THIS WEEK’S GLOBAL ANTI-SEMITISM REPORT
This week, leaders from more than 50 countries gathered in Malmö, Sweden for a one-day high-level conference on Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism, hosted by Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven. Heads of state and diplomats called for concrete action against rising antisemitism, with a particular focus on the use of social media to spread antisemitism.
During the conference, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison pledged that Australia would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism and its working examples, and Israeli President Isaac Herzog called on all nations to do the same.
This week’s global antisemitism report highlights 38 new antisemitic incidents reported by the media. The total includes 21 (55.2%) from the far-right, 6 (15.8%) from the far-left, 2 (5.3%) with Islamist motivations, and 9 (23.7%) unidentifiable in nature.
Breaking from usual threats to annihilate the Jewish state, Iranian Vice President Mohsen Rezaee — who is wanted by Interpol for his role in the deadly 1994 AMIA Jewish center bombing in Argentina — warned that his country will take action against Iran’s 10,000 Jewish citizens if “Israel makes a mistake.”
Meanwhile, a yeshiva student in Brooklyn was shot in a drive-by shooting with a BB gun, and the Jewish Community Center in Albany, New York was evacuated after receiving a bomb threat. An Israeli living in Berlin was assaulted by a stranger who sprayed irritant in his face, after asking about his religion, and a Jewish man was punched in the face by an assailant while leaving his North London synagogue. In Uman, Ukraine, a man broke into his Jewish neighbor’s home and assaulted him while shouting, “It’s a pity that Hitler did not kill you all…”
In addition to these dangerous physical threats against Jews this week, a Toronto store was vandalized with graffiti reading “This is a Nazi country,” next to a Star of David, and a rabbi’s car at Santa Monica College in California was targeted with an antisemitic slur and swastika graffiti.
In the latest manifestation of the BDS movement’s antisemitism, Irish novelist Sally Rooney has stopped her latest novel from being translated into Hebrew — the ancient language of the Jewish people — to “comply with the BDS movement’s institutional boycott guidelines.”
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SPECIAL FEATURES
SEPTEMBER SEES INCREASE IN PHYSICAL ATTACKS TARGETING JEWS, CAM MONTHLY ANTISEMITISM REPORT FINDS
The CAM Information Hub tracked a total of 163 media reports of antisemitic incidents worldwide in September 2021, a 4.1% decrease from August. Of September’s incidents, 45.4% had far-right motives, while 19.6% had far-left motives, and 16.6% had radical Islamist motives. The remainder — 18.4% — had unidentifiable motives. During September, CAM monitored an increasing frequency of physical attacks against Jewish individuals. In total, 15 acts of violence were recorded across the world, in cities including Los Angeles, Hamburg, Hagen, Toronto, Pisa, Lyon, and London, among others.
DIALOGUE NGO LOOKS TO BUILD ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN TIES THROUGH INTERFAITH ENGAGEMENT
For the past two decades, the Interfaith Encounter Association (IEA) has sought to forge a better future in the Middle East by building bridges between Jews, Muslims and Christians through non-political people-to-people engagement, based on tradition and culture. CAM recently spoke with IEA Executive Director Yehuda Stolov to learn more about the important peacebuilding work his organization is doing.
ALUMS FOR CAMPUS FAIRNESS STUDY RAISES ALARM BELLS ABOUT RISING ANTISEMITISM TARGETING JEWISH STUDENTS
A recently-released Alums for Campus Fairness poll has raised alarm bells about the pervasiveness of antisemitism at colleges and universities across the United States. An overwhelming 95 percent of the students and recent graduates surveyed said antisemitism was a problem on their campuses. CAM spoke with Alums for Campus Fairness Executive Director Avi D. Gordon about the study’s findings and his organization’s efforts to fight Jew-hatred.
UNITED STATES
NYPD INVESTIGATES INCIDENT OF YESHIVAH STUDENT IN BROOKLYN HIT BY BB GUN
By JNS
A yeshiva student in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY, was shot with a BB gun pellet. According to the New York Police Department, a man was “assaulted, possibly shot.” “Upon arrival, officers observed a 23-year-old male, dressed in traditional Jewish garb/attire, with a laceration to the head. EMS responded to the location and transported the aided male to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, in stable condition, where he was treated and released,” said the NYPD spokeswoman.
