THIS WEEK’S GLOBAL ANTISEMITISM REPORT
Greece has begun drafting the nation’s first-ever comprehensive national action plan against antisemitism, which will include contributions from various ministries, public bodies, and the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece.
The Biden Administration announced an effort to increase pressure on the Arab League over its boycott of Israel. Under the policy, the U.S. Commerce Department will increase fines for violations of the anti-boycott law, and increase its focus on foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies.
Widespread condemnation was levied against American celebrity Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, after the music icon spewed sometimes violent antisemitic rhetoric to his tens of millions of followers on Instagram, Twitter, in a pre-recorded interview and elsewhere over the last week. Ye’s threat of “going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” linking Jewish ‘FINANCIAL ENGINEERING’ to Hanukkah, and antisemitic tropes about former Presidential Advisor Jared Kushner, resulted in his suspension from major social media platforms.
During the Jewish festival of Sukkot, a Sukkah was vandalized in New York City, a synagogue in Ontario was vandalized with antisemitic stickers, and a young Jewish man was punched in the chest in Brooklyn by a perpetrator yelling “F–k you, Jew.”
Swastikas were scrawled on Jewish newspaper stands in New York City, on a Jewish deli in Portland, Oregan, and at a Jewish cemetery in Chemnitz, Germany. The Israeli ambassador in Berlin slammed a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany party for dancing on the country’s Holocaust memorial to 6 million murdered Jews.
On campus in the past week, Wellesley University’s student newspaper editorial board not only endorsed the BDS movement, but also the antisemitic Mapping Project which calls for the dismantling of the Jewish community in Massachusetts. At George Washington University, students protested outside the Hillel Jewish student center on the second night of Sukkot, with signs reading “War Criminals GTFO,” and calling for an intifada. Days earlier, signs appeared on campus reading ‘ZIONISTS F*** OFF.’
At Indiana University, a Jewish student’s mezuzah was ripped off the door and set on fire, and students associated with the College Republicans at the University of Wisconsin-La Cross chalked “Kanye is Right,” and “Defcon III” on campus. Incidents were also reported at Tufts University, Georgia State, and Ithaca College.
This week’s global antisemitism report highlights 45 new media reports of antisemitic incidents. The total includes 28 (62.2%) from the far-right, 8 (17.8%) from the far-left, 4 (8.9%) with Islamist motivations, and 5 (11.1%) unidentifiable in nature.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
UNITED STATES
NEW YORK CITY STREET SUKKAH VANDALIZED AHEAD OF START OF SUKKOT HOLIDAY
By CAM
A sukkah was vandalized in New York City last Saturday, ahead of the start of the week-long Sukkot holiday. The sukkah had been built outside the Chabad Israel Center at East 92nd Street and First Avenue on Manhattan’s Upper East Side just hours before it was vandalized, ABC7 New York reported. Video footage shows that at around 1:20 AM on Saturday morning an unidentified person urinated on the sukkah and then kicked it in. The incident ended when a passerby intervened. “We have been in touch with the authorities who are investigating this incident, though we’re not perturbed,” Rabbi Uriel Vigler said. Referring to the passerby, Rabbi Vigler added, “We are grateful to the brave New Yorker, who demonstrated what New York is all about, standing up to look after one another.”
MAN SOCKED BY HATER SPEWING ANTI-JEWISH RHETORIC IN BROOKLYN: NYPD
By LARRY CELONA and TINA MOORE
A hate-monger spewing antisemitic rhetoric punched a 27-year-old man in the chest in Brooklyn, cops said. The victim was walking near Avenue N and East 22nd Street in Midwood when the attacker allegedly approached him and snarled, “F–k you, Jew,” cops said. The brute then hit the victim in the chest, cops said. The victim was treated for his injuries, according to cops. Tuesday was the second day of Sukkot, a Jewish holiday.
KANYE WEST’S TWITTER ACCOUNT LOCKED FOR ANTISEMITIC TWEET
By JAMIEL LYNCH and DAVID WILLIAMS
Twitter locked rapper Kanye West’s Twitter account over an antisemitic tweet posted on the account on Saturday. In the since-removed tweet, West said he was “going death con 3 [sic] On JEWISH PEOPLE,” and also that, “You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda,” without specifying what group he was addressing, according to Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine records pulled by CNN. A spokesperson from Twitter confirmed to CNN that the account was locked for violating Twitter’s policies. The tweet has been replaced on the account by a message from the company saying, “This tweet violated the Twitter Rules.”
