Canadian High School Evacuated for Second Time over Bomb Threat

For the second time in just over a month, a threat was made against the same Jewish high school in North York.

Approximately 1,300 students at Tanenbaum Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto on Wilmington Avenue were evacuated from the school as a precaution after a bomb threat was received around 11:15 a.m. Friday.

A large police presence, including the K9 unit, searched the building before determining there was no further threat to the community.

Dr. Jonathan Levy, the head of the school, said they had received an email with the subject line “Death by fire” which claimed “Multiple bombs have been placed in your buildings, and in your car lot. Many Jews will die today.”

“As a community, we are incredibly upset and outraged that these kinds of antisemitic events continue to take place and we think that it is essential that all Torontonians and all Canadians react with shock and anger and upset to these kinds of events,” said Levy. “All of our students, all staff, all people deserve to live in an environment where they can come to school and go to work free of these kinds of threats.”

A social media post by the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto said this latest incident further highlights the need for Jewish institutions to maintain a high level of readiness and security.

“We are concerned and outraged by this incident, which is just the latest in a growing number of antisemitic hate crimes in Toronto,” read the Facebook post. “Jewish institutions should ensure protocols are being followed, particularly access controls at building entrances. Voicemail and email in-boxes should be regularly checked, and any suspicious or threatening messages reported without delay.”

Police said they were investigating the source of the threat but provided no further details as to its possible origins.

“We understand that there are people in our community that don’t want to display who they are and that’s a horrible thing and anything that we can do to support the community at a time like this, we will do whatever we can,” said Toronto Police Insp. Jack Gurr.

This is the same school which was the focus of a hate-crime investigation last month after online threats were received. In that instance, two teens and a man were charged with making threats after a group of Jewish students were threatened outside the school.

Police forces across the GTA have increased patrols around Jewish communities as well as cultural centres, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East.

Jewish Congressman's New York Office Spray-Painted with Anti-Israel Slogans

Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) said his New York City district office was vandalized and defaced with pro-Palestinian slogans.

“Free Palestine” and “Let Gaza live” along with the phrase, “Blood on ur hands” were spray-painted on the exterior of the Jewish congressman’s office.

Goldman spokesperson Simone Kanter released a statement Friday, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

“Harassing, intimidating, and outright attacking the staff of a Jewish elected official at a time of rising violence and rampant antisemitism is dangerous and unacceptable,” the statement said.

The Hill has reached out to Goldman’s office for further comment.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency said the New York City Police Department is investigating the incident and that officers were responding to graffiti elsewhere when they found the vandalism. A Goldman staff member arrived at the office around 8:50 a.m. Friday and found police already on the scene.

Security footage showed at least two people defacing the building, but they put a plastic bag over the camera, so the images are unclear, his office said.

Goldman was visiting Israel with his family when the Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel and began the weeks-long growing conflict.

“Our experience, of course, was traumatic, but it is nothing compared to so many Israelis down in the south with barbarianism that we have not seen,” Goldman said last month on the “Today” show.

The vandalism is not an isolated incident. Local offices and Washington, D.C., offices for several other members of congress have been vandalized amid the heightened tensions stemming from the conflict in the Middle East.

Jewish Bakery in New York Defaced with Anti-Israel Graffiti

A New York City Jewish bakery was vandalized on Friday afternoon, after someone spray-painted "Free Gaza" on the window, before smashing a window at a nearby bank.

The graffiti on the front window of Breads Bakery near Sixth Avenue and 49th Street appeared in bright-orange lettering.

Additional photos show a man sweeping up broken glass in front of the Simon & Schuster building, where another window, this time belonging to the First Republic Bank, appeared to have been smashed.

The vandals struck before several pro-Palestinian protests were expected to take place in the Big Apple.

The graffiti also reminded those passing by of the rising antisemitism in New York City, as well as around the world.

Virginia Synagogue Evacuated After Bomb and Stabbing Threats Were Made During Service

Police responded to a bomb threat at an Arlington synagogue tonight.

Arlington County police were dispatched to Congregation Etz Hayim, along Route 50 in the Arlington Heights neighborhood, around 5:30 p.m. Initial reports suggest that someone texted a crisis hotline that they had placed a bomb at the synagogue and were also planning to stab people inside.

