Tuesday, November 05, 2024

11/05 Links Pt2: Revisiting Kristallnacht with rising global antisemitism; ‘October H8te’ documentary aims to understand US college alignment with Hamas

From Ian:

Revisiting Kristallnacht with rising global antisemitism
The number of antisemitic incidents occurring worldwide is staggering and growing. With all the organizations across the globe working on the issue, all of the resources directed toward eradicating the scourge, all of the government initiatives put in place with great fanfare, and the increasing number of educational programs designed and redesigned to combat hatred of Jews, the attacks just keep mounting and there is little sense that at least for the foreseeable future things are going to get better for Jews around the world.

There is some comfort in knowing that the fight against antisemitism is ongoing despite the recent violent and disheartening setbacks, that there are innovative initiatives utilizing new technologies, and many young influencers on social media are gamely attempting to break through the existing echo chambers.

But I can’t seem to find the words to comfort my 94-year-old Holocaust survivor mother as another Kristallnacht anniversary approaches. An avid consumer of news, still with all her faculties intact, including the memories of being separated from her parents, sent to live in a convent and then boarding school under an assumed name, never to see her father again as he was murdered in the gas chambers of Auschwitz – she is disheartened in a way I have never experienced.

The US presidential election campaign has worsened her frame of mind. The Holocaust imagery invoked by the candidates and their proxies has been particularly jarring.

I try to explain that the summoning of Nazis and Hitler in this particularly ugly, contentious, and polarizing election arises from concerns about authoritarianism, nationalism, and the erosion of democratic norms; that politicians and commentators use these references to draw parallels between historical events and contemporary political movements or behaviors that they perceive as dangerous. And that using those terms and the history of the Holocaust is a strategy used to warn against the rise of extremism or to criticize opponents by framing them in a negative historical context.

But those explanations do nothing to calm her. She is certain that America and the world are entering a dangerous era that she has never witnessed since she immigrated to New York and fell in love with a country in which she felt safe and protected. No more. The constant antisemitism and especially the ever-increasing calls to destroy Israel she is witnessing is creating real angst.
‘We are no longer victims’: New York event ‘rages’ against Jew-hatred
Amid a sharp increase in Jew-hatred after the Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, many elected officials and university presidents stood silent. That’s why Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center gathered Jewish groups to “find ways to start fighting back,” Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, the Israeli nonprofit’s president, told JNS.

Shurat HaDin aimed “to retake the streets, to retake the campuses, to retake the social media, to combat antisemitism in a way that we haven’t,” Darshan-Leitner said. “We are no longer victims. We are fighting.”

The nonprofit organized an Oct. 31 “Rage Against the Hate” conference, which drew about 300 people, at the Yale Club in New York City.

The actor and comedian Michael Rapaport, who has emerged as one of the Jewish state’s most staunch supporters on social media, was one of the event speakers. He told attendees to “fight with your heart, fight with your prayers, fight with your genius, brilliant Jewish Zionist minds.”

“Fight ferociously, and do not take a step back,” he said. “We’ve done the guilty act long enough. There’s no more shame. There’s no more stuttering. There’s no stammering. There’s no trying to assimilate. Those days are over. We must stick together and we must stand by Israel.”

Rapaport told JNS that “artists who speak up about everything, and say nothing about something that’s so blatantly horrific and clear—the silence is beyond deafening.”

He added that he remains hopeful, despite all the antisemitism he sees. “I know in my heart and in my gut that we’re going to be OK,” he told JNS.

Douglas Murray, a British journalist and author who has reported extensively in Israel and Gaza and who is also one of the Jewish state’s strongest supporters, spoke in a session with Darshan-Leitner. Murray told attendees that however “old-fashioned” the idea is, he still thinks that journalists ought to be devoted to the truth.

“A cynic would say it’s a full-time job, but it has always interested me that the bigger the lie that’s being spread, the more I think you have a duty to undo the lie,” he said.
Ex-Israeli government official says antisemitism in Canada 'out of control'
As he attempted to speak with students at the University of Calgary last week, masked anti-Israel activists pounded on the doors shouting “Allahu akbar!”

