Thursday, July 25, 2024
NJ man sentenced to 40 years in prison for 2022 spree of violent antisemitic attacks targeting Orthodox community
A New Jersey man was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison and five years of supervised release for a spate of attacks on Orthodox Jewish men in Lakewood, New Jersey in April 2022.
Dion Marsh, 29, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi in February to five counts of hate crimes and one count of carjacking. He admitted to "willfully causing bodily injury to five victims, and attempting to kill and cause injuries with dangerous weapons to four of them, all because they were Jewish," said a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey. In January, Marsh also pleaded guilty to one state charge of terrorism.
Lakewood is a fast-growing city in central New Jersey with a large haredi Orthodox population, and is home to Beth Medrash Govoha, the largest yeshiva outside of Israel.
"These victims were targeted by Marsh because of the way they were dressed, which is in accordance with their religious beliefs," James E. Dennehy, an FBI special agent in charge in Newark, said in a statement Tuesday. "They have that right in this country."
Marsh had forced an Orthodox man out of his car, assaulting him in the process before taking control of the car and driving it away. Hours later, in another car, Marsh rammed another Orthodox man in an attempt to kill him. About 40 minutes later, he rammed a third visibly Orthodox man. Less than an hour after that, back in the car he stole from the first victim, he rammed a fourth visibly Orthodox man and also stabbed him in the chest. Later that night, Marsh hit another visibly Orthodox pedestrian with the car, breaking several of his bones.
The Secure Community Network, a national Jewish security organization, applauded the efforts of law enforcement agencies to pursue the case, as well as the sentence.
"Jewish people in the United States should not have to fear for their safety simply for living their faith proudly in public," SCN said in a statement. "By imposing a strong sentence, our justice system sends a clear message that hate crimes against the Jewish community will not be tolerated, and that the United States government is making it a priority to ensure our community feels safe engaging in daily life."
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Tuesday, July 23, 2024
Indiana man sentenced to 2 years in prison for threatening to kill Jewish people
An Indiana man pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years in prison, and two years of supervised release, for sending violent anti-Semitic threats to various anti-defamation league offices.
According to the records filed in the case, 67-year-old Andrezj Boryga left voicemails at Anti-Defamation League offices in New York, Texas, Colorado and Nevada.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said Boryga used anti-Semitic slurs on eight voicemails as he threatened to assault or kill Jewish people.
According to the DOJ, over the last few months, they have brought charges, obtained plea agreements and obtained sentences for more than 30 defendants for criminal acts "motivated by anti-Semitic hate."
"Hate-fueled threats of violence seek to fracture our society and isolate communities from one another," Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said. "This defendant made heinous, repeated violent threats targeting Jewish people and organizations. His actions were not just heinous, they were unlawful. This case represents the latest effort by the Justice Department to combat the disturbing increase in threats against Jews and Jewish institutions across the United States that we have seen in the wake of Oct. 7."
The FBI Indianapolis Field Office investigated the case.
"Everyone in our country should be able to sit in safety regardless of how they worship, free from bigoted threats meant to make them afraid," Zachary A. Myers, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, said. "This criminal's horrific threats sought to put fear into Jewish communities. Violent antisemitism and bigotry must be given no sanction in this country."
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Monday, July 22, 2024
Course on Hasidic Yiddish at Yiddish Summer Weimar
A highly anticipated intensive two-week course on contemporary Hasidic Yiddish begins on July 22 at the annual festival, Yiddish Summer Weimar, in Weimar, Germany.
Yiddish is a living language that has always had many dialects and varieties. But its rich diversity and contemporary relevance is rarely presented in summer Yiddish language programs, which typically teach only Standard Yiddish. This course will focus on Hasidic Yiddish, the variety that is the daily spoken language of around one million people in the USA, Europe, Israel and around the world. A knowledge of the Yiddish alphabet is required.
The unique teaching team includes both native speakers of Hasidic Yiddish and expert researchers who are members of the innovative Contemporary Hasidic Yiddish group at UCL (University College London). They are Dr. Zoë Belk, Eli Benedict, Mendy Cahan, Kriszta Eszter Szendro und Janina Wurbs.
