL criticizes Fox News host for using ‘anti-Semitic trope’ to describe Michael Bloomberg
By MARCY OSTER
The Anti-Defamation League criticized a Fox News host for calling Michael Bloomberg a “puppet master,” saying the comments play into stereotypes about Jewish power. Fox News anchor Raymond Arroyo asserted that Bloomberg will be a “Biden puppet master.” “What that means is that Mike Bloomberg is going to have more power than any ordinary American will in a Biden campaign,” Arroyo said. Read Here
7. Illinois GOP Launches Ad Campaign Against ‘Neo-Nazi’ Congressional Candidate
By AARON BANDLER
The Illinois Republican Party announced it is launching an advertising campaign to defeat avowed Holocaust denier Arthur Jones in a congressional race. Jones won the 2018 GOP congressional primary in Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District, which encompasses the southwest side of Chicago, because the state GOP couldn’t find a candidate to oppose him in the heavily Democratic district. With Jones running again in the March 17 primary, the state GOP has gone all-in on Republican candidate Mike Fricilone to ensure that Jones doesn’t win again. Read Here
8. Cincinnati leaders condemn graffiti calling Jews ‘enemies of whole human race’
By MARCY OSTER
City leaders in Cincinnati have condemned graffiti found on a heavily trafficked highway overpass that targeted Jews. The graffiti reading “The Jews killed Christ. They are the enemies of the whole human race. – Paul”. It was discovered on Wednesday night. It was painted over on Friday. Read Here
9. Canadian Anti-Semitic Magazine Finds New Home in United States
By B’nai Brith Canada
An anti-Semitic monthly magazine, previously published out of a Toronto-area mosque, now claims a post office box in Berryville, Virginia as its new address. During the past few years, Crescent International: Newsmagazine of the Islamic Movement has carried articles falsely blaming “Zionists” for the March 2019 massacre at two mosques in New Zealand, alleging that the 6-million figure of Jewish Holocaust victims is “exaggerated,” and predicting that “Muslims will deal the deathblow to Yahud,” the Arabic term for Jews. Read Here
10. Jewish, Pro-Israel Groups Protest Bernie Sanders’ Hiring of Adviser Who Once Denounced Zionism as ‘Racist, Exclusionary Ideology’
By Benjamin Kerstein
Jewish groups condemned Bernie Sanders’ decision to hire Phillip Agnew, a radical activist with a long history of vitriolic anti-Israel statements as a senior adviser. B’nai B’rith International said “We call on Sanders to terminate his campaign’s relationship with Phillip Agnew. Agnew’s organization has promoted to children the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine…and is a proponent of the anti-Israel BDS movement. It is unacceptable that someone with this history of anti-Semitic and pro-terrorism statements was given a role on any presidential campaign.” Read Here
11. Sanders campaign denounces ‘toxic’ statements of imam who spoke at Michigan rally
By RON KAMPEAS
The Bernie Sanders campaign denounced the “toxic and offensive” past statements of an imam who spoke at a Sanders rally days before a key primary in Michigan. Imam Sayed Hassan Al-Qazwini said in 2015 that the Islamic State terrorist group “somehow is connected to Israel.” Al-Qazwini introduced Sanders at a rally in Dearborn, Michigan. Read Here
ISRAEL AND THE REST OF THE WORLD
(4 Pieces)
1. IN-DEPTH: THIS WEEK’S NEWS ON ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE UK
Met officer, 21, held on suspicion of membership to banned right-wing group
By JEWISH NEWS REPORTER
A serving Metropolitan Police officer has been arrested on suspicion of being a member of a banned right wing terror group. The constable, 21, was held by counter-terrorism officers at an address in north London, where a search is being carried out. The Met said the arrest relates to suspected membership of a proscribed organisation linked to right wing terrorism. Read Here
Labour’s Ian Murray gets anti-Semitic abuse for having Jewish Labour Movement’s support
By Jacob Judah
Labour is investigating a torrent of anti-Semitic abuse deputy leadership candidate Ian Murray received after he emailed party members saying he was “proud to be supported by the Jewish Labour Movement”. Mr Murray, who is Labour’s only remaining Scottish MP, said in his campaign email that he would “tackle the stain of anti-Semitism in our party”. Replies accused Mr Murray of being a “Mossad agent” and alleged that the “Jews thought they owned the Labour Party”. Read Here
