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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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Elie Wiesel’s house defaced with antisemitic graffiti calling him a “Jewish Nazi”

The childhood home of the late Nobel Peace Prize winning Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel has been vandalized with antisemitic graffiti.

The house in Sighetu Marmatiei, which now operates as a museum, was Wiesel’s childhood home before his family were deported to Auschwitz, where all but Wiesel were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. He later became famed as a novelist and an advocate for peace, winning the Nobel Peace Prize. The home was made into a museum in 2002.

The house was vandalized with graffiti reading “Paedophile. Jewish Nazi who is in hell with Hitler”. The police are investigating the vandalism.

 

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Israeli students targeted in attempted bombing in Poland

Israeli students visiting  Janusz Korczak’s orphanage in Warsaw were targeted with an explosive device on Wednesday.

Students from the Arad’s Ort School, who visit Poland annually, were targeted from an adjacent building, but thankfully no students or staff were injured.

The Israeli Ministry of Education released a statement:

“During the students’ visit…an explosion was heard. Apparently, an explosive was thrown from a nearby window. The students did not suffer any harm, but there is no question that it was thrown intentionally.”

“The security detail accompanying the students evacuated the group from the site, and Polish police began investigating the event. After the students were evacuated, their trip continued as scheduled.”

It seems almost miraculous that none of the attachment were hurt in what is a deeply shocking incident, doubtless owing in part to the security guard’s swift and calm response.

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Jewish couple in Belgium afraid to leave house after antisemitic harassment and death threats

A Jewish woman named Nicole, 43, and her husband, have been left afraid to leave their house after persistent antisemitic harassment.

Nicole and her husband have lived in Marchienne-au-Pont for two and a half years, the last two months of which has seen them ensure antisemitic harassment, including death threats, damage to their home, verbal abuse and physical aggression.

Recently a Star of David was painted onto their door. The couple also appears to have been sent large amounts of hate mail.

“A few people have discovered that we are Jews. Since then we have been threatened with death” she said. Their treatment highlights the increasingly hostile environment that many Jews are subjected to across mainland Europe.

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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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Danish Imam facing criminal charges for allegedly calling for Muslims to “slay the Jews” to bring on Judgement Day

Imam Mundhir Abdallah is facing charges over 2017 comments when he allegedly called on Muslims to “slay the Jews” to bring on Judgement Day.

“Judgement Day will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them” the Imam allegedly said in a video uploaded to Facebook and YouTube.

Imam Abdallah’s Masjid Al-Faruq mosque has previously been linked to Islamic extremism.

Public prosecutor Eva Ronne said “these are serious statements and I think it’s right for the court to now have an opportunity to assess the case,” she said. “It has always been illegal to accept killings of a certain group of people, but it’s new for us to target hate preachers”.

He could face up to three years in prison.

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Three Jews physically attacked outside Kosher restaurant in Vienna

A 24-year-old man of Turkish origin has allegedly physically assaulted three Jews outside a kosher restaurant in Vienna’s Leopoldstadt district.

Witnesses have said that the alleged assailant jumped the victims, pushing one to the ground before raining down blows on them.

One victim, Daniel, told Heute “I had just walked out of the synagogue and I had my kippah and Tefillin [phylacteries] on, so I was easily recognizable as a Jew. He came at me from behind while I was on my phone and didn’t see him. He jumped me from behind”

The victims were lightly injured, but have expressed how glad they are that the attacker was not armed.

The attacker left the scene and proceeded to attack a bystander, before he was eventually subdued and apprehended by police.

 

 

 

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Switzerland: Jewish family chased by knife-wielding man shouting antisemitic abuse

An Orthodox family in Zurich, Switzerland, have been left shaken after a man chased them with a knife whilst shouting antisemitic abuse at them.

The attack place in Zurich’s 3rd district on Saturday evening. The man started towards the family with the knife and followed them after they fled.

According to the father, the man had approached him in a playground and became aggressive. He look his family home, only to emerge to the man waiting for them with a knife.

A neighbour was able to subdue the attacker until the police arrived. However, the attacker was released after only a day.

Astonishingly, the police have claimed that the “man did not pose a real danger to them, since he was too far away” despite the fact that he had followed them to their home.

The police also said that there is “no clear motive behind the incident, as he is neither a Nazi, nor an Islamist”.

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Palestinian attacks Jewish professor in Germany before police allegedly beat the victim

A 20-year-old Palestinian male has allegedly attacked a 50-year-old Jewish Israeli professor in the German city of Bonn in an antisemitic attack.

The assailtant allegedly knocked the kippah of the professor’s head before shouting “no Jew in Germany”.

Astonishingly, the attack took place in front of police. When the victim called out for help, the police allegedly jumped in and punched him in the face.

Ursula Brohl-Sowa, Bonn’s police chief, described the incident as a “horrible and regrettable misunderstanding”, but this will be little comfort to the victim, who has since left the city. Antisemitic violence has seen a steep increase across Germany in recent months.

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10 arrested in Berlin after alleged antisemitic beating of Syrian Jew outside nightclub

A group of Syrians and Germans have been arrested in Berlin after an alleged attack on a Syrian Jew outside of a nightclub.

The 25-year-old victim asked one of the group for a cigarette. However, one of the assailants noticed his Magen David necklace and started verbally abusing him. The verbal abuse quickly escalated and the group allegedly beat the Jewish man.

The victim ran away but lost his footing and was punched and kicked on the ground by the group. Passers by thankfully intervened in the attack and the police were alerted.

The group were detained and subsequently released pending further investigations.

After yet another violent antisemitic attack on the streets of Germany’s capital, the city’s Jews will be worrying yet again about their long-term future, as antisemitism in politics with the rise of AfD, in the fringes of the Palestine movement and on the streets seems to be spiralling out of control.

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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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Everyday Antisemitism

International school in Berlin admits it failed to tackle persistent antisemitic bullying

The leadership of the John F. Kennedy School, a prestigious international school in Berlin, has admitted that it failed to acknowledge the depth of a problem it had with antisemitic bullying.

At least two Jewish students have reportedly been subject to severe antisemitic abuse.

A ninth-grade boy was subjected to repeated antisemitic abuse from his classmates. One had allegedly pressed an unlit cigarette to his face and told him that “he should think about his ancestors who were gassed to death in the Holocaust”. Several students also taunted him with papers they had marked with Swastikas, whilst others harassed him and called him a “bad Jew” for voicing criticism of both the Israeli and Palestinian establishments. He also faced antisemitic abuse about his appearance.

A Jewish girl at the same school faced similar bullying.

The school was informed of this bullying early this month and has admitted that it failed to take action. It has since announced that it is taking measures to combat antisemitism and is working with the Jewish Forum for Democracy and Against Antisemitism.

 

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Three men of Arab origin jailed over Swedish Synagogue firebomb attack, but none will serve more than 2 years

Three Palestinian and Syrian migrants have been jailed following an arson attack on a Gothenburg Synagogue which Everyday Antisemitism reported on in October, following a protest against Trump’s decision to move the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.

The men were convicted in Gothenburg District Court on Monday. Two of the men were handed 2 year sentences, whereas the youngest was sentenced to 15 months. The three are between 19 and 24 years of age. One has had an asylum application rejected and will be deported after his jail sentence.

The Judge said that the trio acted with “the clear goal of threatening, harming, and violating members of the synagogue and the Jewish community more generally”. However, the sentences for what essentially amounts to a terrorist attack on Jews in Sweden, seem far too short given the severity and malice of the crime.

The attack was participated in by up to 20 people, though as far as we can tell no other charges have been brought.

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“Flurry” of antisemitic incidents in South Africa cause concern among communal leaders

The South African Jewish Board of Deputies has expressed its concern after a “flurry” of antisemitic incidents in the past days.

In one incident, a group of passengers waiting for their luggage from an El Al flight were called “wicked Jews” by a passer by who said “You people are wicked. Jews are wicked people, very wicked people”.

A mural with the German flag centred around a Swastika also appeared in Johannesburg.

SAJBD Chairman Shaun Zagnoev has also commented on a series of particularly virulent instances of online antisemitic abuse, saying: “The posts show how easily radical anti-Israel sentiment can spill over into hateful slurs and threats against Jewish people in general. We are being told that we are ‘scum’, ‘rats’, ‘bastards’, ‘pigs’, ‘swine’ and ‘fat-nosed f***ks. We are further being warned that “our time is coming” and that “the Holocaust will be a picnic after we are done with you””.

Zagnoev believes that the incidents are linked to a flare-up of tensions in South Africa surrounding Israel, after popular DJ Black Coffee was attacked by BDS for performing in Israel, leading supermodel Shashi Naidoo  to retaliate against BDS by branding Gaza a “sh*thole”, for which she received death threats before apologising.

 

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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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Belgian TV station unable to find a single Jew to agree to wear a yarmulke in public in light of rise in antisemitic attacks

Ms Natasha Mann, a reporter for the Belgian broadcaster RTBF was preparing a report on antisemitism in Belgium. As part of the report, Ms Mann wanted to have a visual of a Jewish volunteer being seen in Brussels wearing a yarmulke. However, for fear of being attacked, she was unable to find any volunteers from the Jewish community.

The reluctance for Jews publicly identify as such is not new. For the last ten years, many observant Jews in Brussels have been wearing caps or hats to avoid being seen publicly as Jews. This reluctance has come because of a steady rise in antisemitic incidents over the last decade, not just in Belgium, but as a rising trend sweeping across Europe. This was confirmed by Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, who recognized that “we’ve seen an increase in antisemitic incidents all across Europe.” The Belgian Prime Minister’s resolve to quash antisemitism remains resolute: “our solidarity in the fight against antisemitism is uncompromised and unequivocal.”

Unfortunately, the Prime Minister’s words do not echo the sentiments felt amongst the Jewish community in Belgium. After three weeks of looking for a Jewish volunteer to be part of the report, Ms Mann had to give up. The reason being that the Jewish community is so afraid of vocal antisemites that not even the community leaders were willing to participate.

Ms Mann contacted several Rabbis. However, after finding out which neighbourhood she wanted the project to take place in, they declined. Joel Rubinfield, the president of the Belgian league against antisemitism, agreed to do the story, but only if he were escorted by a security officer; due to logistical issues this did not happen. The story ran without the visual Mann wanted: a dark reminder of how fearful the Jewish community in Belgium is today.

The tragic situation currently facing the Jewish community in Belgium was perhaps most aptly summarised by an anonymous Jewish individual, who Ms Mann had asked to volunteer for the visual. He said he was sick of being harassed for being a Jew; Ms Mann asked him, “Do you complain to police when you hear antisemitic insults?”, to which he responded: “Do you complain to police when men whistle at you in the street?” sadly highlighting how common and trivialized these attacks have become in Belgian society.

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Antisemitic incidents double in the Netherlands, mirroring international trend of increasingly hostile atmosphere for Jews

A Dutch Prosecution Service report published in April shows antisemitic incidents in the Netherlands doubled in 2017 compared to 2016, indicating a five year high “despite a scant Jewish population”. The antisemitic incidents include “intimidation, assault, incitement to violence, and vandalism”, are mostly linked to football and in particular the Amsterdam Ajax team who are called ‘Jews’ by fans and rivals alike. Late last year, Everyday Antisemitism documented a series of incidents of the far right’s prevalence in European football, and we suggested a series of simple measures that could help challenge antisemitism and far right extremism in football.

The Algemeiner cited Joel Rubinfeld, president of the Belgian League Against Antisemitism,  saying to the French broadcaster RTBF last Sunday; “The presence of military on the street in front of Jewish sites is somewhat reassuring, but you can imagine what kind of world we live in. Today, you go to a Jewish school and you feel like you’re coming back to Fort Knox, which is really a kind of permanent state of siege.” Rubinfeld claimed “a rush of antisemitic attacks in the last fortnight” was inspired by Palestinian violence in the Hamas-ruled Gaza border with Israel.

A recent report by Tel Aviv University found that worldwide there has been a rise in antisemitism , of normalizing and mainstreaming antisemitism at levels unseen since the Second World War, and a drop by 9 per cent in violent attacks on Jews in 2017 but that those attacks were more brazen. Furthermore, the drop in violent attacks is because of a step-up in security measures, whilst most antisemitic incidents go unreported due to a fear of reprisal or disinterested authorities.

The report carried out by Tel Aviv University’s Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry is released annually on the eve of Israel’s Holocaust memorial day. It mentions a ‘toxic triangle’ of antisemitism from an increase in the extreme right, radical Islamism, and anti-Zionist discourse on the left using antisemitic expressions. Moshe Kantor, President of the European Congress is quoted as saying; “the religious dimension of classic, traditional antisemitism has returned, and the term ‘Jew’ has become an insult”. Kantor, referring to the resurgence of antisemitic tropes, says that ideas of “the Jew as exploiter, the Jew as killer, the Jew as banker” have once again become the norm – “it is like we have regressed 100 years”.

 

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Facebook censors Everyday Antisemitism for exposing its failure to deal with antisemites

Three days ago I wrote an article after having been alerted to yet another instance of Facebook failing to uphold its own community standards, instead allowing blood libel to be spread to thousands of people. The article, which you can read here, reached over 26 thousand people on Facebook, but the platform decided to remove the post via which we presented the story to our followers.

In the article we detailed both the virulent antisemitism that Facebook had failed to remove from its platform and several other cases in which they had elected to allow posts ranging from Holocaust denial to outright calls for genocide.

Facebook is staffed by individuals who are, like everybody else, fallible. Much of the policing of its content is not done actively, but instead by algorithms which are designed to identify content that violates its standards. Mistakes and oversight can both happen. Facebook is also a private entity, and it is not obliged to host anything on its platform that it doesn’t wish to. However, according to its own community standards, there appears to be no way to justify removing our post. Although all our stories are verified to the best of our abilities, we are capable of making mistakes, too. Whilst there is absolutely no indication that what we published was misleading in any way, even if it was, Facebook’s own policy is not to remove misleading or false news, but simply to make it appear less prominently. Unfortunately, a growing body of evidence seems to indicate that Facebook is failing to prevent the abuse of its platform by antisemites.

The antisemitic page, which is littered with incitement and blood libel, has not been taken down by Facebook, despite our article triggering many more people to report it.

We contacted Facebook about the removal of our content, but are yet to receive a reply.

It is also possible to follow our work through our Twitter and Tumblr pages, or by subscribing to our emails by following this link and filling out the form on our homepage.

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Facebook says cartoon depicting two Arabs happily hanging an Orthodox Jew doesn’t violate its community standards

In yet another display of Facebook’s apparent tolerance of extreme antisemitism, the social networking site has refused to take down a disturbing cartoon which features two smiling Arabs hanging an Orthodox Jewish man.

The Orthodox Jew is portrayed with blood staining his hand, an example of classic blood libel, one of the oldest and most virulent expressions of antisemitism. He is also displayed with an exaggerated hooked nose and with bows tied to his peyot.

The post comes from a page called “Fuck Israel”, which has over 51,000 likes and which features much explicit antisemitism. You can report the page by following this link and clicking on the three dots near the top of the page.

Various other images on the page display blatant blood libel.

Facebook has form in this area. In 2016 we reported that Facebook had allowed a post that called for the genocide of all Jews. In all but four countries, it is Facebook’s official policy to avoid removing Holocaust denial, only doing so when the law of a country explicitly requires it to.

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Jewish siblings set upon by blade-wielding assailant in Melbourne in suspected antisemitic attack

Two siblings dressed in traditional Jewish clothing, a 25-year-old woman and her 22-year-old brother were stabbed in an unprovoked attack in Melbourne on 19th May.

The attacker is believed to have hit the man over the head before slashing the woman with some sort of blade in cheek.

The man was treated on the scene, but his sister required hospital treatment.

Anti-Defamation Commission Chairman Dr Abramovich condemned the attack, telling a local newspaper that:

“If this assault, which is shocking on many levels, was in fact driven by antisemitism, it should be investigated as a hate crime”.

Wilson Jacob adds that police are investigating whether the incident was racially motivated.

 

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Polish magazine asks “just how strong is the Jewish lobby?” on its front cover

Right wing Polish magazine Do Rzeczy has published an antisemitic issue which features the question “just how strong is the Jewish lobby?” on its front cover.

The weekly right wing magazine was founded in 2013 and represents Christian conservatism in the country.

The article pits the mysterious “Jewish lobby” against Poland, asking “can the Polish government handle it?”. Poland is currently governed by the far right Law and Justice Party, a party infested with antisemitism from the top all the way down to the grassroots.

Pitting the “Jewish lobby” against Poland’s national government is a repetition of the classic antisemitic canard in which conniving Jews seek to undermine national interests. It has its modern roots in antisemitic conspiracy theories such as the infamous hoax the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, but such ideas were also a mainstay of Nazi propaganda.

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Turkish newspaper read by thousands of people publishes series of antisemitic cartoons

MEMRI have exposed a series of antisemitic cartoon that was published by Turkish newspaper Yeni Asya.

The cartoons, which is the work of İbrahim Özdabak, were made in response to calls in France to censor some antisemitic passages of the Quran. France has a growing antisemitism problem, which is often driven by Islamic extremism and which has increasingly spilled over into serious antisemitic violence in recent years. 

The cartoons have been produced since 2005, but were all reprinted by the newspaper last month in an edition that sold over 11,000 copies.

One cartoon shows a caricature of a religious Jew, covered in blood and flanked by missiles captioned “remove the verses about us from the Quran”. Another shows the UN as a puppet attached to a Magen David.

One shows another antisemitic caricature portrayed as Nero, playing a harp as the Islamic world burns.

Several compare Israel to Nazi Germany, including equating Gaza with the Holocaust.

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Teacher in Argentine Catholic school told students that “Hitler did some good”, blamed Jews for Holocaust

Denise Yanet Evequoz, a History teacher at a Catholic school in Buenos Aires, Argentina, allegedly taught her students that Hitler “did some good”, whilst spreading antisemitic canards to her students, ultimately blaming Jews for the Holocaust.

Evequoz teaches at the Jesus Maestro High School in Castelar in Western Buenos Aires.

“Jews took advantage of the people who needed money, they loaned the money and then they chased them to get their money back, always with interest. They had the money but they did not help Germany improve. They did not help the people to generate employment nor to create industries. This generated a certain hatred towards Jews” she taught in a lesson in 2015, audio of which has just been released.

“Hitler was demonized, treated like a demon, a kind of anti-Christ, but it was not so … He did good things, such as developing the transport industry, which was destroyed by war, restored employment and took Germany out of hunger”, she continued.

The Holocaust Museum of Buenos Aires released a statement in which it says that Evequoz “reproduces anti-Jewish prejudices, vindicates the figure of Hitler and the Nazi regime, and denies his criminal, totalitarian, and genocidal character”, urging the school to discipline her. She has been suspended, but it is not clear whether this is a permanent measure. She has also been reported to the Department of Education.

Evoquoz has refused to apologise for her comments.

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Palestinian advocacy group calls representative body of Dutch Jews a “pro-occupation lobby”

Jan Keulen, director of The Rights Forum, a Dutch pro-Palestinian advocacy group that was founded by PM Dries van Agt, has made a disgraceful antisemitic statement about the mainstream representative body of the Dutch Jewish community.

The Central Jewish Board had previously made a complaint about antisemitic social media post. Keulen referred to the complaint as a “political smear campaign”, a classic antisemitic canard which paints Jewish complaints of antisemitism as disingenuous and portrays Jews as manipulative and dissembling.

She then said that the “cat is out of the bag”, claiming the Jewish group was a “a pro-occupation lobby that will not rest until the definition of antisemitism is stretched and politicized”.

Despite her disgraceful comments, several of the comments that the Central Jewish Board complained of didn’t even make any reference to Israel. One of the comments complained of read “not so strange that the Jews throughout the centuries were stigmatized as thieves and cheats”, whereas others bordered on blood libel.

Little better can be expected from the Rights Forum, however. Van Agt who founded the group, who is the PM of the country, is on record saying that his party is “is good for the Palestinians despite the strong Jewish lobby” present in it.

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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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Antisemitic incidents in Ukraine double in a year, nationalists claim it is a Russian plot

According to research from the World Jewish Congress, antisemitic incidents in Ukraine doubled over the course of the last year.

The WJC said that it recorded at least 130 antisemitic incidents in the country in the last year, twice what was recorded in the preceding 12 month period. The incidents range from vandalism to far-right marches and verbal abuse to physical violence. The country is home to around 350,000 Jews.

Some domestic forces in Ukraine have dismissed the report, even suggesting it is a Kremlin plot to portray all Ukrainians as fascists. Across Ukraine, there has reportedly been a backlash against the report, particularly from nationalists, who are a growing political force in the country. Unfortunately, unless people are able to swallow their pride and acknowledge that antisemitism is a growing problem, there will be little chance of defeating it. Ukraine, which does not have clearly-defined hate crime legislation, often sees racially and religiously motivated incidents investigated as mere hooliganism.

Everyday Antisemitism has recently covered several incidents in Ukraine, including an attempted arson attack on a Synagogue, a General calling to “destroy” Jews, a “national hero” peddling antisemitic conspiracy theories and saying she doesn’t like “k*kes”, as well as a swastika being carved into the chest of a Jewish activist – falling just within the catchment period of the report, a fact demonstrating that those detracting from the claims in the report by indicating that there have been no violent incidents are clearly incorrect.

This sadly fits a general trend, which has seen antisemitic crime rising across Europe and beyond.

The majority of the incidents are never reported in the English language or outside Ukraine.

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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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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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Lazio fans taunt Roma with chants about Anne Frank mere months after the club promised action on antisemitism

Fewer than sixth months after the club’s establishment promised action on antisemitism, Lazio fans have yet again invoked the Holocaust in a match with local rivals Roma.

Lazio fans chanted “Anne Frank is from Roma” at the Roma squad, a match on Sunday shortly after Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Memorial Day.

Roma, who have a reputation as being both a left wing and a Jewish club, often finds itself the target of antisemitic abuse. In November, we wrote about the prevalence of antisemitism across European football, making key, tried-and-tested policy suggestions that could be used to combat it, and expressed hope that similar progress to that which has been seen in the UK could also be seen across mainland Europe. We wrote following hundreds of Lazio ultras, hooligans closely associated with the far right, congregated outside the stadium to perform Nazi salutes, with antisemitic stickers being posted around the stadium. Whilst there have been a handful of arrests for those incidents, the response was largely performative and short lived, with little genuine sign that there have been consistent efforts to identify and punish antisemites.

