THIS WEEK’S GLOBAL ANTISEMITISM REPORT
Ontario has become the first Canadian province to mandate Holocaust education at the elementary level. Germany’s government launched a new campaign to combat antisemitism timed for the anniversary of Kristallnact, with public posters in eight cities to challenge common antisemitic and anti-Zionist tropes.
Omar Alkattoul, an 18-year-old New Jersey man was arrested after sending an online manifesto with threats to attack a synagogue and Jewish people, federal prosecutors say. Thomas David Bona, 36, was also arrested in Chico, California for committing an arson attack at Congregation Beth Israel, after setting fire to a sign welcoming visitors and tagging it with swastikas.
In Trieste, Italy, vandals spray-painted “The Jews are the new racists and Nazis,” across the facade of the city’s synagogue. Police were called to protect the Victoria International Jewish Film Festival in Canada’s British Columbia province after the event organizers received multiple antisemitic threats, which police described as “specific and deeply concerning.”
London’s Jewish community has experienced a series of antisemitic attacks and threats in recent days, with at least eight incidents recorded by the community, including an assault on a Jewish child riding a bicycle, and fireworks thrown at a Jewish pedestrian.
This week’s global antisemitism report highlights 38 new media reports of antisemitic incidents. The total includes 25 (65.8%) from the far-right, 3 (7.9%) from the far-left, 3 (7.9%) with Islamist motivations, and 7 (18.4%) unidentifiable in nature.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
UNITED STATES
JEWISH MAN ATTACKED WITH WATER, GARBAGE ON KINGSTON AVENUE, NYC
By COILIVE
An elderly Jewish man was the victim of a possible hate crime while walking on Kingston Avenue in Crown Heights on Thursday. The Jewish man was walking on the main street of Kingston Avenue at 2:30 PM when a Black male approached him and threw water and garbage on him. The perp then fled the scene. The NYPD was called, and Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating and searching for the perpetrator who is wanted for Aggravated Harassment.
MARK RUFFALO TWEETS AGAINST IHRA DEFINITION OF ANTISEMITISM
By SAM HALPERN
Hollywood A-List actor Mark Ruffalo tweeted an article on Friday that details a statement urging the UN to not adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Working Definition of antisemitism. (IHRA WDA) The statement explicated in the article by the Qatari state-funded news giant, Al-Jazeera, was published by 128 “[l]eading scholars in antisemitism.” It alleges that the definition is “instrumentalized to deter free speech and to shield the Israeli government from accountability for its actions.” Meanwhile, the statement blasts the IHRA definition for being “[v]ague and incoherent” and asserts that the definition does not “satisfy the basic requirements of a good definition.” It goes on to promote the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism.
NEW JERSEY MAN ACCUSED OF SENDING ONLINE THREATS TO ATTACK A SYNAGOGUE AND JEWISH PEOPLE, FEDERAL PROSECUTOR SAYS
By AY SANCHEZ and KRISTINA SGUEGLIA
An 18-year-old New Jersey man was arrested Thursday after sending a manifesto online with threats to attack a synagogue and Jewish people, federal prosecutors say. Omar Alkattoul, a Sayreville resident, is charged with a count of transmitting a threat in interstate and foreign commerce earlier this month, according to a criminal complaint and a statement from Philip Sellinger, US Attorney for the District of New Jersey. “No one should be targeted for violence or with acts of hate because of how they worship,” Sellinger said in the statement. “According to the complaint, this defendant used social media to send a manifesto containing a threat to attack a synagogue based on his hatred of Jews.”
MAN ARRESTED FOR BURNING CHICO, CA SYNAGOGUE SIGN LAST WEEK
By JSTAFF
Police have arrested a Chico man suspected of committing an arson attack at Congregation Beth Israel last week. Repeat offender Thomas David Bona, 36, was arrested Nov. 4 and is being charged with felonies and several enhancements for hate crimes, each of which can mean an additional one to three years in prison. Officers located the suspect in the lobby of a campus building at Cal State Chico “after receiving complaints” about his behavior, Chico police said in a release. Officials said they obtained “evidence and statements” leading to suspect Bona was responsible for setting fire to a sign welcoming visitors to the synagogue and tagging it with swastikas — an incident that was reported a day earlier.
WORLD NEWS
UNITED KINGDOM
JEWISH CHILD LEFT WITH CUTS AND TORN CLOTHING AFTER BEING KNOCKED OFF BIKE IN STAMFORD HILL
By CAA
A Jewish child has been left with cuts, bruises and torn clothing after being knocked off of his bike on Forburg Road in Stamford Hill. The man alleged to have knocked the child off was reportedly also shouting obscenities.
BBC REPORT ON ANTISEMITIC HANUKKAH ATTACK HAD ‘SIGNIFICANT’ FAILINGS, REGULATOR SAYS
By GABE FRIEDMAN
BBC article about an attack on a bus full of Jewish students celebrating Hanukkah last year contained “significant editorial failings,” according to a report released by the British government’s media regulator on Monday. “The BBC’s reports claimed that an audio recording made during the incident included anti-Muslim slurs — which it later changed to the singular ‘slur’ — which came from inside the bus. Shortly afterwards, it received evidence which disputed this interpretation of the audio,” the Ofcom regulator wrote.
