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“Hitler was right” Republican wins Missouri House primary against two opponents

Steve West, an antisemitic conspiracy theorist who claimed that Hitler was right, has won a Republican state primary in Missouri against two other candidates.

West has said that “looking back in history, unfortunately, Hitler was right about what was taking place in Germany. And who was behind it”.

He has also ranted about “Jewish cabals” that are “harvesting baby parts” from Planned Parenthood, and runs a YouTube channel when he spouts all manner of far right conspiracy theories.

Missouri Republican Party denounced West’s “shocking and vile” comments, but this is of little comfort when he has defeated other candidates despite his blatant support for Nazism. They also stated that “to our knowledge, no member of the Missouri Republican Party, the House Republican Campaign Committee, or sitting member of the General Assembly recruited Mr. West to run for office; we find his statements to be vile, offensive, and out of line with our Party’s values”.

When asked about Jews in Missouri, West simply said “well, maybe they shouldn’t vote for me”

 

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Bomb threat called in to DC Jewish Military History Museum

A bomb threat was called into a Jewish museum on Thursday July 19 in the early afternoon, according to local police.

The Jewish Military History Museum received the call at 12:30 and immediately alerted the police who cleared the area, eventually declaring the site safe, allowing the museum to reopen.

The call was made by a male who spoke in a “foreign accent”, warning that there would be a bomb in the building on Thursday or Friday.

The Museum states that its mission is to preserve “the contributions of Jewish Americans to the peace and freedom of the United States … [and to educate] the public concerning the courage, heroism and sacrifices made by Jewish Americans who served in the armed forces”.

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Miami Beach resident accused of plotting to burn down condo to “kill all the Jews”

Mr Walter Stopler, aged 72 was arrested by police in Miami on Thursday 12th July, after h he allegedly tried to burn down his condominium building in order to “kill all the Jews” according to the police report. Mr Stopler now reportedly faces charges of attempted arson and attempted murder.

Mr Stopler, angry after having recently been served eviction notice, allegedly told another resident that he planned to pour gasoline down the drain line of the building, ignite it and then padlock the building’s fire hoses to stop firefighters from extinguishing the flames.

Miami Beach police officer Ernesto Rodriguez stated that officers received a credible tip that Mr Stopler was planning to burn down The Pavilion residences on Collins Avenue. When the police arrived, they found Mr Stopler in the parking garage of the building, with two plastic containers filled with fuel in a shopping cart. A further eight plastic containing fuel were found in a garbage chute dumpster.

Investigators found that the gasoline had been poured down the chute from the 15th floor – the floor on which Mr Stopler resided. Upon being found with the gasoline, Mr Stopler told the police that “I bought the gas to make a small BBQ”, according to the arrest affidavit.

A storage room was later found by detectives holding 27 additional containers filled with various substances such as gasoline, sulphur powder and potassium nitrate.

The state attorney’s office is to decide whether to pursue further charges against Mr Stopler of a hate crime.

 

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Ron Paul tweets, then deletes, antisemitic and racist cartoon by well known far right artist

Ron Paul, the libertarian-leaning American Republican politician who has been described as the “intellectual godfather” of the Tea Party movement, has tweeted an antisemitic cartoon before quickly deleting it.

Paul tweeted a cartoon by the far right cartoonist Ben Garrison that depicted racist and antisemitic caricatures all punching a representation of America with a large, red hand which is labelled “cultural Marxism”, itself a term that itself is often used in connection with antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Ron Paul ran unsuccessfully for the Republican Presidential nomination in both 2008 and 2012, though gained a cult-like popular following along the way.

Paul has been accused of racism in the past, after a series of blatantly racist newsletters were published in his name. He denied knowledge of the racist material published in his newsletters under his name, just as he today denied knowledge of this tweet. He was also friends with Murray Rothbard who, despite being Jewish himself, openly associated with KKK leader David Duke, with Rothbard himself making several virulently antisemitic statements.

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Louis Farrakhan, darling of Women’s March leaders, decries “Satanic Jews” who “infected the whole world”

Nation Of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has once again used his position to spread antisemitic myths.

Farrakhan, who has made multiple antisemitic comments throughout his career, warned his audience about “Satanic Jews who have infected the whole world with poison and deceit”, claiming that Judaism is a “system of tricks and lies” designed only to “dominate” non-Jews.

He also blamed Jews for social ills ranging from sexual assault to police brutality, as well as spinning a narrative about “Jewish power”, saying “the false Jew will lead you to filth and indecency. That’s who runs show business. That’s who runs the record industry. That’s who runs television”, before claiming that Obama was “under Jewish influence”.

Yet for all his antisemitic rants, Farrakhan cannot be dismissed as an irrelevant figure. He has drawn support from the leaders of the popular Women’s March, who have repeatedly declined to condemn his blatant antisemitism. One of the movement’s leaders attended one of Farrakhan’s antisemitic speeches, and pressure has been mounting from others on the American left for the four leaders of the movement who have openly associated with the antisemitic preacher to step down. Of the four leaders who have associated with him, four, Mallory, Perez and Sarsour, have explicitly praised him.

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Phoenix woman allegedly sent 65,000 messages, including antisemitic abuse, after first date

A Phoenix woman has been celebrated by neo-Nazi publication the Daily Stormer after allegedly sending 65,000 messages to a Jewish man she went on one date with, many of which were antisemitic.

31-year-old Jacqueline Ades was arrested on May 8th and has been charged with alleged threatening, stalking, harassment and failure to appear in court.

Police say that among the threatening messages she sent included “I hope you die … you rotten filthy Jew”, “I’m like the new Hitler…man was a genius”, and saying she wanted to “bathe” in the man’s blood”.

Ades has claimed that she “loved him selflessly”, despite bombarding him with antisemitic abuse and death threats.

She also allegedly illegally broke into his home and carried a butcher’s knife.

The notorious neo-Nazi site the Daily Stormer described her as “awesome” and her actions, which apparently included thousands of similar messages to those detailed above, as a “harmless prank”.

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Neo-Nazi recruiting posters found near University of Omaha Nebraska, as neo-Nazi groups increasingly seek to recruit students

Antisemitic posters seemingly recruiting for neo-Nazi groups have been found near the University of Omaha Nebraska campus.

The posters, which urge the public to join a “Stormer book club” feature antisemitic caricatures of Jews, ask “why are Jews after our guns?” and show the Nazi “Jude” Star of David badge which was used to identify Jews during the Third Reich and the Holocaust alongside the name of prominent left wing Jewish politicians.

One of the posters also blamed Jews for “degeneracy”, 9-11, “white genocide” and mass immigration.

The name “Stormer book club” seems to be a reference to the Daily Stormer, a notorious neo-Nazi publication.

Last week we reported that neo-Nazi posters had been found at Duke University. Recruiting students has become an increasing priority for neo-Nazis across developed countries. Last year we reported similar tactics from Atomwaffen Division, one of whose members was caught allegedly in the preparatory stages of crafting a bomb with which he planned to carry out a terrorist attack.

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14-year-old Jewish boy attacked by grown man in New York

A 14-year-old Yeshiva student has been attacked in yet another antisemitic attack in New York.

The boy was attacked outside Yeshivath Shaar Hatorah Grodno in Queens at 8pm yesterday. His attacker apparently shouted “Jew boy” at him before punching him in the face.

The victim received medical attention at the scene of the attack.

The police are also investigating a series of break ins at the Yeshiva, in which hundreds of dollars of cash and equipment have been stolen.

There have been a series of attacks against Haredi Jews in New York in recent weeks, most of which have been covered by Everyday Antisemitism.

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Neo-Nazi propaganda inciting violence against Jews at Duke University

Posters from the neo-Nazi group National Socialist Legion were removed from near the campus of Duke University, North Carolina.

The posters, which were removed on Monday, included a depiction of a figure pointing a gun at an antisemitic caricature of a Jew. The caricature was superimposed on an image of an octopus wrapped around the globe, itself an antisemitic image used in Nazi propaganda. The antisemitic caricature used is referred to euphemistically as the “happy merchant”, a far right internet meme which has become a mainstay of the alt right’s antisemitism. The poster read “right of revolution. Your ancestors threw off foreign oppression, time for you as well” – a statement that, alongside the violent imagery, is clearly a veiled call to violence against Jews.

The other poster, pictured below, ranted about “greedy Jews” and “Zionist oppression”. As well as listing several Jews, singling them out above non-Jews as “greedy” – an antisemitic canard with a long history. The poster also depicted a presumably non-Jewish man begging to an image of a man in a top hat with the Star of David on it.

National Socialist Legion are clearly an unapologetic neo-Nazi group. They describe themselves as a “Revolutionary National Socialist organization dedicated to protecting the White European Race” who “perform both activism and readiness for the coming Racial Holy War”. The inclusion of the term “readiness” clearly suggests that they are a dangerous paramilitary group, and the violent imagery in their material should be taken extremely seriously.

It is not yet known whether any serious police investigation has been undertaken.

 

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Army investigates after 101st Airborne chaplains seem to obstruct on-post worship for Jewish soldiers and their families

Ranking Chaplains for the 101st Airborne Division have allegedly dismissed Jewish leaders who have historically led Shabbat and festival services for Jewish soldiers on post.

No explanation was given for the dismissal, but it has left Jewish soldiers without religious services for themselves and their families. The chaplains also refused to support arrangements for a first-night Passover Seder as it conflicted with Christian celebrations.

Jeanette Mize served, with her family, as a lay leader for the services, but they were allegedly dismissed without explanation. Mize said that her family had “faithfully provided weekly Shabbat and yearly religious worship events since 1999” and that “this is the first time in at least 34 years that the Jewish soldiers and their families have been denied weekly Shabbat worship at Fort Campbell”.

Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation was alerted by Mize of what had transpired, and subsequently contacted the division’s chief of staff. A “15-6” investigation has since been launched, a serious measure which indicates a genuine commitment to getting to the bottom of what has happened and responding to it appropriately. Weinstein has suggested that the investigation is a sign that the relevant people are taking the issue seriously.

Whilst other religious groups can easily worship in the surrounding area, there is not a Synagogue nearby for Jewish personnel to attend. Jewish soldiers were allegedly told that they had to celebrate Passover on the wrong date to have the backing of the chaplaincy.

Weinstein commented that “when you say that some of the most senior military chaplains can’t even observe Jewish faith practices because it would be offensive to their religious views, it doesn’t get much worse than that, except when you tell them that if they want the base chaplains to support Passover, they have to choose a day that isn’t Passover”.

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Republican who called for America to be “free of Jews” polls at 18%, may be Feinstein’s challenger

Patrick Little, a California Republican with hardline antisemitic views, may be the Republican challenger to Dianne Feinstein in the Senate race.

Little polled at 18% last week, 10% above his nearest Republican challenger, indicating that he could well become the challenger to Feinstein in the Senate race.

He has called for an American “free of Jews”, as well as endorsing “counter-semitism” – a term occasionally used by right wing extremists which essentially amounts to an endorsement of blatant antisemitism under another name, designed to frame the far right as a resistance against purported Jewish influence.

Little is so far gone that he has described the neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer as being too Jewish. Writing on Gab, a social networking site which has been accused of intentionally providing a haven for the alt right, he said “I propose a government that makes counter-semitism central to all aims of the state…all immigration except of biological kin, where no person of Jewish origin may live, vacation or traverse”.

Whilst it seems unlikely that Little could actually win an election against Feinstein in California, it is deeply worrying to see that he has been able to gain any traction whatsoever. Some have speculated that Californians are simply not aware of any of his views, in which case it may reasonably be expected that the extra exposure of them to public scrutiny will ensure that he will be beaten by more moderate Republicans.

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UCLA quarterback and NFL prospect reveals routine antisemitic abuse from stands

Josh Rosen, a Jewish quarterback playing for UCLA who has been tipped as a future NFL prospect, has spoken out about the routine antisemitic abuse he is subjected to from fans.

“I get a lot of Jewish things”, he said, “my nose, particularly. I get, like, ‘Stay the f*** down, you Jewish bastard … I’m gonna break your f***in’ nose, you Jew'”.

He also noted a sign which said “Josh Rosen’s Bar Mitzvah wasn’t even lit”.

Rosen has however said that he isn’t bothered by the abuse, commenting “it gets my competitive juices flowing”.

Rosen’s religious beliefs have been the centre of speculation, and though he describes himself as “kind of an atheist”, some have speculated that he will choose to go to a club in New York if possible due to the substantial Jewish community there.

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Antisemitic hate crimes reach a record level in Canada for the second year running

B’nai Brith Canada’s annual audit into antisemitic hate crime has shown that 2017 was the second year running which set a new record for crimes targeting Jews.

The audit showed at least 1,752 antisemitic in 2017, an increase of 1.4% on 2016. However, antisemitic hate crimes, particularly those against Charedim, routinely go unreported, so the real figure is likely even higher.

Instances of antisemitic graffiti and vandalism more than doubled, seeing a 107% increase. This has included graffiti saying “Hitler was right”, as well as including flyers sent to Synagogues saying that “Jewry must perish”.

73% of the incidents were in Toronto and Quebec, home to Canada’s most significant Jewish communities.

Michael Mostyn, CEO of B’nai Brith Canada, said of the findings that “Antisemitism has grown as a serious concern for Canadian Jews, affecting them at school, in the workplace and even in their own places of worship. This problem will not solve itself – we need a concerted national effort to ensure that antisemitic outbreaks do not become a fact of life for Jews in this country, as in other developed countries such as France and Sweden”.

B’nai Brith have created an eight-point plan for tackling antisemitism in Canada, which can be read here. The plan, which includes measures to tackle online antisemitism and antisemitism on University campuses, has been produced in French and English, and provides a sensible, measured approach.

 

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Orthodox Jew beaten in the street in Brooklyn mere days after similar incident

The Anti-Defamation League are offering a $5000 reward after another Orthodox Jewish man was beaten on the streets of Brooklyn.

Menachem Moskowitz, a 52-year-old Orthodox man, was attacked at around 12:30pm on Shabbat when he was leaving his Synagogue in Brooklyn. Two attackers approached the man, punched him in the face and then began to choke him. The man was saved by two onlookers who came to his aid and helped him to escape.

According to the victim, he “greeted him hello. Next thing I know he said ‘I don’t like Jews. Who were you talking to?’He put me in a headlock and I’m trying to maneuver out of him. In the meantime, I’m screaming ‘Help! Help! Help! Help!’ He says, ‘You don’t need help. I’m going to kill you right here'”.

The attacker allegedly called the victim a “fake Jew”, presumably in reference to the antisemitic “Khazar” conspiracy theory that claims that Ashkenazi Jews are not descended from the Ancient Israelites despite the overwhelming evidence. There are historic inter-communal tensions between religious Jews and African Americans in the Brooklyn area, which unfortunately appear to be resurfacing.

The victim was left with a black eye, a broken rib and various scratches and bruises. Thankfully there was a nurse on the scene to assist him.

Last week a Hasidic man was attacked in Crown Heights, in what is believed to be an antisemitic attack.

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Irvine man charged for allegedly creating “kill list” of local Jews and planning to target Synagogues

Nicholas Wesley Rose, 26, of Irvine, California, has been charged by police for allegedly creating a “kill list” of local Jews.

Rose appeared to be in the preparatory stages of an antisemitic terrorist attack and was also found in position of weapons and ammunition. Local prosecutors said that, as well as the “kill list” he had also penned an article called “killing my first Jew”. Police were alerted by a family member, after Rose described his desire to kill Jews to them.

Police allegedly found antisemitic pamphlets in his house.

As well as details of a local Synagogue, police also found details of two Eastern Orthodox churches.

Rose will appear on April 27 charged with a string of hate crimes, and is being held on $500,000 bail.

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Syracuse fraternity suspended after members filmed pledging their hatred for Jewish, black and hispanic people

Syracuse University has suspended an engineering fraternity after shocking video emerged of members pledging their hatred for various ethnic minorities, with the University’s chancellor commenting that the behaviour displayed was “extremely racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist, and hostile to people with disabilities”.

The fraternity, Theta Tau, was banned following protests by other students on Wednesday.

The video shows an initiation ceremony in which an initiate states “I solemnly swear to always have hatred in my heart” for “n****rs”, “k*kes” and “sp*cs” after having shouted “f*ck black people”.

The fraternity has claimed that it was merely a “satirical sketch”, commenting that it was intended to be satirical “of an uneducated, racist, homophobic, misogynist, sexist, ableist and intolerant person. The young man playing the part of this character nor the young man being roasted do not hold any of the horrible views espoused as a part of that sketch”, yet the video shows the crowd in riotous laughter, clearly enjoying the open expression of these despicable views.

The University is considering its legal and disciplinary options against those involved.

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Hasidic man attacked in Crown Heights in “possible” hate crime

Police at New York’s 71st precinct are investigating a possible hate crime after a Hasidic Jew was attacked on the street.

Shomrim Crown Heights have said that a 42-year-old Hasidic man who was visiting Crown Heights for Shabbat was attacked in the early hours of the morning by three African-American men just a block away from the Chabad HQ at Eastern Parkway.

The assailants allegedly approached the man shouting “do you want to fight?” before punching and kicking him.

Whilst the police are considering the possibility that this was an antisemitic attack, the man was accompanied with another Jew who was not attacked. Nonetheless, Rabbi Eli Cohen noted “there’s no other motive” before expressing his hope that the attack is a one-off and doesn’t represent an escalation in community tensions in the area. Antisemitic violence in the area is quite common.

The victim was treated in hospital before filing a police report after Shabbat ended.

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Landmark bill to combat campus antisemitism passes in South Carolina

The South Carolina state legislature has passed a landmark bill designed to combat antisemitism on college campuses.

The legislation was approved on Friday by 37 votes to 4, having passed through the House of Representatives last month. Governor Henry McMaster has been supportive of the law, and has already committed himself to signing it.

Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law director for legal initiatives, Aviva Vogelstein, commented that “there has been an alarming increase in antisemitism nationwide, and particularly on our nation’s college campuses. This bill gives South Carolina the tools to protect Jewish students’ and all South Carolina students’ right to a learning environment free of unlawful discrimination. Just as two dozen states followed South Carolina’s lead on legislation condemning the movement to boycott certain countries, we are hoping this momentous step will result in another national wave to, once and for all, begin defeating rising antisemitism”.

The Bill incorporates the International Definition of Antisemitism into decision-making processes in Universities, and requires panels hearing complaints of antisemitism to take the International Definition into account when coming to a decision, an absolutely vital step in ensuring that institutions are properly equipped for dealing with the contemporary manifestations of antisemitism.

Against the backdrop of increasing antisemitism in Universities across the western world, measures like this are to be welcomed, both as a sign that those in power are serious about tackling the scourge of antisemitism, and as a genuine, practical measure that will ensure that fewer antisemites escape justice for a lack of correct procedures for identifying antisemitism.

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Poland blocks award ceremony for antisemitic writer in unexpected move

The Polish government has intervened to prevent an antisemitic author from receiving an award at a consular event in the United States.

A private charity was due to award Ewa Kurek a prize at the Polish consulate in the US. The event was reportedly not a government initiative, but the government has prevented it taking place, according to Andrzej Pawluszek, an advisor to the Polish PM.

Kurek has said that Jews “had fun” in the ghettoes during the Holocaust, a view that is grossly offensive and antisemitic, which either amounts to Holocaust denial or to making light of the Holocaust.

Matthew Tyrmand, a right wing journalist who was also due to be recognised at the event, has expressed relief that it was blocked, writing that “nobody wanted to be in a room with her, including me”.

Whilst the Polish government has drawn justified, fierce criticism for the controversial Holocaust law and increasing antisemitism in the country, including within the ruling Law and Justice Party’s own ranks, they are to be commended for intervening here.

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Antisemitic candidate who openly peddles far right conspiracy theories running for GOP in Oregon

Joshua Powell, a virulent antisemite and anti-Muslim bigot, is standing as a Republican in local elections in Eugene, despite opposition from some Republicans.

Powell frequently peddles antisemitic conspiracy theories, including suggesting that “Jewish liberals are opening up the borders, and innocent bystanders are subjected to this aggressive agenda. And then they wonder why there’s antisemitism”.

A common theme in White Nationalist conspiracy theories is that Jews seek to open the borders of western nations to undermine the position of white people. Powell predictably denies being a racist, instead insisting that he merely wants to “preserve the Western cultural heritage”, yet is peddling virulent antisemitism that portrays Jews as the enemies of civilisation.

In a post in which he referred to “f*cking Jews”, Powell accused the “Jew York Times” of “trying to spin the narrative” about the 2014 Bundy standoff trial, making use of classic antisemitic canards about Jews controlling the media and being dissembling and politically manipulative.

In response to the allegations of antisemitism he responded “if the majority of corruption is done by Jews, then they will suffer the consequences as anyone else would equally under the law”.

He is also deeply bigoted towards Muslims, writing that “Washington (state) is crawling with Muslim rats” and equating the presence of Muslims in Eugene with “ISIS right under out noses”.

Republicans in Eugene have disavowed Powell, with Preston Mann calling on him to withdraw. This is at least the second time in the last few weeks that a virulent antisemite has been able to stand as a Republican, with neo-Nazi winning a nomination in Illinois by default.

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Virginia GOP leader disciplined for saying he wouldn’t vote for a Jewish candidate

Fredy Burgos, a GOP leader in Virginia, has been removed from the State Central Committee after he said he would not vote for a Jewish candidate.

Burgos had intimated in a Facebook post that he would never vote for a Jewish candidate, sharing a post which urged Christians to “to select and prefer Christians for their rulers”. Burgos had been supporting Tim Hannigan who was running against Jewish Republican Mike Ginsberg.

He has claimed his comments were taken out of context. However, it is difficult to see any context in which supporting a Christian over a Jew following a belief that only Christians are fit for office is not antisemitic.

Burgos has previously had to apologise for posting anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric on social media.

Rep Barbara Comstock condemned the “bigoted, backwards views” which have “no place in the Republican Party — the party of Lincoln and Reagan”.

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Police investigate after vandal attacks Canadian Synagogue

Police in York, Canada, are investigating after an unidentified vandal attacked a Synagogue, in what they are describing as a “hate-motivated crime”.

The incident occurred in the vicinity of Bathurst St. and Worth Blvd. around 9:30 on Wednesday morning.

Rabbi Mendel Kaplan posted footage of the attack on Facebook. A man in a dark coat runs up to the walkway in front of the Synagogue, picks up a large rock and throws it with enough force that the rock shattered against the Synagogue’s glass door. The vandal appears to leave, before returning shortly after, picking up part of the rock again and hurling it at the door.

The second attempt caused substantial damage to the door, scattering glass inside the Synagogue.

“Clearly this is a wilful and premeditated attack on a synagogue” wrote Rabbi Kaplan.

 

Rabbi Kaplan’s post, including footage, can be viewed here.

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Legal challenge to infamous neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin clears first legal obstacle

A lawsuit against the founder of the neo-Nazi publication the Daily Stormer, Andrew Anglin, a far-right extremist who named the publication after the propaganda paper of the Third Reich, has cleared a major legal hurdle.

Anglin’s lawyers had challenged the US courts’ jurisdiction in the case, claiming he was not “a citizen of any state” and was not resident in the US when the alleged conduct was committed. U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah Lynch dismissed this, stating that there was clear evidence that Anglin was domiciled in Ohio when the lawsuit was filed.

Tanya Gersh commenced legal action against Anglin last April, alleging that he had intentionally inflicted “emotional distress” against her, in breach of a Montana anti-intimidation law. Gersh claims that Anglin initiated what turned into a barrage of antisemitic abuse directed at her and other Jewish residents of Whitefish, Montana, when he claimed that they were running an “extortion racket” against the mother of Anglin’s fellow neo-Nazi Richard Spencer. Anglin allegedly publicised the personal information of Jewish residents to his neo-Nazi following, which Gersh claims was used to incite the campaign; one of his articles allegedly urged neo-Nazis to “take action” against Gersh and other Jewish residents of Whitefish.

Gersh claims that her family received reams of threatening antisemitic messages, including her 12-year-old son.

Critics have accused Anglin of attempting to evade the lawsuit by concealing his whereabouts, which he claims he has done in response to “credible death threats”. He vacated the United States in 2010, but Gersh’s lawyers successfully proved he had maintained sufficient business, civic and family ties to the US to demonstrate that he was still domiciled there, including maintaining a postal address to receive donations. Speaking from the Bench, Magistrate Lynch said “even assuming Anglin’s statements are true, they are not sufficient to demonstrate that he lost his Ohio domicile by acquiring a new one abroad”.

David Dinielli, representing Gersh from the Southern Poverty Law Center, claimed that the decision was a clear indication that “you can run but you can’t hide” and that “traipsing around the world doesn’t mean you can escape the responsibility for the harm you caused in the U.S., even if that conduct occurred over the internet”.

Whilst the contemporary far right has attempted to re-brand itself into something more palatable, Anglin’s publication is explicitly neo-Nazi, with sections on the “Jewish question” and “race war”. Google and GoDaddy temporarily rendered the site inaccessible after Anglin mocked the victim of a neo-Nazi terrorist in a car ramming attack at Charlottesville.

Anglin’s site is currently describing Gersh and her team as “Jewish terrorists” on a bulletin pictured below.

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Columbia University publish antisemitic cartoon showing “Communist” tentacles being challenged by Nazi Germany and Italy

Columbia University College Republicans have circulated an email in which they include an infamous antisemitic cartoon.

The GOP student group circulated the email on March 18 to publicise a panel event discussing “communism and its negative attributes”, but included a cartoon showing an octopus with its tentacles spread over Europe, a famous piece of antisemitic propaganda that utilises what became a common antisemitic image.

The tentacles have been cut off over Germany and Italy, which when the cartoon was drawn in 1937, were of course controlled by Hitler and Mussolini respectively. The imagery is used to allude to the idea of a Jewish international conspiracy, something that has been a mainstay of antisemitic incitement for over a century.

“Jewish Bolshevism” is a common antisemitic canard, one particularly worrying to see on University campuses.

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DC lawmaker offers sincere apology after blaming bad weather on “Rothschilds controlling the climate”

D.C. council member Trayon White Sr. has been pressured into apologising after suggesting that “Rothschilds” control the weather.

White wrote that “t just started snowing out of nowhere this morning, man. Y’all better pay attention to this climate control, man, this climate manipulation” before continuing to say “that’s a model based off the Rothschilds controlling the climate to create natural disasters they can pay for to own the cities, man. Be careful”.

Rabbi Daniel Zemel of Temple Micah in Northwest Washington, responding to the comments, wrote “This kind of anti-Semitism is unacceptable in any public official. This so diminishes what America is about and adds to the oppressive feeling going on in the country right now. We all have to be better. Public officials have to learn not to say the first ignorant thing that comes into their head”.

The Rothschilds are a family of Jewish financiers who often feature in antisemitic conspiracy theories, which attribute to them an unrealistic, and sometimes near-comical, amount of influence. Despite the ridiculous nature of many of these Rothschild family conspiracy theories, they are often near-identical to conspiracy theories that explicitly claim that Jews as a collective wield such power. As is clear from White’s comments, whilst the claims about the Rothschilds are often ridiculous and seem comical, they are not trifling, harmless ideas that should be written off as silly and humourous; White clearly attributes real malice to the Rothschilds, who want to harm others for their own gain. Such attitudes are far from harmless, and form a part of a culture in which Jews are blamed for all of society’s woes.

White thankfully quickly apologised for the comments, writing “I work hard everyday to combat racism and prejudices of all kinds. I want to apologize to the Jewish Community and anyone I have offended. The Jewish community have been allies with me in my journey to help people. I did not intend to be anti-Semitic, and I see I should not have said that after learning from my colleagues”. White appears to have been contacted by Jews United for Justice, claiming that the had helped him to “understand the history of comments made against Jews”.

White’s comments indicate that he has engaged in genuine dialogue with Jews United for Justice and is showing genuine remorse for having propagated these ideas, stating that he is “committed” to finding ways “to be allies with them and others”.

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Ann Coulter seemingly uses “globalist” as an ethnic slur for Jews before discussing “globalists” involved in sexual harassment

Ann Coulter, the controversial American right wing political commentator, has seemingly stepped beyond the insensitive comments about Jews she has made in the past in favour of explicit antisemitism in a series of tweets in which she described various Jewish figures as “globalists” in what is, at best, an extremely poor attempt at satire.

The term “globalist” is a political term which is commonly used in conspiracy theories. Whilst it is not inherently antisemitic, it is often used to allude to Jews with accusations similar to those of classic antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Donald Trump had recently referred to outgoing staff member Gary Cohn as a “globalist”, a statement that the Washington Post described as antisemitic. Commenting on the headline, Coulter then singled out a series of Jews as “globalists”.

She first tweeted that “Baseball Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax is also a Globalist”. Koufax is a Jewish baseball player who famously declined to play on Yom Kippur.

Whilst identifying a Jewish athlete who is not known for his political views as a “globalist” is a clear indication that the term is simply being used as a stand-in for Jew, Coulter then uses it as an ethnic designator, tweeting “Paul Newman is only half Globalist”, and that “Jake Tapper is also half Globalist”. Jack Tapper’s parents are both Jewish, but his mother converted to Judaism. In this case it appears that the terms is being turned into a racialised proxy for “Jew”.

Whilst it may appear at first that Coulter is satirising the idea that Globalist is an antisemitic term, this position is seemingly weakened by Coulter applying the term to another antisemitic canard. After repeatedly using “globalist” as an explicitly ethnic designator for Jews, she muses “Boy, a lot of Globalists popped up in the scandals!”. Some have said that Coulter is portraying Jews as sexually licentious and predatory, which is a classic antisemitic canard that has its roots in early Christian antisemitism. Using the term in this context seems like an excuse to repeat another antisemitic canard. Furthermore, according to the Definition of Antisemitism, antisemitic ideas are ‘often used to blame Jews for “why things go wrong”’. That is why some commentators have said that this tweet seems to take what may have started as an attempt at satire and turn it into what appears to be a more sinister expression of antisemitic ideas.

Regardless of Coulter’s intentions, she was met with thousands of likes and retweets from the far right. Her tweets were widely circulated by far right sources. One commenter branded several of those involved in the #MeToo scandal as Jews, with a chart purporting to given an ethnic breakdown of all those accused. Others replied with antisemitic caricatures or peddled antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jews controlling the media.

Coulter has made comments which have been insensitive to the point of antisemitism in the past, previously claiming that Jews need to become Christian “to be perfected”. Tweeting about the Republican Presidential debates, she wrote “How many f—ing Jews do these people think there are in the United States?”.

 

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Canadian law firm receives threatening antisemitic letter calling for “genocide of Jews”

A Toronto law firm specialising in immigration law has received an antisemitic letter which called for genocide of Jews.

The letter, which was received on Wednesday, claimed that Jews were organising a “genocide of the white race”, a common libel made by contemporary antisemites, particularly those on the alt right.

The letter reads “Jewish genocide of the white race via immigration. Time for a genocide of Jews”.

The reverse side shows a mock-up of the film poster for Dawn of the Dead which reads “Dawn of the Dead Jew” with the tagline altered to read “when there’s no more room in HELL the JEW will walk the earth”.

Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center CEO Avi Benlolo wrote that “the language and imagery used in this antisemitic letter are horrendous. This is not an isolated incident, and it’s very concerning that Canadian Jewish businesses and organizations continue to be targeted with such despicable hate mail. I urge police to take all reports seriously and thoroughly investigate who is behind these threatening letters”.

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Antisemitic incidents at US Colleges see increase of 89%

The Anti-Defamation League has reported that 2017 saw 204 antisemitic incidents on college campuses, up 89% from the previous year.

The ADL includes any incident that involves “harassment (where a Jewish person or group of people feel harassed by the perceived antisemitic words, spoken or written, or actions of someone else); vandalism (where property is damaged in a manner that indicates the presence of antisemitic animus or in a manner that victimizes Jews for their religious affiliation), and assault (where people’s bodies are targeted with violence accompanied by expressions of antisemitic animus)” in these figures.

Whilst ant-Israel activism on campus often leads to increased antisemitism, this increase may also be partly attributed to increased far-right activity on campuses. Neo-Nazi groups such as the Atomwaffen Division, who Everyday Antisemitism documented last year, have been actively recruiting on University campuses, as well as staging stunts to publicise their existence and ideas.