Outrage at disgusting anti-Semitic graffiti sprayed on East Kilbride underpass
By Andrea Lambrou
Vandals have daubed racist and anti-Semitic graffiti on two underpasses near to a local church. The Westwood Road tunnels near Our Lady of Lourdes were vandalised with Nazi imagery depicting swastikas, as well as an offensive drawing resembling a Ku Klux Klan member spouting hateful abuse towards Jews. Churchgoers heading to morning worship were met with the slogan ‘Gas yer Jewish maw’. Read Here
Ian Austin: Labour must sack any officials who ‘failed’ to tackle anti-Semitism
By MATHILDE FROT
The next Labour leader must dismiss any senior officials and members of staff who “failed to deal with anti-Semitism,” Ian Austin said. The former Labour MP quit the party last year after accusing its leadership of failing to tackle alleged anti-Semitism in the party. Jeremy Corbyn’s successor, to be elected on 4 April, must dismiss “those who have failed to deal with this issue adequately, from staff in the leader’s office down,” Austin said. Read Here
Racist graffiti sprayed in alleyway off Heathfield Road in Maidstone investigated by Kent Police
By KentOnline reporter
Sickening racist graffiti has been daubed on the walls of a busy footpath. The hateful slogans were painted along the pathway off Heathfield Road in Maidstone – prompting condemnation from anti-racist campaigners and a police investigation. Reports of the criminal damage were received by police and the racist slurs remained visible despite obvious attempts by someone to clean them from the fences of houses backing onto the alleyway. Read Here
“MOVE YOUR CAR RIGHT NOW, I WILL KILL YOU, YOU F****** JEW”: MINOR PARKING DISPUTE ALLEGEDLY ESCALATES INTO ANTI-SEMITIC ASSAULT
By CAA
A minor parking dispute escalated into an anti-Semitic assault in Stamford Hill. The victim, a shopkeeper, tried to drive into his private parking for his shop however he was blocked by another car. The victim parked his own car in front of the other car in order to attend to his shop. The other driver returned and entered the victim’s shop to demand that the victim move his vehicle immediately so that he could drive away. The driver then allegedly pushed the victim and said: “Move your car right now, I will kill you, you F****** Jew, I will smash up your shop and your car.” Read Here
2. IN-DEPTH: THIS WEEK’S NEWS ON ANTI-SEMITISM IN GERMANY
Anti-Israel party in Germany discusses shooting rich people, forced labor
BY BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
The German Left Party, which opposed last year’s anti-BDS Bundestag resolution, held a conference in the city of Kassel in which calls to shoot wealthy Germans and impose forced labor on them were discussed. Forced labor was one of the extermination methods used by the Nazis and their collaborators to murder Jews during the Holocaust. Read Here
Stop ‘Appeasement’ of Anti-Semites Says Jewish Leader, Amid Ongoing Rise of Hate Crimes in Germany
BY Ben Cohen
Anti-Semitic offenses in Germany reached a record peak in 2019, leading the head of the country’s Jewish community to declare that “the time for appeasement is finally over.” Josef Schuster — head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany — told German media outlets that the figures from 2019 were confirmation of the community’s fear of rising anti-Semitism. “The breaking of taboos that we experience everywhere and which is largely fueled by the AfD are ultimately reflected in deeds,” Schuster said. Schuster concluded that “the time for appeasement is finally over.” Read Here
Anti-Semitic smear on home near Charlottenburg Synagogue
BY Tagesspiegel
Unidentified people sprayed an anti-Semitic graffiti on the entrance to a home in Berlin-Charlottenburg and left extreme right symbols . On the door of the apartment building symbols of the right-wing extremist Ku Klux clan and the Star of David were discovered alongside an anti-Jewish saying. The state police have taken over the investigation. Read Here
3. IN DEPTH: THIS WEEK’S NEWS ON ANTI-SEMITISM ACROSS THE MIDDLE EAST
Iran’s regime pushes anti-Semitic conspiracies about coronavirus
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN
Iran’s Press TV, which represents the regime’s English-language propaganda, has been pushing anti-Semitic conspiracies about the coronavirus to distract from the mullah regime’s mishandling of the pandemic. Iran has pushed several reports claiming that “Zionists” were behind the coronavirus. Press TV also quoted the same website that was at the center of an anti-Semitic article from 2017 that claimed “America’s Jews are driving America’s wars.” On March 5, Press TV claimed that “Zionist elements developed a deadlier strain of coronavirus against Iran.” Read Here