No bomb was found nor did any acts of violence occur, ACPD told ARLnow.

From a police spokeswoman:

“At approximately 5:25 p.m. on November 17, police were dispatched to the 2900 block of Arlington Boulevard for the report of suspicious circumstances. The preliminary investigation indicates the suspect contacted a crisis hotline and allegedly made threats to bomb a house of worship. Responding officers made contact with the occupants of the property and searched the area and no evidence of a crime was located. The investigation is ongoing.”

The threat comes at a time of rising antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war.

A tipster tells ARLnow that the threat was made during the congregation’s “Tot Shabbat” service.

“This service is aimed at kids under 6 and their families, and it is sponsored in memory of a stillborn baby,” the tipster said.

Wellesley College Is Latest University Under Investigation for Antisemitism

Wellesley College is under federal investigation for hate on campus.

The Department of Education said it received complaints about incidents of antisemitism at the school. Wellesley said one incident involved an email sent to students living in a dorm hall. Another incident involved complaints about a panel that spoke on the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

The college released a statement saying antisemitism has no place at Wellesley.

Connecticut DOT Finds Swastika on Property for Second Time

The Department of Transportation said antisemitic graffiti was found in a bathroom at their Newington location Thursday morning.

In an email, Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto said this is the second time in four months that antisemitic graffiti was found at their Newington campus.

Gov. Ned Lamont confirmed it was a swastika. The commissioner said they don't know who did it, but their internal security team is conducting an investigation.

"Antisemitism, and hate and bigotry of all forms, have no place at CTDOT. Anyone who holds those beliefs in their heart is not welcome in the CTDOT family," Eucalitto said.

Employees who feel harassed, discriminated against or unwelcome at work are being encouraged to reach out.

Armenia's Only Synagogue Set Ablaze Amidst Ongoing War in Gaza

A synagogue in Yerevan, Armenia was set on fire on Wednesday evening in an antisemitic arson attack, the second incident targeting the city’s Jewish community since last month, according to several reports and video circulating on social media.

The Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) claimed responsibility for attacking the Mordechai Navi Synagogue, the only Jewish place of worship operating in the country, Azerbaijani media and other sources reported.

Azerbaijani Ambassador to Germany Nasimi Aghayev was among those who shared footage of the synagogue attack on social media.

Armenian authorities said on Thursday that they had opened an investigation into the arson attack.

“On Nov. 15, the police received a call that unknown persons wanted to set fire to the doors of the building at 23 Nar-Dos Street in Yerevan,” local police told AFP. “An investigation has been launched.”

No one was reportedly in the building at the time of the incident. Rima Varzhapetyan, the president of Armenia’s Jewish community, said that the synagogue had not been seriously damaged.

“We are horrified because Jews have never had any problems in Armenia,” she told AFP.

About five weeks earlier, on Oct. 3, the synagogue was vandalized and targeted with a Molotov cocktail in an antisemitic act for which ASALA — a Marxist-Leninist group designated as a terrorist organization by the US State Department in 1989 — also claimed responsibility.

The attackers issued a statement saying, “The Jews are the enemies of the Armenian nation, complicit in Turkish crimes and the regime of [Azerbaijan President Ilhan] Aliyev. The Jewish state provides weapons to Aliyev’s criminal regime, and Jews from America and Europe actively support him. Turkey, Aliyev’s regime, and the Jews are the sworn enemies of the Armenian state and people.”

The group added: “If Jewish rabbis in the United States and Europe continue to support Aliyev’s regime, we will continue to burn their synagogues in other countries. Every rabbi will be a target for us. No Israeli Jew will feel safe in these countries.”

Armenia and Azerbaijan share a border and have a long history of conflict. Israel and Azerbaijan have engaged in close cooperation, including weapons sales, in recent years.

Armenia is home to about 500-1,000 Jews, mostly of Ashkenazi origin, localized in in the capital of Yerevan, according to World Jewish Congress estimates.