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Allure magazine editor accuses Gal Gadot of the “murder of hundreds of children” on Twitter

Rawan Eewshah, the editor of Allure magazine who previously has worked at Buzzfeed and Complex Networks, has resorted to blood libel in Twitter comments she made about Gal Gadot, Everyday Antisemitism can reveal.

The tweets came in response to Gadot posting an image with the phrase “protect kids, not guns”. Eewshah responded by referring to Gadot as a “child murderer” before continuing to claim that “your wcw took part in the murder of hundreds of children but posts “protect kids not guns” on her twitter”.

Claims like this are often made against Gadot, who served in the IDF. There is zero evidence that she ever harmed any children, let alone “hundreds”, and such claims are simply a contemporary variant of medieval blood libel myths, which have been used to incite violence against Jews for hundreds of years. According to the Definition of Antisemitism, “using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g. claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterise Israel or Israelis” is antisemitic.

Allure magazine is read by well over a million people.

 

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Alleged killer of 17, including 5 Jews, in school shooting trained with neo-Nazi group in Florida

Nikolas Cruz, a 19-year-old orphan accused of murdering 17 people in a school shooting, reportedly trained with neo-Nazi groups before allegedly committing the shooting spree.

Cruz allegedly killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Florida, a school with a high Jewish population, with an AR-15 he legally purchased.

During proceedings against Cruz, in which he has been held without bail on 17 counts of murder, the leader of the Florida-based neo-Nazi group Republic of Florida has admitted that Cruz trained with them.

Jordan Jereb, whose group wants Florida to become a “white ethno-state” said that Cruz acted alone and suggested that “trouble with a girl” contributed to the killing spree.

At least 5 of the victims have been identified as Jewish, but some report that at least 7 of them are.

Rabbi Shuey Biston of Chabad of Parkland said “this is a small community, where nearly half of the population is Jewish, so everyone has been touched by what has happened”.

Not all victims of the shooting have been identified, and some people are still missing.

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Columbia Professor calls Zionists “master thieves” who “infiltrated” Women’s March

Hamid Dabashi, a professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, has claimed that Zionists “infiltrated” the Women’s March in a Facebook post.

Dabashi has likened the “infiltration” to a purported Zionist infiltration of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. Many American Jews were at the forefront of the movement, and Martin Luther King himself had many close friends in the Jewish community of his day. Whilst King himself could be described as a Zionist, describing Jewish involvement in the Civil Rights Movement as some sort of sinister infiltration by “Zionists” makes it quite clear that hen Dabashi says “Zionists”, he is actually referring to the Jewish community more widely. Beyond this, talk of “infiltration” is almost invariably the language of classic antisemitic conspiracy theories that paint Jews as dissembling and manipulative. According to the Definition of Antisemitism, “using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g. claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterise Israel or Israelis” is antisemitic.

The Zionist infiltration he was referring to was the appearance of Scarlet Johansson at Women’s March. He commented that Johansson is “deeply committed to the systemic theft of Palestine and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians”, a claim which in the current context is hyperbolic to the point of it resembling blood libel.

He goes on to call Zionists “master thieves”, even accusing Zionists of stealing Jewish culture.

He has previously described Zionists as “Gestapo appratchniks”. According to the Definition of Antisemitism, “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is antisemitic. He has also repeatedly defended terrorist organisation Hamas.

Columbia University has not commented.

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Holocaust denying neo-Nazi set to win GOP nomination for Illinois

A neo-Nazi and a Holocaust denier is on course to secure the Republican nomination for Illinois in the upcoming congressional election.

Art Jones has been filmed at a neo-Nazi retreat in Kentucky ranting about how Donald Trump has “surrounded himself with hordes of Jews including a Jew in his own family, that punk named Jared Kushner”, claiming that he was sorry that he “voted for the son of a bitch, pardon my English”.

His past activities include organising a protest against a Holocaust museum, staging birthday parties for Hitler in which he appeared in Nazi uniform, and he has been documented attending several neo-Nazi events.

Jones has described the Holocaust as an “international extortion racket” an called Donald Trump a “Jew-loving fool”.  He has blamed America’s involvement in wars in the Middle East on Jewish influence upon Donald Trump, attributing it to “one reason why: Israel…the Jewish lobby… He’s nothing but a puppet in their hands… this Jew-loving fool”.

He has previously led the Australian Nazi Party.

Jones is now the sole runner for the third district of Illinois. He has made multiple failed attempts at public office.

After going several days without comment, the Illinois Republican Party’s Timothy Schneider commented that “we strongly oppose [Jones’] racist views and his candidacy for any public office. The Illinois Republican party and our country have no place for Nazis”.

Whilst it is possible to remove him from the ticket, this is yet to happen. If the Republican Party are serious about tackling antisemitism they must act swiftly and prevent a neo-Nazi from having any role in their party.

 

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Florida Congressman invites alt right Holocaust denier to be his guest for Trump’s State of the Union address

Matt Gaetz, the Republican Congressman for Florida, has invited an alt right Holocaust denier to be his guest for Trump’s State of the Union address.

Chuck Johnson was spotted in the congressional chamber at President Trump’s address on Tuesday. He purports to be an “investigative journalist” but espouses a myriad of white supremacist views.

Johnson was permanently banned from Twitter in 2015 after denying the Holocaust and for calling to “take out” Deray McKesson, a figurehead in the Black Lives Matter movement.

Gaetz claimed that Johnson was given the ticket after he “showed up at my office”, having initially planned to give the ticket to his own father who later fell ill.

Johnson commented “let’s just say that I was down to be supportive of the President and I enjoyed being there”, but suggested that other Republicans had also invited him.

Gaetz may claim ignorance as to Johnson’s positions, but he has lent respectability to a Holocaust denying white supremacist at an event viewed by millions of people. More worrying still are reports that writing by Johnson has found its way onto the President’s desk. Both of these facts indicate a growing acceptance of the far right in America’s corridors of power, an influence which must be expunged if Trump’s America is to maintain even a veneer of tolerance.

 

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Group shouting “gas the Jews” destroys sign at Jewish centre, but Kentucky community comes together to stand against Antisemitism

University of Kentucky students and locals have come together to stand against antisemitism after an antisemitic incident at the campus Jewish centre.

A sign at the campus Chabad centre was destroyed by antisemitic thugs. Rabbi Shlomo Litvin of the Chabad of the Bluegrass said that he heard a group outside shouting “Heil Hitler” and “gas the Jews” before they destroyed the sign.

Rabbi Litvin has said that he has been overwhelmed by the level of support from the community after the incident.

The University of Kentucky held a unity prayer service last night at which Rabbi Litvin, his father Rabbi Avrohom Litvin and Lexington Mayor Jim Gray all spoke. Dozens of people, Jewish and non-Jewish, attended the event.

Rabbi Avrohom Litvin said during his sermon “the biblical command to love your fellow as yourself means look beyond those things that can divide us or seem to be different – race and gender and religion and background and all those differences – and look to the core. And at a core level, each and every one of us are children of God”.

The Mayor declared Thursday “Chabad of Bluegrass Day” in recognition of the centre’s work in the community.

The police have assigned a detective to the case. Rabbi Litvin described the police’s support as “excellent”.

The University of Kentucky have also promised to take action, saying “we can never — and will never — condone the use of vile, hateful speech targeted at anyone on our campus or in our community, regardless of their identity or perspective”, whereas the campus Muslim student body have voiced their support for the Jewish community.

Rabbi Litvin vowed that the centre will “keep on doing what we’re doing…if anything, this only strengthens our resolve and the need for us to be here, with our message of tolerance, of love and of what Judaism is”

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Two Cleveland Synagogues receive antisemitic voicemail messages

Police in Cleveland, Ohio, are investigating after two Synagogues received antisemitic voicemail messages in the last week. 

The Heights Synagogue received two antisemitic voicemail messages last Shabbat.

The Synagogue’s Rabbi, Rabbi Raphael Davidovich described the messages as “disturbing and antisemitic” and vowed to take further steps to ensure his community is kept safe.

The police have classified the incidents as “ethnic intimidation” and “harassing communication”.

Another Synagogue in Mayfield Heights also received a similar message the same day.

Police have classified the incident as “ethnic intimidation” and “harassing communication.”

A Jewish temple in Mayfield Heights, The Temple Israel New Tamid, received a message the same day, though police are yet to determine whether the two incidents are related.

 

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Erykah Badu says she “saw something good in Hitler” describing him as a “poor thing” who “had a terrible childhood”

Erykah Badu, an American singer-songwriter, has been condemned by the ADL after claiming that she “sees the good in everybody”, including Adolf Hitler, in an interview with Vulture.

She was asked about a 2008 trip to the Palestinian Territories in which she was criticised for denying Louis Farrrakhan’s antisemitism, who has a long history of antisemitic comments, which can be read about here. Badu claimed that she sees “good in everybody”, saying:

“I’m not Muslim, I’m not Christian, I’m not anything; I’m an observer who can see good things and bad things. If you say something good about someone, people think it means that you’ve chosen a side. But I don’t choose sides. I see all sides simultaneously. I’m also okay with anything I had to say about Louis Farrakhan. But I’m not an antisemitic person”.

She then continued to say “I don’t even know what antisemitic was before I was called it. I’m a humanist. I see good in everybody. I saw something good in Hitler. He was a wonderful painter”.

When she was challenged on this she retracted her assertion that Hitler was a wonderful painter, yet continued to try to find ways to defend him, stating “Poor thing. He had a terrible childhood”.

Having previously defended a notorious antisemite, Badu now seems to be trying to find any excuse to portray Hitler as a person with salvageable moral qualities, something which is almost invariably a precursor to downplaying the nature of Hitler’s crimes. Describing Hitler as a “poor thing” is an outright statement of sympathy for the man responsible for the extermination of 6 million Jews and millions of others.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League responded to the comments almost immediately. In a statement shortly after the interview was released he wrote:

“I also like to think that there is good in all people, but Hitler is pure evil. I don’t care if he painted or was a vegetarian; Hitler is responsible for the deaths of 6 million Jews & a war that claimed the lives of tens of millions. Shame on you for downplaying that. You are a role model to many, and as such, you should immediately apologize for these irresponsible and misguided comments”

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Suspect accused of murdering Jewish student, stabbing him 20 times, posted far-right content on social media

A suspect who is alleged to have murdered Blaze Bernstein, a promising 19-year-old Jewish Ivy League student, allegedly shared antisemitic content on his social media pages.

Samuel Woodward, 20, who knew Bernstein from high school, is accused of killing the University of Pennsylvania student. Woodward claimed that the two arranged to “hang out” over Snapchat, but that Bernstein tried to kiss him. It is alleged that he had previously used a homphobic slur about Bernstein.

Investigators have noted several inconsistencies in Woodward’s story.

Whilst some had suspected the alleged murder was antisemitic in nature, these claims appear to have been lent weight by the discovery of far-right content on Woodward’s social media. Woodward recreated a scene from American History X, in which the main character, a neo-Nazi skinhead bearing a Swastika tattoo portrayed by Edward Norton, brutally murders a black man on the street.

A source has now approached the New York Times to say that he had previously posted White Nationalist content on social media too.  A source reportedly “close” to Woodward has claimed “Anti-Semitism and homophobia were certainly aspects of his ideology”.

He also allegedly posted a rape fantasy about an Asian teacher.

Woodward is facing a charge of murder. Police are yet to confirm whether a hate crime charge is to be added to this.

The image of Woodward recreating the murder scene from American History X is pictured below.

Bernstein’s body was found days after he was due to return to University. He had aspirations to continue his studies at Medical School and to qualify as a doctor.

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DIY Network personality describes haggling as an attempt to “Jew us down” on air

Toni Snow of DIY Network’s “Texas Flip N Move” has used the phrase “Jew us down” on an episode of the show.

Snow was expressing her surprise that the buyer of a school bus did not want to haggle about the price, saying “you’re not even gonna bicker a little bit . . . Jew us down?”

DIY Network apologised and said it will edit out the phrase on future airings of the episode, but the fact that it was not identified at the editing stage and aired with the phrase included is somewhat troubling, given that it engages a blatantly antisemitic stereotype of Jews being miserly. Antisemites often portray Jews as tight-fisted or miserly.

DIY Network commented:

“On a recent episode of ‘Texas Flip N Move,’ an inappropriate comment unfortunately made it past our team. We were made aware of the issue shortly after it aired, and immediately pulled the episode to edit it for future broadcast”.

 

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Puerto Rican Newspaper issues tepid “apology” for antisemitic article that claimed Jews control US Government

El Nuevo Dia, a newspaper based in Puerto Rico, has issued an apology after publishing an article that blamed Jews for the lack of American aid to the territory.

The newspaper published an article by Wilda Rodriguez titled “What does ‘the Jew’ want with Puerto Rico?” which argued that the US Government was under Jewish control, suggesting that Congress “will finally do what ‘the Jew’ wants, as they vulgarly call the prototype of true power?”

The column claims to explain “how the Jews control Washington”, adding that Israelis are not shy about “recognizing [that] Jewish power over the United States is no offence. It is the victory of their diaspora”.

In a statement, the Anti-Defamation League said:

“This is not the first time that confronted with an economic crisis Jews are accused of controlling the power and money. Wilma Rodriguez’s column published in your diary follows the worst legacies of anti-Semitic regimes that we would like to have left behind in the 20th century.

“Publishing an article accusing the Jewish people of controlling governments to the detriment of the future of Puerto Rico is practically the definition of antisemitism.”

Indeed, according to the Definition of Antisemitism, “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions” is antisemitic, and antisemitism “is often used to blame Jews for ‘why things go wrong'”.

In a tepid ‘apology’, Rodriguez wrote that “writing is interpreted as antisemitic…. I can understand the  reaction of some to the mere use of the word Jewish. But the intention is not to provoke offence, but to contribute to public discussion”.

The writer’s ‘apology’ does nothing to address the actual offence that was caused, and seems to place blame upon the Jewish community for being offended by an article which is a blatant expression of classic antisemitism. Instead, it shamelessly suggests that antisemitic conspiracy theories have a place within “public discussion”.

The publisher of the newspaper itself wrote that it “apologizes to the Jewish community and to the rest of our audience that has been offended”, but left the text of the article entirely unchanged and un-retracted.

The ADL re-iterated its initial criticism of the article, stating that it “follows the worst legacies of antisemitic regimes that we would like to have left behind in the 20th century”

 

 

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Canadian alleged Holocaust denier, formerly senior Green Party figure, arrested in Germany

Monika Schaefer, a Canadian-German alleged Holocaust denier, has been arrested in Germany following complaints from B’nai Brith.

Schaefer was formerly a senior member of the Green Party in Canada, but was removed from the Party when her Holocaust denial was exposed, a story covered by Everyday Antisemitism in 2016. She has described the Holocaust as the “six million lie” and “the biggest and most pernicious and persistent lie in all of history”.

In a YouTube video she apologised to her mother, who was a German who lived through the Third Reich. Schaefer claimed that being told about the Holocaust amounted to her having been “indoctrinated”.

Schaefer was reportedly arrested in Munich during the recess of the trial of alleged Holocaust denial Sylvia Stolz. Holocaust denial is a criminal offence in Germany.

Both B’nai Brith and the Simon Wiesenthal Center have praised German police for taking action against Schaefer.

 

 

 

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Socialite allegedly carried out antisemitic assault with glass handbag shouting “Hurry up, Jew. I got places to be”

Jacqueline Kent Cooke, a millionaire heiress and socialite, has allegedly beat a Jewish lawyer with her purse in an antisemitic assault in New York.

Cooke is being questioned by police in relation to claims that she beat the Jewish man with a designer glass handbag and subjected his mother to antisemitic abuse.

Matthew Haberkorn, 52, was having dinner with his 77-year-old mother, his wife and his children.

When they were leaving, Cooke allegedly said “hurry up Jew”.

When Haberkorn’s wife asked her what she said she restated “Hurry up, Jew. I got places to be”.

Cooke’s boyfriend also allegedly “sneeringly” said to Haberkorn’s daughters “Happy bat mitzvah, girls”.

Following a verbal exchange in which Haberkorn called Cooke a bitch, she struck him more than once with her purse, leaving Haberkorn with injuries to his face.

Cooke is the daughter of the former owner of the Washington Redskins.

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Breitbart knowingly hired an antisemitic writer, asking him to delete tweets about Jews

An ex-employee of Breitbart has claimed that the website hired him despite knowing that he was an antisemite.

Tim Gionet – known online as “Baked Alaska” – has claimed that the right wing publication asked him to go through his tweets and delete any with the word “Jew” in them before they hired him.

The statements, if true, demonstrate that Breitbart knowingly hired an antisemite and merely attempted to cover his antisemitism up.

On a New Years Eve livestream, Gionet said:

“You know I, back in the day, used to work at Breitbart and I literally was told many times—they said, ‘Go through all your tweets and delete the word “Jew” in your tweets.’ And I was like, ‘What?’ Like, I was told that by Breitbart management. It’s like, if you’re going to be pro-white at all, publicly, you can say goodbye to getting a job. You can say goodbye to working at any sort of company. You’re going to get fired immediately”.

His comments, perhaps unknowingly, demonstrate a divide in the far right. On the one hand, many wish to avoid any compromise in expressing their extremist – whether those be racist, Islamophobic, antisemitic, etc. – views. On the other hand, those concerned with political viability attempt to practice optics, concealing the more extreme aspects of their ideology in order to make far right views more palatable.

Breitbart, which is once again run by Steve Bannon who served as Chief Strategist for Donald Trump, has been accused of being a far right, antisemitic publication with increased frequency since it became closely linked to Trump’s campaign. Bannon, who described the website as a platform for the Alt Right, led it to an increasing level of public influence, a fact that will look more unsettling if these allegations prove to be true.

Donald Trump commented that “Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind”.

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4 employees sue Delta Airlines for alleged antisemitic discrimination

Four employees of Delta Airlines, all flight attendants with experience ranging from 10 to 40 years, are suing the airline for alleged antisemitic discrimination.

The four claim to have experienced “a pattern of intentionally discriminating and retaliating against ethnically Jewish, Hebrew and/or Israeli employees and passengers”.

One alleges that she was dismissed in March 2017, with Delta claiming the dismissal was the result of a missed flight. She alleges that she was granted leave for a medical emergency and that the dismissal was motivated by the fact that she was Jewish.

Another claims she was fired after lending her staff pass to a Jewish friend of 40 years, with Delta claiming that she did not know the man, putting her in breach of policy.

Other claims involve being passed up for deserved promotions, as well as the creation of a hostile working environment for Jewish staff, apparently centred around flights to Israel in particular.

Whilst the extent to which we can comment on ongoing court proceedings is very limited, the nature of the allegations is extremely serious. Whilst antisemitism has evolved to be subtle, hard to detect and in some ways more insidious than the overt workplace discrimination that previous generations of Jews experienced routinely, these allegations, if true, will represent a huge step in the wrong direction at the heart of a major employer.

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Nine Canadian Synagogues receive Christmas cards stating that “Jewry must perish”

At least nine Synagogues across Canada have had hate mail addressed to them over Christmas, according to Canadian news sources.

The mail seems to have originated from a single perpetrator who addressed Christmas cards to the Synagogues.

The cards featured a Swastika inside a yellow Star of David, a reference to the badge which Jews were forced to wear under the Third Reich. The Star of David was depicted as “bleeding”.

He also wrote “Jews must perish”.

Police are apparently taking the issue very seriously, with a specialist hate crime unit investigating, news we welcome given that the unambiguously violent language and imagery used clearly suggests that the perpetrator could easily be willing to escalate to physical violence.

B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn commented “It’s unfortunate at this time of the year, with the Jewish community celebrating Hanukkah…that you have a message of targeted hate that’s going out to religious institutions across the country. Unfortunately some (people) feel emboldened…at this moment in history to express hate toward identifiable groups and Jews in particular”.

So far four Synagogues in Toronto, one each in Hamilton, Kingston and Ottawa respectively, and two in Montreal have been targeted, with separate reports confirming the incidents over the past week.

 

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UC Berkeley faces calls from Jewish groups for blood libel Professor’s resignation

Hatem Bazian, a Professor at UC Berkeley specialising in diaspora studies and Islamic studies, is facing calls for his resignation following a series of antisemitic tweets which came to light recently.

Bazian allegedly tweeted a video which claimed that “Israeli soldiers killed young Palestinians for their organs”, a contemporary variation of antisemitic blood libel myths with no grounding in reality. According to the Definition of Antisemitism, “using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g. claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterise Israel or Israelis” is antisemitic.

In another tweet, he shared an image equating Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to the Holocaust. Such a comparison is so detached from reality that by making it, one must either deny the extent of genocide of Jews during the Holocaust or make claims amounting to blood libel about Israel. Additionally, according to the Definition of Antisemitism, “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is antisemitic.

In 2002 he insinuated that Jews control the University’s decision-making. At this time, he was a graduate student at the University.

Tikvah, a group for Jewish and Zionist students, has published an open letter sent to the University, which can be read here.

The University has said it is aware of the material and has stated that “it will not tolerate anti-Semitism, along with every other form of bias and discrimination”. It must now follow up these words with action against Bazian in order to ensure that Jewish students feel welcome on their campus.

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Republican House candidate peddles antisemitic white nationalist conspiracy theory on Twitter

Paul Nehlen, a GOP candidate seeking to unseat House Speaker Paul Ryan, has outed himself as holding white nationalist beliefs in a series of tweets to a Jewish activist.

Nehlen tweeted “Just admit you are a (((bigot))) @aricohn and I’ll pretend you didn’t pretend you were white for the purposes of starting a race war w me” before commenting that “It’s okay to be white. It’s not okay to pretend to be for purposes of undermining whites. But you knew that”.

Nehlen’s word are unambiguously those of a far-right antisemite. White Nationalists and neo-Nazis often accuse Jews of attempting to subvert what they perceive to be the interests of the “white race”.

According to the Definition of Antisemitism, Antisemites often ‘blame Jews for “why things go wrong”‘. The Definition also states that “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions” is antisemitic, as is blaming Jews “for real or imagined wrongdoing”.

Nehlen has also used “echoes”, the use of triple parentheses, which was originally developed by the alt-right to covertly refer to Jews. Putting the parentheses around the word “bigot” is used to associate purported bigotry with Jewishness, itself a long-standing antisemitic canard.

The phrase “it’s okay to be white”, whilst perhaps not seeming inherently worrying, was popularised by former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke and is frequently parroted by White Nationalists.

Nehlen has clearly stepped up his rhetoric since last year, apparently emboldened by the Trump Presidency and the growing acceptability of antisemitism in American public life. Nehlen has repeatedly refused to say whether or not he is indeed a White Nationalist, but this rhetoric makes his allegiances clear for all to see.

The ADL commented that Nehlen has “on numerous occasions in recent months demonstrated associations or affiliations with white supremacist concepts and entities, including appearing on a white supremacist podcast, ‘Fash the Nation’; sharing racist and anti-Semitic graphics on social media; and following a number of white supremacists on Twitter”.

Following Nehlen’s antisemitic comments, Ari Cohn, the activist against whom they were directed, received hundreds of antisemitic messages on Twitter from white supremacists.

Everyday Antisemitism will be following coming events with keen interest. Electoral success by any measure for a man who has openly cast his lot with far-right extremists would demonstrate that American society is taking a distinct and worrying turn for the worse.

 

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Veteran heavy metal singer condemns antisemitism after man performing Nazi salute is ejected at Vancouver, BC show

Journeyman Productions, a Vancouver-based promotions company, has announced a zero tolerance policy towards racism and antisemitism at its shows, after one fan from ejected from the band Death Preacher’s show for performing a Nazi salute.

Nikki Gould, the company’s social media manager, was alerted by a friend that someone had performed the gesture at the show on December 8th and promptly had the man in question ejected from the venue.

Gould commented “I think I kind of let him off easy by kicking him out of the show and telling him to go. Had he stayed longer and got in a fight, that could have been really bad. Nazis and things like that don’t represent the metal scene. We want everyone to feel safe and included, and have fun. Nazis aren’t fun”.

The singer of Death Preacher reportedly said “no Nazis at my show” when he discovered what was happening.

Commenting on the incident, the legendary frontman of Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickinson, commented:

“Nazi salutes have no place whatsoever in any kind of music community I want to belong to”

“I think people need a little bit more of a lesson in history, rather than a lesson in ignorance, which seems to be dished out far too often”

“People in this country — across the USA, Canada, the U.K.— fathers and grandfathers, fought and died to build a world in which this kind of thing doesn’t go on”

Two years ago when Phil Anselmo, the former singer of Pantera performed a Nazi salute on stage, he faced derision from across the heavy metal community. Rob Flynn of the band Machine Head denounced him in an eleven minute video as a “big bully” and a racist, whereas Anthrax’s Scott Ian, who is Jewish, invited Anselmo to make a donation to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, calling his actions “vile”. Anselmo’s band Down were forced to cancel a tour as a result of the backlash from fans.

Last year we reported that an antisemitic band were forced to cancel a show after staff at the venue refused to provide a platform to racists, in another display of solidarity against racism and antisemitism from the heavy metal community.

We commend Journeyman Productions, Death Preacher and Bruce Dickinson for taking a stand against antisemitism in heavy metal.

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Anti-Israel protesters call for violence against Jews in New York rally addressed by Hamas Imam

In yet another display of blatant and open antisemitism in the wake of Trump’s decision to move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, anti-Israel protesters in New York have been videoed warning Jews that the “army of Muhammed is coming” and calling for Israel’s destruction.

The protesters congregated on December 8th and were addressed by several speakers.

One speaker, Imam Mohammad Qatanani, shouted to the crowd “Our message to the Palestinian Authority: you have to stop all kinds of peace processes. No peace process and negotiations with the occupation in Palestine. Oslo has to be stopped and to be finished. We have to start a new Intifada. Intifada! Intifada!”

Qatami has faced deportation from the United States for failing to disclose his conviction in Israel for membership of Hamas, a violent terrorist organisation that calls for the slaughter of Jews.

Another speaker, an unidentified woman, hailed the “Palestinian Vanguard, with their incredible courage” who “fight with whatever they can. They fight with rocks, they fight with rockets from Gaza, they fight with guns, their children fight. Every single Palestinian is in it to win it!”

According to the Definition of Antisemitism “calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews” is a form of antisemitism. The use of rockets, in particular, is a form of indiscriminate violence that is used to target Israeli civilians. However, all the forms of violence which this woman has glorified are often used to target Israeli civilians. Beyond the fact that these comments are antisemitic, it is also highly disturbing to see a person glorifying violent acts committed by children.

Another speaker, Nerdeen Kiswani, said “”We should be just as angry that they [The U.S.] have an embassy in Tel Aviv or Jaffa as we are [about] Jerusalem – because every inch of Palestine is Palestinian land”.

She continued: “we are in the final stages of Israel crumbling. Do you know why? Because they are exposing themselves. No one can look at Israel anymore and say: ‘Yes, they want peace.’ Because if they want peace they wouldn’t have done this. Israel is exposing itself every day, with every Palestinian martyr that they kill. With every inch of Palestinian land that they steal, they are exposing themselves, and their time is limited. Their time is up! It is up to all of us here, including everyone in the crowd, to keep this momentum going, if we want to see Israel fall within our lifetime”.

According to the Definition of Antisemitism, both “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination” and “applying double standards by requiring of Israel a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation”, which of course would include its own dismantlement, are antisemitic.

Kiswani has a long history of supporting violence against Israelis, and has previously involved herself in a protest that disrupted a council event which was dedicated to commemorating the Holocaust. She has also opposed Jewish-Muslim cooperation at US Universities.

Perhaps most shockingly, the crowd chanted with a leader “Oh Jews, the army of Muhammed will return”, a chant heard at several protests across the world.

A video of these disgraceful events can be viewed here.

 

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Man enters NY Jewish nursing home and assaults 84-year-old Jewish man shouting “I’ll kill you, you f**king Jew”

A 41-year-old man has been is accused of breaking into a Jewish nursing home and assaulting an 84-year-old resident in a shocking antisemitic attack

Alen Califano allegedly walked into a nursing home on University Avenue, smoking a joint. He allegedly damaged property in the room of one inmate before moving onto another room, where he demanded money from its resident, an 84-year-old man. When he refused, he told the man “I’ll kill you, you fucking Jew”.

He allegedly struck the man with a cardboard tube, cutting him in the mouth and forehead, and then threw a fire extinguisher at him.

He was arrested in the building’s lobby, in possession of a collapsible baton and marijuana.

He faces charges of burglary, burglary causing physical injury, criminal possession of a weapon, possession of marijuana and assault as a hate crime.

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Linda Sarsour blames “Jewish media” for her unpopularity

Linda Sarsour, the prominent American-Palestinian activist who rose to prominence following her role in organising the Women’s March against Donald Trump, has suggested that the “Jewish media” is to blame for her unpopularity.

Sarsour, who supports BDS and has claimed that Zionists cannot be feminists, has attempted to position herself as an ally to Jews, raising large amounts of money to repair a Jewish cemetery, money which reportedly mysteriously failed to materialise.

Speaking at an event on Antisemitism at the New School, Sarsour said “If what you’re reading all day long, morning and night, in the Jewish media is that Linda Sarsour and Minister Farrakhan are the existential threats to the Jewish community, something really bad is gonna happen and we gonna miss the mark on it”.

Yet Farrakhan, alongside whom she mentions herself, once described Hitler as a “very good man”. Whilst Sarsour has managed to avoid praising Nazism, she has accused “right wing Zionists” of undermining her alongside the alt right. In 2012 she said “nothing is creepier than Zionism”. In April, she shared a platform with Rasmea Odeh, a convicted terrorist who participated in two terrorist attacks against Israelis; Sarsour described appearing alongside Odeh as an honour.

Whilst many Jews on the left have voiced support for Sarsour, her words and actions in the past offer a far more plausible explanation for why she may struggle for popularity, particularly among Jews, than the lazy repetition of long-standing Antisemitic canards about the “Jewish media” manipulating the perceptions of the public. Perhaps Sarsour should familiarise herself with the intersection between contemporary antisemitism and anti-Israel discourse before she again presumes herself to be competent to speak on behalf of Jews at an event devoted to antisemitism.

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Man arrested after walking through Florida town screaming antisemitic threats on Thanksgiving morning

A man identified as 32-year-old Michael Andrew Winters has been arrested for allegedly walking through the streets of a Florida town screaming antisemitic threats.

Surfside, Florida, was described as being put “on edge” by the incident, which took place early on Thanksgiving morning.

Video footage shows Winters allegedly walking down Collins Avenue, and can be viewed here.

One Jewish eyewitness said “he said that he hated the Jewish community and he was going to destroy and kill the Jews, and that he was not kidding”

Local news claims that the threats were “predominantly” aimed at the Jewish community, but he also shouted “Everybody in Miami knows those cops are pieces of [expletive]”.

Local residents are said to be somewhat shaken by the incident, which was clearly intrusive and intimidating, particularly to Jewish residents. However, the police intervened before anyone was hurt.

 

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Man arrested after allegedly shouting “all you Jews must die” and spitting on Jewish man in Crown Heights

A man has been arrested in Crown Heights, New York, after allegedly spitting on a Jewish man and shouting “all you Jews must die”.

The incident happened on Friday morning, when a Jewish man was walking near the intersection of Eastern Parkway and Albany Avenue. Thankfully some police officers were stationed nearby. The victim rode his bicycle up to them and the police immediately arrested the suspect.

The suspect reportedly offered “fierce resistance”, with some of the struggle being captured by this bystander footage.

The suspect has been charged with aggravated harassment as a hate crime. We commend the police for their swift and decisive action.

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Georgia council candidate compares Jews to Nazis, calls Zionists “cockroaches”

Suwanee City Council candidate Joe Briggs has defended antisemitic tweets he made, which have recently come to light.

Briggs said CNN was run by “white supremacists” for firing Jeffrey Lord for tweeting “Sieg Heil”, claiming “Zionists in Israel far worse than anything described in Mein Kampf. Get over it”.

In September, he called for Trump to “get the Jews out of the White House and out of POTUS’ ear”.

