Displaying posts categorized under

ANTI-SEMITISM

Anti-Semitism has exploded in British universities Some of our most prestigious academic institutions have become hotbeds of Jew hate.Helena Ivanov

https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/07/08/anti-semitism-has-exploded-in-british-universities/

It is no secret that anti-Semitism is on the rise in the UK. Following Hamas’s massacre in southern Israel on 7 October, the atmosphere for British Jews has become significantly more hostile.

Not even our most prestigious academic institutions have escaped this rising tide of anti-Semitism. In fact, universities have emerged as hotspots for its spread. On campuses across the UK, students have followed the example of their American counterparts in holding ‘pro-Palestine’ protests and setting up tent encampments. Many of these are not simply demonstrations of solidarity with the people of Gaza, but have morphed into hotbeds of anti-Jewish hostility.

At Oxford University last month, a group of both Jewish and non-Jewish, Israeli and non-Israeli, students and staff wrote to the vice-chancellor about the alarming situation on campus. They listed over 100 anti-Semitic incidents that allegedly took place this past academic year. In one, an Israeli fellow claimed he was told that Jews run all the banks in the world. In another, an Israeli student was reportedly told that ‘you guys control the American government’.

Unfortunately, Oxford is not alone in this. In our latest report published this month, we at the Henry Jackson Society (HJS) shed light on the grim rise of campus anti-Semitism. Through one-on-one interviews, workshops and surveys, HJS found that anti-Semitism is now rampant.

In a survey of 105 students across the UK, 67 said they personally experienced anti-Semitism on campus since 7 October. Ninety-seven said they encountered anti-Semitic disinformation. And 101 argued that the prevalence of anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic disinformation has increased since 7 October.

At Columbia, the Jew-Hating Plot Thickens Three deans placed on leave for derisive, anti-Semitic text messages. by Hugh Fitzgerald

https://www.frontpagemag.com/at-columbia-the-jew-hating-plot-thickens/

“Three Columbia Deans Placed on Leave Pending Investigation,” by Eliana Johnson, Washington Free Beacon, June 20, 2024:

Three of the Columbia University deans caught exchanging dismissive text messages during a May 31 panel on anti-Semitism have been placed on leave as the university investigates the incident, a spokesman for the school said Thursday.

As part of the college’s alumni reunion week, Columbia College administrators, knowing of the alarm expressed by many alumni at the stories of antisemitic harassment of Jewish students by anti-Israel and pro-Hamas demonstrators on the campus, and the claims by Jews that they received no support from the administration, decided to put on a show. Jewish students would be allowed to publicly air their complaints, as participants in a panel discussion on May 31, in the presence of several Columbia College deans, faculty members, and members of the alumni reunion classes, who would be able to observe this airing of grievances, as a way to allay fears that the college administrators were not doing enough to address the Jewish students’ claims of harassment and violence.

“The Dean of Columbia College informed his team today that three administrators have been placed on leave pending a university investigation of the incident that occurred at the College alumni reunion several weeks ago,” the spokesman said.

That dean, Josef Sorett, who also took part in the text exchanges, “reiterated his commitment to learning from this situation and other incidents over the last year to build a community of respect and healthy dialogue.”

The three deans placed on leave, Susan Chang-Kim, Matthew Patashnick, and Cristen Kromm, were captured—along with Sorett—exchanging derisive and anti-Semitic text messages.

Major Teachers’ Union to Vote on Resolution Accusing Israel of ‘Genocide’by Zach Kessel

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/major-teachers-union-to-vote-on-resolution-accusing-israel-of-genocide/

National Education Association members will vote on several anti-Israel resolutions at the union’s annual “Representative Assembly” in Philadelphia this week, including the adoption of an official position holding that Israel is conducting a “genocide” in Gaza and that opposing the Jewish state’s existence is not antisemitic, documents obtained by National Review show.

Two items of business would have the NEA “use existing digital communication tools to educate members about the difference between anti-Zionism and antisemitism.”

The resolutions claim that the two are often erroneously conflated, characterizing antisemitism as “bias or action against Jewish people” in one document and “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews” in another. Union members describe anti-Zionism as “a political stance” in the first resolution and “the opposition to any Jewish state in the Middle East” which entails opposing “the existence of the modern state of Israel.”