That was the scene that greeted former Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy on Halloween during a cross-country speaking tour that he said exposed him to the true nature of Canada’s pressure cooker of largely tolerated antisemitism and hatred against Jews.

“That crosses the line from any sort of political protest into a full-on Jihadi war cry,” Levy told the Toronto Sun of his experience in Calgary.

“Jewish students feel, I would say, a little bit betrayed because they feel that they are standing up not only for themselves and to make a safe environment for Jewish students, but for everyone else.”

Few forget the months of anti-Israel rallies on university campuses across Canada earlier this year as activists and university students established pro-Palestinian no-go zones — protest encampments largely tolerated by university administration that some said allegedly fomented harassment and discrimination against Jewish students, while barring entry to Jews and those who didn’t agree with the protesters’ views.

“Jewish students are feeling extremely intimidated and scared — I spoke with one father who said his son was considering whether he even wants to apply to the U of T this year or reconsider altogether,” Levy said.

“An atmosphere in which the entire campus yard is taken over by pro-Hamas protests is not a safe environment for Jewish students.” opening envelope

Levy’s speaking tour is facilitated by StandWithUs Canada, a non-profit dedicated to fighting antisemitism and misinformation in schools and communities.

Last year’s Hamas terror attacks in Israel sparked an explosion of antisemitism in Canada with pro-Palestinian rallies taking over city streets and university campuses and even marches through some of Toronto’s Jewish neighbourhoods.
‘October H8te’ documentary aims to understand US college alignment with Hamas
Filmmaker Wendy Sachs was visiting her daughter, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, last October 7 when the Hamas terrorist attack was taking place in Israel, unfolding a nightmarish scene of murder, atrocities, abduction and destruction.

By October 8, said Sachs, there was a concurrent explosion of antisemitism on college campuses in the US, a development that she explores in “October H8te,” a 100-minute film that premiered one year later, on October 31 in Tel Aviv’s Cinematheque.

The film takes viewers through the timeline of the pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel and antisemitic protests that mushroomed on American campuses starting October 8, through the December 5 congressional hearing and testimonies from the presidents of Harvard, MIT and the University of Pennsylvania, and into the springtime sieges at Columbia University in New York City and other campuses.

Throughout “October H8te,” Sachs attempted to understand how this situation came to be, and why the campus social justice movements ended up aligned with Hamas, a terrorist organization.

She looked at the funding, strategy and messaging created by Hamas, and its apparent proxy on campuses, the Students for Justice in Palestine group.

On the long side for a documentary, “October H8te” attempts to answer perhaps too many questions, tackling the unfolding scenes of antisemitism while also examining how Hamas gained a foothold on college campuses.

The film looks closely at SJP but not at the role of Qatar, the tiny Middle East state that has reportedly contributed $4.7 billion to dozens of academic institutions across the United States between 2001 and 2021, according to Times of Israel reports.

Sachs said that the Qatar element was difficult to pin down in order to determine if it’s playing a role in sowing anti-Zionism on US campuses.

“It’s all a little bit gray,” said Sachs.

Sachs herself was surprised by the organization of SJP, which she had formerly thought of as just one of many student groups on college campuses.

“What’s fascinating right now to people is that this has been developing for decades,” said Sachs. “Hamas in the US was playing the long game and was figuring out 30 years ago how to make their message more palatable. The sophistication really surprised me.”

“October H8te” also looks at how antisemitism turned into anti-Zionism, the global silence around the sexual assault and rapes Hamas terrorists perpetrated against Israeli women on October 7, and includes an interview with Sheryl Sandberg, who produced “Screams Before Silence,” about the sexual atrocities of October 7.


Nova survivor who lost wife on Oct. 7 goes home after almost 400 days in hospital
A father of three from Bat Yam who was seriously wounded when Hamas terrorists stormed the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im on October 7, 2023, was released from the hospital on Monday after over a year of medical treatment.

Hospital staff at Tel Aviv’s Ichilov lined the calls cheering and ringing bells to bid farewell to Nati Ganon, 40, as he was discharged, though the celebration was bittersweet — his wife Shiran was murdered during the onslaught at the outdoor rave.

“The hospital staff is all heart,” Ganon was quoted as saying by the Ynet news site. “What I’ve been through isn’t normal… It’s something that the brain can’t process.”

