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Spotify Removes Violent Antisemitic Content

Spotify_Antisemitic_Playlists

Shadi Al-Bourini and Shadi Al-Najjar are the Pro-Palestinian rappers whose music was removed from Spotify for violating rules, including “violent extremist antisemitic content”

The streaming platform Spotify has removed “violent extremist antisemitic content” and songs following a petition organized by We Believe in Israel (WBII) and the Board of Deputies.

The removed songs include “Arabic Katyusha” and “The Death of Israel”, as well as “Udrub Udrub Tel Abib” which allegedly incites violence against Israelis while using antisemitic language.

In that latter song, the lyrics allegedly include: “Strike a blow at Tel Aviv and frighten the Zionists. The more you build it the more we will destroy it”, “We don’t want no truce or solution. All we want is to strike Tel Aviv”, “Oh you settler, with your sidelocks, in your shelter you cower with fear”, “Strike, oh Qassam missile, do not let the Zionists sleep. Even if they beg for mercy – be sure not to show Tel Aviv any mercy”, and “Oh Fajr missile, explode in the Knesset and the army base.”

A petition to the streaming giant to remove the songs was organised by WBII and attracted nearly 4,000 signatures, while the Board of Deputies “made representations to the Secretary of State of Digital Culture, Media and Sport on the matter.”

Luke Akehurst, Director of WBII, said: “It’s good news that Spotify have finally listened to public disgust about hosting clearly antisemitic content which contravenes their own content policies, including directly inciting violence against Israelis."

NGO StopAntisemitism has been alerting Spotify for a few years now regarding antisemitic content and called on Soundcloud to do the same.

Little League Clubhouse Vandalized with Antisemitic Graffiti in British Columbia

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Dan McLaren, senior vice president of the Little League club, called the vandalism “deplorable”

A donated mural on the Langley Baseball clubhouse and concession in Langley City was defaced with antisemitic slurs and a swastika.

Graffiti declaring “Hitler rules” and anti-Jewish comments, some of them obscene, was spray-painted on the exterior sometime between Saturday night, March 25 and Sunday morning, March 26.

Dan McLaren, senior vice president of the Little League club, called it “deplorable” and a hate crime.

McLaren has reported the incident to Langley RCMP and the City.

“We’re taking this seriously,” McLaren said. “If we find out who it is, we want to charge them. This is unacceptable.”

McLaren noted the incident comes as the club was preparing to resume play, at a time when membership in the Little League ball club, which encompasses all of Langley City and all of Langley Township, is growing, from 614 kids last year to 760 this year, with an increase in the number of teams from 53 to 62.

“We have over 700 kids from ages four and up who could see this, and I don’t want that to happen,” McLaren said.

In 2021, the colourful murals were painted on the clubhouse in City Park by Langley City artist Judy as a gift from the Downtown Langley Business Association to the city and the Langley Baseball Association.

McLaren said the mural was coated with an anti-graffiti finish that should make it easier to remove the messages.

Antisemitic Vandals Plaster Swastikas Around Historic Montreal Synagogue

The son of a Holocaust survivor, Sam Sheraton thought of 1930s Germany when he first saw the antisemitic desecration of the historic Bagg Street Synagogue in Plateau-Mont-Royal.

Vandals spray-painted multiple black swastikas on the front of the 102-year-old synagogue over the weekend, including the glass on the front door.

NGO, StopAntisemitism shared the photo of the incident with their followers on Twitter. StopAntisemitism is a leading US-based organization exposing antisemitism.

For Sheraton, whose Hungarian-born mother survived the Auschwitz concentration camp, the defaced glass recalled Kristallnacht, a wave of anti-Jewish violence in 1938 that marked the beginning of the Holocaust.

“The Nazis went around breaking all the glass, and painting all the synagogues with swastikas, so it’s very, very symbolic,” said Sheraton, one of about 20 people who attend service at the synagogue.

The swastikas were discovered Monday morning by synagogue president Michael Kaplan.