4. IN DEPTH: OTHER WORLD NEWS
Dutch-Muslim community leader accused of writing that Hitler was Jewish in pro-Hamas email
BY CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
An email from 2014 bearing the signature of an influential leader of Dutch Muslims expressed support for Hamas and said that Adolf Hitler was Jewish. The email carrying the signature of Yahia Bouyafa, chairman of the Association of Moroccan Mosques in the Netherlands, said that “Hamas is a legitimate and growing protest movement” against “usurpers” that used the Holocaust, “perpetrated by the Jew Hitler,” as a “pretext to steal Palestinian land,” the text read. Bouyafa told the paper that the email was a forgery, but his Facebook page also contains references to “Hitler the Jew.” Read Here
Dutch little league soccer coach called a Jewish player ‘cancer Jew,’ teammates say
By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
A Dutch soccer coach is accused of calling an 11-year-old Jewish player “cancer Jew” during practice and harassing him over his religion. The boy, identified only as Tobias, caught the attention of the coach last year because he wore a pendant with a Star of David. The team is the little league of the GeuzenMiddenmeer club from eastern Amsterdam. “He asked me whether I’m an Ajax fan or a Jew,” the boy said. When Tobias told him he is Jewish, the coach asked: “And you’re not ashamed of it?” During practice, the coach would yell to other players about Tobias: “Don’t let that Jew boy in” and “don’t let Jew boy score,” the boy said. Read Here
16-year-old schoolboy assaulted in southern Austria ‘for wearing Star of David ring’
By Liam Hoare
A 16-year-old schoolboy wearing a Star of David ring was left beaten and bruised following a violent anti-Semitic attack in Graz. The German boy was walking in the vicinity of the Bischöfliches Gymnasium — a grammar school in a residential neighbourhood when he was approached by two youths aged between 15 and 16. Having spotted the ring on his finger, the assailants asked the victim if he was Jewish. When he replied yes, the attackers then verbally assaulted him, telling him to p*ss off. After that, the assailants set upon the boy, slapping and punching him in the face and calling him a Scheiß Jude (“sh*t Jew”). Read Here
AN ANTI-SEMITIC POSTER ABOUT WEINSTEIN WAS PUBLISHED IN BUDAPEST
BY KIBIC Magazin
A poster depicting Harvey Weinstein has been published in Budapest and the authors have written a harshly anti-Semitic text. The poster reads an obscene phrase that reads “Harvey Weinstein is a Jewish billionaire raping goy women”. Read Here
Paris: anti-Semitic tags and swastikas on candidate posters
By Actu
Anti-Semitic inscriptions and swastikas were tagged on posters of Jewish candidates for municipal elections in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The two targeted candidates have received messages of support from many Parisian elected officials including the mayor of Paris. Read Here
9 historians resign from Belgian Holocaust museum over plan to honor anti-Israel activist
BY CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
Half of the scientific committee of Belgium’s national Holocaust museum resigned over the institution’s plan to host an event that was to honor a promoter of boycotts against Israel. The resignation of nine historians from the Kazerne Dossin memorial followed an outcry over its plan from December to host the awarding of a prize by the Pax Christi Catholic aid group to Brigitte Herremans. Herremans has said that Israel’s supporters inflate anti-Semitism to distract from its actions and called for the European Union to sanction both the country and its citizens when they enter European soil. Read Here
JEWISH MONUMENT DESECRATED IN RIVNE, Ukraine MENTIONING ZELENSKY
By Jewish News
During Shabbat, it was discovered that vandals desecrated a Jewish monument in Rivne. The monument is installed in the old Jewish cemetery. This was announced to the United Jewish Community of Ukraine by Gennady Fraerman – the head of the Rivne Jewish community. Vandals wrote on the monument with green paint: ZE. This word refers to the party of the President of Ukraine – Vladimir Zelensky. Read Here
Brazilian high students display Nazi salute to support a classmate