In order for an item of business to reach the floor, it must be sponsored by at least 50 of the 6,000 delegates present at the convention. If passed, the resolutions direct the NEA to abide by their provisions for a year, provided that the resolution does not violate existing NEA policy.

Multiple resolutions set to be discussed this week would have the NEA use its resources to promote efforts to end ties between the United States and Israel. One such campaign is the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, explaining to members the connection between BDS and “the broader labor movement” as well as addressing “legislative efforts to restrict speech in relation to BDS” and “NEA members’ participation in the movement.”

Guy Sorman Anti-Semitism and the French Elections As the July 7 vote approaches, an old specter returns.

https://www.city-journal.org/article/anti-semitism-and-the-french-elections

When President Emmanuel Macron called for a new election in the National Assembly—a first round June 30 and a second and final round July 7—no one thought that anti-Semitism would become a central subject of political debate. In principle, what is at stake is the reconstitution, or not, of a parliamentary majority with which Macron might govern. But in fact nothing is happening the way the president expected. Instead of two traditionally opposed camps, one for the president and the other against, we have seen the emergence, in the first round, of three blocs, each somewhat heterogeneous. On the far right, the Rassemblement national (National Rally), led by eternal presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, is now allied with a center-right party, formerly Gaullist. Le Pen advances a conservative program, but one quite distinct from the flamboyantly xenophobic, anti-Semitic, and anti-immigrant appeals characteristic of past campaigns of her father and founder of the party, Jean Marie Le Pen. On the left, an alliance of convenience, hastily composed, has come together that includes Communists, Trotskyites, ecologists, and social democrats, under the name New Popular Front, evoking the anti-fascist Left of the 1930s. In the center is a collection of conservative, liberal, and moderate candidates that could form the core of a new presidential majority for Macron. The second round will decide it: probably none of these three blocs will be able to rule alone, compelling Macron to build case-by-case alliances in order to manage domestic and international affairs. All parties agree to support NATO, the European Union, and Ukraine: some are more enthusiastic than others.

On top of all this, however, we find a surprising intruder: a resurgent anti-Semitism.

Hamas Lovers Gonna Hate Nurturing an ancient, visceral, ugly emotion. by Alan Joseph Bauer

https://www.frontpagemag.com/hamas-lovers-gonna-hate/

Antisemitism is a deep-seated hatred of Jews. Facts don’t stand a chance against this ancient, visceral emotion.

The attack against Jews in front of a synagogue in Los Angeles has been well-documented. I always stand in amazement how much Jew-haters need to justify their actions instead of just saying that they hate Jews and want to kill them. A few days after the melee, I heard the most disingenuous explanation as to why the pro-Hamas crowd attacked Jews in the City of Angels. There was a seminar at the Adas Torah synagogue on how to invest in real estate in Israel. Since Israel had “stolen” Palestinian land and gotten rid of its legitimate owners, it was now giving advice on how to make money on this pirated land. Did you get all of that? A simple real estate seminar trying to explain the ins and outs of trying to make money in Israel’s crazy real estate market was now transmogrified into a secret seminar on how to fence stolen property. Again, everyone needs to sleep, and these lovers of rapists and child decapitators had to come up with this contortion to justify their pummeling Jews in a very Jewish neighborhood of LA.

Jew hatred or in its more sterilized name, antisemitism, is a deep-seated revulsion of Jews. The reasons can be no reason at all to religious issues or feeling that the Jews are too rich or Israel is evil, etc. Our son just came back from Cyprus. Turkey a more than a third of Cyprus and has held it for 50 years. Have you heard anyone on campus screaming that Turkey must get out of northern Cyprus? Any recent UN resolutions that I missed? Of course not. Jew-hatred is the starting point and the next stop is to retroactively find supposed reasons—again, to allow for a clean conscience—for hating Israel and/or the Jews. But let’s look at Israel: what is the Jewish claim to the Jewish state?

One could certainly start with ancient times. A religious person would point to the holy texts that explicitly describe the sons and daughters of Abraham entering the Land of Israel and conquering it, holding it and eventually losing it. But let’s say that one does not buy into the religious texts. Well, there are historical documents such as the writings of Josephus on the destruction of the ancient kingdom of Israel, the sacking of Jerusalem, the destruction of the Temple and the taking of the Jews back to Rome. The images of the menorah and conquered Jews on the Titus Arch in Rome would sum it all up pretty well. So, the Jews have a very long relationship with the land where the state of Israel sits today. Additionally, a large number of archaeological finds of clear Jewish association (Hebrew stamps, menorahs on coins, religious documents) show Jewish presence in what today is modern Israel. Many such items have been found in and around the City of David in Jerusalem.