Italian football clubs are responsible, under Italian domestic law, for the misbehaviour of their fans, and Lazio was fined around 50 thousand Euros in January for the incidents last year, an amount which is a drop in the ocean for a club who is able to pay several players more than this amount each week.

This incident confirms that the events of last year were not an isolated anomaly, but part of a growing and obvious problem in European football. In our previous article, we detailed how British football laws were developed to help counter the far right, which was increasingly using football terraces as a recruiting tool. In order to prevent their national sport becoming a hotbed of antisemitic and racist extremists, Italy must meet this threat with strict laws and strict enforcement of those laws.

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Jewish teen beaten with belt in antisemitic attack in Berlin, catches attacker on camera to “give police something to go on”

A Jewish teen has been injured after being beaten by an Arab man on the streets of Berlin.

The victim is called Adam Armush and was interviewed after the incident, saying that “it happened right here, next to my home, when I was on my way to the train station with my friend” before commenting “I’m surprised something like this happened to me. I’m still in shock”.

He said that he and his friend emerged from his house in kippot and three men crossed the road and “started cursing us from over there…when they kept cursing us, my friend asked them to stop cursing, and that got them angry. So one of them ran at me. I immediately felt it was important to film, because I didn’t think we could catch him before police arrived. I wanted to give police something to go on”.

Armush, who was identifiably Jewish as he was wearing a kippah, managed to capture some of the incident on camera, but was lightly injured and required treatment in a hospital.

The attacker shouts “Jew” in Arabic as he repeatedly strikes the Jewish teen with his belt.

The attack was broken up by a bystander, who also appeared to be of Middle Eastern origin, who pushed the attacker away and told a bystander to call the police.

The video can be seen below, but only a censored version has been made available to the public.

 

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Saudi “scholar” claims that Jews are trying to take over the world using Hollywood

Sheikh Sa’ad ibn Abdullah Al-Humayd, a Saudi scholar who is Professor of Hadith studies at King Saud University in Riyadh, has used his prominent position in the country to peddle an antisemitic conspiracy theory.

Speaking on March 21 in an interview that was subsequently translated by MEMRI, he said “some people question the authenticity The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and indeed, we have some questions about this book” before continuing to say “it’s not clear how the news about so secret an organization can spread everywhere, especially since these people hold such power, as we all know. However, if we look at reality, we see that what appears in this book is implemented”.

He even speculated that Jews had circulated the infamous hoax themselves, saying “is it possible that they had studied the psychological effect that might be caused by reading such a book, and reached the conclusion that this psychological effect would serve them well? It’s possible. Only Allah knows. At any rate, we do not have proof for the authenticity of The Protocols, except for what exists in reality”.

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was a infamous antisemitic hoax that originated in 19th Century Russia, and which has continually been used to incite violence against Jews, including by the Nazis who made extensive use of the text and its accusations.

He then mixes in a slightly more recent “Jews control Hollywood” conspiracy theory, saying “if we consider Hollywood, for example, and look at the films it produces, and at the feverish competition meant to preoccupy the people with the arts, with sports, with theater, and with films, and to aggrandize those insignificant people, such as actors, male and female dancers, sportsmen and sportswomen… This includes bringing women into games which they cannot perform, but into which they have been cast. It includes the arts, in all its diverse forms. They drown the people in such an atmosphere”.

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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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Europe engaged in “war over memory” as the far right attempt to memorialise fascism and downplay the Holocaust

The village of Antrodoco, Italy abuts the forested Mount Giano, whose 20,000 trees spell DUX, in tribute to “Il Duce”, the title used for Italian fascist Benito Mussolini, who ruled Italy from 1925 until his death in 1945. Italians are divided over the fate of this forest, and other reminders of the country’s fascist past, debating if this forest and other fascist monuments should be restored or razed. Some far-right and extremist groups see these monuments as important national symbols, and in February, activists from the neo-fascist party Casapound hiked the mountain to replace 2,000 trees. Similarly, in 2013, the mayor of Brescia tried to restore a fascist monument to the centre of town but failed.

Antrodoco tends to vote centre-right, but in this year’s elections, nearly half the town voted for the far-right populist Anti-Immigration League. The party ended up as the largest one in the country’s current right-wing ruling coalition. This was partially the result of far-right groups successfully mainstreaming anti-migrant, nationalist, and xenophobic sentiment leading up to the election, an effort that relies heavily on symbols both past and present.

The fate of war-time monuments is something of a bellwether for Europe, and the increased debate over them shows a deep fracturing in how societies approach institutional memory. In Poland, the government, dominated by the populist right-wing Law and Justice Party, made it illegal to incriminate Poland or assign it culpability of any sort for the Holocaust (often dubbed the “Holocaust law.”) The government is trying to get the POLIN museum to change an exhibit on the Jedwabne pogrom, and at a Polish university, leaflets were distributed that blamed the Jews for the Holocaust. Poland has also attempted to rename the Majdanek memorial, and director of the museum at Auschwitz is facing threats.

One particular monument to Soviet soldiers in Bulgaria has been vandalized many times over the years. Harking to its Soviet history, and in anger over the vandalism of a Soviet monument with antisemitic graffiti, Russia angered many when it claimed to have saved Bulgarian Jews from the Holocaust, a statement that was seen as ignorant and ahistorical by many Bulgarians. Other memorials in honour of Jewish Bulgarians in WWII have also been defaced with references to Palestine and Hamas.

Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Slovakia, have taken to removing Communist-era monuments, including those referencing World War II, altogether, sometimes to the great dismay of others, including ethnic Russians and the Russian state. Russia demanded punishment of the vandals after they desecrated a Soviet WWII memorial in Vienna.

In Greece, monuments to the Greek Jews who died in the Holocaust have also been defaced. One in Athens was defaced with right-wing extremist slogans in 2017, along with the smashing of monuments in Arta and Kavala soon after the community held a memorial for its previous Jewish community. This year, a memorial in Thessaloniki was defaced twice – once with far-right slogans, and once with Palestine-related slogans.

The result is a continent engaged in a war over memory, played out in public via desecration of physical monuments. In this resurgence of extremist identity-based politics, the motivation behind such destruction is not always about antisemitism, but often includes deeply felt tribalist instincts orthogonal to antisemitism: nationalism, pride, and resentment. This is not a mere revision of narrative in deference to nuance or recently learned facts; this is a contest to own historical memory itself, an issue of no little import when entire sections of society seek to re-write history for their own ends.

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Israeli man beaten to death in Russia, survived by heavily pregnant wife

Mikhail Verevskoy, a 27-year-old Russian-Israeli, has succumbed to his injuries five days after a savage beating he received on a street in St Petersburg.

Verevskoy suffered traumatic brain injuries, broken ribs and facial bones, and internal injuries in what the police believe may be an antisemitic attack.

36-year-old Ahmed Kharsha was arrested and subsequently released on bail in connection with the attack, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs have said.

Verevsky was born in Russia, where he studied civil engineering before making Aliyah in 2010 and serving in the IDF. He returned to Russia in 2012 and became active in a local Synagogue. He is survived by his wife who is heavily pregnant and expected to give birth shortly.

The Israeli Embassy have offered his family assistance, but have said they are waiting for the conclusion of the Russian police investigation before commenting further.

If the investigation shows that this was indeed an antisemitic attack, it will be the second antisemitic murder in Europe in just over a week, following the apparent antisemitic murder of a Holocaust survivor in Paris.

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Millions of Poles don’t accept Jews, Muslims and Roma as their fellow citizens

A Pew Research poll of Poland has shown shocking levels of antisemitism and Xenophobia.

The poll asked people whether they would accept Jews, Muslims and Roma as members of their family, as neighbours, or as citizens.

When asked about who they would accept as a member of their family, 30% would not accept Jews, 55% would not accept Muslims, and 49% would not accept Roma.

When asked about who they would accept as neighbours, 20% would not accept Jews, 43% would not accept Muslims and 38% would not accept Roma.

When asked about who they would accept as citizens, 18% would not accept Jews, 41% would not accept Muslims and 30% would not accept Roma.

These figures show that there is clearly an profound problem with Xenophobia in Polish society, with a sizeable minority of the population holding extreme prejudices, not even accepting Jews, Muslims and Roma as citizens.

They also show that whilst Jews clearly face a lot of antisemitism in Poland, and this is deeply concerning, the fact that other minority groups appear to face more widespread negative attitudes from native Poles should not be ignored. This fact is not entirely surprising, given the brand of far-right antisemitism in Poland.

Disturbingly, the results in Poland have been mirrored elsewhere: 23% of Lithuanians, 22% of Romanians, 14% of Hungarians, 19% of Czechs and 16% of Greeks would not accept Jews as fellow citizens.

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French Jewish Student group office vandalized with antisemitic graffiti, with some reporting a firebomb was used

The premises of the Jewish Student Union has been vandalised at the University of the Sorbonne in Paris.

Antisemitic graffiti was daubed on the walls, including “death to Israel” and “Zionist racist anti-goy premises”. A cupboard in the building was broken into, with documents scattered across the floor.

The President of the University, Georges Haddad, has condemned the act and announced an investigation

Sacha Ghozlan, President of the Union des Etudiants Juifs de France, said “Antisemitism is always present on France, it needs to be fought everywhere, including in the universities. Today we remember Mireille Knoll and discover this too,there is clearly a problem in our country” continuing to “call on university presidents and on the ministry of Education, to act firmly”.

The Union of Jewish Students in the UK seems to have been informed that a firebomb was used in the attack, but we have been unable to confirm this.

In the wake of an antisemitic murder in the French capital, this is yet another indictment of French society, which yet again has shown itself to be increasingly inhospitable to Jews.

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Trend continues of German Jewish students being bullied out of state schools

Yet another Jewish student at a Berlin school has been left traumatised after antisemitic bullying.

A primary school student at the Paul-Simmel-Grundschule was told by a classmate that she should be beaten and killed after she revealed the fact that she is Jewish, her father said.

“Our daughter was accosted by Muslim students because she does not believe in Allah” he said, before describing how she was surrounded by a group of Muslim students who chanted “Jew” at her.

These incidents reportedly form a pattern of antisemitic bullying which has seen her threatened on several previous occasions.

Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said “if Jewish students can no longer go to school without fear of antisemitic abuse, there’s something wrong in this country”.

Last July we reported that teachers in Germany are increasingly concerned about antisemitism from Muslim students creating a hostile environment in schools. We also reported on several disturbing incidents of antisemitism, including a Jewish boy who was forced out of his school following 4 months of persistent antisemitic bullying. The antisemitism in German state schools has led to an explosion in applications to specialist Jewish schools, which provide a safe haven from the bullying, at least within school hours.

Writing in July, we warned that “unless the German government takes serious steps to ensuring that schools are tackling antisemitism, and giving assurances to teachers and parents that all complaints of antisemitism are taken seriously, regardless of the source, then the situation will be dire for Jewish students in the country”, emphasising that “action must be taken quickly before confidence is lost in the school system’s ability to protect Jewish students”. Whilst no such action has been forthcoming, finally German politicians seem to be ready to act on the national disgrace of widespread antisemitic bullying in schools. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who is currently on a state visit to Israel, condemned this latest incident, writing “when a child is threatened by antisemitism, it is both a shame and unbearable. We must stand against every form of antisemitism”.

The German Police Union has now demanded that it be provided with information on these incidents. Rainer Wendt, the Union’s head, has voiced concerns that the incidents are not being properly recorded, indicating a problem of a scale beyond what we have been able to report.

Only time will tell whether any meaningful action will be taken.

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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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Holocaust survivor found stabbed to death in burning apartment in what appears to be antisemitic murder

An 85-year-old Jewish Holocaust survivor has been found dead in her apartment in Paris, having been stabbed 11 times and her apartment having been set ablaze.

The attack took place in her apartment in  Avenue Philippe Auguste.

National Bureau for Vigilance Against Antisemitism have confirmed that suicide has been ruled out and that a suspect is being questioned in relation to what is almost certainly an antisemitic attack.

An attack of this nature is yet another escalation in what is becoming an intolerable situation for Jews in the French capital. That such a fate could befall a Holocaust survivor in twenty-first century Europe is an indictment of contemporary French society, where antisemitism has become an accepted part of life for the Jews who have decided to remain in the country.  If what is suspected about the motives of this attack are confirmed, it will verify what many have known for some time now; France has become inhospitable to Jewish life.

Last year, Jewish pensioner Sarah Halimi was beaten by her Islamist neighbour and thrown off the balcony in her own home to her death three stories below. The authorities had initially refused to label the attack antisemitic, despite reports that she had been subject to verbal antisemitic abuse by her assailant prior to the incident. The matter is awaiting trial and will be prosecuted as a hate crime.

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Leaflets blaming Jews for the Holocaust found at Polish University

The passage of the new law in Poland, which criminalises mention of Polish involvement in the murder of Jews in the Holocaust, has brought to the surface worrisome evidence of the antisemitism which has been endemic in Polish society for centuries.

Some public statements have been bizarre indeed and have transparently distorted the facts in order to try to blame Jews themselves for their victimisation by Nazis and Poles alike during WW2.  Even the Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said on 17th February 2018 at the Munich Security Conference that the Holocaust had Polish perpetrators, just as it had Jewish ones (emphasis added).

Polish universities are not exempt either from these attempts to minimise the brutality of the treatment of Jewish Poles at the hands of fellow Poles and the Nazis.  Recently an antisemitic leaflet was found in a faculty of the University of Warsaw, which, translated, echoes the theme in the previous paragraph and, in a transparent attempt to deflect from Polish complicity, alleges that Polish Jews themselves were complicit in war crimes against their own people and Poles. The tone of the leaflet is strident and seems designed to appeal, as is so often the case, to emotion rather than reason.

Under the heading “Polish death camps know the truth” for example, is the following, and the writer even refers to Hannah Arendt, whose own views were deemed controversial, to support his:

“… When the Germans began mass deportations of Jews to the death camps, the Jewish (sic) in the ghettos actively participated in the extermination of Jews. They helped, by registering all Jews in ghettos and directing them to extermination camps. Hannah Arendt, one of the most famous Jewish thinker of the twenty century, stated that without the active participation of the Judenants, [Judenrat?] the number of killed Jews would be much smaller. For Jews the role that Jewish leaders played in the destruction of their nation is undoubtedly the darkest chapter of all this grim history…”

Not content with maligning all Polish Jews living now for complicity in the murder of their own people in WW2, the leaflet then goes on to excoriate them for their alleged crimes against Poles during the Communist era:

” …..  [Jews] Do not want to speak that a significant part of the communist security in Poland were Jews. Between 1944 -1954, 37.1 % of people on managerial position were Jewish or people of Jewish origin in Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Public Security in Poland( Polish government)…”

It then lists those Jews it accuses together with their alleged crimes.

The leaflet was passed directly to Everyday Antisemitism by a concerned individual.

The history of the Jews in Poland dates back over 1,000 years and Poland had the largest, most significant Jewish community in the world for centuries. It was the centre of Jewish culture. The fall of communism there resulted in a Jewish revival which included new study programmes in schools and universities, and the work done in the Nozyk Synagogue in Warsaw.  In the light of the antisemitic incidents described above, however, which are a few of many but the number  seems to be increasing as it is in the rest of Europe, Polish Jews can hardly be blamed for being anxious about their future there.

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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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Hundreds march with former SS officers in Latvia, one arrested

Police have arrested a Latvian man for displaying a poster of Nazi soldiers murdering Jews. The man displayed the poster during an annual march held by the remnants of two SS Divisions who formed the Latvian Division during WW2, euphemistically termed the “Remembrance Day of the Latvian Legionnaires”.

Latvian Nazis formed the 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS and the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS. Latvia is the only country that still publicly honours those who contributed to the Nazi war effort and the Holocaust.

The march has gained popularity this year, with ultra-nationalist Latvians looking to Nazism in the context of growing tensions with Russia.

Protesters from Latvia Without Fascism staged a demonstration against the march, in which hundreds of Latvians marched with a handful of Nazi soldiers, with locals lining the streets to offer former Nazi soldiers flowers. Aleksejs Saripovs of Latvia Without Fascism said that “it’s a disgrace that this is happening in Europe. The European Union needs to pressure Latvia into abandoning this shameful event, but so far there is total silence”.

Advocates for the march have peddled historical inaccuracies about the divisions, including asserting that they were not involved in the perpetration of the Holocaust. In reality, they assisted in the extermination of 70,000 of Latvia’s Jews.

 

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Swiss neo-Nazi jailed for two years for assaulting Orthodox Jew

A Swiss neo-Nazi has been jailed for 2 years for attacking an Orthodox Jew in Zurich.

The 30-year-old was sentenced yesterday, after attacking the man in 2015. He was also fined 1000 Francs.

The neo-Nazi thug had performed a Nazi salute and verbally abused the Orthodox Jewish man before spitting on him and attacking him.

He has a previous conviction for a similar attack, for which he served 12 of an original 30 months..

There has been a notable increase in antisemitic incidents in Switzerland in recent years, and antisemitic attitudes appear to be relatively common in the country according to ADL research.

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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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Putin invokes antisemitic conspiracy theories in suggesting that Jews meddled with American election

Russian President Vladimir Putin has drawn criticism from Jewish groups for the second time in as many weeks after he suggested that Jews had meddled with the 2016 American Presidential election.

Critics of Donald Trump have suggested that Russian involvement could have played a part in his rise to power. In an interview with NBC, Putin said that anyone involved in tampering in US elections does not represent the Russian state, suggesting that “maybe they’re Ukrainians, Tatars, Jews, just with Russian citizenship, even that needs to be checked”.

Whilst the accusation is defamatory and dangerous with respect to every group named, the suggestion that Jews were to blame in particular evokes classic antisemitic conspiracy theories, particularly the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a Russian hoax which claimed that Jews were conspiring to achieve world domination.

Beyond this, Putin’s comments draw dangerously close to labelling Jews and other minorities Russians in name only, who are subjected to the double indignity of being accused of infiltrating the government of a foreign power, whilst having their own loyalties and citizenship to Russian questioned.

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, commented that “as the Russian government faces expanding evidence and new questions about possible meddling in US elections, President Putin bizarrely has resorted to the blame game by pointing the finger at Jews and other minorities in his country”, criticising Putin for “giving new life to classic anti-Semitic stereotypes that have plagued his country for hundreds of years, with a comment that sounds as if it was ripped from the pages of the ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion'”.

 

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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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500 far right extremists march in Berlin and are addressed by mainstream German politicians

A far-right contingent of 500 extremists have marched in Berlin under the slogan “No to the Great Coalition”. The march was organised by a group called “We are for Germany”, who have frequently held marches in which racist activity has occurred.

Attendees at the march shouted “National Socialism Now” and “Glory and Honour to the German Nation”, quite explicitly the language of Nazism. As well as those from explicitly far-right movements, the march was also attended by members of Alternative for Germany (AfD), a right wing populist party that is increasingly showing itself up as a far right movement. AfD is in the ascendancy in German politics, and polling places them either 2nd or 3rd in the country.

Alexander Kurth, a neo-Nazi from Saxony, spoke alongside  Utta Nürnberger and Roland Ulbrich, both members of AfD.

Multiple attendees allegedly performed Nazi salutes and shouted “Heil Hitler”. Explicit displays of Nazi imagery and expressions of support for Nazism are a criminal offence in Germany. Other attendees displayed antisemitic cartoons, including one with an antisemitic caricature of a Jew which said “goyim know”, an antisemitic internet meme that originated on the far right. The meme is used to imply that there is a Jewish conspiracy that Jews are attempting to cover up.

There was also widespread harassment and abuse of journalists at the march.

Footage of the march can be viewed here.

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Conservative Iranians blame “Jewish influence” for Tehran Mosque’s “ugly” design

A large new Mosque being built in Tehran, the capital of Iran, which has been hailed as evoking the “austerity of early Islam” has attracted ire from conservative forces in the country.

Reza Daneshmir, one of the architects of the Mosque, has said that the design departs with traditional Mosque architecture partly to appeal to young, less religious professionals in the city, adding that they “wanted it to be an avant-garde project, not a conservative and backward one”.

The Vali-e-Asr Mosque has been divisive in Iran. Whilst it has many supporters and admirers, one news source, Mashregh, has said that the building “looks like a Jewish kippa” and called for the architects to be tried for treason for “aiding the Zionist conspiracy”.

Other conservative voices in the country have decried the Mosque as the result of “Jewish and secular influence”. The idea that Jews are behind attempts to modernise is a common theme in European antisemitism, in which Jews are portrayed as attempting to erode national cultures. Like many forms of European antisemitism, it is an idea that is finding increasing amounts of traction in the Middle East.

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Paris: 14-year-old Jewish boy beaten by gang who stole his kippah after leaving Synagogue on Purim

In yet another violent antisemitic incident in the French capital, a 14-year-old Jewish boy has been subjected to a harrowing antisemitic attack in Paris.

The victim was leaving his Synagogue on Purim, a holiday during which Jews celebrate the events depicted in Megillat Esther, in which Jews in the Persian empire survived an attempt to exterminate them.

The victim has said he was surrounded by a group of youths who beat him, including hitting him with a tree branch, breaking his glasses, before stealing his Kippah and running off. They reportedly shouted antisemitic insults as they carried out the attack.

Four youths have been detained by the police, who have confirmed that they believe the attack to be antisemitic in nature.

To read about some recent antisemitic incidents in France, click here,

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Former Hamas official spouts variant of blood libel myth, blaming Jews for “every despicable deed” in Europe

Mustafa al-Lidawi, formerly a senior official of Hamas, has written a variant of the classic antisemitic blood libel myth in Ma’am, an Arabic newspaper.

Al-Lidawi called Purim a “holiday that the people of Europe hated and detested and wished that the Jews would leave their countries so they could be saved from their wickedness”. He continued that “this is because the Jews who lived in Europe would always bake a large pastry on the occasion of the holiday, and everyone would eat it. However, this pastry was mixed with the blood of a victim they chose from among those who were not Jews. Most of the time the victim was a little boy”.

Blood libel is an antisemitic myth that originated in England, and typically revolves around the accusation that Jews used the blood of Christian children to bake matzah. However, it has many variants, most of which involve accusations of Jews engaging in ritualistic killing. Blood libel was imported into the Middle East by Imperial powers and has become a prominent part of contemporary Islamist antisemitism.