BY MARCUS M. GILBAN
A group of 11 senior students from a Brazilian high school made the Nazi salute in support of a classmate running to become their speaker. The scene took place at Saint Mary School in the city of Recife. A picture was posted on Instagram along with a message full of Nazi-related terms. “He promises to be the new Fuhrer of the grade on this journey towards building a new and innovative Reich,” the post said. “A people person with good rhetoric,” it continued, followed by hashtags with the words “Aryan” and “fourth Reich.” Read Here
Argentine soccer player makes anti-Semitic gesture during game and could be prosecuted
By JTA STAFF
An Argentine soccer player made an anti-Semitic gesture after being ejected from a game against a team with many Jewish supporters, sparking an outcry on social media and calls for his prosecution under the country’s law that prohibits displays of discrimination. While leaving the field to jeers, Arnaldo González put his hand on his head, imitating a yarmulke, and pointed to his genitals. Read Here
Nazi material pulled in Australia
BY PETER KOHN
Online platforms eBay Australia and Amazon Australia have announced they are removing Nazi-related items from their websites, such as a Hitler Youth handbook on offer on eBay and Nazi children’s books that appeared on Amazon Australia. The decisions by the e-commerce giants came after they were contacted by the Anti-Defamation Commission which pointed out the danger of spreading anti-Semitic hate material. Read Here
Winnipeg synagogue ‘hit hard’ by swastika spray-painted outside, congregant says
By Dana Hatherly
A child of Holocaust survivors first spotted the anti-Semitic emblem scrawled outside a Winnipeg synagogue. Laya Kneller noticed the bright yellow swastika haphazardly spray-painted on the side of a garbage bin in the back lane behind the Chevra Mishnayes Synagogue. Read Here
ON CAMPUS
(9 Articles)
1. Swastika drawn on high school student desk in West Nyack, NY
By Mid Hudson News
The Clarkstown Police Department is currently investigating an incident where a swastika had been drawn on a student desk at Clarkstown South High School in West Nyack, NY. The police have been in contact with the students in the classroom where the incident occurred “to reinforce the hurtful nature of this act.” Read Here
2. Anti-Zionist US Student Group Honors Female Palestinian Terrorists to Celebrate International Women’s Day
By Nic Rowan
The national branch of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) is drawing criticism after honoring female Palestinian terrorists on social media. One tweet — part of a series intended to celebrate Palestinian women for International Women’s Day — featured a picture of Leila Khaled smiling and holding an AK-47 assault rifle. Another tweet included an image of Rasmea Odeh, who aided in the murder of college students Leon Kanner and Eddie Joffe in a 1969 supermarket bombing in Jerusalem. Deborah Lipstadt condemned the SJP tweets, saying they were “appropriate only if you think it’s a good thing to praise those who murder.” Read Here
3. Columbia University president opposes BDS referendum ahead of student vote
By JNS
Columbia University president Lee Bollinger came down hard on anti-Semitism ahead of an undergraduate student referendum calling on the university to divest from companies doing business in Israel. “It imposes a standard on this particular political issue that is not right when one considers similar issues in other countries and in other contexts around the world. To my mind, that is unwise, analytically flawed, and violates my sense of fairness and proportionality…” The BDS movement, which Bollinger called “controversial,” is “a process of mentality that goes from hard-fought debates about very real and vital issues to hostility and even hatred toward all members of groups of people simply by virtue of a religious, racial, national or ethnic relationship. This must not happen.” Read Here
4. Campaign at Tufts aims to be first US university to end Israel law-enforcement cooperation
By Jackson Richman
A campaign at Tufts University calls for ending the school’s police department’s (TUPD) involvement with the Israeli police force and military. The referendum is scheduled to be voted on next month. SJP held a seven-day action in November calling for an end to TUPD trips to Israel in the aftermath of then-Tufts executive director of public safety and TUPD chief Kevin Maguire traveling to Israel for a nine-day National Counter-Terrorism Seminar along with a delegation of Massachusetts police officials and agents from both the U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Read Here
