Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Jewish Man Beaten in Broad Daylight Near Paris Synagogue
A 65-year-old Jewish man was beaten by three assailants on his way to a synagogue in Livry-Gargan on Saturday, August 9.
A car pulled up in front of the victim and two passengers got out, pretending to ask for directions. The man was then beaten and knocked to the ground, causing eye and facial injuries, while his Star of David and his chai (symbol of life) necklace was torn off.
The Livry-Gargan area in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb has seen previous antisemitic attacks, including a targeted burglary. This mid-morning assault occurred close to the victim's home.
It fits in with a wider pattern of growing antisemitic violence across France, prompting Hen Mazzig, author of The Wrong Kind of Jew and Senior Fellow at The Tel Aviv Institute, to ask
How many violent attacks must be reported before the world finally takes antisemitism seriously? … It breaks my heart to say this, but in today's France, wearing a kippa in public is no longer safe.
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Tuesday, August 12, 2025
Suspect arrested in violent assault on Hasidic father in Montreal
Police in Montreal have arrested a suspect in connection with the recent beating of a Hasidic man in a local park, authorities announced on Monday.
In a statement, the Montreal Police Service said that a 24-year-old man was arrested as part of the ongoing investigation into the assault, part of which was filmed.
A 28-second video clip showing a Hasidic father being beaten in front of his children went viral on the internet, leading to calls from Jewish groups for the police to apprehend the perpetrator.
The Montreal police department "spared no effort to locate the suspect and is continuing its investigation to shed full light on the circumstances of this criminal act," police said.
The attack occurred at 2:20 p.m. last Friday in Dickie Moore Park in Montreal, while a 32-year-old Hasidic man was watching his young children play in the park.
The suspect approached the man's children and began spraying them with water.
When the father confronted the suspect and asked him to stop, the suspect began beating the victim, shoving him to the ground, grabbing the victim's yarmulke off his head, kneeing him, and punching him.
The suspect then left the scene of the crime on foot.
According to police, investigators are expected to send a list of charges to the Quebec Crown prosecutor's office for a formal indictment.
The B'nai Brith Canada antisemitism watchdog group lauded police for the suspect's arrest, but expressed concern that no mention was made of the fact that a visibly Jewish man was targeted, nor the fact that the victim's yarmulke was thrown into a fountain.
"B'nai Brith Canada is relieved that police have arrested a suspect in this case," said Richard Robertson, B'nai Brith Canada's Director of Research and Advocacy.
"What happened Friday afternoon was shocking and horrific. It must serve as a wake-up call for the entire municipality. This is what happens when our leaders tolerate an atmosphere in which hateful thugs feel empowered to act with impunity."
"Omitting such critical facts does a disservice to the public and gives the impression that the authorities are tone-deaf to the crisis Jews in Montreal are facing on a daily basis," Robertson continued.
"With the situation continuing to devolve, Jewish Canadians need leaders to pay more than mere lip service to antisemitism. We need all levels of government to take clear and unequivocal positions on combating this scourge of hate."
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Thursday, August 07, 2025
Jews connected to Chabad are ‘surging’ more than in other denominations, JFNA survey finds
As American Jewry overall has experienced an increase in Jewish engagement in the wake of the Oct. 7 terror attacks, in what has been deemed "The Surge," the largest rise has been seen among those connected to the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, outpacing all other denominations and among unaffiliated Jews, according to survey data from Jewish Federations of North America that were provided exclusively to eJewishPhilanthropy.
According to the findings, which come from data collected by JFNA earlier this year, among the Jews affiliated with Chabad, 44% reported deeper involvement in Jewish life since Oct. 7. This can refer to both someone who was already engaged Jewishly but became more so or someone who was previously uninvolved who has started taking part in Jewish activities. This places the Hasidic movement above Orthodox Judaism (42%), Conservative Judaism (36%), Reform Judaism (33%) and those of "no particular denomination" (24%). The survey polled 1,877 self-identifying Jews who were recruited via text message from March 5-25.
There is, however, an overlap between these groups, as most of those who reported participating in Chabad activities also identified with another denomination. According to the poll, some 30% of the respondents said that they took part in Chabad activities in a typical year. Of these, 39% identified as Reform, 20% as Conservative, 21% as Orthodox, 4% as something else and 15% as no particular denomination.
In the months following the Hamas attacks and the resulting rise in antisemitism around the world, JFNA first identified "The Surge" in Jewish engagement, finding that 42% of survey respondents reported becoming more involved in Jewish life. Earlier this year, the organization conducted a follow-up study indicating that "The Surge" was continuing albeit at a slightly slower pace, with 31% of respondents now reporting increased engagement.
In general, the survey indicated that the two groups who have been "stickiest" — maintaining their increased levels of engagement — are people who were already "very engaged" and became more so post-Oct. 7 and people who were "not at all engaged" and started becoming involved in Jewish life post-Oct. 7. Collectively, these groups represent 50% of respondents, with 14% identifying as "very engaged" and 36% as "not at all."
Since presenting those findings in April, JFNA has continued breaking down the data to identify additional trends that may inform the policies and initiatives of Jewish organizations in the U.S.
The survey data does not indicate why Chabad saw the greatest increase in engagement, though Mimi Kravetz, the chief impact and growth officer at JFNA, said there are indications of what may be driving the growth, principally Chabad's many locations and the unintimidating atmosphere that Chabad leaders have cultivated. Kravetz said that these findings, particularly the latter, should be taken into consideration by other organizations.
"We often see in our local research that when we ask people why they're not engaging, they say, 'There's nothing near me.' So it's accurate to say that one of the reasons that Chabad might see higher engagement is that they're more likely to be local because they just are in lots of communities, including small communities. So that's definitely part of it," Kravetz told eJP. "There's other quotes that we saw in our interviews that also indicate that often… people feel very comfortable and very welcome [at a Chabad house], in a moment when they're looking for something. And there's not that financial barrier to entry that synagogues sometimes [have, since people] think of them as membership organizations. So that's something for our institutions to consider and think about."
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Tuesday, August 05, 2025
Group Claims Jewish Passengers Served ‘Free Palestine’ Kosher Meals on Flight
The Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA) claimed a "serious act of antisemitism" in a statement on Monday when they reported passengers on Iberia Airlines flight flight IB0102 received meals with messages written on them.
Per the association, passenger Salvador Auday, who is Jewish, was given a kosher in-flight meal with the message "Free Palestin" written on the label in biro pen. The group shared an image of the meal in their statement.
Other Jewish passengers also received defaced kosher meals, with the initials 'FP' scrawled on them, an apparent reference to Free Palestine, it was claimed.
DAIA said they condemned this "discriminatory act", a "serious act of antisemitism", and had contacted the airline authorities to demand immediate action.
It is not clear when the incident occurred but Iberia Airlines operates a flight IB0102 from Argentina to Spain once a day. The comments from DAIA follow by days another antisemitic airline incident when a group of Jewish youths on their way to a summer camp in France were kicked off a flight by Spanish airline Vueling.
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