THIS WEEK’S GLOBAL ANTISEMITISM REPORT
Alberta became the fifth Canadian province to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism. West Hollywood, California, Broward County, Florida, and the Florida Democratic Party also adopted the definition in the last week.
At least 909 entities worldwide have adopted the definition since 2016, according to a study published by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) and the Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University earlier this year.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic appointed Sara Lustig to serve as Special Advisor for Holocaust Issues and Combating Antisemitism — a newly-created position, ahead of Croatia’s upcoming chairmanship of the IHRA Presidency next March.
In an address for the Jewish High Holidays, European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas said the European Commission ‘’is determined act in the face of challenging times and protect its Jewish citizens against any manifestations of antisemitism…Jewish life prospers in democracies, where the rule of law is enforced and human rights are respected.”
As Jewish communities celebrated Rosh Hashanah, two American college towns suffered disturbing incidents of antisemitism. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, antisemitic flyers were distributed near the University of Michigan campus by the neo-Nazi Goyim Defense League. Meanwhile, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, a Jewish fraternity was vandalized at Rutgers University, with three eggs found broken outside the Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) house.
The Rutgers AEPi house was targeted twice earlier this year with an egging during a Holocaust Remembrance Day event, and an incident in which pro-Palestinian demonstrators pulled up outside the building and yelled antisemitic remarks at members.
High school yeshiva students were harrased by a man with a gun in New York City. A driver stopped next to the students, waved his fire arm and told them to “Go home.”
The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), a registered UK charity, praised antisemitic cleric Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, upon news of his passing. Al-Qaradawi had called the Holocaust “divine retribution,” and called for the “annihilation” of the Jews, stating on Al-Jazeera, “Oh Allah, count their numbers, and kill them, down to the very last one.”
Also this week, an Al Jazeera TV anchor claimed the United Arab Emirates was “established by Jewish tycoons as a base for their financial activity and for plotting against the Arab world.”
This week’s global antisemitism report highlights 18 new media reports of antisemitic incidents. The total includes 8 (44.4%) from the far-right, 1 (5.6%) from the far-left, 4 (22.2) with Islamist motivations, and 5 (27.8%) unidentifiable in nature.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
UNITED STATES
FLATBUSH, NY YESHIVA STUDENTS THREATENED BY ARMED ANTISEMITIC DRIVER
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
A group of 10th grade Yeshivat Tiferes Yisroel students were accosted by an armed man in New York’s Flatbush neighborhood on Monday, according to Yeshiva World News. The driver of an unspecified vehicle stopped beside the students, rolled down his windows, and waved his firearm. “Go home,” he told the students, who immediately ran back to yeshiva and reported the event to their teachers. The Flatbush Shomrim, a community organization dedicated to combating crime, and the New York Police Department (NYPD) were called to investigate. After extensively canvassing the area, the Shomrim could not find the perpetrator or the vehicle.
POLICE INVESTIGATING SECOND CASE OF NH ANTISEMITIC VANDALISM
By MICHAEL MORTENSEN
Laconia police on Tuesday said they are looking into a second incident of antisemitic graffiti at Laconia Public Library that appears to be virtually identical to the vandalism that was done in a section of Opechee Park over the weekend. The vandalism at Opechee Point included spray-painted swastikas, and has prompted a denunciation from the local Jewish community. The congregation of Temple B’nai Israel said it considers the use of the antisemitic symbol to be an act of unchecked bias, wrote Ira Keltz, the synagogue’s president, in a statement sent to The Daily Sun on Tuesday.
WORLD NEWS
UNITED KINGDOM
MUSLIM GROUP MOURNS CLERIC WHO SAID HOLOCAUST ‘PUT JEWS IN THEIR PLACE’
By GEORGIA L GILHOLY
The antisemitic cleric Yusuf Al-Qaradawi has been praised by a UK-based Muslim group following his death. The prominent ideologue was known for repeated expressions of Jew-hate, including a call for the “annihilation” of Jews and his claim that the Holocaust “put Jews in their place”. The Egyptian-born scholar died in Doha on Monday aged 96. The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), which describes itself as a “leading Muslim grassroots contribution for a fair and prosperous British society since 1997”, shared the tribute on Monday afternoon. It said in a statement that “Sheikh Yusuf was a renowned and greatly respected figure worldwide, referring to him as “a leading contemporary Islamic thinker.”
