Friday, June 28, 2024
Message calling for an ‘attack’ on ‘Zionists’ found in Jewish area of London
A terrifying message calling for an "attack" on "Zionists" has been seen in a heavily Jewish part of north London.
The sticker – whose precise location is being withheld for security reasons – said "Zionists F*** Off" and featured a woman's face masked by a keffiyeh along with the statements "solidarity means attack" and "Free Palestine".
A reporter for the JC discovered the sticker on a traffic sign in the parliamentary constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington, where an estimated 12 per cent of voters are Jewish.
The seat contains parts of Stamford Hill, home to Europe's largest Charedi community.
The sticker was removed by the JC's reporter and the incident was reported to CST.
A spokesperson for CST told the JC: "This kind of extremist incitement intimidates and harasses communities and the implicit support for violence seems deliberately designed to frighten. It should be roundly condemned, and the police should investigate who is putting these stickers up."
Earlier this week, the JC reported that CST's chief executive Mark Gardiner said that since the October 7 massacre committed by Hamas in Israel, antisemitic incidents in the UK had been "running at record levels", and that CST had dealt with 4,500 complaints of antisemitism in the past nine months.
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Thursday, June 27, 2024
Rome's Jewish Community Demands Accountability for Anti-Semitic Actions by Youth Party
Rome's Jewish community has called for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to punish members of her party's youth wing who were recorded making antisemitic and pro-fascist comments in an undercover media investigation.
A reporter from online newspaper Fanpage infiltrated Gioventu Nazionale, Meloni's rightist Brothers of Italy youth movement, and recorded videos in which members declared themselves fascists and shouted the Nazi slogan "Sieg Heil". The investigation also showed a Gioventu Nazionale member mocking Brothers of Italy senator Ester Mieli for her Jewish origin, and revealed chats on messaging platforms where militants took aim at ethnic minorities.
Fanpage has broadcast its expose in two instalments, the second one on Wednesday. "The Jewish Community of Rome condemns the shameful images of racism and antisemitism that emerged from the Fanpage investigation," the group's President Victor Fadlun wrote on his X social media account on Thursday.
Fadlun offered his support to senator Mieli and urged Brothers of Italy to take "appropriate action," saying it was "imperative that society and institutions" strongly react against hatred and discrimination. Brothers of Italy said the youth group members had used "unacceptable" language "incompatible with the values" of the party and it vowed to punish those responsible. However, it criticised the way the images were captured because the reporter was undercover.
Italian newspaper la Repubblica reported on Thursday that two of the members involved in the investigation had resigned from their posts. Brothers of Italy traces its roots to the Italian Social Movement (MSI), formed in 1946 as a direct heir of Benito Mussolini's fascist movement that ruled Italy for more than 20 years.
Meloni has repeatedly condemned the racist, anti-Jewish laws enacted by the dictator in 1938 and has tried to turn her party into a mainstream conservative force. But she has ignored many calls for her to declare herself "anti-fascist" and her critics say she has so far failed to fully mark a distance with neo-fascism.
Senate Speaker Ignazio La Russa, a founding member of Brothers of Italy, used to show off his collection of Mussolini memorabilia as recently as 2018.
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Wednesday, June 26, 2024
Lakewood Jewish mother arrested after her 2 toddlers found drowned
The authorities uncovered the bodies of two toddlers, a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old, who appeared to have been drowned and stabbed, though the exact cause and manner of death have not been officially confirmed.
In a heart-wrenching incident that has stunned the quiet Ultra-orthodox community of Lakewood, New Jersey, two young girls were found dead inside a home on Tuesday night, according to NBC New York. Law enforcement sources revealed that their mother had been taken into custody in connection with the double homicide.
The gruesome discovery was made at a residence on Shenandoah Drive near Rockbridge Road, where authorities uncovered the bodies of two toddlers –a 1-year-old and a 3-year-old. The one-year-old victim was stabbed, and both children had been drowned. Naomi Elkins, 27, who is apparently part of the Haredi community of Lakewood, was charged with two counts of murder, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose and unlawful possession of a weapon.