He said that he had two psychological breakdowns during his rehabilitation period, during which he “didn’t get up for treatments, stayed with the blanket up to [my] neck, and didn’t want to talk to anyone,” Ynet reported.

“My journey doesn’t end here,” he was quoted as saying. “My greatest victory is firstly to return home to raise my children, and the dream is to return to be able to go back to the profession that I love — hairdressing.”

In the weeks after the brutal massacre, Ganon told the Kan public broadcaster that he and Shiran had tried to flee the festival in their car, which got stuck, and they jumped into another vehicle, which came under gunfire. Nati was shot in the leg, and so was Shiran, he recalled.

They tried to jump out of the car, but Nati was unable to run and told Shiran to keep going. That was the last time he saw her.

“I was shot and lay in a field for five hours, bleeding,” Ynet quoted him as saying. “I knew it wasn’t good, but it was only after I arrived at the hospital that I realized I was injured in the back — the bullet had missed my spine by millimeters.”

Ganon was eventually rescued, evacuated and hospitalized.


Sisters of IDF observers murdered by Hamas on October 7 enlist into military
Yael Eshel and Yuval Marciano, whose sisters served at the Nahal Oz army outpost when it was overrun by Hamas on October 7, enlisted in the IDF as combat instructors, Kan News reported on Monday.

Roni Eshel was killed on October 7 in the operations room at the Nahal Oz base. Noa Marciano, who also served as an observer there, was abducted to Gaza, with Hamas later releasing a video of her captivity. After the video surfaced, the IDF confirmed her death, announcing her body had been recovered near Gaza’s Shifa Hospital. In May, the IDF reported that Naeem Gol, a Hamas operative in the Shati Battalion involved in Marciano’s captivity and murder, was killed.

Sharon Eshel, mother of Yael and Roni, expressed her pride in Yael’s decision, saying, “For a year, I tried to dissuade her from enlisting, but it didn’t work. I am so proud of her.”

Sharon also voiced her frustration over low enlistment rates in the haredi (ultra-Orthadox) community, stating, “Yael enlisted because we raise our children with a sense of duty to serve the country. I can’t comprehend how an entire sector refrains from enlisting, especially during such critical times.”

She continued, explaining that Yael and Yuval are “following in their sisters’ footsteps.” Sharon noted, “They carry Roni and Noa in their hearts, bodies, and souls. Yael idolized her older sister Roni and was incredibly proud of her. I know Roni would be proud of her today.”

Avi Marciano, father of Noa and Yuval, shared similar sentiments. “Noa deeply influenced Yuval’s values. She passed on so much to her. Seeing Yuval insist on meaningful service is largely because of Noa," he said.


Seth Mandel: CNN Anchor’s Name Games
I thought of that nurse’s interview again this afternoon when I watched CNN’s Christiane Amanpour interview a Palestinian and Israeli filmmaking team who oppose the demolition of unauthorized Palestinian structures built on an IDF training plot. (Israel’s Supreme Court approved the demolitions after it was proved that the structures were built well after the site was designated for the IDF.) A clip making the rounds showed Amanpour saying to the Arab member of the duo: “I understand why you would want to film what’s happening to your own villages from the settlers and the Israeli occupation forces.”

The term is rarely used by mainstream journalists, for obvious reasons, unless they’re directly quoting parties to the conflict and NGOs. It has been used to describe Israeli forces in Lebanon over the years, though in those cases it was referring to an actual military occupation, not IDF forces conducting antiterror raids in places in which they are not stationed and certainly not in Gaza.

What struck me when I watched the interview from the beginning is that Amanpour was the first to use the phrase—she introduced “Israeli occupation forces” into the conversation.

The phrase is a tell. Anyone who changes a subject’s name to a derogatory nickname made up by that subject’s proclaimed enemies is not practicing straight journalism. That is why you usually see “Israeli occupation forces” in opinion columns, not news reporting. Amanpour has had a long career as a star news correspondent, and she now anchors a “global affairs” show.