The class will work with historical Hasidic texts, modern Hasidic literature, nigunim, Hasidic pop music and traditional and contemporary film. Formal language classes will take place in the mornings, with separate sections for beginning, intermediate, and advanced classes. Afternoons will be dedicated to more informal learning in an immersive Yiddish environment.
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Thursday, July 18, 2024
'Nashville has a Nazi problem': Jews face two weeks of neo-Nazi invasion
Neo-Nazis have terrorized Jewish Nashville residents over the last two weeks with a series of marches, physical assaults, and antisemitic pamphlets, Jewish groups, law enforcement, and local politicians have stated, adding to the list of incidents over the year conducted by multiple extremist groups coming from outside the city.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville warned on Facebook on Wednesday that security contacts had informed them that one neo-Nazi group would continue to operate in the Nashville area for several days. Nashville Metropolitan Police Department Chief John Drake said in a Wednesday statement that the group was likely operating out of a short-term rental in Scottsville, Kentucky. Nashville Jewish Federation CEO Rabbi Dan Horowitz said in a Tuesday Nashville City Council meeting that several groups had been visiting Nashville over the year, and two different groups were responsible for actions over the last two weeks.
Drake said officers have been present at neo-Nazi demonstrations to deter confrontations, and called on residents not to engage with the activists, as they were seeking to film such incidents for propaganda.
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Wednesday, July 17, 2024
Alleged neo-Nazi ‘murder cult’ leader accused of plot to poison children
Federal authorities have charged the suspected leader of an Eastern European-based neo-Nazi group with harboring plans to have an associate dress up as Santa Claus and hand out candy laced with poison to Jewish and minority children in New York City.
Michail Chkhikvishvili, a Georgian national in his early 20s who goes by the alias "Commander Butcher," was indicted on four charges, the Justice Department said in a statement on Tuesday, including the transmission of threatening communications and conspiracy to solicit hate crimes and acts of mass violence.
He is alleged to be the leader of a group known as the Maniac Murder Cult, a violent international extremist outfit that prosecutors say "adheres to a neo-Nazi accelerationist ideology and promotes violence and violent acts against racial minorities, the Jewish community and other groups it deems 'undesirables.'"
The group is believed to be based in Russia and Ukraine, with members around the world, including the United States.
It was not immediately clear whether Chkhikvishvili had an attorney.
According to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, he was arrested in Moldova on July 6 under an Interpol order after trying to recruit an undercover law enforcement officer to join the group and commit acts of violence, including arson and bombings.
Prosecutors say Chkhikvishvili began plotting in late 2023 to carry out an attack that year in New York City on New Year's Eve. According to the Justice Department statement, "The scheme involved an individual dressing up as Santa Claus and handing out candy laced with poison to racial minorities and children at Jewish schools."
Chkhikvishvili sought to persuade the undercover law enforcement employee posing as a potential recruit to carry out the plan, providing step-by-step instructions and details on how to mix lethal poisons.
In electronic correspondence with the employee, who was not identified in court documents, Chkhikvishvili later suggested carrying out the plan at another time, on "some Jewish holiday" at "Jewish schools full of kids."
When the undercover employee warned that the attack would "bring alot of heat" on the group, Chkhikvishvili responded, "That's what we exactly want." The Georgian national also discussed publishing a video of the planned attack, hoping that it could make the cult "bigger than Al Qaeda."
According to court documents, Chkhikvishvili since 2021 has distributed a manifesto titled the "Hater's Handbook," in which he encourages others to commit acts meant to sow terror — specifically within the United States — and admits to committing such acts himself.