“I interpreted it as being the work of a beanbag with a spray can. An antisemitic low-life, someone with not too much between the ears — nothing more than that,” he said.

Kaplan’s grandfather Baris owned the construction company that built the synagogue in 1921, converting a duplex that previously stood at Clark and Bagg streets., in what was then a large and thriving Jewish community.

He said people shouldn’t read too much into the vandalism, “certainly not without knowing more about who did it.”

Kaplan added: “I want to send the message that Montreal is a beautiful city in which to be Jewish. And my relationships with my neighbours, whether religious or not, have always been so warm and so cordial, including the neighbours in the Plateau.

“It was different when I was younger. The climate was much different. Antisemitism of a fairly coarse kind was fairly visible when I was a kid. After all, there were hotels in the Laurentians that advertised ‘no Jews, no dogs.'”

Investigators with the Montreal police hate-crimes unit were expected to meet Wednesday with synagogue officials.

B’nai Brith called on Mayor Valérie Plante to do more to combat antisemitism.

“While the congregation is small, the (Bagg Street) synagogue evokes Jewish history in Montreal and the attack on it is causing dismay in the community,” Marvin Rotrand, national director of B’nai Brith’s League for Human Rights, wrote in a letter to Plante and other members of city council.

In light of a rise in antisemitic incidents, Montreal must be more proactive, he said.

Menorah at San Diego State University Jewish Center Vandalized for Third Time

A man vandalized the Chabad House at San Diego State University on Sunday night, marking the third time since April 2021 that the Jewish center, which opened in 1977, has been targeted.

Security camera footage shared by StopAntisemitism, a nonprofit, shows a man running up to a decorative menorah mounted on the center’s lawn and violently shaking it back and forth until one of its branches break and the structure keels over.

“The menorah is a deeply meaningful symbol of the Jewish people. It is also a symbol of light” J. Luke Wood, SDSU vice president for student affairs and campus diversity, said on Monday. “SDSU stands in solidarity with the Chabad House and all members of the Jewish community and condemns all forms of antisemitism. To be clear: Any acts of vandalism, hatred, or marginalization toward members of our campus community, including our Jewish community, will not be tolerated.”

The Chabad House menorah has stood in front of the building for twenty years. It was last vandalized in June 2021 when a woman pulled down the menorah and another tore a piece of fabric from a Chabad banner commemorating Jewish heritage.

The university has asked anyone with information about this latest incident to contact the San Diego Police Department.

“We are disgusted to hear the menorah at San Diego University Chabad Jewish Center has been vandalized once again,” StopAntisemitism tweeted. “Video footage of the vandalism shows the disturbing force with which the man attacks the menorah; his hatred can almost be sensed through the screen.”

Police in Greece Arrest Two Men Planning to Attack Israeli Restaurant

UPDATE March 30, 2023: Eight new suspects from Pakistan were detained as part of the investigation into a terrorist network suspected of planning attacks against Jews in Athens, a Greek police source said Thursday; more here.

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UPDATE March 29, 2023: NGO StopAntisemitism released photos of the two initial men arrested with intent to attack a Jewish restaurant and other Jewish places around Athens ; more here.

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Greek police said on Tuesday they had arrested two men suspected members of a group that was planning an attack against Gostijo, a Kosher Israeli restaurant in Athens, a case which Israel said was orchestrated from Iran.

The anti-terrorist agency launched the operation that led to the arrests on information gathered by the country’s intelligence service, police said in a statement. It said the arrests had helped “dismantle a terrorist network” that was being managed from abroad.

A police official said the two men, 27 and 29 years old, were Pakistani nationals. According to the semi-official Athens News Agency, citing police officials, they were receiving orders from other Pakistani nationals in Iran. The two suspects both entered Greece illegally from neighboring Turkey and had been in the country for at least four months, according to two Greek officials who spoke to the Associated Press.

NGO StopAntisemitism, a leading US watchdog organization combating antisemitism, noted the target was located across the street from a Chabad Jewish Center.

