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London Jewish Schools Vandalized with Blood

Law enforcement and Jewish security groups in the UK are seeking those responsible for dousing two Jewish primary schools in the Stamford Hill section of London with red paint.

The first instance of vandalism took place on Thursday. The neighborhood watch group Shomrim Stamford Hill shared what it described as surveillance footage of the incident on social media. It purportedly showed a suspect approaching Vishnitz Girls’ School and hurling the paint on its doors and windows while wearing a hooded jacket and completely concealing their face.

“We condemn these acts of hate and intimidation,” Shomrim Stamford Hill said on Monday. “In response, Shomrim is escalating patrols and collaborating with Hackney Metropolitan Police Services and local authorities to enhance the safety of our community. We’re advocating for an increased police presence and reassurance patrols.”

Then, on Monday, another Orthodox Jewish place of learning, Beis Chinuch Lebonos Girls School, was also targeted, with red paint thrown on the front gate. The Community Security Trust (CST), a British charity that provides security to the Jewish community in the UK, told The Algemeiner that someone also splashed two Jewish girls with red paint during the incident.

The act was “a disgraceful attempt to intimidate and harass our community,” said Dave Rich, head of policy at CST. “We urge anyone with any information about this appalling example of anti-Jewish hatred to contact police.”

London police said it was treating the two incidents as hate crimes. Shomrim said the attacks “have sent shockwaves” through the Jewish community in London.

The security of Jewish institutions and the Jewish population has been a point of concern for British authorities following Hamas’ terrorist onslaught against Israel last weekend, which triggered a wave of pro-Hamas demonstrations. Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist group in control of the Gaza Strip, murdered about 1,300 Israelis, injured thousands more, and took dozens hostage in its brutal invasion of the Jewish state.

However, the threat facing London’s Jewish community is not new.

Jewish Londoners have experienced an antisemitic crime wave for the past two years, according to a slew of reports by Shomrim Stamford Hill. In May, for example, the group reported on a stranger approaching a Jewish woman and shouting, “One day I will kill all you Jews.” Other incidents highlighted by Shomrim include the defacement of a Jewish family’s door and theft of their mezuzah and a Jewish mother and her infant being verbally abused and spit on, leaving the mother “traumatized and seeking support.”

At least 491 antisemitic hate crimes have occurred in London so far this year, according to data reported by the Metropolitan Police Service. Members of the city’s Orthodox Jewish community, one of the largest in Europe, were victims in a substantial portion of the thousands of antisemitic hate crimes that MPS has recorded since 2018.

Antisemitic Graffiti on Berlin Homes Echoes Troubling History

The Star of David has been graffitied on the doors of homes in Berlin, in a chilling echo of antisemitic persecution of Jewish people under the Nazis.

Pictures circulating online show the symbol was drawn on several buildings, with four cases reported to German police in recent days.

Jewish people living in the German capital have reported a rise in abuse following Hamas's bloody attack on Israel last week.

Among those targeted by vandalism was a young Jewish woman, who said she was shocked when she returned to her apartment on Thursday evening to find  a star marked on her door.

The woman, who has a mezuzah - a Jewish house blessing - outside her flat, said that the incident was a 'huge shock' and left her 'scared.’

'I speak Hebrew, talk on the phone in Hebrew, and wear a Star of David... I really thought about whether I should stay at home,' the woman told Bild.

Police said they are now investigating 'whether the other houses have a Jewish resident and whether the incidents are connected.'

The incidents amount to a crime under German law, and seem to be an imitation of the persecution of Jews during the 1930s.

During the Holocaust, Nazi brownshirts painted the Star of David in white on the doors of Jewish businesses to discourage non-Jewish Germans from going into them.

It comes as a German intelligence chief claimed that 'some Palestinians are openly and blatantly calling for a kind of Kristallnacht 2.0,' in reference to the Nazis' violent coordinated attacks on Jewish homes and businesses in 1938.

Stephan Kramer, head of domestic intelligence in the state of Thuringia, told Handelsblatt that radicalised sympathisers could 'possibly carry out concrete attacks against Jewish and Israeli institutions and people' amid the Hamas terror on Israel.