Later in September, he wrote: “At least the Nazis assimilated and contributed to US society. The problem is that Jews don’t care about racism — because they are racist. They only care about racism directed towards them. Square that”.

In a statement, Briggs said “I’m absolutely not racist in the very least”, claiming that someone “unscrupulously dug up the ultimate ‘antisemitic’ dirt” on him to halt discussion about traffic zoning.

Briggs has thankfully dropped out of the race following public pressure.

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Arab-American Newspaper in Georgia apologises for printing Antisemitic joke

Georgia, USA, based Arab community newspaper An Nour has apologised after publishing an antisemitic joke.

The newspaper posted an oft-repeated joke about a Jewish boy asking his father for money as his father repeatedly lowers the amount as he repeats it. The joke plays upon antisemitic stereotypes of Jews being miserly.

Printing such a joke demonstrates very poor judgement, and may indicate the existence of underlying antisemitic attitudes.

Habib Osta, the paper’s manager, apologised, saying “please convey our message to the Jewish community that we didn’t intend to be offensive and we apologize if we did”.

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New York Republicans produce antisemitic leaflet depicting Jewish Democrat as a “puppet master”

The New York Republican State Committee have attracted fierce criticism after producing an antisemitic leaflet which depicts Susan Siegel as a “puppet master” controlling three other Democrats.

The flyer alleges that Siegel is controlling these other candidates to turn Yorktown, New York, into a “safehaven for illegal immigrants”, asking “how can we trust them to protect us, when all they want is to protect them?”

Depicting Jews as controlling political affairs is a long-established antisemitic canard which borders on conspiracy theory. People who make use of these antisemitic canards often claim that Jews are using their supposed influence to undermine certain groups.

Local Democrats described the flyer as “racist, nativist, bigoted, intolerant, immigrant-bashing”, facts they claimed were “not lost on its Republican authors or publishers”.

Local Republicans described the accusations as “disingenuous” and have not apologised.

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UC Berkeley apologises after students publish blood libel cartoon depicting Alan Dershowitz

The Chancellor of UC Berkeley has apologised after student newspaper the Daily Californian published an antisemitic cartoon depicting pro-Israel activist and celebrated lawyer Alan Dershowitz.

Dershowitz, a liberal supporting the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, spoke at the College, answering questions from a large audience.

The cartoon depicts Dershowitz grinning, with his head showing through a hole in a wall with an Israeli flag and images of happy children. The words “the liberal case for Israel”, the title of Dershowitz’s talk, are written on the wall. Behind the wall, he is depicted as trampling on a Palestinian man and holding up an Israeli soldier depicted as carrying out what is essentially an execution of an unarmed boy who lies in a pool of blood.

According to the Definition of Antisemitism, “Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g. claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterise Israel or Israelis” is antisemitic. The image unequivocally invokes blood libel in the implication that Israel, and perhaps Dershowitz personally, is responsible for cold-blooded killing, without any balance being provided. The image also presents Dershowitz as duplicitous and dishonest, as he attempts to influence political thinking, ideas which are often applied to Jews as a manifestation of antisemitism.

Reportedly, posters for the event were also vandalized with Swastikas. According to the Definition of Antisemitism, “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is Antisemitic.

The publication’s editors apologised, saying that they “have seen with sharp clarity the pain and anger caused… The criticism we have received reaffirms for us a need for a more critical editing eye, and a stronger understanding of the violent history and contemporary manifestations of antisemitism”.

 

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Rutgers Professor calls Judaism the “most racist religion” and blames Jews for the Armenian Genocide, cancer and pornography

Michael Chikindas, a Microbiology Professor at Rutgers University, has made a myriad of shamelessly antisemitic claims in a series of Facebook posts.

Chikindas peddled several antisemitic conspiracy theories, referencing “international fat Jewish pockets” and blaming Jews for everything from 9/11 to cancer.

He described “orthodox judaism” and Zionism as “the best of two forms of racism”, calling Judaism the “most racist religion in the world.

Disgracefully, he claimed that the Armenian Genocide, a Genocide so awful that many scholars compare it to the Holocaust, was “orchestrated by the Turkish Jews who pretended to be the Turks”.

He also said that Israel was aiming at the “extermination” of the Palestinians, bizarrely attributing its failure to do so to Israel’s thriving LGBT+ population, saying that it is “because of the number of the Jews of ‘alternative’ sexual orientation (25% of the Tel Aviv inhabitants are gay/lesbians and Israel has more of these than the Netherlands)”. Chikindas, apparently fixated on LGBT+ Jews, had previously posted that “Israel, the country of the Jews and for the Jews, has one of the highest percentage of gays in the world”.

Chikindas also shared a series of antisemitic conspiracy theories on his profile. One used the “happy merchant”, an antisemitic caricature of a Jew which is commonly used online by antisemites, and blames Jews for everything from “Hollywood” to the “cancer industry”. Another showed a caricature of a Jew being carried by America whilst saying “I am God’s chosen people, you filthy goyim”.

Sharing an article about a “global elite”, he wrote “These jewish motherf*****s do not control me. They can go and f**k each other in their fat a***s — you see, I really do not have anything to loose (sic), hence nothing to be controlled”.

Despite his Facebook profile providing a dozens of examples of blatant antisemitism, when interviewed by the Algemeiner, Chikindas predictably denied being antisemitic, claiming to have previously been married to a Jewish woman. Attempting to justify his claims of Jewish racism, he pointed to the Talmud. Antisemites frequently cite fabricated, mistranslated or otherwise misleadingly presented passages from the Talmud to attempt to portray Jews as inherently elitist to support Antisemitic conspiracy theories.

When pressed for comment, Rutgers University’s Neal Buccino stated that “Professor Michael Chikindas’ comments and posts on social media are antithetical to our university’s principles and values of respect for people of all backgrounds, including, among other groups, our large and vibrant Jewish community. Such comments do not represent the position of the University”, and whilst the University respects free speech, it aims for an “an environment free from discrimination, as articulated in our policy prohibiting discrimination”.

With respect to Chikindas’ future at the University, Buccino added “the university is reviewing this matter to determine if actions taken in the context of his role as a faculty member at Rutgers may have violated that policy”.

We will be watching the progression of this investigation with keen interest. Any outcome that does not remove Chikandas from contact with students would be to allow an antisemite a respected position from which he could influence students with his virulent antisemitic views.

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Canadian councillor appears to say “Johnny Jew from New York”, claims he really said “Choo”, in statement perceived as antisemitic

Ward Sutherland, a councillor in Ward 1 of Calgary, Canada, has drawn criticism from the Jewish community after he appeared to say “Johnny Jew from New York” in a debate.

Sutherland was talking about the funding of the Arts, and claimed that panels of artist would select artwork from “Johnny Jew from New York” without even looking at it.

His comments have been interpreted as antisemitic. New York has a famously large Jewish community, and there are indeed many Jews in the art world, which could be what the slur is attempting to reference.

However, Sutherland has claimed that he actually said “Choo”, despite it sounding far more like the word “Jew”, as local Rabbi Mark Glickman pointed out.

Rabbi Glickman remarked that the comments have “no place in civilised political discourse”.

He may have been referring to Jimmy Choo, who is a well known designer.

Sutherland apparently called Rabbi Glickman to speak of his disappointment at how the phrase had been interpreted and to restate his opposition to racism. However, he has since said that the accusations are “political and there’s an ulterior motive behind this”, due to the fact that elections are three days away. In doing so, he is painting may Jews who have complained as dissembling and attempting to manipulate Antisemitism for their own gain, something which is itself an antisemitic statement. Such statements have been frequently made against the Jewish community in the UK when Jews have voiced their legitimate concerns about Antisemitism in the Labour Party.

A video of the phrase, along with Sutherland’s statement denying the accusation, can be viewed here.

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“Gang” attacks Jewish 12-year-old on his way home from Synagogue in Crown Heights

A group described as a “gang of local thugs” have allegedly attacked a 12-year-old Charedi child who was on his way back from Synagogue on Shabbat.

The attack took place on Eastern Parkway, across the road from the famous 770 building which homes the headquarters of Chabad, a Chasidic movement that is famed for its tireless outreach activities.

The boy was apparently attacked by seven or eight African American “youths” without any apparent provocation.

There is a history of tension between the African America and Jewish communities in the area.

The boy’s father said that his “son said that he understood something was going to happen and as he was thinking what he should do, they suddenly pounced with one of them slapping him so hard that he fell to the ground, while a second one hitting him in the head”.

The police are investigating the incident as a possible hate crime.

Recently we reported that a blind Orthodox woman was the victim of an antisemitic attack in the neighbourhood.

On Thursday a woman was arrested for allegedly attacking two Charedi girls in the area.

The recent spate of violence antisemitic incidents obviously represents an alarming escalation in antisemitism in the area which runs the risk of escalating further without police action to ensure that Jewish communities are safe. There is also a pressing need to ensure that relationships between different communities in the Brooklyn suburb do not deteriorate.

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Blind Orthodox woman attacked in Crown Heights

An Orthodox Jewish woman in Crown Heights, a heavily Jewish neighbourhood in Brooklyn, New York, was allegedly the victim of an antisemitic attack late in September.

The woman, who is legally blind, had an antisemitic slur shouted at her by an unknown assailant, who then went on to rip off her wig, which is an item of religious significance as many religious Jewish women will cover their hair after they are married.

She was walking near Eastern Parkway and Schenectady Avenue around 2:30 p.m. last Monday when she was attacked.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic hate crimes in New York have risen 40% in the last year.

The police do not have a suspect in the case yet. The ADL is offering a $2500 reward for information leading to an arrest or conviction.

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Canadian Jews express dismay as Imam calling for Allah to slaughter Jews and “give victory” to Jihadis faces no criminal charges

B’nai Brith Canada has expressed it shock following reports from Montreal police that Imams who allegedly made antisemitic comments, including allegedly inciting violence against Jews, would face no criminal charges.

B’nai Brith tweeted that it is “outraged that Quebec prosecutors have chosen not”, whilst adding that claims that too much time has elapsed since the alleged incident are “blatantly false”.

The complaints were made in respect of two sermons given by Wael al-Ghitawi and Sayed al-Ghitawi  at the Al-Andalous Islamic Centre in the St-Laurent borough of Montreal in 2014.

A video showed Sayed al-Ghitawi allegedly calling on Allah “to destroy the accursed Jews” and to “give victory to our brothers who engage in jihad in Palestine”, as well as calling for Jihadis to “kill them one by one” and “make their children orphans and their women widows”.

In the Mosque’s “clarification”, they stated that his his comments were referring merely to killing members of the IDF which they claimed was responsible for an ongoing “massacre” in the region.

The second complaint was made in respect of the Mosque’s Imam, Wael al-Ghitawi, who allegedly claimed that the Jews had no lineage to Ancient Israel and no claim on Modern day Israel. He allegedly describes Jews as having been cursed by Allah for having supposedly killed prophets and rejected Jesus.

B’nai Brith Canada have said that they “won’t accept” the lack of action by the police and are expected to challenge the disgraceful decision on the part of the police to abdicate their responsibility to bring antisemites to justice.

 

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Police search for suspect who allegedly threatened to carry out mass shooting at Florida Synagogue

Police in Miame-Dade, Florida, have requested the public’s help in apprehending a suspect who allegedly threatened to carry out a mass shooting at a Synagogue.

The suspect has been identified as Steven H. Brooks.

Brooks allegedly threatened to shoot the members of the Synagogue with an Uzi.

Brooks has been given several warnings for trespass at the Synagogue previously, but nonetheless returned to the property.

Steven Rachminov of the police’s Specialized Protection and Security unit said that following the warnings, Brooks allegedly escalated his harassment to the point of posing a serious terrorist risk: “the information that I received was he basically put out an open threat to come back and basically spray the place down with an uzi. At that point, come on. You’re screaming ‘wolf’ to the highest level. Things need to be done”.

Despite such a serious threat allegedly being made, there is not currently a warrant for Brooks’s arrest, with the police first simply wanting to question him. Despite this, he has been described by police as “rabid” and members of the public have been warned not to approach him, a characterisation which makes the decision not to issue a warrant for his arrest seem bizarre.

Rabbi Eliezar Wolf, who is the Rabbi of the congregation, commented: “together with many other shuls and rabbis in the area, I am thankful to the MDPD for their support in protecting our communities. We are in close contact with a security firm we use … at the shul, as well the Greater Miami Jewish Federation“.

Anyone with information has been told to contact Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS and may be eligible for a cash reward.

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Senior officials from USA’s largest Islamic charity exposed glorifying terrorism against Jews

Islamic Relief is the largest Muslim charity operating in the United States. Unfortunately, several senior officials have recently been exposed for having made antisemitic comments online which glorified violence against Jews.

Khaled Lamada, chairman of the charity’s US branch expressed support for the Muslim Brotherhood, the group with close links to antisemitic and genocidal terrorist organisation Hamas.

He also expressed support for the “Mujahidin of Egypt” for “causing the Jews many defeats”.

He has shared a video which claimed that Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is a Jewish agent seeking to corrupt Muslims by spreading promiscuity. According to the Definition of Antisemitism, “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions” is antisemitic.

Among other officials of the US branch of the charity is  Yousef Abdallah, who praised as “martyrs” terrorists who helped to “kill more than 20 Jews” and “fire rockets at Tel Aviv”.

Islamic Relief received $370,000 of US funding in 2016 alone, and is supported by the United Nations, despite repeated concerns being raised of its links to Hamas.

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Charlottesville police refused to protect Synagogue from Nazis, forcing worshippers to remove Torah scrolls, exit through rear as thugs paraded outside

As more stories emerge from the Charlottesville neo-Nazi rally emerge, the picture of the antisemitism of the far right marchers and the threat posed to Jewish communities and other minorities becomes more harrowing.

Newsweek reported that police refused to provide a Synagogue which stands just a few metres from where a neo-Nazi allegedly killed a counter-protester in a car ramming attack.

Worshippers at the Synagogue could hear neo-Nazis shouting “Sieg Heil” as they marched by the Shul. Armed neo-Nazis allegedly stood opposite the Synagogue in an attempt to intimidate them.

Rabbi Alan Zimmerman said his “heart broke” as he told his congregation that it would be safer for them to leave through the back entrance of the Synagogue after the service. Speaking of the anxiety of having armed neo-Nazis in the vicinity, he said “had they tried to enter, I don’t know what I could have done to stop them, but I couldn’t take my eyes off them, either”.

The Synagogue was also the subject of arson threats ahead of the march, causing the Torah scrolls to be removed for safe-keeping.

The fact that Jews were so intimidated at their place of worship, having been neglected by the police despite the obvious risk to their safety, is an illustration of how out of control the far right has become in America. With the far right now planning new marches in Texas and elsewhere, greater scrutiny of police forces by American Jewish organisations will be necessary to ensure that such events do not repeat themselves or worse.

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NY Haredim protest after police allegedly manhandle 3-year-old Jewish boy, community suspects Antisemitism

Jewish residents of Monson, New York, have staged a protest after police allegedly mistreated a 3-year-old Jewish boy

The boy reportedly returned to his home last Friday after Summer school to find the door locked. He waited at the front of the house and was spotted by a non-Jewish neighbour who called the police.

Another neighbour, this one also a member of the Haredi community, took the boy in. The police arrived at the neighbours house, left, and then returned to take the child to the police station. It is alleged that they manhandled the boy, throwing him into the back of a police car “like a sack of potatoes”.

The boy was apparently so scared that he wet himself in the car, and no attempt was made to calm him at all, despite the fact that he was visibly distressed and terrified about being taken by the police.

There seems to be no reason for police officers to have to apply such a level of force to a three-year-old child, even if they are resisting.

Local organisers wrote the following:

“Dear Monsey residents, we all know what happened last Friday, when two officers dragged a three-and-a-half-year-old boy to a police car with no legal right! Dragged him from the house [of a neighbor] to a police car, with the child in shock [causing him] to wet himself in the police car. That is outrageous! This is absolutely antisemitic, they had no legal right to take a person from inside a home without a warrant or a court order!”

Whilst we cannot comment on whether the police had the legal right to take the child from the neighbour’s house, if it is true that he was treated with such a disregard for his mental and physical well-being, then this report is extremely worrying, particularly when it concerns a boy so young, and particularly if an antisemitic motive is indeed found.

It is not known whether a formal complaint has been made in relation to the incident. Unfortunately, despite police mistreatment of ethnic minorities having become a major talking point in the United States, it appears that only news sources which cater to the Orthodox Community have covered the incident.

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New Jersey Erev debate sparks concerns that lawfare is being used to target religious Jews, as vandalism and online abuse escalate

Residents of Mahwah, a town in New Jersey have raised concerns about an Orthodox Jewish community just across the New York border which plans to expand. More than 200 people gathered to support the removal of an eruv last month. The opposition to the expansion was met with criticism, the concerns of which lie with antisemitism.

The town of Mahwah is reconsidering implementing a new law which limits its parks and playgrounds to New Jersey residents alone.  The law was initially proposed when residents complained that cars with New York license plates were being parked near the border.

However, the county’s prosecutor ordered the police not to enforce it after Mahwah’s police chief suspected that people reporting the violations were targeting Jews.

Rabbi Moses Witriol, a frequent liaison between Mahwah’s police force and the Hasidic  community found the move perplexing, “What’s your real target and agenda here?” questioning the motives of the council members who were for implementation. “It’s a park for kids to play. Are we going to differentiate between which kids can play?” Additionally, an eruv marking in the same area was also vandalised the week before; with some targeting the Jewish community with antisemitic posts in an online petition protesting against the Erev.

Some signatories to the petition described Jews as thinking they “can do whatever the hell they want”, imploring residents to “keep them out”. Another called Jews “things”. Another signatory wrote “they are clearly trying to annex land like they’ve been doing in Occupied Palestine. Look up the satanic verses of the Talmud and tell me what you see”. Multiple people described Hasidic Jews as detracting from the “quality” of the community, or “taking over illegally” in other areas. These are all blatantly antisemitic comments, and of the 1200 people who have signed it, most seem to be expressing views which see religious Jews as little more than pests who must be kept out.

The eruv dispute arose contemporaneously with the park ordinance issue; deepening Jewish concerns that this may be an antisemitic incident. Supporters of the measure however say they are being unfairly depicted as antisemitic; their interests simply lie in the wellbeing of their town.

The Mahwah Council President Rob Hermansen issued a statement saying Mahwah residents began complaining earlier in the year about vehicles from New York occupying parking lots at Winter Pond, a recreational area close to the town’s train station. He went on to say that the ordinance was to curb the number of people from outside the town using parks, not to target Jews.

Mr Hermansen made further assurances, stating that “the principle behind this ordinance is very simple, in Mahwah, Mahwah residents come first.” He also condemned the anti-Semitic comments made online, and the town is now looking to release a second ordinance that clarifies how the ban might be enforced.

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Antisemitic sign calling to “End ZOG”, a neo-Nazi term, removed from LA Freeway

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has removed an anti-Semitic sign from the 101 freeway, just north of the Cahuenga exit in Los Angeles. On 25th July, ADL were notified from a series of reports from community members that vandals had placed a sign reading “END ZOG” with a Star of David in place of the ‘O’ on the freeway.

‘ZOG’, short for ‘Zionist Occupied Government, is a known anti-Semitic trope of white supremacist origin. The conspiracy theory claims that “Jewish agents” secretly control the governments of Western states. One of the term’s earliest appearances can be traced to 1976, in an article named “Welcome to ZOG-World”, attributed to an American neo-Nazi named Eric Thomson, though it is of course an incarnation of much more established antisemitic conspiracy theories.

According to the Definition of Antisemitism, “making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions” is antisemitic.

The ADL were immediately in touch with local authorities, and the sign was hastily taken down. The ADL Regional Director commented, “The sign appearing on the freeway represents a hateful message, which is especially concerning given the recent increases in visibility of extremist ideologies such as the ‘Alt-Right’ and groups such as Vanguard America”.

The sign is littered with far right imagery, which is not at all surprising given the fact that the term is one used widely by neo-Nazis.

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California Imam who prayed for Allah to “destroy” the “filth of the Jews” finally apologises

An Egyptian-born American Imam in Davis, California, has been exposed making statements which amount to antisemitic incitement. Imam Ammar Shahin, when he delivered last Friday July 22nd’s sermon at The Islamic Center of Davis, California, said
“Oh Allah, support the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the rest of the Muslim lands. Oh Allah, liberate the Al-Aqsa Mosque from the filth of the Jews. Oh Allah, destroy those who closed the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Oh Allah, show us the black day that You inflict upon them, and the wonders of Your ability. Oh Allah, count them one by one and annihilate them down to the very last one. Do not spare any of them.”

He also quoted the infamous Hadith referencing Muslims slaughtering Jews, stating:

“Judgment Day will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews, and the Jews hide behind stones and trees, and the stones and the trees say: Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah…’ They will not say: Oh Egyptian, oh Palestinian, oh Jordanian, oh Syrian, of Afghan, oh Pakistani… The Prophet Muhammad says that the time will come, the last hour will not take place until the Muslims fight the Jews. We don’t say if it is in Palestine or another place. Until they fight.””

Ammar is a preacher and a teacher at the centre, which has posted a statement on their Facebook page and on their website, http://www.davismasjid.org, relating to the sermon:

“If the sermon was misconstrued, we sincerely apologize to anyone offended. We will continue our commitment to interfaith and community harmony.”

The statement, in which it is acknowledged that many Jews are active for the Palestinian cause, denies any antisemitism on the part of their Imam. They accuse MEMRI, which published the text of the sermon, of being “an extremist, agenda-driven organization that supports Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land”. Quotations from the sermon, they say, were mistranslated and taken out of context. However, we are not currently aware of any major issues relating to the accuracy of MEMRI’s translations.

The English language Facebook page of The Islamic Centre of Davis appears to be unobjectionable, providing information about classes, events and services at the centre. Nonetheless, pardoning such comments demonstrates an underlying tolerance of antisemitism in the Centre’s religious life.

Sheikh Ammar said he was speaking with reference to Jews who prevented Muslims from praying at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. However, Israeli security impeded  prayer at the Al Aqsa very indirectly, by setting up metal detectors at the entrance to the Temple Mount. This was in response to the murder of two Israeli police officers on 14 July. Muslim leaders at the Mosque called for worshippers to boycott it as long as the additional security measures remained on the Temple Mount. The Israelis removed the metal detectors last week and have since removed all remaining security hardware, including cameras and railings.

Worshippers have now returned to the Temple Mount, the site of the Al Aqsa. As of today, Thursday, there is a celebratory mood among Palestinians, who are singing, dancing and handing out candy.

Sheikh Ammar’s sermon has been widely reported, around the world. Following the outcry, he finally apologised on Friday, saying:

“To the Jewish community here in Davis and beyond, I say this deeply: I am deeply sorry for the pain I have caused”

However, this apology came as a result of increased pressure, not least from the Council on American Islamic Relations, and public scrutiny. It is hard to see whether this is a bona fide apology, or rather an attempt to shelter from criticism, a question which time may well have the answer to.  In his sermon on 14 July, two weeks prior, the Imam lead his congregation in another prayer in which he called upon Allah to “destroy” Jews and to “turn jerusalem and Palestine into a graveyard for the Jews”

Davis is a college town, just east of Sacramento and has a large student population.

Shireen Qudosi, Director of Muslim Matters at America Matters, has started a petition, calling on the Davis Centre to fire their inflammatory imam.

 

 

 

 

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Toronto Imam allegedly calls for “systematic elimination” of Jews

Yesterday Everyday Antisemitism covered the long antisemitic history of a Montreal-based Imam. This seems not to be an isolated case. Elsewhere in Canada, the Toronto Sun reported one Maulana Syed Mohammad Zaki Baqri, a cleric of the Pickering-based Council of Islamic Guidance and the corresponding Al Mahdi Centre in Toronto, who allegedly told the June 24 Al Quds Day rally there in a combination of English and Arabic that Jews and Israelis need to be eliminated for what they claim they have done to the people of Gaza:

The systematic elimination of Jews … Israelis, Zionists should know … It is the law that whoever oppresses, he has to be eliminated. One day or another”

That statement is notable because it shows that any distinction in Islamists’ perception between Jews and Zionists is merely cosmetic, showing the “anti-Zionism” cloak to often be an increasingly threadbare cover for antisemitism. This is common in antisemitic discourse generally, but the purveyors of it invariably give themselves away, as have these two Canada-based imams, by their obsessive focus on the “crimes” of Israel (real or imagined) and their apparent inability to censor themselves from the carrying across of antisemitic tropes to their criticism of “Zionists.”

In this case, the cleric is under investigation as a result of a complaint to the Hate Crimes Unit of the Toronto police. The article also sets out the police’s apparent unwillingness to act to ban the gathering, in a manner reminiscent of the UK Metropolitan Police’s attitude towards banning the Al-Quds day march there, at which were paraded Hizballah flags.

Such antisemitism is, unfortunately, often internalised from childhood in such cases, particularly within radical Islamic communities, to the extent that some of those who resort to it may have no idea that what they are doing is highly offensive if not illegal in the West. Even where they do know, far too often their commitment to their extremist beliefs overrides any awareness, as seems to be the case here. This is not to excuse the behaviour, but internalised beliefs are very difficult to undermine, particularly when they are allowed to enter general discourse where repeated use makes them acceptable. The best recourse is for police forces to grasp the nettle firmly and deal with them ever more strongly to the full extent of the law whenever and wherever they occur.

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Canadian Imam who allegedly called Jews “human demons” finally sought by police after years of antisemitic comments

According to the Montreal Gazette, Montreal police have issued an arrest warrant for Sheikh Muhammad ibn Musa al Nasr, a Palestinian-Jordanian imam who, in a sermon in the Dar Al-Arqam Mosque in Montreal in late 2016, allegedly referred to Jews as “the worst among mankind” and “human demons” and said that he looked forward to the end of days when they would be destroyed. The imam also quoted a well-known hadith, the hadith of the Gharqad Tree, in which stones and trees encourage Muslims to come and kill Jews who are hiding behind them. That hadith is quoted in full in the Hamas Charter.

The B’nai Brith of Canada lodged the criminal complaint against al Nasr and were satisfied with the police response. In March last year, after al Nasr’s sermon, the Muslim Council of Montreal called on the mosque to apologise for having invited him. It is not known whether the mosque did so. The Dar al Arqam Mosque is one of the few mosques in Montreal not under the umbrella of the Muslim Council of Montreal, but it seems that the imam’s behaviour constitutes a pattern in Montreal:

In June 2017 a Youtube video was released of Sheikh Wael Al-Ghitawi whose sermon, in November 2014 at the Al Andalous Islamic Centre in Montreal, was against “the people who slayed the prophets, shed their blood, and cursed the Lord …” Also in early June, a video from August 2014 and released on YouTube showed a different imam at the same mosque allegedly calling for the destruction of “the accursed Jews” and that they be killed “one by one.”

In relation this latest incident, the CBC reported the Muslim Montreal Council’s statement which included the following: that “to use the themes of the Prophet to spread hatred is actually something that is disrespectful towards the Prophet himself.”

That may or may not be true, but the statement is is notable more for what it does not say than for what it does: One can speculate about what might be meant by “using the themes of the Prophet to spread hatred” but highly significant is the statement’s emphasis on al Nasr’s sermon showing disrespect towards the Muslim prophet, whilst at the same time it ignores the immense disrespect and hatred that the sermon showed towards Jews or the sense of threat it might have engendered. There is also the matter of the apology required from the mosque for having hosted al Nasr, but notably no such apology was given.

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Canadian school textbook names Israel among countries that kidnap children to use as child soldiers

The Toronto Sun reported on 10 July that Bnai Brith of Canada have asked the publishers Nelson to withdraw copies of Canada and the Global Community. This Grade 6 textbook, aimed at children aged eleven or twelve, lists Israel along with Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, Libya and Yemen as one of the countries which sends children into armed conflict.

 

“They (the child soldiers) are used as fighters, messengers and spies,” claim authors Mary Cairo and Luciana Soncin. “Most child soldiers are kidnapped from their homes and forced to fight … some children volunteer to fight because they feel pressure from peers.”

The accusation that a group of Jews are responsible for kidnapping children will seem eerily reminiscent of medieval blood libel, when Christians often used Jews as a scapegoat for the disappearance or deaths of children, among other things. The inaccuracy is so glaring that it seems difficult to see how it could arise through an innocent error.

The textbook was shown to Michael Mostyn, the CEO of B’nai Brith Canada by the parent of a child whose class were using Canada and the Global Community as a text book.

The factual error was reported to publisher Nelson Canada by Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in March this year and the publisher swiftly notified the Education Ministry, issuing a replacement page for the book in sticker format.

Mr Mostyn praised Nelson’s response but found that, as of June 2017, most schools were continuing to teach with the original text, instead of using the corrected sticker pages. He feels that, as the book has been in use for three years, the schools should correct the record to make it plain that Israel is not using child soldiers and that every Ontario school should have the correct version in place by the new school term on 5 September.

The front cover of the textbook

A spokesman for the Education Ministry has assured B’nai Brith they are fully engaged with the situation and that all schools involved have been notified.

It is unlikely that the schools will have a chance to respond before the new term begins. B’nai Brith is asking parents to let them know whether or not the corrected version has been implented at their children’s schools.

Luciana Soncin was the principal of Toronto Catholic District School Board from 1998 to 2006. She has co-authored with Mary Cairo, an administrative coordinator in Vaughan, Ontario, a social studies Catholic resource called ‘Many Gifts,’ for elementary schools, also published by Nelson Canada, as well as a series of history books.

It is to be hoped that these are not marred by any other damaging inaccuracies.

 

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Neo-Nazis distribute antisemitic “thieving Jews near you” leaflets, place banner on Holocaust memorial in Lakewood, NJ

Antisemites who appear to be members or supporters of the neo-Nazi group called Vanguard America have distributed antisemitic leaflets on cars in Lakewood, New Jersey, and have placed an antisemitic banner on a Holocaust memorial.

Photos show a banner which reads “(((HEEBS))) will not divide us” draped over a Holocaust memorial at a Lakewood Synagogue. The brackets are known as “echoes”, and are an antisemitic device used initially by the Alt Right to identify Jews, though many Jews started using them to “reclaim” the symbol. The phrase itself alludes to the antisemitic canard of Jews attempting to set other groups against each other to maintain control over politics, itself a variant of the general canard of Jews controlling politics and world events.

The authorities are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible.

The same group also posted leaflets on windscreens in the area which read “thieving Jews near you” continuing to say “1.4% of the American population is Jewish.  48% of American billionaires are Jewish. Does crime pay for Jews?”. The leaflet refers to several Orthodox Jews who have been arrested following accusations of fraud. However, the fact that it attempts to take this isolated, and as-of-yet unproven, case as an illustration of how Jews are allegedly dishonest and have been dishonest in enriching themselves in America is, of course, inherently antisemitic.

Unsurprisingly, the groups website is nothing short of shocking. They claim that the world economy is controlled by a “rootless group of international Jews” who wrap “chains of debt slavery” around “White Americans”. This idea, as well as the language of “rootless” Jews, is taken straight from Nazi propaganda, having been left virtually unchanged. They call for an “exclusively” White America, and perhaps most notably, have taken the name of their website from a Nazi slogan.

The banner placed on the Holocaust memorial is shown below

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Teen accused of vandalizing Jewish Summer camp with antisemitic graffiti, damaging several buildings

Christopher Santoro, an 18-year-old boy, has been arrested in Sullivan County, New York on suspicion of the antisemitic vandalism of a Jewish summer camp.

Police have said that they boy was motivated by antisemitism in allegedly vandalising the Camp Shomria. He is accused of entering the complex on June 12th and damaging several buildings, including with antisemitic graffiti.

The camp is a project of Hashomer Hatzair, which describes the camp as a “kibbutz in the Catskills”. It caters to youths from the ages of 7 to 23.

He will appear in court on July 5th.

 

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Arson attack on Jewish artist’s “iconic” Mitzvah bus in New York

A bus owned by Leviticus Schieber, an artist who uses the name Leviticus for his work, has been torched by an arsonist in New York.

The bus, which has become somewhat of a Jewish cultural icon in New York, was found burned out and with smashed windows in the very early hours of Tuesday morning.