As part of their investigation, police searched multiple sites in Athens as well as in southern Greece and on the western island of Zakynthos.

Israel’s intelligence service Mossad said in a rare statement that it had assisted in the investigation. “The investigation exposed that the operation in Greece was part of a vast Iranian network, operated from Iran across many countries,” it said.

The Iranian Embassy in Athens could not immediately be reached outside of business hours.

Greek police said they had confiscated digital evidence which revealed that the group was planning to attack a building of “special significance” in Greece and was looking for people who could help them carry out their project.

The police official said that the target was an Israeli restaurant in Athens.

“They were aiming at human loss and wanted to undermine security in Greece and hurt its foreign relations,” the Greek police said in a statement.

Jewish Politician in Finland Brutally Beaten, Threatened with Death and Antisemitic Abuse

UPDATE March 31, 2023: Video footage of the attack has been released. Surveillance and bystanders snagged a photo of the perpetrator. The identity has yet to be confirmed by officials; more here.

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A Jewish Finnish lawmaker - Ben Zyskowic - was viciously assaulted by an antisemite who threatened to kill him by pushing him onto subway tracks.

The attack Zyskowicz, 68, was denounced by Finland’s senior politicians, the Associated Press reported.

Zyskowicz was physically assaulted on Saturday as he campaigned for the country’s April 2 general elections. He told local media that a large man suddenly accosted him at a subway station in Helsinki, which he represents in the Finnish parliament.

The suspect, who was described as between 30 and 40, began screaming at Zyskowicz, claiming he was to blame for Finland’s decision to seek membership in NATO and hurling antisemitic abuse at him. According to the politician, the man also threatened to push him onto the subway tracks and to kill him, Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat reported.

At that point, the man physically attacked Zyskowicz, punching him in the face hard enough to knock him to the ground.

“Under no circumstances must physically attacking candidates become part of Finnish society, not even as an entirely marginal phenomenon,” Zyskowicz told the news outlet.

The suspect was later arrested by police.

Zyskowicz, a member of the center-right National Coalition Party which is leading in election polls, has been a member of the Finnish parliament for over four decades.

Reacting to the incident, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö tweeted: “This is a cowardly act that harms Finnish democracy.”

The European Jewish Congress said it was "shocked and deeply disturbed" by the attack.

"We strongly condemn the antisemitic assault to Ben and stand in solidarity with the Jewish Community of Finland," the EJC said.

NYPD Searching for Duo Responsible for Antisemitic Vandalism

New York City police released surveillance footage of two people suspected of drawing antisemitic symbols on a Manhattan building late last month.

Shortly after 6 p.m. on February 27, the two suspects allegedly approached a building in the Civic Center in Lower Manhattan and drew three antisemitic symbols on the window of a building with red paint before fleeing, police said. 

Police described one suspect as a light complexion man last seen wearing a light-colored hooded sweatshirt, dark-colored pants and a jacket. The second suspect was described as a light complexion man wearing glasses, last seen wearing dark-colored clothing, police said. 

The Jewish advocacy group exposing and fighting Jew hatred, StopAntisemitism, tweeted about the pair, asking anyone with tips to call NYPD hate crimes.

Employee Fired by Judge for Requesting Jewish Holidays Off Wins Lawsuit

Attorneys for a Butler County judge are fighting to overturn a $1.1 million verdict that a jury awarded to a former magistrate who claims she was fired for being Jewish and requesting time off to celebrate high holy days.

A jury sided with Kimberly Edelstein and against her former boss, Court of Common Pleas Judge Greg Stephens, after a two-week trial that ended on Feb. 3.

Now defense attorneys are asking U.S. District Court Judge Michael Barrett to overturn the verdict, order a new trial, reduce the judgment and delay payment to Edelstein.

Stephen’s attorney Linda Woeber declined to comment. In court filings, she said that paying the $1.1 million verdict would cause “irreparable harm and injury to Judge Stephens,” because “there is a very real possibility” the verdict may be reversed.