5. Swastika Reportedly Found at New York College
By AARON BANDLER
A swastika was reportedly found at Queens College in the New York City borough of Queens. The swastika was discovered in a bathroom stall. A spokesperson from the NYPD said that the stall was located on the second floor of a university building. Read Here
6. UJS: Chef to speak at student event has ‘history of anti-Semitic language’
By MATHILDE FROT
An Italian chef due to speak at a student event at the School of Oriental and African Studies has a “history of using anti-Semitic language,” Jewish students claimed. The talk on 20 March, organised by the university’s Palestine and Italian societies, will be led by Gabriele Rubini, a former rugby player turned chef and TV personality. He drew criticism when he said in an interview that “There was not only the Holocaust. There were many genocides in the world but if you notice it we are led to pay attention only to what has struck the Jews and not all the Jews, because the rich ones have sold themselves also the brothers, sisters, families, neighbours who could not afford bribes or closeness to power and also went to die for this cause, for the state of Israel,” he said in Italian. Read Here
7. GW University quarantines AIPAC attendees, who get targeted by anti-Semitism
By JACKSON RICHMAN
George Washington University quarantined 30 students who attended AIPAC Policy Conference only to reverse the decision less than 12 hours later as the student attendees have since been targeted by anti-Semitism. Some students have been harassed in person and on social media with anti-Semitic messages. Blake Flayton, a sophomore, tweeted that he was wearing his kippah outside and followed by “a group of boys.” “When they passed me, one of them obviously turned around and saw my kipah. He then started yelling ‘Oh! Yahood! Yahoodi! We’ve got a yahood over here’ and everyone started laughing. One of them started yelling ‘you produced it! You produced it! You started it!’ he tweeted. Read Here
8. Brown committee recommends university divest from companies that ‘profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land’
By MARCY OSTER
A Brown advisory committee has issued a formal recommendation that the Ivy League university divest from “any company that profits from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land.” The recommendation was contained in an official report made to the university president and its highest governing body. An additional report will include which specific companies to include. Read Here
9. California State University Professor Claims Israel Will Place Arab Coronavirus Patients in ‘Mass Prisons’
By Benjamin Kerstein
A professor at California State University, Stanislaus, with a long history of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements claimed on Sunday that the Jewish state was planning to discriminate against Arab coronavirus victims and put them in “mass prisons,” and then blamed subsequent complaints on the work of “Zionist hoodlums.” Asad Abukhalil, a professor of political science, tweeted on March 8, “Israel will — I am sure — have different medical procedures for Jews and non-Jews. Non-Jews will be put in mass prisons.” Read Here
ANALYSIS
(4 Pieces)
1. History shows that epidemics can carry dangerous side effects for Jews: deadly anti-Semitism
By HENRY ABRAMSON
Over the course of our millennial history, Jews have had many encounters with contagious diseases. Often we’re blamed for them. Given Jewish history, it’s vital to avoid anti-Semitic tropes about the spread of disease — and sobering to know the consequences when we don’t. So yeah. In terms of Jewish history, it’s not always about the virus itself. It’s what might happen after the virus. Read Here
2. Europe’s modern anti-Semitic carnivals are carrying on a centuries-old tradition
By CNAAN LIPHSHIZ
Over the past two years, at least five parades featuring offensive depictions of Jews have taken place in EU member countries. Yet to historians familiar with the anti-Semitic record of Europe’s carnivals, the emergence of this theme in modern-day processions is an organic continuation of a centuries-old tradition at these events. The only interruption in this tradition came in the three decades that followed the Holocaust, “where perhaps there was a measure of self-censorship.” Read Here