After Wednesday’s incident, ASALA reportedly threatened to continue attacks against the Jewish community outside of Armenia. Israeli media outlets reported that the group issued a statement linking the latest arson to the war in Gaza, expressing “solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance movements against Zionism.”

ASALA, arguably the best known of the Armenian militant groups formed during the last century, was active in the 1970s through the 1990s, but has been less visible since. The organization, which was responsible for several terrorist attacks and assassinations, was armed and trained by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). During the 1980s, ASALA terrorists trained with Palestinian factions in Lebanon, developing ties with the radical Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a group within the PLO.

This week’s targeting of an Armenian synagogue came as countries around the world, especially in the US and Europe, have experienced a historic spike in antisemitic incidents following Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.

“Armenia’s only synagogue last night was burned down in an antisemitic attack,” tweeted the National Jewish Assembly in the UK. “Jews around the world are feeling less and less safe every day because of actions like this. We are seeing people be bystanders to antisemitic attacks.”

Wednesday night’s arson attack was reminiscent of a similar incident in Tunisia last month, when hundreds of Tunisians reportedly burnt the el-Hamma Synagogue in the Gabès Governorate.

New Hampshire Democratic Party's Office Defaced by Antisemitic Slurs and Symbols

The New Hampshire Democratic Party's Belknap County office was vandalized with antisemitic and white supremacist symbols and messages amid reports by watchdog groups of increases in antisemitic and other bias incidents in the U.S.

Democrats are "outraged and horrified by the recent discovery of antisemitic and white supremacist graffiti" at the office in Laconia, state party Chair Raymond Buckley said in a statement Thursday morning.

"The documented rise in these hate crimes here in New Hampshire is alarming and unacceptable," Buckley said. "We must confront and challenge this vile ideology at every turn. We stand in unwavering solidarity with the Jewish community and all those targeted by these abhorrent acts. We will not be intimidated or deterred in our fight against bigotry."

The vandalism included swastikas and an antisemitic slur spray-painted on the side of the group's headquarters, according to Laconia Police Chief Matthew Canfield and Colin Booth, communications director for the New Hampshire Democratic Party. Posters were also discovered glued to the side of the building featuring a star of David with a knife through it, as well as conspiracy theories about Jews and the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

Johnna Davis, the chair of the Belknap County Democratic Committee, told NBC News that she believes they were targeted because of a post on the group's Facebook page last week about an event at a local synagogue to commemorate Kristallnacht.

The state party doesn't know who is responsible for vandalizing the property, said Booth, who added that the New Hampshire Democratic Party notified the state attorney general's office in the hope that the incident can be investigated as a hate crime and solved quickly.

Michael Garrity, a spokesman for Attorney General John Formella, said the attorney general's office is working with the Laconia Police Department.

"Hate crimes and civil rights violations have no place in New Hampshire," Garrity said. "The attorney general’s office is committed to working with our local, state, and federal partners to identify these acts and their perpetrators and to pursuing action to the fullest extent possible."

Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., said on X: "I’m thinking of all my friends in Laconia tonight. This antisemitic vandalism is part of a surge in hateful attacks on the Jewish community across the country. There is simply no place for bigotry and hate in our society, and we must speak with one voice to condemn it."

FBI Director Christopher Wray recently testified before Congress about the rise in antisemitism and domestic extremism in the wake of Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel and subsequent conflict in Gaza. Citing government statistics, he said that Jews in America suffer “something like 60% of all religious-based hate crimes and incidents” despite representing only about 2.4% of the American public.

George Washington University Suspends Radical SJP Group for Antisemitic Behavior

George Washington University has suspended Students for Justice in Palestine for at least 90 days, making it the third US college to curtail the group’s operations this month.

A new pro-Palestinian student group has already been announced and is staging a rally to support the suspended SJP chapter.

George Washington University made international headlines last month when members of the pro-Palestinian student group screened anti-Israel messages including “Glory To Our Martyrs,” “Divestment From Zionist Genocide Now” and “Free Palestine From The River To The Sea” on the outer wall of the Gelman Library, named for two prominent local Jewish figures.

University president Ellen Granberg said the next day that the projections were antisemitic and violated university policy. Now, administrators say an investigation confirmed the violations and the group would be suspended as a result.

