THIS WEEK’S GLOBAL ANTISEMITISM REPORT
Government representatives from Israel and France, alongside members of the French Jewish community met in Paris to collaborate in the struggle against antisemitism in France.
Top government officials, community leaders, and NGOs gathered in Panama City for the Central America-Israel Forum, celebrating the Jewish state’s deep and longstanding ties with the region. At Parlatino, the Latin American Parliament, more than 300 participants from 14 countries discussed relations between Central America, Israel, and the United States, and addressed challenges and opportunities in the global fight against Jew-hatred.
The rabbi of the Jewish community of Potsdam, Germany, was targeted while visiting Berlin for a doctor’s appointment. Rabbi Ariel Kirzon stood with his son at a subway station while speaking in Hebrew, when a man walked toward him, intentionally bumped him, and shouted, “You filthy Jew.”
Hamilton, Ontario police arrested a 22-year-old man after a home break-in during which the man removed a Star of David from the window and proceeded to destroy it.
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) issued disciplinary charges against Eintracht Frankfurt and Olympique de Marseille over fan disturbances at their Champions League match, including a Nazi salute performed by a supporter of the German club.
Assailants shot projectiles at an Orthodox Jewish woman in Brooklyn, whose wig helped shield her from serious injury, and a candidate for city council in Chattanooga, Tennessee defended remarks claiming “Jews overwhelmingly joined the Confederacy as a community” and participated disproportionately in the institution of slavery.
On the first day of classes, Jewish students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison were startled to discover antisemitic messages drawn in chalk around campus reading, ‘Zionism is genocide and racism, there are 5 Zionist orgs at UW, blood is on their hands,’ and listed all the Jewish groups on campus.
The U.S. Department of Education opened an investigation into a complaint alleging Jewish students at the University of Vermont have faced “severe and persistent antisemitic harassment and discrimination.” The University of Akron in Ohio is investigating a student who on Instagram said “I wanna kill the Zionist who have killed my people for 75 years.”
This week’s global antisemitism report highlights 26 new media reports of antisemitic incidents. The total includes 9 (34.6%) from the far-right, 4 (15.4%) from the far-left, 5 (19.2%) with Islamist motivations, and 8 (30.8%) unidentifiable in nature.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
UNITED STATES
CHATTANOOGA CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE DEFENDS PREVIOUS REMARKS ABOUT SLAVE OWNERS BEING JEWISH
By David Floyd
Activist Marie Mott, who is running for the District 8 seat on the Chattanooga City Council, is defending comments she made in 2020 about Jewish slave owners, which have resurfaced on social media less than two weeks before the Sept. 15 election. On Tuesday, an anonymous Twitter account with nine followers posted an approximately 35-second video of Mott in which she states that Jews “participated in the institution of chattel slavery.”
BROOKLYN ORTHODOX JEWISH WOMAN SHOT IN THE HEAD, RELIGIOUS WIG PREVENTS SERIOUS INJURY
By NBC New York
A Brooklyn woman is lucky to be alive after being shot in the head – thanks to a wig that absorbed the blow of the projectiles. Police say the incident happened on Saturday night in Williamsburg. A woman was standing at a crossroads when a dark-colored car approached, displayed what appeared to be a weapon of some kind, and opened fire. The rounds struck the Orthodox Jewish woman in her wig, which was worn for religious reasons. Cops say the wig absorbed the blow, and she was not hurt. It was not immediately clear if the assault was being investigated as a hate crime or not. Year-to-date, hate crimes in the city are up 17% versus last year, but antisemitic hate crimes have more than doubled.