Her behavior throughout the war has raised ethical concerns. Amanpour has reportedly complained about CNN’s strict use of its fact-checking team for war-related reporting. Her confrontation with CNN brass seemed to work, as she then aired a segment on a “mass grave” in Khan Younis that was blamed on the Israelis but turned out to have been dug by Palestinians. In October, she ran a segment that appeared to use staged footage and fabricated scenes in Gaza.

Her use of “Israeli occupation forces” is revealing, just as it was in the case of the nurse. When someone uses made-up names in their reporting, it’s not shocking to find other inaccuracies in their work. But the obligations of Amanpour and the nurse differ. The nurse isn’t pretending to be a journalist. Is Amanpour?


South Africa Is Becoming Another Front in the War Against Israel
Amid growing instability across the world, South Africa is playing a key role in the tectonic geopolitical shifts underway, recently supporting Iranian membership in BRICS, the Russian-led Global South economic club.

With its bogus genocide charges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and its connections to Iranian nuclear interests, South Africa spearheads the global solidarity movement’s attack on Israel.

Elite political figures in South Africa show no discomfort with the desire of Iranian leaders to destroy the State of Israel. The South African figure most closely associated with nuclear policy, Abdul Minty, is a veteran anti-apartheid activist and ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). He is also an outspoken opponent of Israel, who has a track record in the IAEA that is considered favorable to Iran.

In pursuit of their goal to destroy Israel, the Iranian leadership prefers not to put their own population in the firing line, cultivating proxy militias elsewhere, including Gaza’s Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis, and Syria’s Shi’ite militia.

South Africa increasingly shows itself to be another key Iranian proxy site, an eighth front in Israel’s existential war.

With South African civilians and politicians working actively against Israel — including in diplomatic arenas, in lawfare, and in humanitarian sectors — public perception is churned in Iran’s favor, including support for the false “apartheid” analogy that has since been overtaken by charges of genocide.

Iran’s stated goal to destroy the Jewish State has been supported on the streets of Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Cape Town, where sources close to Jewish communal organizations highlight links between South African anti-Israel groups and Iran.

South Africans generally are reeling in shock, following crass antisemitic statements made by Dr. Imtiaz Sooliman, the much loved founder and director of Gift of the Givers humanitarian relief agency, at a recent rally in Cape Town organized by the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and attended by extreme anti-Israel and pro-Iran groups.

Sooliman’s comments were highlighted in an open letter by retired High Court Judge Lawrence Nowosenetz, published in his blog on The Times of Israel.
Troubling pattern of Holocaust minimization: Jewish stereotypes found in Irish textbooks
Irish school textbooks contain troubling patterns of Holocaust minimization, Jewish stereotypes, and one-sided views of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, nonprofit organization IMPACT-se found in a report published on Monday.

IMPACT-se, the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education, researched the Irish national curriculum, specifically on the way Jews and Israel are represented in Irish school textbooks.

It is the first report carried out by IMPACT-se on European national curricula, having mainly focused on Middle Eastern textbooks in the past.

Representation of the Holocaust
One troubling aspect of IMPACT-se’s findings was the trivialization of the Holocaust in the national textbooks.

For example, in one history textbook, the death camp Auschwitz is referred to as a “prisoner of war camp,” which IMPACT-se writes “minimized the unique and horrific nature of the Holocaust and the systematic extermination carried out there.”

Furthermore, the same textbook refers to the Holocaust as “the systematic destruction of the Jewish race,” which IMPACT-se says perpetuates the false Nazi belief that Jews are a race instead of an ethnoreligious group.

The idea of Jews being a race was used to inform the eugenic practices and ideologies of the Nazis, and therefore the perpetuation of this notion in the textbook “is reductive, inaccurate, and offensive,” according to IMPACT-se.

Presentations of Jews
IMPACT-se did not only find problematic discourse in the educational material surrounding the Holocaust; the report also presents findings on the presentations of Jews and Judaism within a Christian religious and historical context.

For example, in a textbook for younger children on the story of Jesus, a comic strip appears with the words, “Some people did not like Jesus.” The people depicted in the comic are visibly Jewish, wearing religious clothing such as a tallit and a kippah.


At Chicago Public Schools, antisemitism concerns remain after ouster of board president
Jewish parents and educators in Chicago were relieved after Board of Education President Rev. Mitchell Johnson resigned last week following widespread public criticism of his antisemitic Facebook posts. But antisemitism concerns within the district still linger — and Jewish educators’ and community members’ confidence in the district to address them is waning.

