Antisemitic Report; U.S. Antisemitic Incidents Increased By 10% In First Half Of 2023.

Zenger News publishes a weekly listing of antisemitic incidents recorded by Jewish, pro-Jewish and pro-Israel organizations, as well as international news media. By the Anti-Defamation League’s count, an average of seven instances of varying measure occur daily in the United States. (Dates refer to when the news was reported, not when the events took place.)

July 22

Xavier University of Louisiana students won a national prize for a project countering the spread of antisemitism in African-American communities. A new Bollywood film, “Bawaal,” released on Amazon Prime, is said to trivialize the Holocaust.

July 23

At the University of Michigan, police are investigating vandalism, including a swastika,  at two fraternity houses. In Texas, a man pleaded guilty to setting fire to Congregation Beth Israel in Austin in 2021. In Georgia, where antisemitic and white supremacist fliers were discovered.

July 24

Three swastikas were found at a park in Cedarhurst, N.Y. Antisemitic fliers were also found in Westport, Conn. Since its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has seen a “palpable presence of antisemitic overtones in political rhetoric, repressions and everyday interactions,” said a scholar. The Mexican soccer club Atlas apologized and removed a social post in which it defended a referee’s call that went its way and quoted Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. In Ashburn, Vaa swastika was keyed on an SUV. A newsletter of Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) linked to USSA News, a site that spreads conspiracy theories and antisemitism; last April, the congressman’s newsletter linked to a different antisemitic site with a benign name, Veterans Today. 

July 25

A witness testified that the convicted Pittsburgh synagogue shooter saved his life when he nearly drowned, during their teen years. In Alaska, a man who placed swastika stickers on buildings and carved a swastika a Jewish museum door was sentenced to 18 months. The Campaign Against Antisemitism persuaded the popular app Art Lab to remove the antisemitic “happy merchant” graphic. In London, a man was arrested for allegedly painting a swastika on a building, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” chanted BDS activists at a march. U.S. antisemitic incidents increased by 10% in the first half of 2023, according to the World Zionist Organization. In Germany, Muslims have much higher levels of antisemitism than the public, per a new survey. 

In rap news: Promoting a new album, Killer Mike praised Louis Farrakhan in an interview with a Nation of Islam publication and said he sampled one of the antisemitic minister’s speeches in a song. Ye (Kanye West) is believed to have made $85 million from sales of remaining Adidas Yeezy stock in May. The German sportswear giant sold four million pairs of shoes, bringing in $565 million and about $9 million of which Adidas plans to donate to organizations that fight antisemitism. (Ye also faces criticism over a photo in which his daughter wears a hoodie he designed that resembles a KKK hood.)

July 26

A speaker at the 2017 “Unite the Right” antisemitic gathering in Charlottesville, Va., was criminally charged. In England, a swastika was painted on a mailbox in the village of Tatworth, while someone emblazoned the Nazi symbol in the artificial turf of a cricket pitch in the town of Accrington, 248 miles north. The ADL collected a variety of antisemitic cartoons in Arab media inspired by the recent wave of Palestinian terrorism. Matteo Cina, a Fox News employee, posted anti-Jewish stereotypes and conspiracy theories on TikTok. In Scotland, a city council canceled a screening of a documentary defending Jeremy Corbyn, the disgraced, antisemitic former leader of the Labour Party. Antisemitic fliers were found in two central California counties. An editorial in the nearly 65-year-old Communist paper Workers World praised Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and supported her claim that Israel is an “apartheid state.”

July 27

“I stand by every word I uttered from that stage because my speech was grounded in the anti-racist, anti-oppression values that have guided me my entire life,” said  Fatima Mohammed, the Students for Justice in Palestine leader who delivered an antisemitic commencement address at City University of New York Law School. The Holocaust Museum LA will honor former Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for his efforts to fight bigotry. Fuentes has withdrawn from a College Republicans United event, citing “a significant security concern.” In San Diego, antisemitic fliers were found in multiple neighborhoods. Piers Morgan confronted a social-media provocateur over her antisemitic song.

July 28

In Brooklyn, N.Y., a skinhead broke into a non-Jewish yoga studio, left antisemitic graffiti and tore down a mezuzah. A Florida Chabad House attacked with a brick through a window will lay that very same brick as part of an expansion to its community center. Following the antisemitic vandalism at two fraternity houses, a chapter of #EndJewHatred will launch at the University of Michigan. Adidas announced another sale of remaining Yeezy merchandise for August, with a commitment to donate some of the proceeds to organizations battling bigotry, including the Foundation to Fight Antisemitism. 

Produced in association with Jewish News Syndicate

Edited by Eunice Anyango Oyule and Judy J. Rotich