ALBANY, NY JEWISH CENTER EVACUATED AFTER UNFOUNDED BOMB THREAT
By Algemeiner Staff
An Albany Jewish community center was briefly shut down and evacuated, following an emailed bomb threat later determined to be unfounded. Albany JCC CEO David Posner said that the center had re-opened after police searched the building and found no evidence of a bomb. Two US congressmen, Reps. Paul Tonko and Hakeem Jeffries, were forced to relocate a press conference set to take place at the center on Monday morning. This particular JCC was the target of threats last year and in 2017.
RACIST, ANTISEMITIC RANT CAPTURED ON CAMERA IN SEATTLE’S CENTRAL DISTRICT
WORLD NEWS
United Kingdom
JEWISH MAN LEAVING NORTH LONDON SYNAGOGUE PUNCHED IN THE FACE
By Campaign Against Antisemitism
A Jewish man leaving a synagogue in Clapton Common was punched in the face. It was also alleged that the attacker filmed the incident. The incident was reported by Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol.
GERMANY
EX-ISRAELI SOLDIER ATTACKED WITH IRRITANT GAS IN BERLIN
By DW
An ex-Israeli soldier was assaulted outside a train station in Berlin by unknown assailants, police said, calling it an antisemitic attack. The 29-year-old man, a resident of Berlin, was wearing a pullover with the Israel Defense Forces logo when the incident took place. He was approached by someone and was asked about his faith. “Suddenly, (the attacker) sprayed irritant in his face and pushed him to the ground.” The man was unable to tell whether it was a single assailant or several, who then fled the scene.
CANADA
TORONTO LAW PROF COMPARES JEWISH JUDGE TO NAZI FIGURE
By B’nai B’rith Canada
A leading Canadian law school professor has for months equated a Jewish judge with an infamous Nazi jurist. Professor Mohammad Fadel teaches Business Organizations at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. For months, his Twitter profile picture depicted Justice David Spiro, a Jewish member of Canada’s Tax Court. At the bottom of Spiro’s photo, Fadel has written the words: “The sovereign is he who decides the exceptions,” a quote from Carl Schmitt, a bitterly antisemitic Nazi Party German jurist. Under the photo, Fadel has added the words: “Schmitt lives in Toronto.” Justice Spiro in fact lives in Toronto, making Fadel’s equation clear.
OTHER WORLD NEWS
CANDIDATE FOR ROME MAYOR APOLOGIZES FOR HOLOCAUST REMARKS DECRIED AS ANTISEMITIC
By SIMONE SOMEKH
A leading candidate for mayor in Rome has apologized to Italy’s Jewish community over an article he wrote in which he suggested that victims of mass murders other than the Holocaust gain less attention because they “didn’t own banks.” Jewish community leaders and others had decried the comments by Enrico Michetti, a radio host who is the center-right coalition’s candidate in the October 17 and 18 mayoral election.
IRISH NOVELIST SALLY ROONEY DEFENDS DECISION NOT TO HAVE NOVEL TRANSLATED INTO HEBREW
By Lee Harpin
Irish novelist Sally Rooney has defended her decision to stop her latest novel being translated into Hebrew saying: “I simply do not feel it would be right for me under the present circumstances to accept a new contract with an Israeli company that does not publicly distance itself from apartheid and support the UN-stipulated rights of the Palestinian people.” But Rooney now said:” The Hebrew-language translation rights to my new novel are still available, and if I can find a way to sell these rights that is compliant with the BDS movement’s institutional boycott guidelines, I will be very pleased and proud to do so. ”
THE MIDDLE EAST
IRANIAN VICE PRESIDENT MOHSEN REZAEE WARNS THAT IRAN WILL TAKE ACTION AGAINST ‘THE 10,000 JEWS LIVING IN IRAN’ IF ISRAEL ‘MAKES A MISTAKE’
By MEMRI
Against the backdrop of Iran-Israel tensions and accusations by the Iranian regime that Israel has a military presence aimed at Iran in Iranian Azerbaijan, the “Iranian Regime Countdown” group, which is opposed to the regime, wrote in an October 11, 2021 post on its Telegram channel[1] that Iranian Vice President for Economic Affairs Mohsen Rezaee had warned that if Israel “makes a mistake” vis-à-vis Iran, the Iranian regime would take action against “the 10,000 Jews living in Iran.”