ANTISEMITIC GRAFFITI SPOTTED IN WINDERMERE
FRANCE
SAINT-BRIEUC: AN INDIVIDUAL SENTENCED FOR HATEFUL AND ANTISEMITIC PUBLICATIONS
By TIMES OF ISRAEL STAFF
The Saint-Brieuc criminal court sentenced a far-right activist on Thursday for hateful and antisemitic publications on social networks, local press reported . The defendant, Dorian Noël, 31 years old, was not present at the hearing. He was found guilty of publicly inciting hatred or violence based on ethnicity, nation, race or religion. He received a 6-month suspended prison sentence, €5,000 in damages for the National Bureau of Vigilance against Antisemitism, which had filed a civil action, and €1,200 in reimbursement of legal costs.
OTHER WORLD NEWS
MONTENEGRO – ANTISEMITIC GRAFFITI ON THE VILLA KARMEL BUILDING IN PRČANJ
By CdM
An antisemitic graffiti was noticed yesterday on the building of Villa Karmel, a former children’s summer house, which is owned by the Jewish Women’s Society. The Jewish community calls on the authorities to react. “On behalf of the Religious Community of Jews, I declare that we were shocked when we found out about this act of vandalism,” Chief Rabbi of Montenegro Ari Edelkopfa told CdM. On behalf of the Religious Community of Jews, he added, I declare that we were shocked when we learned about this act of vandalism.
SOUTH AFRICA TEACHER STILL BEING SIDELINED FOR ISRAEL SUPPORT
MIDDLE EAST
INTERNATIONAL TENNIS FEDERATION RECEIVES COMPLAINT AFTER IRAQI PLAYERS REFUSE TO COMPETE AGAINST ISRAELIS
By SHIRYN GHERMEZIAN
The legal advocacy group UK Lawyers for Israel has sent a complaint to the International Tennis Federation (ITF) regarding Iraqi wheelchair tennis players who recently withdrew from a competition for refusing to play against opponents from Israel. Nasr Mahdi and Mohammad Al-Mahdi from Iraq — whose parliament earlier this year passed legislation criminalizing contact with Israel on pain of death — reportedly pulled out of the Bucharest Open Wheelchair Tennis Tournament in Romania in August immediately after being drawn against two Israeli competitors, Adam Berdichevsky and Sergei Lysov. The decision was announced by Iraqi Tennis Federation President Majid Al-Ugaili.
AL-JAZEERA PRESENTER RECIRCULATES VIRULENT ARTICLE AGAINST UAE: IT IS A JEWISH SETTLEMENT IN THE REGION AIMED AT PLOTTING AGAINST ARAB WORLD
By MEMRI
On August 12, 2022, Jamal Rayyan, a Palestinian journalist and an anchorman on Qatar’s Al-Jazeera network, posted on his Twitter page a virulent article against the UAE. The article claims that the UAE was established by Jewish tycoons as a base for their financial activity and for plotting against the Arab world. It asks how it can be that such a tiny state, which lacks any political history or institutions of culture or thought, and whose citizens are a minority within it, has grown and prospered so quickly and has become one of the most developed countries in western Asia. The only explanation, it says, is that “the Jews are behind the UAE enterprise” and are the ones who actually run it, and it is therefore “a Jewish settlement in the Middle East.”
ON CAMPUS
U.S. COLLEGE TOWNS HIT BY STRING OF ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS DURING ROSH HASHANAH HOLIDAY
By CAM
Earlier this week, as Jewish communities worldwide celebrated Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), two college towns in the United States suffered disturbing incidents of antisemitism. In Ann Arbor, Michigan, antisemitic flyers were distributed near the University of Michigan campus by the neo-Nazi Goyim Defense League, which has been responsible for dozens of similar provocations across the United States over the past two years. Meanwhile, in New Brunswick, New Jersey, a Jewish fraternity was vandalized during Rosh Hashanah, NJ.com reported. Three eggs were found broken outside the Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) house on Monday morning.
CUNY ADOPTS NEW INITIATIVE WITH HILLEL TO FIGHT ANTISEMITISM ON CAMPUS
By JACOB HENRY
Seven City University of New York colleges will take part in a Hillel program that works to ensure a more positive campus climate for Jewish students. The initiative, announced last week in a press release, includes multiple methods aimed at combatting antisemitism on campus, including allocating $750,000 in new funding for events and programs that “counter antisemitism,” expanding CUNY’s student exchange program with Israel and developing a system-wide web page for reporting campus incidents. The web page is a collaboration with the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York. The initiative also includes incorporating antisemitism into CUNY diversity, equity and inclusion trainings that don’t already include it.