Last Friday, the day after Johnson resigned from the Board of Education, the body held a public meeting. Dan Goldwin, chief public affairs officer at the Jewish United Fund of Chicago, took to the microphone to express concerns on behalf of Jewish families in Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

Johnson’s resignation “has not ridden this board entirely of hostility towards Jews,” Goldwin said.

Two of the six other school board members have also come under scrutiny for the way they have talked about Israel and Zionists after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks last year.

Olga Bautista, an environmental organizer named to the Board of Education last month by Mayor Brandon Johnson, signed onto an open letter published less than a week after Oct. 7 that called Zionism a “genocidal ideology deployed to enable ethnic cleansing” akin to policies used by the Nazis. She also shared a post on Facebook that called Israel a “terrorist state” and cast doubt on the events of Oct. 7.

Debby Pope, a longtime educator and activist in the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) whom Mayor Johnson also appointed to the body last month, shared a post on X in September that said “Zionists are not welcome in Chicago.” Pope, who is Jewish, spoke at a protest organized by the anti-Zionist group Jewish Voice for Peace in March. (Bautista deleted her social media accounts last week, and Pope made hers private.) Jewish Insider could not reach Pope and Bautista, or the Chicago Board of Education, for comment.


The Financial Times Distorts Reality to Paint Israel as Aggressor in Lebanon
Three elements of distorted reporting plague a recent Financial Times piece about the Israel-Hezbollah conflict: Deceitful writing, selective choice of interviews and emotional framing.

The result is that the average reader of the piece, titled “The demolitions clearing Israel’s ‘first belt’ in Lebanon,” can’t help but view the Jewish state as a rogue nation arbitrarily carrying out mass destruction of Lebanese villages.

Deceitful Writing
The piece includes 34 lengthy paragraphs, intermingled with maps, videos, images, and infographics showing controlled demolitions conducted by the IDF in Lebanese villages along the border.

But Israel’s stated reason for these demolitions — destroying Hezbollah’s tunnel network that has threatened Israel’s north — appears only in the 24th paragraph.

In today’s fast-paced news consumption environment, few bother reading below the digital “fold” of the first two paragraphs.

It’s also a journalistic sin to bury the very reaction that provides an answer to one of the most fundamental 5 W’s of reporting: the “Why?” – Why does Israel do what the story reports on?

Instead of including such information high at the top, the Financial Times speculates that Israel wants to create a 3-kilometer buffer zone along the border. Why? No answer.

The article does not even mention Hezbollah’s mega-plan to invade Israel’s northern communities and duplicate the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023. Selective Interviews

But not only is the writing deceitful. The use of “experts” interviewed for the piece, as well as the use of demolition videos, is agenda-driven.

The piece quotes two “analysts” who make Israel look like the aggressor: A legal expert with a clear anti-Israeli stance and a retired Lebanese army general who is interviewed as an authority on the strategy of the Israeli army.

But despite using videos that clearly show the demolition of underground tunnel infrastructure — as any munitions expert can verify — no such expert has been interviewed by the Financial Times.
AP Falsely Claims Palestinian "Right of Return" Backed by International Law
An Oct. 29 AP article by Joseph Krauss claims that Palestinian refugees and their descendants "should be allowed to exercise their right under international law to return home."

An Oct. 31 AP article by Baraa Anwer invented: "International law gives Palestinian refugees and their descendants the right to return to their homes."

In fact, there is nothing in international law which gives Palestinian refugees and their descendants "the right to return to their homes."

The non-binding UN General Assembly Resolution 194 of 1948, often cited in Palestinian claims, does not give Palestinians "the right to return to their homes."

Moreover, all the Arab states voted against Resolution 194.


Mystery U-turn as Guardian quietly reinstates Israeli whisky after deleting it from drinks column
The Guardian has quietly reinstated an Israeli whisky after it mysteriously deleted it from a drinks column.

At the bottom of the article, it added: “This article was amended on 5 November 2024 to reinstate a reference to a whisky from the M&H distillery.”