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Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Jewish students condemn UCLA for defending and assisting antisemitic encampments
Three Jewish students condemned the University of California, Los Angeles, yesterday for defending its actions, allowing and assisting antisemitic encampments that bar Jewish students from accessing the heart of campus. In Frankel v. Regents of the University of California, Becket and co-counsel Clement & Murphy PLLC filed a lawsuit against UCLA after it helped a group of activists as they set up an encampment where they harassed Jewish students and stopped them from accessing classes, the library, and other critical parts of campus. UCLA reinforced these zones—both by providing metal barriers and by sending away Jewish students—while taking no effective action to ensure safe passage for Jewish students.
On June 24, three current UCLA students asked the court to put an immediate stop to UCLA's actions so that they could return to class free from fear that they would be harassed and excluded for being Jewish. UCLA then doubled down, disavowing any obligation to protect its Jewish students, and claimed—despite the numerous encampments that have continued to mar the face of UCLA's campus—that the students have nothing to fear when classes begin again. In response, the students pointed out to the court that the May encampment was hardly an isolated incident. Rather, it merely exemplified the unchecked antisemitism that ran rampant both before and after those appalling events took place. Given that UCLA has now admitted to the court that UCLA itself set up barricades reinforcing the encampment and follows a policy prohibiting calling the police "preemptively," it could not be clearer that "[w]hen activists discriminate against and threaten Jews, UCLA protects the activists, not their Jewish victims."
"UCLA's attempt to dodge responsibility for the ongoing antisemitism on its campus is transparent and shameful," said Mark Rienzi, president of Becket and an attorney for the students. "No one is fooled—UCLA alone bears the blame for allowing and assisting mobs of masked antisemites who threaten, assault, and segregate Jewish students."
Yitzchok Frankel is a law student and father of four who faced antisemitic harassment last semester simply for wearing a kippah and who was forced to abandon his regular routes through campus because of the Jew Exclusion Zone. Frankel detailed how UCLA's continued failures have forced him to cancel plans on campus with his family and to forgo opportunities to mentor incoming Jewish students on campus during orientation week. Eden Shemuelian, another law student, has also had to avoid using campus facilities and participating in law school orientation events because of UCLA's continuing failures to ensure the safety and equal access of Jewish students. With the beginning of the fall semester looming, the students are asking the court to ensure that Jews will never again face such antisemitic bigotry at UCLA.
"Universities that abandon their duty to protect students from vicious targeting must face the consequences," said Rienzi. "The court should hold UCLA accountable for its discriminatory behavior and ensure the safety of Jewish students before the start of the fall semester."
A hearing in the case is scheduled for July 29, 2024 in Los Angeles federal district court.
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Monday, July 15, 2024
Great Synagogue of Sydney, Australia, Targeted by anti-Israel Protesters
Protesters held a large banner calling to 'Sanction Israel' outside the synagogue, in an act which community leaders called 'intimidating and denigrating' for local Jews. Sydney's Great Synagogue was founded in 1878 and is the center of the Jewish community in the city.
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Thursday, July 11, 2024
Tens of thousands visit gravesite of Lubavitcher Rebbe on 30th anniversary of his death
On the evening of July 5, hundreds of Hasidic men crowded into a squat building at a cemetery in Queens, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder at cafeteria-style tables, studying Jewish texts and preparing to visit the gravesite of their late leader.
The men were some of the 50,000 people who this week visited the gravesite of Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as the Rebbe, to mark the Jewish anniversary of his death, which fell on Monday night and Tuesday. Some had met the Rebbe when he held court at Chabad's home base of Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
But for those born after his passing 30 years ago, a visit to the Ohel, as his gravesite is known, is the closest they can physically be to the last leader of their global movement.
"People of my generation, we have a yearning," said Levi Shmotkin, 26, who was one of the visitors to the Old Montefiore Cemetery on Rabbi Schneerson's yahrzeit. "Instead of me studying the Rebbe's interaction with another teenager, I wish I could be that teenager."
Like some other Chabadniks under 30, Shmotkin has immersed himself in Schneerson's teachings, which are organized in compendia of letters he wrote and talks he gave in Crown Heights. Shmotkin felt drawn to the letters the Rebbe exchanged with those seeking his counseling. He has now published his own book on the correspondence, called "Letters for Life."