“The university determined that SJP’s actions violated university policies, including the Gelman Building Use Guidelines and the university’s policy against non-compliance, as SJP initially refused to comply with university officials’ directives to end the projections,” the administration said in a statement issued Monday. “As a result, effective immediately, the university has prohibited SJP from participating in activities on campus.”

The group will not be able to sponsor or organize on-campus activities or use any university facilities for at least the next 90 days. It also cannot post communications on university property until May 20, 2024, the end of the school year.

The suspension adds GWU to a growing list of schools where SJP has been reined in since Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking hundreds of hostages. The national SJP organization praised the attack, causing an array of Jewish groups and lawmakers to press universities to stop funding the group’s local chapters.

On Nov. 6, Brandeis University permanently banned Students for Justice in Palestine, saying the group “openly supports Hamas.” Last week, Columbia University suspended both Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace for violating university policies and expressing “threatening rhetoric and intimidation.”

In addition, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida ordered public universities in that state to “deactivate” SJP chapters, though state officials said last week that had not happened.

SJP members at George Washington University told the GW Hatchet student newspaper that they saw the crackdown on their chapter as part of a disturbing trend.

“We see this very clearly as being a political response to a growing wave of backlash and repression towards Palestinian organizing, but specifically the Palestinian student movement that’s been happening the past few weeks,” a student representative told the newspaper under the condition of anonymity, citing the risk of harassment.

Pro-Palestinian students at George Washington have already announced the formation of a new group, the Student Coalition for Palestine, which says it is a “coalition of student organizations struggling towards the liberation of Palestine and an end to GW’s complicity in genocide and settler colonialism.“

The Student Coalition for Palestine is organizing a protest on Wednesday in solidarity with SJP, demanding that the university reinstate the suspended group.

“We stand against Zionist intimidation tactics. We stand against the repression of the growing student movement against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. We demand that GW reinstate SJP immediately,” the new group wrote in a social media post calling on supporters to bring face coverings and noisemakers to a rally at the heart of the school’s Washington, D.C. campus.

Swastikas Found at Stanford University Prompt Investigation

Stanford University says it’s received reports of at least three antisemitic incidents on campus over the last two weeks. Now, the university plans to create two new committees to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus.  

In March, KTVU reported an incident of a swastika symbol discovered in one of the dorms. And in the last two weeks, three more swastikas have been reported. 

"I hate to say it but from my experience serving on one of the university’s task forces, I doubt that much is going to come of the committee," said Odelia Lorch.

Stanford University announced Monday that it’ll form two new committees to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus. They’ll include students, faculty and staff members, but this Jewish student thinks the plan is divisive. 

"They implied opposition when they said they want to work with the Muslim, Arab, Palestinian communities, which they’re lumped together. That makes it seem like all Muslims and Arabs are anti-Jewish, and all Palestinians must be anti-Jewish," Lorch said.     

"I don’t have any animosity towards anybody on this campus and to sort of present it that way isn’t fair," said Isaac Deutsche, a Stanford student who is also Jewish.    

The announcement came after weeks of campus protests in response to the attacks in Israel. Stanford also confirmed swastikas were found in a few locations on campus last week and strongly condemned the incidents. 

"When the war broke out, the campus felt a lot more hostile to me. I feel watched in a lot of places. I feel disliked," Deutsche said. 

The university says it hopes the committees will improve dialogue and education about antisemitism and Islamophobia. Stanford also says it’s expanded mental health resources and added more security measures on campus. Still, Lorch says in the past, the committee process hasn’t worked. 

"I would like these conversations to be set up. I would like support systems to reach students. I would like statements to be made to make students feel seen and heard," Lorch said.   

Stanford says the swastika incidents are being investigated by police. 

KTVU also tried to speak with those students who support the Palestinian cause about the committees, but they declined to comment.