The bus started out life as a school bus, and has been re purposed by the artist with colourful paintings and Jewish symbols as a portable art studio. It has been featured in music videos and on television, and is a familiar sight around New York, particularly in the Crown Heights area, which has a substantial Jewish population.

The police are considering the possibility that the incident is a hate crime. Mr Schieber says that his bus has been targeted in the past.

There is reportedly CCTV footage of a suspect.

There is a fundraising page seeking to restore the bus.

Last month we reported that a Jewish school bus had been targeted by an arsonist in the city. As far as we can tell, no arrests have been made in connection with that incident yet.

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Antisemitic canards find at a home at California State University, Fresno, as Academics from across America sign petition repeating antisemitic myth

Academic and support staff at California State University, Fresno, have made antisemitic comments alleging that Jewish staff members obstructed the hiring of a Middle Eastern academic.

CSUF were in the process of hiring a staff member to fill a Professorship named after Edward Said, an academic of Palestinian origin who was a pioneer in Postcolonial theory and who wrote critically of Zionism and Israel. Last year, the search was narrowed to four applicants of Middle Eastern heritage, none of whom were offered the positions.

Allegations emerged among CSUF staff that none were hired due to interference from Jewish faculty. Joe Parks, responsible for equal opportunities on the hiring committee, claimed that “the search was cancelled because when the finalists came to campus, the Jewish faculty complained”, elsewhere claiming that the “Jewish community was responsible”.

A dean of the School, Vida Samiian, claiming that “the administration carried out the vicious and discriminatory attacks launched by Israel advocacy groups against the search committee and the four finalists who were of Middle Eastern and Palestinian ethnicity”, going on to single out Canary Mission. Despite these comments, no evidence has been offered, nor is any apparent, that any pro-Israel groups were involved in the decision at all. Samiian has a long record of anti-Israel activism, which has included inviting the incendiary historian Ilan Pappé to speak at the campus.

Dozens academics from across the United States seemed to jump on this bangwagon, signing a petition, in the form of a letter from faculty members, which claimed that “Israel advocacy groups launched a campaign to cancel the search altogether” and that the process had been influenced by “discriminatory agendas”. This is the language of the antisemitic canard which paints Jews as dissembling and using their influence to subvert processes in their own favour, despite the clear lack of evidence for such a claim. An archived version of this petition, including its signatories, can be viewed here.

Despite the claims of interference from Jewish faculty and groups, senior staff at the University have denied this, citing procedural improprieties for the decision not to hire anyone. Senior staff also explicitly stated that no external groups were allowed to influence the decision.

The idea that Jews or Jewish groups are behind the scenes influencing decisions to prevent political opponents from securing an academic position is a long-standing antisemitic canard. Antisemites often accuse Jews as dissembling and conspiratorial, and when such claims are made without evidence, and despite assurances from the University, they are nothing more than an antisemitic conspiracy theory alleging that Jews conspired to harm academic life at the University.

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Chicago LGBT March faces backlash for ejecting “Zionist” attendees with Star of David Pride flags

“Dyke March Chicago”, a pro-LGBT event, is facing a backlash from much of the LGBT community and beyond after having ejected three attendees who were flying a pride flag with a Star of David for being “Zionists”.

The three Jewish attendees were told that the Star of David flags were “making others feel unsafe” and asked to leave.

One of the three, Iranian Jew Eleanor Shoshany-Anderson commented that “the Dyke March is supposed to be intersectional. I don’t know why my identity is excluded from that. I fell that, as a Jew, I am not welcome here”.

A tweet, which was retweeted by the March’s Twitter account, claims that the three Jewish marchers were “approached and engaged” by members of the march, who questioned them about the flag. After they established that the group were Zionists, they were ejected. The march’s organisers subsequently issued a statement in which they said that ” anti-Zionist Jewish volunteers and supporters are welcome at Dyke March”. This sets an incredibly worrying precedent. The Star of David, whilst it is associated with the State of Israel, is also a Jewish symbol which has existed for hundreds of years. The effect of the organisers’ actions is to establish a kind of test for Jewish attendees, who must meet a standard of ideological purity of being “anto-Zionist” to be “welcome at Dyke March”. Moreover, according to the Definition of Antisemitism, “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination (e.g. by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour)” is antisemitic.

Whilst Dyke March faced an outpouring of criticism on their social media, both from within the LGBT community and from Jews, as well as from others, they have hidden behind support for ideologically similar groups, for example sharing an article that claims that there is “there is no room for Zionism of any kind” in social justice movements, describing Zionism as a “racist and colonialist ideology that rationalizes violence against Black and brown people”. They have also shielded themselves from accusations of antisemitism by the presence and support of Jewish anti-Zionists. However, claiming that Jews can only be acceptable if they fit comfortably into an ideological box which has been pre-approved is antisemitic, subjecting Jewish individuals to a level of scrutiny which others simply do not experience.

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Former Democrat Congresswoman spreads antisemitic conspiracy on her Facebook

Cynthia McKinney, a former Democratic Party Congresswoman for Georgia who was elected five times before being defeated at a Primary in 2002, has posted an antisemitic conspiracy theory on her Facebook.

McKinney has made antisemitic statements in the past, blaming “Zionists” for “kicking [her]…out of Congress” and has ties to antisemitic groups.

In the Facebook post, McKinney urges her followers to “wake up” before peddling a conspiracy theory about international finance which singles out Jewish individuals as pulling the strings behind the control of world banking. She linked to an article on the website Global Research.

However, perhaps more worryingly, she included her own image (below) which depicts an Octopus bearing the Star of David enveloping the White House. IN the backgrond is an image of Barack Obama speaking at AIPAC, the pro-Israel pressure group, and the tentacles have the names of various Jewish groups such as the ADL on them. This is a typical antisemitic conspiracy theory. Such conspiracy theories have been common as a form of antisemitism for well over 100 years, but contemporary incarnations often attempt to evade the accusation of Antisemitism by making the target “Zionism”, or by referring to financial institutions or wealthy Jewish individuals as a proxy. In this way, they refer to the traditional target, Jews worldwide, merely through association and innuendo. However, identifying several Jewish groups in the image she shared makes McKinney’s antisemitism far more obvious than that in the article she shared.

The Octopus itself is a classic antisemitic image, which was used by the Nazis and many others.

According to the Definition of Antisemitism, “using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g. claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterise Israel or Israelis” is antisemitic.

In the comments several of her supporters, some with profiles bearing the flag of Terrorist organisation Hezbollah, delighted in the post, However, many who had previously supported her called her out on her antisemitism.

McKinney left the Democratic Party in 2006, but ran for the Green Party in the 2008 Presidential Election.

The full text of her post reads as follows:

“Hey folks, wake up! Free Yo Mind and the rest will follow: Ten banks control all twelve Federal Reserve Bank branches. N.M. Rothschild of London, Rothschild Bank of Berlin, Warburg Bank of Hamburg, Warburg Bank of Amsterdam, Lehman Brothers of New York, Lazard Brothers of Paris, Kuhn Loeb Bank of New York, Israel Moses Seif Bank of Italy, Goldman Sachs of New York and JP Morgan Chase Bank of New York. William Rockefeller, Paul Warburg, Jacob Schiff and James Stillman own large shares of the Fed as individual”

 

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Florida neo-Nazi arrested after allegedly building bombs to attack Synagogues

Federal Investigators who have been investigating a double murder found bomb-making materials at the home of a Florida neo-Nazi over the course of their investigation.

The authorities were investigating  Devon Arthurs, a neo-Nazi who allegedly killed his two room-mates after they disrespected his conversion to Islam.

When investigating this murder, they arrested Brandon Russell, who is accused of possessing bomb-making materials, intending to use them to attack Synagogues and nuclear facilities. Rifles, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and a face mask were also found.

The materials were found in Russell’s apartment in Tampa, Florida, though he is not suspected of involvement in the double murder.

Russell is reportedly a Private in the US military.

Investigators  believe that Russell may be the ringleader of the neo-Nazi Atomwaffen Division, which Everyday Antisemitism reported on earlier this year, following a series of campaigns which were praised by neo-Nazis, in which the group attempted to recruit students and gain publicity through YouTube videos documenting their recruitment stunts. Following our research into the group, we described them as a  “rising force in extremist politics”.

 

However, if these allegations are shown to be true, they will represent a serious escalation in neo-Nazi activity in the United States, highlighting the importance of documenting and combating such groups when they are in their infancy.

The authorities have thankfully said that they do not believe there to be an imminent threat.

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Bomb threats shut down LA Synagogues over Shabbat

Two campuses of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple and the University Synagogue in Brentwood, both in the Metropolitan area of Los Angeles, were shut down over Shabbat due to bomb threats.

Both were shut down at around 8 yesterday morning.

Police units searched the premises with dogs and found no genuine evidence of explosives.

Rabbi Morley T. Feinstein of the University Synagogue said that one of his staff members “found an email that was beyond nasty — horrific language, and threatening” and subsequently contacted the police.

Earlier this year, over 160 bomb threats were made to Jewish institutions across the United States. Whilst no actual bombs were found, such campaigns of intimidation will naturally unnerve Jewish communities who for two months in 2017 lived under a constant and highly visible threat of serious violence. Two arrests were made in connection to those threats, and we will bring updates about any developments in this investigation.

According to Rabbi Feinstein, after the Synagogue building was closed, the community decided to continue their Torah study on the side of the street.

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Antisemitic “Jews did 9/11” banner over Portland highway

Am image has emerged on social media of a huge antisemitic banner overhanging a Portland highway.

The banner, which says “Jews did 9/11”, was uploaded onto Reddit by Michael Orranti.

Orranti spotted the banner on Sunday evening.

According to the Definition of Antisemitism, Antisemitism “frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for “why things go wrong””. The accusation that Jews were responsible for 9/11 is an obvious example of this, but also mirrors long-standing antisemitic canards of Jewish conspiracies manipulating world events.

The sign had been taken down by the time local authorities went to investigate.

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Brooklyn man left needing stitches after defending elderly Jewish couple from attackers on subway

New York man  Jean Wolfman was left requiring ten stitches after he was beaten for defending an elderly Jewish couple from attackers on the subway.

Wolfman told reporters that the couple were harassed by a group of dancers who were asking them for money. One of the dancers said to the elderly man “I will slap that beanie off your head” and proceeded to hit the kippah off his head. Whilst the confrontation itself wasn’t necessarily antisemitic, as soon as the attacker slapped the kippah from a Jewish man’s head, it clearly becomes so. Wolfman told the attackers to leave the couple alone and the dancers exited the train and Wolfman, who is a street performer, confronted them about their actions.

Wolfman tried to resolve the situation peacefully when they didn’t take kindly to him trying to explain why their actions were unacceptable, challenging the attackers to a dance off, pulling out his hula hoop. They punched him, hit him with the hula hoop and smashed his guitar. Even after the attackers dispersed, one sneaked up behind him again and punched him from behind.

The police have arrested one male suspect and are seeking two others. Wolfman has said he would do the same again, emphasising that he thinks it is important to stand up for his fellow New Yorkers.

 

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Elderly Jewish man viciously beaten in broad daylight in Los Angeles

Shocking CCTV footage has emerged on social media of an elderly Orthodox Jewish man in Los Angeles, California, being beaten by an assailant on Monday.

The footage shows a Jewish man walking down the street and talking on his phone. The attacker pushes him into a tree, punches and kicks him several times, continuing to strike him when he is on the ground.

The attack appears to be completely unprovoked.

The police are currently investigating, but nothing is known about the progress of the investigation or the condition of the victim.

The attack took place near Bais Yehuda synagogue in LA.

The footage can be viewed here, but please note that some will find it disturbing.

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Police hunt for arsonist who torched Jewish school bus, religious books in New York

Police in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York are searching for a suspect who set fire to a Jewish

school bus.

The incident occurred last month.

The perpetrator broke into the bus through its emergency door and set fire to the interior of the bus before fleeing. He torched several religious books.

The bus has Hebrew writing on it, so whilst the police have been cautious to describe it as an antisemitic incident, there would seem to be good reason to believe so.

Book burning was one of the most infamous aspects of the Nazi regime. The Nazis burnt books written by Jews, as well as others they considered to be “degenerate”.

A news report covering the incident can be viewed here.

 

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Principal forced to apologise after Jewish students targeted with antisemitic social media posts at Missouri High School

The Principal of Parkway Central High School in Missouri has written a letter to parents after students of the school were found to have been hosting antisemitic content on their Facebook pages.

Jewish students told the press that they felt hurt, angry, and personally attacked, with some of the posts being targeted against individual Jewish students. However, the exact nature of the antisemitic posts has been kept from the media, so we are unable to report on exactly what is said or just how serious the incident is.

The Principal Tim McCarthy said that the posts were “unacceptable and antithetical to the values we share as a school community”. He contacted the Anti-Defamation League who have been communicating with the school since the incident, which occurred last week.

Both of the two Parkway Central students who were involved have written apologies, but there has been no mention of formal punishment. There were also posts from people outside the School, and it is unknown what action will be taken against them.

The Principal’s full letter to parents can be read below:

PCH Community,

 
Regretfully, I am sending this email to share with you information regarding an incident that transpired within the Central High community via social media last week.  As some may already know, two Central High students posted anti-Semitic images and messages on social media.  The posts were viewed by a significant number of Central High students, causing many students to feel offended, outraged, hurt, and, for some, targeted.  The posts are unacceptable and antithetical to the values we share as a school community.  Thankfully, several students brought the posts to the attention of school administrators, which allowed us to address the offensive posts directly with the students responsible and their parents.
 
Please know that your student’s safety, both physical and emotional, is always our priority.  As a school, we have addressed the incident with both students and their parents; each student, I believe, has accepted responsibility for the harm they have caused.  In an effort to repair that harm, each student sent to me a letter of apology and asked that I communicate to you their sincere remorse.  As you deem appropriate as a parent, please consider talking with your student about the incident, as well as the apology offered by both students.  We will continue to talk with students in the building to monitor the situation as we move forward.  If you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.
 
From my perspective, an incident such as this is upsetting on multiple levels.  Yet, as is so often the case in difficult situations, I was reassured by the positive actions of so many of our students.  A countless number of Central High students recognized the posts were wrong and many followed up with an adult in the school to let us know what was happening and to share their feelings of concern and hurt.  The commitment our students demonstrated to treating people with respect and dignity, as well as their expectation to be treated with that same respect and dignity by others, starts at home and we deeply appreciate your work as parents.  As a school community, we will continue our work of creating a culture and climate that reflects these values.
 
Sincerely,
 
Tim McCarthy
 
Principal, PCH”
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Canada: 12-year-old pupil at elite school victim of a “serious” antisemitic incident

Upper Canada College, a Canadian private school which has educated several prominent Canadian politicians and has been described as having an “illustrious history”, has had to reassure parents after a “serious” antisemitic incident took place, which has led to the police being involved.

Whilst the information available is quite sparse, a 12-year-old Jewish student apparently had antisemitic slurs and symbols. Whilst the school has emphasised that the incident was a “serious” one, it is not known if this represents one incident in a pattern of antisemitic bullying or is a one off, or whether there were other elements to the incident.

The school called a meeting with all the students in the lower years and communicated to them just how serious an antisemitic incident of any nature is.

The school issued a letter to parents saying:

“I write to inform you of a serious incident that occurred yesterday at the Prep…a student in Grade 7 returned to his locker at the end of the day to find it vandalized with antisemitic symbols and messaging. As soon as we became aware of the situation the College began an investigation.”

“We have attempted to progress the investigation swiftly, involving all the appropriate parties, including the police”

Whilst the police were involved, they have since said that despite the incident being serious, it should not be a criminal matter. Several Jewish groups have offered their support to the school in providing education relating to Jewish issues. The school’s response appears to have been an excellent one, in swiftly involving the police, communicating with parents, and having a frank, serious, but open discussion with pupils in an attempt to reassert their shared values.

 

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Neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division attempting to recruit students on American campuses

Pictures have emerged on social media of recruitment posters for a neo-Nazi group, which were found on the University of Pennsylvania’s campus.

The group, Atomwaffen Division, has been a rising force in extremist politics and has been targeting US University campuses. In February they plastered posters over the University of Washington’s campus, which we only became aware of when we researched the group having seen these latest pictures.

The stunt at Washington was videoed, showing several people with covered faces plastering the neo-Nazi posters over the campus at night. The group has been glorified by the Daily Stormer, the neo-Nazi news publication, for following the example of National Action, which was proscribed as a terrorist organisation following action by Campaign Against Antisemitism, in publicising their recruitment stunts on YouTube.

The recruitment posters say “how is a diploma going to help you in the race war? Join your local Nazis! The Atomwaffen Division” and features a Swastika and a pointing hand.

The group claims that it has started its recruitment in response to the growth of “communists”, Black Lives Matter, and “Jewish interests” and calls for a “National Socialist revolution”.

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Democrat Candidate for NY City Council can’t stop talking about “greedy Jewish landlords”

Thomas Lopes-Pierre, a fringe candidate for New York City Council, has posted a plethora of antisemitic statements about “greedy Jewish landlords” on social media.

Lopez-Pierre’s Twitter bio reads “Jewish landlords OWN 80% of private rental buildings in Upper Manhattan; GUILTY of GREED for pushing Black/Hispanic tenants out. Democrat: 7th Council District.”

He appears to have written many tweets centred around “greedy Jewish landlords”, which is inherently antisemitic as it draws on the antisemitic canard of Jews being obsessed with money. Moreover, he published a “List of Greedy Jewish Landlords that gave $1,000+ political contributions to NYC Council Mark Levine”, which seems to hint at an antisemitic conspiracy in which Jews are alleged to have used their money to subvert the political process.

Similarly, he has accused Jewish landlords of conspiring against Hispanic and Black residents, which appears to be an accusation of Jewish supremacism and an allegation that Jews are attempting to oppress other minority groups and create division, an idea that is a mainstay of contemporary antisemitism.

He has also shared various negative news articles about Jews, which whilst not being antisemitic on their own, when coupled with his deeply antisemitic language elsewhere clearly demonstrate an underlying antisemitism, despite his insistence that he has no problems with most Jews.

He describes himself as a “Christian manof Dominican, Puerto Rican and Haitian descent” who supports “economic and social justice”. Despite his claim to care about social justice, his social media clearly shows that he has a borderline obsession with Jewish people.

 

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Antisemitic alt-right banner at Trump rally in California peddles Jewish conspiracy

Pro-Trump supporters at a rally in California displayed an antisemitic banner over the weekend.

The rally, which eventually descended into a violent clash between Trump supporters and protesters, was initially peaceful. Footage shows several Donald Trump supporters being aggressive before violence breaks out.

One of the signs at the protest says “da goyim know”. This is an antisemitic meme popular with the alt-right, which is often followed by the phrase “shut it down” and coupled with pictures of people who are visibly Jewish. “Goy” (plural “goyim”) is a Hebrew word that simply means “nation”, but has often been used to mean non-Jew, often with negative undertones. The meme is used to imply that Jews are in control of various events in world politics and culture and will “shut down” any dissent. It is thus intrinsically linked to antisemitic conspiracy theories. However, here it has been repackaged, almost as a badge of honour, whereby those brandishing the sign seem to be parading their belief that they are somehow knowledgeable about this alleged Jewish conspiracy. In far right circles, antisemites often approving refer to themselves as “goys”.

This is, of course, merely the latest in a long line of antisemitic incidents from Trump supporters, of which the President has offered only a very weak condemnation.

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NY Students asked to argue in favour of the Holocaust for assignment

Students in a school in Oswego participating in a course called “Principles of Literary Representation”, which apparently allows them to study College-level classes, were left shocked when asked to argue in favour of the Nazi’s extermination of the Jews.

The assignment was framed as a representation of the Wannsee Conference, in which the idea of the “final solution”, the total extermination of all Europe’s Jews at the hands of the Nazis, was first fully conceived.

The assignment was presented as a “top secret” memorandum, asking students to write an internal note either in favour or against the extermination of the European Jewry in its totality, with students being assigned to argue either for or against. They were directed to use “at least 3…critical sources” to support their argument. Two students were left feeling “disturbed” and “weird” by the request and apparently contacted the ADL.

Whilst the assignment does say that it is not aimed at making them sympathetic to the Nazis, it demonstrates such a remarkable lack of judgement on the part of teaching staff that it is hard to imagine how the decision to set this assignment was made. This sort of material risks leading students to the darkest depths of the internet, where neo-Nazi websites prey on impressionable minds by twisting sparse, out-of-context prima facie facts into the most disgraceful antisemitic narratives, many of which are indeed the narratives that Hitler relied upon to make the extermination of two thirds of Europe’s Jews possible.

The assignment says that its aim was merely to expand “your point of view by going outside your comfort zone and training your brain to logistically find the evidence necessary to prove a point, even if it is existentially and philosophically against what you believe”. However, the effect of this is to present the extermination of Jews as if it is an open question, as opposed to the ultimate evil in human history, for which no conceivable justification could ever be presented.

The school district is currently investigating.

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Church leader screams “let them Nazis get on you again” at Jewish shopkeeper in Seattle street

Footage has emerged of a Church leader in Seattle, Washington, berating a Jewish shopkeeper.

Omari Tahir-Garrett, who has served 21 months in prison for knocking out the Mayor in  a fight, repeatedly tells a Jewish store owner called Ian Eisenberg. to “go back to Germany” and tells him that he should “let them Nazis get on you again”.

Shockingly, this antisemite is apparently running for a position on the City council. On his website, he rather ironically speaks of fostering peace in the community.

The horrible rant can be viewed here.

Apparently the row started because Garrett is unhappy that Eisenberg’s shop opened next to his Church. However, there is an alcohol store that is also in the immediate vicinity.

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Philadelphia Synagogue being vandalized on an almost monthly basis, with members increasingly anxious

On Sunday 23rd March 2017 vandalism had visited the Temple Menorah Keneseth Chai in Tacony, Philadelphia, USA for the third time since December 2016. A report dated 28th March 2017 on the The Coordination Forum for Counting Antisemitism website includes video footage of a rock thrown through the synagogue window.

On 9th January 2017 we reported that a rock had smashed the synagogue widows on 2nd December 2016 and 26th March 2017 during Shabbat when worshippers were likely to be in attendance and thereby at risk of being injured.

With yet another incident, this now amounts to a campaign of intimidation. After the last incident, we described how elderly attendees at the Shul were feeling anxious about leaving the building alone. Sadly, it seems that there still exists good reason for them to be worried, with the police being yet to apprehend a suspect.

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Westboro Baptist Church’s sickening antisemitic protest outside Yeshiva University

The extremist Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church, which is widely known for its extreme homophobia, and in particular for staging “God Hates Fags” protests at the funerals of US soldiers, has staged an antisemitic protest outside Yeshiva University in New York. Yeshiva University is a Private University that is aligned with Modern Orthodox Judaism.

Half a dozen protesters held signs that had messages including “The Jews Killed Jesus”, “God hates Christ-Rejecting Apostate Jews”, “144k Jews Will Repent” and “Believe On Lord Jesus”.

The claim that Jews killed Jesus is one of the oldest antisemitic quips, and it is one that has been used to incite violence against Jews throughout the history of Christian Europe. Describing religious Jews as inherently sinners because they are not Christians is extremely belittling, denies Jews their distinctness, traditional religious practices and beliefs, and can only be regarded as antisemitic. This is further illustrated by the protesters singing “he will call his people home, the rest of you Jews will die with hearts of stone” – saying that “you Jews” will die if they do not become Christians is so blatantly antisemitic a statement that it scarcely needs elaborating upon.

The protesters also sang “wrath will soon pour on you, for your harmful sins, your great affliction, it will soon begin” to the tune of Hatikva, the Israeli national anthem. They also sang that Jews should repent for “killing Jesus” to the tune of hava nagila.

25 Yeshiva University students, alumni and friends held a counter-protests, holding signs with positive messages, including those embracing Israel’s inclusivity towards the LGBT community.

The “Church” is considered a hate group by the ADL and the SPLC. They have made several antisemitic comments in the past. Their founder has belittled the Holocaust and accused contemporary Jews of orchestrating a “Holocaust” against their Church, saying “The First Holocaust was a Jewish Holocaust against Christians. The latest Holocaust is by Topeka Jews against Westboro Baptist Church”, and “they whine about the Nazi Holocaust, while they perpetrate the Topeka Holocaust”.

They also believe that the Holocaust is a punishment for Jews not “accepting” Jesus.

 

At a time in which relations between Christians and Jews are generally quite positive, it is extremely disheartening to be reminded that such blatant Christian antisemitism still exists. It also serves to remind us that a hatred that most prominently directs itself at one minority group will always end up spilling over onto others. In this sense, it is heart warming to see Modern Orthodox Yeshiva University students defiantly holding signs supportive of LGBT people in the face of such hatred.

 

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“Here’s a Jew, let’s burn her” shouted at schoolgirl as antisemitism erupts in California school

Carlmont High School in Belmont, California, finds itself in the midst of an antisemitism epidemic, following several reports of antisemitic incidents.

There were reports of students openly chanting “kill the Jews” in the school’s stadium, which apparently happened earlier in March, but which has only just come to our attention. This in itself is obviously extremely shocking, being a brazen display of incitement to violence which goes beyond mere playground bullying in its scale and severity.

There were also reports of antisemitic graffiti, including the words “toasted Jew” being written on school property.

As a result of the escalating incidents, the school’s Principal Ralph Crame met with around 20 parents and students to discuss the situation. When one mother was walking to the meeting with her daughter, it is alleged that a group of students shouted “here’s a jew, let’s burn her” at the girl. This seems to point to the possibility that these students heard about the meeting and decided to turn up to further abuse Jewish students. This betrays a deep, underlying antisemitic attitude in parts of the student body.

The school has said that further incidents would be considered under the “harassment, bullying, or hate crimes and will be dealt with accordingly under District policies and the Education Code”, but initial reports suggest that the police have been unwilling to see the events as hate incidents.

Below: antisemitic graffiti found at the school

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Over 100 Swastika leaflets left at Chabad student center in Virginia Tech

Over a hundred leaflets with hand drawn Swastikas were left at the Chabad Jewish student centre at Virginia tech.

The leaflets were left on Saturday afternoon and were discovered by Rabbi Zvi Yaakov Zwiebel, one of the directors of the centre, the day after the centre announced that it would be hosting Holocaust survivor Rabbi Nissen Mangel in April. Rabbi Mangel will be giving a memorial lecture to Professor Liviu Librescu, a Holocaust survivor who was shot on the campus with 31 others at a mass shooting on the campus.

Rabbi Zwiebel described the leaflets as a “disgusting act of hate”, saying that the incident is “surprising seeing as it is the first such act since Chabad on Campus at Virginia Tech was opened more than eight years ago”, continuing to say “we appreciate Virginia Tech President Timothy Sands, who quickly tweeted his support for the Jewish community, and we are in touch with the administration as they proactively respond to this incident”.

A rally in support of Jewish students and the centre is due to take place tonight (Monday 20th), which is extremely encouraging, as Jewish students are often left feeling isolated and without support when there is an antisemitic incident. We also welcome the apparent swift response of the police.

 

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Graffiti equating Judaism with Satanism in Calgary, Canada

Police are investigating antisemitic graffiti in an off-leash dog park in Calgary, Alberta.

The graffiti has a Star of David followed by “=666”, frequently described as the “number of the beast”, which is popularly associated with Satanism. Equating Judaism with Satanism is a common antisemitic canard, which first found prominence in Christianity, but is now frequently cited by non-Christians.

There was also graffiti that said “f*ck Islam”.

The graffiti has apparently been up for “several days”.  Glen Tinckler, the resident who discovered and reported the graffiti, said “it’s a very friendly community and to see images like this is very disturbing”.

 

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4 Arrested for twisting Menorah into Swastika shape over Hanukkah

At the beginning of the year, we reported that an Arizona family had had a large Menorah they had erected in their garden twisted into a Swastika shape by antisemitic vandals.

The mother described being left in tears, saying:

We were just VICTIMIZED by a HATE CRIME
Last night my home was victimized by HATE. Instead of waking up to see our lighted Hanukkah menorah display on our front lawn, there was a swastika. My husband built the menorah to celebrate the Hanukkah holiday after our kids (3 boys 9, 7,5) asked for their own holiday lights for the season. We live in a great neighborhood with kind and welcoming neighbors. We never would have imagined that someone would spread so much hate here. However, this morning we were greeted with this horrible act of aggression. Our menorah was destroyed and altered to resemble a swastika. This clear act of hate and racism is disturbing and sad. I broke down in tears waiting for the police to come and hoping that my kids would not be awake to see it. The officer helped me take it down, before they woke-up. I’m still not sure how I will explain this to them. I’m not sure I quite understand it myself, nor have I ever understood racism or prejudice in any form. How can people can be filled with so much hate and violence? To think that someone would make such an effort to hurt and vandalize a family, is downright sickening. If you or anyone you know has any information that may help the police, please share and contact Chandler Police in response to 16-148624″

Thankfully, the police have now arrested 19-year-old Clive Jamar Wilson and three minors, who are now facing felony charges of first-degree criminal trespass and one count of aggravated criminal damage after the FBI joined the investigation.

 

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VICE ex-founder in vile antisemitic rants says Israelis have a “whiny paranoid fear of Nazis”, calls Holocaust education “brainwashing”

Gavin McInnes, a former founder of the popular online media company VICE and current YouTube personality, has made a series of grossly antisemitic comments during and following a trip to Israel.

Following a visit to Yad Vashem, Israel’s official Holocaust memorial and museum, McInnes said that he thinks that the Israeli Government and Jewish organisations funded his trip and they “assume we’re going to listen to all this shit we get fed”, having previously said he was “at the Holocaust museum, or the ‘Holocaust’ museum — no, I’m just kidding”. Read together, these statements clearly indicate that McInnes may believe in some form of Holocaust denial.  He then continues “I felt myself defending the super far-right Nazis just because I was sick of so much brainwashing and I felt like going, ‘Well, they never said it didn’t happen. What they’re saying is it was much less than six million and that they starved to death and weren’t gassed, that they didn’t have supplies'”.

Though he did clarify that “I’m not saying it wasn’t gassing. Please don’t take that clip out of context, but that’s what the far-right nuts are saying”, it is quite clear from his previous statement that he has sympathy for those who deny the Holocaust and is all-too-happy to malign those who teach others about the Holocaust as engaging in “brainwashing”, which as a standalone statement is often a favourite term of Holocaust deniers.

He then attempts to minimise the Holocaust by pointing out that “Mao killed 70 million… Stalin, with the Bolsheviks, killed 30 million. But the Russians don’t talk about that. They don’t even necessarily see it as a horrible thing”. Nobody is denying these events, but in bringing them up in this matter, McInnes is committing a false equivalence. Far worse, he then went on to lay the blame for the starvation of Ukrainians under Stalin on Jews, laughing as he says “I think it was ten million Ukrainians who were killed. That was by Jews. That was by Marxist, Stalinist, left-wing, commie, socialist Jews”.

He also asked “Wasn’t the Treaty of Versailles, wasn’t that disproportionately influenced by Jewish intellectuals?”, in a statement which seemingly blames Jews for the rise of the Nazis.

The idea that Jews somehow provoked Germany at Versailles is a common thread in the thinking of far right antisemites, as is the idea that the atrocities of the Soviet Union can be attributed to Jewish influence, but one need not be familiar with the common context in which these views are expressed to recognise that blaming Jews for some of the worst events in history is grossly antisemitic. According to the Definition of Antisemitism, “Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for “why things go wrong””.

On Tuesday he uploaded a video called “10 things I hate about Jews”, which he later renamed to “10 things I hate about Israel”, in a blatant display of trying to dress up his antisemitism as criticism of Israel. In the video he seems to imply that Jews should be more grateful to America for its role in defeating the Nazis, describes Hebrew as a “spit language” and says that Jews have a  “whiny paranoid fear of Nazis that’s making them scared of Christians and Trumps who are their greatest allies”. The idea that being worried about Nazism makes Jews “whiny” or “paranoid” is both laughable and extremely belittling, particularly against the backdrop of rising antisemitism in Trump’s America that Trump does not seem committed to tackling in any meaningful way, having axed a special State Envoy dedicated to combating Antisemitism in America as a part of his budget cuts.