"It is only after the teacher leaves and the students are left alone that the students can then take apart and really understand what the teacher said," Shmotkin said while visiting the site. He spent five years organizing Schneerson's 13,000 archived letters, thematically, with a focus on emotional wellness.
"We didn't have that all-encompassing experience of being in the Rebbe's presence. That gives us the ability to dissect what he's saying and make a comprehensive picture of it," Shmotkin said.
Chabad has not had a leader after Rabbi Schneerson – the seventh rebbe of the movement, which was founded in the 18th century in the Russian Empire. In the years following his passing, a contingent of Hasidim have professed that he is the messiah, creating tensions in the movement.
Those tensions were absent on Monday night, when visitors packed into Rabbi Schneerson's walled gravesite, where he is buried alongside his father-in-law and predecessor, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn. Men and women filed into the enclosure and, per Orthodox practice, stood with a barrier between them. Nearly all said prayers or left notes on top of the graves. One man left several pictures of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and said a prayer wishing for their safe return.
A long line wound outside the tomb into the street outside, where attendees lit candles in the hot summer night.
Over the decades, the Ohel has become a pilgrimage site for celebrities and politicians as well as Chabad Hasidim. At 1 a.m. on Tuesday morning, New York City Mayor Eric Adams became one of the thousands who visited the grave.
"His influence shaped our city for the better by reminding us even small deeds can change the world," Adams posted on X. "Let's honor his worldwide legacy by increasing our acts of kindness."
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Wednesday, July 10, 2024
NYU Settles Lawsuit With Jewish Students Over Campus Antisemitism
New York University settled a lawsuit Tuesday with Jewish students over claims that the university did not protect them from antisemitism on campus.
The suit was filed in November accusing the university of violating federal civil rights laws by not enforcing its antidiscrimination policy in incidents targeting Jewish students and allowing "pervasive acts of hatred, discrimination, harassment, and intimidation."
NYU was a hot spot for anti-Israel protests in recent months, with police arresting 133 people in a single night and the lawsuit asserted chants such as "Hitler was right," and "gas the Jews" were being regularly heard.
Protests exploded on college campuses across the country after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack that left more than 1,200 people in Israel dead, leading to safety concerns following violent outbreaks. Many universities were forced to cancel classes and graduation ceremonies.
"NYU has committed to take groundbreaking measures to address antisemitism, including in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack and ensuing violence in the Middle East," NYU said in a joint statement announcing the settlement. The students claimed the university had not done enough to condemn Hamas previously.
The settlement included an undisclosed monetary agreement, a commitment to equally enforcing and updating antidiscrimination policies and the creation of a new position overseeing the university's compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, according to the statement.
"NYU, by entering into this historic settlement, is to be commended for taking a leading position among American universities in combating antisemitism on campus. Other universities should promptly follow their lead," Marc Kasowitz, counsel for the plaintiffs, said in the statement.
Several lawsuits have been filed against other universities regarding antisemitic instances. Jewish students at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) sued over the university allowing the creation of a "Jew Exclusion Zone" during a violent encampment, while a Columbia University student accused the school of not doing enough to keep Jewish students safe amid ongoing protests.
NYU did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Tuesday, July 09, 2024
Jewish couple attacked during brutal anti-Semitic brawl sue NYC for $100 million
A Jewish couple, who are the victims of a suspected anti-Semitic attack during their twins' fifth-grade graduation, are gearing up to hit New York City with a staggering $100million lawsuit.
Johan Nunez and Lana Lerner are accusing the Department of Education of not implementing sufficient security at PS 682 in Brooklyn on June 14, amidst a spike in anti-Semitic incidents seen since war erupted in Gaza.
The pair allege that during the melee, a woman brutally struck Nunez with her black stiletto while he was being punched and kicked, and Lerner was viciously dragged by her hair as the attackers shouted 'Free Palestine.'
Following the fight, which was captured on video, the couple claims they have endured both physical assault and emotional trauma. They also claim they've been subjected to human rights abuses.