As the community grapples with the shocking news, a heavy police presence was observed at the scene. More than a dozen officers from both the Ocean County Sheriff's Office and Lakewood Police Department were seen entering and exiting the home, while patrol cars lined the block.
The incident has left neighbors and residents in disbelief. One local resident, who wished to remain anonymous, told NBC New York, "This is a quiet neighborhood. We never expected something like this to happen here. It's absolutely devastating." The Ocean County Prosecutor's Office has yet to release an official statement regarding the incident.
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Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Court of Appeals upholds ruling on busing of private and religious school students
A state Court of Appeals judge has upheld a 2022 ruling in the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court that found public school districts are not required to bus students to religious or other private schools on days when the public district is closed.
The ruling was a defeat for the United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove, which had sued the Washingtonville School District seeking such busing for children of its members.
The Blooming Grove area has seen a growing Hasidic population in recent years, and there are about 20 days in the average school year when the Hasidic schools their children attend are open, while the Washingtonville schools and other public schools are closed.
When United Jewish Community of Blooming Grove sued Washingtonville in 2021, they were initially victorious.
A state Supreme Court justice in Albany ruled in favor of the group.
But when the Washingtonville School District appealed the case to the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court, a panel of four justices there supported the district's policy of only busing nonpublic school students when its own schools are open. That ruling was in June 2022.
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Monday, June 24, 2024
NJ school ‘at best careless’ in missing photos of Jewish students, review finds
The omission of a photo of the Jewish Student Union in a yearbook at East Brunswick High School in New Jersey was "not purposeful, but rather was a highly unfortunate error," an independent review of the incident concludes.
The review, conducted by Yaacov Brisman, who runs an eponymous law firm, found no basis that the yearbook adviser "acted out of any animus, racial, religious or political, towards Jewish or Muslim students."
Victor Valeski, superintendent of schools for East Brunswick, previously told CNN that "an initial internal investigation" found "at a minimum, gross [negligence] in the proof review procedure before going to print."
Instead of the photograph of Jewish students, images of Muslim students ran in the yearbook in a section devoted to the Jewish Student Union.
"I find that the lead adviser was at best careless, but her actions can also be considered negligent," Brisman found. (The adviser was not named.)
"She should have exercised greater attention to detail when selecting the photograph. She admittedly only 'assumed' it was the correct photograph," he wrote in the report. "The photograph clearly has a number of students who are identifiably Muslim. Even accounting for diversity among students, this should have triggered greater awareness.
"Moreover, as an experienced educator, in light of domestic and international events," Brisman added, the adviser "should have had a heightened sense of awareness and sensitivity surrounding students of Jewish ethnicity and/or faith."
"This sensitivity also holds true for students of the Muslim faith, who were clearly identifiable by their dress and who were also mislabeled," he wrote.
Brisman told JNS, "I will rely on the contents of the report rather than making additional comments."
Valeski stated, "While I'm grateful that the results of this investigation show that these actions were serious mistakes without malice, we must now focus on repairing the deep hurt and division that has been created in our school and community."
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Friday, June 21, 2024
As France reels from the rape of a Jewish girl, antisemitism comes to the fore in election campaign
The alleged rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a suspected antisemitic attack has sent shockwaves throughout France, and thrust concerns about antisemitism to the forefront of campaigning for the country's legislative elections.
The National Rally party, which has tried to shed historical links to antisemitism, has its first real chance of forming a government if it comes out on top of the two-round elections that end July 7, as polls forecast. It would be the first far-right force to lead a French government since the Nazi occupation.
Far-left figures, meanwhile, have faced accusations of antisemitism linked to their response to Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the ensuing war.
Concerns came to the fore after two adolescent boys in a Paris suburb were given preliminary charges this week of raping a 12-year-old girl and religion-motivated violence, according to prosecutors. Lawyer and Jewish leader Elie Korchia told French broadcaster BFM that the girl is Jewish and that the word Palestine was mentioned during the attack.