The paper has not responded to questions from the JC either about why it reinstated the whisky or the reason it was removed in the first place.

Henry Jeffreys, a well-known food writer who penned the column, had included the award-winning M&H distillery from Israel in his piece this week.

“The article was about unusual whiskies from non-traditional countries and I included this particular one, aged in pomegranate wine casks in the heat of the Dead Sea, because I had never tasted anything quite like it before,” he told the JC.

The column included mentions of whiskies from India, Finland, Tasmania and Taiwan. But when the article appeared on the Guardian newspaper’s website, Mr Jeffreys was surprised to see that the M&H distillery had been edited out.

He wrote on X: “I was surprised to see that the Guardian removed a reference to an Israeli single malt from M&H (formerly known as Milk & Honey) distillery over the weekend from my drinks column. It was there on Friday and by Saturday it had gone.

“It made me look stupid as I had emailed the distillery to let them know that it was in but by the time they opened the link it had been removed.”


Knesset passes law allowing funding cuts for schools supporting terror acts
Israel’s coalition passed into law a controversial bill proposal early Tuesday morning that gives the Education Ministry the power to remove funding from private schools deemed to be supportive of acts of terror, as well as fire individual teachers who expressed support for terror.

The bill passed after a 14-hour filibuster by the opposition that began on Monday evening and continued until approximately 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday as part of an attempt to force the coalition to delay other controversial laws expected to reach the Knesset plenum later this week.

MK's believe the law supports national security
The bill’s authors, MKs Zvika Fogel (Otzma Yehudit) and Amit Halevi (Likud), as well as Knesset Education Committee chairman MK Yosef Taieb (Shas), argued during the debate that the new law would prevent schools in the Jewish state from encouraging their students to participate in acts of terror and therefore contributes to national security.

The law’s explanatory section specifically mentions schools in east Jerusalem, which allegedly “incite minors against the state of Israel,” which translates into “many minors who are residents of east Jerusalem committing or attempting to commit acts of terror.”

The law requires that the institutions or individual teachers in question be allowed to present arguments in their defense prior to the actions against them.

However, the bill’s detractors, including Israeli-Arab MKs and other members of the opposition, argued that the bill gives disproportionate power to the Education Ministry to act in ways that could cause a chilling effect on freedom of speech and that it serves as a tool to target Arab schools without real justification or judicial oversight.
Palestinian Misrepresentation and Falsification of the Oslo Accords Tax Provisions
The Israel-Palestinian Oslo Accords (1993-1995) established reciprocal economic and financial commitments to strengthen peace. To this end, Israel agreed to waive certain taxes in favor of the Palestinian Authority (PA), assuming that their reciprocal commitments would contribute to peaceful relations. Based on this commitment, since 2010, Israel has collected over 107.5 billion shekels on behalf of the PA.

Rather than using this tax income to promote peace, the Palestinians have used the money to fund a host of policies that fundamentally breach their commitments in the Oslo Accords, including incitement to terror, the "Pay-for-Slay" terror reward policy, promoting Palestinian statehood, and using international fora to hound Israeli officials.

In their attempt to falsify and misrepresent the Oslo Accords, the Palestinians are now claiming that the agreed-upon taxes are "Palestinian monies" stolen by Israel. In light of these actions, which are tantamount to a unilateral alteration of the Oslo Accords, Israel should reconsider its position regarding the tax waivers and adopt performance-based criteria as a precondition for any future transfers.


NY Jewish man requires 18 stitches after being slashed in face in antisemitic hate crime
A Jewish man suffered a near-fatal antisemitic attack in Brooklyn in an incident that the NYPD is investigating as a hate crime.

As The Jerusalem Post reported at the time, a visibly Jewish man, P., was slashed in the face while walking on the intersection between Flatbush and Lafayette avenues. P., a father of two daughters under three, was approached by a man in a mask who shouted “F*** you guys,” which P. said was an obvious reference to Jews. The attacker proceeded to slash P.'s face with a blade before walking away from the scene.

After the attacker left, P. called 911 and the emergency medical service Hatzalah and then removed his shirt to tie around his face to stem the bleeding, his mother told the Post. P. called the attack a “vicious act of hate,” which was one more in a “troubling rise of Jew-hate crimes in our city, state, and country.