The fracas reportedly broke out after a fifth-grader, wearing a school-sanctioned cap emblazoned with 'Free Palestine', crossed the stage waving a Palestinian flag. Witnessing the scene, Lerner's mother, a Jewish émigré from Ukraine, recoiled in horror and vacated her seat saying: "I can't sit through this."
Simultaneously, another parent confronted school officials about the appropriateness of such a display at a graduation event. "The administrator basically told her that 'we contacted legal and were told it's free speech and it's allowed,'" Lerner recounted to the New York Post.
The remainder of the ceremony proceeded smoothly, but once it concluded, all families rushed to a balloon display for photo opportunities. As Lerner and her family were taking pictures of the twins, the family of the boy wearing the Palestinian cap and flag attempted to push them aside, according to the notice of claim.
"They were pushing my mother out of the way," Lerner recalled. She claimed her mum responded to them, "Excuse me, please stop pushing. There is plenty of space." But, she said, "an older gentleman [turned] to us out of nowhere and said: 'Free Palestine.'"
Nunez then reportedly tried to defuse the situation by saying, 'This is not the time or place for this,' but one of the men in the other family kept screaming: 'Free Palestine! Gaza is ours!'
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Monday, July 08, 2024
Liberman calls on French Jews to flee to Israel after far-left victory in France
Following Sunday's French elections result, Avigdor Liberman, head of Yisrael Beytenu, called on French Jews to make aliyah before it is too late in statements at a party meeting on Monday.
Liberman called for French Jews to leave after the broad-left New Popular Front election bloc received the most votes.
"I call on the French Jews to leave France and immigrate to the State of Israel. No time," Liberman said.
The bloc is headed by the far-left strong anti-Israel figure Jean-Luc Melenchon, who Liberman, along with various other figures, including the president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France (CRIF) have accused of antisemitism.
"His party represents pure antisemitism and expresses a significant increase in hatred of Israel and antisemitism," Liberman said at the party meeting.
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Friday, July 05, 2024
Pro-Palestinian Encampments Spur Antisemitism on Campus, Australian Research Finds
According to a study of Australian universities, 91 antisemitic incidents were reported on campuses in the first semester of 2024, just in the state of Victoria. Only 11 incidents were recorded on university campuses in 2023, nine of which were after October 7, with only one incident in all of 2022
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Wednesday, July 03, 2024
Man arrested for threats against New York Hasidic village
A Suffern man was arrested on Thursday for making threats against the Hasidic village of New Square on social media, the Ramapo Police Department and Rockland County Sheriff announced on Friday.
The 44-year-old suspect was charged with making a terroristic threat, arraigned, and released on Friday.
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Tuesday, July 02, 2024
FBI investigates vandalism at two Jewish cemeteries in Cincinnati
The FBI and police in Cincinnati are investigating the damaging of nearly 180 gravestones at two Jewish cemeteries.
The tombstones, some dating back to the late 1800s, likely were knocked over between June 25 and Monday, according to the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati.
The damage was found in two Jewish sections of the Covedale Cemetery complex on Monday. Some of the tombstones cracked in half, the organization said. Most were pushed face-down.
"Our hearts go out to the families affected by this senseless vandalism. The Jewish community in Cincinnati is resilient and we are committed to repairing the damage and restoring the sanctity of these sacred spaces," the federation said in a statement.
It asked anyone with information to come forward and help with the investigation.
The vandalism comes amid a surge in antisemitism in the U.S. and abroad.
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Monday, July 01, 2024
Appeals court sides with state Education Department over yeshivas
The state Education Department can penalize school districts and parents of students who attend nonpublic schools that fail to provide a course of learning that is "substantially equivalent" to what is offered in a public school, the Appellate Division's Third Judicial Department concluded in a 4-1 decision released Thursday.
The decision is the latest twist — and likely not the final one — in the state's efforts to make sure that the traditional Jewish religious schools known as yeshivas are meeting their obligations to students.