Incidents of antisemitism have invoked fear for Jewish people across Europe since the conflict broke out in Israel last Saturday.

Ohio Man Identified After Making Antisemitic Comments on Jewish Woman's Camera

The Bexley Police Department is investigating after receiving two reports of antisemitic comments on Sunday.

Debbie Meyer, a lifelong Bexley resident, said she proudly put her Israeli flag on display in her front yard a week ago to support her homeland.

"I wanted to do something in solidarity, so I put my Israeli flag up,” she said.

Meyer said a man rang her Ring doorbell while she was at home with her husband Sunday afternoon.

"I kind of leaned over to see who it was and I didn't really recognize him, it was a little uncomfortable so I went on my Ring,” Meyer said.

In the video, Meyer stated, "Hey, can I help you?"

The man waited a few moments, Meyer then said ‘Hello?’ Then the man asked, "Do I just talk into this? I've never used one of these,” in reference to the Ring doorbell.

Meyer then asked the man what could she help him with. The man then proceeds to make vulgar antisemitic statements, and ends by saying, “… disgusting.”

Jewish advocacy organization StopAntisemitism has identified the man as Jacob T. Reidy (39). He was arrested on October 16th.

Meyer said she contacted the police immediately.  

"He just casually walked down my driveway, got in his car and drove away,” Meyer said.

As she watched the video back, Meyer said she was still processing what happened.

"I'm a child of a survivor of the Holocaust, so this hits home really hard for me,” Meyer said.

"It's just something that speaks so terribly of antisemitism,” Rabbi Avi Goldstein, of the Beth Jacob congregation, said.

Goldstein said Meyer called him shortly after this happened and sent him the video.

"It's just so shocking the language to verbally assault someone in their own home, someone you don't know,” Goldstein said.

As more than one thousand innocent men, women, and children have been killed by Hamas, Goldstein said supporting Israel is vital.

"It's critical that Americans are proud of Israel, and support Israel at this time,” Goldstein said.

"Israel has a right to exist it is our homeland it is where my family is my brothers my sisters and everything going there right now… has to be stopped,” Meyer said.

"People who are anti-terror, who value life, who value a culture of morality, they should all fly Israeli flags today,” Goldstein said.

Boston Area Synagogue Evacuated Due to Bomb Threat

Police are investigating after several Jewish houses of worship received bomb threats.

I-Team sources first reported that Attleboro synagogue Congregation Agudas-Achim received an email on Saturday that read, "The bombs will blow up in a few hours. A lot of people will die. You all deserve to die." 

Police confirmed that the synagogue received the email around 9 a.m. On Saturday. Massachusetts State Police evacuated the staff, and sent bomb detection dogs to search the synagogue and surrounding area. 

"Meanwhile, the church across the street opened their building for us and we began our service there. Once the threat was cleared, we returned to our building. We are grateful for the help and support of the Attleboro Police Department, the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island and the Evangelical Covenant Church," said Congregation Agudas-Achim Board of Trustee President, Molly Jacobs, in a statement to WBZ-TV.

The threat was found to be non-legitimate around 11:20 a.m.  

Swastika and Antisemitic Messages Found in Student Notebook at California High School

Morgan Hill Police today investigated a notebook found at Live Oak High School with a swastika and other hateful messages written inside it, and cited a student in relation to the incident. 

Someone posted a photo of the offending writings on NextDoor, late in the afternoon Oct. 12. The photo showed a page in a notebook—with two hands on the edges holding it upright—that had a black swastika scribbled onto it, the digits “88” and antisemitic profanity. Location information within the post said it was from the Live Oak High School campus on East Main Avenue. 

After a reporter for this newspaper left a message for Live Oak Interim Principal Glen Webb on Oct. 13, the Times was contacted by Morgan Hill Unified School District spokesperson Lanae Bays. 

“The image that was posted on social media is abhorrent, and completely against the values of our school district,” Bays wrote in an email. “To support our students and staff, we are providing additional access to counselors, as the emotional well-being of our school community is our top priority.”

Bays added that the district could not comment further because the incident is under police investigation. 

The school contacted the Morgan Hill Police Department shortly after noticing the social media post containing the image of the notebook, authorities said. 