Politicians from all sides were quick to comment on the attack, which elicited widespread shock and concern, notably after a surge in antisemitic acts in France since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
France has the largest Jewish population in Europe, but given its own World War II collaboration with the Nazis, antisemitic acts today open old scars. France also has the largest Muslim population in western Europe, and anti-Muslim acts have risen in recent years.
On Wednesday evening, hundreds of people gathered in front of Paris City Hall to protest antisemitism. Many in the crowd were holding placards, including some bearing the slogan "raped because she's Jewish." Further protests are planned for Thursday evening at Place de la Bastille.
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Tuesday, June 18, 2024
Elderly Jewish man spat on in New York by antisemitic vandal
An elderly Jewish man was subjected to an antisemitic attack in New York City on Sunday.
The incident, which was captured on video and posted to social media by the StopAntisemitism movement, involved a vandal tearing down posters of hostages held by Hamas while shouting "Free Palestine."
The 74-year-old victim confronted the aggressor, telling him to "get the hell away from me."
A bystander quickly intervened, extending his arm to shield the elderly man. Despite the intervention, the aggressor spat at the victim, prompting immediate condemnation from other bystanders who demanded he leave the scene.
One bystander threatened to call the police.
Amid the confrontation, the aggressor retreated while continuing to shout "Free Palestine." Another bystander challenged him, asking, "How do you free Palestine right now? All you're doing is harassing people."
The presence and actions of multiple bystanders who defended the elderly man ultimately led the aggressor to leave the area.
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Monday, June 17, 2024
Probe finds two universities failed to protect Jewish students
The federal Education Department said Monday that two universities failed to adequately protect both Jewish and Muslim students in the heated days after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and during the war in Gaza that followed.
Both the University of Michigan and the City University of New York (CUNY) and several of its affiliated colleges agreed to reexamine some past cases and to conduct training, among other actions, to resolve federal investigations into student complaints amid the Middle East conflict. Jewish and Palestinian students have described harassment and other incidents of discrimination, with reports of hostile language, disrupted classes, vandalism and more.
"Hate has no place on our college campuses — ever," Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement. He called the resolutions a positive step forward but said, "Sadly, we have witnessed a series of deeply concerning incidents in recent months."
The cases are the first since Oct. 7 to be resolved by the Education Department. Some department investigations related to antisemitism and Islamophobia were pending before the war, but the number has spiked as campuses across the country have become engulfed by pro-Palestinian protests. An additional 106 cases are pending at the Office for Civil Rights at the Education Department, involving both universities and K-12 school districts, a spokeswoman said.
CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez said the university was grateful to the Office for Civil Rights for collaborating on a holistic plan to ensure that all students are safe on its campuses. "CUNY is committed to providing an environment that is free from discrimination and hate, and these new steps will ensure that there is consistency and transparency in how complaints are investigated and resolved," he said.
University of Michigan President Santa J. Ono said in a statement that the university condemns "all forms of discrimination, racism and bias." He added: "Since October 7, we have been deeply troubled by the statements and actions of some members of our community." The university is required to uphold free speech principles, including reprehensible speech, but it works to ensure that "debate does not tip over into targeted harassment or bullying," Ono said.
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Monday, June 10, 2024
Orthodox Jews in Bed Stuy say anti-Israel lefty polls trying to force them out of neighborhood with landmarking designation
A religious war is erupting in Brownstone Brooklyn.
An historic enclave in Bedford-Stuyvesant is being considered for landmarking — and some Orthodox Jews living there say it's part of a hateful scheme led by antisemites and Councilman Chi Osse to push them out.
On May 21, the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to add two blocks, Willoughby Avenue and Hart Street between Nostrand and Marcy avenues, to the calendar for consideration as a new historic district.
Landmark status severely limits owners' abilities to renovate or expand their homes.
Large Orthodox families often need to expand their houses, Jewish homeowners explained, so limiting their ability to alter them will essentially force them to move or be unable to sell to other Orthodox families.
"We need big houses," Rabbi Shaya Saks, who owns a house on Hart Street, said recently while surrounded by a group of observant Jews on Willoughby Avenue. "We don't have one or two children."