Historically, federal judges are reluctant to overturn jury verdicts.

Jurors found that Edelstein's First Amendment right of free exercise of religion was violated, awarding her $835,000 in back pay, $250,000 in compensatory damages and $35,000 in punitive damages, which is considered punishment for malicious conduct or reckless disregard of her rights.

“It's been going on for a very long time,” said Edelstein, who was fired in 2016. “So, for me, I would like to see an end … I want my life back where I can actually focus on other things. When I think of the time that's been spent on this.”

Edelstein worked as a magistrate for Stephens after Judge Patricia Oney retired in early 2016. When Edelstein told Stephens in July 2016 that she would need to take eight days off in October to observe Jewish high holy days, she said he reacted her request by yelling, “Holy cow, eight days,” and fired her days later.

“I was told, ‘You don’t fit in,’” Edelstein said in court. “I didn’t not fit in because of some personality issue. I didn’t fit in because I was a fundamentalist Jew among three fundamentalist Christians.”

In her closing statement, Edelstein described Stephens as an “extreme Christian” and former pastor, and that two other members of his staff mocked her and made fun of her religion.

Edelstein, who is a lawyer, represented herself in court. Since she won, she is asking for reimbursement for $961 in gas and rooming expenses and $180 for parking during the trial. Woeber is fighting that expense and doesn’t want to pay Edelstein more than $40 per day to reimburse her expert witnesses.

Meanwhile, the legal bills to defend Stephens, which total $304,315 through January, are likely to rise substantially with the post-trial motions.

Butler County taxpayers paid the $100,000 insurance deductible, and the County Risk Sharing Authority is responsible for the rest, said County Administrator Judi Boyko, who declined to comment on the verdict.

Boyko said she did not know if the amount of these legal bills would increase the county’s insurance premium going forward.

“All can do is pray about it and pray that justice prevails, and that the wisdom exists in our court system and … this verdict is upheld,” Edelstein said. “I have no intention of quitting ever because it's not just about me, for me, it's also who comes behind me.”

 Edelstein has a new job and is living out of state. But she said getting fired caused financial issues for her husband and three children.

 “I was the primary breadwinner in my family and so the loss of the job was quite a hit to the family income,” Edelstein said. “Thankfully my husband was working so we were able to get by … we sold a lot of personal items and reduced the assets we had, so that we could manage and that's what we did.”

New York Health Department Slammed for Enabling False Antisemitic Trope in Vaccine Campaign

Jewish leaders are slamming the state Health Department for sending a truck through Long Island neighborhoods with the message, “Polio is Spreading in Israel. Get Immunized Now.”

State Assemblyman Ari Brown (R-Cedarhurst) complained that the public service ad smacks of an antisemitic trope of “the Jews spreading disease.”

Many residents in the Five Towns area — Lawrence, Cedarhurst, Woodmere, Hewlett and Inwood — are orthodox or observant Jews with ties to Israel.

“I was appalled, but not surprised to learn that the NYS Department of Health sent a truck to our Orthodox Jewish community of the Five Towns on Long Island, displaying the subtle antisemitic trope of “the Jew spreading disease,’” Brown, who is also the deputy mayor of the Village of Cedarhurst, said in a letter sent Monday to the Health Department.

He said Jews were often blamed for spreading contagious diseases through the course of history.

“The Nazis justified the walling off of the ghettos as a preventive measure against the spread of typhus, while some 300 Jewish communities were destroyed in the mass hysteria associated with the plague,” Brown said.

He also has blamed city and state leaders for exhibiting “disguised bigotry” when targeting orthodox Jewish communities during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

“Now with a New York State Department of Health truck riding around Jewish neighborhoods with the rhetoric of, Polio is spreading in Israel, Get Immunized Now … It’s the same ‘Jews spread disease’ libel,” Brown said.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who also is Jewish, said, “Disturbing messaging from the [state] Department of Health contained wording that could be perceived as antisemitic rhetoric.”