WORLD NEWS
UNITED KINGDOM
ROYAL COURT THEATRE BOMBARDED WITH ABUSE OVER PLAY ABOUT JEWS
By NICOLE LAMPERT
The theatre staging Jonathan Freedland’s new play about antisemitism has been bombarded with antisemitic abuse, the JC has learnt. Jews. In Their Own Words, written by the JC and Guardian columnist, scrutinises the Royal Court Theatre’s own chequered history, including last year’s “Hershel Fink” scandal. It prompted a deluge of complaints to its switchboard and on its official social media channels. Some complainants harassed the Royal Court’s box office staff on the phone, while others used Twitter to accuse the theatre of betrayal for showcasing Jewish voices.
PINK FLOYD’S ROGER WATERS INSISTS HE IS NOT ANTISEMITIC WHILST DEFENDING NAZI COMPARISONS AND EMBLAZONING STAR OF DAVID ON A PIG ON JOE ROGAN’S PODCAST
By CAA
Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd musician, has repeatedly denied being an antisemite whilst also breaching the International Definition of Antisemitism on yesterday’s episode of the podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. Throughout the podcast, Mr Waters, who has a long record of baiting Jews, claimed he has repeatedly been accused of being an antisemite due to his anti-Israel position. Joe Rogan, the podcast’s host, seemingly agreed with Mr Waters, saying: “By calling you an antisemite, they just stop the conversation dead in its tracks cause that’s an indefensible position.” “Exactly. And you’re not allowed to say ‘I’m not’,” Mr Waters replied.
GERMANY
GERMANY – ANTISEMITIC GRAFFITI AT THE JEWISH CEMETERY IN CHEMNITZ
By ZDF
A citizen reported antisemitic graffiti at the city’s Jewish cemetery. According to the police, the complaint was filed on Saturday. The unknown persons are said to have poured an unknown liquid onto the asphalt at the fence of the cemetery, drawing a swastika and the word “Nazi”. There was no damage to property because the liquid, possibly water, disappeared without residue a little later, according to the citizen. The police were therefore unable to find anything on site. The state protection of the Chemnitz criminal police nevertheless took up investigations into the use of license plates of unconstitutional organizations.
ISRAEL PROTESTS AS FAR-RIGHT GERMAN POLITICIAN SEEN DANCING ON HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL
By AP
Israel’s ambassador in Berlin has slammed a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany party for appearing to dance on the country’s Holocaust memorial. Ambassador Ron Prosor said tweeted Tuesday that far-right politician Holger Winterstein had brought “shame upon himself and his party.” A picture posted on social media showed Winterstein posing with outstretched arms on one of the stone slabs that form the memorial in Berlin for the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust.
CANADA
ANTISEMITIC STICKERS PUT ON FRONT DOORS OF SYNAGOGUE IN GUELPH, ONTARIO
By KEVIN NIELSEN
Police in Guelph say they are investigating after antisemitic stickers were discovered at a synagogue within city limits over the weekend. According to Guelph police, an employee of the Beth Isaiah Synagogue called around noon Friday after finding antisemitic stickers on the front doors of the synagogue. Some of the stickers placed on the building located on Surrey Street went so far as to include pictures of Adolf Hitler. Police say a man was seen on surveillance footage on Thursday at around 11:30 p.m. placing the stickers on the front door before taking a picture of himself with the offensive images. The suspect was said to be wearing a dark jacket with a sweater hood pulled up over his head, black pants, black boots, black gloves, a dark-coloured backpack and a balaclava-style mask over his face.
FRANCE
ANTISEMITIC TAGS ON THE FACADE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY IN CHAMBÉRY
By JONATHAN LANDAIS and MÉLANIE TOURNADRE
The Savoy federation of the French Communist Party again vandalized. During the night from Friday to Saturday, anti-Semitic tags were drawn on the facades of the building, avenue Alsace-Lorraine in Chambéry. Swastikas and inscriptions, like “Jews = parasites” . Since 2019, this is the fourth time that this type of event has occurred. “This infamous act shows that the far right is not part of the republican arc, it shows the cowardice of the fascists who, rather than confronting ideas and acting openly, prefer to operate masked”, denounces the Communist Party of Savoy. The PCF will again file a complaint.