Morgan Hill Police Sgt. Scott Purvis said during an investigation, officers recovered the notebook and identified a Live Oak student who said they found the notebook with the swastika and offending messages scribbled inside it. That student was cited for disruption of school services—a violation of the state educational code—for being in possession of the notebook, Purvis said. 

Investigators—restricted by state law from interviewing minors under most circumstances—have not determined who drew or wrote the hateful messages in the notebook, Purvis added. The student who claimed to have found the item is not the same person who posted it to social media. 

Police do not think there is an ongoing threat or danger to the school or community in relation to the incident, Purvis said. 

Pennsylvania Synagogue Evacuated Due to Bomb Threat

Friday's bomb threat against a Wyomissing synagogue could be part of a statewide email incident, a Wyomissing Police Department officer said Saturday.

According to the officer, the threatening email were sent "en masse" to temples and synagogues across Pennsylvania.

69 News has reached out to Pennsylvania State Police in Harrisburg to confirm this, but has not yet heard back from either.

Wyomissing Police chief John Phillips said Friday that the threat was made against Reform Congregation Oheb Shalom, a synagogue on Warwick Drive.

The threat was ultimately found to be false after members of the Reading bomb squad and Berks County Sheriff's Department searched the building and found no indications of a bomb being present.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

CUNY Student Charged After Snatching Israeli Flag During Palestinian Protest

A pro-Israel City University of New York (CUNY) Hunter College student was a victim of petit larceny — taking or withholding property from its owner — and harassment while counter-protesting a pro-Hamas demonstration near the campus, according to details of the incident released by the New York City Police Department (NYPD).

On Thursday, Hunter College student Gideon Askowitz was standing in a section reserved for pro-Israel counter-protestors near Lexington Avenue when Adrian Mysliwiec walked over from a pro-Hamas section and snatched his Israeli flag.

“The suspect then proceeded to walk away with the flag,” an NYPD spokesperson said in a statement shared with The Algemeiner. “There were no injuries reported to the police. The suspect was taken into custody without incident.”

Askowitz told The Algemeiner on Friday that he is grateful that NYPD officers standing by immediately intervened and apprehended Mysliwiec. Jewish students, he added, spent all of Thursday dismayed by the outpouring of support CUNY students expressed for the atrocities Hamas terrorists committed during an invasion of Israel’s southern border on Saturday.

“People were clearly very scared and very emotional,” Askowitz said. “Two or three were crying.”

His Israeli flag continued to draw attention after he went back to school to walk a friend to class, he added, saying, “Someone was like, ‘Yo, what flag is that?'”

The CUNY consortium of colleges has been a hotbed of support for Hamas and other extreme pro-Palestinian ideologies.

On Saturday, amid the circulation of footage showing gruesome acts of violence committed by Hamas terrorists against Israeli civilians, CUNY) Law School’s Jewish Law Students Association (JLSA) shared a tweet containing instructions for making Molotov cocktails while appearing to defend Hamas’ terror campaign.

“Soak a cloak in flammable liquid … resoak [sic] the exposed wick and light it,” the text read. “Target a hard surface, such as an engine grill. Repeat until the invading occupiers retreat.”

JLSA also declared solidarity with Hamas on Saturday, tweeting, “We stand in unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people in their righteous and determined struggle against murderous settler colonialism and apartheid! Palestine will be free!”

Wednesday’s incident at CUNY isn’t the only act of intimidation that Jewish students have experienced on college campuses in the aftermath of Hamas’s surprise terror attack.

At Drexel University, an unknown individual set on fire the door of the residence of a Jewish student whose pro-Israel beliefs are widely known. An arson and hate crimes investigation is ongoing.

“Unfortunately, we were made aware of a distressing situation that included destruction inside of one our residence halls,” the university said in a statement on Tuesday. “We are investigating to determine if bias, discrimination, or hate, which we do not tolerate at Drexel, was the motivation behind this incident.”

Bomb Threats Force Pennsylvania Synagogue to Evacuate

Police evacuated residents of several blocks and and closed roads in the perimeter around Congregation Beth-El at 249 Arch St. in the city following an emailed bomb threat.

No bomb was found following a search of the synagogue.

The incident drew police from several area departments and state police. Fire police detoured traffic around the incident.