Blakeman said he was informed that Hochul and the DOH acknowledged poor judgment and removed the “Polio is Spreading in Israel” messaging.

“Congratulations to Assemblyman Brown and Governor Hochul for immediately correcting this troubling message,” the Nassau County leader said.

Department of Health confirms they pulled the polio ad.

“Following Israel’s recent announcement of four new cases of polio, including a paralyzed child, the Department of Health issued a press release urging people who travel to Israel and other countries with circulating poliovirus to get fully immunized against polio,” said DOH external affairs chief Sam Miller.

With Passover near and travel to Israel expected to increase, the Department also launched a public awareness campaign this month reminding New Yorkers planning travel to Israel to protect themselves and their families by getting immunized.

“After hearing feedback that mobile van ads intended to reach New Yorkers in their communities could be interpreted as blaming the communities themselves for the spread of polio, the Department immediately pulled those ads. 

“The Department of Health remains committed to serving New York’s State’s diverse communities, and we strongly condemn antisemitism. We will continue to work with our partners to stop the spread of a once-eradicated disease that causes preventable, life-threatening paralysis.”   

More White Supremacist 'GDL' Flyers Found in Northern California

Several Chico neighborhoods were littered with antisemitic flyers Monday night.

There were at least three different versions of the fliers found at homes on Dale Way, Manzanita Avenue, and Howard Drive.

They were in plastic bags with pebbles inside, just like the antisemitic flyers found in towns nearby a few months before.

One woman who lives in the area, Shay Greaney said she is disgusted by the fliers.

"The fact that this is the third time that this has happened and that these are showing up on people's houses is incredibly disgusting… that people feel so strongly to spread hateful speech. That's just a sad thing about humanity and it's sad to see it in your community, but it also says a lot about American society. Chico is not isolated from America and this is not the only place that things like this are happening," Greaney told Action News Now.

The flyers are the same ones found in neighboring cities from a few months before

NGO StopAntisemitism has identified the antisemitic flyers as Goyim Defense League (GDL) anti-Jewish propaganda. The GDL is led by Jon Minadeo II. Minadeo and his followers are no strangers to Chico. In February, the group dropped similar flyers around the area.

Multiple residents from the area said once they saw the content of the papers, they immediately threw them in the trash.

One homeowner on Dale way told Action News Now she got several antisemitic flyers thrown onto her lawn that morning, and this is not the first time.

She says it's been a problem on her street for years.

Chico police will be increasing patrol in the area, but because the flyers are protected by the first amendment, there's not much else police can do.

Antisemitic Vandalism Unearthed at Arizona Park

A swastika and a disturbing message attacking Jewish people were spray painted on the sidewalk at East Mark Great Park in Mesa, Arizona

“These types of hate acts have huge repercussions for how the community feels here,” said Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz. “What we know is that these types of hate messages ultimately lead toward violence. So we have to name them and counter them right away.”

“We can become numb to some of these lies and stereotypes in ways that normalize them,” said Dr. Edna Friedberg.

Dr. Friedberg is a historian with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. She is coming to Scottsdale on Thursday for an event to educate families on extremism in our country and ways to fight it. Dr. Friedberg said learning from history and speaking out against hate is vital. “It is about how we can protect ourselves, how can we become alert, not passively become complicit in letting some of these ideas become mainstream,” she said. “If we don’t stand up for our neighbor, we are all allowing the fabric of our communities to be weakened.”

Second Swastika Uncovered at New Jersey High School

Another swastika — the second in just four months — was found etched on school property in Glen Rock, according to police officials.

A student reported seeing the antisemitic symbol carved in a bathroom stall door on the second floor of Glen Rock High School, police chief Dean Ackermann said Monday.

The bias incident — which was reported to police Thursday by the school's security director, according to the chief — is the latest in a string of related incidents that have occurred in borough schools.

A swastika was also found in December penned into the top of a desk at Glen Rock Middle School, and a racial slur was found in January written on a desk at the high school, Patch reported.