Virginia High School Faces Backlash for Suspending Student Who Exposed Antisemitic Behavior

Last week, Jewish students at Langley High School were stunned to see the image of a U.S. flag that a classmate had drawn in Room 1406 during a meeting of the Muslim Students Association, replacing the stars on the flag with swastikas and the message “Free Palestine!” in between squiggles for stripes. The image circulated quickly at school, as pro-Palestine students staged a “walkout” on Friday, carrying another sign with swastikas on it and chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a call-to-action that Jewish groups have decried as an anti-semitic war cry to destroy the state of Israel.

Now, Jewish students and parents are shocked to learn that Langley administrators this week suspended not only the Muslim student who drew the swastikas on the U.S. flag but also an Asian American classmate whom school officials accused of leaking the photo to the public. Local Jewish community members and their allies plan a rally on Nov. 17, at 11 a.m., at Fairfax County Public Schools’ Gatehouse headquarters, which they have renamed “Hatehouse,” to protest the retaliation against the Asian American teen and the lack of school district action on anti-Jew hate. 

The controversy over swastikas at one of America’s top high schools, just down the road from CIA headquarters, brings the contentious global battle over Israel and Palestine from college campuses and the streets into America’s K-12 school system. For several years, parents have expressed their concerns that administrators at Fairfax County Public Schools are ignoring antisemitism, said Rebecca Schgallis, cofounder of the group United Against Antisemitism. “Fairfax County Public Schools has emboldened students to become even more aggressive in their open antisemitism where they explicitly express support for Hamas and include swastikas in their signage. Jewish students have been threatened at these walkouts, and yet FCPS is falsely claiming to the community that they are peaceful and orderly. When Jewish students and their allies protest against antisemitism, they have their own right to free speech and rights outlined in the Student Rights and Responsibilities violated.”

Last week, teens at Robinson Secondary School, off Sideburn Road in Fairfax, rallied in front of their school with a shocking chant breaking out, “Long live Hamas!” Parents who witnessed the chant asked administrators to intervene, but they didn’t, according to a video of the event.

Late last month, across the county at Woodson High School, a Jewish senior, Yakov Schwartz, 18, led a group of half a dozen students, carrying two small Israeli flags, to the football field, where about 250 students organized by the Muslim Students Association rallied against Israel. At one point, students tried to grab his flag, and a mass of anti-Israel students rushed the field to hover menacingly over the Jewish students.

Schwartz said the decision by the Langley administrators to punish the alleged whistleblower follows a pattern and practice of retaliation school district officials mete out against Jewish students and their allies when they raise issues about anti-semitism. “Fairfax County Public Schools doesn’t truly care about making schools safe for every student,” he said. 

“The student who drew the swastika flag not only threatened Jewish students but he also defaced the flag of his country. It’s a disgrace to our flag, our country, and its people,” said Schwartz, who now carries extra Jewish prayer caps, or kippahs, in his backpack to give to friends to wear as an expression of support for Jewish students, especially younger ones still finding their way at the school.

Back at Langley on Monday, school administrators started grilling the young Asian American student, interrogating him without his parents present, inspecting his phone, and threatening him with alleged violations of the Student’s Rights and Responsibilities handbook, say people familiar with the situation. School officials alleged he had shared the photo of the student holding the swastika flag as a second teen in a Vans beanie stood beside him, flashing a thumbs-up sign. The other teen in the photo also got suspended. 

On Nov. 10, students of the Muslim Students Association led about 150 students outside the school in a “walkout.” One of the students held a sign, “Peace for Palestine,” with two swastikas scrawled on the back, according to a video obtained by the Fairfax County Times.

Toronto Starbucks Defaced with Pro-Hamas Graffiti

Police have launched an investigation after a Forest Hill Starbucks was targeted with graffiti referencing the Israel-Gaza war.

The vandalism at the Starbucks near Bathurst Street and Eglinton Avenue was first reported early Thursday morning.

Images show signs plastered to a window which read “a cup of coffee? You mean a cup of blood,” and “shame.” The words “blood on your hands” and “free Palestine” were also written on the window in red.

Police have said that officers are on scene and that they will liaise with members of the Hate Crime Unit as part of their investigation.

In a post to social media, Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center CEO Michael Levitt thanked police for their “fast response” and “for all they’ve been doing to keep the Jewish community safe and protected in recent weeks.”

