Dear Friends,
The City of Wichita, Kansas
adopted the IHRA working definition of antisemitism after a spate of antisemitic flyers were widely dispersed across the city recently. Mayor Brandon Whipple signed a proclamation directing education and law enforcement agencies to use the definition in response to the recent incidents.
Following antisemitism controversies among staff in its Arabic service, Germany’s public broadcaster, Deutsche Welle,
changed its code of conduct to require support for Israel’s right to exist.
In a 60 Minutes
appearance, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi became the latest in a long line of top Tehran regime officials who have trivialized, distorted, or outright denied the Holocaust. Asked by CBS interviewer Lesley Stahl,
“Do you believe the Holocaust happened, that six million Jews were slaughtered?”, Raisi replied, “
There are some signs that it happened. If so, they should allow it to be investigated and researched.”
Progressive U.S. Congresswoman Rashia Tlaib (D-Michigan)
claimed this week
“…it’s become clear that you cannot claim to hold progressive values, yet back Israel’s apartheid government, and we will continue to push back and not accept that you are progressive..” Her comments were
condemned as antisemitic by
numerous Democratic members of Congress.
Calogero Pisano, a candidate for the right-wing Brothers of Italy (FDI) party, and a member of the its naitonal leadership, was
suspended for praising Hitler ahead of Italian elections, in which the FDI is expected to perform well.
A Hasidic Jewish man walking down a street in Brooklyn, New York was violently
assaulted by a female passerby who shouted,
‘F***ing Jew.’ At least
two more antisemitic
assaults were reported in New York, which were
sternly condemned by New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and U.S. Congressman Ritchie
Torres.
Another Jewish man was
attacked on a subway line in Berlin, Germany, following reports of a similar incident last week.
At Cornell University, Jewish students held a rally against antisemitism after
signage was carved into a campus sidewalk
equating the Star of David with the Nazi swastika, and a campaign sign for Jewish American Congressional candidate Max Rose was vandalized with a
swastika.
This week’s
global antisemitism report highlights
35 new media reports of antisemitic incidents. The total includes 14 (40.0%) from the far-right, 8 (22.9%) from the far-left, 6 (17.1%) with Islamist motivations, and 7 (20.0%) unidentifiable in nature.