Shelter was provided at the Shikellamy High School auditorium, according to 911 dispatch reports.

Antisemitic Messaging Uncovered at a Maine High School

Following the discovery of an antisemitic message at Cony High School this week, Principal Kimberly Liscomb said “consequences and education have been implemented.”

Liscomb declined to give details about the message that was discovered Tuesday, including whether it was inside or outside the school, noting that she could not share specifics because a student, who has been identified, left the message.

“Our school needs to be a welcoming place where students and staff members are part of a safe community,” she wrote. “Comments like these have no place in our school or our community.”

School officials will continue to monitor the school and its culture and will address any concerning issues, she said.

While the message was not a direct threat to either students or staff, the school’s resource officer was alerted.

On Friday, the Augusta Police Department confirmed it had taken a complaint of criminal mischief at the high school, and the matter is under investigation.

Liscomb said she can’t say for certain whether the message was related to the Israel-Hamas war, but the timing and content suggests it is related.

Stanford Suspends Professor Who Made Jews Stand in Corner, Praised Hamas

A lecturer at Stanford University was suspended after subjecting Jewish students to "identity-based targeting," telling some to stand in a corner like "Israel does to Palestinians."

The instructor has been suspended after the episode occurred this week in a required undergraduate course called "Civil, Liberal and Global Education." Rabbi Dov Greenberg, who runs the Chabad Stanford Jewish Center, said three students in that classroom told him about the incident.

The Daily Mail identified the lecturer as 46-year-old Ameer Hasan Loggins. Loggins was a one-time teacher of Colin Kaepernick and credits himself with instructing the football player on radical leftist ideology. Kaepernick in a 2019 social media post congratulated Loggins on receiving his Ph.D., calling Loggins his "brother."

Loggins "addressed the Middle East conflict in a manner that called out individual students in class based on their backgrounds and identities," a Wednesday statement by the university said.

The teacher called out the students and brought up the Holocaust as reported by a Jewish publication.

The teacher told the Jewish students to take their belongings, stand in a corner, and said, "This is what Israel does to the Palestinians," Greenberg said, citing the student accounts. The instructor then asked, "How many people died in the Holocaust?" When a student answered, "Six million," the lecturer said, "Colonizers killed more than 6 million. Israel is a colonizer." …

The teacher "didn’t say anything that happened to the Israelis," Greenberg said. "He ignored that. He said, 'Hamas is a legitimate representation of the Palestinian people. They are not a terrorist group. They are freedom fighters. Their actions are legitimate.'"

Albany Law Professor Under Fire for Supporting Hamas

An Albany Law School professor is being condemned for a tweet saying “Long live the Palestinian resistance & people of Gaza.”

Professor Nina Farnia posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the Palestinians are “tearing down the walls of colonialism & apartheid.”

“As the Biden admin builds more walls at US borders, the people of the world are rising up & tearing walls down. The Palestinians are a beacon for us all.”

Farnia’s remarks come following the terrorist attacks by Hamas that killed 1,200 Israelis and counting.

Farnia’s biography on the school’s website said she is a scholar of Critical Race theory and focuses on the role of modern imperialism in U.S. law and politics.

StopAntisemitism wrote on X that Farnia is “justifying the rape, torture and butchering of Israelis.”

Journalist and podcaster Megyn Kelly, a graduate of Albany Law School, called Farnia a “bigoted disgrace” and said she should be fired immediately.

Farnia has not backed down from those comments. She wrote a follow-up post saying that she woke up today to death threats and said people on Twitter are “revealing themselves as proponents of racist violence on my page, not to mention censorship and suppression of speech. Let the record speak for itself.”

Kelly replied to that tweet that Farnia has revealed herself to be a “vile Jew-hater.”   

In response to NewsChannel 13’s inquiry, university officials said they could not comment on personnel matters but sent a generic statement condemning the terrorist attacks.

“Albany Law School unequivocally condemns the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel and the slaughter of innocent civilians. These acts of unspeakable terror are an affront to humanity. We express our unconditional support for all of those affected by the horrific violence,” said President and Dean Cinnamon P. Carlarne and Dan Grossman, chairman of the Board of Trustees.