OTHER WORLD NEWS
ITALY – FASCIST AND ANTISEMITIC WRITINGS ON THE WALLS OF THE ROME STATION
By ROMA TODAY
On the internal walls of the Capannelle station, railway stop in the city of Rome, located on the Rome-Cassino-Naples line, near the homonymous racecourse, some writings of clear fascist and racist inspiration have appeared. “Viva er Duce”, “burn Jews” were some of the writings. There are also insults to homosexuals to accompany the scarring, with the disturbing design of Celtic crosses and swastikas.
GREEK MINISTER DECRIES FATHER’S ‘BESTIAL’ NAZI SALUTE IN COURT
By AFP
Greece’s health minister on Tuesday denounced his far-right father for a Nazi salute made during the ongoing appeal trial of neo-Nazi group Golden Dawn. Thanos Plevris, a former member of the far-right Greek party Laos, called the gesture “bestial.” The minister told Skai TV he took particular offense that his father Kostas Plevris — who is defending a jailed ex-Golden Dawn Eurodeputy in the trial — made the gesture last week during testimony given by the mother of Pavlos Fyssas, an anti-fascist rapper murdered by a Golden Dawn member in 2013.
AUSTRALIA: NEO-NAZI FLYERS IN BONDI LETTERBOXES
MIDDLE EAST
GUNMEN SHOOT AT BETHLEHEM HOTEL AFTER VIDEO CIRCULATES OF JEWISH SYMBOLS INSIDE
By JACK MUKAND
Unidentified assailants on Monday opened fire toward The Bethlehem Hotel in the West Bank city of the same name, after a video circulating on social media showed cardboard cutouts of a Star of David and a Menorah on the stage of its conference hall. Palestinian police arrived at the scene soon after the shooting. Several rooms on the upper floors were damaged by the gunfire, but no casualties were reported. The video of the Jewish symbols generated controversy after it was posted earlier on Monday by a guest in the hotel who had wandered into the conference hall.
IRAN – FORMER IRANIAN DIPLOMAT: PER A TALMUDIC PRACTICE, ZIONISTS ARE TRYING TO DEPRIVE PRINCE HARRY, WHO MARRIED “COLORED” MEGHAN MARKLE, OF HIS SHARE IN THE ROYAL INHERITANCE IN FAVOR OF PRINCE WILLIAM WHO MARRIED “JEWISH” KATE MIDDLETON
ON CAMPUS
GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY HILLEL CENTER TARGETED IN ANTI-ISRAEL PROTEST ON SUKKOT
By DION J. PIERRE
Students at George Washington University held a profanity-laden anti-Israel protest outside the school’s Hillel center on the second night of Sukkot, an advocacy group for Jewish students reported on Wednesday. According to the group, the protestors shouted “Israel is a terrorist state” while holding a banner that said, “War criminals GTFO.” “Having this protest outside of an inherently Jewish space, at a time when it’s known that Jewish students would be using this space, shows the explicit targeting of Jewish students,” the group Jewish on Campus tweeted. “Harassing Jews in the name of the Israel-Palestine conflict is antisemitism, plain and simple.”
FLYERS SAYING ‘ZIONISTS F*** OFF’ SPOTTED AT GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY CAMPUS DAYS BEFORE SUKKOT
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Flyers stating “Zionists F*** off. Save Sheikh Jarrah. Free Palestine” were spotted throughout the George Washington University campus on Friday in the latest incident of anti-Zionism at US college campuses. “The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington is appalled by the antisemitic flyers found on George Washington University’s campus this week,” said Gil Preuss, the organization’s CEO. “This hateful language is extremely harmful to GW’s Jewish students and the Jewish community at large, particularly on the heels of Yom Kippur and the upcoming holiday of Sukkot.”
WELLESLEY’S STUDENT PAPER EDITORIAL BOARD SAYS ANTI-ISRAEL MAPPING PROJECT ‘IS PROVIDING A VITAL SERVICE’
By KASSY DILLON
Wellesley College’s student newspaper endorsed the controversial Boston “Mapping Project” last week in an article penned by the editorial board, claiming the project provides a “vital service.” “We believe that the Mapping Project is providing a vital service,” the Wellesley News editorial board wrote. “Collecting data about these institutions, tracing their financial and political activity and publicizing this information is incredibly important. Simply revealing that these ties exist is not justification for violence or bigotry of any kind. Rather, it forces us to reconsider our individual role in a systemic harm.”