School officials, chief Ackermann said, reviewed hallway security cameras, yet were unable to determine a timeline during which the incident may have occurred.

"The governing body of the borough of Glen Rock has zero tolerance for symbols of hate in our community," Mayor Kristine Morieko said Monday.

Morieko said she has spoken with the school board president and has confirmed the district.

"I expressed concern on behalf of the governing body, and I requested to be a part of those conversations, which should include not only the students but the stakeholders of the town," Morieko said. "While this is a school issue, it is unfortunate that the community at large is affected."

"While antisemitic incidents are on the rise nationwide, our residents have every right to be alarmed when they hear of such local acts," Morieko said.

South Florida Resident Horrified to Find Swastikas Etched onto Vehicle

A woman found swastikas drawn into the dust on a car windshield at the Avery apartment garage in Dania Beach.

“I still don’t understand how someone could have so much hate,” said Rachel Greenfader.

It’s not Greenfader’s car, but the images of several swastikas, a racial slur, and a private part scrawled into the dust on the windshield of a car have affected her. “I’ve been crying and throwing up for the past 24 hours, as a human but more importantly as a Jewish person. It shook me to my core,” said Greenfader.

She lives at the Avery apartments in Dania Point and noticed the images Sunday. “I would understand if a kid was being funny and maybe put up a smiley face but to go to that extreme, that individual has to have so much hatred in their heart. I don’t care if it was a kid trying to play a joke or someone my age or older. You don’t do that,” said Greenfader.

She notified the Broward Sheriff’s Office and said she has also talked to the owner of the car, which has now been wiped clean. “You don’t do that, that is wrong and it’s antisemitism at its finest. My mind is surely blown; I didn’t even know that was possible in my own backyard,” said Greenfader.

BSO informed 7News that they are looking for the owner of the car to have a conversation with them. The management of the Avery apartments said they are also going to work with BSO to figure out who is behind this.

Antisemitic Vandalism Discovered inside Middle School Restroom in Philadelphia

UPDATE April 2, 2023: A 15-year-old in Chester County will face prosecution after police say he scrawled "racially insensitive" graffiti across the Valley Forge Middle School campus; more here.

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Valley Forge Middle School in Chesterbrook (Philadelphia), Pennsylvania, was vandalized with racist and antisemitic graffiti.

The Tredyffrin/Easttown School District told parents in an email Sunday night that spray-painted graffiti was found in a set of locked restrooms and part of a pavilion, NBC10 reported. Those areas are now covered up.

The district said it condemns hate speech and is working with police to figure out who is responsible.

NYPD Searching for Individual Responsible for Half a Dozen Antisemitic Incidents

UPDATE March 29, 2023: Antoine Blount, 34, of Forest Hills, was arrested Monday on multiple counts of aggravated harassment and criminal mischief. Police say he's responsible for at least eight acts of vandalism across the borough; more here.

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UPDATE March 28, 2023: NYPD has arrested the individual responsible for the antisemitic graffiti around Queens; more here.

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The NYPD is searching for a man accused of being behind at least six recent antisemitic incidents in Queens. 

The man etched a swastika into the sidewalk near the entrance of a synagogue Wednesday afternoon in one of the alleged crimes, according to police. 

Police say the man is linked to at least half a dozen incidents across Forest Hills and Rego Park since March 18. 

"It's just very sad to have our sacred space violated by a symbol of hate," said Rabbi Mark Kaiserman of the Reform Temple of Forest Hills. 

"I just feel that there's a lot of hatred going on right now. I think there's a lot of anger, people are taking it out in the wrong way," said Kathleen Nesdale, who's lived in the borough for more than 60 years. 

The targets in the spree of vandalism include the 112th Precinct, a junior high school, residential buildings and the Reform Temple of Forest Hills. 

Kaiserman hopes the suspect is caught and gets help. 

"And I hope we could come to find, help him learn more and get past what probably is his ignorance in what he is doing," Kaiserman said. 

