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.
July 15
The Netherlands approved a new law with penalties of up to a year in prison for those who deny, trivialize or condone the Holocaust or other genocides.
July 16
Saudi Arabia has removed certain antisemitic material from its textbooks.
July 17
In Toledo, Ohio, neo-Nazis waved a large swastika flag and harassed participants at an LGBTQ event. A Florida woman told the Combat Antisemitism Movement about an antisemitic assault that she experienced in March; police are investigating. A man from Newburgh, N.Y., tore down a poster stating “Jews have a history of false flag terror attacks.” The presidential campaign of rapper Ye (Kanye West)—propelled with a series of antisemitic statements in the fall of 2022—has only $23,142 on hand and received no donations from April to the end of June, according to a report. (Per reports, Ye political operative Milo Yiannopoulos repaid his former boss, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. $7,020.16 after using her campaign credit card to register Ye24.com.)
July 18
The prosecution and defense offered opening statements in the final phase of the trial of Robert Bowers, the convicted Pittsburgh synagogue shooter. A new British government report states that “the primary domestic terrorist threat comes from Islamist terrorism, which accounts for approximately 67% of attacks since 2018, about three-quarters of MI5 caseload and 64% of those in custody for terrorism-connected offenses.” Among the claims that the BBC has heard—from more than 100 former McDonald’s employees alleging sexual assault, bullying and racism—was a current worker in Essex alleging antisemitism. The Nation of Islam mourns the death of an influential figure in the antisemitic group who mentored Louis Farrakhan. Kentucky authorities discovered the body of an unidentified man with Aryan Nation and swastika tattoos. In the Philippines, swastikas are reportedly being displayed on vehicles.
July 19
Jurors are determining if the Pittsburgh synagogue shooter is “truly the worst of the worst and therefore deserving of the death penalty,” wrote the Associated Press. In Rhode Island, a Little League facility was vandalized with a spray-painted swastika, as was a rock in Newburgh, N.Y. TikTok banned a user who posted antisemitic videos of himself harassing London Jews. The environmentalist group Just Stop Oil faces criticism after comparing petroleum company leaders to Nazis. Despite many independent analyses that suggest the opposite, Twitter claims that “hate-speech impressions” have fallen 30% compared to when Elon Musk took over in 2022.
July 20
An expert witness for the defense in the Pittsburgh trial said the defendant has faced “a life with a lot of adversity.” In Florida, someone threw a brick, painted with a swastika, through a Chabad center window. In Australia, a school system faces allegations of antisemitic bullying and abuse. In Finland, police say that a neo-Nazi group under investigation used a 3D printer to manufacture guns for a “race war.” In Oregon, police are searching for someone who painted a neon-green swastika on a car hood. Just Stop Oil doubled down on calling oil executives Nazis; Campaign Against Antisemitism responded, “Just stop trivializing the Holocaust.” Ice Cube claims that fellow rap icon Ye “understands that generalizing will always get you in more hot water than being very specific,” and that the former billionaire mogul had “learned a lot from this past year.”
July 21
Hannah Pearl Davis, a “social-media personality” known for her anti-feminism, released a song that’s being perceived as antisemitic. In Albany, a city council member made antisemitic comments during a council meeting. In Tasmania, a Chabad rabbi requested that a city council remove swastikas graffitied on an underpass. The Foundation to Combat Antisemitism established by billionaire philanthropist Robert Kraft partnered with billionaire hip-hop mogul Jay-Z’s The Shawn Carter Foundation on an initiative to fight rising book-banning. “Books that depict the atrocities of the Holocaust, such as Maus by Art Spiegelman and Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, have recently been banned for their teachings,” per a release. “In Missouri, school districts also banned Holocaust history books and books written by Jewish authors.”