Al-Lidawi linked this blood libel to Israel, stating that “his Jewish mentality and this ancient Jewish nature have not changed. For they fashioned their joy from the blood of others, hold their celebrations at the expense of the sighs and groans of the victims who they tortured, and base their happiness on the sorrow of others”.

His comments are a disturbing reminder that behind the purported political motivations of Hamas, a proscribed terrorist organisation, there lies a hardcore antisemitism that mirrors the same mentalities that fuelled hundreds of years of persecution of Jews in Europe.  Whilst the fact that someone who was a senior official in Hamas has made such blatantly antisemitic comments is not remotely surprising, his comments provide a telling illustration of the profound antisemitism at the heart of the terrorist group.

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Prominent Polish Priest says Jews bend truth to “whatever serves Israel’s interests”

Henryk Zielinski, a Polish Priest who is the editor-in-chief of Idziemy, a weekly Catholic publication, has claimed that Jews bend truth to “whatever serves Israel’s interests” or whatever is beneficial to them in an interview.

The Union of Jewish Communities in Poland filed a complaint about the comments on Monday. Zielinski said that Jews have a “completely different system of values, a different concept of truth. For us, the truth corresponds to facts. For the Jew, truth means something that conforms to his understanding of what’s beneficial. If a Jew is religious, then truth means something God wants.”

He then continued to say that for secular Jews “the truth is subjective or whatever serves Israel’s interests”.

According to the Definition of Antisemitism, “accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations” is antisemitic. Moreover, accusing Jews of twisting the truth to fit whatever is “beneficial” to them has strong undertones of antisemitic canards that paint Jews as dissembling, untrustworthy and rootless. This is particularly striking because Zielinski draws a dichotomy between Poles, who he says believe “truth corresponds to facts”, and Jews, for whom he seems to think truth can mean anything that suits a particular agenda.

Michał Karnowski, who was conducting the interview, did not challenge the comments.

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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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Putin praises author who said Jews were “hastening a second Holocaust”

Vladimir Putin has praised the antisemitic Russian author Alexander Prokhanov in a birthday message.

Putin praised the “social, literary and journalistic activities” of Prokhanov, who edits an ultra-nationalist newspaper that has called for a new cold war, on the occasion of Prokhanov’s 80th birthday.

“You have taken a great professional path, you have found your calling in your columns and in your social, literary and journalistic activities. You have always remained committed to your civic principles and ideals… I wish you good health and hope that your plans will be realized”, Putin wrote.

Prokhanov has said that Jews who protested against Russia’s actions in Ukraine were “hastening a second Holocaust”. He then claimed that Jews also “brought about the first”. Blaming Jews for the Holocaust is amongst the most profoundly antisemitic statements that one can conceivably make.

At the same time he said to the New York Times: “I am afraid that I am interested in a Cold War with the West”. More recently he wrote that he “worked day and night” towards such a conflict.

A character in one of his books, “Mr Hexogen”, claimed that Russian Jews were harvesting organs to sell to Israel, a claim that mirrors medieval blood libel, and which is frequently voiced as a conspiracy theory about contemporary Jews.

 

 

 

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Suspected antisemitic acid attack on Jewish baby in France

The 14-month-old daughter of a Rabbi in Lyon was rushed to hospital after acid was left in her pram.

The incident occurred on Monday. The baby was taken into hospital after her grandmother noticed burns on her body. She has suffered burns on her back and thighs, but is not thought to be in any danger.

The acid is thought to have been placed in the pram when it was left in a communal part of the grandmother’s apartment block. The acid appears to have been left in the inside of the pram whilst it was empty.

The police are considering the possibility that this was an antisemitic attack. A police spokesman said: “we take this case very seriously. But, for now, it is still unclear whether this case is an act of antisemitism, a neighborhood quarrel or gratuitous damage committed by thugs”.

The Rabbi alerted the police, who have taken the pram in as evidence.

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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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Graffiti calling to shoot “Zionists” in Berlin

Graffiti explicitly calling for violence against “Zionists” has been reported in  Karl-Marx-Strasse in Berlin.

The graffiti, which was discovered late last month, calls for “9mm for Zionists”.

It also shows a hammer and sickle, as well as the words “youth resistance” and “youth ahead”.

Calling for violence against “Zionists”, whilst also being clearly irresponsible in the context of rising antisemitism, when violence is called for against “Zionists”, it is usually a thinly-veiled stand-in for “Jews”.

The graffiti was crossed out by passers-by.

Whilst the far right is propelling an explosion in antisemitism in Germany, there is also a growing problem of antisemitism from the far left and Islamists. Last year a resurgent far right led to four antisemitic crimes per day in Germany.

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Polish PM faces criticism for claiming there were “Jewish perpetrators” of Holocaust when defending controversial Holocaust law

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has attracted ire from commentators around the globe for his claim that there were “Jewish perpetrators” of the Holocaust yesterday.

Morawiecki, of Poland’s ruling far-right Law and Justice party, a growing number of senior members of which have now made antisemitic comments, was fielding questions at the Munich Security Conference.

Ronen Bergman, an Israeli journalist, described how his mother’s family escaped from the Nazis after overhearing Polish neighbours discussing how they would report the family’s whereabouts to the Nazis. Bergman continued “If I understand correctly, after this law is legislated, I will be considered a criminal in your country for saying this”.

Morawiecki claimed, somewhat disingenuously, that claims of Polish perpetration would not be punished, saying that he acknowledged “as there were Jewish perpetrators, as there were Russian perpetrators, as there were Ukrainian perpetrators – not only German perpetrators”.

Claiming that there were “Jewish perpetrators” of the Holocaust, particularly claiming so alongside German perpetrators, is an outrageous attempt to downplay the fact that the Holocaust was an attempt to exterminate the entirety of the European Jewry. Whilst some Jews were involved in administering the ghettos, their position is one of academic controversy, and many acted out of a sense of necessity, often not knowing the extent of the Nazi’s plans. Invoking this to defend a law which has serious implications for study and debate about the Holocaust is unconscionable, particularly from the leader of a blatantly antisemitic party that is yet to discipline scores of members who have openly voiced antisemitic ideas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described his statement as “outrageous” saying that “there is a problem here of a misunderstanding of history and a lack of sensitivity to the tragedy of our people. I plan to talk to him soon”.

Avi Gabbay, the chairman of the Zionist Union, accused Morawiecki of speaking in the same terms of a Holocaust denier, saying that “the blood of millions of Jews cries out from Polish soil about the distortion of history and the escape from guilt. Jews were murdered in the Holocaust and Poles took an active part in their murder. The government of Israel must be the voice of the millions of those murdered and strongly condemn the words of the Polish prime minister.”

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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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Resurgent far right led to 4 antisemitic crimes per day in Germany in 2017

Police recorded 1453 antisemitic crimes in Germany in 2017, a figure amounting to around 4 each day.

According to the police the vast majority of these crimes came from members of the far right, a fact that is unsurprising. Despite the fact that Jews face antisemitism from the far left and Islamists as well as the far right, Germany is experiencing a troubling resurgence of the far right, a group that is unrepentant and militant in its hatred of Jews, with far right individuals often centring their world view around antisemitism.

The crimes include 32 acts of violence, 160 cases of property damage and 898 cases of antisemitic incitement.

In 1377 cases, 95% of the crimes, the police determined that the far right was responsible.

Despite commentary from abroad often suggesting that immigration is directly responsible for antisemitism in Germany, only 33% of offenders were foreign-born and only 25 cases were “religiously motivated”, amongst which Islamist crimes are included.

The author of the report believes that the majority of antisemitic crimes go unreported, which paints a deeply disturbing picture of the extent of antisemitism in contemporary Germany.

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Adviser to Polish President says Jews “fighting to keep the monopoly on the Holocaust”, blaming Jews for “collaboration”

Andrzej Zybertowicz, professor of Sociology at Nicolaus Copernicus University who also serves as an adviser to the Polish President, is the latest Polish official to make grossly antisemitic comments.

He said that Jewish opposition to Poland’s controversial new Holocaust law was based on “feeling of shame at the passivity of the Jews during the Holocaust”.

He described Israeli opposition to the law as “anti-Polish”, claiming that Jews  are”clearly fighting to keep the monopoly on the Holocaust”.

Accusing Jews of using or manipulating the Holocaust is antisemitic according to the International Definition of Antisemitism.

He also claimed that “Many Jews engaged in denunciation, collaboration during the war. I think Israel has still not worked it through”. Whilst many Jews were forced by the Nazis to assist their captors, his suggestions are clearly an attempt to shift blame for the Holocaust onto Jewish victims, which is deeply ironic given the passage of the law makes discussion of Polish collaboration an at-best legally precarious activity.

The passage of the law has already triggered a wave of antisemitism in Poland, and other senior figures in the ruling Law and Justice party, which is increasingly appearing to be an outright antisemitic and far right party, have already used it as an opportunity to frame their blatant antisemitism.

 

 

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Man shouts “Hitler had the right idea” at Jewish woman in Melbourne car park

A Jewish woman has told Australian media about how she was subjected to antisemitic abuse in a car park.

The woman, called Jacqueline, told 3AW about how she was approach out of the blue in the car park of a Coles supermarket by a man calling her an “ugly f*cking Jew”.

She commented that she “couldn’t believe what he had said, I thought he misunderstood, but he repeated the same thing even more viciously and loudly”.

Then as she was about to walk away he shouted “Hitler had the right idea”.

The man was travelling in the passenger seat of a dark-coloured 4WD, driven by a man in his 70s and with a teenage boy in the back.

The victim is Jewish, but has no idea how she was identified as such.

Antisemitic incidents increased by 10% last year in Australia.

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Politicians from Poland’s ruling party yet again openly express their antisemitism following Holocaust bill

Opposition from Jewish groups around the world to Poland’s controversial new Holocaust law, which criminalises any mention of Polish involvement in the Holocaust, has led to further outbursts of antisemitism, this time from various officials of the country’s far right Law and Justice Party. Last week we reported that the law’s passage had led to a spike in antisemitism.

Beata Mazurek, a spokeswoman for Law and Justice, tweeted a quote from a Catholic Priest saying that Jewish opposition to the bill “made it hard for me to look at Jews with sympathy and kindness”.

Jerzy Czerwinski, a Law and Justice party senator, said that the opposition was based on a “hidden agenda”, a comment made against the background of various commentators claiming that Jewish organisations wanted to extract money from Poland. After all, we know that Jewish circles, including American, but mostly the state of Israel, are trying to get restitution of property or at least compensation”, he continued.

A politician from the party has previously claimed that the antisemitic hoax the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a factual document. A lawmaker for the party wrote “I wonder why there are so many Jews among those performing abortions, despite the Holocaust”, in a claim eerily close to blood libel. A banner at one of the parties rallies demanded the “immediate liquidation of masonic Jewish life in Poland”. Another march organised by the party was  attended by thousands shouting white supremacists slogans, including calling for a “Jew-free Poland”.

 

 

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Muslim man arrested in Belgium for allegedly trying to run Jewish father and son over

The Jewish Community of Antwerp in Belgium have revealed that a man of Muslim origin has been arrested for allegedly trying to run over a Jewish father and son with his car.

The group released CCTV footage of the alleged antisemitic crime.

The incident is shown from two angles, the second of which clearly shows that the car was on course to hit the son before his father pulled him out the way.

A man has been arrested using the footage of the incident, and is to be charged with attempted homicide.

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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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Wave of antisemitism in Poland following passage of controversial Holocaust bill

The passage of the controversial law that criminalises suggestions of Polish complicity in the Holocaust has been followed by a wave of antisemitism in Poland, a country which already is amongst the most antisemitic in Europe.

The Israeli Embassy has reported that it has been sent a large number of antisemitic messages, issuing a statement in which they said “in the last few days we could not help ut notice a wave of antisemitic statements, reading the Embassy through all channels of communication”.

The Embassy has also voiced concerns of growing antisemitism throughout Polish society, including antisemitic statements made in the media, following the passage of the law.

The Embassy stated its support for the spirit of the law, emphasising that concentration camps in Poland should be referred to as “German Nazi camps”. However, the outpouring of antisemitism demonstrates ingrained problems in Polish society. The governing party of Poland, Law and Justice, have faced a string of controversies involving antisemitic members.

A few days ago barriers were put up around the Embassy following security concerns.

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Bulgarian far right set to honour Nazi collaborator for third year running despite nominal “ban”

Groups of Bulgarian neo-Nazis, skinheads, “patriots” and others on the far right are preparing for an annual march in honour of a Nazi collaborator.

Hristo Lukov was a Bulgarian nationalist who directly cooperated and allied himself with the Nazis.

A march is due to take place on February 17th in Sofia, the country’s capital. The march has taken place annually for 15 years, but for the last 2 years it was nominally “banned” by the authorities. Despite this ban, the march still took place both years and no action was taken to prevent it, or to punish those responsible for illegally organising it.

If the Bulgarian government is serious about taking action against antisemitism and far right activities, they must actually enforce this ban and ensure that extremist views are not given a free platform on the streets of their capital.

In previous years the march has been accompanied with Nazi graffiti being plastered on local buildings, and Nazi books including Mein Kampf were on sale openly on the streets.

Newspapers and online publications that have covered the controversy surrounding the march have reportedly received abusive and threatening mail.

 

 

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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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8-year-old Jewish boy attacked near Paris

An 8-year-old Jewish boy was attacked in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles yesterday, in what President Macron has decried as an antisemitic attack.

Two assailants, who according to the victim were around 15 years of age, attacked the boy whenhe was on his way to after-school tutoring. The victim was wearing a kippah when he was attacked.

Local prosecutors have told the press that they are treating the crime as antisemitic.

President Macron wrote on his Twitter account “An 8-year-old boy was attacked today in Sarcelles. Because he was wearing a kippa. Every time a citizen is attacked because of his age, his appearance or his religion, the whole country is being attacked” before continuing “And it is the whole country that stands, especially today, alongside the French Jews to fight each of these despicable acts, with them and for them”.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb described the attack as “cowardly aggression…contrary to our most fundamental values”.

Sarcelles is nicknamed “Little Jerusalem” for its high Jewish population, but antisemitic crimes targeting Jews and Jewish institutions in the area are disturbingly common.

Three weeks ago, a 10-year-old Jewish girl had her face slashed in Paris.

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Professor at Moscow State University tries to make Jewish student remove yarmulke

Professor Vyacheslav Babourin, head of the Department of Economic and Social Geography, has reportedly attempted to pressure a Jewish student into removing his yarmulke.

Professor Babourin reportedly refused to allow the Jewish student to sit an examination unless he removed his ritual head covering in what has been described as “blatant antisemitism” by Jewish groups in Russia.

The Professor gave the student the choice of removing his yarmulke or leaving the examination room, citing a rule against wearing any headgear.

Barbourin defended his behaviour, saying “Like at any other institution of learning, the university has its charter, in which, among other things, the accepted form of clothing is defined. I quite reasonably pointed out to the young man that he violated the charter and that he should bring his clothing to the requirements of the university, and then he can take the exam. I do not care who he is—a Jew, a Muslim, Buddhist or Sikh, whoever. I am a professor at Moscow University. I follow the charter and orders of my university”.

Professor Sergei Dobrolyubov, the faculty’s dean, also defended Babourin.

Levi Boroda filed a complaint and was allowed to sit the exam later that day. The student posted about the incident on his Facebook account, writing:

“Moscow State University—the best college in the state?…Discrimination on the basis of nationality, a direct violation of Article 136 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, is punishable [by] imprisonment. It’s strange that the best university did not take this [fact] into the account. Can you help? Write #MoscowStateUniversity #Sadovnichiy #JewsinMSU #antisemitism”

Russian Jewish Congress President Yury Kanner commented:

“A university professor must know that a yarmulke is a ritual headgear. And if he does not know this, he must sweep streets, but not be a professor of the Moscow State University. Because this is a manifestation of anti-Semitism. [It] is criminally punishable in Russia. If this is framed into the internal charter of the university—this is the problem of the university”

 

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Austrian man accused of shouting “Sieg Heil” and performing Nazi salute at Rabbi

A 49-year-old Austrian man has been arrested for allegedly shouting “Sieg Heil” and performing a Nazi salute, both of which he directed at a Rabbi.

The man is also accused of shouting “Mein Volk, Mein Reich, mein Fuhrer”, a motto of the Nazi regime.

The Rabbi was visiting the town of Ebensee for Holocaust Memorial Day. Ebensee has a memorial for the victims of the camp to which his family members were deported.

Austria has strict laws on expressing support for Nazism. However, concerns of antisemitism and far-right extremism have been growing with the ascendancy of the far-right Freedom Party into government, albeit as a junior partner in coalition.

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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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Neo-Nazis vandalize Holocaust memorial in Greece while others spray “Free Palestine” on it

A Holocaust memorial in Thessaloniki, Greece has been defaced by antisemitic thugs from both the far left and the far right this week.

Members of the far-right, ultra-nationalist party Golden Dawn, which has been justifiably described as neo-Nazi, defaced the memorial with the name of their party.

Golden Dawn had been protesting against Greece’s compromise with Macedonia over the latter’s name being identical to that of a region within Greece. The party’s history is littered with examples of its members expressing supporting for Nazism. Despite denying being a neo-Nazi party, Golden Dawn uses a Swastika-like symbol as its logo and its members have been found to have hoarded Nazi propaganda and many have openly praised Hitler and Nazism.

Days after defacing the monument, members of the party returned to the area to hand out leaflets. By this time, the monument had also been defaced with the words “free Palestine”.

Sabby Mionis, a Greek Jew who made Aliyah 12 years ago and who now heads the Jewish Agency’s taskforce for combating antisemitism, commented:

“Despite this government and Prime Minister (Alexis) Tsipras’s staunch stance against antisemitism, racist activists still pollute many Greek institutions”

“Everyone knows Golden Dawn is a neo-Nazi party, but what’s even more dangerous is antisemites who—motivated by their hatred of Jews—work behind the scenes to sabotage the two countries’ relationship. According to a study by the Anti-Defamation League, Greek is still the most antisemitic (country) in the non-Muslim world”

Shockingly, Golden Dawn hold over 5% of the seats in the Hellenic Parliament and 3 of Greece’s 21 seats in the European Parliament.

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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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Survey: 51% of European Jews feel unsafe wearing Jewish symbols in public, 27% feel generally unsafe

A troubling international survey of Jews has highlighted the worrying effect that antisemitism is having on Jewish communities in Europe.

A survey conducted by the World Zionist Organisation showed that many respondents felt unsafe as Jews, particularly in Europe. 51% of European Jews said they felt unsafe displaying Jewish symbols in public, whereas 27% responded that they felt unsafe generally.  A third had witnessed an act of antisemitic vandalism.

The answers whilst troubling, do not surprise us in the slightest. We have watched as antisemitism in many European countries has spiralled out of control, with authorities often out of their depth when dealing with antisemitic crime.

Outside of Europe, the picture is less worrying, although it still leaves serious cause for concern. In America, 22% of Jews said they felt unsafe displaying Jewish symbols in public and 11% said they felt generally unsafe. These figures, whilst not as bad as those in Europe, are still unacceptably high for a developed country in the 21st century.

The survey also highlights the importance of reporting incidents to the authorities. The majority of those who said they had been the victim of or witnessed an antisemitic incident did not report it. 6% said they feared for their safety if they complained to the police, whereas 30% said they did not want to make a big deal out of it. 42% said they lacked faith in the authorities to deal with it appropriately. Such scepticism of the authorities is not entirely unwarranted. In the UK, Campaign Against Antisemitism was forced to take the Crown Prosecution Service to Judicial Review, whereas court proceedings across the continent have demonstrated an abject failure in dealing with antisemitism, including a German court that ruled that firebombing a Synagogue was not antisemitic. Nonetheless, when an incident is not reported, it is often the case that no action or investigation will take place.

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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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15-year-old Jewish girl’s face slashed in antisemitic attack in Paris

A 15-year-old Jewish Parisian girl was attacked on 10 January during her school lunch break. The victim was wearing the uniform of her private Jewish school, Merkaz-Hatorah, when the assailant assaulted her with a knife. The victim sustained cuts to her face.

Whilst the victim was able to walk home, she arrived “bleeding and shocked”, her mother told Le Parisien. The assault came days after a suspected torching of two kosher shops near Paris, echoing the harrowing comments that the French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe had made in last month in December: “In our country, antisemitism is alive… it is well-rooted, and it is alive.”

Francois Pupponi, a lawmaker in the lower house of France’s parliament, denounced the assault, branding it “a heinous antisemitic attack.” The assailant ran away after the assault, and the victim was not able to see his face. In a statement produced on Friday, Pupponi commented, “I have no doubt the perpetrators of this attack had antisemitic motives.” He went on to explain that this is because, “In Sarcelles, everybody knows who is a practicing Jew according to the way they dress…when she is wearing clothes favoured by many women from the Jewish community, then there is no room for doubt.”

The assailant remains unidentified, and the police investigation is still ongoing.

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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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“Dozens” of Jewish graves destroyed in Eritrea

Vandals have attacked the Jewish cemetery in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, destroying “dozens” of Jewish graves.

A Jewish community moved to the area at the turn of the 20th Century and lived a relatively peaceful life free from serious antisemitic incidents, though the Jewish community has since relocated, mainly to Israel. The cemetery and a local Synagogue are now out of use.

Danny Goldschmidt, of the Jewish heritage museum in Tel Aviv, commented that “the cemetery suffered vandalism and a large number of graves were defaced…the police have yet to make an arrest”. He also remarked that there was no known history of antisemitism in the City.

The damage to many of the graves is heavy, and the study stone structures would have required serious effort to damage, probably requiring the assistance of equipment, indicating that this is likely premeditated.

Last week we reported a firebomb attack at a Jewish school in Tunisia. Five people have since been arrested.

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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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Jewish school in Djerba, Tunisia firebombed in drive-by attack

A Jewish school in Djerba, Tunisia, was attacked with a firebomb late on Tuesday in what police suspect to be an antisemitic attack.

The attackers threw the firebomb from a moving vehicle. Whilst some damage was caused to the building, thankfully nobody was hurt.