Bates College Silent as Antisemitism Infects Campus By Roy Mathews

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/bates-college-silent-as-antisemitism-infects-student-body/

For the crime of volunteering in Israel earlier this year, Bates College student Phoebe Stern has been subjected to vile antisemitic harassment.

Some students have expressed a wish that Stern, the co-president of Bates’s Jewish Student Union, and her classmates would have perished in the Holocaust. One student remarked on social media, “Big nose mafia going to cancel me but you know should’ve finished the job.” Another agreed, “Hitler should’ve finished the job.”

In addition to the hateful words, multiple swastikas have been drawn around campus over the last six months. The Bates administration has not released any findings as to who was responsible for the swastikas or commented on the harassment that Stern and others have endured, though Bates president Gary Jenkins did promise to install more cameras “across campus to identify vandals.” 

The Bates administration has found it necessary to issue public statements regarding George Floyd and multiple Supreme Court cases, but has not issued any statement condemning the rape and murder of Israeli citizens in the October 7 attacks or denouncing Bates students’ praising Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust.

One donor has spoken out. Alumnus Blair Frank (class of ‘89) outlined his concerns with Bates’s culture of illiberalism and antisemitism during an April meeting with President Jenkins but was “politely dismissed,” Frank told NR. Frank, who has endowed scholarships for international students and helped launch Bates’s Digital and Computational Studies department, pointed out that the very students he and fellow donors have supported are now harassing Jewish students on campus and praising the Holocaust, while also cowing professors and administrators for not embracing their beliefs wholesale.

Australia is turning a blind eye to anti-Israel extremism Protesters are spraying anti-Semitic graffiti, vandalising property and intimidating politicians with impunity. Hugo Timms

https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/06/27/australia-is-turning-a-blind-eye-to-anti-israel-extremism/

In Australia, anti-Israel activists have targeted yet another MP’s office, this time in Melbourne. Like previous acts of ‘pro-Palestinian’ vandalism, last week’s featured sinister red spray paint, the vapid but now omnipresent ‘Zionism is fascism’ tag, smashed windows and attempted arson.

Something else distinguished this particular attack, however. The office belonged to the Jewish Labor MP Josh Burns. He has been one of the few members of his party to publicly support and visit Israel in the wake of the 7 October pogrom.

Disturbingly, the vandals – police said there were six – appear to have spray-painted horns on top of an image of Burns’s face, while rendering his eyes as bright red orbs. So many lines have been crossed since 7 October that it is almost impossible to say where the bounds of civility now sit. But depicting a Jewish MP as the devil seems an ominous new low.

Before the attack on Burns’s office, anti-Israel activists also targeted the constituency offices of several other Labor politicians, including MP Peter Khalil, government-services minister Bill Shorten, attorney general Mark Dreyfus and defence minister Richard Marles. There was also an attack on the office of Liberal James Paterson, among others.

Incredibly, the western Sydney constituency office of prime minister Anthony Albanese has been closed since January due to repeated attacks. It’s even been defaced by the inverted red triangle – a Hamas propaganda symbol originally used to mark Israeli soldiers and tanks for attack.

The police response to what has now amounted to tens of thousands of dollars of damage has bordered on indifference. No charges have been issued so far. During the Covid lockdowns, Victoria Police arrested a pregnant woman in her own home for creating an anti-lockdown Facebook group, and spent significant state resources prosecuting people for exercising and shopping. Yet they look the other way when Israelophobes threaten our elected representatives.

Jews Must Show Up Again in LA — This Time in Court The Sunday pogrom on the Jews of Pico happened because the city of LA failed to act to prevent it. Lori Lowenthal Marcus

https://jewishjournal.com/commentary/opinion/372585/jews-must-show-up-again-in-la-this-time-in-court/

On Sunday a crowd of violence-craving Jew haters ambushed and blocked the entrance to a synagogue in Los Angeles, enraged that property in Israel was being offered for sale to interested Jews.  The failure of the LA Police to prevent Sunday’s violent attacks on Jews prompts the obvious question:  Can’t you sue somebody to make this stop?  The answer is yes, but with one important and entirely attainable yet too often elusive condition:  You need to have people brave enough to stand up to the haters and use their name in court.