ANALYSIS & OP-EDS
STUDIES & STATISTICS
META SAYS IT FAILED TO ADEQUATELY REMOVE HATE, INCITEMENT DURING MAY 2021 CONFLICT
By JEREMY SHARON
A report commissioned by Meta, the company that owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has found that content inciting hatred and violence against all parties to the May 2021 conflict between Israel and the Hamas regime in Gaza was not adequately removed by those social media networks. The report, which was released Thursday, stated that under-enforcement of Meta policies on incitement to violence and hatred, and policies relating to dangerous organizations and individuals, meant that such content had remained online while offending accounts went unpunished.
GOVERNMENT & POLICY
ALBERTA BECOMES FIFTH CANADIAN PROVINCE TO ADOPT IHRA ANTISEMITISM DEFINITION
By CAM
Alberta last week became the fifth Canadian province to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism. “Remembering the Holocaust is a moral obligation — and antisemitism, like all forms of racism and prejudice, has no place in Alberta,” Alberta Premier Jason Kenney declared. “In endorsing this internationally recognized definition, Alberta is doing its part to make sure we continue to learn from this painful history and promise never to repeat it.”
CROATIAN PM APPOINTS FIRST-EVER SPECIAL ADVISOR FOR HOLOCAUST ISSUES AND COMBATING ANTISEMITISM
By CAM
Sara Lustig has been appointed by Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic to serve as his Special Advisor for Holocaust Issues and Combating Antisemitism — a newly-created position. A political consultant and lawyer, Lustig has over the past year filled the role of Deputy Head of Croatia’s International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Delegation, The Jerusalem Post reported. Croatia is set to chair the IHRA Presidency for a one-year term starting next March. Lustig is the daughter of the late Branko Lustig — the Croatian Jewish film producer who won an Academy Award for Best Picture for Schindler’s List.
EU COMMISSION VICE-PRESIDENT SCHINAS: ‘THE EU COMMISSION IS DETERMINED TO ENSURE THAT JEWS CAN LIVE THEIR LIVES IN ACCORDANCE WITH THEIR CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS’
By YOSSI LEMPKOWICZ
”As a consequence of the war in Ukraine, we have seen a rise of antisemitic hate speech and conspiracy myths. The Russian authorities have weaponized Holocaust distortion and antisemitism to justify their military aggression against Ukraine,’’ says Margaritis Schinas in a message on the occasion of the Jewish New Year. ‘’The Commission is determined to ensure that Jewish life will continue to be vibrant in Europe and Jews can live their lives in accordance with their cultural and religious traditions. Europe can only prosper when its Jewish communities prosper too,’’ said European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas in a message on the occasion of Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year 2022.
HUMANITY
BRAZILIAN JEWS AND ARABS HOLD HUMMUS CHAMPIONSHIP TO CELEBRATE COEXISTENCE — AND FOOD
By MARCUS M. GILBAN
Brazilian Jews, Christians and Muslims celebrated their peaceful coexistence in Latin America’s largest nation with a competition centered on one of the Middle East’s signature foods. The Hebraica Jewish club in Sao Paulo organized and hosted an inaugural Abrahamic Hummus Championship last Wednesday, timed to the United Nations’ International Day of Peace. Around 150 people attended the event, and yarmulkes shared the room with keffiyehs and other types of Arab scarves. Ariel Krok, one of the event’s organizers, compared the contest to a “soccer friendly match.” Brazil is home to nearly 10 million people of Arab descent, the largest such population in the Americas, while over 100,000 Jews call Brazil home, including around 60,000 in Sao Paulo
POPE FRANCIS, ISRAEL’S CHIEF RABBIS DISCUSS INTERFAITH COEXISTENCE IN KAZAKHSTAN
By JNS
Pope Francis and both of Israel’s chief rabbis, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau and Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, discussed peaceful coexistence and cooperation between religions in meetings and on the sidelines of an interfaith event held last week in Astana, Kazakhstan. The clergymen were among many who gathered at the Seventh Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, an event that unites representatives from the world’s major religions with the goal of establishing peace, harmony, tolerance and respect between faiths.
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.