ANTISEMITIC SYMBOL FOUND IN SHARON MIDDLE SCHOOL, MA BATHROOM
ANALYSIS & OP-EDS
STUDIES & STATISTICS
NEW OPINION POLL ILLUMINATES GROWING CHALLENGES OF POLARIZATION AND ANTISEMITISM
By JEWISH INSTITUTE FOR LIBERAL VALUES
A poll conducted by the Jewish Institute for Liberal Values (JILV) and OneMessage Public Strategies reveals that self-identified “Progressives” and “Very Liberals” carry views far removed from the rest of the electorate, particularly on the Jewish community. Seventy eight percent of self-identified Progressives and 81% of self-identified Very Liberals believe Jewish Americans have “unfair advantages” that need to be addressed. Seventeen percent of self-identified Progressives and 20% of Very Liberals believe American Jews have too much power. Additionally, 21% of self-identified Progressives and 25% of self-identified Very Liberals believe Jews “benefit from privilege.” Regarding views on the Jewish State, 45% of self-identified Progressives view Israel as an “occupier/colonizer,” and 47% of self-identified Progressives believe Israel has too much power.
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION UPS PENALTIES FOR COMPLIANCE WITH ARAB LEAGUE’S ISRAEL BOYCOTT
By MARC ROD
As part of an effort to increase pressure on the Arab League over its boycott of Israel, the Department of Commerce announced on Thursday that it plans to tighten penalties for and increase enforcement of pre-existing anti-boycott laws. Under the new policy announced Thursday, the Commerce Department will increase fines for violations of the anti-boycott law, require companies that settle cases out of court to publicly admit their wrongdoing and increase its focus on foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies. It is also re-evaluating how it categorizes various offenses, in line with the increased penalties.
GREECE LAUNCHES WAR ON ANTISEMITISM
By STELLA MAZONAKIS
Greece will immediately draft the country’s first comprehensive national action plan against anti-Semitism, announced the government’s Vice-President Panagiotis Pikramenos in the opening address an international conference at Ioannina on Friday. At the two-day conference in northern Greece, “Fighting Antisemitism & Holocaust Distortion & Denial on the Digital Battlefield” (Oct. 7-9), Pikramenos noted that the process to create the action plan will start in the coming weeks. Contributing to it will be relevant ministries, public bodies and the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece.
HUMANITY
DAVID SCHWIMMER CONDEMNS THE RISE OF ANTISEMITISM, CRITICIZES KANYE WEST
By NOA ROSEN
Actor David Schwimmer, best known for his previous role as Ross Geller in the American sitcom, Friends, posted an Instagram post that caught the eyes of thousands of people Tuesday. With a black background and the word “bye” as the only visible thing on the post, Schwimmer condemned the rise of antisemitism across the globe and called out musician Kanye West.
A FOOD TRUCK AT DUKE UNIVERSITY OFFERS A TRUCE TO RISING TENSIONS ON MIDEAST POLITICS
By YONAT SHIMRON
The menu at Yalla is as Middle Eastern as it gets: hummus, falafel, shawarma — in a pita, a bowl or on a plate. This food truck on a concrete patch beside a grassy lawn, a close walk from the Duke University dining hall, is the campus’s latest interfaith venture. Earlier this semester, it began serving food that meets the most stringent dietary needs of two constituencies: Jews and Muslims. The food is both certified kosher and halal. Yalla, from the Arabic word “hurry,” commonly uttered by Hebrew speakers as well, is a proactive attempt to build bridges among students of both faiths at a time of growing tensions, mostly over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
JAMIE LEE CURTIS URGES PEOPLE TO ‘STAND UP’ AGAINST KANYE WEST’S ANTISEMITISM
The Combat Antisemitism Movement is a global coalition engaging more than 360,000 people and 450 organizations from a diverse array of religious, political, and cultural backgrounds in the common mission of fighting the world’s oldest hatred. We act collaboratively to build a better future, free of bigotry, for Jews and all humanity.