LONDON JEWS FACING SPREE OF ANTISEMITIC ATTACKS
By DION J. PIERRE
An antisemitic “hate crimes pandemic” has been breaking out in the Stamford Hill and Hackney sections of London since October 29, according to information released by the area’s Jewish community watch group, Shomrim. “The racism pandemic continues,” the group tweeted on Tuesday, reporting on an incident — one of eight that have occurred in just several days — in which a known local assaulted a Jewish resident of Stamford Hill while yelling, “You Jews, you think you run the world.”
ANTISEMITIC GRAFFITI REMOVED IN BRIDGNORTH
GERMANY
GERMAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE IN ISRAEL RESCHEDULES HOLOCAUST & ‘NAKBA’ REMEMBRANCE DISCUSSION AFTER FIERCE PROTEST
By SHARON WROBEL
A controversial event discussing remembrance culture and pain of the Holocaust alongside remembrance of the Nakba originally scheduled to be held at a German cultural institute in Tel Aviv on the same day of the anniversary of “Reichspogromnacht” — or “Kristallnacht” — was postponed after drawing sharp rebuke by Israel’s foreign ministry and German lawmakers.
GERMANY – ANTI-ISRAELI DEMONSTRATION ON NOVEMBER 9TH IN BERLIN
‘DEEPLY CONCERNING’: POLICE INVESTIGATING THREATS AGAINST B.C. JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL
By VICTORIA NEWS STAFF
Police were called to the Victoria International Jewish Film Festival after organizers received multiple antisemitic threats. The Victoria Police Department was called on Nov. 4 after the Jewish Community Centre of Victoria received threats against the film festival and the Jewish community as a whole. The festival was held at the Vic Theatre on Douglas Street between Nov. 1 and 6. Specially-trained officers searched the area to ensure it was safe. While there were no incidents at the event, police remained on scene to provide security and a “clearly visible presence.”
OTHER WORLD NEWS
RECENT UPTICK IN AUSTRALIA JEW-HATRED INCIDENTS MONITORED BY CAM ANTISEMITISM RESEARCH CENTER
By CAM
The CAM Antisemitism Research Center detected and monitored an uptick in antisemitic incidents across Australia over the last several months. Since August, there were at least five reported incidents of swastika vandalism, including on an office door in Melbourne, a gas station in Victoria, political campaign signs in Balaclava and Bellarine, and a preschool in Rose Bay.According to an Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) study, there was a 35 percent increase in reported antisemitic incidents in Australia in 2021 from 2020.
ITALIAN SOCCER PROBES ANTISEMITIC CHANTS BY LAZIO FANS
By AFP
Italian soccer authorities are investigating alleged antisemitic chanting from Lazio fans during the weekend’s Rome derby, Serie A announces today. In a statement, Italy’s top flight says that a “follow-up investigation” will be carried out to verify the number of supporters making the offensive chants, videos of which circulated on social media after Lazio’s 1-0 win over Roma on Sunday. Serie A says the “boorish, outrageous and religiously discriminatory” chants were aimed at Roma fans “several times before the match and once during the game itself.”
ITALY: ANTISEMITIC SLOGAN DAUBED ON TRIESTE SYNAGOGUE
By ANSA
An antisemitic slogan was found daubed on a synagogue in Trieste on Thursday, local sources said. “The Jews are the new racists and Nazis” appeared overnight written in black ink on the facade of the building, which is in the centre of the northeastern Italian port city. Digos special security police investigations are underway, also with the support of images from video surveillance of the area, to trace the perpetrators
ON CAMPUS
JEWS RESPONSIBLE FOR SLAVERY, ANTISEMITIC FLYERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE CLAIM
By MAYA ZANGER-NADIS
“At the height of American slavery, 78% of slave owners were ethnic Jews [sic],” reads one of several flyers posted across the University of Tennessee Chattanooga campus overnight on Friday. The watchdog organization StopAntisemitism wrote on Twitter, “this is the EXACT hateful rhetoric that Kyrie Irving helped spread when promoting the film ‘Hebrew to Negros: Wake up Black America.'” Both NBA star Kyrie Irving and rapper Kanye West have recently taken to the Internet to spread antisemitic rhetoric. Irving, however, did issue an apology; West has yet to do so.
USG’S “STUDENTS FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE” BILL GARNERS CONTROVERSY
By SHREYAS BANERJEE and GRACE JOHNSON
The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) of Case Western Reserve University announced on Wednesday, Oct. 26 that they would be bringing Bill 31-15 to the floor on Nov. 8. They also noted that they would be shifting their General Assembly from Adelbert Hall to Tink Ballroom in order to accommodate an anticipated increase in attendance from the student body. While CWRU students typically don’t pay too much attention to the bills and resolutions that USG regularly passes, Bill 31-15 has led to greater campus conversation and tension due to one simple fact: it deals with the ever-controversial issue of the Israel/Palestine conflict.