Baltimore Jewish Man Attacked Outside Synagogue

An Orthodox Jewish man was robbed in broad daylight outside a synagogue in Baltimore on Wednesday, according to Yeshiva World News.

The victim was standing near the Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion synagogue when he was accosted by the suspect who proceeded to attack him. The assailant then stole the Jewish man’s kippah and his Talmud, YWN reported.

Baltimore Shomrim were quickly notified. They followed the thief as he fled the scene, notifying police of his whereabouts.

When the police arrived, they tried to arrest the suspect but he was uncooperative. When he resisted arrest, officers had to bring him to the ground to be able to put handcuffs on him, according to the report.

The Jewish man was not seriously hurt in the attack. The assailant faces multiple charges.

Earlier in the month, there were multiple reported incidents of Jews being harassed by antisemites in Baltimore on Shabbat.

The incidents occurred in the Pickwick Apartments neighborhood and were responded to by Baltimore Shomrim and the police, according to Baltimore Jewish Life.

Witnesses told Shomrim that several people driving a dark colored Chevrolet Cruze accosted Jewish residents near synagogues, hurling antisemitic abuse and demanding they give them money.

The harassment occurred several days after a hate group distributed antisemitic flyers in a Baltimore neighborhood in an attempt to “intimidate and harass” the local Jewish community, according to a Jewish leader.

Student Unleashes Antisemitic Rant over Jewish Inclusion at San Francisco University

San Francisco State University issued a letter sharing “a deep sense of concern” after a student made “antisemitic statements” during an event planning meeting earlier this month, the university said.

In the latest flare-up surrounding Jewish inclusion and anti-Israel animosity at the state university, an unnamed student, speaking at the March 9 meeting, reportedly called Hillel an “extremist” group and said they would not work with the campus organization.

The incident occurred during a planning session for the celebration of a campus mural, according to Jamillah Moore, vice president of student affairs and enrollment management at SFSU. An S.F. Hillel staffer joined members of several student groups in the virtual session.

“It was reported that, during the meeting, a member of a student organization articulated they did not want S.F. Hillel members collaborating on the event and made anti-Zionist statements,” Moore said.

The meeting on Zoom included about a dozen people representing Latinx student groups, according to Roger Feigelson, the executive director at S.F. Hillel since February. The topic was an on-campus Cesar Chavez mural.

Hillel had been invited to offer a Jewish perspective, he added, noting that the participation of the staff member was not at all related to Israel.

“Why is Hillel here? They’re an extremist Zionist organization,” the staff member recalled the student saying, according to Feigelson. The staff member immediately left the call, Feigelson said.

Feigelson said Moore contacted him “within an hour of the incident,” letting him know what occurred and affirming plans to take immediate action, including by issuing a statement of condemnation.

“As a campus community, we encourage a rigorous exchange of scholarly ideas and debate about Zionism, Israel, and any other world issue,” the SFSU statement, signed by Moore, says. “That debate, however, cannot exclude people from participating in meetings and events based on an assumption of their political stance or religious identity.”

The full statement can be downloaded as a Word document here.

This incident follows multiple incidents on the SFSU campus that Jewish groups characterize as stridently anti-Zionist and often antisemitic.

Florida Town Defaced with Antisemitic Graffiti

The DeSoto County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) tells Fox 4 they're investigating antisemitic graffiti, including a ‘JEWS’ spray painted onto a STOP sign.

A Facebook post with the photo was captioned "So this is what this town has to come to."

The symbol was found along NW Pierce Street, east of Arcadia where a stop sign had the word "Jews" spray painted on the sign.

This comes two weeks after a separate Cape Coral antisemitic incident, now being investigated as a hate crime, where a man tried to break into the Cape Chabad Jewish Center on a Saturday afternoon, as the Rabbi and a group of people were inside after Saturday services ended.

Thursday, Cape Coral Police Department (CCPD) confirmed that no arrests have been made in the investigation and there are currently no leads.

As CCPD continues their search, the DeSoto County has opened their own investigation. DCSO confirmed there is a person of interest, but still no one in custody.