“I trust that the NYPD Hate Crime Unit will take this case with the seriousness it deserves and [will] hopefully apprehend the anti-Jewish, masked individual before other Jews are targeted and attacked,” he added.

P. required 18 internal and external stitches and two hours of facial plastic surgery to seal up the wound, which stretches from the corner of his mouth to his ear, his mother said. She added that her son now finds it difficult to speak and sleep and could not eat solid food for several days.

“I was walking down the street to go to the Apple store, and instead, I get slashed in the face,” P. told NBC New York. “I felt the blood gushing down my face.” P.'s mother said, “He approached my son, saying, “F*** you guys. ‘Guys’ is us. ‘Guys’ is the Jewish community. I cannot stand quiet while so many Jews are being attacked.”
Florida man faces up to 20 years in jail for threatening to kill Jews, black people
The U.S. Justice Department unsealed an Oct. 24 indictment against Nathaniel James Holmes, 51, who is accused of making death threats against Jews and black people.

Holmes, who was arrested on Nov. 1, “transmitted threats to injure others, including threats to kill three particular victims, the children of one victim, and Jewish and African American individuals generally,” on four days in October, per the indictment.

He faces up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted on the four counts of transmitting interstate threats to the injury other persons, the Justice Department said.
'Heil Hitler' shouted at five Jewish schoolgirls on public transport in Melbourne
Five Jewish schoolgirls in Melbourne suffered antisemitic abuse on a tram on Monday, with boys shouting “Heil Hitler” at them, the Herald Sun first reported.

The girls, who attend Beth Rivkah Ladies College, were leaving an exam when the incident occurred.

The boys were allegedly getting off the tram but walked intentionally past the girls to shout at them.

A Victoria police spokesperson confirmed the incident was being investigated as “racially motivated offensive behavior."

One of the girls’ mothers reportedly told the Anti-Defamation Commission that her great-grandmother escaped Germany in September 1939, and her great-aunt died in Auschwitz.

“I am disgusted that 80 years later, my daughter is being subjected to this kind of horror,” the mother said.

ADC Chair Dr. Dvir Abramovich said the five girls were “subjected to an outburst of hate that no one, least of all our youth, should ever have to endure.

“The heart-stopping wave of antisemitic hate has again struck the very core of Melbourne, leaving our community shaken and outraged,” he said.

“This hateful gesture is meant to degrade, humiliate, and terrorize them in a city they call home. In 2024, in Melbourne, Australia, this level of antisemitism is not only abhorrent – it’s absolutely unthinkable.”
A Muslim and a Jew from Dubai spread message of coexistence in Australia
A Muslim political strategist from the United Arab Emirates and a Jewish entrepreneur based in Dubai are promoting the landmark Abraham Accords during a joint tour of Australia this week, seeking to combat antisemitism and spread Jewish-Arab coexistence.

The unusual 10-day mission to Australia comes as Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza enters its second year, with Jewish communities facing a sharp rise in antisemitism around the globe.

“We are standing shoulder to shoulder and sending a message of Arab-Jewish solidarity,” Eitan Neishlos, a Dubai-based Jewish businessman, told JNS on Tuesday. “It is especially during times of chaos that we need to introduce a new narrative and adopt the values of the Abraham Accords where Muslims, Christians and Jews are living side by side,” he added.

The 2020 Abraham Accords, reached under the Trump administration, saw Israel make peace with four Arab countries, led by the United Arab Emirates.

“Even when there is darkness in the Middle East, the light is in the Abraham Accords, which is the best example of peace,” said Emirati strategist Amjad Tahad.

He noted that the UAE has maintained its strong relationship with Israel despite the pressures of the Islamic Republic and Iran’s proxies in the year since the war began.

The private 10-day tour—supported by the Jewish National Fund and StandWithUs Australia—includes meetings with lawmakers and parliamentarians in Canberra, and with students and Jewish communities in Sydney and Melbourne.
Argentina’s new foreign minister sworn in on Torah
Argentine President Javier Milei on Monday officially appointed Geraldo Werthein, a Jewish businessman and former ambassador to the United States, as the country’s foreign minister.