A Jewish Pennsylvania College Student's Dorm Set on Fire over Pro-Israel Views

An image posted to Twitter by StopAntisemitism shows the aftermath of the dorm room door of an observant Jewish Drexel University student having been set on fire. 

The post states that “no other door was vandalized and the student believed she was targeted due to her outspoken support of Israel.”

”Police are investigating this as a possible hate crime,” the post claims.

This comes amid ongoing reports of anti-Semitic demonstrations and rhetoric on American university campuses after this weekend’s violent terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israeli students, with many groups directly praising the slaughter as “heroic” and “brave.”

Antisemitic 'Goyim Defense League' (GDL) Flyers Discovered in Oklahoma Neighborhood

Civil rights organizations report that antisemitic threats and language have spiked significantly since the Hamas attack on Israel. In Ardmore, police say ten people have reported finding flyers promoting antisemtism on their lawns.

“I was reading it and I was like what kind of message is this supposed to be,” Ardmore resident Roxy Gonzalez said.

Monday morning Gonzalez found a flyer on her driveway directing her to a website filled with conspiracy videos and hateful commentary.

The Jewish advocacy group StopAntisemitism has been tracking the activities of those responsible - the Goyim Defense League’ or ‘GDL’ for nearly five years and state they vilify Jews with their premeditated hate campaigns.

“My family alone is a diverse family and it kinda feels like an attack honestly,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said her cameras didn’t catch the person responsible, but down the street her neighbor Gregory Trent found a different flyer in his yard.

It linked to the same website.

“I saw it out there and thought it was a piece of trash. then noticed it was corn and flipped it over and saw it had this tract,” Trent said. “I thought ‘this is shocking’ and I was really offended.” Ardmore police said the reports of these tracts are from different areas around the city.

“I have always been a student of the Second World War and of the atrocities that were formed there and to me this was part and parcel of the kind of rhetoric and inflammatory things… that helped lead to the Nazi coming to power,” Trent said. “I was shocked to see it happening here.”

Ardmore Police said anyone who receives a flyer can throw it away, but if it keeps happening and you feel harassed, you should contact them.

“I don’t see how anything could be done except the citizens together saying we won’t take part in this kind of vile rhetoric,” Trent said.

The FBI confirmed with News 12 that there’s been a recent uptick in antisemitic rhetoric in Oklahoma and across the nation.

They say while it’s disturbing and offensive, expressing views like this is not a crime.

As long as it’s not threatening, it’s protected under the First Amendment.

“When things get to this point, this is way more than political, this is a threat to our very society,” Trent said.

“I’m a little bit creeped out just cause I know as well as all of us the United States is built on diversity,” Gonzalez said.

Antisemitic Display Remained at Washington High School Until Police Were Notified

A skeleton being used as a display at Bellingham High School was posed giving a fascist salute and decorated with a Nazi swastika in a “hateful and antisemitic” incident last week, school officials said.

It remained in view for a day until school officials were notified, according to a statement from Principal Martin Atkins about the Oct. 2 incident that was emailed to parents, students and staff on Oct. 6.

Details about the antisemitism weren’t explained in Atkins’ email, but were provided by school district spokeswoman Dana Smith. “Bellingham High School administrators spent several days investigating this incident and selected appropriate responses,” Smith told The Herald in an email.

It was not immediately known how many students were involved or whether they were disciplined. Smith told The Herald that information could not be shared because of federal privacy laws. School administrators learned of the incident on Tuesday, Oct. 3, and “removed all the images,” Atkins said in the email to parents, which Smith provided to The Bellingham Herald.

“On Monday afternoon this week (Oct. 2), a couple of our students decided to add hateful and antisemitic images and poses to the skeletons in our senior homecoming hallway decoration,” Atkins said in the email. “In fact, someone must have seen it prior to us learning of it and removed the most offensive bits prior to administration being informed,” he said.

Several incidents involving the swastika and Nazi ideology have been reported in Bellingham over the past several years, and police have made no arrests.

Antisemitic Symbol Discovered at San Diego High School

Just days after the conflict in Israel began, a hate symbol was found drawn in a Carmel Valley school bathroom. Police did confirm the graffiti Wednesday afternoon.