"We feel that this is antisemitism because they are trying to stop us from moving in here," said Hart Street homeowner Herman Bodek, an Orthodox Jew. "This will have us moving out."
The roughly 50 Jewish owners on the leafy brownstone-lined blocks are speaking out after the commission's decision to potentially create the so-called Willoughby-Hart Historic District.
The 100-plus homes in the enclave were built around 150 years ago and the area is unique for "the quality of its architecture, strong historic character and sense of place of its streetscapes," as well as "its community history," the commission said.
The commission said it received a letter of support for the designation from Osse, a far-left politician whose district includes Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights, as well as pro-Israel Democrat state Assemblywoman Stefani Zinerman (D-Brooklyn) and state Sen. Jabari Brisport, a member of Democratic Socialists of America. Osse is a former member of DSA.
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Thursday, June 06, 2024
Chabad Kotlarsky Funeral
Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic Jews wait for the coffin to arrive during the funeral of Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, Vice Chairman of Merkos L'Inyonei Chinuch—the educational arm of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement—and Director of the annual International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries at Montefiore Cemetery, on Wednesday, June 5, 2024, in the Queens borough of New York. Kotlarsky passed away on Tuesday. He would have been 75 in four days.
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Wednesday, June 05, 2024
Columbia settles suit with Jewish student over encampments, promising additional security
Columbia University has settled a lawsuit brought against it by a Jewish student alleging a hostile environment as a result of the pro-Palestinian encampment movement.
The settlement is a major development in Jewish groups' efforts to hold universities accountable in light of a reported increase in campus antisemitism since Oct. 7.
As part of the settlement, Columbia has promised to provide walking escorts and safe campus entrances at all hours of the day, as well as accommodations for students who were unable to complete exams owing to campus disruption.
"We are pleased we've been able to come to a resolution and remain committed to our number one priority: the safety of our campus so that all of our students can successfully pursue their education and meet their academic goals," a Columbia spokesperson said in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The suit was brought by an anonymous Jewish student in late April who alleged that the encampments had disrupted their education. The school faced significant disruption as a result of the encampments, with clashes between students and police, hundreds of arrests, a move to hybrid classes, extended campus closures and the eventual cancellation of commencement.
Jay Edelson, an attorney for the plaintiff and head of the law firm Edelson PC, told reporters that the settlement represented "a return to basic, shared principles of safety on campus for all Columbia students." Edelson's firm, which did not immediately respond to a request for more details about the settlement, has taken an active role in advocating for Jewish students amid the current campus climate. It announced in December that it would no longer recruit Harvard Law students following controversial congressional testimony on antisemitism by then-Harvard President Claudine Gay.
The Columbia settlement is the first significant legal resolution for Jewish students who have sought campus protections from antisemitism via the court system since Oct. 7. Several other Jewish-led lawsuits against elite universities remain pending, as do more than 100 federal Title VI discrimination investigations at the U.S. Department of Education, which has become a popular mechanism for Jews seeking to hold universities and school districts accountable. Pro-Palestinian groups have also filed both lawsuits and complaints alleging discrimination.
These methods are increasingly overlapping and, in some cases, canceling each other out. While the department's Office of Civil Rights has yet to resolve any of the Title VI cases filed since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, a spokesperson confirmed to JTA that it has dismissed at least five investigations after lawsuits were filed over the same incidents.
The office promises to open every Title VI complaint it receives for investigation regardless of source or merit, yet also moves to close any active investigation that overlaps with a lawsuit, saying that the same complaint should not be resolved through two different avenues.
The dismissed investigations — at Columbia, Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Cooper Union — were all at universities that have been the sites of high-profile antisemitism allegations. Columbia and other schools still have other active complaints filed on other grounds.
The Columbia settlement suggests that lawsuits may result in agreements more quickly than civil rights investigations.