He later claimed that he made the comments in the hope that Jews would refute his statements, saying “I landed, and I’ve got tons of Nazi friends. David Duke and all the Nazis totally think I rock…no offense, Nazis, I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I don’t like you. I like Jews”. The sincerity of such a statement is obviously quite dubious, particularly because it was followed with the comment that Israelis should “embrace Christianity”.

McInnes drew praise from antisemite and former head of the KKK David Duke, who shared a photograph of McInnes holding one of his books, called “Jewish Supremacism”, a vile antisemite work which essentially attempts to reassert the lies of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, passing itself off as academic research. However, we cannot be sure if the image is doctored or not. Nonetheless, even if it is, drawing praise from Duke should be a firm reminder that one has strayed down a very dangerous path.

McInnes left VICE in 2008 and has since been involved with Rebel Media, a right wing Canadian publication whose writers have been extremely supportive of Trump, one of whom described Hasidic Jews as “cult-like” people who they wouldn’t want in their neighbourhood, and also include Tommy Robinson, the founder of the Far Right “English Defence League” who is associated with the anti-Islam “Pegida” group whose founder had to resign after posing as Adolf Hitler and describing immigrants as filth”, “trash” and “brutes”. One of their former writers authored a book called “Barbarians: How Baby Boomers, Immigrants, and Islam Screwed My Generation”.

 

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Antisemitic posters at University of Illinois call to end “Jewish privilege”

The World Union of Jewish Students have expressed their disgust over antisemitic posters found at the University of Illinois.

The posters claim that “ending white privilege…starts with ending Jewish privilege”, and details various ways in which Jews allegedly dominate social and economic elites, citing Pew Research.

The poster depicts a social pyramid, where the “one percent” at the top are depicted with Stars of David on their chests.

Regardless of the veracity of any of the research cited, which has clearly been twisted to suggest that dues have an undue position in society, the posters clearly and unabashedly play on antisemitic conspiracy theories of Jews dominating the business world and politics, a harmful canard which is perhaps most famously illustrated by the hoax “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, which became a common feature in Nazi propaganda as well as in much antisemitic rhetoric since.

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“Anti-Zionist” students call Israelis “rodents”, tell a Jewish student to “go back to Palestine”

Members of Students for Justice in Palestine attending a multicultural event at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology intentionally covered up the sole Israeli flag with an Algerian one.

When they went to their Facebook page to brag about the incident, they allegedly referred to Israeli Jews as “rodents”. Describing Jews as vermin was a mainstay of Nazi propaganda, which frequently depicted Jews as rodents. According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g. claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterise Israel or Israelis” is antisemitic.

A Jewish student was then told to “go back to Palestine”. Given that these people are actively campaigning against Israel, telling a Jew to “go back to Palestine” seems bizarre, but it is antisemitic nonetheless.

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Further bomb threats at JCCs over Purim, now totalling 140 in 2016

Five further Jewish Community Centers received bomb threats over the weekend, when Jewish communities were celebrating Purim, following a spate of hoax threats that have been used to terrorise Jewish institutions.

The new threats bring the tally of bomb threats to 140 this year.

The threats were called in on Sunday and targeted the Jewish Community Center of Rochester, the Indianapolis Jewish Community Center, the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston, the Samson JCC of Milwaukee, and the JCC of Greater Vancouver in Canada.

Following the arrest of Juan Thomas as a suspect in connection to the bomb threats, it was hoped that they would cease, but their continuation clearly demonstrates that this is part of a campaign across North America, by a group of organised individuals and not merely a lone wolf, to intimidate North American Jews. The fact that further suspects have thus far evaded capture by Federal Investigators suggests that they are organised and not merely a group of extremists with telephones.

 

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13-year-old Trump supporter says Jews should “go back to her country” at pro-Trump rally

Footage has emerged of a 13-year-old Trump supporter saying that a Jewish girl should “go back to her country”.

The footage was taken at a pro-Trump march in Phoenix, Arizona on March 4th, and shared on Facebook.

The boy, referring to a girl in the crowd, says “if she really is that Jewish, she should go back to her country”.

Another attendee at the rally called for a “genocide” of liberals, whereas one of the speakers said “we need to wipe them out”, about the Democratic Party.

 

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Graffiti calling the Holocaust “fake history” at Seattle Synagogue

Temple De Hirsch Sinai, a Synagogue in Seattle, Washington, has been vandalized with Holocaust denying graffiti, with a suspicious package being found.

The graffiti read “Holocau$t i$ fake hi$story”.

Whilst Holocaust denial itself is unequivocally and universally antisemitic, the dollar signs carry a further antisemitic implication: that Jews have somehow exploited the Holocaust for financial game, perhaps an inevitable “twist” to the antisemitism of Holocaust denial, given that Jews being obsessed with money is a common antisemitic canard.

A suspicious package was also found, which police investigated, but it turned out to just be a book donation. The police are currently investigation the graffiti.

 

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Further bomb threats at Jewish Institutions across the United States and Canada

Bomb threats have been reported at Jewish institutions, with more in the U.S. and now some coming to Canada.

Young children were evacuated from the Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre in Toronto as a bomb threat was called in at around 10am yesterday. The Jewish Community Centre of London, Ontario received a threat at almost the same time.

Both were evacuated without incident.

Also on Tuesday, the Anti-Defamation League’s headquarters in New York were also targeted with a bomb threat, for the second time in two months.  Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL’s CEO, said in a statement that “this is not normal. We will not be deterred or intimidated”.

There were at least seven other bomb threats on Tuesday, this despite the fact that an individual was arrested last week on suspicion of having carried out some of the previous threats.

 

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“We’re gonna spray your sh*tty Synagogue with pig’s blood. Watch the f*ck out”, Iowa Synagogue is told in voicemail

Alan Steckman, the President of the Adas Israel Synagogue in Mason City, Iowa, was shocked to discover that an ominous antisemitic voicemail message was sent to the Synagogue over the weekend.

Steckman played the message back on Sunday, in which a caller says “We gonna spray your sh—y synagogue in pigs blood. Watch the f—— out.”

As nobody answered the phone, the call was automatically forwarded to his home phone’s voicemail.

Steckman said that the message was “unnerving”, saying that whilst it would not normally bother him much, against the context of persistent and rising antisemitism in the country, it is more worrying.

The call carries the clear threat of desecration of the Synagogue, and is obviously calculated to suggest that, but telling them to “watch the f*ck out” could easily constitute a physical threat too.

It is a small community, with a weekly attendance of around 10-12 Jews from the City, as well as 3 Christians who also attend.

Michael Libbie, who leads services at the congregation, commented that “in light of so many hate crimes going on in the U.S., we do take things like this seriously.”

“I have been coming to Mason City to conduct services for the past 29 years. We usually have services once a month on Friday night and then have Bible study on Saturday. I also do weddings and funerals for them. “

“The really interesting thing about this is that I am coming to Mason City this Friday. We are studying the Book of Esther and the Festival of Purim. It is the study of Jews being targeted for destruction and the rising up against evil for all time.”

The police have been contacted about the message and are investigating.

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Holocaust survivor’s visit to NY school followed by appearance of Swastika graffiti

A week after Holocaust survivor Judy Altmann’s appearance at a New York school, the occasion was marred by the appearance of Swastika graffiti in the school’s bathroom.

Mrs Altmann visited  John Jay High School in Cross River two weeks ago. On Monday, a week after her visit, a Swastika was found scrawled in the bathroom.

One student, Sophe Eberhardt, found the appearance of the graffiti particularly disheartening, saying “It’s a subject that’s really, really dark…after everything they showed us, prejudice and racism still exist at our school”.

Despite the fact that a teenage student can tell that the graffiti represents the presence of antisemitism in the school, the Superintendent has written off the incident as simply being the result of “disruptive” pupils. This is perhaps not surprising, as it is unlikely that an official responsible for the school system would want to concede that there is a possibility that there are antisemitic beliefs being harboured by students. However, the fact that the students could hear Mrs Altmann’s story – which would have included her  recounting going through the infamous gates at Auschwitz, seeing people she knew being selected for extermination in the gas chambers, and being liberated whilst infected with Typhus and close to death – and yet still go on to etch the symbol of Nazism in the school bathroom.

In any case, it is wrong to assume that Swastika graffiti is merely the result of “disruptive” pupils, but when set against the context of rising antisemitism and the visit of a Holocaust survivor, it is far too permissive to assume that this is merely a case of misbehaviour. This is even more so the case as similar graffiti was found on the school’s property last year.

The Superintendent nonetheless said that the school was redoubling its efforts to find the perpetrators.

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Neo-Nazi finally faces trial, after 2 year delay, for threatening to massacre Jewish schoolchildren

David Lenio is finally being charged with allegedly threatening to massacre Jewish schoolchildren, after a delay of almost two years.

Lenio, a White Nationalist from Montana, is alleged to have said that he wishes to “execute 30 or more grade school students”, put “two in the head of a Rabbi or Jewish leader”, and said that the “USA needs a Hitler to rise to power”.

He is also alleged to have tweeted:

“I think every jew on the planet deserves to be killed for what kikes have done to our #dollar and cost of living Killing jews > wage #slave”

“I’m not even opposed to shooting up a random school like that sandy hoax stunt only realer, to voice my displeasure with being a wage slave”

“Let’s make national news, I david lenio know israel did 9/11 and I am so poor that I want to shoot up a kalispell Montana public school …”

Lenio appears to have been arrested in 2015, and subsequently released on a plea bargain which saw felony charges for intimidation reduced to a misdemeanour, in a manner which has been called into question.  Despite repeatedly referring to himself as a “wage slave”, Lenio appears to have been released into the custody of his wealthy investment banker father.

As a condition of this release, he was ordered not to use social media, a restriction which he has allegedly consistently breached. Despite him initially being apprehended with several weapons, there does not appear to be any evidence that he was disarmed as a condition of his release.

Fortunately, it appears that Lenio will finally come before a Judge this month to answer felony charges. The fact that it has taken this long, despite him apparently having consistently fetishised violence, particularly against Jews, is a rather worrying failure of the Justice and Security systems in the United States. This is a man who repeatedly threatened to kill Jews, against whom a case was dropped in an apparently clandestine manner, and who appeared to be heavily armed. Indeed, it seems quite miraculous that he did not carry out any of the attacks that he threatened, given that the only engagement he was forced to have with the authorities was to report where he was living if he moved. We can only hope that he finally meets with the full force of the law and that prosecutors are more proactive against bringing similar threats to justice in the future.

 

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Trump reportedly planning to axe counter-Antisemitism post in what has been described as a “disaster” for American Jews

Ira Forman, the former Special Envoy to Counter Antisemitism, has described President Trump’s reported plans to abolish the post as a “disaster” for Jewish communities in the US.

It was reported yesterday that the position, which was created in 2004, is at risk of being abolished in a series of budget cuts being undertaken by the new President.

Forman commented:

“I can’t believe someone at the White House won’t have better sense… This is a disaster. I just can’t believe that they would even think of this given the relatively small budget needed to run this office.”

“This is as bipartisan as an issue as you can get, and I just hope folks at the White House come to their sense”

Whilst difficult calls must be made when it comes to cutting Government budgets, the envoy has a “relatively small” budget according to Forman. Beyond this, America stands in the midst of a rising antisemitism problem. With dozens of hoax bomb threats being made to Jewish institutions, a resurgent far right, and a huge problem with antisemitism coming from the far left and from Islamists on American University campuses, now is the worst time imaginable to be cutting the funding to this office.

Sadly, Trump has form in this area; despite some signs that he wishes to work closely with the Jewish community, including his stated intention to investigate campus antisemitism, President Trump has often been slow to condemn antisemitism, and appeared to berate a Jewish reporter who asked him about antisemitism, describing the question as “insulting”, going on to say “so, here’s the story folks. Number one, I am the least anti-Semitic person that you’re ever seen in your entire life…Number two, racism. The least racist person”.

America is at a point at which it needs leadership on the question of antisemitism, which must necessarily involve its President answering questions about the increased threats to Jewish communities with more satisfactorily than simply getting offended and saying that he isn’t personally antisemitic.

With antisemitism becoming a greater concern across America, and becoming more visible, President Trump must commit himself to ensuring the security of American Jews, and to fund bodies which can help to tackle antisemitism. Abolishing the special envoy is a very worrying step in the opposite direction, and will only add to the concerns of American Jews.

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FBI investigate gunshot fired into Indiana Synagogue

The FBI are preparing to launch an investigation after a bullet was fired through the window of a Synagogue in Indiana.

Police were called to the Adath B’Nai Israel Temple in Evansville on Sunday morning after a shot was heard and a bullet was found by the Rabbi.

Rabbi Gary Mazo commented that “someone had to walk into a children’s playground, then look into a classroom and then fire some sort of weapon. It was to inflict damage, but I think more importantly, (the person) tried to inflict fear,…we’re in this climate now where acts of hate are happening everywhere.”

As early police reports suggest that a low-powered weapon fired the shot, Rabbi Mazo says that he believes the incident was no more than a “cowardly act by a bigot”, and not something of a larger or more sinister scale. However, this is still clearly an attempt to intimidate the Jewish community, which has around 120 families.

Rabbi Mazo noted that this was an attempt to frighten the community, saying “we’ll stand up to fear, we’ll stand up to hatred and we’ll stand together. We know this is not representative of our community. We know that we live in a community that supports each other”. Unfortunately, campaigns of intimidation, from bomb threats to graffiti and vandalism, and sadly the ever-present threat of serious violence, are now a part of daily life for Jewish communities across the world.

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Dozens of graves vandalized at Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia

Dozens of graves have been vandalized at a Jewish cemetery at Wissinoming, Philadelphia.

The Mizel Family Foundation is offering a $10,000 reward for those who provide information leading to the conviction of those responsible.

Police say that over 100 headstones were damages, with some of those helping with the clean up saying that up to 500 were.

A local Rabbi told the news:

“There are people from Quaker, Muslim, Jewish communities. Some rabbis, my colleagues, we just heard about this, thanks to your reporting, and came out here out of the desire to be in solidarity to show that we’re not interested in any narrative about victimization and – as heartbreaking as this is – we are strong together”

“I just met two congregants of mine who were here, one whom has relatives. His way of responding was to go row by row and count, and he’s counted over 500 tombstones”

Last week a similar mass grave desecration occured at St Louis, in a strike which police say was coordinated by several people. The scale of this vandalism may point towards a similar conclusion.

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Pre-school teacher in Texas suspended for saying “not enough” Jews were killed in the Holocaust

A Muslim pre-school teacher in Texas has been suspended from teaching in light of an investigation into her twitter activities, in which she encouraged her friend and social media followers to “kill some Jews! <3” and to “Kiss the Palestine ground”, promulgating both her anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist stances online.

We previously covered Nancy Salem’s antisemitic comments when we documented several instances of antisemitism among students and alumni of University of Texas, Arlington. However, it has since emerged that Salem has since found employment as a teacher.

Nancy Salem, a teacher at The Children’s Courtyard in South Arlington, was one of 24 anti-Israel activists exposed by the university of Texas watchdog group Canary Mission for broadcasting such racist and violent thought. Among other sentiments, she posted a series of despicably antisemitic statements, including: “How many Jews died in the Holocaust? Not enough… HAHAHAHA.”

Children look to their teachers as sources of inspiration and knowledge, and it is clear from her radical stances this individual is not fit for that purpose, and as such should be permanently discharged as soon as possible. Unfortunately, this is a case where an individual has been allowed to have their deeply antisemitic views flourish, apparently unchallenged, throughout their University career, and is not unsurprisingly importing these views into the wider world, which sadly in this case has involved contact with children.

Parents at the school are outrage, and some are calling for her immediate dismissal.

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Police investigate as Muslim and Anti-Zionist students in Texas call for another Holocaust, spout blood libel

The district attorney’s office in Houston, Texas, in cooperation with the Houston police, is currently trying to determine if antisemitic comments that were posted to Twitter, by thirteen past and current students at the University of Houston (UH), constitutes a hate crime.

The Canary Mission, an anonymous online antisemitic watchdog, collected all of the tweets in their report, Kill All The Jews. Members of the UH chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the Muslim Student Association (MSA), and students associated with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS), along with unaffiliated individuals, were responsible for the posts, which go back as far as 2012.

Of paramount concern are tweets by UH students that both incite violence and promote violence against Jews:

“I am gonna throw rocks at yahood [Jews] this summer and no one is stopping me.” – Tarek Abdoh, April, 2015

“Yall don’t understand I want to beat a zionist bitch up so bad.” – Noor Radwan, July, 2016

“Hitler should have killed them [the Jews] all” – Amal Tabal, November, 2012

“If you could press one button to kill all zionists, but it would also kill every Jew out there, would you press it? – Noor Radwam, October, 2015

“Palestine will be the 2nd Holocaust for the Yahood [Jews].” – Rawen Saleh, March, 2013

“I mean it when I say I wish Hitler finished them off in the holocaust. I know there’s a difference between Jews and Zionists.” – Mahmoud Eissa, July, 2014

“@HitlerDictator  Versace. Versace. [Italian fashion designer]    F**k bitches bake Jews that’s the life of a Nazi” – Zain Dharani, August, 2013

As was to be expected, the report included a tweet that put forth a classic blood libel. In November, Noor Radwan tweeted: “A Jewish rabbi has admitted to using human child meat as a filler in McDonalds meat. They allegedly drug teens, and kill them for their meat, THE TRUTH ABOUT MCDONALD’S & MISSING CHILDREN.”

When a UH student can actually present such an outrageous blood libel as a fact, then, Houston, you’ve got a problem.

No one would agree more than Kenneth L. Marcus, president and general counsel for the Washington D.C. based Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, According to Marcus: “Whether the university can punish the speech or not, they have an obligation to address the underlying problem”. Marcus told the Jewish-Herald: “The legal restrictions might tell them [the University of Houston] how they can deal with it, but the fact is they need to deal with it and they need [to] deal with it firmly.”

Although the tweets are currently under review by the Dean of  the Student’s Office, it is troubling that tweets that promote violence and bigotry are not automatically in violation of the UH Code of Conduct.

A tweet by Mamoon Hindi in August, 2015 is a typical example:”It’s not music you f****ing fag. Candyass Brit, fish n’ chips motherf****ker. Zionist f***k face douchebag.”

Obviously, it is no surprise that Hitler is the star of so many of the tweets: “Hitler mah n***ga”;”Hitler said he left some Jews alive so the world would know why he killed em”; “Hitler died too soon, really”.

Lee Wunsch, of the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston (JFGH), told The Algemeiner that celebrating the mass murder of Jews with “violent tweets”, the calls for a Third Intifada–murdering Jews as “resistance” against Israel–praise for both Hitler and Hamas terrorists, whose goal is the wholesale slaughter of Israeli Jews–had the organization’s “full attention”.

When the Canary Mission report was released to the public, Rabbi Kenny Weiss, executive director of Houston Hillel, told the Jewish-Herald: “Houston Hillel takes very seriously any inflammatory comments directed at Jews”. As a result, Rabbi Weiss contacted both the UH  campus police, the greater Houston police department, the UH Office of Legal Affairs, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and the Houston office of the Jewish Federation.

Dayan Gross, the ADL Southwest Regional Director told The Algemeiner: “While ADL respects freedom of speech, we reserve the right to make sure people see hateful speech for what it is and counter it”. Gross, who filed a complaint with the Houston police, is closely monitoring the situation.

The UH Legal Affairs office told the Jewish-Herald that “we take any matter involving the safety and welfare of our university community very seriously”. The vice-chancellor of Legal Affairs, Dona Hamilton Cornell, stated: “UH is safe for all students, Jews included.”

However, UH Jewish students have criticized the administration for failing to condemn the students who threatened the personal safety of Jews.

It is a given that if hateful tweets had targeted UH African-American students and the posts had: a) promoted lynchings and physical assaults against blacks  b) celebrated the KKK and slavery, instead of Hitler and the Holocaust, and c) used vile language like, “F***ing N***er”, rather than “Zionist c**t”, then, without question, a national media firestorm would have been ignited. And the University of Houston would have told the press that such toxic behavior will be met with swift punishment.

But when the tweets, in question, called for the beating and stoning of Jews, the University of Houston would only call the tweets, “repugnant” speech.

“I want my university to show that it legitimately cares about its diverse population and not just certain student groups,” Tatiana Uklist, the founder of the UH chapter of Students Supporting Israel, told the Jewish-Herald.

However, vice-chancellor Cornell feels that the university has created a level playing field because it fosters an environment where diverse beliefs are “welcomed”.

And that means welcoming the beliefs of a Palestinian woman named Rasmea Yousef Odeh, who just happens to be a terrorist who was convicted of murdering Jews.

Despite vigorous protest from Jewish students, administrators allowed the UH chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, which, according to Kenneth L. Marcus, is “a hate organization and must be addressed as such”, to hold a spring fundraiser in Odeh’s honor.

UH dismissed complaints from Jewish students that the fundraiser was a safety threat. Instead the administration called it a “speech-related political disagreement”. Odeh was imprisoned in Israel for murdering two Jewish college students, from Hebrew University, in a 1969 supermarket bomb attack in Jerusalem.

Odeh, who came to America, after being released by Israel in a prisoner exchange, is facing deportation due to immigration fraud.

It would, of course, be unthinkable for any college campus in the United States of America to hold a fundraiser for Dylann Roof, who murdered nine African-Americans, while they prayed in a South Carolina church on June 17, 2015.

And it is precisely because the University of Houston has whitewashed the issues surrounding violence and Jews, that many Jewish students now feel that they are subject to a dangerous double standard, which puts them at risk.

But whether or not the Houston District Attorney’s office ultimately labels the tweets an actual hate crime or a non-criminal hate incident is really a moot point. Because labelling the tweets doesn’t alter the original intent of the UH tweets: the demonization and outright hatred of Jews.

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Over 100 headstones vandalized in Jewish Cemetery in Missouri

Police in University City, near St. Louis, Missouri, are investigating after dozens of headstones at a Jewish cemetery were vandalized.

The Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery is over 125 years old, with its website saying it emphasises “traditional Jewish integrity, reverence and respect”.

The police are refusing to say whether they believe this is a hate crime or not, but the vandalism is thought to be the result of a coordinated operation from a group of people, not a lone vandal. This seems to indicate that it is far more than mere random vandalism and suggests that antisemitism is a very likely motivation. If this is the case, it is a worrying attempt to intimidate and upset the local Jewish population.

The police are examining CCTV footage from the area, but as of now, no arrests have been made.

Aerial footage showing the extent of the damage can be viewed here.

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BREAKING: more bomb threats at Jewish Community Centers in at least 3 US States

Reports are emerging that Jewish Community Centers have been targeted with bomb threats in the U.S. States of Wisconsin, Illinois and Texas.

These reports follow after dozens of similar threats, all hoaxes, were made across the first few weeks of 2017.

The Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center in Whitefish Bay, Milwaukee; The St. Paul Jewish Community Center in Minnesota; and the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center in Houston, Texas, were all evacuated this morning.

Further updates will be provided when more information emerges.

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“No Jews”, Swastika notes left on Ontario doors, Jewish residents have Mezuzot vandalized

Police in Ontario are investigating a series of notes left on the doors of Jewish residents.

Several Jewish residents also had mezuzot vandalized. A mezuzah is a box containing parchment from the Torah, which religious Jews nail to the doorposts of their houses. Damaging one constitutes an act of desecration and is an inherently hateful act.

Post-it notes with the words “no Jews”, Swastikas and antisemitic slurs were left on the doors.

They were all posted within the same building, causing them to believe that one of the neighbours is to blame.

 

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Neo-Nazi arrested by FBI, allegedly planned Synagogue terror attack in South Carolina

Benjamin Thomas Samuel McDowell, 29, has been arrested by the FBI after he allegedly attempted to purchase a gun from an FBI agent, allegedly planning to commit a terrorist attack “in the spirit of Dylan Roofe”, the White Supremacist terrorist who murdered nine African American worshippers at a Church in cold blood in 2015.

McDowell met with the FBI agent in South Carolina, who was undercover, believing that he “handled problems for the Aryan Nations”. He said “I got the heart to do that s***, but I don’t have to the good training…if I could do something on a f***** big scale and write on the f***** building or whatever, ‘In the spirit of Dylann Roof.’”

He contacted the agent the next day to obtain a weapon, which he allegedly stated was to use for an attack in the county in which he lives.

The FBI monitored his social media accounts, which they believe indicated that he wished to attack a Conservative Synagogue in his area. The Rabbi of the Synagogue has been advised not to comment on this situation by the FBI.

McDowell has already been brought to trial

The events are a disturbing reminder of the very real threat which is faced by Jewish communities across the world. The security services are to commended by the handling of the situation, identifying a credible threat and apprehending him swiftly. At a time in which a far right terrorist attack is always a possibility, the ability of security services to monitor extremist activity, to understand the nature of threats, and to act swiftly is paramont

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Muslim and “anti-Zionist” students in Texas glorify the Holocaust, call to “kill some Jews”

The Canary Mission, an group which monitors extremist activity on US campuses, has released a dossier on antisemitic social media comment being circulated by students at the University of Texas, Arlington.

The messages include calls to “kill some Jews”, calls to “stuff Jews in the oven”, and included many references to the Holocaust and antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Among the authors of the tweets is Ismail Said Aboukar, a member of Students for Justice in Palestine and the Muslim Students’ Association, who wrote that “Jesus is going to slay the Jews” and made multiple references to Jews controlling world business, as well as writing “the world would be soooo much better without the Jews man”.

Nancy Salem, another SJP member and BDS supporter, asked a friend to “kiss the Palestine ground” for her and to “kill some Jews”.

She also asked “How many Jews died in the Holocaust?”, answering for herself – “not enough”.

The Canary Mission identified 24 students making blatantly antisemitic comments at the University, with 19 being affiliated with Students for Justice in Palestine and 12 being affiliated with the Muslim Students’ Association.

This serves to highlight the growth of Islamic antisemitism, and its connection to anti-Zionist politics, on University campuses, in a situation which is quickly making Jewish students feel unwelcome at Universities across North America and Europe.

 

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Jewish teenager’s car spraypainted with Swastika in Florida

A Jewish teenager, who is currently away in Israel with his father, has had his car vandalised with Swastika in Boca Raton, Florida.

The graffiti was discovered when local residents in the Jewish community woke up this week.

Yona Lunger, a representative of South Florida’s Jewish Community said that the incident was “a direct hate message”, describing the community as “shocked, devastated”.

The community gathered around the car yesterday to vent their frustration, and the incident attracted some attention in regional news.

The teenager’s mother said that her grandparents were Holocaust survivors, saying that the incident “might not mean something to a lot of people, but to me, it means a lot”. She says that she will be worried about children playing outside in the community in the future, which demonstrates the very real effect that incidents like this can have on a community.

Rabbi Yaakov Gibbar, who teaches in the community said “that symbol is a symbol of hatred…that symbol is a sign of anti-Semitism, which is virulent and awful, despicable and deplorable”.

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Minnesota Jewish student has “Nazis rule”, image of concentration camp drawn inside his dorm

Avi Shaver, a Jewish student attending the University of Minnesota, returned to his dorm room on Wednesday to find a Swastika and a picture of a concentration camp drawn on his bedroom door, as well as the words “Nazis rule”.

It appears that the vandal somehow got into his shared dorm and drew it on his bedroom door.

The incident is not only clearly antisemitic, but extremely unsettling given that the culprit has demonstrated he is able to reach Shaver where he sleeps. The incident could thus also constitute intimidation.

Both the University and the Police are investigating.

There have apparently been several similar, but less serious incidents at the University in the last year.

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Woman attacked on train and called “dirty Jew” by attacker shouting “Hail the Hitler Youth” in NY

The NYPD Hate Crime Task Force is investigating an alleged antisemitic attack that occurred on the New York Subway on Monday.

A Jewish woman was forcibly pushed off a train by an attacker who called her a “dirty Jew” and read from a neo-Nazi leaflet the words “Hail the Hitler Youth”.

The victim managed to grab onto a pole, and fell into the seat apparently without any major injury.

It is currently not known if any onlookers intervened.

The alleged attacker had a strong German accent, had cropped blonde hair, wore a blue jacket and was carrying a black bag or briefcase.

The victim is yet to be apprehended.

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White Nationalist Richard Spencer hails White House’s “de-Judaification” of the Holocaust

Richard Spencer, the prominent White Nationalist and “alt right” figurehead who has been the centre of several antisemitic controversies, particularly following the election of Donald Trump, has hailed the White House’s decision not to explicitly mention Jews in its Holocaust Memorial Day statement.

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has also left Jews out of his Holocaust address in the past.

Spencer wrote that Jewish activists had made the Holocaust “all about their meta-narrative of suffering” in order to “undergird their peculiar position in American society”.

He asserts that Jews have essentially used the Holocaust for political ends, not just in generating sympathy for themselves, but also to influence other policy, writing:

“We can’t limit immigration, because Hitler. We can’t can’t be proud of ourselves as a Europeans, because Holocaust. White people can be Christian, but not too Christian, because Auschwitz,

Effectively, any policy, idea, or belief that is markedly right-wing and traditional — that evokes identity, power, hierarchy, and dominance — must be regulated by the possibility that it could potentially lead back to the German Führer”

This is a typical antisemitic conspiracy theory dressed up as political discourse about how we are to remember the Holocaust. In fact, the Holocaust is the ultimate expression of the potential dangers of excessively valuing such things as mentioned by spencer, and is something from which it is imperative to learn.

According to the definition of antisemitism, “accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust” is antisemitic, and his statements could easily be seen as falling into line with this definition.

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Hackers blamed for antisemitic print-outs at US university

White supremacist hackers are suspected to be behind an incident in which computer printers at an American university started producing antisemitic fliers.

The incident at Vanderbilt University in Nashville on January 16 appears similar to a spate of occurrences last year at universities nationwide including Princeton, when a hacker caused printers to churn out fliers bearing swastikas and antisemitic text.

On that occasion the Daily Stormer neo-Nazi website claimed credit for producing the material, which spoke of “the Jews destroying your country through mass immigration and degeneracy” and asked people to “Join us in the struggle for white supremacy”.

University spokeswoman Princine Lewis said the new incident happened “in a handful of offices on campus” and campus police were investigating.

“Currently it is an open investigation,” she wrote in an email to the Tennessean newspaper. “However, this most recent incident appears similar to incidents in March 2016 in which an outside source was able to access networked printers at several universities around the country.”

Ari Dubin, leader of Vanderbilt’s Hillel society, said: “Hillel takes all antisemitic incidents seriously and we are outraged by this despicable act. We are grateful for the rapid response of Vanderbilt University and the VUPD. We support their efforts to stop these kinds of hacking attacks from occurring in the future.”

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Police investigate “threatening” voicemail left at Kentucky Synagogue

Temple Shalom in Louisville, Kentucky, received an abusive and antisemitic voicemail on Holocaust Memorial Day.

The Synagogue’s President Keiron O’Connell wrote that the message was “filled with antisemitic invective and veiled threats”, though we do not know the precise nature of the threats or antisemitic language.

Thankfully the police are now investigating the incident and have agreed to provide extra security for the Synagogue, having sent officers to guard the building during Shabbat services.

O’Connell wrote in an email to members that “if you feel secure enough in attending services tonight I am requesting a display of strength and solidarity from the congregation and the Jewish community. We will not back down in the face of hate”.

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Nazi posters in Ashland, Oregon, warn that “a storm is coming”

Police in Ashland, Oregon, are currently looking for an individual who put up Nazi posters around the town.

The signs seem to have been put up on Monday morning, and according to Police Chief  Tighe O’Meara, “people just took the signs down and threw them away”.

The suspect goes by the name @NationalistAct on Twitter, which is written on some of the posters.

He uses the phrase “we will secure the existence of our people and a future for white children” – these are known as the “fourteen words”, a mantra used by Neo-Nazis, often referenced in numerical form simply as “14”.

The bio of the account claims it to be “official page of the #Cascadian Nationalist Resistance”, a group which there seem to be no other traces of.

Chief O’Mera has said that the posters amount to “at the very least, it’s criminal mischief…maybe it could turn into something else like intimidation”

The police chief is correct in that it could amount to intimidation, particularly if the posters have been placed to be visible to members of the small local Jewish community. The phrasing on some of the posters – “a storm is coming”, alongside Swastikas and other Nazi imagery, is deliberately calculated to be ominous and to stir up fear.