This crime comes as unrest, protests and demonstrations spark globally and here at home, between pro-Israel and pro-Palestine groups as the death toll continues to mount.

The principal of Torrey Pines High School, Robert Coppo, released this statement to parents that was shared with FOX 5 Wednesday:

“We will follow up with the full power of our authority. I want to be very clear – we do not tolerate antisemitism, hate crimes, or hate speech of any kind. I have provided resources to all staff so that we can address this with students, and educate everyone on hate symbols, and their impact on our school community. Please be a part of this conversation by talking to your student about this critical, but difficult topic…” the statement says in part.

California University's Student Union Sukkah Vandalized by Antisemitic Messaging

As Jewish communities around the world mourn the loss of the thousands of Israeli civilians who have been killed over the past week by terrorist group Hamas, and the subsequent war declared by Israel, a local hate crime is hindering the Humboldt Jewish community's ability to heal during this tragic time.

On Monday, Cal Poly Humboldt's University Police Department (UPD) received a report of antisemitic messaging on a Jewish Student Union tent that had been set up on the quad on campus as a sukkah for the Jewish holiday Sukkot.

"It was a very obnoxious and very profane slur against Israel," Chabad of Humboldt Rabbi Eliyahu Cowen said.

In an email notification sent out to the campus community, Cal Poly Humboldt wrote, in part, "the university does not tolerate acts of hate or discrimination directed at any member of the campus community or the destruction of property. UPD is committed to investigating and prosecuting hate crimes to the fullest extent of the law."

According to that same email notification, a suspect can be seen on video surveillance next to the sukkah around the time the crime was committed. No further information has been released in regard to any suspects.

"Even more important than fining the particular perpetrator, it's about sending a clear message that in our society, we do not tolerate hate, we do not tolerate hate crimes," Rabbi Cowen said.

Now, Chabad of Humboldt is prioritizing support for its members and the community and spreading light in what is still a very dark time for many.

NYPD Arrests Two Juveniles for Pointing Imitation Guns at Synagogue

Two juveniles pointed fake guns at a Brooklyn synagogue Wednesday night as the Jewish nation is under attack by Hamas terrorists overseas.

Police received a 911 call around 7:40 p.m. stating that a small group of young men armed with guns were posted outside Congregation B’nai Yosef on Ocean Parkway in Gravesend, according to cops.

When officers arrived, they found two male juveniles with an “imitation firearm” and placed them into custody, police said.

The replica gun may have been a gel pellet gun, which the suspects fired at the building, law enforcement sources said.

The Flatbush Shmira, which assisted the NYPD in capturing the pair, described the firearm as a BB gun and posted an image of an officer holding a black-and-red imitation assault rifle.

No one was hurt in the incident, which is under investigation.

The NYPD said it was in the preliminary stages of its investigation and has not yet determined if its hate crimes task force with join the probe.

Man Tramples Over Israeli Flags at New York Jewish Community Center

It didn’t take long for the staff of the Jewish Community Center to pick up the mess, but to them, the crime is about more than property. “This was a hate crime as far as I’m concerned,” said Executive Director Marci Erlebacher.

Israeli flags in the grass in front of the JCC were kicked over and stomped on by who appears to be a young man, surveillance video shows. The executive director said it “chilled” her “to the bone” to watch the video and see the suspect was recording his vandalism himself, almost with pride.

The crime is being investigated by DeWitt Police.

“Those flags symbolize something,” said Erlebached. “Those flags symbolize our connection in some way to Israel… and somebody tried to destroy that.”

The night before, the flags were stuck into the lawn to welcome nearly 400 people to the JCC campus for a rally in recognition of the attack on Israel.

Erlebacher is confident in her building’s security, having focused on hardening enhancements after bomb threats in 2017, but she doesn’t want to rest on that.

She said: “When I saw this individual doing it, I wasn’t fearful, I wasn’t concerned, but it brought a reality to my doorstep… We’re good here, but we need up the game… and we are.”

There have been more police patrols on the JCC campus, but on Wednesday, the executive director announced the addition of an armed guard on duty during the day.

Police are hoping the public can help investigators identify the suspect. Anyone with information can call 315-449-3640 or by email at tips@townofdewitt.com.