Last week, the civil rights office announced a resolution in an antisemitism-related investigation based on a complaint filed by a Jewish civil rights group last August. The Community School of Davidson, a charter school in North Carolina, agreed to review its anti-discrimination procedures and implement new staff training after students reportedly harassed a non-Jewish student who wore an Israeli Olympic jersey to school.
The complaint was filed prior to Oct. 7 by the Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, a law firm that frequently files civil rights challenges on behalf of Jewish or pro-Israel clients, and was notable for resting on "perceived," rather than actual, Jewish ancestry.
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Tuesday, June 04, 2024
Berkshire Jewish community reeling from 'antisemitic' incident at Great Barrington coffee shop
Town officials and the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires are condemning a new incident of antisemitism in town.
The Jewish Federation of the Berkshires this week issued a statement decrying the "blatantly antisemitic targeting" of Fuel Coffee Shop and its Jewish owners by "anti-Israel protesters" on Saturday.
The Federation said it was "disturbed and saddened" by the incident, and that it appeared to have been "instigated by a disgruntled employee" who had been fired for "sharing his political opinions with patrons during working hours." The employee, the statement said, had been "let go after multiple requests by management to refrain" from doing this.
"The protesters disrupted sidewalk traffic in front of the business holding signs and chanting that Fuel Coffee supports genocide," the statement said. "One sign specifically targeted the owners by name."
Owner Elan Merkel — who owns Fuel with his wife Lydia Merkel and Carol Keuma-Hipwell — declined comment and said none of the owners would speak to the press right now. Keuma-Hipwell could not immediately be reached.
At its Monday night meeting, Great Barrington Select Board Vice Chair Leigh Davis said Saturday's events — which she had been informed about by others who were there — made for a "sad, sad, sad day for Great Barrington."
"For me, the protests outside a small business had nothing to do with alleviating suffering that was happening in Gaza," Davis said. "For me, it's blatant antisemitic behavior when you have a name of a business owner on a sign with the word 'genocide.'"
Board Chair Stephen Bannon said that "it's one thing to protest in front of the Town Hall, but it's another thing to go in front of Jewish-owned businesses because they're Jewish-owned businesses, and that is crossing a line."
The "Rage for Rafah" protest slated for 10 a.m. at Town Hall was organized by local political groups, Anti Imperialist Solidarity, Berkshires for Collective Liberation and the Berkshires chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, according to social media.
The rally appears to have moved from a permitted protest at Town Hall to the corner of Bridge and Main streets, according to social media announcements and other accounts of how it unfolded. From there, the group moved to the sidewalk outside Fuel. Police were called to keep order.
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Monday, June 03, 2024
NJ Mayor Apologizes for Hasidic Jews Comment, Claims ‘extortion’
City officials are embroiled in a legal battle, as a former Linden school administrator filed a whistleblower lawsuit for what he says were discriminatory hiring efforts to exclude Jewish school staff.
Former Assistant Superintendent Paul Oliveira filed his suit against the Linden Board of Education, Mayor Derek Armstead and others on May 23.
Armstead was accused of seeking to exclude Hasidic Jewish individuals from being hired by the school district, saying at one point: "That is what has to happen in order to keep our community from being taken over by guys with big hats and curls."
On Thursday, Armstead admitted to making such a reference.
"The Mayor apologizes for comments referencing Hasidic Jews as 'guys in big hats and curls,' and remains staunchly committed to diversity and inclusivity in the community," Armstead said in a statement on Thursday.
He said Oliveira had no evidence that any job applicants were ever turned down based on religious affiliation.
Armstead then accused the ex-assistant superintendent of trying to extort $950,000 from the district before filing his lawsuit.
On Friday, Oliveira's attorney, Armen McOmber, called Armstead's written response "ridiculous, inaccurate and defamatory" and said such efforts to intimidate and silence Oliveira would fail.
"The mayor is a bigot and has absolutely no business leading any city anywhere: controlling the hiring practices of the Board of Education in order to keep Jews from 'taking over the community,'"
"Instead of actual contrition and an attempt to understand and comply with anti-discrimination laws, the Mayor unfortunately attempts to deflect attention from his own misconduct by attacking Paul," McOmber said.
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