Police exist to protect the community from crime, especially violent crime.  But you can’t just go to court and complain that the police didn’t show up when they should have; courts don’t want to be in the business of governing police departments.

But what courts can certainly do is require equality:  Jews are entitled to the same kind and degree of protection for their events that all other groups get.   The LA police certainly know how to show up, and they do show up to ensure safety when the people being protected aren’t Jews, especially the “wrong” kind of Jews—you know, traditional Jews who live the commitment to Zion that’s at the center of our Torah, our beliefs, customs, and rituals. It certainly doesn’t look like there was equality in this case.

What happened outside Congregation Adas Torah happened because the LA police treated this event differently than they treat similar events when violence is reasonably expected.  Here are just a few of the things they did, and didn’t do, when they do the opposite for everyone else:

1.   They didn’t put up barriers to separate ideological opponents, when they routinely use that tool to protect people from demonstrators who are expected to be menacing or violent.

2.   They didn’t ensure that the Jews trying to get into their shul could do so safely. Instead they left the pro-Hamas crowd right on the sidewalk leading to the shul’s front door.

The War on The Jews: Victims No More by Lawrence Kadish

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/20732/war-on-the-jews

The days of victimizing Jews without fear of retribution, revenge or retaliation are over.

Just ask Hamas. Iran. Or Hezbollah. Oh, and while we are at it, let’s remind the anti-Semites who have stormed classrooms and campuses at our nation’s colleges waving banners that call for the eradication of Israel.

Eight months after the most bloodthirsty assault on Jews since the Holocaust, and despite unimaginable obstacles placed in its way – lately by the Biden administration, which is refusing to deliver desperately needed weapons – Israel, smaller than the state of New Jersey, continues to act as the tip of democracy’s spear. This nation is now defending the entire West, and our shared values of freedom, against well-funded aggression, terrorism and barbarism.

That means you, too, Europe. Rather than a “thank you,” countries in Europe area falling all over themselves to recognize a fictitious, corrupt and lawless “Palestinian State,” whose reason for existence is terrorism. No surprise that Germany witnessed an April 13th demonstration in Hamburg, where more than a thousand people marched through the streets to demand that the country become an Islamic caliphate, complete with sharia law.

And then there are individuals who recognize the outrage of the October 7th attack. Actress Patricia Heaton reminding the world:

“You could see that body cam footage from Hamas where they were gleefully murdering people, and I was astonished and horrified, and then I looked around, assuming that the churches would also be horrified and outraged, and I wasn’t hearing anything. It was like crickets. So, I posted on my Instagram, ‘If you had been a German during World War II, don’t you hope that you would have been a German who stood by your Jewish neighbors and hid your Jewish neighbors?’ Well, today is your opportunity, and I still believe that.”

For the new Axis of Evil in the 21st century, Russia, China and North Korea, it is the United States and Israel that are standing in the way of their global domination. In their view, if Israel can be damaged in a propaganda war, so much the better.

Shocking Antisemitism at UCLA By Natan Ehrenreich

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/shocking-antisemitism-at-ucla/

Zach Kessel recently wrote about a group of Jewish students who are suing UCLA for the establishment of a “Jew exclusion zone.” Yesterday, the students asked a federal court for a preliminary injunction to ensure their safety before classes resume in the coming months. Mark Rienzi, president of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty (disclosure: my former employer), one of two firms representing the students, said in a press release,“UCLA’s behavior on this issue has been shameful, and the students need a court order to allow them to return to campus safely this fall.”

Judging from the facts of the initial complaint, he’s right. Even as “anti-Israel” rhetoric has engulfed prominent college campuses, the unfiltered nature of the antisemitism the complaint alleges is quite shocking. A few notable examples:

“At an October 12, 2023, demonstration at Bruin Plaza — a thoroughfare in the heart of UCLA’s undergraduate campus — activists chanted ‘Itbah El Yahud’ (‘slaughter the Jews’ in Arabic)”

“On November 8, 2023, hundreds of agitators swarmed the UCLA School of Law, holding signs and chanting ‘from the River to the Sea,’ ‘there’s only one solution,’ ‘intifada,’ ‘death to Israel,’ and ‘death to Jews.’”