NORTHBROOK, IL VILLAGE CITY BOARD OFFICIALLY CONDEMNS ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS
WORLD NEWS
UNITED KINGDOM
UK LABOUR PARTY COUNCILORS PREVIOUSLY SUSPENDED FOR ALLEGED INFLAMMATORY POSTS, STILL REPRESENTING THE PARTY
By Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA)
Two Labour Party councilors who were suspended for allegedly making inflammatory social media posts about Jews are still representing the Party. After Cllr Ibrahim Ali won his seat in Haringey in May, it emerged that he was previously employed by the controversial CAGE activist group. In 2015, he reportedly defended the description of the terrorist known as Jihadi John as a “beautiful young man.” Cllr Ali was suspended by the Labour Party pending an investigation, but has now returned from suspension after the Party reportedly cleared him of any wrongdoing. During those same elections in May, Councilor Belgica Guaña was suspended after it was alleged that she posted a horrific article arguing that “The Germans were completely justified in persecuting and expelling the Jews…just as we would be today.” Cllr Guaña was also alleged to have posted the article, titled “The Holocaust Hoax and the Jewish Promotion of Perversity”, two years before she became a councillor in Newham in London.
GERMANY
‘YOU FILTHY JEW’: GERMAN RABBI ALLEGEDLY ASSAULTED OUTSIDE BERLIN SUBWAY STATION
By CAM
The rabbi of the Jewish community of Potsdam, Germany, was the target of an antisemitic attack while visiting nearby Berlin for a doctor’s appointment. The incident occurred as Rabbi Ariel Kirzon, 43, stood with his 13-year-old son in front of a subway station speaking on his phone in Hebrew. A man walked toward him, intentionally bumped him, and uttered an antisemitic slur. Kirzon told German media outlets that his assailant shouted, “You filthy Jew.” “I was clearly recognizable as a Jew when suddenly an Arab-looking man insulted and attacked me,” said Kirzon.
CANADA
POLICE INVESTIGATE HOME BREAK-IN ‘TARGETING’ JEWISH COMMUNITY MEMBERS AS A HATE CRIME IN HAMILTON, ONTARIO
By Bobby Hristova
Police say a 22-year-old man has been arrested after a break-in at a home in the Westdale neighbourhood, in an incident they’re investigating as a hate crime. The accused man removed a Star of David from the window and proceeded to destroy it. The man has been charged with break and enter, and for disobeying a court order.
FRANCE
UEFA CHARGES GERMAN AND FRENCH SOCCER CLUB TEAMS FOR ‘RACIST BEHAVIOR’ AND ‘CROWD DISTURBANCES’
By Associated Press (AP)
UEFA laid a slew of disciplinary charges Wednesday against Marseille and Eintracht Frankfurt after disorder at their Champions League game including a fan of the German club making a Nazi salute. Frankfurt was charged with four offenses including “racist behaviour”. The German club published a statement condemning the incidents and stressed it “stands for tolerance and diversity.” Marseille faces five UEFA charges including “crowd disturbances,” with violence at the match resulting in injuries to 17 police officers and two German fans, one of whom sustained a serious neck injury. National police said 11 of the officers were injured. Seventeen people were detained. Both clubs have previously been disciplined by UEFA for misconduct by fans and face escalating sanctions for the latest incidents.
ANTISEMITIC INSCRIPTIONS DISCOVERED ON FRENCH BUS SHELTER
OTHER WORLD NEWS
AN ANTISEMITIC TAG INSCRIBED ON A GRAVE IN FOREST CEMETERY IN BEERSEL, BELGIUM
By BXI Médias de Bruxelles
This Monday, September 12, Gad Deshayes discovered a swastika tagged on his grandfather’s grave in the Forest cemetery in the town of Beersel. A complaint has been filed. “Can we live peacefully as a Jew in 2022 in Belgium? I ask myself the question again after the discovery of abject and nauseating inscriptions on the tomb of my grandfather Aaron, himself a victim of antisemitism the past century”, said Deshayes.
ANTISEMITIC GRAFFITI IN LIVORNO, ITALY
MIDDLE EAST
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY FALSELY BLAMES AL-AQSA MOSQUE FIRE OF 1969 ON AN ‘EXTREMIST JEW’
By Nan Jacques Zilberdik
The arsonist 1969 Al-Aqsa Mosque arson, Michael Denis Rohan, was an Australian Christian with a mental health disorder. The PA has turned Rohan into an “extremist Jew” and “an extremist settler”. Not only has the PA falsely and repeatedly accused Israel – through its framing of “a Jew” – of setting the fire, but the PA promotes the libel that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is in danger because Israel wants to destroy it in order to build “the alleged Temple.”