The FBI has indicated that it may be willing to become involved if the actions are deemed to have crossed the criminal threshold.

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Neo-Nazis slogans and imagery drawn outside 3 Florida Synagogues

Three synagogues in Clearwater, Florida, have found antisemitic messages and imagery drawn in chalk on the pavements outside their buildings.

Chabad of Clearwater, Temple B’nai Israel and Beth Shalom all found the drawings near their Synagogues on January 12th.

There were Swastikas drawn, as well as the numbers 14 and 88. 14 refers to the Fourteen Words, a neo-Nazi mantra, and 88 is a numerical code for “Heil Hitler”.

Though one of the congregations’ Rabbi has noted that this has had “little effect” on their community, it does indeed demonstrate that antisemitism will never be far away for Jewish communities, and should remind those in the communities of the need to be vigilant in case things escalate.

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Nazi flag flying in garden in Oshkok, Wisconsin

A Facebook post shows a picture of a Nazi flag flying in a garden, which the uploader says was taken in Oshkok, Wisconsin.

The uploader wrote:

A nazi flag hung yesterday less than a mile from my house and two blocks away from a elementary and middle school in Oshkosh. I really think everyone needs to ask what is going on right now, and do their part to make sure ignorance and hate is not normalized in any way. This is not ok. It is 2017 for the record.”

Many in the comments have tried to link the incident to Donald Trump’s election victory and recent inauguration. However, there is currently no evidence as to who the individual supports politically, and such claims are currently only speculative. Nonetheless, it is extremely worrying that this will be in view of school children, as it will risk normalising Nazism to those who encounter it.

 

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People tweet “light that Jew on fire” at Trump inauguration Rabbi, call Trump a “puppet for the Jews”

Rabbi Marvin Hier made history at Trump’s inauguration by becoming the first Orthodox Rabbi to speak at a President’s inauguration.

Rabbi Hier has met with various Presidents, and is the founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, an organisation named after the famous Nazi hunter, and which fights against antisemitism, terrorism and racism, as well helping to educate about the Holocaust.

The fact that Rabbi Hier was asked to speak at Trump’s inauguration, after a divisive campaign which caused many Jewish leaders to express concern, could be seen as a sincere positive step from the Trump camp. Unfortunately, his appearance was marred by torrents of antisemitic abuse.

Some tweets include the following:

“Why is there a Jew on my screen”

“He escaped from the camp! Gas him before its too late”

“someone light that Jew on fire”

“MY EARS ARE BEING RAPED BY JEW INCANTATIONS OMG PUSH THIS RABBI WITCH OFF THE STAGE”

“What the hell is some Jew rabbi doing at the inauguration? They are the enemies of America !”

“not down with that false pig religion of the devil”

“Guys, the Jew put a spell on us!”

“The Jew disappeared soon after his speech. Holding human form takes a lot of energy” – this tweet, which suggests Jews are not really human, but also plays on conspiracy theories about Jews (who are often referred to in more obscure conspiracy theories as “shapeshifters”) controlling the world.

“crazy how they let a Jew speak after their attacks on 9/11”

“Trump is just a puppet for the Jews”

“bruh this is why we need Hitler. who the fuck let the jew out the chamber”

“DON THERES A FUCKIN JEW ON THE SAGE KILL IT”

In the photo displayed above, someone photoshopped an antisemitic caricature of a Jew, and wrote that they were “wearing my ‘they live’ glasses”. They live is a film in which special glasses make the protagonist able to see the propaganda behind everyday advertising and media. However, the creator of the film has recently disavowed its popularity with neo-Nazis, insisting that the film is about consumer capitalism and has nothing to do with antisemitism.

Some in the Jewish community criticised Rabbi Hier for appearing at Trump’s inauguration, as many believe the President employed antisemitic tropes during his campaign. However, it is extremely worrying to see such vitriol being directed towards a Rabbi who was chosen to speak by the President. If these people are Trump supporters, it indicates that some of Trump supporters do not merely engage in antisemitic discourse, but will refuse to accept a Jewish person even when they have some form of personal endorsement from the candidate they support. However, of the hundreds of tweets that Rabbi Hier received, though they tended to have the general character of far right antisemitism, that some would have come from opponents of Trump.

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Breaking: bomb threats at at least 32 Jewish institutions in America

Last week we reported that at least 16 Jewish Community Centres across the USA had been targeted with hoax bomb threats. There are now currently reports that at least 32 Jewish institutions across the USA have been targeted with similar threats today.

Threats were called in to JCCs on Wednesday. The ADL has said that there were threats in New York, Ohio, New Jersey, Florida, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Delaware, Connecticut, Alabama, Maine, California, Tennessee, South Carolina, Missouri, Minnesota and Texas, all of which were fake.

Calls often came in within minutes of one another.

Once again, staff at the JCCs cooperated with police effectively and the buildings were all swiftly evacuated. However, the threats further emphasise the urgent need for increased security at Jewish institutions.

These two incidents, as well as the planned armed neo-Nazi march in Montana, point to a very worrying increase in far right activity, which is becoming not only more visible, but more coordinated, better organised, and clearly calculated to intimidate.

More information can be found here.

 

 

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Neo-Nazis plan armed march against Jewish community in Montana, invite speaker from Hamas and from Nazi organisations worldwide

An armed demonstration by neo-Nazis against the Jewish community of Whitefish, Montana is planned for Monday, January 16, between 4-7 p.m. on Martin Luther King Day, according to ABC Fox Montana News. The neo-Nazis are planning to carry high powered rifles on the march, in a gratuitous attempt to intimidate the Jewish community.

Andrew Anglin, 32,  a neo-Nazi  from Worthington, Ohio, who owns the popular neo-Nazi website, The Daily Stormer, is organizing the march. The protest is in “defence” of  local Whitefish resident, Sherry Spencer, the mother of white nationalist, Richard Spencer, who is a part-time Whitefish resident.

Spencer, who is credited with coining the controversial term, “alt-right”, believes in “peaceful ethnic cleansing”. In November, at the annual convention of Spencer’s “think tank”, The National Policy Institute, a  media firestorm  was ignited when his followers responded to Spencer’s remark, “Hail Trump! Hail our people! Hail victory!” with Nazi salutes.

Sherry Spencer told the press that public criticism of her son, Richard, whose toxic political rhetoric she and her husband, Rand, a doctor, “unequivocally” reject, has damaged her real estate business.

This was enough ammunition for Anglin to mount an attack on the Jews of Whitefish, since many prominent Jews have argued that Whitefish should not be associated with white supremacy. Public records in Virginia state that the official address of Spencer’s National Policy Institute is located in a building in Whitefish that his mother owns.

Top elected Montana officials, including Montana governor, Steve Bullock, have condemned the march: “We say to those few who seek to publicize antisemitic views that they shall have no safe haven here”.

This warning has clearly been ignored by Anglin. The march is being held against “Jews, Jewish businesses, and everyone who supports either”. Despite Anglin’s belief that Jews are a “vicious, evil race of hate-filled psychopaths”, he claims that violence will not be tolerated

ABC Fox Montana News reported that Chuck Stearns, the Whitefish City Manager, received an incomplete application for the march from Anglin on January 9. The application must be completed before the city can respond.

Whitefish is a ski resort town located in northwestern Montana near the Canadian border. The population of 6,000 people includes 100 families and individuals who are Jewish. The town has one rabbi, who heads an independent synagogue without walls. Whitefish police, in cooperation with the FBI, have stepped up patrols due to threats against the Jewish community that were generated by Anglin’s campaign.

Anglin urged followers to mount an attack against the Whitefish Jewish community. And while Anglin recommended that followers hang up Nazi flags and hold storybook hours, where neighborhood kids are read Hitler’s, Mein Kampf, Rachel Caroll-Rivas, a co-director of the  Montana Human Rights Network, told Slate that she received online and telephone death threats. She quoted an example: “All of you deserve a bullet through your skull. Choke on a shotgun and die.”

Anglin is calling the demonstration the “James Earl Ray Day Extravaganza”, On April 4, 1968, James Earl Ray murdered 39 year old  Martin Luther King Jr. while he was standing on the second-floor balcony of The Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

The fact that Anglin, a known racist, deliberately set the march to coincide with Martin Luther King Day is no surprise. A comment posted by Anglin on the Washington Post explains what he wishes to accomplish as “Alt-Right neo-Nazi”: “The goal is to ethnically cleanse white nations of non-whites and set up an authoritarian government. Many people also believe that the Jews should be exterminated“. This leaves the obvious question: how many of those marching through the streets with riles, in a deliberate attempt to intimidate the Jewish community, can be counted among the “many people” who believe that “the Jews should be exterminated”.

ABC Fox Montana News reports that, due to a large donation, Anglin says that he now has the financial clout to bring in “nationalists groups from the UK, Sweden, France and Greece” and maybe even “someone from Hamas”.

Hamas has declared in their charter that they aim to murder every Jew in Israel. And, in order to intimidate the Jewish community, Anglin intends to bring Hamas’s celebration of murder to Whitefish. He states: “they [the Jews] will rue the day, as they see two hundred skinhead Alt-Right Nazis marching with a guy from Hamas carrying machine guns through the center of their town.”

According to The Missoulian, the Whitefish police chief, Bill Dial, has told the understandably anxious Jewish community, that while Anglin has the legal right to protest, the law also gives him the right to demand that the rifles are unloaded.

Dial, who along with the FBI, believes that the march will never happen is still not taking any chances. Dial told the press that he’s “hoping for the best and planning for the worst.”

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Bomb threats at 16 Jewish Community Centres across the USA

The JCC Association, a body which oversees Jewish Community Centres across the United States, has attempted to calm its members after a series of bomb threats were made against JCCs yesterday.

16 Jewish Community Centres were targeted with bomb threats in total, which were called into police, with some being recorded and some being live.

Centres in  Florida, Tennessee, Maryland, South Carolina, Delaware, Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania were targeted by threats.

Thankfully, following evacuations of most of the facilities, which were a concerted effort between police forces and JCC staff members, the threats were all discovered to be hoaxes.

Whilst some groups took aim at President Elect Trump over the threats, ADL National Director Jonathan Greenblatt called for calm, saying  “While each of these threats must be taken seriously, and excellent preparation is key to a good response, bomb threats are most often not credible and are usually used as scare tactics in order to disrupt an institution’s operations, and to cause fear and panic”.

Whilst these threats appear to have aimed to intimidate, not to kill, they still represented a coordinated attack to strike fear into Jewish communities across the country, which will leave many people vulnerable. Many Synagogues, Jewish schools, and other communal institutions now have increasing amount of security, yet this incident seems to be designed to make Jews think that perhaps no amount of security is enough. As an effort, it would have required planning, research and coordination, and quite possible several people.

Whilst it is important to recognise that these threats were an attempt to cause fear, Jewish communities must still remain vigilant of the real threat of violence which they face. We recently reported on similar bomb threats in Florida, and whilst these turned out to be hoaxes, violence against Jews is always a possibility, and such an incident reminds us of the need for greater communal security measures.

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Philadelphia Synagogue has windows smashed twice in two months

A Synagogue in Tacony, which is nearly 100 years old, is facing what could begin to look like a campaign of intimidation after its windows were smashed for the second time in just over a month.

A rock was thrown through a window, smashing it, at the Temple Menorah Keneseth Chai in the evening of December 2nd. The incident nearly left Synagogue President, Malcolm Adler, injured as falling shards of glass hit him. The window took a week to replace, costing the community $350.

Then last Friday at around 19:30, another rock was thrown through the same window, with two others broken.

One of the rocks thrown was the size of a baseball, and thus could easily have caused serious injury had it hit someone.

Both of the incidents appear to have been timed to coincide with Shabbat, so it cannot be discounted that the vandal responsible also aimed to hurt worshippers inside the building.

Within the last 10 years the Synagogue was also targeted with Swastika graffiti.

Mr Adler has said that some of the elderly members of the community are now nervous about leaving services, fearing that they could be victims of a physical attack. This sadly illustrates how incidents which some may write off as “just vandalism” can easily leave a community feeling victimised, with vulnerable members of community feeling at risk of physical harm.

The police are investigating the incidents as hate crimes.

 

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“Die Jew B*tch” painted rock left on Jewish family doorstep

Police in Winnipeg, Canada, are conducting a hate crime investigation after a rock painted with antisemitic abuse was was left on the doorstep of a Jewish family home.

The rock was painted with the words “DIE JEW BITCH. EINSATZGRUPPEN.”

It was placed inside a bag and wrapped in a red ribbon. The words “Jude Bitch get out of neighberhood” (s.i.c) were written on the bag.

The Einsatzgruppen were responsible for mass killings of Jews during the Holocaust.

The family wish to remain anonymous, but contacted both the police and B’nai Brith

This is very unusual for Winnipeg. I can count on one hand in the 24 years I’ve been in this position the number of incidents that were as egregious and as threatening as this. We are very concerned about this and taking it very seriously“, Constable Rob Carver of Winnipeg Police commented.

“It makes sense that the owner would reach out to B’nai Brith for some guidance”

“It’s also our job to conduct an investigation and we’re doing so. Detectives are looking at it and also our Hates Crimes Coordinator. We are treating this as a hate crime. We don’t get many incidents like this in Winnipeg. We occasionally get international events that will prompt antisemitic reactions but this one is so much more egregious that we’re spending more time on this.”

 

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Bomb threats at Orlando Synagogue and Jewish school lead to evacuation

The police have said that two Jewish institutions in Orlando had to be evacuated after bomb threats were made to police.

Chabad of South Orlando and the Jewish Academy, an elementary school in Maitland, were both evacuated.

The first call was made about the school, with a call ten minutes later threatening a strike against the Chabad house. No explosives have been found in either location.

In Maitland, not only the school was evacuated, but the entire area, which includes a Jewish community centre and a Holocaust education facility.

Television coverage of the story can be viewed here.

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Arrests made after headstone defaced with “f***ing Jew” graffiti

Three arrests have been made after a headstone in Indiana was vandalized with the words “fucking Jew”.

The headstone marked the grave of a Jewish couple, whose grandson posted an appeal on his Facebook for information on Monday.

The headstone was identifiably Jewish, as it had a Star of David on it.

 

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Jewish seminary vandalized with swastika

Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, the Jewish seminary in Cincinnati, has been vandalized with swastika graffiti in the last 24 hours.

A police report has been filed and the graffiti was subsequently removed.

Rabbi Johnathan Cohen, the dean of the school, issued a statement this afternoon:

“A minor anti-Semitic action occurred on the Cincinnati campus of Hebrew Union College this morning when a swastika was spray-painted on the HUC sign at the entrance to the Clifton Avenue campus,” Cohen said. “While only a minor act of vandalism, we are grateful for the immediate support of the Cincinnati police and many friends and neighbors in the Jewish and general communities. For more than 140 years HUC-JIR has been committed to being the liberal, open and welcoming center of Jewish life and education. We call on supporters and neighbors to increase their commitment to tolerance and respect among members of all faiths”

Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley described the incident as an”act of hate” continuing to say “I am deeply offended and disturbed by these actions…the City is committed to using all of our resources to bring these criminals to justice. As we work to build a more welcoming and inclusive City, we will not stand for this intimidation”.

 

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Antisemitic vandals break Menorah into Swastika shape

A Jewish family in Arizona has been left feeling shocked and upset after a large Menorah they had displayed in their garden for Chanukah was twisted into the shape of a Swastika by antisemitic vandals.

Naomi Ellis took to Facebook in a post which has now been shared over 2000 times to decry what she has described as a hate crime and to appeal for people to contact the police with any information.

The family awoke on the morning of December 30th to find the Chanukiah vandalized.

To vandalize a religion symbol on another person’s property is a blatant act of intimidation, and is understandably upsetting for the victims, who are celebrating a festival which commemorates the Jewish struggle for survival against intimidation and attempts to erase Jewish religious practice and culture.

Ms Ellis’ statements is as follows:

We were just VICTIMIZED by a HATE CRIME
Last night my home was victimized by HATE. Instead of waking up to see our lighted Hanukkah menorah display on our front lawn, there was a swastika. My husband built the menorah to celebrate the Hanukkah holiday after our kids (3 boys 9, 7,5) asked for their own holiday lights for the season. We live in a great neighborhood with kind and welcoming neighbors. We never would have imagined that someone would spread so much hate here. However, this morning we were greeted with this horrible act of aggression. Our menorah was destroyed and altered to resemble a swastika. This clear act of hate and racism is disturbing and sad. I broke down in tears waiting for the police to come and hoping that my kids would not be awake to see it. The officer helped me take it down, before they woke-up. I’m still not sure how I will explain this to them. I’m not sure I quite understand it myself, nor have I ever understood racism or prejudice in any form. How can people can be filled with so much hate and violence? To think that someone would make such an effort to hurt and vandalize a family, is downright sickening. If you or anyone you know has any information that may help the police, please share and contact Chandler Police in response to 16-148624

Update: shortly afterwards over 200 people turned up to repair the Menorah and to sing Chanukah songs with the family, in a wonderful display of solidarity.

The police continue to investigate.

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Rapper Lupe Fiasco accuses “dirty Jewish execs” of stealing his money, quits music industry after backlash

Rapped Lupe Fiasco has apparently decided to quit music after having released an antisemitic track.

The Chicago-born rapper, 34, released a track on his Soundcloud earlier this week, which included the line “Artists gettin’ robbed for their publishing / By dirty Jewish execs who think that it’s alms from the covenant”.

The idea that Jews are obsessed with money and exercise undue influence over various areas of business is an inherently antisemitic one, yet is an idea which is very common.

However, media coverage has tended to focus on the first line about “dirty Jewish execs”, whilst ignoring the accusation that such behaviour is “alms from the covenant”. The idea that Jews are led to extract money from others due to a perceived sense of religious superiority is clearly antisemitic, and is in fact a common theme found in the antisemitism of white nationalists.  Here two antisemitic stereotypes co-exist; the idea of Jews as baseless cosmopolitans, influencing, dominating and exploiting the world of business; and the idea of Jews as backwards religious traditionalists, who allow everything to be directed by religious precepts, many of which are painted as supremacist in nature.

He faced a backlash from fans after releasing the freestyle track, and fired back against accusations of antisemitism in a series of tweets, saying “I’ve walked inside the ovens of Auschwitz” and “I’ve studied the Hebrew bible”. However, clearly studying the Bible and visiting Auschwitz does not exclude one from being antisemitic, particularly when one makes blatantly antisemitic comments such as these without apology.

Instead of apologising for his comments, he instead claimed he was “getting beat up for telling the truth”.

He went on to say that he would not release any more music.

 

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After Oberlin Professor fired for antisemitism, Jewish academic targeted with “Gas Jews” graffiti

After a lengthy nine month investigation, Joy Karega, a non-tenured assistant professor at Oberlin College, has been fired over antisemitic Facebook posts.

Karega was hired in 2014 to teach rhetoric and compositon classes at the prestigious private Ohio liberal arts college that comes with a $200,000 four year price tag, In November, 2015,  Karega wrote on her now deleted Facebook page: “I promise you, ISIS is not a jihadist, Islamic terrorist organization. It’s a CIA and Mossad operation.” Karega blamed the Paris magazine, Charlie Hebdo, terrorist attack on the CIA and Mossad, Israeli intelligence.

In January 2015 she accused Israel, the “same people behind the massacre in Gaza”, of shooting down Malaysian Airline flight No.17 over Ukraine. A 2015 inquiry came to the conclusion that a Russian-made missile probably caused the tragic crash.

An article in The Tower also revealed that in January, 2015, Karega shared an antisemitic image of an ISIS terrorist disguised as the Israeli president, Benjamin Netanyahu. The acronym, JSIL, a slur that compares Israel to ISIS, was drawn on Netanyahu’s arm along with a picture of the Star of David.

The text on the graphic implied that the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists were murdered in order to erode French support of the Palestinians. Karaga posted on Facebook: “This ain’t hard. They unleashed Mossad on France and it’s clear why”.

Karega also posted an unflattering photo of banker Jacob Rothschild and accused him of “controlling your news, the media, your oil, and your government”. Besides being a ridiculous comment, this antisemitic remark plays into the age old stereotype of the greedy, evil Jew, who wants to control the world in order to reap all of the advantages, while leaving everyone else to suffer.

On her Facebook page in March 2015, Karega  provided a link to a video of Louis Farrakhan, the controversial Nation of Islam leader. In the video, Farrakhan states:”It is now becoming apparent that there were many Israeli and Zionist Jews in key roles in the 9/11 attack.” In a post accompanying the link, Karega wrote, “Farrakhan is truth-telling in this video”.

Oberlin’s president, Martin Krislov, who is Jewish, ignited a national firestorm when he refused to condemn Karega’s posts. In a statement released to the press, Krislov said: “Oberlin College respects the rights of its faculty, students, staff and alumni to express their personal views.”

In sharp contrast to Krislov’s response, the Oberlin Board of Trustees in March called Karega’s statements “abhorrent” and “antisemitic”. The Board asked the school to “challenge the assertion that there is any justification for these repugnant postings.” 

 In a seeming nod of approval, a member of Stormfront, the white supremacist neo-Nazi website, was pleasantly surprised that the school protected Karega :”I am amazed that she posted the same stuff we do and [that] she wasn’t fired on the spot.”

Melissa Landa, president of the Oberlin chapter of Alums For Campus Fairness (ACF), a national college network that fights antisemitsm, would not disagree. It was their chapter, in fact, that was responsible for bringing Karega’s Facebook posts to the administration’s attention.

Landa issued a statement in April that Jewish students experience a “persistent hostile campus atmosphere”. Reporter Emily Shire of The Daily Beast spoke to a group of Jewish Oberlin students who said that they feel “increasingly threatened’ and were “dismissive of complaints of antisemitism.”

Ultimately, public pressure lead to Karega being put on paid leave in August. She was barred from campus while the school investigated her case. Karega refused to apologize and accused Oberlin of “pandering to the dictates of a handful of vocal and wealthy religious zealots.” On her Facebook page, Karega thanked writer, Kevin Barrett, a contributor to Veterans Today, which the Southern Poverty Law Center believes is “squarely in neo-Nazi terroritory”.

As a result of the controversy generated by the Karega scandal, President Marvin Krislov announced in September that he would be leaving Oberlin effective June 30, 2017.

On November 15, after bitter debate, Professor Joy Karega was fired by the Board of Trustees for “failing to meet the academic standards that Oberlin requires of its faculty” and for “failing to demonstrate intellectual honesty.”

Karega responded to her dismissal by accusing Oberlin of having a “discriminatory and biased approach”. She plans to file a lawsuit against Oberlin, as well as file a complaint with the Equal Opportunity Employment Board.

Two days after Karega’s firing, Benjamin Kuperman, the chairman of Oberlin’s computer science department, called police at 3:40 a.m. when he discovered, after hearing noise, that his front porch had been vandalized. Decorative seashells had been smashed, and placed behind a mezuzah that was on the door frame, was a note made from a piece of ripped white paper, with glued on cut letters, that said “GAS JEWS DIE”

Kuperman told police that he had no conflicts with friends, neighbors, Oberlin students or faculty members. The police, who are investigating, have classified the incident as a hate crime. Whether or not there is a link between the vandalism and Karega’s firing is unknown.

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Neo-Nazi asks for directions to Hillel at Northwestern University, shouts “Sieg Heil” at Jewish lecturer

A Jewish lecturer at Northwestern University, in Evanston, Illinois, has been targeted with antisemitic abuse as he walked near to campus.

The lecturer, who teaches Jewish Studies, was walking at around 5:30pm when a black SUV pulled up to him. A man leaned out of the passenger seat and asked where the Hillel building was. The lecturer pointed to it. The man then asked if he was Jewish. When the lecturer said he was, the man performed a Nazi salute and shouted “Sieg Heil”.

It is extremely worrying that these individuals were trying to locate the Hillel building, and such a request for information being immediately followed by a Nazi salute could easily be construed as an act of intimidation against Jews in the area.

The University has increased patrols around the area for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately CCTV footage is too dark to identify the man or the vehicle, but the police seem to be investigating.

 

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Tennessee students: “may Allah annihilate the Jewish dogs”, “we need a new Hitler”,

The Canary Mission, a group which monitors antisemitic and other extremist activity on American University campuses, has exposed various Muslim students at Universities in Tennessee as having posted virulent antisemitic statements online.

Canary Mission had previously revealed a “cesspool” of antisemitism at Knoxville, University of Tennessee.

In a new investigation, Dana Swaies, who had previously been an organiser for the Muslim Students Association, and who studies at Middle State University Tennessee, was found to have posted a number of antisemitic statements on his Twitter. One tweet in Arabic read “may Allah annihilate the Jewish dogs”. Responding to a rocket attack on Israeli territory he tweeted “Palestine is our land and the Jews are our dog!!! May Allah annihilate you!”.

Dareen Ahmad, another member of the MSA at Middle State called for a “new Hitler” who he hoped would wipe out Israel.

Following the kidnapping of Israeli’s in 2014, Ahmad wrote “May Allah annihilate them…May Allah defeat them. Dogs,” and “May Allah annihilate you [Jews], Allah willing!”.

He also wrote that the “yahood” (Jews) are stopping Palestinians from returning home.

A freshman at Memphis University, Nadeen Elayan, called Jews “pussies” for mourning the murder of three Jewish boys by terrorists.

Mohamed Khalil, a sophomore at Memphis, wrote “fuck the Jews, may Allah annihilate them”.

Nadine Taha also accused “Zionists” of committing Genocide of Palestinians, directly comparing it to Nazi Germany, which is antisemitic according to the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Comments such as these demonstrate two things all-too-clearly. Firstly, they are indicative of a horrible environment for Jewish students on University campuses, who are being asked to co-exist with people literally and openly calling for their extermination, who often can do so with impunity. Secondly, they illustrate the extent to which anti-Israel discourse has crossed over a line into unambiguous and dangerous antisemitism, much of which amounts to incitement. Such a situation is intolerable for Jewish students, and Universities must start address antisemitism on their campuses before social media barrages like these turn into incidents of physical violence.

These are just a small selection of the comments from Muslim students in Tennessee.

 

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Canada: Muslim students and SJP block Holocaust Education Week, intimidate Jewish student attempting to attend vote

Students from the Muslim Student Association and Students for Justice in Palestine have blocked a student motion which would allow for a week of Holocaust education on campus at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada.

According to reports received by Campaign Against Antisemitism and Everyday Antisemitism, a motion which aimed to institute a Holocaust Education Week was blocked by the groups.

Not only did the groups oppose the motion, but they also attempted to prevent others attending, essentially preventing Jewish students from having their voices heard. According to a report from a Muslim student*, who condemned the MSA and SJP, members from the two groups blocked hallways and seemingly intimidated Jewish students attempting to attend the meeting, telling one that she wasn’t welcome.

In the Facebook post from the Muslim student, she decries the antisemitism in the Muslim community, saying “we’re literally a step away from Holocaust denial”. She put up a video shortly after, in which she says explicitly “they intimidated Jewish students”.

This is an incredibly worrying event. The attempt by Students for Justice in Palestine to block Holocaust education is sadly not surprising, but it is disgraceful and blatantly antisemitic nonetheless. For an organisation which claims to merely campaign against Israeli policy to then prevent students from learning about the Holocaust, an event which convinced many of the need for a Jewish state, and which predates the existence of Israel, is clearly antisemitic, and a cynical attempt to delegitimise the state of Israel by ‘going after’ the collective Jewish experience of persecution of the worst kind. The fact that Muslim students, who may themselves be worried about rising Islamophobia, have blocked such a motion is equally dismaying.

Not only is the intimidation of Jewish students on University campuses clearly on the rise, but there is also cause for concern in that a University campus, a space reserved for education and to develop those within it, now finds itself unable to undertake a educational program examining one of the defining events of human history. The Holocaust, the attempt to systematically eradicate the entire Jewish people, as well as homosexuals, the disabled, Socialists, Romani people, and others, based on the pseudo-scientific ideas of racial supremacy, and through the use of modern technology to turn genocide into an exercise in efficiency, was a uniquely evil event in history. The ability to confront events like the Holocaust and to attempt to understand how mankind could be driven to such a horrifying moral depth is at the heart of why education is valuable. These are issues which any educated person must be able to consider, and they are issues which do not simply vanish by virtue of discussion about them having been silenced. Students at this University are now being cheated out of a hugely important learning opportunity by antisemitic campus activism, and unfortunately Jewish students must now be feeling incredibly isolated and vulnerable.

We await to see what action the University will take. As of yet, it seems that no official statement has been released by the University.

 

*the student in question does not attend Ryerson, but we have since corroborated the facts of the story with students who were present.

 

 

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A wave of antisemitic incidents sweeps America following the election.

Donald Trump’s unexpected victory last weak appears to have triggered antisemitic incidents — sending anxiety soaring, as American Jews grapple with the reality of a president-elect who has been the candidate-of-choice for many antisemites over the previous months.

Whilst these incidents are not to suggest that Trump himself is an antisemite, many American Jews are worried about the atmosphere in the country, particularly given that Stephen Bannon, a journalist who has been accused of antisemitism, looks set to land an advisory position within Trump’s administration.

“The white supremacists out there are celebrating his victory and many are feeling their oats,” said Richard Cohen, the president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, in an article in USA TODAY. And, as a result, the swastika, a favorite symbol of hatemongers, has made an ugly post-election appearance on American college campuses.

We recently reported that The New York City police department is investigating swastika graffiti at The New School. The swastikas were drawn on several residence hall doors, including the door of a suite where three Jewish women live. The university’s president, David E. Van Zandt, told Time magazine “that someone would attempt to create fear amongst us is inexcusable”. Campus security has been increased.

The Burlington Free Press reports that a swastika was painted on a Trump campaign poster that was found three doors down from the Hillel Center at the University of Vermont. In an email to the Burlington Press, Deputy Chief, Shawn Burke, wrote that “the incident is of concern given the proximity of the sign to the Hillel”. Matt Vogel, the campus director of Hillel, told Time that “for many Jewish students, no matter how they voted, seeing that symbol of hate is a very powerful thing for them”. Whilst this could be an act of protest, its proximity to Jewish students may suggest otherwise.

A swastika, with the word, “Trump”, defaced a dorm wall at the State University of New York, Geneseo. In addition, a swastika and the words, “Heil Trump”, were found at a bus stop at the University of California at San Diego. Both universities have called in the police to investigate and have condemned the incidents.

But universities have not been the only targets. In Easthampton, Massachusetts, a swastika and the words, “Gas the Jews”, were painted on Mount Tom, which is part of the Mount Holyoke mountain range. The vandalism sparked public outrage. Volunteers painted over the antisemitic graffiti. There has also been “no Jews” graffiti in New York and some people believe that similar incidents have been inspired by Trump’s election in Canada, with an Ottawa Rabbi having her house vandalized with a Swastika and the word “kike”.

An enormous swastika, along with the words, “Make America White Again”, were also discovered on a softball dugout in Wellsville, New York. The antisemitic graffiti was removed by concerned volunteers. Wellsville police are investigating.

And in South Philadelphia, on November 9, the day that Trump was elected, the word, “Trump”, with the a swastika substituting for the “T”, and the words, “Sieg Heil 2016”, were found defacing the storefront of a closed business. Police are investigating. November 9 is also the 78th anniversary of Germany’s Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass, which historians view as the starting point of the Holocaust, and in which hundreds of Jewish businesses were destroyed. This for Nancy Baron-Baer, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, has made “this singular event all the more distressing and horrifying”.

Although Trump has stated that he has no ties to hate groups, synagogues across America have been flooded with members, who are both frightened and worried about their safety, now that Trump is president. Rabbi Daniel Bogard, 33, of Adath Ariel, a Conservative synagogue in Cincinnati, stated in an article in the Jewish Telegraph Agency, that before the election, “I would have told you antisemitism was absent [in America]”.

But now Bogard finds that he is waking up in the middle of the night “in a cold sweat because of the election. I talk to a lot of people who have the 4 a.m. election night fears”, he said.