"Parents and guardians cannot discharge their statutory duty by relying upon a nonpublic school that fails to meet the minimal standards of our state law, and the regulations at issue here are the direct application of the commissioner's statutory authority to enforce compliance with that standard," the majority opinion said.
Education Department spokesman Jonathan Burman said the court's language was "spot on."
"The court ruled correctly in upholding regulations that are intended to ensure all New York state students receive the education they are legally entitled to, and in affirming the authority of the commissioner and the Board of Regents to enforce this requirement," Burman said.
He said the agency is still reviewing the particulars of the decision and could not comment on how its conclusions would be enforced.
The ruling overturned a March 2023 decision by state Supreme Court Justice Christina L. Ryba that took issue with the Education Department's ability to enforce the substantial equivalency regulations.
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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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Friday, May 31, 2024
Incendiary device thrown at Vancouver synagogue
The Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver says an "incendiary device" was thrown at the front doors of a synagogue and police are investigating.
The incident, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a "disgusting act of antisemitism," left a front door and doorway of the Schara Tzedeck synagogue on Vancouver's Oak Street blackened.
There was a strong smell of burning inside, but the charring did not appear to have made it far under the doorway.
The federation said in a statement posted online that the attack occurred around 9:30 p.m. on Thursday, and that damage was minor and no one was hurt.
It called the incident a "deliberate act of hate" and an "attempt to intimidate" the Jewish community.
Trudeau said on social media platform X: "A synagogue in Vancouver was attacked last night in another disgusting act of antisemitism. We cannot let this hate or these acts of violence stand. This is not the Canada we want to be."
Canada's special envoy for combating antisemitism, Deborah Lyons, called it "horrible news" and said on social media that "incendiary rhetoric leads to incendiary violence."
The Jewish federation said the Vancouver Police Department and a fire inspector searched the building before declaring it safe to be reopened.
Vancouver police did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but a police car and officers were outside the synagogue on Friday morning.
The federation said extra police patrols were being put in place at local Jewish institutions.
The incident comes after bullet holes were found at two Jewish schools in Montreal and Toronto in recent days.
Lyons said on social media that it is "past time to stand up" against the incidents.
"Three Jewish institutions in three major cities this week have been attacked, and more over the months since Hamas's horrific massacre on Oct. 7. There is no excuse for silence or inaction," she said.
She said the law must be enforced and "incidents of hate" could not go unanswered.
"It means that incitement and violent rhetoric must be met with consequences. It means that capitulation to unreasonable or threatening demands must end."
The alleged Vancouver attack comes after incidents at a building housing a Jewish school and synagogue in Montreal, and at a Toronto Jewish girls school. Nobody was hurt in either incident.
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather, an outspoken voice against antisemitism, called on his party to change the Criminal Code in response to the rash of violent incidents targeting Jewish gathering places.
"At this point, condemnation is not enough," Housefather said in a speech to the House of Commons Friday, citing the incidents in Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.
"All levels of government need to do more, immediately."
He suggested creating safe zones around schools and places of worship where protests are not allowed, just as the government did for hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The idea was also floated in Toronto months ago by a local city councillor.
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Wednesday, May 29, 2024
Antisemitic driver tries to run over Jewish people outside Brooklyn yeshiva; none injured
A crazed driver passing a Hasidic Jewish school in Brooklyn verbally assaulted a group of Jewish people before getting up on the sidewalk and trying to run them down Wednesday, police said, noting none were injured.
The 58-year-old driver was zipping past Mesivta Nachlas Yakov School, a private school known as a yeshiva, on Glenwood Road in East Flatbush around 11:25 a.m. when he made antisemitic statements to people outside, according to cops.
The man, behind the wheel of a white Ford Crown Victoria, then turned onto E. 55th St. and mounted the sidewalk, attempting to run the group over.
Cops were called to the intersection and later took the driver into custody. Charges against him were pending late Wednesday afternoon.
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Tuesday, May 28, 2024
After 10-Year-Old Killed By Driver, South Williamsburg Residents Resigned To Dangerous Streets
Where is the outrage?