ANALYSIS & OP-EDS
WHITE HOUSE VOWS TO CONDEMN FUELING OF ANTISEMITISM IN WAKE OF IRVING SUSPENSION
By ALEX GANGITANO
The White House will condemn anyone who fuels antisemitism, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Friday when asked about Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving’s handling of the backlash over a controversial tweet. “Anyone, anyone that is fueling hate, fueling antisemitism, we will condemn. We will condemn that type of vulgar, that type of language, because it is incredibly dangerous,” Jean-Pierre said. The press secretary did not comment on Irving directly.
ONTARIO IS THE FIRST CANADIAN PROVINCE TO MAKE HOLOCAUST EDUCATION MANDATORY FOR GRADE 6 STUDENTS
By LILA SARICK
Ontario will become the first province to make Holocaust education mandatory at the elementary level, starting next September, education minister Stephen Lecce announced Nov. 9. Speaking on the eve of the 84th anniversary of Kristallnacht, he revealed that Holocaust education will be part of the Grade 6 social studies curriculum. (It is already covered in Grade 10 Canadian history.) “The horrors that took place 84 years ago, on the Night of Broken Glass, were unleashed on people for no other reason than the simple fact that they were Jews. We are here today to confront that same threat, one that is rising, a threat that I know plagues our democracy, our freedom and the pluralism that is our country,” Lecce said.
US ANTISEMITISM SPECIAL ENVOY LIPSTADT TO VISIT MOROCCO
By OUSSAMA AAMARI
U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Deborah Lipstadt will be visiting Morocco and South Africa between November 6-18, a press release from the the US State Department announced. “During her visits, Ambassador Lipstadt will engage with local Jewish communities, government officials, and civil society representatives on actionable strategies and opportunities to work with them to counter antisemitism, as well as anti-Muslim hatred, racism, and other forms of intolerance and discrimination,” the press release detailed. The visit comes nearly two years after Morocco signed the US-brokered Abraham Accords, becoming one of a small number of Arab countries to hold official diplomatic relations with Israel.
GERMANY UNVEILS NEW PUBLIC INFORMATION CAMPAIGN TO COMBAT ANTISEMITISM
By ALGEMEINER STAFF
As Germany prepares for this week’s anniversary of the 1938 “Reichspogromnacht” — or Kristallnacht — when hundreds of Jews were arrested and murdered and Jewish-owned stores were burned down by Nazi thugs, a new program designed to combat antisemitism is being launched by the government with partner organizations. At a press conference on Monday to unveil the new campaign, Felix Klein — the German federal government’s commissioner tasked with combating antisemitism — said it was time for the country to heed the Jewish community’s anxiety over rising antisemitism.
ITALY – STUDENT DRAWS A SWASTIKA AND ANTISEMITIC EXPRESSIONS ON A BLACKBOARD AND PUNCHES THE TEACHER AT THE PONTI DI GALLARATE
HUMANITY
JOHN MELLENCAMP SPEAKS OUT AGAINST ANTISEMITISM
By i24 NEWS
U.S. singer-songwriter John Mellencamp took the opportunity while on stage Saturday night in Los Angeles for the 2022 Rock and Rock Hall of Fame induction ceremony to denounce antisemitism. “I cannot tell you how f—ing important it is to speak out if you’re an artist against antisemitism,” the musician said while introducing Jewish music industry attorney Allen Grubman, who received the Ahmet Ertegun Award. “I don’t give a f—, I don’t care [about people’s identity]. Here’s the trick: Silence is complicity. I’m standing here tonight loudly and proudly with Allen, his family and all of my Jewish friends and all of the Jewish people of the world.”
BARACK OBAMA DENOUNCES ANTISEMITIC CONSPIRACY THEORIES AND THE CELEBRITIES WHO POST THEM ONLINE
By RON KAMPEAS
Former President Barack Obama called out celebrities who post antisemitic conspiracy theories online. calling them “dangerous” while campaigning in Pittsburgh, the site of the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history. “Whether it’s out of malice or ignorance, we’ve seen recently big celebrities reposting vile antisemitic conspiracy theories online,” Obama said. “And you don’t have to be a student of history to understand how dangerous that is, and how unacceptable it is.”
OVER 200 ENTERTAINMENT LEADERS URGE AMAZON, BARNES & NOBLE TO DROP ANTISEMITIC TITLE
OVER 375,000 INDIVIDUALS AND 550 ORGANIZATIONS HAVE JOINED OUR MOVEMENT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
The Combat Antisemitism Movement is a global coalition engaging more than 375,000 people and 550 organizations from a diverse array of religious, political, and cultural backgrounds in the common mission of fighting the world’s oldest hatred. We act collaboratively to build a better future, free of bigotry, for Jews and all humanity.