TERRORIST GROUP IN YEMEN MAKE MUSIC VIDEO THREATENING ISRAEL, ‘JERUSALEM WILL BE CLEANSED OF THE FILTH OF THE JEWS’
ON CAMPUS
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION’S OFFICE FOR CIVIL RIGHTS OPENS INVESTIGATION INTO ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VERMONT
By CAM
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has opened a formal investigation into a complaint alleging that Jewish students at the University of Vermont (UVM) have faced “severe and persistent antisemitic harassment and discrimination.” The complaint pointed out, “All of these incidents … have been reported to the UVM administration. UVM students have met with UVM administrators and shared stories with them of how the students have been personally harassed and harmed by the hostile antisemitic environment on campus. The university has taken no steps to rectify the situation.”
ANTISEMITIC CHALKINGS MAR FIRST DAY OF CLASSES AT UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON
By CAM
Jewish students were startled to discover antisemitic messages drawn in chalk around campus. Director of the Chabad at UW Rabbi Mendel Matusof said he received pictures of the drawings from concerned students. “It said something along the lines of, ‘Zionism is genocide and racism, there are 5 Zionist orgs at UW, blood is on their hands,’ and listed off all the Jewish groups on campus.” Some felt this message from the UW administration was inadequate.
ANALYSIS & OP-EDS
STUDIES & STATISTICS
QATAR U.N. AMBASSADOR SPREADS ANTISEMITIC, HOMOPHOBIC, ANTI-WESTERN CONSPIRACIES
By UN Watch
This report evaluates the nomination of Qatar’s new ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Hend Al-Muftah, to become Chair of the United Nations Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law. Ambassador Al-Muftah has a long record of publishing racist and classically antisemitic tropes about Jews, bigoted attacks on gays, and spreading false information and conspiracy theories about Western societies and liberalism. Ambassador Al-Muftah’s multiple posts stand in complete contravention to the principles and values of the UN Forum which she seeks to lead, and of the founding charter of the Human Rights Council. UN Watch has urged the UNHRC president to reject her candidacy, in a detailed letter.
TWITTER IS CESSPOOL OF ANTISEMITIC TWEETS, NEW STUDY BY INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF CONTEMPORARY ANTISEMITISM (ISCA) SUGGESTS
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
NY GOVERNOR, RISE OF ANTISEMITISM IN NEW YORK A ‘DEEP, PERSONAL CONCERN’
By Omri Nahmas
“The rise of antisemitism is of deep personal concern to me as a human being and a leader of this state,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said. Regarding crime in New York City, Hochul said even though the city is “the safest big city in America,” it does not give anybody comfort. “You still have that sense of anxiety, particularly if you’re a Jewish young man walking down the street with a yarmulke.”
ISRAEL AND FRANCE TO ADVANCE INTERNATIONAL COALITION TO BATTLE ANTISEMITISM
By Rina Bassist
A joint Israel-France forum founded to battle antisemitism met in Paris this week. Representatives of government ministries from both countries, civil society, and the French Jewish community convened in Paris to discuss ongoing efforts to reduce antisemitic acts in Europe in general and France in particular. “We took stock of all ongoing efforts in battling antisemitism, both on the national and the multilateral-European levels,” said French Ambassador Delphine Borione. “We are looking into our respective policies on education, research and remembrance. We are also looking into the issue of restitution of Jewish property stolen during the war by the Nazis.”
HUMANITY
JEWISH GROUP DISTRIBUTES SORELY-NEEDED SUPPLIES IN DECIMATED TOWNS NEAR KYIV
By Jacob Judah
The Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine, a group linked to the Chabad-Lubavitch movement that is Ukraine’s largest Jewish umbrella network, has been supporting Jews around Kyiv through monthly deliveries of food and supplies since the Russians withdrew from northern Ukraine. The Federation has played an important role in supporting Jewish Ukrainians across the country since the war started.
ISRAELI NONPROFIT SMARTAID AIMS TO BRING TECH TO CRISIS ZONES, INCLUDING UKRAINE AND AFGHANISTAN
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.