Police suspect that the attack intentionally exploited reduced police presence, as police resources were diverted to securing anti-Government protests.

Djerba, an Island, is home to a small Jewish community that has been in the country for over two thousand years. The island is home to Africa’s oldest Synagogue.

Since 1948 the Jewish population of the country has shrunk from around 100,000 to barely over a thousand.

 

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Suspected arson at Kosher supermarket in Paris on anniversary of antisemitic terror attack

A Kosher supermarket in Paris was hit by what police suspect to be an arson attack, three years to the day after a terrorist attack at a Kosher supermarket in which four were killed.

Promo & Destock store in Créteil suffered extensive damage to the shop front and interior in the fire.

Last week the store was reportedly vandalized with Swastika graffiti.

Whilst police say they do not have a motive for the attack, the preceding Swastika graffiti and the significance of the date on which the fire was started indicate a clear possibility that this is an antisemitic incident.

The area has a substantial Jewish population. Local community leader Albert Elharrar told the media “there’s a link between the graffiti and the fire. It’s clear that they came for no other reason but to attack a kosher shop on the day of the commemorations”.

 

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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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French tax system deliberately employs “extreme discrimination” against Jews, says expert

French tax expert and leading Advocate Itay Bracha has expressed his dismay over new French tax measures designed to subject French Jews, both those residing domestically and those emigrating to Israel, to a disproportionate level of scrutiny. Bracha has stated he knows of no similar regime anywhere else in the world.

The new department already employs 20 Hebrew-speaking staff and is in the process of hiring more.

Ostensibly US tax authorities have a similar department, but whilst the purpose of the US department is to regulate movements of capital between the US and Israel, the French department has been established with the primary aim of subjecting Jews to a greater level of scrutiny for tax offences than non-Jews.

Bracha described the department as constituting “extreme discrimination”, commenting:

“I know of no similar department to the one founded in France, and certainly not with that number of employees. There is a special department in the US because of the need for direct communication with the authorities in Israel, and taking into account the volume of trade between Israel and the US, but the main purpose is absolutely not to catch tax evaders.” Bracha added, “Such a department, which constitutes extreme discrimination against Jews in France, does violence to equality between different citizens. Establishing such a department is an unacceptable statement by the authorities in France, and puts the Jewish community in a very unflattering spotlight”.

A European nation subjecting Jews to extra legal scrutiny comes with worrying connotations, not only being eerily evocative of the centuries of legal persecution of Jews in Europe, but in that it seems to evoke antisemitic canards about Jews being conniving and miserly with money. The tacit expression of these sentiments is bad enough, but their writing into national tax policy in breach of the basic principles upon which western nations are founded is unconscionable. This comes at a time when French Jews are perpetually failed by their government by its impotence against rising antisemitism, which has been driving French Jews out of the country at an alarming rate. This visits upon French Jews the double indignity of being gradually pushed from their homes by escalating antisemitism whilst they are subjected to disproportionate scrutiny from their government.

 

 

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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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Jewish man’s home in Melbourne vandalized with Nazi graffiti on Christmas Day

A Jewish man in the Elsternwick neighbourhood of Melbourne awoke on Christmas morning to discover that Nazi imagery had been spraypainted onto his house.

Swastikas, “SS” and other Nazi imagery were spraypainted onto the windows and walls of the house, with the vandals having to scale a wall to get to the property, clearly indicating that they had purposely targeted a Jewish household.

Dr Dvir Abramovich, Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, commented

“We decry this disturbing act of bigotry which is an attack on the decency of all Australians

“I am alarmed by the growing level of malicious anti-Semitic vandalism and graffiti which constitutes a matter of great concern. It fits a pattern of increased racist crimes targeting the Jewish community. 

The Nazi swastika is a universal symbol of hate that represents pure evil, and is meant to intimidate and instill fear within religious, ethnic and cultural groups. This type of hate has no place in Australia, and such cowardly attacks are repugnant and are a gross violation of our values. 

There is no doubt that the spike in these threatening incidents, which traumatise the victims and create a climate of fear, serves as a sad reminder that anti-Semitism and racism are on the rise, and the message that must be conveyed by leaders across the political and religious spectrum is that this type of intimidating bigotry will not be tolerated. 

We must all say enough is enough, not in our city, and do all we can to combat this cancer.”

The victim posted photos to a Jewish Facebook group having covered up the graffiti with newspaper, but still felt shocked and disturbed having been the victim of an antisemitic crime.

 

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Antisemitic rant outside Israeli restaurant in Berlin goes viral: “you can all go to the gas chamber”

A 60-year-old man has been caught on camera making antisemitic comments in a shocking rant outside an Israeli restaurant in Berlin. The man is currently under investigation for inciting hate and resisting arrest.

The video quickly went viral, accumulating over 600,000 views on the day it was posted. The six-minute video depicts the man accosting Mr Yorai Feinberg, the owner of the Israeli restaurant.

Sadly, Mr Feinburg is no stranger to hate speech, revealing in an interview to German news that he receives about two pieces of hate mail per month – a shockingly high figure, and yet a statistic by no means atypical according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which shows an alarming number of individuals hold antisemitic views in Germany.

“This guy saw my menorah in the window and suddenly started shouting,” Mr Feinburg told the Spiegel online.

The video shows the man initially trying to wave the camera away, but goes on to tell Mr Feinberg that Jews do not belong in Israel or Germany, stating, “nobody wants you people.” He went on to say “Everything’s about money with you… you will have to pay up in five or ten years. And your whole family, your whole clan here”, an antisemitic allegation relating to Jews and business, a view that the ADL shows some 33% of the German population shares.

The man goes on to say, “What did you all want here after 1945? After 6 million of you were killed. What do you still want here?”, Mr Feinberg who had been trying calmly to neutralize the situation, is then shown to wave down a passing police car. In response to this the man says, “no one will protect you…you can all go to the gas chamber. Either go back (to where you came from) or off to the bloody gas chamber. No one wants you.” It is unclear from the video whether the man was under the influence of alcohol or any other substance at the time.

The head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, made it clear to the Juedische Allgemeine newspaper that this incident is a clear reflection of a growing trend: “this disgusting attack brings home the point that anti-Semitism has reached the mainstream of society, where it is expressed openly and bluntly.” He went on to state that many Jews now worry about whether it is indeed safe for them to live in Germany.

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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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Several public menorahs vandalized over Chanukah

Several public Chanunikiyot, or Chanukah Menorahs have been vandalized in several locations internationally as Jewish communities celebrate the festival of Chanukah.

A menorah in Kiev was vandalized and was doused with what police believe may be pig’s blood. This comes a mere month after a Jewish community in the city was vandalized with graffiti reading “death to the kikes”.

A nine foot Menorah in Seattle was destroyed and dragged to a park. The menorah was later reconstructed. Rabbi Yoni Levitin called the act “extreme disturbing”, saying it has “no place” in the community.

In Illinois, at least two students are facing charges for vandalizing a Chabad house’s Menorah.

In two days time, four students of Penn State University will appear at court accused of destroying a public Menorah and leaving its debris outside of a Jewish fraternity. The incident took place last month, as the frame of the Menorah is left up all year.

Each Chanukah there are multiple reports of Chanukiyot being vandalized by antisemites. They often target those put up by the Chabad movement, who often erect large public displays in Jewish areas.

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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 in Austria chant “slaughter the Jews”

In the latest of a series of incidents of serious antisemitism at anti-Israel protests, open incitement to violence has been caught on film at a protest in Austria.

Footage that shows protesters chanting “slaughter the Jews” has just been brought to our attention.

The protest took place on Friday afternoon, following Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

A page called “BDS Austria” also shared a video in which the same chants were clearly audible.

Protesters in New York have also called for violence against Jews in the past week, and in Sweden chants of “we are going to shoot the Jews” could be heard in a protest that was followed by a disgraceful fire bomb attack on a Synagogue.

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Chapel at Jewish cemetery firebombed in Sweden, the second attack of its kind in a week

Swedish Police have announced that they are investigating an arson attack at a Jewish chapel at a cemetery in Malmo.

The attack took place on Monday, but has only just come to our attention.

Two firebombs were thrown at the building, but appear to have caused little damage. From an image of the exterior of the building, it appears that they bounced off the wall and burned out on the ground in front of the chapel.

Earlier this week we were among the first English language sources to report a similar incident in the city, where 20 masked men attacked a Synagogue in Malmo with firebombs, leaving those inside, who were attending a youth event, to take refuge terrified in the building’s basement.

After yet another terrifying escalation of antisemitic violence in Sweden, and in Malmo in particular, we restate our calls for enhanced police protection for Jewish communities in the city, where Jews are subject to the constant threat of antisemitic violence.

 

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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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Swedish state TV claims that the “Jewish lobby” caused Trump to move embassy

Sweden’s primary state broadcaster has been forced to apologise after claiming that “the Jewish lobby” was responsible for Donald Trump moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

On its report on Wednesday immediately following the announcement, the broadcaster claimed that the “Jewish lobby in the US is incredibly strong” and it “has championed this issue for a long time”.

One persistent antisemitic image is the antisemitic canard of Jewish “control” over things such as political affairs, attributing to a faceless and monolithic “Jewish lobby” a disproportionate amount of power.

Charlotta Friborg, executive editor and publisher of SVT News, said “it was an unfortunate choice of words that immediately was corrected”. However, it is not merely “unfortunate” when one unambigiously uses the language of antisemitic conspiracy theorists, but a clear and direct manifestation of antisemitism.

Sadly, such comments being sanctioned and parroted by state television will do nothing to help Jews in the country, who already face growing antisemitism from both the far right, the far left and from Islamists.

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Europe Everyday Antisemitism Featured Location Medium Sweden Television Ξ Channels Ξ E-mail

Swedish state TV claims that the “Jewish lobby” caused Trump to move embassy

Sweden’s primary state broadcaster has been forced to apologise after claiming that “the Jewish lobby” was responsible for Donald Trump moving the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

On its report on Wednesday immediately following the announcement, the broadcaster claimed that the “Jewish lobby in the US is incredibly strong” and it “has championed this issue for a long time”.

One persistent antisemitic image is the antisemitic canard of Jewish “control” over things such as political affairs, attributing to a faceless and monolithic “Jewish lobby” a disproportionate amount of power.

Charlotta Friborg, executive editor and publisher of SVT News, said “it was an unfortunate choice of words that immediately was corrected”. However, it is not merely “unfortunate” when one unambigiously uses the language of antisemitic conspiracy theorists, but a clear and direct manifestation of antisemitism.

Sadly, such comments being sanctioned and parroted by state television will do nothing to help Jews in the country, who already face growing antisemitism from both the far right, the far left and from Islamists.

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“We are going to shoot the Jews” chanted at anti-Israel protest in Sweden

On Friday night protesters congregated in Malmö, Sweden, purportedly to voice their opposition to Donald Trump’s relocation of the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

Around 200 people attended the protest.

Among other things, protesters allegedly chanted “we want our freedom back and we are going to shoot the Jews”.

Calle Persson, a communications officer for the police, said “we take this kind of thing seriously in general. It could be an incitement for people to commit crimes”. However, it has not been disclosed if any arrests were made on the scene. If no arrests were made at a protest where people were allowed to call to “shoot the Jews”, the police response will seem tepid at best.

This incident is yet another example of the antisemitism in Sweden that is spiralling out of control, but it also demonstrates the antisemitism that is increasingly tolerated in the anti-Israel movement. As tensions in the Middle East escalate, unfortunately we are likely to see antisemites targeting Jews in the diaspora.

Protesters again congregated in the same place yesterday, where they were heard chanting “the Jews should remember that the army of Muhammed will return”, words that were repeated at a demonstration in London, too, where no arrests were made. These are symptoms of the thinly-veiled Islamist antisemitism being dressed up as acceptable political discourse within anti-Israel movements.

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20 masked men attack Gothenburg Synagogue with firebombs

A Jewish community in Gothenburg, Sweden, has been left in shock after around 20 masked men attacked their Synagogue yesterday night at around 10pm.

The Synagogue had been hosting a social event for Jewish students. When the Police arrived, the attendees had taken refuge in the Synagogue’s basement.

A spokesman for the local police said that “there are several molotov cocktails that have been thrown against the synagogue”. Thankfully, the building itself did not catch fire and nobody was seriously hurt.

Despite the shocking nature of the incident, the police do not seem to have any leads. In an online statement they commented that they “do not know much more than there are several molotov cocktails that have been thrown against the synagogue”.

Whilst the identity of the attackers is unknown, some have speculated that the attack could be linked to a march against Donald Trump’s policy on Jerusalem which took place earlier that day. Nonetheless, it could also easily be an attack from the far right.

Such an attack essentially amounts to terrorism against Jews in Europe. Unfortunately, with antisemitism reaching terrifying levels in some parts of Sweden, escalations of violence such as this are increasingly unsurprising. Thankfully the Synagogue was protected by its security staff who alerted the police and kept attendees safe, but this incident highlights the important of sufficient security being provided to Jewish communities.

 

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Palestinian man arrested after smashing windows of Amsterdam Kosher restaurant

A Palestinian man has been arrested in Amsterdam after he allegedly smashed the windows of a Kosher restaurant, before storming in and making off with the owner’s Israeli flag.

The incident occurs following Donald Trump recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

The man carried a Palestinian flag and shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he smashed the windows. with a metal rod, astonishingly as police officers apparently looked on.

The owner’s son commented “No one has ever seen anything like that. We are all worried. It happens sometimes that people spit inside [the restaurant] but we’ve never seen anything like this”.

Unfortunately, rising tensions between Israel and Palestinians often leads to antisemitic acts being directed against Jews in the diaspora. This means that authorities across the world will need to be increasingly vigilant as antisemites use tensions as an excuse to target Jews and Jewish institutions.

 

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Travelling Auschwitz exhibition’s opening marred by over 100 antisemitic social media posts

Over 100 antisemitic social media messages have been reported to Spanish authorities after a travelling exhibition was targeted by antisemites ahead of its opening.

The exhibition, which features over 600 objects from Auschwitz, including a freight carriage used to transport captives to the camp, is being organised by Musealia, a Spanish company. Musealia’s director, Luis Ferreiro, was inspired to launch the exhibition after reading “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Victor Frankel, an Auschwitz survivor. Mr Ferreiro said “If I had been a movie director, I would have made a film; if I had been an author, I would have written about it, but I am part of a family exhibition company, and we have invested a lot in the conservation of these objects, their transportation and expensive production ”.

Commenting on the scores of antisemitic social media messages the exhibition attracted, he commented that “people use the anonymity of social media to launch negationist and hate-filled messages. This shows us that there are still people who need to know this story”.

Musealia have organised the exhibition in conjunction with the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum. It started in Madrid this month, and will travel to 7 European cities and 7 American cities in the coming 7 years. School groups and children attend free.

Robert Jan van Pelt, the exhibition’s chief curator, is unsurprised by the antisemitism it has prompted. He commented: “I have spent 30 years working in this area and Auschwitz attracts deniers. What we are doing with this exhibition is establishing the facts and putting solid evidence on display”. Sadly, we must agree with him – this story is entirely unsurprising, as experience tells us that any Jewish issues coming into the public eye risk being met with floods of antisemitism.

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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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Blood libel in Russia as Church urges investigators to consider whether Tsar’s death was “ritual killing”

An influential Russian Bishop has prompted investigators to consider whether “ritual killing” was behind the death of the Tsar.

Bishop Tikhon, who is rumoured to be a personal spiritual advisor to Vladimir Putin, told a conference that was attended by top Russian intelligence agents that they should investigate whether the Tsar’s death was a “ritual killing”, a claim that clearly mirrors medieval blood libel.

Hardliners in the Russian Orthodox Church have long claimed that the Tsar’s death was a “Jewish” ritual murder. Father Chaplin, formerly a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church, once commented that “many people in today’s church believe the tsar was killed by Jews”.

Tikhon’s comments to the attendees at the conference made no explicit reference to the “ritual killing” being carried out by Jews, but Jewish groups have criticised him for reinvigorating a long-standing piece of antisemitic rhetoric, and lending credence to those who genuinely advocate the idea that Jews killed Nicholas II. Alexander Boroda, head of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia, said that the “accusation against Jews of involvement in ritual murders is one of the most ancient forms of antisemitic slander”. Accusations of Jews carrying out ritual murder have been used to incite violence against Jews, particularly in medieval Europe, and are known as “blood libel”.

The investigation into the deaths of Nicholas II and his family was reopened after pressure from the Church, who considers him a saint, in 2015.

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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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Arts Desecration Europe Everyday Antisemitism Featured Location Medium Poland Ξ Channels Ξ E-mail Ξ Social Media

Polish “artists” display video showing a naked game of tag filmed in actual Nazi gas chamber

Several Jewish groups, including the Organisation of Holocaust Survivors in Israel and the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, have written to the Polish President to demand an explanation as to why a lewd video was allowed to be filmed inside a former Nazi gas chamber.

The video was filmed by a group of artists and displayed in 2015, drawing criticism from Jewish groups. Whilst it depicted a game of tag in a gas chamber, the shooting location was not disclosed, and many assumed it was done in a studio. After an investigation, it was discovered that the video was filmed in the actual gas chambers of Stutthof concentration camp. The gas chambers were added in 1943, and 65,000 people were killed in the camp, including 28,000 Jews.

The joint statement reads:

“At the time, no comment or word of critique was heard from Polish official sources regarding the video, neither from the Prime Minister’s office, nor from any official/ government representative- not Poland’s Ministry of Culture or Foreign Ministry, or from Krakow’s city mayor”

“Extensive research recently revealed that the site where the video was filmed is the gas chamber at the Stutthof concentration camp, and it is this discovery which prompted the demand for clarifications from the Polish leaders and the administration of the Stutthof concentration camp site (and museum)”

The letter demands information as to whether the artists were able to “obtain permission from the Stutthof administrators to make this video, what rules exist for proper conduct at the site, how these are enforced”.

In 2015, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow appeared to be dishonest when questioned by Jewish groups, removing the exhibition as they reassured the Jewish community, before immediately reinstating it. Astonishingly, the exhibition to which it belonged was originally sponsored by the Israeli embassy, who condemned it and withdrew their support once the nature of the display became apparent.

The filming of a video by a group of “artists” in gas chambers, a location that epitomises the sheer evil of the Nazi death machine, displays a manifest, brazen disregard for the victims of the Nazi Holocaust, both Jewish and non-Jewish.  The pressing questions that have been asked in this letter remain unanswered, and steps must immediately be taken to ensure that the memory of those who were murdered by the Nazis is not desecrated further.

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Hard right German MP accused of making antisemitic videos for extremist group over 2 year period

Peter Felser, a member of the Bundestag for the hard right party “Alternative for Germany” (AfD), is facing accusations of being responsible for producing extremist material, some of which has been banned by a German court.

Felser is the owner of wk&f Kommunikation, a production company that between 2001 and 2003 made several campaign videos for an extreme right party called the Republikaner, a party that has been monitored by the authorities for its extremist activities.

One video was banned by a Court for “endorsing, denying or downplaying the Holocaust”, whilst another was described as “clearly of antisemitic character”.

Felser has expressed his regret and stated “indeed, they could be understood as a denial of the Holocaust”. However, this apparent contrition offers little comfort. AfD has faced a string of antisemitism scandals. One of their candidates appeared to face little-to-no action from the Party despite having shared an image of Hitler captioned “Missed since 1945 … Adolf, please get in touch! Germany needs you! The German people!” in a private Whatsapp group. Another infamously described a Holocaust memorial as a “monument of shame”. A member of the Party’s board also promoted a slew of antisemitic conspiracy theories. There is little to suggest that the antisemitism present at the top of the Party isn’t also common amongst its rank and file members, with antisemitic material sometimes being displayed by members at its events, such as here.

The prevalence of antisemitism within AfD’s political establishment casts an unfavourable light on Felser’s business activities. Worse still is the fact that the arrangement wk&f Kommunikation had with the Republikaner was clearly an ongoing business relationship, not just a one-off transaction. The nature of the work clearly required wk&f Kommunikation staff to become familiar with the sort of organisation they were working with, as they were producing content for them. This means that in a business owned by Felser, at best, there were those who thought it acceptable to profit off antisemitism.

Unfortunately, Felser simply expressing his regret leaves a lot to be desired, and leaves many questions to be answered about the nature and extent of his personal dealings with these far-right extremists. At a time when Germany experiences increasing antisemitism and a political culture that many Jews perceive as drifting worryingly to the right, the prevalence of antisemitism in a Party that recently polled over 12% in Federal elections will only contribute further to a growing sense of unease among the country’s Jews.

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Paedophile Priest told victim his crimes were an “old Jewish ritual”

Mauro Inzoli, a Catholic Priest recently convicted of child sex offences, claimed that his abhorrent crimes were merely an “old Jewish ritual”.

Inzoli, who was condemned by Pope Francis, as found guilty of eight counts of sexual abuse of children aged 12 to 16 years old between 2004 and 2008. He molested children during confession, away on camps, and even at hospital.

He told one victim that his actions “referred to a sort of ‘baptism of the testicles’ which he said was a Jewish ritual found in the Old Testament as a sign of affection between father and son”. None such ritual exists in Jewish practice.

Inzoli was sentenced to five years in jail, and has been defrocked by Pope Francis, meaning he will not be able to serve as a Priest in any capacity. He was also ordered to pay damages to his victims.

Whilst this is not necessarily an antisemitic incident, the fact that Inzoli used the Jewish religion as a way of targeting his victims is utterly horrifying, and deserves remarking upon by Jewish sources.

 

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Football fans in Sudan display banner of Hitler’s face with the word “Holocaust” in “gruesome first” for the country

In what has been described as a “gruesome first” for sub-Saharan Africa, football fans have engaged in a public display of blatant antisemitism.

Sudan’s Al-Hilal Omdurman, a Khartoum-based club, appear to have displayed a huge image of Hitler, as well as the word “Holocaust” at a match. Al-Hilal Omdurman are one of the country’s largest clubs.

Police reportedly secured the block of seating where the incident occurred, but failed to make any arrests.

Fare, an organisation that tackles discrimination in football, is investigating.

Recently we produced a substantial amount of commentary of antisemitism and far-right extremism in European football.

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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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Jewish mother and son assaulted by Muslim women in France

A Jewish woman and her son who were shopping in a town near Toulouse, France, have allegedly been attacked by three Muslim women.

