JNS publishes a weekly listing of antisemitic incidents recorded and found by Jewish, pro-Jewish and pro-Israel organizations; national and international news; and social 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.) Also included are news items detailing efforts to combat antisemitism and research anti-Jewish bigotry.
Sept. 30
Swastikas and racial epithets were spray-painted all over the walls of La Cueva High School in Albuquerque, N.M., as well as on tennis courts and athletic fields. Antisemitic pamphlets were found in Upper Moreland Township, Pa. Family members of Yaroslav Hunka, the 98-year-old who fought in a volunteer unit under Nazi control, claim they never would have taken him to Ottawa if they knew that Parliament was going to honor him, an incident that has sparked international concern and led to the resignation of Speaker Anthony Rota.
Oct. 1
Fans in Glasgow, Scotland, unfurled a pro-Nazi banner at a soccer game. Thousands of Christians signed a petition that noted, in part, “the serious threat posed by X social-media platform owner and tech billionaire Elon Musk’s dangerous attacks on the ADL.” (There were 15,000 signatures from religions across the board at press time.) The Conference of European Rabbis increased security at its new headquarters in Munich ahead of regional elections on Oct. 8 in Germany. More vehicles in Los Angeles County have been spray-painted with swastikas.
Oct. 2
Several callers made antisemitic and racist comments during a city council meeting in the Los Angeles area. Antisemitic and Ku Klux Klan fliers were found in neighborhoods in Sonoma Valley, Calif.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Bowling Green, Ky. Police in Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., arrested a man who disrupted a synagogue’s service. A candidate for borough council in State College, Pa., was one of many who found antisemitic materials at his home.
Oct. 3
A new policy in Redwood City, Calif., only allows questions in person at city council meetings or via email, following a series of antisemitic comments via video feed. Musk is being sued for accusing a man of being a federal agent posing as a neo-Nazi. Swastikas were found in Putney, Vt. Former students say that a Dublin school should apologize for employing an abusive teacher, who was a Nazi officer, for decades. A bomb threat at the Judea Reform Congregation in Durham, N.C. was ruled a hoax.
Oct. 4
City councils in Brentwood and Ventura, both in California, received antisemitic messages during Zoom meetings. Two other city councils in the state—in Livermore and Walnut Creek—will no longer take comments on Zoom after they had the same problem. On this date in 1933, the Nazis issued “the Editors Law” (Schriftleitergesetz), which forbade non-Aryans from working in journalism.
Oct. 5
A synagogue in Hamden, Conn., received a bomb threat. Disciplinary action will be taken after an antisemitic, racist and bullying incident at a school on Long Island, N.Y. After he served 90 days in pre-trial detention, a man accused of projecting an antisemitic message on the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam has been released ahead of an expected Oct. 19 verdict. A Chabad rabbi in Kentucky hopes the “joy” of the Sukkot holiday changes the heart of the person who destroyed his son’s “mini-sukkah mobile” and stole a toy. Milwaukee will hold a rare screening of the 1924 Austrian silent film “The City Without Jews,” which offers “a forewarning of the Holocaust events.” A swastika was found carved into a table at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. (There was a similar incident on Sept. 27.)
Oct. 6
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is investigating a residence in Alberta that has a giant pink stuffed teddy bear with swastikas on its cheeks. Windows were broken and red paint dumped at a synagogue in Armenia. New evidence suggests that a late Dutch prince had joined the Nazi Party during World War II. The U.S. Justice Department indicted an Indiana man, Andrzej Boryga, 67, for sending violent threats to four different ADL offices; if convicted on all counts, he faces up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and up to a $250,000 fine. The Labour Party in the United Kingdom is trying to delay a lawsuit that relates to its handling of antisemitism until after the general election.