3. What’s Changed Since the ‘Black Death’?
By Ben Cohen / JNS.org
Duly reflecting, it’s hard not to notice the conjunction of a viral epidemic that is itself drowning in false information and malicious speculation with a wider context in which political, racial, and religious extremism is flourishing. Just as the anti-Semites didn’t need scientific proof in the Middle Ages to support their lies, they don’t need it now, for what is presented to them as a superior set of arguments is thrown back at us wrapped in the label “Jewish conspiracy.” Because it theoretically explains everything, anti-Semitism in reality doesn’t explain anything. The coronavirus crisis has given us an insight into its actual purpose, which is to strike terror into the Jewish community. The realization that techniques used seven centuries ago are again in operation against Jews today is certainly a terrifying thought. Read Here
4. Don’t boycott Israel just yet
By Aaron B. Andrews
Those calling for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel should consider putting a sock in it until the coronavirus blows over. Enter Israel. Reports circulated that an Israeli research institute is closing in on a vaccine for the disease. Scientists at MIGAL Research Institute say they are eight to 10 weeks away from producing a vaccine and are currently working on getting approval for animal testing. The president of the institute has said their goal is to get the vaccine safety approved in 90 days. It may be tough for some to swallow, but BDSers should be asking themselves if they would really say no to a vaccine just because it was created in Israel. Read Here
STUDIES AND STATISTICS
(1 Piece)
1. Anti-Zionist Propaganda, Conspiracy Theories Fueling Rise of Anti-Semitism in Italy, New Report Shows
By Ben Cohen
Anti-Jewish incidents in Italy climbed sharply in 2019, the latest report from the country’s main anti-Semitism monitor revealed. Data gathered by the Milan-based “Osservatorio Antisemitismo” (Anti-Semitism Observatory) showed that there were 251 incidents of hatred targeting Jews last year, compared with 197 such incidents in 2018. About 30,000 Jews live in Italy, concentrated in a handful of major cities. The majority of the 2019 incidents — 173 — involved anti-Semitic posts online. There were 31 incidents of verbal abuse, 23 instances of anti-Semitic graffiti and two violent assaults. Read Here
FEATURED PARTNER
Combat Anti-Semitism is proud to be a partner of Yeshiva University, one of the world’s premier Jewish institutions for higher education. Learn more about Yeshiva University and their recent success in the NCAA Tournament in the video below.
Yeshiva University basketball team reaches first Sweet 16
By LUIS ANDRES HENAO
Yeshiva University beat Penn State Harrisburg 102-83 to reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time in the history of the Jewish Orthodox institution. The Maccabees, named after the ancient Jewish rebel warriors, fought against all odds. They won their 29th straight game in a record-breaking season that began amid concerns over a global rise in anti-Semitism and that has now been engulfed by the new coronavirus. Read Here
Located in New York, Yeshiva University is one of the world’s premier Jewish institutions for higher education. Rooted in Jewish thought and tradition, it sits at the educational, spiritual and intellectual epicenter of a robust global movement that is dedicated to advancing the moral and material betterment of the Jewish community and broader society.
Government & Policy Update
This section highlights the work of government officials around the world that are combating anti-Semitism in their official capacities.