“This is the daily reality for Jews in Canada. Pleading with our leaders to do all they can to calm things down,” he wrote.

Toronto police have previously said that the number of hate crime calls have risen by approximately 132 per cent amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

The force has increased the size of their hate crime unit as a result.

Jewish Teens Accosted by Crazed NYC Subway Rider for Attending Israeli Rally

A group of Jewish New York City high schoolers who attended Tuesday’s massive pro-Israel rally in Washington were verbally attacked onboard a DC train by a woman who accused them of supporting genocide.

Shira Rouhani, Lea Applebaum, and Leah Borenstein — students at the Yeshiva University High School for Girls in Queens — were riding the DC Metro with their teacher when the unidentified woman launched her vulgar and vile attack that left them feeling frightened.

In a video, shot by Rouhani, 17, and obtained by The Post, the woman can be heard screaming at the girls, telling them they were supporting the “killing of innocent people” and that they were “f–king disgusting.”

“You are stupid. You are really dumb….F–k you. F–k all you guys,” the woman said. “What’s wrong with you? Why are you supporting kids who are being murdered?”

“I was very scared of this lady,” Borenstein, who was reduced “to tears” over the interaction, told The Post Wednesday over the phone.

The woman allegedly also called the girls “dirty pigs, “fat and ugly,” and accused them of living “rich and privileged” lives, according to Borenstein.

The 17-year-old senior said she had already been hesitant about the rally prior to going — although she was “happy” she attended in the end — after seeing the rise of antisemitism across the US, especially in her home city.

The Yeshiva University High School for Girls — as well as its boys school and university — cancelled classes Tuesday to allow the New York City-based students to travel to DC for the pro-Israel rally, which Rouhani called “peaceful.”

It wasn’t until the girls’ group got on the subway that they started to feel threatened.

“I was very scared,” Rouhani, who hails from Iranian-Jewish immigrants, said. “I’ve never dealt with antisemitism before.

“She meant it from her gut,” the senior, who was wearing an Israeli flag on the train, continued. “Her voice was very aggressive.”

None of the girls said anything to the woman out of fear, they told The Post, but their Jewish history teacher, Richard Issacs, defended the group, telling the “aggressive” woman to “fix your government first.”

The Post has attempted to contact Issacs for comment.

Rouhani said she was afraid the woman would physically “attack” them if they spoke up.

The teen also said her group had not been loud or disruptive and had simply been riding the subway like everyone one.

Borenstein, who said she was shaking after the incident, said: “It’s very scary she had the audacity to get up and yell at us in front of everyone.”

Applebaum, 16, said she was “high” off the rally as she boarded the train car and was upset “someone attempted to ruin it.”

“I was scared,” she said over the phone. “I wanted to speak, but I didn’t know what to she’d do… She verbally harassed us, saying we support genocide.”

After the women got off the train, several others came up to the girls to say they support them, all three recalled.

The three girls have noticed a rise in antisemitism across the Big Apple and Borenstein said that as a result some of her friends have started taking Ubers around instead of the subway.

The senior said she’s “never been scared” of the subways before, but has found herself hiding her Star of David necklace until she was in safe spaces.

Rouhani also said she had begun to hide her Jewish jewelry because she doesn’t want to “risk it.”

Group of Young Adults Deface Ski Lift with Swastikas

Authorities are asking the public’s help in identifying several people believed to have vandalized a chairlift at Sundance Mountain Resort in June, drawing racist graffiti in the lifthouse.

The Utah County Sheriff’s Office shared surveillance video Wednesday of 10 people on the Outlaw Mid-Station Lift, which is about three-quarters up the Outlaw Express, one of Sundance’s main chairlifts.

Segments of the video, which was dated June 9, showed several young people, both male and female, pushing various buttons on the lift and shooting a fire extinguisher into a garbage bin.

Sgt. Spencer Cannon, with the sheriff’s department, said the suspects destroyed two fire extinguishers and drew a swastika inside the lift cabin.

The suspects are also believed to have burglarized a cabin roughly 200 yards away, causing an estimated $15,000 worth of damage.

It’s unclear why investigators are now asking for the public’s help, roughly five months after the vandalism. According to Cannon, the resort discovered the damage the day after it happened.