Werthein is a former Argentine ambassador to the United States whose ancestors escaped Jewish persecution in Russia in the early years of the 20th century. He took office at an inauguration ceremony at the Buenos Aires headquarters of the Argentine Foreign Ministry, known as the Cancillería.

Unusually for the predominantly Catholic country, the inauguration featured a Torah, on which Werthein swore to uphold his position faithfully. In another deviation from protocol, Milei quoted from the weekly Torah portion, or Parsha, using the Hebrew term in his short speech.

Flanked by soldiers in ceremonial uniforms, Milei faced a visibly emotional Werthein, and asked him whether he swore on the Torah to carry out this patriotic mission. Werthein placed his hand over a copy of the Torah and said “I promise.” The two men embraced for several seconds as the audience applauded.

Werthein, 68, is a former telecommunications businessman whose family is one of the most influential in the country. He is also a veterinarian. Jews have previously served as senior cabinet ministers in Argentina, including former foreign minister Héctor Timerman in 2010-2015.

Acknowledging the unusual characteristics of the inauguration, Milei said: “Since today we have moved away from the conventional and traditional format and the oath was taken on the Torah, I thought it pertinent to speak about the weekly Parsha,” said the president, referencing Parashat Lech Lecha.

“The forces of heaven are sending you signals, Gerardo. It speaks of the beginnings of Abraham’s travels around the world, spreading the messages of the creator. God tells him that he will have a lot of influence on the nations of the world and gave him an important responsibility to bring the messages of the Torah, of life and of freedom to the entire world. Success and blessings,” said Milei.


Bernie Marcus, Home Depot co-founder and major donor to Jewish causes, dies at 95
Bernard “Bernie” Marcus, the son of Jewish immigrants from Russia who co-founded The Home Depot and became a major donor to a wide variety of causes, including many Jewish ones, died on Monday in Boca Raton, Fla., his family said. He was 95.

Marcus served as chairman of the Marcus Family Foundation, through which he and his wife, Billi, have donated to a wide array of organizations, Jewish ones and non-Jewish ones including many in his adopted hometown of Atlanta, such as the Georgia Aquarium, the largest aquarium in the United States, to which he donated $250 million to construct. He also helped fund the construction of the Marcus Jewish Community Center in Atlanta, which bears his name.

“His tremendous philanthropy shaped the Marcus JCC’s past and present and has inspired countless individuals and future generations to celebrate their Jewish values and connect with each other. His legacy lives on in the spaces he helped create, the lives he impacted and the community he strengthened,” Jared Powers, the JCC’s CEO, said in a statement.

Marcus was a signatory of both The Giving Pledge and the Jewish Future Promise, committing to donate to charity the majority of his personal fortune, which was most recently estimated at $11 billion by Forbes.

“I was able to do things my parents could only dream about… and have focused on helping those I will never meet,” Marcus wrote in his 2022 memoir, Kick Up Some Dust: Lessons on Thinking, Giving Back and Doing It Yourself.

Born in 1929 and growing up in a tenement house in Newark, N.J., Marcus hoped to become a doctor — and was even accepted to Harvard University — but settled to study pharmacy at Rutgers University, where he joined the Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, as his family couldn’t afford to send him to medical school due to Harvard’s quota on Jews. He later moved into retail, becoming CEO of the Handy Dan Improvement Centers home improvement chain. In 1978 — together with Arthur Blank, Pat Farrah and Ken Langone — Marcus co-founded The Home Depot, which quickly took off.

“Bernie was an inspiration in many ways. He was a master merchant and a genius with customer service,” The Home Depot wrote about Marcus in a statement. “Together with Arthur Blank and Ken Langone, Bernie helped create a nation of doers who could tackle any project, large or small…. More than anything, he deeply believed in the company’s core values, particularly that of giving back. He never lost sight of his humble roots, using his success not for fame or fortune but to generously help others.”

Marcus has long and heavily donated to causes related to Jewish life and Zionism, supporting some existing organizations, such as Birthright Israel and Hillel International, and launching new initiatives. The latter includes RootOne, which subsidizes trips to Israel for Jewish teenagers. Marcus provided $20 million to launch the initiative in 2020 and donated another $60 million to expand it a year later.




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