(8 Pieces)
1. Highest EU Court to Hold Hearings on Belgian Kosher Slaughter Ban
By Algemeiner Staff
The European Court of Justice is to open hearings into the legality of measures adopted by Belgium’s Flanders and Wallonia regions effectively banning Shechita — the Jewish method of slaughtering animals for meat consumption. The court will hear parties to the appeal on April 21 in Luxembourg. EU legislation allows exemption on religious grounds for non-stunned slaughter provided that they take place in authorized slaughterhouses. The ban, legislated in 2017 to prevent both Jewish and Muslim methods of animal slaughter, has been in effect since Sept. 1, 2019. Read Here
2. Bill to define anti-Semitism passes Arizona state House
By Wissam Melhem
A bill that would incorporate a definition of anti-Semitism into Arizona law has passed in the House in Arizona. House Bill 2683 incorporates the definition of anti-Semitism used by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) to help law enforcement collect information regarding anti-Semitism prejudice. The bill will next go to the Arizona Senate where it is expected to pass. Read Here
3. Iowa House GOP passes bill defining anti-Semitism
By Radio Iowa
Republicans in the Iowa House have approved a bill that denounces the rise in hate crimes against Jews and provides a definition of anti-Semitism. The bill narrowly passed on a 51-45 vote. It now goes to the Senate. Read Here
4. Israel’s ambassador urges Germany to ban Hezbollah activities
By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
Israeli Ambassador to Germany Jeremy Issacharoff has stepped up his push for the German government to ban activities of the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist organization in the federal republic. In December, the governing coalition parties passed a Bundestag resolution urging the federal government to accept a ban on Hezbollah activities. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Interior Minister Horst Seehoffer have vehemently resisted outlawing Hezbollah in Germany. Some 1,050 Hezbollah operatives raise funds and recruit new members in the federal republic, according to German intelligence reports. Read Here
5. Berlin Opens First Counseling Center in Germany for Victims of Anti-Semitic Attacks
By Algemeiner Staff
The city of Berlin opened a counseling center for victims of anti-Semitic harassment and violence, in recognition of the steep rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes in the German capital in recent years. Berlin State Senator Dirk Behrendt of the Green Party told German news outlets that the “high number of anti-Semitic crimes” meant that victims should receive more specialized assistance. The Berlin municipal authorities will fund the center with a grant of 120,000 euros for 2020. Read Here
6. ‘Anti-Zionism Has Become the New Anti-Semitism,’ British Cabinet Minister Michael Gove Says
By Benjamin Kerstein
“Anti-Zionism has become the new anti-Semitism,” Britain’s Minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Gove said. Gove told a gathering of the anti-extremist Mainstream UK organization, “More recently, anti-Semitism has taken a new form.” “In the past you could be Jewish in the ghetto, or you could be Jewish but had to suffer disability under the law,” he said, but now, anti-Semitism held that Jewish identity “either has to be removed or Israel has to survive on terms set by others.” Read Here
7. UK MPs demand Palestinian schools stop using textbooks inciting against Israel
By LAHAV HARKOV
Palestinian Authority and UNRWA schools continue to use textbooks that radicalize children against Israel, parliamentarians in the UK, a major donor to the PA, lamented. MP Jonathan Gullis, who initiated the debate with Minister of State James Cleverly, displayed a reading comprehension textbook for 10-year-olds that praised Dalal al-Mughrabi, who killed 38 Israelis including 13 children, on a bus in 1978. MPs also demanded that a long-awaited EU review of Palestinian textbooks be made public. Read Here
8. Romania appoints official to combat anti-Semitism, commemorate Holocaust
By JNS
Romania has appointed Silviu Vexler, a member of the country’s Chamber of Deputies, as its High Representative for Fighting Anti-Semitism, Protecting the Memory of the Holocaust and the Development of Jewish Life. His appointment by the government received broad bipartisan support in the Romanian Parliament. In his new position, Vexler, a member of parliament, will coordinate legislative and educational initiatives to combat anti-Semitism and commemorate the Holocaust. He will also be charged with helping promote the history, culture and traditions of Romania’s Jews. Read Here
HUMANITY
(7 Pieces)
1. Patriots Wide Receiver Julian Edelman Studying for Bar Mitzvah During NFL Offseason
By Shiryn Ghermezian