Bomb Scare Causes an Ohio Jewish Hospital to Evacuate

A bomb threat made to Jewish Hospital on Wednesday was found to not be credible, according to Mercy Health.

An anonymous call was made around 10 a.m. alleging a bomb threat.

Jewish Hospital says they called the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department who arrived “quickly” and conducted a “thorough search.”

Nothing was found inside or outside the hospital, Mercy Health explained.

“At The Jewish Hospital – Mercy Health, one of our most important responsibilities is the safety and security of our patients, visitors, associates and physicians,” Mercy Health said. “We appreciate the collaboration with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department and their swift, efficient, and caring response.”

Jewish Student at Virginia School Discovers Swastika Carved on Her Desk

A Jewish family in Virginia said they’re concerned about what has happened in their daughter's school after a swastika was drawn on her desk.

“I think one of the biggest fears that I have is that I'm raising my children in the wrong place, and a place that's not tolerant and not accepting,” a Loudoun County mother told WJLA. “And I've lived here for probably a little over a decade at this point. And this is the first time I've ever really, really questioned whether I'm raising my children in an unsafe place.”

Days after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, she said a swastika was drawn on her daughter's desk at school.

The mother asked WJLA not to identify her because she was worried about her family's safety.

“The school's reaction, I think, overall was the biggest challenge for me,” she said.

“I will say in what was offered to me [by the Loudoun County school] was an additional statement be added to the anti-bullying monthly newsletter, which felt like a, I have no other way to say it, but a slap in the face,” she continued. “It minimized the severity of the situation. You're going to send out a statement with the anti-bullying newsletter? It wasn't until I would say demanded that it be taken more seriously that a statement was put out to the entire school community. And it referenced the act as graffiti. It didn't actually report what had actually occurred, which I'm not sure I understand that approach. But it was only after other parents found out what this graffiti actually meant that other parents were writing in saying that they didn't feel they were being properly informed about the hate and threats of violence that were happening at their school. And at that time another letter went out aligning with the superintendent's messaging on how we're going to support children in the school system. What I would like to see is I would like to see our students taught in accordance with the Virginia curriculum, and that there be an evaluation process to show that we're actually teaching the children what we should be teaching them. One of the things that was uncovered here was that the Holocaust curriculum in the seventh grade was not meeting the Virginia State Standards for the curriculum and I would like to see a short-term solution to how we're going to support the kids.”

The Loudoun County parent showed an email from the school that did not specifically tell the community what happened; instead, the school system referred to the swastika as graffiti.

“It almost felt as though it was being swept under the rug, which I was very surprised by,” she said. “ I will say that the principal was very quick to respond. His reaction, he checked all of the boxes. He did what was mandated as the principal. I did not feel very much concern from the school. They equated this to bullying, which most people might say that there's an overlap between hate speech and bullying, but very specifically, they are not the same thing. And they are not the same thing in the wake of a massacre of 1,200 to 1,400 Jewish people three days prior. So whereas the school system might have felt that they were checking certain boxes in what is mandated, did I feel safe? Absolutely not. My child was begging me not to speak up out of fear of not only what her peers would think and feel, but she didn't want to be disruptive to the school process. And unfortunately, I think that's what the school board is teaching our children is that we should lie somewhere in no man's land so that we don't upset anybody, that we don't make a stand against things like this. This is hate. This is hate. This is violence.”

She said the school told her it was just a coincidence that a swastika was drawn on her daughter’s desk.

Recently there’s been a number of pro-Palestine walkouts at Loudoun County schools that allegedly included some chants that many Jewish parents and students have found offensive and threatening.

“This is about calling for the death of our people, is what it's calling for,” the parent said. “And that's Loudoun County not holding up their end to keep our kids safe from hate and violence. That's my biggest concern. I don't believe that Loudoun County is doing their part.”

She said that many in the Jewish community in Loudoun County are concerned with what is happening at schools and they’re afraid to speak out.