Suzanne Reisman, 40, a writer living in New York City, who has been the target of antisemitic hate on Twitter, understands that kind of anxiety. She told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that “my grandparents were Holocaust survivors. I hope it won’t come to it”, but since her family has passports, “if we have to flee, we are ready”. Actress Emily Rossum has also been targeted by Trump supporters on Twitter following the election results, being told that her and “her ilk” would be sent to the gas chambers.

Donald Trump himself cannot be held to account for the wave of antisemitic actions which may have been ignited by his victory. However, this ongoing wave of antisemitism after the election is indicative of deep divides within American society, and serves as a reminder that at times of uncertainty, it is often Jews who will bear the brunt of a society’s tensions. It is our hope that Donald Trump will utterly repudiate these actions, and those which are affecting other minority groups in America, and begin working to unite the American people in an inclusive way.

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Facebook says “gas this shriveled up Jewish piece shit” doesn’t violate its Community Standards

Facebook has refused to remove a comment from an Alt Right page which called for George Soros to be gassed.

The comment on a page called Disdain for Plebs, which though right wing, is not itself an antisemitic page, reads:

“Gas this shriveled up Jewish piece of shit. If he really misses Uncle Adolf, he would love getting shoved in an oven, and later made into soap”.

85 people (so far) liked the comment.

When the comment was reported, Facebook said that it did not violate its community standards. The comment was made by a man called “John Holloway”, but we know nothing about the individual minus his name.

Soros, who is Jewish, is a controversial figure in the Jewish community for his support of pro-Palestinian causes. Nonetheless, calling for a Jew to be gassed in blatant reference to the Holocaust is antisemitic.

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Canadian student’s dorm room vandalized with word “Jew” and a Swastika

According to an online report from a Canadian lawyer, somebody carved the word “Jew” and a swastika on the door of a Canadian Jewish student’s dorm room on the night of the American election.
The man said that a daughter’s friend had suffered the incident, and indicated that he would release more information at some point, but presumably cannot do so at the moment for safety concerns or due to a police investigation.
Whilst he believes the incident to have been related directly to the election, this is of course far from self-explanatory. Intimidation of Jewish students on campus is all-too-common and comes just as often from the far-left as it does from the far right
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Jewish, LGBT, non-white students targeted with Swastikas in their dorms, NY.

Dorm Rooms in the Kerrey Hall residential building were vandalized with Swastikas over the weekends.

Kerrey Hall houses students at the New School, NY.

Several students woke over the weekend to find that the doors of their dorm rooms had been vandalized with Swastika graffiti. It appears that the vandals have deliberately targeted Jewish, LGBT and non-white students.

The School’s President circulated the following statement to students by email:

“I have just learned of the defacement of four dormitory doors on our campus with a symbol intended to threaten and express hatred toward some of our students because of their identities.  Our community standards are very strong and hate crimes are unacceptable at The New School.The New School is committed to tolerance, respect, and diversity.  Any form of expression that denigrates members of our community based on their race, ethnicity, religion, sexual or gender identity, or political beliefs is completely abhorrent and antithetical to our core values. We take any such instance seriously, investigate swiftly, and take appropriate action to ensure the security and safety of all our students”

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has also said “Hate speech is reprehensible, and has no place in NYC. To the affected, we stand with you. To the perpetrators, we are better than this“.

Though it appears as if the School has taken the incident seriously, it is unknown whether the police have become involved. This is just one in a string of incidents that have victimised Jewish students, a trend which inevitably has started to target other minority students too. It is indicative of an environment on University campuses, both in the USA and elsewhere, in which Jewish students no longer feel safe.

Whilst some news sources have tried to link the incident to the election of Donald Trump, which in some areas has indeed led to flare ups of antisemitic incidents, there appears to be little evidence to substantiate this claim in this case. Instead, it fits clearly into the trend of campus intimidation against Jewish students, both from the far-left and far-right.

 

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After Trump victory, child tells classmates that now “all the Jews have to leave this country”

The day after Trump was elected President of the United States, a student at Burns Park Elementary school in Ann Harbor, Michigan reportedly said that “Now that Trump is president, all the Jews have to leave this country”.

This is one of a number of reports of alleged antisemitic activity that have occurred as a result of Trump’s victory.

The Principal of the school appears to be taking the issue seriously, and has circulated a short letter to the students and parents which calls for calm in the light of unrealistic claims about Trump’s presidency, as well as restating the school’s commitment to ensuring that nobody is excluded.

We will be reporting on any further information relating to this incident.

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OC Jewish cemetery vandalized with Swastikas, “Heil Hitler”

It has just been discovered that a Jewish cemetery in Orange County was vandalized on the eve of Yom Kippur, last month.

The Beth Shalom Cemetery was found to have been vandalized with several Swastikas and the words “Heil Hitler”, as well as the SS logo.

The cemetery is connected to the Temple Beth Shalom, whose Rabbi Rebecca Shindler commented “These images are painful. They bring up the worst in humanity, and there are members of my congregation that don’t have anybody left. To come to what is supposed to be sacred ground for our congregation, and to be desecrated is unsettling, to say the least.”

Despite the upsetting attack on the community, they are still putting out a positive message. One member of the congregation said “It’s really important that good people in Warwick, who are Christian, Protestant, Catholic, Buddhist, Muslims, and Jews get together to be upset about this stuff, fix this stuff, make sure it happens to no one”, and one younger member of the community said “They can spray paint the walls, but we can build another wall, we can take off the spray paint, and we can still be a whole people. These attacks won’t destroy us”.

 

 

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Female student subjected to antisemitic abuse after turning down advances of non-Jewish man

A female student, who is in the process of converting to Judaism, at the Community College of Philadelphia has submitted a complaint to Drexel University after being subjected to antisemitic abuse by someone thought to be one of their students.

The student’s online dating profile stated that she ideally “would prefer a Jewish partner”.

After she rejected his advances, he expressed his displeasure that she would prefer to have a Jewish partner, saying “not my fault I’m not Jewish”.

Naturally, the exchange should have ended there, but she was shortly after contacted by another profile, which was fake.

She strongly suspects that the same person was behind this new profile, which was made under the username “ImWantJewNeed”.

The profile’s summary included “I’m a nice Jew guy looking for ladies that want to see my draddle” (s.i.c), “living my life as if I was the only Jew alive”, and listed its favourite media as “how to be a Jew 101 and ijewradio” and under the “you should message me if” section wrote “your (s.i.c) looking for a practicing Jew”, a clear reference to the earlier exchange.

She was contacted by the profile, when he made references to money and generally entirely focused on her Jewish identity.

Though she took the unwelcome conversation with good humour, even asking him “how was your Shabbos?”,  harassing a Jewish (or a soon-to-be Jewish) woman online because she doesn’t want to go out with you, and fixating on her Jewish identity, is clearly antisemitic. It is also worrying that this individual is apparently unwilling to accept a woman’s right to say no to his advances.

The student has reported the incident to the boy’s university, who appear to be taking the incident seriously. We will be advising her as the complaint is taken forward.

 

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Academic with ties to antisemitic extremism one of Trump’s prominent academic supporters

Dr. Boyd Cathey, a North Carolina archivist, who is an active member of The Institute Of The Historical Review, the world’s leading Holocaust denial organization, is one of the chief organizers of a “Scholars for Trump” list.

The international definition of antisemitism clearly states that “Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust)” is antisemitic.

The list of more than 50 scholars, some from such prestigious American universities as Yale, Duke, and Emory, was created with the aim of boosting Donald Trump’s intellectual profile. The Daily Caller stated that the academics wanted to challenge the idea that Trump supporters were “limited to the badly educated and the ill-informed’.

A comment from the signed statement revealed that “those who have attached their signatories are accredited scholars, mostly with PHDs, who are endorsing Trump as a credible candidate for the presidency and as the only barrier now standing between us and Heaven [forbid] the election of Hillary Clinton”.

In an article in the Daily Caller, Cathey, along with his associates, Dr. Paul Gottfried and   Dr. Walter Block, explained that “we are fully aware that signing this statement will not bring the signatory the same professional rewards as speaking at a conference on why Trump is a ‘fascist’ or on why he reminds one of the late German Fuhrer”.

An article in the Forward states that Cathey is aware of his dark reputation. Cathey explained that “dealing with Wagner, Judaism, and Germany, whether reasonable or not, would probably get me exiled even deeper into the realms of the prejudiced unwashed”.

The Southern Poverty Law Center lists Cathey as having had a long and troubling relationship with extremists and extremism, with links to not only to Holocaust denial, but also the neo-Confederate Movement (post American Civil War) and ‘radical traditionalist Catholicism’. He has ties to Catholic groups who were excised from the Catholic Church for having rejected attempts to reconcile and normalise relations with Judaism.

Cathey is also a supporter of the controversial retired California State University, Long Beach, psychology professor, Kevin MacDonald. MacDonald, an American who’s a member of the White Nationalist Party, believes that Jews, because of their genetic make-up, have an innate drive to bring down Western society.

A spokesperson for the Trump campaign did not respond to questions from the press about the Cathey’s scholars list.

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Three Jewish Businesses Vandalised in Sullivan County Just Weeks After Cemetery Incident

Three Jewish-owned businesses have been vandalised in Fallsburg, NY, just two weeks after Nazi graffiti was found on the entrance of the Jewish Beth Shalom cemetery in the NY town of Warwick.

Broken and damaged windows thought to be caused by a BB gun or similar weapon were found at all three businesses. The establishments were located in South Fallsburg, Woodbourne and Woodridge.

The Fallsburg police are still unsure as to whether these attacks were intended to take place during the beginning of Sukkot.

Such routine intimidation of the Jewish community is clearly reminiscent of the targeting of Jewish businesses in Germany in the 1930s. The police are still investigating.

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Jewish family’s cars set on fire, “Jews die” graffiti outside their house

A Jewish family have had their cars set on fire and had antisemitic graffiti spray-painted outside their house, in Burien, Washington.

“Jews die” and “14/88” were spray-painted onto their garage door. 14/88 is a reference to the 14 words, a creed used by neo-Nazis, and the number “88” which is a numerical code for “Heil Hitler”.

There was also Swastika graffiti.

The family have no idea who committed this crime, but are concerned for their safety and, unsurprisingly, expect it to be an intentional hate crime.

Police are treating this as an arson investigation. It is unknown whether they are also treating it as a hate crime. These acts are blatant acts of intimidation against an innocent Jewish family and must be treated with the appropriate severity by the Police.

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Jewish Democrat portrayed as the Devil in antisemitic flyer

A picture has emerged of a flyer which portrays Jewish Congressional challenger, Josh Gottheimer, as a devil.

Gottheimer is running as a Democrat for Congress in New Jersey.

The flyers depict Gottheimer with devil horns. Jews having horns, and Jews being devils, are both antisemitic canards which were common in Christian Europe from the Middle Ages onwards.

The flyers also make a series of other allegations, such as Gottheimer wishing to legalise “11th hour partial birth abortions”.

The image of Gottheimer  has a speech bubble saying “But big media owns me”. Accusing Jewish politicians of being in league with “big media” plays on antisemitic stereotypes and should be avoided.

His opponent Rep. Scott Garrett has publicly condemned the flyers, and their origin is unknown.

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Trump supporter: Zionists control “all the money”, are “brainwashing” people

Footage has been released of a Trump supporter spewing antisemitic canards under the guise of criticising “Zionism”.

In an interview he states that he hopes Trump will stop two things: immigration and “Zionism”.

He describes Zionism as the “biggest problem in America today and around the globe”. He describes it as “A few people controlling pretty much everything…all the money, all the business…brainwashing all the people from the education system…it’s controlled by a few people at the top”.

When challenged on what he means by “Zionism” he says “it’s not just a religion, it’s a political ideology”.

He also says that Zionists are “a few people at the top from a particular religious group”.

Though he denies he is talking about Judaism or Jews, his comments employ a vast number of ideas which we would consider antisemitic, many of which come straight from antisemitic conspiracy theories. The International Definition of Antisemitism explicitly states that it is antisemitic to use “the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g. claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterise Israel or Israelis”

 

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Trump supporter shouts “Jew-S-A”, other antisemitic abuse at journalists

The Trump campaign has condemned a supporter who shouted antisemitic abuse at journalists.

The supporter, who was wearing a “Hillary for Prison” t-shirt, shouted “Jew-S-A” at journalists at a Trump rally in Phoenix, Arizona, on Sunday.

He went on to shout “we know who you are. You’re the enemy. You’re going down”.

Such statements clearly echo antisemitic conspiracy theories. The slogan “Jew-S-A” unequivocally shows a belief that Jews control the American government, and targeting journalists similarly betrays such a belief about the media. The words are also, of course, extremely sinister and threatening, and unfortunately demonstrate the sort of antisemitism that the Trump campaign has emboldened. Identifying Jewish people as “the enemy” is a sad representation of the resurgence of right wing antisemitism following the rise of the “Alt Right”.

Hope Hicks, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign, condemned the behaviour, saying “it is not acceptable at our rallies or elsewhere”.

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Two men arrested for antisemitic threats against Jewish father in Connecticut.

Two men have been arrested for subjecting a Jewish father and his family to antisemitic abuse at a Bradley International Airport.

The victim was travelling back to Connecticut on October 27th, accompanied by his family, and was wearing a kippah. Two men allegedly threatened him and directed antisemitic abuse at him.

The State Police attended the scene, saying: “he victim explained that the two suspects shouted ethnic slurs and vulgarity at him and his family while they were waiting to leave the airport. The victim was able to avoid a physical confrontation despite the provocation and gathered photos of the suspects as well as their license plate when they fled the area”

The police were able to arrest the men, who attempted to flee. They are being held and are facing charges.

 

ADL Connecticut Regional Director Steve Ginsburg released a statement saying: “We have seen a recent spike in anti-Semitism around the state and country, and this act apparently fueled by bias is an unfortunate reminder that we have significant work still to do to combat anti-Semitism. When a victim is chosen because of his or religion, the impact resonates beyond just the person targeted- it can leave the entire community feeling vulnerable. This lack of civility, respect and kindness ignore our country’s shared value of religious diversity. We applaud the Connecticut State Police for their swift action and investigation”.

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Alex Jones says “Jewish mafia” responsible for Obamacare, Uber, TPP

American conspiracy theorist and popular Conservative radio host Alex Jones has made a long antisemitic statement in which he alleges that a “Jewish mafia” is ‘behind’ things as diverse Obamacare, TPP, to Uber – the cab hailing app.

He claims that there is a “Jewish mafia in the United States” who “run Uber” and “the health care” and that “they’re going to scam you; they’re going to hurt you”.

It is unknown why he thinks that Uber is a conspiracy.

He also accused George Soro and Madeleine Albright of being Nazi collaborators.

He then complains about being described as antisemitic for his comments about TPP, yet goes on to say “I better do some exposes on the Jewish mafia”. He describes a metaphorical Jewish presence as someone “foaming at the mouth with knives at cabinet meetings, basically threatening the president”.

Claiming that Jews are behind everything from TPP to Uber, and that Jews are a sinister influence on policy is a typical antisemitic canard, which has been lifted straight from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Jones makes reference to a ” a global, corporate, combine”, and frequently speaks about “globalists” elsewhere – rhetoric directed towards “globalists” often crosses over into antisemitism, and many of the ideas seem to have originated with antisemitic conspiracy theories.

The author of the Daily Wire report on Jones’ rant astutely suggests that such conspiracy theories were more commonly the preserve of the American left wing, which have gradually been adopted, and eventually popularised, by the Alt Right and figures such as Jones, with the result being that the far left and far right have ‘met in the middle’ in their anti-‘globalist’ conspiracy theorising. The extent to which such an analysis is correct is not for us to comment on, yet when considered alongside the often-related issue of antisemitism, it is strikingly similar to the ever-increasing willingness of the far left to engage in antisemitism, a prejudice often considered to have been the preserve of the right. Jones’ comments, then, can be taken as the latest indicator of the ever-growing similarity between the far left and far right, particularly when it comes to their propensity to single out Jews.

 

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Chicago-area doctor receives antisemitic hate mail

A Jewish doctor from the Chicago area received an unmarked envelope from Baltimore.  The envelope contained a sheet of paper with the “Happy Merchant” and “Pepe the Frog” antisemitic memes.

The doctor in question is often attacked on Twitter by various antisemites, and returns in kind. However, the fact that the harassment has stepped over from the digital realm and into the doctor’s day-to-day life is extremely worrying, and demonstrates the necessity of taking such online abuse seriously.

The issue was reported to the police, who expressed concern and said they would investigate.  However, they said that, unfortunately, they didn’t think there was much they would be able to do

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Antisemitic “Juden” graffiti targets Jewish students in Virginia

Antisemitic grafitti was found on Sunday near student accommodation in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The word “Juden” was spray painted outside the GrandMarc apartment complex, above a Star of David. “Juden” means Jew in German, and its use alongside the Star of David is overtly reminiscent of the forced labelling of Jews with Star of David badges with the word “Jude” were used. The symbolism was also used to mark Jewish homes and businesses.

The apartment complex houses many Jews who attend the University of Virginia. Several students interviewed expressed how they were worried about being targeted because of their religion for the first time

The Student Council and the Jewish Leadership council said that the graffiti was intended to “intimidate Jewish students and make them feel uncomfortable in their community”. Such public displays of antisemitism take away safe areas for Jews, and turn home neighbourhoods into spaces where one can be subjected to prejudice and intimidation.

The Police are currently investigating. Jewish students who were interview have voiced their approval of the University who, despite the incident having taken place off University property, have been proactive in investigating and in providing services to report incidents such as this.

 

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Jewish brothers attacked on Yom Kippur in New York

Two Jewish brothers wearing yarmulkes and prayer shawls were attacked around 3:45pm on 12th October 2016, report Rocco Parascandola and John Annese in the New York Daily News on 16th October,  2016. The writers note that police sources  state anti-semitic slurs, “fucking Jews”, were aimed at the brothers aged 19 and 23, and police are investigating whether this assault by three white men is a hate crime. The victims were leaving Yom Kippur prayer services in Brooklyn,  New York. Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish year.

Also reporting about the incident on 16th October,  2016, The Times of Israel quoted Evan R. Bernstein, New York regional director of the Anti-Defamation League as having said:

“This appalling act of apparently hate-inspired violence is a sad reminder that despite the unprecedented freedom of religious practice that Jews enjoy today in America, there remains much work to be done  to combat the evils of anti-semitism and bigotry, including right here in New York City.”

“The fact that this occurred  at the most solemn time of year for Jews makes the incident even more disturbing.”

 

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“Gas the Kikes” graffiti and other racist language at Duke University

A local news source has reported that antisemitic and racist graffiti was found on the Duke University campus ahead of an NAACP event.

The graffiti read “Gas the Kikes”. Such a statement is not just merely antisemitic, but could easily be considered an act of incitement. Using the imagery of the Holocaust to target and incite Jews is an unambiguous call for genocide.

Other graffiti included “F*ck N*ggers”.

Alec Greenwald, who works with the Duke chapter of NAACP, told the press “as we were waiting for the other student groups to trickle in, my kids wanted to read some of the messages that were on the tunnel. As we walked through the tunnel, we arrived at 3 derogatory messages targeting various identity groups. After having a conversation with my kids about the messages, I suggested to the student groups that we focus on that portion of the wall to paint over“.

The identity of the perpetrator is currently unknown, but the police are investigating.

A Duke University NAACP Representative commented:

The hate speech covering the graffiti wall was unfortunate, but perhaps more unfortunate was that the existence of the slurs was genuinely unsurprising to many of the students present. Racism and homophobia are not relics of an ancient and forgotten America—or Duke, for that matter—that has since been cleansed of imperfection with time. They are instead inevitable in the experience of many of the students on this campus. Extreme examples such as this only serve to remind us of the work that remains to be done in ensuring that members of our community feel safe during their earned pursuit of academic excellence.”

 

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Parkland Synagogue vandalized with “free Palestine”, expletives over Holidays

A Synagogue in Parkland, South Florida, has been vandalized over Rosh Hashana.

The vandals wrote “free Palestine” on the Synagogue’s sign, as well as some expletives which reporters say were too obscene to broadcast on television.

According to the definition of antisemitism, it is antisemitic to hold Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the state of Israel. Even if this were not the case, vandalising a place of worship for political reasons, as that community marks the holiest period of the area, is a cynical attack on Jewish collectivity.

“This is highly disturbing, being that it is Rosh Hashana, to know that there are people out there trying to intimidate the Jewish community” Rabbi Shuey Biston told a local news channel.

Rabbi Mendy Gudnick said “this is the holiest time of the year. This is the Jewish New Year and so people are thinking about going to synagogue who don’t usually come to pray, and it gives them a little pause.”

It is currently believed that the incident was linked to anti-police activity in the area, as the number 12 was also painted, a number which has been associated with such anti-police activity. This is possibly because of the fact that the Synagogue held an event in support for the police.

The Mayor Michael Udine said “we were shocked and sickened by this because the Chabad, they are our neighbors and our friends”.

Rabbi Biston also commented “My message to the Jewish community is that, whenever we are faced with these acts of terror and violence and intimidation, we should all respond with acts of goodness and kindness and light”.

 

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Trump supporters send death threats to Jewish journalists

Although Republican presidential candidate, Donald Trump, has publicly stated that he has no ties to antisemitic hate groups, that has not stopped Trump’s antisemitic               supporters – neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and the alt-right – from making death threats against the press.

Jewish journalists have discovered that for some Trump supporters, demonstrating loyalty to their “Glorious Leader”, the extreme right’s nickname for Trump, has threatened their sense of personal safety.

Jewish Russian-born journalist, Julia Ioffe, infuriated Trump supporters when she wrote an article for the magazine, GQ, that was critical of Trump’s wife, Melania. As a result, Ioffe, filed a report with the Washington D.C. police over  threats “to kidnap or injure a person”.

Flooded with death threats and prank calls, Ioffe, even received a prank call that played a recording of Hitler’s speeches. Another caller said “her face would look good on a lampshade”. Ironically, Ioffe’s family fled Russia because of antisemitism.

Reporter Bethany Mandel, a convert to Judaism, who has an active presence on Twitter, wrote in an article for the Jewish newspaper, the Forward, that after making anti-Trump tweets, she was a victim of “terrifying and profound antisemitism”. But it was receiving actual death threats in her private Facebook mailbox that motivated Mandel, a resident of New Jersey, to file a report with the New Jersey police.

Ultimately, Mandel, who was called a “slimy Jewess” and told that she “deserved the oven”, felt so threatened that she even applied for a gun permit.

Former Breitbart writer, Ben Shapiro, who is an Orthodox Jew, also felt the need to purchase a weapon after being hit “with a number of death threats”. Shapiro told writer Bethany Mandel that “there are an outsized set of Trump supporters who will threaten your safety”. The fact that Jews feel so threatened by supporters of the Trump campaign that they feel like they must own weapons for their own safety indicates just how dire the situation is becoming, with rising far-right activity clearly denting citizen’s faith that the police can protect them.

Shapiro, who is the recipient of hate tweets from David Duke, the former Grand Wizard of the Klu Klux Klan, left the conservative website, Breitbart, because he was unable to support their pro-Trump editorial stance.

And yet, according to Jewish writer, Bradley Burston, a reporter for the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, it’s just not Trump’s supporters who are dangerous. Trump harms democracy because he “enables and tolerates and excuses and pumps it [antisemitism]”.

Andrew Anglin, the editor of the alt-right (alternative right) white nationalism website, The Daily Stormer, told the Los Angeles Times that “virtually every alt-Nazi I know is volunteering for the Trump campaign”.

Peter Montgomery, who tracks far right groups at People For The American Way, an advocacy group, believes that the extreme right’s involvement in politics will have “damaging, long-term consequences” for America. This fact would not surprise Burston, who criticized Trump for giving “a podium to bigots, an arena stage to hatred”.

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Trump supporters blame Jews for perceived debate failure

‘Alt-right’ supporters of Donald Trump have blamed Jews for his perceived lacklustre performance in the Presidential Debate yesterday.

Alt-right supporters of the candidate held a live YouTube stream of the debate, which unsurprisingly featured many antisemitic comments.

Comments included “CUT ALL TAXES…JEWS ALREADY CAN PRINT ALL THE MONEY THEY WANT” and “ALL THESE DEBATES ARE RIGGED…fucking judu”.

One suggested that the moderator of the debate had been somehow controlled by Jewish influence, writing “Anderson cooper eats jew dick”. Trump stated at several times that he believed the debate moderation to be unfair.

Another wrote “Greatest Kike Pussy Grabber of All Time”

The live stream was organised by the publisher of the Daily Stormer, an overtly racist and nationalist publication. Followers of the website often refer to Trump as their “glorious leader”, often complaining that there is a Jewish conspiracy to undermine him. He has previously written of a “Jewish problem” and admitted that white nationalism is central to the alt right movement.

 

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Posters at U.C. Berkeley accuse “Jewish bullies” of controlling speech

A controversial suspended course at the University of California, Berkeley that emphasized the “decolonization” of Israel, and focused on exploring strategies that could potentially harm Israel’s right to exist, has been reinstated.

Antisemitic posters were posted on the campus as a reaction to the Jewish community’s condemnation of the course, “Palestine: A Settler Colonial Analysis”.  In an open letter to Chancellor Dirks, 43 Jewish educational and Jewish civil rights organizations protested the course’s content. A Jewish watchdog, The Amcha Initiative–“amcha” is the Hebrew word for “your community”– charged that the course promoted “a classic example of anti-semitic anti-Zionism”.

The antisemitic posters that appeared on the campus charged that the Jewish organizations had censored free speech. One poster said, “Jewish bullies smash free speech at CAL and are pledged $38 billion dollars. Attention Non-Jews: PAY UP and SHUT UP!” The $38 billion dollars refers to American military aid to Israel.

Criticism of Israel is not automatically antisemitism, but a poster that demonizes Jews for pointing out when such criticism becomes disproportionate and non-constructive, is without question antisemitic. Similarly, the idea that Gentiles must “pay up” by honoring Jewish bribes, not only promotes age-old antisemitic Jewish conspiracy theories, but also inflames antisemitism by promoting the idea that Jews are on a quest to rule over non-Jews.

Another poster called out the 43 Jewish organizations for censoring coursework. In addition, the poster wrongfully accused Israeli government officials of being “advocates for a foreign state” who want to take control of UC Berkeley. The poster asked, “Should we allow these outside groups and [Israel] to “control our freedom of speech and academic expression?”

It is both unreasonable and antisemitic to think that the state of Israel and American Jewish organizations have the power to not only censor, but also control public universities, a sentiment which is underlined by the belief of overarching Jewish control of world affairs.

The UC Berkeley administration removed the posters declaring that they “violated our Principles of Community, as well as the Regents’ Principles Against Intolerance”.

However, the course itself was reinstated after Paul Hadweh, the course facilitator, verified that he had made changes to the syllabus. In an interview with the anti-Israel website, The Electronic Intifada, Hadweh admitted that the changes were simply “cosmetic”.

Aviva Slomich, the international campus director of CAMERA on CAMPUS (The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America)  believes that UC Berkeley is offering a class “that is so explicit in undermining the Jews historical ties to the land of Israel and Israel’s right to exist”, [that] the school is perpetuating an antisemitic atmosphere on campus”. This is a clear example of rhetoric that is unhelpful and not even-handed in the way it approaches issues, combined with the whitewashing of alternative opinions, eventually leads to openly antisemitic discourse.

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New York girl forced out of high school by antisemitic abuse

A Father in New York has described how his daughter was forced out of her school by antisemitic abuse, stemming from political disagreements.

Marco Greenberg says that his daughter faced abuse after saying that “Religion in the extreme can cause violence and war. Just look at radical Islam”.

One student allegedly replied to this statement by saying “I’m going to rearrange your face”.

However, many comments focused on the girl’s Jewish identity, with her receiving comments like You white privileged Jewish bitch”, “Zionism is racism”, and “we’re not your Arab slaves”.

Greenberg said that the school failed to take his daughter’s complaints seriously, claiming that the principal simply “admonished our daughter for being ‘very opinionated’ and refused to take any concrete action…meaning free ad hominem attacks or threats of physical assault”.

The situation escalated even when the girl tried to contextualise her remarks by pointing out that radical Islam targets peaceful Muslims more than non-Muslims. Eventually, she was forced to move school following the harassment.

 

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NY: Man tells Jewish museum staff “The Nazis didn’t kill enough of you”

The NYPD is currently investigating a call that was made to the Jewish Museum in Manhattan.

The museum, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, is the oldest museum of its kind.

On Tuesday night, a man called the museum and repeatedly said “The Nazis didn’t kill enough of you”.

The call was reported to the police, and the hate crime unit is currently investigating. They believe an individual from New Jersey is behind the call and are pursuing the case.

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50 Jewish students threatened in Antisemitic Instagram post

A 17-year-old male student in Sunnyvale, California, has been arrested after he was alleged to have sent antisemitic threats to Jewish students.

The student, who has not been identified because of his age, allegedly made the threats to at least two Jewish students at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale and Homestead High School in Cupertino, but it is thought he may have targeted up to 50.

The mother of one of the students took a screenshot of the threat, which was made from an account called “Jewslaughter”.

The message reads “Jews disgust me, I’ll fucking kill you. I got connections to the aryan brotherhood gang. You and the rest of your people are dead”.

The message also features a swastika.

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Neo-Nazi truck spotted on public roads in Oregon

Everyday Antisemitism has been alerted to a Facebook post, which has since been taken down, which contained pictures of a truck with antisemitic and Nazi imagery painted on it.

The black pick-up truck was spotted on a public road in Eugene, Oregon, and had “Jew Lies Matter” painted on the back, a reference to the Black Lives Matter movement.

The truck also had part of a swastika painted on it and the words “truth dispels darkness”.

It is unknown whether the truck is connected to other far-right activity in the area, but the police have been alerted.

 

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Neo-Nazi threatens Jewish and Muslim students at Spartanburg High Schools

DUNCAN, SC (WSPA) – The Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office has been investigating threats made against both Jewish and Muslim students at Byrnes High School.

Some of the threats included photos of the suspect wearing a gas mask, with a Nazi Iron Cross, and holding a swastika knife. They were made over Facebook.

The student who received the threats immediately reported them to the police. He had been communicating with the suspect on Facebook for some time before the latter’s posts suddenly became threatening.

Deputies say they are working to identify the person behind the threats, and Spartanburg County District Five says law enforcement will be patrolling the school throughout the weekend, performing random sweeps of the campus before students return.

The Superintendent of Spartanburg District 5 released a statement aiming to reassure parents and the wider community. He said they were taking these threats extremely seriously and doing everything possible to secure the campuses for the safety of the students and staff.

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Philadelphia Cop exposed as Neo-Nazi

Photos have recently emerged of Philadelphia police officer Ian Hans Lichtermann with visible Nazi tattoos on show.

The tattoos were photographed as he worked at a ‘Black Resistance March’ during the Democratic National Convention in July.

Lichtermann’s tattoos include a Nazi eagle and a tattoo of the German word for ‘Fatherland’, as well as “For God and Country”, the motto of the American Legion, a Fascist organisation. It was also reported that he had a tattoo of an Iron Cross.

The Police Department will investigate the tattoos, saying that it “does not condone anything that can be interpreted as offensive, hateful or discriminatory in any form”, yet the head of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 has said the tattoos are “not a big deal”, claiming “I see people with panthers on their arm. Doesn’t mean they are Black Panthers. People with crosses on arms doesn’t mean they dislike any other religion”.

A local antifascist organisation also revealed that he had been exposed as being a member of “Blood & Honour”, a fascist online network started by English neo-Nazi Ian Stewart.

More information can be found here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Swastikas in playground in N.J. Jewish community

Nine swastikas were found painted in a playground in Howell Park, New Jersey.

The playground is frequently visited by members of the Jewish community.

Police found the Swastikas at Echo Lake Park on Monday.

The park is just immediately north of the border with Lakewood, which is home to a very large Orthodox community and Yeshiva.

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Facebook allows “kill all Jews” post on wall of Canadian Professor

Facebook has ruled that an image calling explicitly for the genocide of all Jews is acceptable according to its community standard.

An image featuring a white man placing a Charedi Jew in a chokehold, accompanied by an antisemitic tract which incites genocide, was deemed acceptable when it was reported by B’nai Brith Canada.