A 10-year-old Hasidic girl was killed by a driver on her way to school last month, yet unlike other community members who demand change after their most vulnerable road users are killed, there remains silence in South Williamsburg.
"Accidents happen," multiple residents said.
But Yitty Wertzberger's killing at Wythe Avenue and Wallabout Street was no accident. The intersection is known to be a dangerous spot in a neighborhood where there have already been two other road deaths this year — an alarmingly high number for such a small enclave. Given the numbers, the lack of outrage from the mostly Hasidic neighborhood is shocking. There is virtually no pressure from local community leaders on the Department of Transportation to fix the deadly streets.
In fact, the most vocal of those leaders, longtime Community Board 1 member Simon Weiser, opposes pre- or post-crash safety intervention because, he says, he doesn't believe they work.
"Some people take every accident and they want DOT to stand on their head," Weiser, the vice-chair of the CB1 Transportation Committee, told Streetsblog.
If there was ever a reason to stand on one's head, the death of 10-year-old Yitty Wertzberger might qualify. She was on her way back from school when the driver of an SUV — the vehicle of choice in South Williamsburg, where family sizes are large — got frustrated waiting behind other cars in traffic on Wallabout Street, so he crossed the yellow line on the two-way street, raced westbound in the wrong lane, turned left onto Franklin Avenue and ran right over the girl.
It was no "accident": there have been 24 reported crashes at that very intersection in just five years, injuring 11 and killing one, according to city data compiled by Crashmapper.
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Thursday, May 23, 2024
New program will send 85,000 8th graders to NYC’s Holocaust museum to curb spike in antisemitism
New York City will send tens of thousands of students to Manhattan's Holocaust museum as the city and its school system grapple with a surge in antisemitism since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
Under the new initiative, 85,000 eighth graders from public and private school will visit the Museum of Jewish Heritage over the next three years, starting in the fall. That's in addition to the 40,000 students from fifth through 12th grade who already visit the museum each year.
After three years, it will then expand to bring all eighth graders to the museum. Last year, the city's public school system had roughly 73,000 eighth graders, with tens of thousands more in private schools.
It's the latest bid by New York officials to use museum visits, and Holocaust education in particular, to fight hate. In response to a surge in antisemitism several years ago, the city arranged tours of the Museum of Jewish Heritage for eighth and 10th grade public school students from three heavily Orthodox Brooklyn neighborhoods.
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Tuesday, May 21, 2024
Canadian police arrest teen who beat Israeli student in 'brutal attack'
The Fredericton Police Force on Friday arrested a female teenage student who physically assaulted an Israeli-Jewish schoolmate in New Brunswick on April 30 in a documented attack that drew condemnation from Canadian politicians and accusations of Islamophobia by a Muslim rights group.
The 16-year-old assailant was taken into custody and released with charges pending, though the investigation is ongoing, said the police.
Officers said Thursday that officers had responded to the fight that occurred off Leo Hayes High School grounds, and collected evidence from those involved, such as the victim 14-year-old Shaked Tsurkan and the witnesses who watched and recorded the unfolding attack.
The police and Anglophone School District West (ASD-W) urged the public on Thursday not to spread speculation and rumor as the video of the attack circulated on social media.
The footage showed the Muslim student attacking Tsurkan from behind, grabbing her hair, and punching her repeatedly in the face. Tsurkan attempted to fight back against the attacker.
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Monday, May 20, 2024
At Duke, pro-Israel Jewish students go ‘on the offense’
The only tents on Duke University's campus this year had nothing to do with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Dozens of students camped out for weeks in February to secure basketball season tickets, predating the Gaza solidarity tent encampments that took over the quads of colleges and universities around the country two months later.
But those demonstrations never came to Duke, the rare elite university that escaped widespread rancor over Israel and concerns about antisemitism this year.
"We're not consistently defending ourselves as Jews at Duke," said Nicole Schwenk, a senior from Long Island. "We're on the offense here."
Pro-Israel Jewish students have covered a lawn at the center of campus with 1,200 Israeli flags to mark the victims of Oct. 7, placed empty Shabbat tables for the Israeli hostages outside of the student center and covered a bridge on campus with posters of the missing.