The incident occurred in Carcassonne, about 50km outside the city of Toulouse, and is being reported as an antisemitic incident.

One of the assailants allegedly saw the woman’s Star of David pendant and her and her two younger friends attacked the pair.

Eyewitnesses believe that the assailants, a veiled older woman and two younger women, could be a mother and her daughters.

 

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Polish hotel owned by far-right extremist displays sign refusing entry to Jews

A hotel in Cesarzowice, Poland, is being investigated by local authorities after a picture emerged of a sign reading “Entry forbidden to Jews, Commies, and all thieves and traitors of Poland”.

The hotel is reportedly owned by far right extremist  Piotr Rybak, who was convicted of burning an effigy of a Jew in 2015 and is currently facing jail for having allegedly violated his parole conditions by shouting an antisemitic chant at an Independence Day rally which was organised by far right groups, many attendees of which called for a “Jew free Poland” and a “White Europe”. He is currently under partial house arrest for incitement, having finally being convicted for burning the effigy in 2015, narrowly missing out on jail time.

The Anti-Defamation League have called on Polish prosecutors to take appropriate action against him.

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Argentine Jewish author breaks into tears on air when reading antisemitic email

Federico Andhazi, a Jewish-Argentine author and journalist, has broken into tears on air when recounting antisemitic abuse he has received.

The author was speaking on the popular “I give my word” program.

Andhazi began by recounting the story of his grandmother, Esther Fainzilber, who was arrested in 1953 in the Soviet Union when participating a study group, eventually fleeing the country.

He then began to quote pieces of an antisemitic email he received. One passage stated “Jewish Zionist, piece of scourge, not even good enough for poor quality soap”, which he said was just one piece of a long antisemitic email. This is of course a reference to the Holocaust, as soap was manufactured from the remains of many victims.

Andhazi commented:

“This is part of the mail and, really, it is the most readable, I read it because I do not want to keep silent, because when we keep silent, the truth is that it did not go well. They have no chances, democracy is here to stay, we will defend it with tooth and nail, let them know, and also with the words”

“You have to know that we will not be silent. You have to know that we will look for you. With law and justice. We will not be silent and we will not rest. We already know from which server this terrible threat came out. Let the criminals know, yes,  they are criminals, that it will not happen again. I promise in the name of Esther Feinzilber, in the name of my grandfathers, who had to flee their land because of people like them. But I have bad news for them, this time they will not be able to”

A video, in Spanish, can be viewed here.

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UN drops Palestinian “Supermom” who claims Jews drink Arab blood, yet Amnesty International fail to act

Crowned a “Supermom” by the Arab press, Manal Tamimi, 45, a pro-terrorist Palestinian activist, has recently lost her status as a UN “human rights defender” because of antisemitic tweets that accuse Jews of drinking Palestinian blood.

On September, 2015, this post appeared on Tamimi’s Twitter feed: “Vampire zionist celebrating their Kebore Day [Yom Kippur] by drinking Palestinian bloods, yes our blood is pure and delicious but it will kill u at the end” (September, 2015).

Tamimi’s tweet promotes the classic blood libel, which goes back centuries, that Jews murder non-Jews, especially children, so that Jews can use their blood to bake matzos for Passover, and re-enact the crucifixion of Christ.

The tweet is part of a series of antisemitic tweets that Tamimi posted starting in 2015. The married mother of four calls for both violence against Jews, “Zio roaches”, and the destruction of Israel. The tweets are accompanied by vile drawings that pay tribute to Nazi era political cartoons.

“I do hate Israel, i do hate zionism, i wish a third Intefada  [Intifada] coming soon and people rais [raise] up and kills all these zionist settlers everywhere”. (August 1, 2015)

“…I have a very good Jew friends, I hate Zionists & I’m not denying that, Zionism, KKK and ISIS R all the same to me” (August 20, 2017)

“The much needed button–delete Israel” [referring to nuclear holocaust] (October 5, 2015)

“You will never make peace with vampires because the taste of your blood will always attract them” (March 31, 2016)

However, it is significant that Tamimi, who is constantly calling for the expulsion of Jews from Israel, only lost her honored title because of an official complaint about her tweets that was filed by the NGO Monitor, Jerusalem, a watchdog that tracks the activities of human rights groups. A letter of protest was delivered to the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights.

In response to NGO Monitor’s complaint, Tamimi, the leader of the Popular Resistance Organization Committee, was removed from the list of “human rights defenders” that had been compiled by S. Michael Lynk, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in the disputed territories.

Earlier this year, Tamimi, who runs an online news service, the Tamimi Press, spoke at a  EU financed conference that was held in Barcelona, Spain. The topic was “preventing violent extremism”.

Her participation in that conference strains the boundaries of reason. Every Friday, for the past 7 1/2 years, Tamimi, her husband, Bilal, and their followers, have marched from their  village of Nabi Saleh, to the Jewish community of Halamish, where the group hurls rocks at the Israeli soldiers, who are guarding the town. On July 21, 2017, in Halamish, three members of the Salomon family were stabbed to death by Palestinian terrorists while they were having their Shabbat dinner.

It is important to note that Tamimi has not publicly condemned the murders, and, in fact,  sees nothing wrong with stone throwing. According to a report in the Algemeiner, “the Tamimi’s contend that the soldiers’ arrests of rock throwers constitutes persecution of the residents of Nabi Saleh”.

It is a given, however, that a thrown stone is as dangerous as a gun. In recent years at least 15 Israelis have been murdered as a result of stone throwing, and countless others have been injured. Given Tamimi’s mindset, it is deeply troubling that she was invited to appear at a conference that condemns violence.

And the fact that this conference was funded by the European Union is of great concern. NGO Monitor President Gerald Steinberg told the Algemeiner, “There is no excuse for funding Jew hatred in the guise of promoting peace…or for giving antisemites such as Tamimi the status of ‘human rights defenders'”.

Steinberg is highly critical of the actions of both the UN and the EU: “the disconnect between noble objectives and immoral actions has been clear for many years”. Steinberg believes that “full transparency and oversight for the massive sums [of money] going to radical NGOs is crucial so that this behavior is halted”.

However, unlike the UN, Amnesty International, has embraced Tamimi’s cause, despite her blatant antisemitism. According to the Algemeiner, “Amnesty has declared that Tamimi’s village, Nabi Saleh, is a “community-at-risk”.

Amnesty researcher, Saleh Hijazi, who has worked in the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Ministry of Planning has publicly stated: “We need to tell the Israeli authorities: enough – you are no longer facing a tiny village on a small hill. You now have the entire Amnesty movement to reckon with”.

According to the Algemeiner, in an undated essay published in the Huffington Post, Edith Garwood, Amnesty International USA’s specialist on Israel, the disputed territories and the PA, wrote that Tamimi’s group from Nabi Saleh “face frequent violent repression from the Israeli army just for practicing their human rights to peacefully expression their opposition” to Israel.

Garwood believes that “even in cases where the protesters have thrown stones…these have posed little or no serious risk” to the targeted Israelis.

The fact that Garwood, a prominent Amnesty International official, can so easily disregard Tamimi’s virulent antisemitic tweets, while downplaying the connection between stone throwing and fatal traumatic brain injuries, should send up a red flag to the international community.

Amnesty International fails on all levels, as a social justice organization, when its contempt  for Israel is so great, that it whitewashes stone throwing as a form of legitimate peaceful protest.

What Amnesty International’s position regarding Tamimi’s remark that Jews are blood-drinking vampires is unknown.

However, what is known is that, in 2016, government officials banned Tamimi from entering the UK. The British Home Office  has refused to explain why Tamimi was denied a visa.

 

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Czech politician says that Jews, homosexuals and Roma should be gassed

Jaroslav Staník, the secretary of the far right Freedom and Direct Democracy party, has called for Jews and Roma to be gassed.

Stanik exclaimed “Jews, gays and Roma should be gassed” in Parliament, causing a confrontation with other parties. This occurred in a private restaurant that is part of the Parliament complex and which is not accessible to the public.

One eyewitness, Marek Černoch, claims that Stanik said that Jewish and Roma babies should be shot, commenting that he “demanded that all homosexuals, Roma, and Jews should be shot immediately after they have been born. He also verbally attacked the women that were present with gross insults”.

His calls to gas Jews, homosexuals and Roma have been confirmed by several eyewitnesses.

Stanik is reportedly a close ally of the party leader,  Tomio Okamura.

The far right party holds 22 out of 200 seats in the country’s lower house.

Such comments obviously represent some of the worst verbal displays of antisemitism we see in contemporary Europe, a fact made all the more disturbing by the fact that they originate from an elected official. We will report on any action taken against Stanik, either by the authorities or by his own party.

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Polish far right rally 60,000 for Independence Day, with marchers chanting “Jews out of Poland” and calling for a “White Europe”

Poland’s independence day has been marred by a huge White Nationalist rally, in which 60,000 Poles took to the streets to join a march organised by far right groups.

The parade marked 99 years of Polish independence.

“Thousands” of the marchers reportedly called for a “Jew free” Poland, in one of the most stark displays of antisemitism in Europe for years. Whilst the official slogan of the march was “We Want God”, many marchers were heard chanting, “White Europe”,  “Pure Poland, Jew free Poland,” and “Jews out of Poland,” and “Refugees get out”.

Whilst in Britain far-right Marches are often outnumbered by anti-Fascist protesters, the contingent who turned up to oppose the 60,000 of the far right march numbered only around 2000.

One participant of the march defended those attending, yet still admitted that 30% could be from the far right.

The march was organised by White Nationalist groups, yet it attracted a large number of members of the governing Law and Justice Party. There have been several antisemitic incidents within the party, including the promotion of a Minister who claimed the Protocols of the Elders of Zion to be a factual document. In 2015, a banner at one of the party’s marches read “We demand the immediate liquidation of masonic Jewish life in Poland. It threatens Poles”.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry called upon the Polish government to take action against those responsible for organising the parade. In August we reported that Polish Jews have found themselves at a recent “low point” due to escalating antisemitism in the country.

Despite the blatant displays of antisemitism, racism and xenophobia, Mariusz Błaszczak, Poland’s interior minister, said that “independence day…was safe” and described the march as a “beautiful sight”.

 

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With “hundreds” of fans performing Nazi salutes, it’s time to take firm action against antisemitism in European football

The far-right has long seen European football as a recruiting ground. In Britain, informants and even players have claimed that neo-Nazi groups often infiltrated groups of football fans. Similarly, fears have previously been raised about neo-Nazi elements establishing themselves in various countries, including Germany, Spain, and a myriad of other European countries.

These troubling links between the politics of the far- right and European football should cause us to pause and reflect on the “Jewish” character that many European football clubs have assumed in their rivalries. Famously, Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League has been known as the “Yid Army” for decades. Whilst Tottenham has always had a significant Jewish supporter base, the epithet “Yid” is used both by non-Jewish supporters, and by non-Jewish supporters of opposing teams, who often use it as an insult.

Opposition to the use of the term is often dismissed as over-sensitivity. Many Tottenham Hotspur fans view the term as affectionate, and opponents often see derogatory use of it as solely attached to the club, with antisemitic intent absent. Yet, many matches between Tottenham and other London clubs will be marked by hissing noises from the stands – an attempt to mimic the sound of the gas chambers, as well as multiple puerile chants clearly targeting Jews. The extent of these chants is well documented, examples can be read about here and here. This antisemitism has even previously escalated into a stabbing.

Several recent incidents on the continent illustrate just how deeply ingrained this antisemitism has become in what is referred to by its fans as the “beautiful game”. Last week, Lazio fans plastered images of Anne Frank in a Roma jersey around the stadium that the two rivals share, and the BBC reports that antisemitic slogans such as “Roma fans are Jews” were also found in the stadium. Whilst Roma is not a club that has a reputation as an ostensibly “Jewish” team, like Spurs and Ajax are, it does have a large Jewish following, something almost certainly not lost on many Lazio fans, who have previously used the Holocaust to taunt their rivals before; in 1998, Lazio fans flew a banner reading “Auschwitz is Your Homeland. The Ovens are Your Homes”. The Italian Football Federation have announced that a hearing is to be held, which Lazio representatives will have to attend.

The reaction to the Anne Frank stickers was fierce, but time will tell if there is any bite behind the bark. Sergio Mattarella, Italy’s President, called the stickers “inhumane”, and “an insult and a threat”. Anxious to salvage the club’s reputation, Lazio President Claudio Lotito visited a local Synagogue, yet a local news source claims that a recording shows him mocking the visit, which he allegedly treated as a mere charade.

One initiative taken that was taken following these disgraceful scenes was that Lazio appeared in t-shirts bearing Anne Frank’s face to display their opposition to the Antisemitism of their fans. Across Serie A, extracts from Anne Frank’s diary and Primo Levi’s “If This Is A Man” were read at matches, followed by a minute of applause. Yet across Serie A, sections of fans ignored the displays, or worse. Hundreds of Juventus fans allegedly turned their backs and sang the Italian National Anthem. Worse still, 500 Lazio fans outside the Stadium sang Nazi songs and performed Nazi salutes during the ceremony. Crotone fans also reportedly sang their club’s songs as the reading was taking place. Many of the fans taking part in these despicable displays are thought to be “ultras”, a word used for football hooligans in Italy.

There are growing calls to permanently ban those involved with such displays of antisemitism. The police have already identified 16 individuals suspected of being involved with the Lazio incidents.

These events could easily lead one to the impression that efforts to combat antisemitism in football is futile. The response – involving police investigations, a genuine effort to increase awareness, widespread, unequivocal condemnation from political and sporting leaders, and attempts to build bridges with the Jewish community – was thorough and generally appeared to be carried out in good faith. Yet if this is followed up with prosecutions and stadium bans, the authorities will be in a position to demonstrate the antisemitism in football is completely unacceptable and will meet strict sanctions, something which is yet to be achieved on a widespread basis in London derbies involving Tottenham. In order to seriously tackle this problem, football fans need to acknowledge the uncomfortable fact that racism and antisemitism are still disturbingly common in Europe. The language of antisemitism does not stand in isolation, but is a continuation of the antisemitism prevalent in society at large. Until this is recognised, and perpetrators are consistently identified and sanctioned, antisemitism will always enjoy a safe refuge in the hearts of European societies – their national sport.

English football once had a far more pronounced problem with racism, far- right extremism and hooliganism. Groups such as the National Front determinedly sought to recruit football fans, producing a magazine, The Bulldog, which devoted pages to covering the sport. The Bulldog was freely distributed in many football stadia in the country. After the Heysel football tragedy, a crowd crush in Belgium at a match between Liverpool and Juventus, leaflets for the far-right British National Party were found in the terraces, according to Christos Kassimeris, a prominent academic writing on racism in football. Many of these activities seem to coincide with the decline of the far-right as a political force following the advent of the Thatcher government, as many of its target supporters were drawn towards mainstream conservatism, which had been repackaged to have a greater appeal to sections of the white working class. The Bulldog was founded in 1981 and the Heysel tragedy was in 1985. Senior National Front figures such as Martin Wingfield and Martin Webster both publicly stated that various factions of the National Front targeted football fans in their recruitment according to Anthony King in The European Ritual. Christos Kassimeris and others have suggested that the decline in political support for the National Front caused them to increase their activities, dropping previous pretence of having a broad economic program, and instead focusing on populism capitalising on racist sentiment.

Whilst in Britain, huge progress has been made in reducing racism and far-right activity in football grounds, 50% of match-goers witnessed racism since 2010, down from 61% between 2000 and 2009, and 67% between 1990 and 1999. Football fans can face criminal sanction in the UK under several statutes: individual racist expressions can be charged under the Public Order Act 1986 for using “obscene or foul language at football grounds”. Repeated racist chanting, but only by grounds of supporters, became a criminal offence under section 3 of the Football (Offences) Act. It was only with the passage of the Football (Crime and Disorder) Act 1999 that individuals were caught under a specific offence, but only if they repeatedly chanted racist slurs. The changes in the criminal law, though not perfect, have led to a decline in overt racism in English football. Concurrently, efforts within football have made a clear difference. The Kick It Out campaign was born out of cooperation between groups including the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE), the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) and the Football Supporters Association (FSA). The Kick It Out initiative established a set of guidelines, including preventing the circulation of far- right materials in stadia. Whilst some far-right material has been distributed in the last 20 years, and racist chanting still happens, both are in a clear decline. All of these measures, however, require good-will from prosecutors, clubs and the majority of fans, to have serious impact. Increased fines for clubs, bans for players and supporters, and perhaps most potently, point deductions, can help create incentives to stamp out overt displays of racism. If, however, we are presented with the reality of extremists once again targeting football fans, bans of those who are known to be associated with far right groups outside of football may be prudent. The fact that 500 Lazio fans congregated outside the ground to perform Nazi salutes and chant Nazi slogans strongly suggests that these individuals had already previously been banned for their behaviour, but in order to ensure they are not able to poison the wider footballing environment, measures such as those often taken in the UK – such as banning them from being within a certain distance of a football ground within a certain time period of a match – would go a long way, as would seeking an understanding from bars popular with supporters that they will be refused entry, something currently achieved with police cooperation from bars in towns with trouble-prone nightlife.

 

Only time will tell whether there is any serious prospect of reducing the influence of the apparent deeply ingrained antisemitism from, at least, hundreds of Italian football fans. However, in the UK, where Tottenham supporters’ groups stubbornly refuse to recognise the antisemitism of their use of the word “yid”, and where there are frequent displays of virulent antisemitism from opposition fans, there are also lessons to be learned. Where one group of fans uses this slur “in appreciation”, shortly after, outright antisemitic abuse comes as a reaction. The actions of those who engage in outright antisemitic abuse at football matches is obviously totally unacceptable. However, the fact that football fans abuse their own clubs’ reputations by using these epithets as a badge of honour has to be recognised as something that is taking the high amounts of emotion that are present at sporting events, and allowing this to be dumped on Jews by opposing fans. The result is a culture that is still, despite all the progress in cleaning up European, and particularly British, football since the “bad old days”, still can be fundamentally unwelcoming to Jews, where sntisemitism goes largely unpunished.”

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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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Paris Jewish family saved from “antisemitic” arson attack by loyal family dog

Members of a Paris Jewish family perhaps owe their lives to their vigilant dog, who saved them from an arson attack.

The family was awoken by barking in the night. When they investigated, they discovered that their front door had been set ablaze. They discovered their apartment rapidly filling with smoke.

Police say that someone had doused the door with a highly flammable liquid. The family have said they suspect a neighbour who has made antisemitic and extremist comments.

Last week the family had their car torched.

The National Bureau for Vigilance Against Antisemitism commented that “the incident confirms BNVCA’s observation that antisemitic acts that began as targeting property belonging to Jews (synagogues, schools, community centers) or as assaults on people on the street have evolved into attacks on Jews inside their own homes”.

If further investigation confirms that this attack did have an antisemitic motive, which given the current circumstances in Paris and the targeted nature of the attack would not be surprising, it will indeed represent yet another escalation in the French capital which looks increasingly dire for the country’s Jewish community.

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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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Holocaust denial and calls to destroy Israel at NZ Mosque

A video of an Iranian diplomatic speaking at an Auckland, New Zealand, Mosque has revealed several antisemitic sentiments being expressed at an event organised for the Shia community in the country.

The video was reportedly uploaded by the Islamic Ahlulbayt Foundation of New Zealand. The diplomat apparently said that terrorism was being fuelled by “enemies of Islam” and “Zionists”. A common antisemitic conspiracy theory holds that Israel is responsible for ISIS and other terrorist groups.

Other comments were made both by the speaker and a New Zealand Muslim leader, and included Holocaust denial and calls for the destruction of Israel.

Paul Moon, a Professor and head of the Israel Institute in New Zealand commented: “This is the sort of language that was used in Germany in 1930. This is Jewish dynasty conspiracy language. It’s very dangerous, it’s racist and it’s wrong. That’s the concern a lot of people have with it”.

Complaints have been lodged with the Human Rights Commission and the country’s foreign minister. Several stories in the past month have led to serious concerns over antisemitic discourse in Mosques in western countries. Last month, a Canadian Imam was revealed to have called on Allah to slaughter the Jews and another called Jews “human demons”. In August, a Californian Imam claimed that his calls for Allah to destroy the “filth of the Jews” had been “misconstrued”.

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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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American feminist writer claims that rape is “related to” Zionism

Mahroh Jahangiri, an American feminist writer and activist, has claimed some sort of causal link between “Zionism” and rape.

Sharing a screenshot of an article about sexual violence, Jahangiri tweeted “if we can admit rape is related to racism/militarism/zionism/our role in white supremacy writ large, we’ll be better equipped to address it”.

Zionism is merely a movement for Jewish self-determination. There is absolutely no plausible connection between Zionism and sexual violence, beyond the unfortunate fact that sexual violence is common everywhere in the world.

Furthermore, in listing Zionism alongside “racism” and “white supremacy”, Jahangiri portrays Zionism as an “inherently racist endeavour”, which is antisemitic according to the International Definition of Antisemitism.

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Turkish “satire” shows a caricature of a Jew drinking blood, controlling world politics

Sumac, a satirical newspaper supportive of the Turkish government, has published a piece of blatantly antisemitic propaganda portraying an Orthodox Jew drinking blood and controlling world affairs.

The cartoon shows a caricature of an ultra-Orthodox Jew drinking from a teacup with the European Union flag and with the NATO symbol on his shoes. He sits opposite Donald Trump, portrayed as Caligula.

This is a classic example of an antisemitic conspiracy theory. Such conspiracy theories often portray Jews as manipulating world affairs and being “behind the scenes” of world politics. The use of conspiracy theories is commonly used to incite hatred and violence against Jewish individuals.

The two are being served what appears to be blood by Golen, a former preacher who is exiled in the USA due to his alleged involvement in the Turkish coup.

Portraying Jews as drinking blood is known as blood libel, a defamatory accusation against Jews that dates back to the Middle Ages, when Jews were accused of killing Christian children to bake matzo. It has been used to incite countless pogroms against Jews.

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Dutch football fans mock the Holocaust on Twitter using image of child victims

Fans of the Dutch football team Feyenoord have used their rivalry with Ajax as an opportunity to mock victims of the Holocaust.

A Dutch caption placed over an image of two Holocaust-era Jewish children wearing the Nazi yellow star reads “when 020 had one star”. The number is a reference to the postal code of Ajax.