New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman is spending some time during the NFL offseason studying in Los Angeles for his bar mitzvah. “My dad is Jewish. I converted pretty much. I’m going to have a bar mitzvah here soon. I speak with a rabbi every Friday. He’s from out here,” Edelman said. The three-time Super Bowl champion added that he had attended synagogue in Boston during football seasonr.” The Jewish athlete has traveled to Israel in the past and in 2018 wore customized cleats that honored the 11 people killed in the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre. Read Here
2. After mass exodus, Morocco celebrates its Jewish heritage
By SUE BARNETT
Morocco, once home to the largest number of Jews in the Arab world, is doing some serious Jewish outreach these days. Ten years ago, King Mohammed VI began allocating funds to restore Morocco’s historically significant Jewish sites and open them to visitors, part of an ongoing project to recognize the Islamic country’s rich Jewish past. An American Jewish heritage press trip was arranged by the Moroccan National Tourist Office to show how Morocco is elevating its Jewish legacy and investing in its preservation. It is safe to say that no other Arab nation embraces its Jewish history to this extent or grounds it in its national narrative. Read Here
3. 2 NFL players train with the Israeli army
By MARCY OSTER
Two NFL players shunned the helmets and shoulder pads for a training session with the Israeli army while on a visit to the country. Washington Redskins running back Adrian Peterson and free-agent cornerback Josh Norman, who played together for two years, ran obstacle courses with the soldiers and took Krav Maga lessons while on a visit to Israel, the IDF said. “It’s amazing to get in there and train with these guys because they are at the top of their game at being in combat,” Norman said. The players also received a briefing from the military on threats to the region. Read Here
4. Anti-Semitism is ‘alive and well,’ disguised among America’s elites, Gary Bauer warns
By Leah MarieAnn Klett
American Values President Gary Bauer warned that the “ancient evil” of anti-Semitism is “alive and well” among those in powerful positions both in the United States and abroad. During a breakfast to honor Israel at the NRB 2020 Christian Media Convention, Bauer, recently appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, said he “worries” about subtle anti-Semitism in the U.S. Often, he said, it comes disguised and “all dressed up.” “You have people in powerful positions, people who went to all the right schools, who run the universities, who deliver us the news. The anti-Semitism is alive and well among those people,” he said at the breakfast sponsored by Combat Anti-Semitism, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem and NRBTV. Read Here
5. Families of Pittsburgh synagogue victims to get $3 million from donated funds
By BEN HARRIS
The three congregations housed at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue will distribute more than $5.4 million donated in the aftermath of the deadly October 2018 shooting there. The congregations announced that they planned to distribute just over $3 million to the families of the 11 people killed in the attack by a lone gunman and two seriously injured worshippers. Another $1.2 million will be directed toward the rebuilding of the Tree of Life building. Read Here
6. Tool launched in France to monitor web anti-Semitism
By JEWISH NEWS REPORTER
A tool to monitor online anti-Semitism has been launched in France, after an initiative found almost 52,000 instances of anti-Jewish sentiment posted last year. The Online Anti-Semitism Observatory was launched and developed by French Jewish representative body CRIF, whose president Francis Kalifat said it would help give “a more complete picture of anti-Semitism in France” and it was “necessary to identify, quantify and qualify the hateful content present on the internet”, adding that the idea was to observe social media and “present a fairer picture of what anti-Semitism is”. Read Here
7. Top US Entrepreneur Calls for Greater Black-Jewish Solidarity, Noting Shared ‘Birthright Burden’
By Algemeiner Staff
Prominent entrepreneur and philanthropist Robert F. Smith called for greater solidarity between blacks and Jews in the US. Speaking at a World Values Network gala, the 57-year-old founder of Vista Equity Partners, said, “Many of us are rightly concerned about the divide between the African American and Jewish communities. I am here to say that anyone who propagates this fear and division simply doesn’t understand our common experience and common bond. The Jewish people and the African American people share a birthright burden. We are wanderers in search of a place to call home, to plant roots, to build community. The Jewish community’s leadership in the civil rights movement is one of history’s most neglected truths.” Read Here
OVER 180,000 INDIVIDUALS AND 210 ORGANIZATIONS HAVE SIGNED OUR PLEDGE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
“Combat anti-Semitism (CAM) is a non-partisan, global grassroots movement of interfaith individuals and organizations united to combat anti-Semitism. CAM 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.”