It's not that the opposition has taken a softer tone than at other schools rocked by protests over the past eight months. Some students walked out during Jerry Seinfeld's commencement address last week over the comedian's position on Israel, and the signs at Students for Justice in Palestine demonstrations — like "no peace on stolen land" — match the rhetoric some have complained about elsewhere.
But despite this, pro-Israel students feel confident at Duke during a period when many of their peers at other schools feel beleaguered. Over three days of reporting at the university, Jewish students, and the staff and clergy who work with them, explained this to me by pointing to a student body that shies away from political activism, an administration responsive to Jewish students' concerns about antisemitism, and a rapidly growing Chabad that has mobilized to support Israel.
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Friday, May 17, 2024
New York Man Attacks Orthodox Jewish Children on Street
New York police are searching for a man who hopped off his bicycle in Williamsburg Sunday night to attack two young Hasidic boys playing on the sidewalk.
Police said the man told the boys, 11 and 13, to get off the sidewalk and then assaulted two of them while other boys scattered away from him, WCBS reported. He hit and kicked the boys before getting back on his bike and riding away, traveling the wrong way on the one-way stree as he had been when he arrived on the scene. The boys were taken to a local hospital for treatment and are expected to be OK.
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Thursday, May 16, 2024
Rutgers University Student Files Suit Against Rutgers Charging ‘Hostile Environment’
A Jewish Rutgers University rising sophomore who has been subject to "a hostile school environment and discrimination" on campus has filed suit against the university.
Rivka Schafer, an Orthodox student from Bergen County, has been targeted with antisemitic posters left on the student's dorm door and throughout Demarest Hall on the university's New Brunswick campus. Schafer has also been taunted by pro-Palestinian students.
The suit was filed May 9 on behalf of the ecology major in the university's School of Environmental and Biological Sciences by the Roseland law firm of Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman.
"Rutgers has been a hotspot for antisemitism for a while," said Schafer's attorney Cory Rothbert."The lawsuit cites a number of incidents."
He said that Jewish students have been targeted on college campuses across the country. However, he noted that at Rutgers it is "open season" on Jewish students.
Among the incidents cited in the lawsuit is a dorm meeting the rising sophomore attended the week after the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas where a student expressed appreciation for the high Israeli death toll and other students snapped their fingers, leaving Schafer shaken.
In another incident, Schafer was present at Rutgers President Dr. Jonathan Holloway's town hall meeting in early April, when it was disrupted by pro-Palestinian protestors chanting for the genocide of Jews. Holloway had to be escorted from the gathering by Rutgers Police.
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Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Man jailed for indecent exposure in Stamford Hill
Met police detectives compiled hours of CCTV footage and pieced together Mohammed Amin's movements by tracking his GPS through his bike hire accounts.
With guidance from private Jewish safety patrol group Shomrim, specialist officers provided support to the victims throughout the investigation.
Mohammed Amin, 28 of Sparsholt Road, N19, appeared at the Old Bailey on Friday 10th May where he was sentenced to two years and ten months in prison. He was jailed after committing four sexual offences against four victims over a three-month period in 2021. The youngest victim was 12.
Detective Constable Patrick Godin, who led the investigation said: "Today's sentence demonstrates how seriously we take incidents of this nature. Our local team are committed to pursuing predators who threaten the safety of women and girls in their own neighbourhood.
"We did everything we could to take this perverse individual off the streets of Stamford Hill and were supported throughout by the local Shomrim. I'd like to thank the Shomrim for their continued help during this case – they were able to use their knowledge of the area to help us quickly identify Amin and provided vital guidance and advice.
"It's important that we work with partners and listen to community concerns. It's our job and duty to act on any information and make Londoners as safe as they can be."
Amin had previously been found guilty at Wood Green Crown Court on Tuesday, 19 March of sexual assault on a female, causing a child aged 13-15 to watch/ look at an image of sexual activity, exposure and attempted exposure
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