Ajax has, like Tottenham Hotspur in London, a reputation of being a “Jewish” club. In the past, rival fans have been heard chanting antisemitic slogans and songs, including “Hamas Hamas, Jews to the gas”. The Antisemitism got so bad that many Jewish fans stopped attending games.

The image shows Avram (5) and Emanuel Rosenthal (2), who were both murdered by the Nazis a matter of weeks after the photograph was taken.

Another image shared on Twitter shows a warning label on a packet of cigarettes which has been made to read “smoking will kill you, so free packs for any Ajax Jew”.

Ronny Naftaniel, the executive vice chair of CEJI, described his “shock” at seeing the image, saying ““Feyenoord supporters, for once leave Jews alone if you must taunt Ajax”.

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German Left Party local chair calls his party leader a “sneaky Jew” on social media

Mekan Kolasinac, the Chairman of the German Left Party in the City of Saarlouis, has called an MP from his own party a “sneaky Jew” on Facebook.

Kolasinac called the head of the federal party,  Bernd Riexinger, a “sneaky Jew”. Describing Jews with pejoratives such as “sneaky” ties in with long-standing antisemitic canards; antisemites often accuse Jews of being duplicitous and manipulative, pulling the strings behind events. Kolasinac’s comment is not just an off-hand insult, but an expression of an insidious form of antisemitism.

Kolasinac admitted making the comment, but said that he regretted having done so, addressing his “Jewish friends” in the statement.

The Left Party is a populist left wing party that often takes an anti-Israel stance. In 2010, neo-Nazis praised members of the party, including MPs, who refused to stand for Shimon Peres. At least one MP from the Left Party, Christine Buchhloz, has supported terrorist organisations Hamas and Hezbollah as organs of “legitimate resistance”.

The post can be viewed below.

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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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Sustained assault on 10 year old Jewish girl at her school: an indication of a wider malaise in French society?

At the beginning of October 2017, a ten year old Jewish girl was verbally abused and beaten up so badly by her classmates, for several days in a row, because she was Jewish, that she sustained injuries to her ribs and abdomen and had to be hospitalised.

The girl is French and attended a school in the 18th arrondissement in Paris, where most of her classmates were Muslim.

The girl’s mother, who wished to remain anonymous, said, One of the schoolboys, named Ishmael, beat her after saying ‘I do not love you because you are Jewish.’ The boy also told her: not to pronounce his name Ishmael, for it is the name of a prophet.”

The mother reported the incident to France’s antisemitism watchdog, the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Antisemitism (BNVCA). Paris’s Local Education Authority confirmed to the BNVCA that they would take the incident seriously, and would transfer the girl to a school of her choice.

According to an account on 6th October 2017 by Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the child’s mother added that the family had suffered a psychological shock and needed help. She said that her daughter had nightmares and was constantly afraid of being assaulted.

The CUFI article sets out what looks to be a pattern for the persecution of Jews in France:

  • An increasing number of Jewish families are moving their children from public (state) schools because of growing antisemitism from Muslims in state schools

  • In 1970 only 7,000 French children attended Jewish schools. Today, there are 35,000 Jewish children in Jewish schools in France. In addition, 35,000 Jewish children attend private Christian schools

We also learn that 40,000 French Jews have emigrated to Israel since 2006, and the exodus peaked after the attacks on Charlie Ebdo and Hyper Cacher supermarket. Approximately 10% to 35% had returned to France subsequently but it is believed that the attacks on French Jews since 2006 had acted as a catalyst.

It is suggested that there are parallels between the plight of French Jews and Jews in the UK as regards authorities’ apparent inability, (and what looks to be unwillingness in certain cases in the UK), to act to the full extent to protect their Jewish citizens from attack and punish the perpetrators of such attacks to the full extent of the law. Campaign Against Antisemitism’s latest research has shown that attacks on Jews and Jewish establishments are increasing but prosecutions are falling, and where perpetrators are prosecuted, the sentences handed down are so lenient as almost to be laughable.

At a micro level, the French 10 year old has had to leave the school whose staff had so consummately failed to keep her safe. Just last week, Everyday Antisemitism reported on a mob attack on a group of Jews who were leaving their Synagogue, the latest in a long line of examples of serious antisemitic violence. At a macro level, Jewish emigration from France is increasing, ostensibly for the same reason. Somehow, hatred of Jews has become acceptable in France and the UK to the extent that those whom Jews rely on to keep them safe seem to be almost incapable of doing so, therefore Jews are leaving.

What lessons can be learned from these events before it is too late?

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Synagogue goers in Paris reportedly attacked by mob of Muslim youths

Several members of a Synagogue in  Garges-les-Gonesse, a Paris suburb, have reportedly been attacked by a mob of around 20 Muslim youths.

The mob apparently were shouting “screw the Jews” and “Allahu Akbar”, as well as various antisemitic slurs.

At least one was armed, with eyewitnesses claiming that one used tear gas.

Several attempted to climb the wall to gain entry to the Synagogue itself.

The attackers were reportedly aged around 15 and above. The four Jews who were attacked managed to alert the police who arrived quickly, but not before the assailants had scattered, leaving them badly shaken up. The attackers are yet to be apprehended or identified.

This is yet another shocking example of the escalating antisemitism in France. Several major incidents that we have covered can be viewed here. These include the allegedly antisemitic murder of a French Jew by her Muslim neighbour, a French champion of “co-existence” calling on Hitler to “kill the Jews”, and a Jewish man having his finger sawn off by antisemitic attackers. There are also many incidents of vandalism, including “hundreds” of tombstones in a Jewish cemetery being destroyed or damaged, attempted arson of Synagogues, and many incidents which go unreported.

 

 

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Thug hurls molotov cocktail at Jewish centre in Moscow in failed Arson attack

CCTV captured footage of a thug attempting to set a Jewish centre in Moscow ablaze with a Molotov cocktail.

The footage, which can be viewed here, shows the thug throwing a Molotov cocktail at a building belonging to the Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia on Obrazov Street, Moscow.

Thankfully the projectile bounces off the building so there were no injuries and no substantial property damage.

The identity of the vandal is currently unknown.

 

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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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Antisemitic conspiracy theory claims Jews are behind “Islamophobic” opposition to female genital mutilation

Everyday Antisemitism has been made aware of what is a rare beast indeed: an antisemitic conspiracy which we had not previously encountered.

We were forwarded an article on the website of an Islamic speaker called Asiff Hussein. On his website Hussein discusses various Islamic issues.

The article with which we are concerned discusses female genital mutilation, which Hussein rather telling refers to simply as “female circumcision”. In it he recounts an incident in which he advocated for a form of FGM. He recounts the shock of a largely Muslim audience at the event hosted by a Muslim Women’s Rights organisation.

He claims that western science that supports the practice has been suppressed “to conform to Islamophobic sentiments expressed by a largely Jewish controlled media” because it is “in the interests of the Jews to criticize female circumcision while promoting male circumcision”.

He claims that Jews need to run this supposed campaign against FGM to maintain their religious legitimacy, apparently under the impression that any science that supported the practice would legitimise Islam over Judaism, as some Muslims have traditionally carried out the practice whereas Jews have not.

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. Mr Hussein’s comments attempt to portray this supposed Jewish influence as so powerful that it can overturn the scientific method and manipulate Muslims into abandoning their own practices. It is in fact clearly reminiscent of the most virulent antisemitic conspiracy theories have been used to incite violence against Jews. It is also deeply insulting to moderate Muslims to suggest that the only reason they take more moderate stances is because of this supposed Jewish influence.

 

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50 arrested as neo-Nazis march on Yom Kippur in climate of increasing antisemitism from Left and Right

Swedish society has had a major problem which hardly ever makes the news abroad, in the shape of the rising antisemitism increasingly evident from all sections of society.  In September this year, in an article reminiscent of Campaign Against Antisemitism’s recent UK study which found that 1 in 3 of the Jews polled had considered leaving Britain because of antisemitism, Arutz Sheva reported that in Malmo, Sweden’s third largest city with a population of 300,000 barely 500 Jews remain today of more than 2,000 who lived there in the 1970s.  The rest had left either for Stockholm or for Israel.  The European Union’s Agency for Fundamental Rights reveals that a third of the Jews of the Old Continent have stopped wearing religious symbols because of fear of attacks. From Denmark to Germany Jews are warned not to wear the Jewish kippah.  Elsewhere we read of chants in Arabic of “Death to the Jews!”  Malmo, however, seems to believe that it can deal with the problem by talking about it and argues that this is becoming successful. However, while the number of reported antisemitic hate crimes has decreased recently, Frederick Sieradzki, chair of Malmo’s Jewish community thinks that that does not tell the whole story.

“If you look at the raw statistics it can look like things are improving, but it can also be just that registered crimes are down,” he said.  And then, perhaps unwittingly, Sieradzki names the fundamental problem which faces Jews everywhere in the west, that antisemitism is becoming so normalised and embedded into the discourse that far too often it is not recognised for what it is:

“If you don’t feel like something has happened, why would you report it? That’s a problem.”

In Sweden as elsewhere in Europe, left wing antisemitism is also emerging and strengthening. In 2015 events in Umea, where a 77th anniversary of Kristallnacht was commemorated to which no Jews were invited, evidenced not only that the organisers were totally insensitive to the impact of such a decision but also a growing trend of at least minimising the importance to Swedish Jews of commemoration of the Holocaust.  Jews were not invited, according to one Jan Hägglund, a local lawmaker and member of the local (left-leaning) Workers’ Party [better known as the Social Democratic Workers’ Party (SAP), Sweden’s largest party], because the rally could “be perceived as unwelcoming or unsafe situation for them.” According to [the centrist Swedish newspaper] Norrköping Tidningar, previous rallies have included Palestinian flags and banners where the Star of David was equated with the Nazi swastika. (The reader may be forgiven for wondering at least why such displays were permitted in the first place at these events if it was believed that they would lead to Jews feeling unsafe at them).

Perhaps as a result of similar thoughtlessness and failure to apprehend or assess their impact, there are also much more recent signs of the emergence in Sweden of far right antisemitism, see here and here .   The last is particularly egregious. For all its laid-back attitude to such insult to others, it should beggar belief that Swedish officialdom should permit a Nazi rally to march past Gothenburg’s synagogue on the holiest day of the Jewish year. Following the outrage from Jewish community leaders, a court in Gothenberg  rerouted the planned neo-Nazi march on Yom Kippur farther away from its synagogue.

The Gothenburg administrative court ruling concerning the 30th September march by the far-right Nordic Resistance Movement overrode the suggested route by police. The court also shortened the route, so that the Yom Kippur worshippers will not now have to encounter the neo-Nazis.

When the march went ahead, it was marked by violence between neo-Nazis and the police. Clashes between neo-Nazis and counter-protesters led to 50 arrests, with what reports portray as quite serious clashes between the two and police, with projectiles being thrown and fireworks being ignited. Around 600 neo-Nazis marched in black body armour in a pseudo-military display of intimidation.

On our initial report on the NRM, we uncovered several explicitly neo-Nazi beliefs which are clearly directly inspired by Hitler. Similarly, the tactic of large public marches with militaristic iconography is reminiscent of early Fascism.

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French Judge finally allows antisemitic motive onto charge sheet for brutal murder of Jewish woman

The Judge conducting the hearing into the murder of Sarah Halimi has finally accepted that antisemitic motives for the attack should be added to the charge sheet.

Halimi was allegedly thrown from her apartment in April by her neighbour, who had reportedly been heard calling her a “dirty Jew”. During the investigation into her death, French Jewish groups accused the authorities of having covered up the antisemitic nature of the attack, claiming that she was “butchered for the sole and only reason that she was Jewish”.

After extensive pressure from French Jewish groups, the Judge accepted that antisemitic motives should be added to the charge sheet yesterday.

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“Gas the Synagogue” trends on Twitter after community gives refuge to protesters, police threaten to use tear gas on Synagogue

Twitter has blacklisted the trending hashtag “Gas the Synagogue” after concerns were raised by Jewish groups.

The hashtag began trending after a Synagogue in St Louis took in 250 protesters who were protesting after a police officer was found not guilty of killing a black man in 2011.

The police allegedly used tear gas and rubber bullets to suppress the protesters. The Central Reform Congregation opened its doors to 250 protesters who had initially gathered outside the police department.

The police are also alleged to have, quite shockingly, threatened to use tear gas on protesters when inside the Synagogue.

As many protesters were tweeting their appreciation of the Jewish community for their solidarity, neo-Nazis had taken to Twitter to invoke the extermination of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust by tweeting “#GasTheSynagogue”.

By the time Twitter finally blacklisted the hashtag, it had already been seen by scores of people and generated attention from advertisers, which has caused some to question how such obviously hateful statements are allowed to pick up such momentum on the platform to begin with.

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German authorities refuse to classify attacks on Synagogue as antisemitic as Rabbi claims antisemitism is routinely downplayed

The city of Ulm, in the state of Baden-Wurtenberg, in southwestern Germany, is on the banks of the Danube. In World War II The Jews of Ulm, around 500 people, were first discriminated against and later persecuted, and their synagogue was torn down after Kristallnacht in November 1938. Baden Wurtenburg now has some 2,800 Jews who belong to the community, according to the Central Council of Jews in Germany.

The New Synagogue in Ulm, dedicated in 2012, is a magnificent building, On 26 August and 2 September 2017, the synagogue was attacked. One or more perpetrators kicked at the building’s facade and later rammed it with a metal post, breaking through the outer wall. According to reports, repairs will cost several thousand dollars.

This alone is unconscionable. Incomprehensible however is the reaction of the local police:

On 12 September, an Ulm police spokesman said that antisemitism was “not out of the question,” but added that investigators were looking into all possibilities and that there were no suspects. This in spite of the fact that an image of a possible perpetrator carrying an object resembling a metal post was publicised on 11 September, along with a telephone number for potential witnesses to call. The photograph, which also shows two people with the man, was got from a security video camera. The police report also notes that “investigators are aware that the perpetrator and his companions were seen by witnesses shortly before and after” the incidents.

Rabbi Schneur Trebnik told the Juedische Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany’s Jewish weekly, that authorities routinely play down reports of antisemitic incidents, and that community members are fearful of being recognized as Jewish on the streets. (This is reminiscent of the findings of CAA’s recent Antisemitism Barometer in which 39% of the British Jews polled replied that they concealed their Judaism in public). Rabbi Trebnik said that In this case, local Jews are upset that no one who saw the attack in progress called police.

This reluctance to act against vandalism perpetrated on the New Shul in Ulm  is worrisome to say the least, but the German police’s attitude in this case seems to form part of a pattern which is depressingly familiar. In 2016, a German appeals court declined to question a lower court over its verdict that three Palestinian men who tried to set a Wuppertal synagogue on fire in 2014 were not guilty of antisemitism. The defendants had claimed they were motivated by anger at Israel and not by antisemitism and they were believed. The lower court had found that while the targeting of a synagogue was serious circumstantial evidence, it could not conclude that the act was committed out of antisemitic motives. This is ludicrous, given the ease with which the PA, Hamas et al conflate “Jews” and “Zionism”, and an obsessive negative focus on Israel can argued to evidence antisemitism regardless of the circumstances (See reference in the EUMC working definition below).

To add to the confusion, in another case in 2016 a court in Essen upheld a verdict that anti-Israel chantings of “death and hate to Zionists” at a 2014 demonstration were tantamount to antisemitism.

That confusion could easily be have been clarified by the guidance in the EUMC’s working definition of antisemitism, which includes:

Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.

In addition, such manifestations could also target the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity.”

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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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Swedish police allow neo-Nazis to march outside Synagogue on Yom Kippur

Police in Gothenburg, Sweden, have outrageously given a neo-Nazi group the go-ahead to march outside a Synagogue on Yom Kippur, the most sacred day of the Jewish calendar.

A joint statement from Aron Verständig, chairman of the Official Council of Swedish Jewish Communities, and Allan Stutzinsky, chairman of the Jewish Community in Gothenburg, commented that “Aside from out of fear for our own security, it evokes uncomfortable associations for us Jews. During the Holocaust it wasn’t unusual for the German Nazis to conduct their horrendous atrocities on the most important days of the Jewish calendar”.

The Nordic Resistance Movement is a neo-Nazi group who gathered hundreds of members on May Day to march against the “global Zionist elite”.

When this event came to light in May, we read their manifesto, exposing explicitly neo-Nazi policies which take clear, direct inspiration from Hitler’s ideas. These include the forced deportation of non-whites from Europe, a program to “racially assess” residents, and a pan-Nordic Nationalism which seeks to impose its ideology of racial “purity” over all Northern Europe. They describe Jews as “parasites” and suggest that “Jewish racism” has been a pervasive since the Biblical era.

The planned route of their march takes them within yards of the Judiska Församlingen synagogue and community centre.

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German Jew harassed by man asking “Can we set him on fire?”

A Jewish man in Aachen, Germany, was on his way home from prayer services at his synagogue when two men in the street began to make loud comments about his appearance.

The Jewish man was wearing a hat and suit, which the two allegedly drunk men repeatedly commented on, saying “But, oh well, look at this one – a Jew”. One of the men turned to the other and asked “Can we set him on fire? Can we set him on fire?” several times, his friend responded that he had “no idea” and told his companion to continue walking.

Though other people were present to witness this incident, nobody attempted to stop the two men.

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Jewish family beaten, tied up and robbed in their own house in antsemitic attack in Paris

Members of a prominent Parisian Jewish family were brutally beaten and held hostage in their own home on Thursday.

Three attackers allegedly broke into the house of Victor Pinto and his family, shouting “you are Jewish, you have money”.

Pinto is the President of the Siona group, which represents Sephardi Jews.

The attackers cut through the window bars of the house before cutting off the electricity in the house. They then tied up Pinto’s son and beat his wife.

Pinto was finally able to contact the police on Friday morning, whereupon the attackers fled.

The attackers are reportedly three black men in their 20s and 30s. They made off with jewellery, cash and credit cards.

The Pinto family were taken to hospital for treatment, but are unsurprisingly “extremely traumatised”.

The National Bureau for Vigilance against Anti-Semitism called the attack “manifestly antisemitic”, a characterisation with which we would have to agree. This is not a mere robbery “gone wrong” as such attacks are sometimes dubbed. Instead, the family were subjected to a prolonged and violent ordeal, and were clearly identified as Jewish beforehand. They were subjected to antisemitic abuse and reportedly “threatened with death” as they were “violently beaten”.

Whilst an incident as shocking as this can unfortunately happen anywhere, it is likely to serve only to deepen the feeling that Jews are becoming unwelcome in France, and in Paris in particular, with antisemitism spiralling out of control. We await the response of the police, particularly after French Jewish groups recently claimed the authorities “whitewashed” the antisemitic character of the murder of a Jewish woman.

 

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Romanian pop star Xonia poses for provocative photos at Holocaust memorial in Bucharest to dismay of fans and Jewish communities

Australian-born Romanian pop star “Xonia” has attracted large amounts of criticism, including from her own fans, for posing “seductively” at the Bucharest Holocaust Memorial.

Many fans criticised her after the pictures, which feature her wearing very little, were posted on her social media. One commented “those people were gassed and you chose the monument that commemorates them to show your a** there?! Very ugly!”

Despite the outrage from fans, the photos remain on her social media and it appears that she wishes to use the photos for an album cover.

The Elie Wiesel Institute for the Study of Holocaust in Romania is supposed to approve any commercial activity that takes place around the memorial, and they are currently investigating, having expressed their dismay at the situation.

The sheer crassness of using this location for commercial activity, let alone in such a blatantly sexualised way, is shocking. It is encouraging to see that even Xonia’s fans have criticised her for the blatantly disrespectful photographs, but the prospect that she may yet use them for commercial gain is troubling.

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Haredi man allegedly attacked by recent convert to Islam in Antwerp who hurled antisemitic abuse at him

Shomrim have confirmed that there is an investigation into an alleged antisemitic assault in Antwerp.

A Haredi man was walking home from his Synagogue after the Kabbalat Shabbat service on Friday night when he was accosted by a man who is reportedly a recent convert to Islam.

The assailant allegedly hurled antisemitic abuse at him and punched him in the face, leaving him requiring medical treatment.

The police arrived promptly and arrested the man, who is now under investigation.

Jewish institutions in Antwerp require extra police protection due to the high probability of antisemitic attacks. The image for this article, showing a Haredi man cycling in Antwerp as an armed guard watches on, was not taken on Shabbat.

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Antisemitic graffiti in Birmingham, UK, claims that Jews are “starving” people with “their food prices”

Antisemitic graffiti has been found on Moseley Road in Birmingham, on the junction with Edward Road.

The graffiti reads “Jews r starving us with their food prices”.

Whilst instances of antisemitic graffiti are unfortunately very common, and often seem quite insignificant, this is a particularly nasty antisemitic sentiment. Not only is it is a clear expression of long-standing antisemitic canards which accuse Jews of controlling international business, it is also vaguely reminiscent of blood libel in portraying such a conspiracy as being directed towards “starving” non-Jews.

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Berlin Mayor refuses to stop fundraiser for Palestinian terrorists at Socialist Newspaper’s offices

According to the Berlin daily, Der Tagesspiegel, a fundraiser for the terrorist group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), was held on July 11 in Berlin. The Mayor of Berlin, Michael Muller, who has been publicly accused of being soft on antisemitism and terrorism, ignited a firestorm for allowing the fundraiser to proceed.

Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the Director of Nazi War Crime Research, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Israel told the Jerusalem Post:”PFLP should be banned from staging events anywhere in the world.”

Zuroff also stated: “The Mayor should have said he found this offensive. The PFLP has murdered innocent civilians in many places.” The military wing of the PFLP, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, takes pride in launching Sumud rockets from the Gaza strip, which are aimed at the Israeli town of Sderot.

The Democratic Committee for Palestine reportedly held the fundraiser in the publishing house of the socialist newspaper, Neus Deutschland (New Germany).

The PFLP, who supports the destruction of Israel, is known for suicide bombings, plane hijackings, and targeted murders. And one of those tragic murders included the 2001 assassination of the Israeli Minister of Tourism, Rehavam Zee’evi.