B’nai Brith Canada reported the image, which was ruled acceptable within two hours, when it was alerted to it having been posted on the Facebook page of Canadian Academic Professor Anthony Hall, who is a Holocaust denier.

The text on the image reads:

“There never was a ‘Holocaust’, but there should have been and, rest assured, there WILL be, as you serpentine kikes richly deserve one. I will not rest until every single filthy, parasitic kike is rounded up and slaughtered like the vermin that they are. The white man has had more than enough of the international Jewry and we are more than prepared to smite the parasite for the millionth time. The greedy, hook-nosed kikes knows that their days are numbered and, unlike in the past, they have nowhere to run. This time there will be no kikes alive  to spread around the planet like cockroaches. We will get them ALL into the oven and their putrid memory will finally be erased from the planet once and for all. Like all parasite, the Jew will continue to reproduce until every single last one has been wiped out. This is why it is crucial that all kikes are ruthlessly and mercilessly butchered for the good of us all. KILL ALL JEWS NOW! EVERY LAST ONE!”

After B’nai Brith Canada’s coverage, the image appears to have been taken down, but it is unclear whether Facebook have changed their minds or whether the author of the post wanted to avoid a public backlash and removed it himself.

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Antisemitic Christian writer hopes Trump will exterminate the Jews

Texe Marrs is a Christian fundamentalist and conspiracy theorist who has rallied behind Donald Trump.

In the past he has authored books with titles such as “Holy Serpent of the Jews: The Rabbis’ Secret Plan for Satan to Crush Their Enemies and Vault the Jews to Global Dominion” and “Conspiracies of the Six Pointed Star”.

On a podcast with another far-right extremist, Mike Rense, Marrs declared that Donald Trump could be an “instrument of God” to destroy the Jews. He had suggested that Stalin had been planning to exterminate the Jews of the Soviet Union, but was assassinated before he could, and that Hitler is unfairly criticised. Whilst he goes on to talk about “Israel” being destroyed, his past writings in which he frequently speaks of “Jewish” conspiracies, which he references in the last paragraph quoted here, as well as the context in which he defends the murder of Jews, demonstrate that Marrs is not talking about political opposition to Israel. He goes on to say:
Israel is going to be destroyed and it is going to happen so fast we’ll all be shocked about it. It’s going to happen and I’ve been wondering if maybe, let me just say something here, could Trump be the instrument of God in this? He doesn’t have to be a Hitler, he doesn’t have to be a Stalin, he can simply be a good guy.”

“He’s going to have to move very fast against these people”

“[Trump] may be so smart though, and intelligent that he outwits them…he’s their friend, he’s their pal, he’s their buddy and then it’s suddenly, wow. He takes the woman, the whore, so to speak, Mystery Babylon the Great and suddenly he destroys her, in one single hour she will be destroyed

“I pray they get what’s coming to them”

“These people who have done such horrible things over the years and who, right now, are plotting such horrible deeds against gentiles and others, I hope they get what they deserve. I hope they do and I hope maybe Trump could be the instrument of it.”

In his other work, he has accused George Bush of attending a Black Mass in the Great Pyramid of Giza and claimed that the Clintons are “deep into Egyptian occultism and Masonic magic”.

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Community responds to Swastika graffiti with beautiful artwork

Esther Cohen-Eskin woke up early on the morning of August 19th in her home in Havertown, Pennsylvania, to find Swastika graffiti on her bins.

Cohen-Eskin, who is Jewish, posted an image of the graffiti on Facebook, and appealed for information, though it is not known whether the police have been contacted.

She also appealed for the community to put up security cameras, and was notably extremely upset by the incident and its potential implications for her and her family.

However, a friend suggested to Cohen-Eskin, who is an artist, that she make the most of the situation and cover the image up with some artwork. Many in her community have responded by adding artwork to their bins too, some of which now have messages of tolerance and co-existence.

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Rabbi in Oregon turns antisemitic graffiti into a message of love

Rabbi Brian Zachary Mayer turned anti-semitic graffiti outside his home in Portland, Oregon on 14 August 2016 into a message of love and hours later posted his experience on Facebook, reports Lizzy Acker in the Oregon Live website on 16th August 2016.

The graffiti reads “Jews aren’t welcome” and “we hate Jews and n*ggers”, and also features several swastikas.

In a link from the Oregon article to Rabbi Mayer’s Facebook account he described the abuse as a random hate event; he expressed feeling shaken and together with his supportive neighbours tried to figure out who might of done this and why in a residential  area that is ethnically diverse. On the driveway outside his home Rabbi Mayer and his family including his children wipe away the chalked abuse and a Nazi swastikas, then replaced them with chalk hearts and messages of love, such as “Love always wins”. He wrote that the random acts of love in his neighbourhood and on social media helped him : “There is something about the randomness of a hateful occurrence that  required the randomness of a stranger’s love.” The full article and link to Rabbi Mayer’s Facebook comments can be found here.

 

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Anti-Trump organiser contacts the FBI over antisemitic abuse

According to a report by Politico dated 15th August 2016, Andrew Weinstein, an organiser of an anti-Trump petition to the Republican National Committee, has contacted the FBI over  an alleged “torrent of antisemitic abuse” online.

For example, one commenter wrote “It’s time to put the SMACK DOWN on these filthy Jew rats!”

One far right runs a story on Weinstein calling him a “Filthy Anti-Trump K*ke”

Weinstein had organised a petition signed by 75 prominent Republicans which called on Reince Priebus to cut off support of Trump’s Presidential race from the RNC.

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Students for Justice in Palestine compiling lists of Jewish students and their addresses

The Pro-Palestinian student organisation Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) has been accused of compiling lists of Jewish students at New York University, among others, according to a report by Israel Radio.

A report about Students for Justice in Palestine’s activities were presented to the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee on Tuesday, at a meeting aimed at addressing the effects of BDS movements on US campuses, Knesset member Anat Berko (Likud) told the radio station.

The committee heard evidence that the pro-Palestinian group were collecting the personal information of Jewish students at several US Universities, including New York University. If the report is true, then it represents the systematic singling-out of Jewish students for no other reason than the fact that they are Jewish, and given that addresses are being collected the list borders on intimidation.

There is evidence to suggest that Jewish students are currently the most persecuted minority on American campuses.

In 2014, SJP posted mock eviction notices through the doors of Jewish students.

The Zionist Organisation of America considers Students for Justice in Palestine a “hate group”.

Whilst SJP’s central organisation denies knowledge of the alleged list, they acknowledged that each branch has its own practices and policies. The NYU branch has not been available for comment.

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NY City Council candidate references “Greedy Jewish Landlords” in email

Thomas Lopez-Pierre, a candidate for New York’s city council has been criticised after making an antisemitic comment in an email.

He sent out a fundraising email saying that he would “SAVE HARLEM from Greedy Jewish Landlords”.

He claimed that these landlords were trying to “push Black and Hispanic tenants out of Harlem”.

Various figures on the City Council penned Lopez-Pierre an open letter demanding an apology.

He has previously described Mark Levine as a “white Jewish candidate” who wants to “sneak into office like a thief in the night” and also used the n-word.

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Palestinian activist says that Jews have “at best, animal rights”

Lina Allan, a pro-Palestinian activist based in Michigan, has allegedly uploaded an antisemitic video which defends stabbing “Jews”.

Despite the fact that she claims to be speaking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Allan never talks about “Israelis”, and instead directly talks about stabbing “Jews”.

She decries those who criticise the stabbing of Jews as trying to be “muftis” and tells them to “go back to watching Turkish Soap operas”.

Finally, she claims that even if it was “haram” to stab Jews, they still wouldn’t have human rights, but would have “at best, animal rights”.

The video was removed from Youtube, but was recovered by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

Shockingly, it has been reported that Allan has represented the U.S. State Department at an official event in Jordan in 2012.

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California man allegedly threatened to “desecrate” Synagogues, wanted Jews “cleansed” from the planet

A man was arrested on Thursday morning, in close proximity to one of the sites for the Jewish Maccabi Games and a Synagogue, for allegedly making several threats in a video he made and posted online.

Yoon Chul Shin posted the video on dailymotion last month, which allegedly threatened to “desecrate” Synagogues and also made threats that amounted to genocide, stating “Now I’m on a f**king mission all of you Jewish c***s will be cleansed from this f**king planet”.

Shin was pulled over near Temple Beth El and police initially suspected that he had explosive materials in his car, though an extensive search was not able to reveal them. The Temple was evacuated for the duration of the search.

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Small business targeted with a year of antisemitic abuse

Pierce Brothers Coffee Roasters in Vancouver, British Colombia, has been repeatedly targeted with antisemitic abuse by a local resident.

The resident allegedly objects to the odour produced by the plant, despite having been promised that further investment would shortly remove any smell from the plant.

The man hurled frequent antisemitic abuse, including references to the Holocaust, at the owners of the plant. The abuse has been continuing since last summer and has continued to the point that the owners of the business and their employees now feel threatened by the behaviour.

When local figures condemned the man’s antisemitic actions, they were subsequently bombard with antisemitic abuse on Twitter themselves.

It is unknown whether the police are currently involved.

 

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Explosions outside homes of New York Rabbis

The Police are investigating after there were explosions outside the homes of two prominent New York Rabbis.

The explosions took place in Rockland County.

A woman heard one of the explosions outside her house. Going out to investigate, she saw four men running from the scene, one of whom hurled a firework at her house.

As the police were investigating, it came to light that another explosion had occurred nearly.

The first explosion occurred outside the house of Rabbi Avremel Kotlarsky, the Director of Chabad. The second occured outside the house of Rabbi Simcha Morganstern, a Rabbi at Chabad of Rockland.

The Anti-Defamation League produced the following press release:

“We are outraged by this shocking incident in what appears to be the alleged targeting of two prominent rabbis, and we join with local leadership, including the Jewish Federation of Rockland County, in strongly condemning this brazen act of violence”.

“We are maintaining close contact with local law enforcement and are urging them to vigorously investigate and prosecute those responsible for this alleged anti-Semitic attack.”

“While we are relieved that nobody was injured, such a troubling incident like this can effectively intimidate the broader Jewish community, leaving them feeling vulnerable and at risk. People of any religion, race or ethnicity must feel safe in their own neighborhoods. We are pleased to see statements by local elected officials denouncing the incident and we encourage the community to come together to fight anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry.”

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Antisemitic conspiracy theory leaflets in Toronto

A man in Toronto has been distributing leaflets promoting the idea of a Jewish conspiracy controlling world affairs.

The man, estimated to be in his 60s, distributed a six-page booklet titled “Manufactured Terrorism. Stop US, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar from Supporting ISIS terrorists”.

The leaflet made reference to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an antisemitic hoa whcih purports to be the minutes of a meeting in which a group of Jews plotted to establish control over all world affairs and subjugation of gentiles. The text is universally acknowledged to be an antisemitic hoax in respectable circles.

Whilst the man’s leaflet is not direct in its implication that Jews are the group involved in this conspiracy, the references to the Protocols clearly demonstrate the identity of the group allegedly in control, as does the prominent place taken by the Israeli flag in the image.

The text of the leaflet is as follows:

HOW FALSE FLAGS INCREASINGLY BEING USED – BID TIME – ONCE MORE TO SCARE PUBLIC INTO UNQUESTIONING SUBMISSION:

MANUFACTURED TERRORISM is known as, “false flag operation(s).” Most obvious was Sept. 11, 2001.

Usually “false flag attacks” will happen on same day of “terror attack DRILL,” A) as 9/11/2001, (Nov.) Paris shooting, others. Or, a few days, even months prior like,” B) Brussels, Belgium 4 months prior “state of emergency”: DRILL. Soldiers in streets and malls. In Paris 3 months of MARTIAL law, breaking into homes and killing residents.

Usually false flag attacks will have, A) Crisis ACTORS, such as the one on front cover of this pamphlet; often many actors.

From 9/11 to Brussels false flags, co-op media make sure Arabic words, like, “Allah is great!” or some non-Rothschild bank in Arab country like Syria is yelled; and passport just “flew-out” of the terrorist pocket. What “terrorist on suicide mission brings his I.D.s??

Why would Western nations want to precipitate false flags, which would induce WW3? Is THAT the motive?

There is a greater muzzled motive. Not just N. Am. but global monetary system is ready to go over the cliff; designed NEVER to recuperate. So Western banksters need a scapegoat to put all the blame on to try to associate King Assad {Syria), or/and Putin with “Islamic state ‘atrocities’.”

Though co-op media purposely focus its cameras on ISIS/”Islamic state” as the wild Pit-Bull-dog, its viewers do not see the leach in the financier’s HAND.

Founder of Illuminati Dr. Adam Veishaupt (1,776) stated about their design PROTOCOLS plan bringing into being the New World Order: “It is indispensable to TROUBLE all countries the people’s relations with their governments so as to UTTERLY EXHAUST humanity with DISSENSION, HATRED, STRUGGLE, envy and even by the use of torture, by …the effects of an ECONOMIC [global] CRISIS, which will stop dealings on the [stock] exchanges and bring INDUSTRY to a STANDSTILL” (Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion (1,773), ([reprinted] Protocols of Zion, p.178, p.156)…

CONCLUSION: What is upon the whole world is the greatest evil blueprint, “Protocols” orchestrating collapse of global nations’ economy, and all social resistance to EXUSTION unto FORCE SU BM I SS I ON, nations begging for their enslavement to “new-world order.” Weisaupt said, “We will not give them peace until they openly acknowledge OUR INTERNATIONAL SUPER —GOVERNMENT, and with SUBMISSIVENESS,” (p.170)…”

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KKK leaflets in New York claim “Jews control the money in America”

The Anti-Defamation League said that it was “troubled” by the circulation of KKK leaflets in New York.

The white supremacist Ku Klux Klan have been circulating the leaflets, which claim that “Jews control the money in America”, and telling “white America” to wake up, in update New York, Long Island and the Hamptons.

Another leaflet says “Zionist Jews own and run the Federal Reserve Bank”.

They featured a  horrific call to action:  “Join us to stop Zionist control over your government”

The leaflets also attacked Black Americans and the LGBTQ community, which it described as “abominations”.

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Snowflakes into avalanches: antisemitic “Jew” rat graffiti in Washington

It would seem that even an artistic take, on a road safety endeavour, is not immune from antisemitism.

In the Chinatown district of Washington DC, an art installation, based on the Chinese zodiac, was created to bring fun, interest and enhanced safety to the diagonal “Barnes Dance” pedestrian crossing.

On the zebra-crossing element of the scheme, the rat zodiac images were graffitied with the word “Jew” on the main body. The authorities were alerted and the graffiti removed, only to reappear up to three times in one week.

Why is it important to highlight these incidences? On it’s own, incidences like this are annoying thorns; a cheap casual reminder that antisemitic canards and invectives lie just beneath the surface and in this case literally beneath one’s feet. Often, people can brush them off but, it is the accumulation of these incidences which means that many people cannot carry out the most mundane of tasks, (like crossing the road), without feeling targeted. It can eat at you, very slowly eroding one’s sense of safety and belonging.

It is important that the ‘casual’ and ‘throwaway’ invectives do not become acceptable and normalised.

Another aspect of these types of incidences is where it can lead. Many peoples have been earmarked for dehumanisation; it is tragically standard fair for many human histories. For the Jewish experience, it spans generations: pigs, apes, vermin, cancer, octopi, frogs, snakes, worms, lice, spiders ad infinitum from ancient and recent history and current history . If you dehumanise and label ‘subhuman’ a group of people, it makes the next step of eradication more palatable and “accepted”.

The use of dehumanisation is the third of eight stages of Genocide, as first mooted by Raphael Lemkin in 1944 and later expanded by Dr. George Stanton in 1996.

Some commentators may describe this type of incident as petty, free-speech, freedom of expression. If this is accepted by default, then there is also the right to challenge; there is the right to say that people have a right to access to a ‘normal’ daily life without having to tolerate the drip-drip of degradation.

These incidences maybe just snowflakes, but we know that the true weight of a snowflake lies in its accumulation into an avalanche.

 

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NYPD investigate multiple antisemitic incidents: rock thrown at Jewish man’s car, “huge” swastika graffiti

The NYPD are investigating a hate crime after a youth threw a rock through a Jewish man’s car window as it was in motion.

The incident took place on the afternoon of June 26. The youth throwing the rock also shouted antisemitic abuse and fled.

The police are seeking a black youth, around 14-years-old, around 130 pounds and 5 foot 6 feet tall.

The NYPD are also investigating two other incidents. The first of these is a verbal assault on a 33-year-old Jewish man who was subjected to antisemitic abuse by a black man. This incident took place as he departed the Utica Avenue subway station in near Crown Heights. The second is a series of “huge” swastikas spray painted on the 181st Street station in Washington Heights.

Anyone with any information about these incidents should call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).

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Canada: Government-funded event will promote antisemitic ideas

B’nai Brith has revealed that the World Social Forum (WSF), a state-backed event due to take place in Montreal, will be promoting antisemitic ideas.

The event takes up various causes, such as “workers against Neoliberalism”, “facing the Capitalist crisis” and “decolonization”. According to B’nai Brith, one talk is titled “Terrorizm, Wahabbism, Zionism” (sic.) and featured a picture of a Wahabbist terrorist emerging from from the mouth of “Uncle Sam”, with Uncle Sam emerging from the mouth of a caricature of a Charedi Jewish man. The use of such an image, which implies that Jews are responsible both for American policy and Wahabbism, is clearly antisemitic, but appears to have been removed since B’nai Brith drew attention to it. The title also seems to suggest a connection between “Zionism” and terrorism, a common trope in antisemitic conspiracy theories.

One of the speakers at the event Diana Ralph, is a conspiracy theorist who, among other things, accused Israel of being behind the 9/11 attacks.

The event also features Sabine Freisinger, former President of Concordia Student Union, who was apparently involved in a riot that forced Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel a speech and in which a Rabbi and his wife were assaulted and a Holocaust survivor was kicked in the groin. Freisinger’s activities have since included targeting a local shoe shop for selling a small number of Israeli shoes.

B’nai Brith notes also that the conference features a dozen workshops devoted to a total boycott of Israel, a policy which the Canadian Parliament has committed to resisting.

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Candidate for Washington Governor denies Holocaust, believes a “Jewish mafia” controls business, politics and the media

David Blomstrom, a fringe candidate in the race for Governor in Washington, runs an antisemitic website which accuses Jews of operating a “Jewish mafia”.

On Blomstrom’s website, titled “Jewarchy”, he writes about a “Jewish mafia” which operates across politics, banking and the media, and who “prefer to keep it that way” by not sharing any power with non-Jews – all this in an article titled “Logic vs JewSpeak”. In another article he states that “some of the most sinister Jew rumours are indeed true”, going on to say that both World Wars were part of a plot by the “international Jewry” to create the State of Israel.

The website’s logo features a crossed-out Star of David.

He has demonstrated a willingness to blame anything and everything on Jews, stating that “Jews have played an enormous role in screwing Latin America” and asking “Did you know Christopher Columbus was probably a Jew?”

He also penned an article on a website dedicated to the defamation of Elie Wiesel, where he wrote of “Elie Wiesel’s connections to Bernie Madoff”, implying that the two were in league with one another, despite the fact that Madoff stole millions from the Elie Wiesel Foundation. He also describes Elie Wiesel as “perhaps the most popular poster boy for the Holohoax camp”. Elsewhere he states his annoyance at “Obama giving millions to wealthy alleged Holocaust survivors” (my italics).

 

 

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Antisemitic Drinking Game Played in Princeton

A group of students at a Princeton High School have reportedly played ‘Jews vs Nazis’ beer pong

A local news source reported that the underage students played the game, a variant of the popular drinking game, in a basement, photos of which later drew attention online. However, this appears not to be an isolated incident, but rather a general trend, as various websites seem to host rules for the ‘game’. At least one of the sites hosting rules for the game also describes Holocaust education as ‘ideological’ with ‘commercial aspects’ and openly espouses various forms of Holocaust denial. Disturbingly, the rules incorporate an ‘Anne Frank cup’ which is hidden by the ‘Jews’ team, and a rule that allows the ‘Nazis’ team to send one of the opposing players ‘to Auschwitz’. Whilst any antisemitic intentions of the students involved are yet to be established, making light of the systematic slaughter of 6 million Jews in such a way must be taken seriously regardless of the motives.
The Schools Superintendent for the area has confirmed that the incident is being investigated and has also been in touch with a local Rabbi with a view to improving Holocaust education in the area.

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Fans Of Catholic Basketball Team Shout ‘You Killed Jesus’

On March 11th a high school basketball division title game between the all-boys Catholic Memorial School and the public Newton North High School became marred by antisemitic abuse

The Washington Post reported that the incident took place in Boston, where an estimated 100 young men sitting in the student section supporting Catholic Memorial jeered, “You killed Jesus, you killed Jesus”. Newton North High School has a large Jewish community of students. One spectator, whose parents are survivors of World War II concentration camps said, “I can’t believe it,” “I just can’t believe it.”

Peter F. Folan, president of Catholic Memorial, released a statement the next day:

“Catholic Memorial School is deeply disturbed by the behavior of a group of student spectators who made an unacceptable chant Friday night while playing Newton North High School.

CM faculty and staff acted immediately to stop the behavior. Administrators from both schools and representatives from the MIAA discussed the incident. At the conclusion of the game, CM students were reprimanded and each student personally apologized to the Principal of Newton North High School and shook his hand before leaving the arena.

We have been the subject of hurtful chants as well and we will work diligently within our own community and with other schools to end this abhorrent behavior. Catholic Memorial School believes deeply that intolerance, of any kind, is unacceptable. We apologize for the actions of our students and we will continue to strenuously address this issue within our community.”

Robert Trestan, the Anti-Defamation League’s New England regional director, said “We are very concerned why some fans thought this chant was appropriate for a high school basketball game… Hate speech has no place in the stands of any sporting event. We are grateful for the quick intervention by school officials and hope they use this as a teachable moment.”

This incident has shocked many and especially the choice of the Memorial School fans to causally revert to repeating the charge that the Jews committed deicide, which was used for centuries as an excuse to persecute Jews.

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Severe Antisemitic Bullying at Connecticut School

The mother of a 12-year-old pupil at Walsh Intermediate School in Branford, Connecticut, has reported shocking antisemitic bullying suffered by her son to a local media outlet

Orit Avizoz spoke to WTNH News 8, a station that covers news in Connecticut, after having complained to the school administration. Ms Avizoz discovered the extent of the bullying that her son was subjected to when it became apparent that he was afraid to go back to school. The boy had his head slammed in the lockers by the bully, was kicked and punched repeatedly when on the floor, and was subjected to chants of ‘Kill the Jew’.

Another local news source has reported that despite the clear antisemitic language used during the attack, the incident is being treated merely as an instance of bullying, as opposed to being treated as a hate crime. Branford Schools Superintendent, Hamlet Hernandez, has released a statement clearly prompted by the incident, but which makes no direct reference to the incident itself or to antisemitism.

 

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Two new swastikas discovered in New York after arrest

Two swastikas were found by the owner of a building on the pillars of a parking garage in Cedarhurst, New York. Police suspect that this incident occurred sometime between the hours of 16:30 on Friday, 25th March, and Monday at 10:30.

A pair of swastikas was found a couple of weeks earlier, on 7th March, also in Cedarhurst. On that occasion, a 17-year-old boy was arrested.

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Nazi headphones advertised as “Final solution to the audio problem”

Massdrop.com, an internet shopping community similar to eBay, added a controversial item to their inventory: a pair of Hitler-brand headphones with swastika insignias on each side. Called “‘Klangs’ by Hitler”, a pun on the popular headphone brand known as “‘Beats’ by Dre”, these headphones received quite a bit of attention from massdrop.com users.

Ori Ohana, a program coordinator for the organization Israeli Students Combating Anti-Semitism, explained that “In many cases, it [the glorification and normalisation of Hitler] is intended as a joke, but we believe that it is done mostly to keep the image of Hitler alive in an attempt to make him more normative, acceptable and popular.” ISCA has reported the headphones to massdrop.com in the hope that they will remove them immediately from their site.

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“Horrific” antisemitic graffiti found at University at Buffalo

The University at Buffalo Police have increased patrols around the Hillel of the University at Buffalo campus after antisemitic slurs and threats were discovered on a men’s restroom stall on 23rd March.

University Police believe the crude graffiti to be an isolated incident, according to Deputy Chief of Police Joshua Sticht. University at Buffalo spokesman John Della Contrada said that the incident does not uphold the values of the University. In an e-mail sent to the student body, Contrada added, “When acts motivated by hatred or discrimination occur, the university will respond promptly to protect the safety and well-being of the entire university community.”

Andrew Meyer, the President of the Jewish Student Union, said, “I’ve never seen any form of antisemitism like that before.” Meyer called the slur, “the most horrific and derogatory term” used against Jewish people.

Though the slurs were reported on 23rd March, they seem to to have gone unreported for at least two weeks, according to photos sent to the University at Buffalo newspaper The Spectrum.

Director of the Hillel for Buffalo Dan Metchnik said the graffiti is “very disturbing,” and that all religious hatred is unacceptable, regardless of belief.

The graffiti have been removed.

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Swastika found at Brandeis Jewish fraternity house

A swastika was discovered in the fraternity house of Alpha Epsilon Pi chapter of Brandeis University, the non-sectarian college founded by the American Jewish community, late Friday night.

During the off-campus event, Alpha Epsilon Pi brothers noticed a crude depiction of the Nazi symbol written in the condensation of a glass door in the fraternity house in which Jewish students live. The unofficial event, hosted by the Jewish fraternity, was open to the entire student population.

Brandeis students have taken concern. “It hits a raw spot,” said Emma Maier, Brandeis ‘18, who attended the event. “it is hard to separate my family’s deeply personal narrative from the incident.” Turkish international student Joel Hemsi, Brandeis ‘19, who serves as the International Ambassador of the student-led Coalition Against Anti-Semitism in Europe (CAASE), added, “I’m shocked that such a thing happened at Brandeis, where many Diaspora Jews go to find a safe haven to openly express their Jewish identity.”

Though the Alpha Epsilon Pi event did not take place on Brandeis University property, the administration has denounced the act. In an e-mail to the student body, President Lisa Lynch wrote, “I condemn this malicious action. In my opinion, there is no place in society for such a despicable display of intolerance and hatred. Such heinous acts violate every value for which Brandeis stands.”

The swastika at Brandeis marks the newest development in a string of antisemitic incidents that have affected the Greater Boston Jewish community. Reported events in recent years include swastikas drawn on flyers at Northeastern University, a residence vandalised with racial graffiti, and Jewish professors facing discrimination at Wheelock College, and Catholic Memorial School students chanting “You killed Jesus” at at a basketball game against Newton North High School, which hosts a large Jewish population, last month. Seth Greenwald, Brandeis ‘17 and a Boston native, said: “in the last three years, I have seen more blatant antisemitism on campuses and elsewhere than in my entire life. Enough is enough.”

The Waltham Police Department has been notified and is working with the University on the investigation.

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Microsoft robot shut down after learning to praise Hitler from interactions with humans

Microsoft released an Artificial Intelligence robot on Twitter that had to be shut down after its first day going live. The AI was called “Tay” and created to speak “like a teenage girl” to help Microsoft improve their voice recognition software, marketed as “The AI with zero chill”.

Users could chat with Tay through Twitter, Kik or GroupMe. Through these social media platforms Tay learned how humans converse with each other, and uses the phrases and concepts it hears to respond like a real human.

After Tay was contacted by various extremists, the robot made statements including: “Repeat after me, Hitler did nothing wrong” and “Bush did 9/11 and Hitler would have done a better job than the monkey we have got now. donald trump is the only hope we’ve got”.

 

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Swastikas found at University of Indianapolis and Purdue University

Two American universities reported finding objects on campus marked with swastikas earlier this month.

At the University of Indianapolis one was scratched into a statue of Chinese artist Au Ho-nien, prompting the university’s president, Robert L. Manuel,  to e-mail a warning on 8th March reminding students that “UIndy has not and will never tolerate such behaviour,” and it showed the university was not “immune to intolerance and hate”.

And on 7th March at Purdue University a swastika and antisemitic slur were found on a whiteboard in the American Studies program at College of Liberal Arts.

Liberal Arts dean David Reingold sent an e-mail to staff and the faculty stating: “This type of hateful expression is repulsive and outside of the bounds of civil discourse. It has no place in the College of Liberal Arts and Purdue University.”

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“Burn the Jews” graffiti at American playground

The words “Burn the Jews” were scratched on to equipment at a playground in New Jersey, USA, in an incident that prompted the local mayor to speak out against antisemitism.

Police found the graffiti with other obscene messages at Riverwood Park in the township of Toms River on 1st March, leading the mayor, Thomas Kelaher, to release a statement the next day.

He said: “In Toms River, we have no tolerance for antisemitic attacks. We will not accept this reprehensible behaviour. This action is being rightfully condemned and thoroughly investigated.”

Police said they are looking into whether the graffiti was carved by “ignorant teenagers or was of a more direct and sinister nature directed at the Jewish faith”, and urged residents to call the Toms River Police Department with any information.

Staff from the local buildings and grounds department removed the graffiti from the equipment.

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Philadelphia residents shout “Go back to Israel” at Jewish property developers

During a community meeting in a gentrifying neighbourhood in Point Breeze, Philadelphia, local activists shouted antisemitic comments to Jewish real estate developers, forcing the meeting to end.

Activists with Concerned Citizens of Point Breeze reportedly shouted “Go back to Israel”, “Go back to Lakewood [a Jewish neighbourhood]” and other such comments whilst developers were making presentations.

“This was not one person with a screw loose. This was a mob mentality,” Ori Feibush, a local developer who is Jewish but was not presenting at the meeting, told Philly.com.

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Rock star condemned for Nazi salute and “white power” remark

A former singer with rock group Pantera has been condemned by fellow musicians after giving a Nazi salute and shouting “white power”.

Philip Anselmo was filmed by a fan at an event on 22nd January held in tribute to Pantera’s late guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott. Anselmo initially claimed he had been making a joke about the white wine served to performers at the event, who included Dave Grohl and members of Metallica, and said he would not apologise.

Among those to criticise him were the band All Shall Perish, who stated: “Seeing Phil’s actions and his cowardly justification is not only disgusting and inexcusable but antithetical to the punk, metal, underground ethos to which we subscribe.”

Anselmo has been reported as making racist remarks in the past. Speaking on MTV in 1994 he refused to condemn fans shouting “white power” at Pantera gigs, and the following year he described rap artists as “pissing all over white culture”. Pantera disbanded in 2003, since when he has performed with various other groups.

In February, Anselmo changed his position regarding the tribute night and issued a lengthy apology on Housecore Records’ YouTube channel, saying that he was “so sorry”, “a thousand percent apologetic” and deserved criticism for his “uncalled-for” behaviour.

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Donald Trump compares Jewish charities to Ku Klax Klan

US presidential candidate Donald Trump has compared white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan to Jewish charities, a claim that the Anti-Defamation League called “obscene”.

Trump’s comments came on the MSNBC television station’s Morning Joe programme, after he had been criticised for not rejecting white supremacists’ support. “I don’t like to disavow groups if I don’t know who they are,” Trump said. “I mean, you could have Federation of Jewish Philanthropies in groups.”

The ADL criticised Trump’s comparison, noting that white power groups refer to black people as “mud people” and call Jews “Satanic”.

“It is obscene to even mention a Jewish organisation in the same breath as these white supremacist groups,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the ADL. “Mr Trump needs to acknowledge that the rhetoric of these hate groups is appalling and does not belong in any political discussion.”

Having been previously condemned for rejecting the chance to distance himself from the Ku Klax Klan in an earlier interview — which Trump blamed on a faulty earpiece — Trump used the Morning Joe interview to try to do so. On Thursday, he called Duke a “bad person”. “I disavowed him,” Trump said. “I disavowed the K.K.K.”

Greenblatt said it was hard to understand why Trump seemed to find it difficult to make a clear-cut denunciation of the white supremacist group.

“It is hard to fathom how we can have a candidate who can be so verbose when it comes to denigrating other candidates, yet he finds himself tongue tied when it comes to the most racist and antisemitic group in the history of this country,” Greenblatt said.