“I've connected with some families at our synagogue which is a small community,” she added. “There is a thread of families talking about their experiences. And, you know, we have children calling their parents from inside of a classroom saying ‘come and get me now’. Because what teachers might think is like a fun open debate, we're not debating, you know, silly, fun debate things that you might bring up in like a civics class. We're debating some really serious things and to open up a forum for kids to attack each other in a classroom where maybe there is only one Jewish kid in the classroom and there's a handful of other kids calling, you know, for how awful the Jewish people are in the setting, what are the teachers doing to support those kids who have just as much of a right for protection as anybody else? And so I don't think any LCPS student should have to call their parent from inside a classroom and say, ‘Come and get me. I don't feel safe,' and those things are happening.”

She wants the Loudoun County superintendent and the school board to lead by example and come up with a solution immediately.

“Right now, there is a crisis in this world, not just for Jewish children, for a lot of children on all sides of this conflict,” she said. “And we can't wait months upon months upon months for a solution. We need the schools, the principals, the teachers to be given the tools to support the kids right now. We can't wait weeks and weeks and weeks for you know, all of these meetings in the school board. They need something right now. They need to address these things properly beyond just checking these boxes, checking the boxes is not supporting the kids and it's not making them feel safe and for me to keep my children home the day after this happened because the last thing they wanted to do was to walk through the building because if it wasn't dealt with, they were told they weren't targeted. They were told it was a coincidence that out of, you know, hundreds of kids, it just so happened to be on their desk. So I want a short-term answer to how we're going to help our kids through the crisis that's happening in the world right now.”

“How is your daughter doing right now?” WJLA reporter Nick Minock asked.

“I mean, I think she feels confused,” the mother replied. “I think she's trying to minimize, you know, some of the impact it's having on her because she doesn't want to be a target. I mean she's young, she's a preteen, you know, they don't want to be isolated. She's confused. She's sad. She idolized her history teacher last year, loved him, but the day that he was supposed to show up and teach about World War II and the Holocaust, they got to fill in the blank worksheet, and it was never discussed again. And those are the adults in her life. She gets the education at home from us. But what about those kids in school that are seeing, ads [on] their YouTube about pro-Palestinian marches “from the river to the sea” which is calling for the annihilation of the Jewish people? Who's educating them on what those words actually mean?”

WJLA emailed written questions to LCPS on Thursday, including, “What is the Loudoun County superintendent and LCPS doing to ensure the safety of Jewish students from threatening rhetoric and acts from other students?”

Canadian Woman Charged with Attempted Arson and Defacing Hospital with Anti-Jewish Messages

A 33-year-old Ottawa woman is facing numerous charges after gasoline and antisemitic messaging were found inside an area at the General Campus of The Ottawa Hospital (TOH) last week.

The Ottawa Police Service (OPS) launched an investigation after gasoline and the messages were found in a clinical area of the campus, which is located on Smyth Road, on Thursday, Nov. 9.

Police said the 33-year-old woman was arrested after a search warrant was conducted at her residence.

She has been charged with:

• Attempt to commit arson endanger life

• Attempt to commit arson damage property

• Mischief, obstruct property

• Mischief, property damage endangering life

• Possess incendiary material for arson

• Disobey lawful order of court

• Breach of probation

The OPS said the incident isn’t believe to be hate motivated, but is connected to the Hamas-Isarael war.

Canadian Building Defaced with Multiple Nazi Symbols

Swastikas discovered Wednesday on the side of a North Kamloops commercial building have been painted over, but the racist graffiti has prompted a number of outraged responses online.

A number of swastikas were found Wednesday morning on the side of Total Pet on Tranquille Road. They had been painted over by noon.

“Absolutely, positively disgusting,” Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo MP Frank Caputo said in a post on social media.

“This has no place in Canada — period. I find this absolutely deplorable.”

Caputo urged the culprits to turn themselves in to police, and asked anyone with information to contact Mounties.

Antisemitism has been on the rise in recent weeks across the globe, including a number of incidents in Canada. In Montreal, a Jewish school has been hit by gunfire multiple times, and a man was arrested near Toronto over the weekend after allegedly inciting hatred and expressing antisemitic views.

Castanet Kamloops has asked police for information about the incident. This story will be updated if more becomes known.