But this is not the first fundraiser in Germany for the PFLP. At the University of Hamburg, a guest professor from South Africa, BDS supporter, Farid Esack, invited his “comrade”, the PFLP terrorist, Leila Khaled, to a fundraiser for the PFLP in 2015. Khaled is the world’s first female plane hijacker.

Not surprisingly, Esack’s actions were widely condemned. Dr. Efraim Zuroff, in an article in the Jerusalem Post said: “A person who is sponsoring an unrepentant terrorist is hardly a person who should be educating German students.” And Zuroff, who added that “BDS is antisemitism” certainly has the support of German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, whose Christian Democratic party declared BDS to be antisemitic at a party congress in 2016.

But just like BDS, fundraisers for terrorists in Germany are not banned. However, making a Nazi salute is banned. And, on August 4, two unnamed male tourists from China found out about this law the hard way, when they were arrested by Berlin police for snapping cellphone photos of each other giving Nazi salutes, in front of the Reichstag, the seat of the lower house of the German Parliament.

Obviously, saluting Hitler is abhorrent behavior, and it is understandable why the German government, given the horrors of Germany’s past, are happy to set this limit on free speech, and punish those who celebrate, even symbolically, Hitler’s barbaric regime.

But reason also dictates that raising money for terrorists, so that they can buy weapons and kill innocent people, is clearly a greater threat to the 82 million people living in Germany than a raised arm.

However, given the tragic terrorist attacks that Germany has suffered, officials, to their credit, do not whitewash the potential terrorist threats that the country is still facing. The BfV, Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, released its annual report in 2016. Tragically, the document reveals that Radical Islam is alive and well.

The numbers: There are 24,400 Islamists, 10,OOO Salafists, Sunni Muslims who believe that the German Constitution must be replaced by sharia law, and 10,000 members of the Turkish Islamist Milliu Gorus.

In addition, there are 680 potential Islamist threats influenced by Salafist ideology.

BvF also confirmed that hundreds of “jihadists” entered the country when one million migrants entered Germany during the humanitarian crisis in Syria.

According to Hans-Georg Maassen, who heads the BfV, “we must expect further attacks by individuals or terrorist groups.”

Maasen explained:”Islamist terrorism is the biggest challenge facing BfV and we see it as one of the biggest security threats facing the internal security of Germany”.

But there is progress. Maassen told reporters that Germany has “dramatically stepped up its efforts to combat Islamist militancy, with a record number of arrests, prosecutions, and departures over the past year”, Interior Minister, Thomas de Maizere told the press.

But that statement leads to this question: Since Germany’s commitment to defeat terrorism is beyond dispute, why is it legal to raise money for terrorists? And what does that mean for German Jews?.

The answer, which has existed for thousands of years is, of course, antisemitism. Daniel Killy told the Jerusalem Post that Germany’s Jews are faced with antisemitism that is caused by “a combination of extreme right wing forces, deteriorating security, and [Germany’s] welcoming of refugees brought up in cultures ‘steeped in hatred’ for Jews”.

Of the 118,000 Jews in Germany, 2,500 of them live in the city of Hamburg, where Killy is the leader of the Jewish community.

“We no longer feel safe here,” Killy stated.

All eyes on Germany.

 

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Israeli Jew beaten by Egyptian in Lithuanian bar, left with broken nose and requiring stitches

Eli Cohen, an Israeli Jewish student holidaying in Lithuania, was allegedly beaten by an Egyptian man in a bar in Vilnius.

Cohen went for a bar crawl around the City which was organised by the hostel he was staying in.

Cohen explained that “a guy walked up to me in one of the bar and asked me where I was from. I said I was from Israel. His eyes went wide and he said, ‘I’m from a state that’s an enemy of yours, Egypt”.

Cohen attempted to be diplomatic, saying “we’re not enemies. There’s a peace agreement between our countries. I myself visited Egypt and had a great time”. However, the Egyptian allegedly persisted, asking “Did you serve in the army? Do you think Israel belongs to the Jews or the Palestinians?”.

Cohen said he didn’t want to talk about politics, tried to shake the man’s hand, and then went to another part of the bar. Despite this, the Egyptian man glared at him for much of the night, before approaching him and saying “There’s no such thing as Israel, only Palestine. You’re occupying their land”.

Cohen then said that the man pinched his cheek and then proceeded to punch him until the bouncer separated them, and took Cohen to the toilet to attend to him.

Despite the violent nature of the incident, local police were not involved.

Writing on his Facebook page, Cohen said “Jew hatred is alive and well in the world, as I learned tonight when I was attacked merely for being an Israeli Jew”.

Cohen was left with a broken nose and requiring stitches at the local hospital.

 

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Japanese Minister Taro Aso says Hitler had the “right motives”, later retracts

Japanese Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso has drawn criticism from Jewish groups for seemingly praising Hitler.

Aso said that “Hitler, who killed millions of people, was no good even if his motive was right” when addressing a faction within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center voiced its “distress and disappointment” at the comments.

Aso has previously hinted at an admiration for Nazism, saying in 2013 that proposed constitutional reform in Japan should use Nazi Germany as an example.

Aso retracted his latest comments, saying “it is clear from my overall remarks that I regard Hitler in extremely negative terms, and it’s clear that his motives were also wrong”, claiming that he only wished to highlight how it is important that politicians “get things done”. Nonetheless, the flippant use of Nazism as an example, and his history, will make such an apology look rather half-hearted.

Earlier this week Katsuya Takasu, a celebrity and plastic surgeon, appears to have praised the Nazis for advances in medicine and science, appearing to deny the Holocaust by stating “there is no doubt that the Jews were persecuted. But we only know it from hearsay and all of it is based on information from the Allies”. He also spoke of “how great” Nazism was.

The Guardian’s report also notes several Japanese cultural figures who have used Nazi imagery. This is in fact a common issue in Japanese youth culture which is visible throughout the East.

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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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Leader of left-leaning South African Party makes light of the Holocaust in disgusting tweet, calls Jewish people “evil”

Andile Mngxitama, the leader of the South African “Black First Land First” Party, a revolutionary Socialist and pan-African group, has drawn criticism for a disgusting tweet in which he makes light of the Holocaust.

In the tweet he says “for those claiming the legacy of the holocaust is ONLY negative think about the lampshades and Jewish soap”, referencing the fact that household products were manufactured from the remains of the murdered Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

https://twitter.com/Mngxitama/status/900558350131367937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fantisemitism.org.il%2Farticle%2F116968%2Fjewish-board-slams-andile-mngxitama%25E2%2580%2599s-tweet-holocaust

Wendy Kahn, the Director of the South African Board of Jewish Deputies, released a statement criticising the tweet:

“With this ugly‚ jeering remark‚ Mngxitama has portrayed not just the deliberate murder of Jewish people but even the supposed reduction of their remains to everyday objects as something to be treated as a joke. “It is deeply distressing that anyone could so casually and publicly dehumanise an entire people in this way. How much more outrageous it is when emanating from a public figure who heads up a political voice.”

Dishearteningly, Mngxitama didn’t even bother to apologise for the tweet, instead stating that he was successful in his aim to expose the systematic anti-blackness of the white community, including the Jewish people. They don’t care for the oppression of black people and so they are deeply unethical and evil”.

What, if anything, such a tweet does to expose any racism other than Mngxitama’s own virulent antisemitism escapes us. Describing Jews collectively as “deeply unethical and evil” is so obviously antisemitic that it needs no further explanation. However, beyond this, the fact that he describes Jews as “white” is also distasteful. Whilst some Ashkenazim consider themselves white, to flat out describe Jews as white erases hundreds of years of Jewish suffering at the hands of white Europeans. What is perhaps even more inflammatory is the attempt to exploit the memory of the Holocaust in order to defame Jews as not caring about other forms of oppression. It appears that this left wing figure advocating for racial justice doesn’t believe that this racial justice should extend to Jews.

 

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Australian neo-Nazis target schools with antisemitic propaganda calling for people to “reject Jewish poison”

Around 60 antisemitic and anti-immigrant posters were plastered on several schools in Melbourne, Australia.

The posters encouraged the public to join neo-Nazi groups and to “reject Jewish poison”, showing a stereotypical antisemitic image of a Jew as a puppet-master directing “multiculturalism” and “degeneracy”, a classic antisemitic conspiracy theory.

Images like this are a clear illustration of how, despite the fact that general anti-immigration and white supremacist ideas are central to the far right’s ideology, Jews are often singled out as the root cause of the “problems” they identify. Here, Jewish domination is portrayed as steering other things they object to.

The neo-Nazi group Antipodean Resistance claimed responsibility for the posters. On their website, the group describe “substance abuse” and “homosexuality” as “irresponsible distractions laid before us by Jews and globalist elites”.

Their website is explicitly neo-Nazi, calling for National Socialism in Australia, and is littered with Nazi imagery, including the Swastika, pagan images associated with neo-Nazism, and the skull image used as a logo by Nazi groups like Combat 18. They claim to be the “Hitlers you’ve been waiting for”.

The Victoria State Education Minister, James Merlino, condemned the posters, stating “these sort of vile and disgusting comments and posters are not acceptable in the community and those individuals that placed them should be ashamed of themselves”.

 

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Spanish “solidarity” marchers blame Israel for Barcelona terror attack

RTVE, the Spanish National broadcaster, has reported that a march took place following the Barcelona terrorist attack, in which marchers showed their solidarity and defiance against terrorism.

However, as is the standard fare whenever there is a terrorist attack, there is always somebody waiting to blame Israel.  Several people were pictured marching with a large banner that said “Israeli Secret Intelligence Service” (ISIS), used to suggest that ISIS is being controlled by the Israeli government.

This is a classic antisemitic conspiracy theory; 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. Furthermore, according to the Definition, “antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for “why things go wrong””. Such responses are incredibly common whenever there is a terrorist attack, showing that whenever something goes wrong, the Jews will provide antisemites with an easy scapegoat.

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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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Haaretz journalist Allison K Sommer compares Haredim to neo-Nazis

Allison Kaplan Sommer, a journalist for the English language edition of Haaretz, has compared Haredim in Israel to neo-Nazis.

Writing on Twitter, Sommer said “Sorry, Tal, but the haredim are as as hateful to Reform Jews as the neo-Nazis are to Jews, and secular Israelis stand by silently”

Whilst there are genuine problems in terms of intra-communal relations in Israel, and legitimate criticisms can be made of the response of some Haredim to non-Orthodox Jews, such a comparison is flippant, inflammatory and comes across as deliberately hurtful, as does any attempt to compare Jews to Nazis.

She faced a backlash from her Twitter followers, and from others, but does not appear to have apologised for her comments.

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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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American tourist performs Nazi salute in Germany, is beaten by passer-by in response

A 41-year-old American tourist has been beaten up by a passer-by after performing a Nazi salute in the German city of Dresden.

The man was leaving a bar, and was reportedly extremely inebriated, when he performed the Nazi salute.

A passer-by took offence to this and beat him, injuring him lightly.

Displays of Nazi imagery or gestures are illegal under German law, and the man is now under investigation by the police. Whilst a fine is the most common outcome for a first offence, if convicted he could potentially serve time in jail.

Last week, two Chinese tourists were arrested and fined for performing Nazi salutes outside the Reichstag, before being allowed to leave the country with their tour group.

 

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One dead as neo-Nazi thugs descend on Charlottesville chanting “Jews will not replace us” and “blood and honour”

Hundreds of neo-Nazis have descended upon the Virginia town of Charlottesville, leading to the death of one counter-protester who was allegedly murdered in a car ramming attack.

Members of various far right and neo-Nazi groups arranged a “Unite the Right” march which took place over August 11th and 12th.

On Friday the Nazis were heard chanting “Jews will not replace us”, reflecting an antisemitic conspiracy theory espoused by the far right that Jews are attempting to undermine “traditional values” and preventing white families from having children, with the Nazis chanting “white lives matter” alongside this. They also chanted “Blood and Honour”, a slogan which originates in Nazi Germany.

Friday also saw several clashes between the far right and counter-protesters, which left several injured.

On Saturday the Nazi chanting resumed, with protesters shouting “Blood and Soil”, another slogan from Nazi Germany. They also held placards saying “the goyim know”, an antisemitic meme which is explained here in one of our previous articles. They also shouted “the Jewish media is going down”, again peddling an antisemitic conspiracy theory.

As street brawls erupted all over the town, a 32-year-old counter-protester was killed in a car ramming attack, which injured 19 others, which has been branded a terrorist attack. One suspect is now being charged with murder.

Donald Trump drew criticism for having inflamed racial tensions during his Presidential campaign, which often played with antisemitic rhetoric. Following the incidents of the last two days, Trump says that he condemns the “egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides”. However, he has not specifically and explicitly condemned the white supremacists, many of whom are his supporters, with former KKK-leader and notorious antisemite David Duke portraying the events as an opportunity to fulfill the “promise” of Trump’s campaign. Indeed, during his Presidential campaign, Trump was repeatedly criticised for initially being unwilling to repudiate Duke’s support. Trump’s response was so tepid, and so friendly to the interests of neo-Nazis, that the Daily Stormer celebrated his comments as they didn’t specifically condemn them.

Thankfully, many senior Republicans did condemn the far right extremists in strong and unequivocal terms. The police too seem to have worked tirelessly to bring order to the town, with two dying in a helicopter crash. However, until Donald Trump is willing to confront the extremism from his own supporters, the far right will be allowed to flourish in America.

 

 

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Report raises concerns of refugee antisemitism in Germany, as some express support for Hitler during Saschensenhausen visit

A report from the Washington Post has highlighted the difficulty that Germany is facing in accommodating new refugees and immigrants, with some seemingly harbouring antisemitic sentiments.

The report follows a refugee who toured around Saschensenhausen, a concentration camp which by the beginning of 1945 held 11,100 Jews. The response made by the refugee was ignorant and less than sympathetic; he stated, “Maybe the Jews want to keep these places going so they can be seen as victims forever.” Such views pose a moral quandary for Germany, whose nation was rebuilt following the Holocaust, on a bedrock of principles that, at least nominally, includes acknowledgement of and responsibility to the Jewish people. The mass migration into Germany from countries such as Syria and Libya has increasingly been perceived as threatening this, with many inhabitants of Muslim-majority countries harbouring antisemitic views.

Germany has several initiatives to provide “sensitivity training” to help these new arrivals acclimatise. Unfortunately, even after visits to sites of historical significance like Saschensenhausen, some antisemitic views remain largely unchanged: “The Arabs think what Hitler did was a good thing, because he freed them from the Jews”, commented the one refugee. Another participant put the matter even more bluntly, “In some ways, we think of the Jews just like the Nazis did”. Whilst by the end of the program, both individuals had been pushed into softening their views somewhat, though the Washington Post says that they did so only barely, they still declared “We are definitely still against the Zionists”.

These comments provide a small illustration of the risk that newcomers could bring with them virulent antisemitism. We have previously noted that increased antisemitism is already being noticed in schools, with some teachers concerned about radical Islam and antisemitism, and some indication that Jewish students are being pushed out public schools. Between Islamist antisemitism and the parallel phenomenon of rising far right Antisemitism, Germany seems to be becoming less hospitable towards Jews once again.

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Polish Jews at a recent “lowpoint” and fearful for their security due to Antisemitism

Leslaw Piszewski, the President of the Union of Jewish Communities in Poland, has issued a shocking cry for help to the country’s ruling party on the issue of antisemitism.

The letter, addressed to the ruling Law and Justice Party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, says they are “appalled by recent events and fearful for our security as the situation in our country is becoming more dangerous”.

Jewish communities in Poland are reportedly having to spend more and more money on security, facing a threat of growing antisemitic incitement from far right groups, most of which appears to go unreported, at least in English.

The letter was co-authored by Anna Chipczynska, a Jewish leader in Warsaw, who expressed concerns that groups affiliated with the Law and Justice Party have been involved in the incitement.

A lawmaker for the Party,  Bogdan Rzonca, wrote on Twitter last month “I wonder why there are so many Jews among those performing abortions, despite the Holocaust”, in a claim eerily reminiscent of blood libel. This comment went completely unpunished.

President Andrzej Duda has accused Jews of separating themselves from the rest of Poland and the Defence Minister, Antoni Macierewicz, has defended the antisemitic hoax the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

Despite these troubling signs, Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich said that “Poland is still a good place to be Jewish, safer than many other places in Europe” and that the letter is “a sign of maturity of the kind that exists in many self-confident Jewish communities, who feel comfortable to speak out when they identify negative or dangerous trends”. Nonetheless, in a country in which almost all the Jewish population was murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators in the Holocaust, with around 2.7 million Polish Jews being killed, it is extremely troubling to see that 70 years on, antisemitism is still an acceptable part of political life.

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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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Swedish anti-Israel protestors chant antisemitic Quran verse, as event organisers claim it was just criticism of Israel

A march organised by the Swedish-Palestinian Centre in Helsingborg descended into blatant antisemitism, as marchers allegedly chanted a classic Islamic antisemitic tirade.

Anti-Israel marchers allegedly used the phrase “sons of apes and pigs” in connection with Jewish individuals.

The phrase is derived from an infamous antisemitic Sura, which describes Allah turning Jews into apes and pigs. Whilst the traditional interpretations of these verses were generally less unfavourable to Jews, the phrase has become a mainstay of Islamic antisemitism.

The Jewish Community of Northwest Skåne (Judiska Församlingen i Nordvästra Skåne)  has launched an investigation into the event, and has submitted a complaint to the police. They have claimed that this rhetoric was directed against Jewish individuals, with their chair Josefin Thorell commenting:

“We can see that there are elements in these protests that are worrying and serious because they contain antisemitic insults and antisemitic claims in combination with a violent rhetoric, in a really unfortunate way”

However, the event organisers have claimed that the chant was simply directed against the Israeli state. Regardless of whether this is the case, 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. Furthermore, the fact that reports indicate that the chants were in fact directed against counter-protesters, who happened to be Jewish, makes a mockery of the claim that this was mere criticism of Israel; instead, the alleged comments clearly would involve the use of inherently antisemitic rhetoric against Jews for their beliefs.

A further investigation into the organisers found that they had previously posted antisemitic content on Facebook, including claiming that Jews would leave Israel “half naked, without anything”, eventually leading to their page being shut down by Facebook.

The police have since launched an investigation.

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Bondi council, Australia, bans construction of new Synagogue due to terrorism fears

A local council has banned the construction of a synagogue in Bondi, Australia. It was alleged that the place of worship could be a terrorist target. Jewish religious leaders have responded to the shock move, stating that the council has caved in to Islamic extremism and created a dangerous precedent.

The decision, which has left the longstanding resident Jewish population shocked, was upheld in court this week in light of the recent alleged airline terror threat.

The Land and Environment Court supported the decision by Waverly Council to prohibit the construction of the synagogue in Wellington St, Bondi, stating it was too much of a security risk for users and residents.

Jewish authorities are concerned with the implications of such a move, suggesting they cannot freely practice their religion because they are a target of Islamist extremists. The head of the local Jewish community said that the council and the court had stifled the freedom of religion and given in to the terrorists. “Its implications are enormous. It basically implies that no Jewish organisation should be allowed to exist in residential areas” Rabbi Yehoram Ulman told news.com.au.

The council pincered all potential negotiation in the design of the synagogue: stating that the security measures put forward in the proposed design were evidence in and of themselves that the site was too much of a security risk. To add insult to injury, the council also said that if the design was then changed to boost security, this would then be unacceptable because the construction would be too unsightly.

The courts made their decision on the following facts:

  • Western countries face a security threat, currently primarily from ISIS;
  • The threat level in Australia is “probable”;
  • Jewish communities across the world are no stranger to the threat of violence and as such will generally take security measures into account when planning, constructing or renovating buildings;
  • The CITED design considers “potential possible threats” that are relevant to Australia; and
  • The design measures focus on the person inside the buildings only.

Commissioner Graham Brown stated that the projects risk assessment was inadequate and upheld the council’s decision. A Waverley Council spokesperson noted the court had support the council’s position, which was supported by several residents’ concerns.

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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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35 years in jail for pair of antisemitic terrorists who fire bombed New Jersey Synagogues

Aakash Dalal and Anthony Graziano, two men from Lodi, New Jersey, have been jailed for 35 years under anti-terrorism laws for conducting attacks on Synagogues in the state and running a campaign of intimidation against the Jewish community.

Both men were given identical sentences: 32 years for terrorism, and two 18 month sentences for bias intimidation.

The pair were found guilty of committing a string of attacks in 2011 and 2012, including attempting to burn down Synagogues in Paramus and Rutherford, and attacking the home of the Rabbi in Rutherford, injuring and emotionally scarring the Rabbi’s family. They were also responsible for antisemitic graffiti, demonstrating the importance of apprehending those responsible for incidents which are often written off as unimportant.

Brian Sinclair, prosecutor for Bergen County, said that “they saw the world with the same set of eyes. They saw Jewish people not as people but as subhuman and like reptiles”, commenting on the significance of sentencing the accomplices together when they had been found guilty several months apart from one another.

The pair were sentenced at a courtroom in Hackensack, with the hearing being moved to a larger setting to accommodate a multitude of observers, including many members of the Jewish community who turned out to see justice be carried out.

Commenting on the sentence, former wife of the Rabbi whose house was attacked in a firebombing which caused her and members of her family to suffer burns, Pess Schuman, stated “Never again in America, never again anywhere…our people came to America because America allows them to practice their religion and to not be afraid”.

Graziano, whose counsel argued during his trial that he had been unduly influenced in his actions by Dalal, who he claims was more sophisticated, expressed his regret at his actions, stating that he wants “a second chance to live a law-abiding life”. However,  Schuman, who says she is still haunted by her memories of her burning home, and her family, will hopefully be brought some solace by the sentence.

Rabbi Arthur Weiner, Rabbi at Paramus, has said that the terror spree had a severe impact on his community, remarking that it was lucky that nobody was killed.

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Holocaust denying ex-monk calls upon nationalists to destroy Holocaust memorial in Greece, calls Jews “dogs”

Father Kleomenis, an excommunicated monk, uploaded a video of himself in the city of Larissa, Greece, making various antisemitic comments, including denying the holocaust and asking “patriotic organisations” to transport a bulldozer so as to destroy a Holocaust memorial.

In the video, one can hear Kleomenis saying: “six million we read here! Fairy tales…. Shit on their faces, Hitler merely exterminated 600,000”. He can then be heard shouting, “Damn your filthy monuments!”.