ON CAMPUS
SANTA MONICA COLLEGE CHABAD RABBI’S CAR VANDALIZED WITH SWASTIKA GRAFFITI
By Eli Nahum
Antisemitic graffiti was found drawn on the car windows of the Chabad rabbi serving Santa Monica College. A large swastika and a Star of David followed by the words “Is Illegal” were scrawled on the front-left window and back window of his sedan, using dust left on the glass.
MEQUON-THIENSVILLE, WISCONSIN SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATE SAYS HE MEANT NO HARM WITH HOLOCAUST COMPARISONS
ANALYSIS & OP-EDS
STUDIES & STATISTICS
RELIGION-RELATED HATE CRIME AGAINST JEWS AT HIGHEST LEVEL SINCE RECORDS BEGAN, UK HOME OFFICE FIGURES REVEAL
By JC Reporter
Jews are now the victims of more than one in five hate crimes related to religion in the UK – the highest percentage ever recorded. The shocking Home Office statistics continue a disturbing rise over the past few years. The latest data reveals that there were 1,288 offences against Jewish people in which their perceived religion was recorded as relevant to the case in England and Wales. The figures amount to 22 percent of the total for the 12 months up to March this year, making Jews the second largest group.
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
INTERNATIONAL LEADERS AT ANTISEMITISM FORUM IN SWEDEN CONFRONT DISTORTION, ABUSE OF HOLOCAUST
By Algemeiner Staff
The use of social media to spread antisemitism was a key focus of the one-day high-level conference on Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism in the Swedish city of Malmo. The conference, hosted by Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, heard from a range of international leaders, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Israeli President Isaac Herzog and French President Emmanuel Macron, all of whom sent video messages to the conference. Kathrin Meyer, the secretary-general of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), told the meeting that “the mainstreaming of Holocaust distortion, often spread across borders via social media, is a serious challenge for us all globally as it paves the way for antisemitism.”
AUSTRALIA TO ADOPT IHRA DEFINITION OF ANTISEMITISM
By EVAN ZLATKIS
Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Australia will adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. A month after federal Education Minister Alan Tudge told Jewish leaders the IHRA definition was being considered by the Morrison government and that he was “determined to see this implemented and adopted as government policy”, Morrison made the announcement at the Malmo International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism in Sweden.
UKRAINE TO COOPERATE WITH UNITED STATES TO PRESERVE JEWISH HERITAGE SITES
HUMANITY
FIRST JEWISH WEDDING HELD IN BAHRAIN IN 52 YEARS
By Shira Hanua
For the first time in more than half a century, a Jewish couple was married in Bahrain. The wedding, which was held at the Ritz Carlton in Manama and certified kosher with help from the Orthodox Union, was a milestone for the Jewish community in the Gulf nation, which opened diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 and has recently made an effort to build a relationship with the American Jewish community. Houda Nonoo, Bahrain’s former ambassador to the United States and the first Jewish Bahraini to hold the position of ambassador, shared the news of her son’s wedding on Twitter.
ACTRESS DEBRA MESSING: ANTISEMITISM SHOULD NOT BE ‘IGNORED, SIDELINED OR MINIMIZED’
The Combat Antisemitism Movement is a non-partisan, global grassroots movement of individuals and organizations, across all religions and faiths, united around the goal of ending antisemitism in all its forms. Since its launching in February 2019, 360 organizations and 355,000 individuals have joined the Combat Antisemitism Movement by signing the campaign’s pledge. The CAM Pledge draws upon the IHRA international definition of antisemitism and its list of specific behaviors used to discriminate against the Jewish people and the Jewish State of Israel.
