Weekly Report – February 8
This Week's
GLOBAL ANTISEMITISM REPORT
THIS WEEK'S GLOBAL ANTISEMITISM REPORT
This week, we continued to monitor antisemitism around the world while advocating for more actions to be made.
The scourge of antisemitism on college campuses continues to threaten the safety and wellbeing of Jewish students. At the Columbia University Law School, the Student Senate rejected the application of Law Students Against Antisemitism (LSAA) because of its embrace of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism. The Student Senate dismissed the most widely-embraced and authoritative definition of antisemitism as “pernicious and insidious.” Also at Columbia University, posters were put up dehumanizing Israelis and portraying them as skunks, and mobile billboards parked around campus claimed “Israel is the New Nazi Germany.”
In Berlin, Germany, a Jewish student was beaten by a pro-Palestnian student. In Strasbourg, France, three members of the Union of Jewish Students of France were violently assaulted for putting up flyers of Israeli hostages. At City, University of London, a speaker asserted that Nazis were “good for Zionists” because they promoted separatism, going on to further posit that Hitler and Zionists both agreed that “Jews don’t belong in Europe.”
This week also saw several instances of Jewish cemeteries being desecrated around the world. A headstone was knocked over at the historic Jewish cemetery in Westersted, Germany. Also in Germany, in the town of Leer, the gate of a Jewish cemetery was destroyed and three headstones damaged by vandals. In Lodz, Poland, the Jewish cemetery was defaced with antisemitic phrases.
In the Middle East, it was reported that new Jordanian textbooks praise the October 7th Hamas massacre in Israel. An attempted stabbing was prevented near Jerusalem due to the quick intervention of Israeli law enforcement. Israel authorities also stopped an Islamist gunman from perpetrating a terrorist attack near Nablus.
Newly-elected Argentine President Javier Milei began his first international trip with a visit to Israel. After praying at the Western Wall, he promised to move the Argentine Embassy to Jerusalem, an announcement that was condemned by Hamas. In the United States, the House Foreign Affairs Committee voted to advance a bipartisan bill to immediately and permanently cut off funding for UNRWA.
The Las Vegas City Council approved a resolution on Wednesday to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism and commit to use it as an educational tool for municipal agencies, including law enforcement.
This week’s Global Antisemitism Report highlights 109 new incidents, categorized as follows: 4 (3.7%) as Holocaust minimization and distortion, 22 (20.2%) as classical antisemitism, 67 (61.5%) as Israel-related of antisemitism, 6 (5.5%) as Islamist, and 10 (9.2%) as unattributable.
United States
Pro-Palestine demonstrators cross New Jersey Avenue near the U.S. Capitol, during a protest in Washington, U.S, December 17, 2023. (photo credit: REUTERS/TOM BRENNER)
State Rep. Esther Panitch (Courtesy Atlanta First News)
The Chicago City Council debates a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza on January 31, 2024. (Jacob Magid/Times of Israel)
WORLD NEWS
CANADA
(Photos From X)
LATIN AMERICA
(Photo From X)
WESTERN EUROPE
Members of the Jewish community gathered outside the BBC in protest over the broadcaster's reporting of the Hamas war (GB News)
Affordable housing demonstration in Porto turned into antisemitic event calling for “cleansing the world of Jews” (photo credit: DN-Portugal)
EASTERN EUROPE
Russian President Vladimir Putin. Credit: Photographer RM/Shutterstock.
MIDDLE EAST AND NORTHERN AFRICA
Police at the scene of a terror attack in the West Bank town of al-Eizariya, outside of Jerusalem, February 5, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
A Jordanian textbook referring to the October 7 Hamas massacre. (X screenshot)
OTHER WORLD
Wearing a “Palestine” scarf, South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola is seen at an ANC meeting in Johannesburg. Photo: Reuters/Alet Pretorius
on campus
Columbia University, Morningside Heights, New York, November 2016 (King of Hearts via Wikimedia Commons)
People hold a banner reading "Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine Freedom for Palestine" as they take part in a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, in Berlin, Germany November 18, 2023. (photo credit: REUTERS/ANNEGRET HILSE)
Analysis & op-eds
A person steps on a graffiti of the Star of David sprayed on a pavement in Bourj al-Barajneh Refugee Camp in Beirut, Lebanon, October 25, 2023 (photo credit: REUTERS/AMR ALFIKY)
The International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
Entrance sign to Cornell University on College Avenue Bridge. Credit: Amy Lutz/Shutterstock.
Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip, Feb. 4. Credit: ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES/REUTERS
Pro-Palestinian protesters participate in an 'All Out for Palestine' rally outside Columbia University in New York on Feb. 2, 2024 (YUKI IWAMURA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)
studies & statistics
Police separate Israel supporters and pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Times Square, New York City, October 13, 2023. (Luke Tress via New York Jewish Week via JTA)
government & policy update
(CAM)
Argentinian President Javier Milei visits the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, on February 6, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
Palestinian families take refuge under harsh conditions at a school affiliated to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) at the Daraj neighborhood as the Israeli attacks continue in Gaza City, Gaza on February 6, 2024.
humanity
Pope Francis reacts as he attends a meeting at Palais du Pharo, on the occasion of the Mediterranean Meetings (MED 2023), in Marseille, France, September 23, 2023. (photo credit: REUTERS/YARA NARDI)