He describes the Jewish community as being full of “Jew-ism (sic), curses and anathema”, calling Jews “dogs” and “Jew-dog worms”. He proceeds to smash an egg on the monument.

He then tells nationalists to “rise up” and destroy the monument.

The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece released a statement, in which it was stated that the monument was the first of its kind erected in Greece, and went on to condemn the situation stating, “Shame and indignation is what is felt when one realises what occurred in Larissa.”

On the same day flyers containing antisemitic content were scattered around the memorial and in the plaza of the Jewish Martyrs of Larissa as a result of which the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece has asked the relevant authorities that the author be detained and “brought to justice.”

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Worshippers spat at, verbally abused after leaving Nuremberg Synagogue

Three worshippers outside the Nuremberg Synagogue were spat at on Friday after leaving the Kabbalat Shabbat service.

At least one of the victims was recognisably Jewish as he was still wearing his Kippah. However, the three were only a few metres from the entrance of the Synagogue.

They were spat at from a residential building, and some verbal abuse was shouted. At least two of them were hit.

The perpetrator is yet to be apprehended, despite the incident having taken place from a residential building.

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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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Roger Walters again compares Israel to Nazi Germany, suggesting there may not be “harsher” regime in the world

Roger Walters, former front-man of Pink Floyd compared Israel to Nazi Germany in an hour-long live interview on Facebook. In the interview, hosted by Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement leader Omar Barghouti, he stated that there were no harsher regimes in the world. The musician went on to say that there was no point in having dialogue with Israelis and Israeli artists, and that Israel was headed towards being a “Pariah state.”

Comparing Israel to Nazi Germany is antisemitic according to the Definition of Antisemitism, and such comparisons are usually invoked to give a hyperbolic account of the conflict and to deliberately upset Jews.

Waters admitted that when thinking about the situation in Israel he finds it, “hard not to go back to Goebbels,” the Nazi propaganda minister. Whilst we are not an organisation that engages in Israel advocacy, the sheer hyperbole of his comparison is such that it can scarcely be an honest mistake. Not only did the Nazi regime which Goebbels propagandise for, through a state-governed press, facilitate the mass extermination of Jews and other victimised groups, but Israel itself has a free press and a thriving democracy. As mentioned above, such comparisons often come across as being deliberately calculated to hurt and offend Jews. Waters went on to state that “[Israel’s] tactic is to tell the big lie as often as possible over and over and over again”, painting Israel as manipulative and dissembling, utilising a long-standing antisemitic canard.

Yet Walters’ comparison has yet another antisemitic undertone, as he says that this alleged propaganda had led to Americans “living in this constant state of Hasbara created by AIPAC and the Israeli lobby”. Not only is he accusing Israel of operating Nazi-like propaganda, but referring to the “Israeli lobby” leading to a “constant state of Hasbara” is unequivocally the language of contemporary antisemitic conspiracy theories, attributing to the Zionist movement an unrealistic amount of control. 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. Some of the most established examples of classic antisemitism are canards involving Jews controlling the media or “controlling” non-Jews.

The former Pink Floyd member has become one of the most prominent voices over the past decade in the movement to boycott Israel, and his comparisons are by no means new. In 2013 for example, Waters once again compared Israel and its Rabbinate to the Nazis, purporting that in [Israelite] eyes, non-Jews are “sub-human” and that the, “parallels with what went on in 30’s in Germany are…crushingly obvious.” Yet his antIsemitic tendencies have gone beyond words: once again in 2013 Waters dressed as a Nazi in one of his concerts; kitted with a slick leather jacket, red arm-band, and an MP40 Schmeisser– the iconic Nazi machine gun. As if the message wasn’t clear enough, the audience found itself orbited by a balloon in the shape of a pig and stamped with a Star-of-David. A clear testament to Waters’ rhetorical genius: why be covert, when you can be overt?

In a stint of greater irony, when asked about other regimes, Waters noted that he was “very concerned about Ukraine,” but rushed to add that he did not want to “demonize the Russians”. One can only wonder why he expressed no similar concerns about demonizing eight and a half million citizens of Israel. He ponders that he is “not sure there are any much harsher regimes around the world, actually, if you look at it”, somehow ignoring the widespread oppression that occurs even in the rest of the Middle East, let alone in North Korea. It is hard to imagine how such a wild distortion could not be motivated by malice. According to the Definition of Antisemitism, “applying double standards by requiring of Israel a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation” is antisemitic.

 

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Study shows German teachers concerned that radical Islam is leading to growing antisemitism in schools

A small study into the impact of Salafism, an ideology within Sunni Islam that has often been identified as a source of radicalism, upon schools in Berlin, has found that the ideology may be leading to increased antisemitism and homophobia.

The research from American Jewish Committee, which surveyed a small number of teachers, found that many were concerned about increasing amounts of antisemitic abuse, with the word “Jew” being frequently used as an insult.  However, it is important to note that the study only asks the teachers whether they have perceived an increase in antisemitism

The word “Jew” is not just being used to refer to Jewish students, but is reportedly being turned into a catch-all slur used to target women, homosexuals and secular Muslims.

Deidre Berger of the AJC said that the research illustrated that the problem was no longer limited to a few incidents. Several months ago, we reported that a Jewish boy was forced out of his Berlin school following several months of antisemitic bullying, and we suggested at the time that the evidence pointed to a growing and widespread problem of antisemitism in German schools.

Ahmad Mansour, a Psychologist, said that the problem was not limited to just the use of the word Jew, saying “it’s also about conspiracy theories and about an interpretation of Islam in which all Jews are considered enemies”.  Others have claimed that Antisemitism is extremely prevalent within Salafism.

Unless the German government takes serious steps to ensuring that schools are tackling antisemitism, and giving assurances to teachers and parents that all complaints of antisemitism are taken seriously, regardless of the source, then the situation will be dire for Jewish students in the country. With many parents already withdrawing their children and placing them in Jewish schools, action must be taken quickly before confidence is lost in the school system’s ability to protect Jewish students.

 

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Ukrainian neo-Nazi youths embarrassed as they are made to clean Swastika graffiti in front of crowd of dozens

Three young people in the Ukrainian city of Lviv were caught by a passerby painting Swastika graffiti on a Jewish monument in Struibriskia Street.

The passerby apprehended and detained the youths until the police arrived. The police then made them remove the graffiti in front of a crowd of dozens that had formed, who watched them remove it.

The image released of the young men, as well as their alleged actions, show that they are most probably neo-Nazi skinheads, with all with shaved heads, and at least one in a polo shirt, military-style clothing and black boots.

What is most encouraging is that in Ukraine, a country which has seen a disturbing increase in antisemitism in recent years, someone was willing to stand up to these three, with the crowd seemingly revelling in them being made to clean up their handiwork.

The three were subsequently arrested.

Sadly on the night of  June 20th, there was a further incident of vandalism on a local Synagogue, with the perpetrators being captured on CCTV.

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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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Czech Nationalists “blame the Jews” for country’s problems, as rising far-right party stands Holocaust denier in regional elections

The Olanška Hotel in Prague hosted a conference on 3 July named “Are you safe, Czech Republic?”, organized by the  far right “Safety, Responsibility, Solidarity” movement (Bezpečnost Odpovědnost Solidarita).

Anti-immigration, BOS has ties to the Order of the Nation party, which has growing support in the poorest regions and a presence on Facebook as Rad Naroda. About 150 people attended the conference, former army personnel present among them. Although anti-Muslim and anti-immigration activities are on the BOS agenda, there were cries of  “We blame the Jews, we had a bad experience with the Jews here. Why do they bring them over here? We want the Czechs only over here.” This was reported in the Czech online daily newspaper Aktualne.cz.

Standing for Rad Naroda in this year’s regional elections is former actor and Holocaust denier Jiří Maria Sieber, whose CV includes baiting Roma people resident in the Czech Republic

Headquarters of Rad Naroda are located in a Prague villa, which belongs to the Russian Embassy. Joseph Zickler, leader of the nationalist party, says this is merely coincidental.

 

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Neo-Nazi terrorist group National Action active in Feltham, London

Stickers from the neo-Nazi terrorist organisation National Action have been spotted in Feltham.

National Action was officially proscribed as a terrorist organisation by Home Secretary Amber Rudd, following pressure from Campaign Against Antisemitism. This means that under the Terrorism Act, it is illegal to recruit for, be a member of or express support for the group, which includes displaying its symbols.

The stickers say “White Zone”, and feature an image of a man with his face covered performing a Nazi salute. National Action has previously declared areas of Liverpool to be “Nazi-controlled zones“.

The stickers were found outside Burger King and Pizza Hut in Feltham, but it is unknown whether there are others. An image of one of the stickers was released in a Facebook group, to near-universal condemnation of the neo-Nazi activity from local residents, though one suggested that they were put there by “people you’d least expect”, implying that this was a kind of “false flag” by people who are opposed to the group.

It is not currently known whether this indicates a growing presence of National Action in the area, but it appears to mirror tactics used in areas such as Liverpool where they eventually became quite prominent.

The police have been notified.

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Everyday Antisemitism

Facebook says that Antisemitic rape threats against Jewish schoolgirl don’t violate its Community Standards

Facebook has refused to remove sexually violent antisemitic posts that were directed towards an Australian schoolgirl named Ariella, despite comments such as, “I”ll make         u proud I’ll f**k her [Ariella] in the gas chambers”.

The Australian stated that fearing more abuse, Ariella, 16, who is from Melbourne, has decided not to reveal her surname to the public.

Ariella originally joined the Facebook group, “16+Hangouts”, in order to chat with more than a dozen other Australian teenagers from various Melbourne and Sydney. schools.

However, when a male member realised that she and other members were Jewish, he began posting blatantly antisemitic commentary, writing  “all aboard Jew express next stop Auschwitz gassing chambers, I hear there is a lovely shower aboard, Exterminate, Exterminate” and “I’ll make u proud I’ll f*** her in the gas chambers”.

When Ariella told the boy to stop the abuse, it apparently worsened.

Ariella is descended from Holocaust survivors.

The Australian teen officially left the “16+ Hangouts” a mere 24 hours after she had joined the Facebook group. During that brief episode, Ariella compiled almost 50 A4 pages of screenshots that contained antisemitic rhetoric. Ariella, who took it upon herself to file the complaint with this documentation, believes that these posts demonstrate “a clear breach” of Facebook’s community standards.

Facebook, however, was not swayed by the evidence. Expressing disappointment, Ariella shared the following pro forma Facebook reply:

“Thank you for your report–you did the right thing by letting us know about this.                 We looked over the profile you reported, and though it doesn’t go against one of                 our specific community standards, we understand that the profile may still be                     offensive to you.”

Facebook’s response is deeply concerning, since, it clearly violates Facebook community standards policy:

“Facebook removes hate speech, which includes content that directly attacks                      people based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual                  orientation, sex, or gender.”

By failing to apply their community standards policy to Ariella’s situation, Facebook has essentially declared that Jews do not deserve protection, since their “religious affiliation” is, at least, in this case, not recognized by Facebook monitors. It is hard to imagine how calling for Jews to be sent to the “gassing chambers” does not constitute directly attacking someone based upon their ethnicity or religious affiliation.

It is important to note that Facebook has been the target of international condemnation for how they moderate their platform. In particular, a perceived tolerance of Islamic an far right extremist activity has attracted criticism. In addition to this, there have been several instances of Antisemitic incitement, covered by Everyday Antisemitism, which Facebook has failed to remove. Facebook also has an explicit policy of allowing Holocaust denial. It is, therefore extremely troubling that, in the eyes of Facebook, posting threatening language that promotes rape against a minor–no matter how outrageous the remark–is something that also deserves free speech protection. This is yet another example of Facebook failing Jews who use its platform peacefully, but also constitutes a failure to protect women and girls from harassment.

Dvir Abramovich, the Chairman of Australia’s B’nai B’rith Anti-defamation Commission (ADC), stated that when Ariella contacted his office with her complaint, he was “appalled by the level of racism evident in such young people”.

Abramovich also deplored the fact that Facebook was being used as an “engine of hatred”.

Facebook is currently investigating Ariella’s case, which was originally reported in May. There have been no further updates.

 

 

 

 

 

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Attempted arson attack At Ukrainian Synagogue follows threatening Antisemitic graffiti

A firebomb was hurled at a Synagogue in the Ukrainian City of Lviv, according to reports from the local media.

The firebomb was thrown at the Synagogue on June 30th. It missed the window and burned out on the exterior of the building, lightly damaging the exterior, but thankfully not harming the interior of the building or anyone inside it.

The firebomb attack follows antisemitic graffiti appearing on another building belonging to the local Jewish community. This graffiti read “down with Jewish power” and “remember July 1st”, a reference to a large pogrom in Kielce, Poland, in 1946. July 1st was the date when a Polish boy went missing in Kielce, something that was later blamed on the small Jewish community, a group of around 200 Holocaust survivors, around 40 of whom were then murdered.

Whilst it is often easy to write off antisemitic graffiti, which is remarkably common, an incident such as this demonstrates how antisemitic graffiti is a warning that more serious incidents are possible as antisemitism is allowed to flourish. Thankfully nobody was hurt in these incidents, but with antisemitism steadily on the increase in the Ukraine, with far-right ultra-Nationalist groups growing, the risk of further serious incidents appears to be very high.

 

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French ultra-Nationalist arrested for allegedly plotting to assassinate Macron wanted to kill “Blacks, Arabs, Jews and homosexuals”

Last week, an individual who described himself as a, “right-wing nationalist” was arrested on charges relating to an alleged planned assassination of President Emmanuel Macaron during the Bastille Day parade in Paris on July 14th.

The suspect was reported convicted in 2016 of inciting terrorism.

RMC, a French radio station reported that the individual who is a resident of Argenteuil, a small town near to Paris was charged with terrorist offences. The individual in question was traced based on inflammatory comments made on an online chat he had participated in. The man described himself as a ‘nationalist’, and a proponent of extreme right ideology now commonly described as the “alt-right”.

In RMC’s report, it is stated that the detainee had used the online chat room to express his desire to obtain an AK 47. He was reported to the authorities by other online users. When the police arrived to arrest him, he allegedly threatened them with a knife.

The radio station further reported that during his interrogation, the detainee admitted to wanting to kill, “Blacks, Arabs, Jews and homosexuals” in a shocking confession of blatant racism and anti-Semitism. Police sources confirmed the radio’s statement, affirming that “His plot was vague, but he made it clear that he wanted to attack minorities.” It is speculated that the individual was inspired by previous mass shootings, such as the Columbine High School massacre, a tragic event which took place in 1999.

Allegedly the detainee described himself as “mentally unstable”, although this has yet to be confirmed by a medical body.

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Youths arrested for desecrating “hundreds” of tombs in historic Jewish cemetery in France

Five youths were arrested in Alsacia for the desecration of hundreds of tombs in the Jewish cemetery of Sarre-Union, France.

The youths, understood to be between the ages of 15 and 17, allegedly destroyed or damaged 250 out of the 400 tombs found in the cemetery, many of which were constructed in the 18th century. In the majority of cases, the tombstones were knocked to the floor, several of which were broken in the process. Additionally, they wrecked a monument raised at the entrance of the cemetery, dedicated to the remembrance of those who lost their lives in the Holocaust.

Those who were arrested had no prior convictions, and the police took to investigating,
“what on earth was going through their minds” to commit such a crime.

The five youths allegedly carried out the antisemitic act during the week. However, it wasn’t until the weekend that the desecration of the cemetery was discovered. The group, even the younger members, face a possible sentence of six years in prison.

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Everyday Antisemitism

South Africa hate speech prosecution is a “significant and powerful” step in the fight against Antisemitism

An article featured on the Times of Israel website by prominent UK Barrister and QC Jeff Samuels draws attention to the “significant” Judgment of a South African Court, which convicted Bongani Masuku, a trade union leader, of antisemitic hate speech.

Among the comments made by Masuku were references to the “struggle to liberate Palestine from the racists, fascists and Zionists who belong to the era of their friend Hitler” and the need “to subject them to perpetual suffering until they withdraw from the land of others”.

He stated that “any South African family who sends his son or daughter to be part of the IDF must not blame us when something happens to them with immediate effect”.

He threatened that “Wits” and “Orange Grove”, a campus with a large Jewish population and a heavily Jewish neighborhood respectively, must “face the consequences even if it means that we will do something that may necessarily cause what is regarded as harm”, and insinuated on campus that “it will be hell” for “that side”.

These blatant antisemitic statements which seem to incite violence somehow managed to evade our attention when they were made, with Samuels’ coverage being the main reason the news reached the public outside of South Africa’s Jewish Community. However, what is significant here is not merely these antisemitic rants, but the legal response.

The case was brought before the Human Rights Commission, a body which was created under section 9 of the South African Constitution which was drafted after the collapse of Apartheid. The Human Rights Commission upheld the complaint, which the Palestine Solidarity Campaign described as a “pack of lies” and the Jewish Community’s response as en example of supposed “constant, frivolous and false accusations of anti-Semitism”.

As the HRC cannot enforce the decision, the case went before the Equality Court, a division of the High Court. Before the Equality Court, Masuku claimed, in what is almost a ritual incantation of left wing antisemitism, that his statements referred only to Zionists, not to all Jews.

The Court dismissed this defence, finding that “Zionist” was “offensive and targeted at the Jewish community”, which Samuels points out is significant in that it was not required that Jews are explicitly mentioned. The references to “Wits” and “Orange Grove” were also deemed to be sufficiently clearly targeting Jews.

Masuku also claimed that his statements were protected free speech as “fair comment”, which the Court dismissed as having “no merit at all”. The Judge went on to say that Masuku had gone out of his way “to instill detestation, enmity, ill will and malevolence towards Jews in South Africa. It is distinct advocacy of hatred – nothing else”.

Strong words aside, what is notable, and commendable, about this Judgment is the clear understanding that, as the Judge puts it, comments about “Zionists” such as these can “readily be understood to be concerning Jews”. It is a simple insight, yet one which is often left missing from the approaches of law enforcement and legal systems when dealing with reports of hate speech or hate crimes against Jews.

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Speakers at Iran-backed Quds rally in NYC say “Zionist Nazi terrorists” “steal money” from American workers, assassinated JFK, and killed Michael Brown

A Quds Day rally in Times Square, New York, provided a comprehensive example of some of the depths of antisemitism present in some sections of anti-Zionist activism, as speakers were allowed to deliver speeches displaying profoundly antisemitic, and often bizarre, conspiracy theories and ideas.

One speaker, who we have not currently identified, referred extensively to the Haavara Agreement. The Haavara agreement was cited by Ken Livingstone as evidence of Hitler “supporting Zionism”, statements which Campaign Against Antisemitism described at the time as an example of how “a tale of Jewish malice is woven using scraps of real historical events” which aims ” to manipulate the history of Zionism in a dishonest way so as to degrade and poison the reality of Jewish self-determination as a whole”.

This speaker went further than Livingstone, portraying the agreement, which he described as the “Hasbara agreement”, as not benefiting “true Jews”. He claimed that “Jews who wanted to go to Palestine were spared, but the Jews who didn’t want to go to Palestine – the true Jews – were killed and butchered”. To describe Jews who fled to Mandate era Palestine as somehow not being “true” Jews is an abhorrent, antisemitic comment, which in effect demonstrates that this speaker would rather they were slaughtered in the Holocaust than find shelter in Palestine. It merely uses those who were murdered by the Nazis as useful political puppets, whilst disparaging survivors, including those who were liberated from the Nazis and subsequently found refuge in Palestine.

Unsurprisingly, he described Zionism as having “hijacked” the Torah in the same way as ISIS hijacked the Quran. Such a statement is antisemitic as it attempts to deny any Jew who does not subscribe to the speaker’s idea of “true” Judaism their legitimate Jewish identity. The comparison to ISIS is also unwarranted and inflammatory, suggesting some sort of moral equivalence between the two.

The speaker goes on to blame for everything from ISIS to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. 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””. It is hard to imagine a more clear example of this than using the Jewish state as a catch-all scapegoat for everything that goes wrong in world affairs.

He also repeatedly used the phrase “Zionist Nazi terrorists”. Quite apart from the fact that such a statement is inflammatory and wildly inaccurate, such terminology is also clearly calculated to hurt and offend Jewish Zionists, many of whom were victims, or had family members who were victims of, both terrorist attacks and Nazism. According to the Definition of Antisemitism, “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is antisemitic.

If anyone was in any doubt that this speaker is really speaking about Jews whilst using “Zionist” as a convenient epithet, any such doubt is likely to evaporate when at one point he accidentally forgets to censor the word “Jewish”, uttering it instead of “Zionist”, before hurriedly correcting himself.

Another speaker, Mike Legaspi, suggested that “people like JDL… imperialism and the Zionists, like the Jewish Defense League, like the IDF” “take and steal money” from American working class people. The idea that Jews are dishonest, manipulating political and financial systems for their own economic benefit, is a classic antisemitic canard. 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.

Legaspi also suggested that these groups were behind the killing of Michael Brown, the “water crisis in Flint” and several wars and atrocity, including the loss of life in Korea in the 50s and the Vietnam war. Once again, this is a clear demonstration of the antisemitic tendency to blame Jews or “Zionists” for everything that goes wrong in the world, no matter how far-fetched whatever connections they think can find are. The statement about Jews being behind the water crisis in Flint, in which drinking water was contaminated with lead, bears a striking resemblance to the medieval antisemitic canard that accused Jews of poisoning wells.

Another speaker, Nerdeen Kiswani, appeared to suggest that she wished for Israel’s destruction, leading the crowd in chants of “We don’t want two states…we want ’48”, a reference to the year in which Israel was founded. She has a long history of support for Palestinian terrorism.

Quds Day was founded by Iran in 1979 and is often used as a platform to preach for the destruction of Israel. Attendees frequently display flags of the terrorist organisation Hezbollah, a group which is committed to murdering Jews, not just in Israel but across the world. Campaign Against Antisemitism recently challenged police in London about the blatant antisemitism and support for terrorism on display on the streets at Quds marches. As such, these comments are not even remotely surprising, but instead the sort of toxic beliefs which are allowed to fester when antisemitism remains unchallenged.

It is unknown whether the police are looking into the speakers. A transcript and video of the speeches can be viewed here. The unidentified speaker is the first one to speak in the video.

 

 

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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