Rafaella Gunz, a journalist focusing on LGBT and feminist issues , was studying at the CUNY School of Law when she became a target of pro-Palestinian groups, particularly SJP, eventually being forced from the school.
Brooklyn Man Assaulted in Antisemitic Gym Incident
A Crown Heights man working out in a gym this week was the victim of an unprovoked attack by a man using antisemitic slurs. The boy had been using a piece of specialized equipment at the Crunch gym in Crown Heights on Tuesday, when a black man suddenly approached and slapped him without provocation.
The bochur reported that the man called him an “Fuc*ing Jew” as he pulled off the boys headphones and stamped on them.
The bochur called the police, who arrested the attacker for the assault. According to the victim, the police also noted that his attacker also had a warrant for his arrest regarding a previous crime. The entire incident was caught on the gyms surveillance camera.
The incident is the first serious reported incident of a hate related crime since a slew of attacks on Jewish people in Brooklyn this past year caused a national stir. Until recently, Crown Heights had seen daily patrols by the New York State Police on top of the extra patrols provided by the NYPD.
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Vile Antisemitism Once Again at Belgian Annual Parade
Caricatures of Jews, including ones depicting them as ants, were prominently displayed at this city’s annual parade. The displays came a year after the Jewish Telegraphic Agency exposed antisemitic displays in last year’s parade in Aalst, located about 10 miles west of Brussels. Participants said the new displays were designed to reject the criticism of the town and carnival that followed JTA’s report.
“This is us saying we’re not going to stop making fun of everyone,” a man who identified himself as Fred van Oilsjt, 26, told JTA Sunday while wearing a costume that exaggerates the suits favored by haredi Jewish men.
He and 11 other members of his group also wore an ant’s abdomen and legs attached to their backs and a sticker that read “obey” on their lapels. Anti-Semitic imagery has often associated Jews with vermin, but he said the display was meant to be a pun referencing how the Dutch-language word for the Western Wall sounds like “complaining ant.”
Another group wore fake hooked noses and haredi Jew costumes as protest. Their float had a sign labelled “regulations for the Jewish party committee,” and it included: “Do not mock Jews” and “Certainly do not tell the truth about the Jew.”
Among the thousands of revelers who watched the parade from the sidelines, dozens of people wore fake haredi Jew costumes, including one person who also wore large troll feet.
Rudi Roth, a journalist for the Antwerp-based Joods Actueel Jewish paper, said the expressions of antisemitism in Aalst this year were more numerous and prominent than last year. He called it a “backlash effect.”
The report brought scrutiny to the city. In December, UNESCO pulled its endorsement of the Aalst Carnival as a world heritage event, and Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz on Thursday called for what he labelled a “hateful” event to be banned. Meanwhile, celebrities have backed out of appearances with Aalst’s mayor, who has defended the parade displays.
The mayor, Christophe D’Haese of the right-wing New Flemish Alliance, said on Sunday that in the “context of the carnival, these displays are not antisemitic.” Any illegal hate speech, he added, would be dealt with by law enforcement.
“This is not an antisemitic event,” he told journalists at a press conference.
Joel Rubinfeld, the president of the Belgian League Against Antisemitism, condemned the displays, “which although are the work of a minority of participants and spectators, stain the whole event.”
He said the event “certainly has antisemitic elements,” the likes of which he said had not been on display since the end of the Nazi occupation in 1945.
“Aalst’s name is now associated with antisemitism,” Rubinfeld, said, “and that’s partly because of the mayor’s inaction.”
Antisemitic Hate Graffiti Found in Chicago Political Office
Someone used marker to write antisemitic graffiti on the windows of a political campaign office in East Lakeview late Wednesday or sometime Thursday.
The hate language, which targeted Hispanics, Jews, and blacks, was found on the glass of a storefront used by a political action committee that is working to support presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar.
“I learned this morning that my former campaign office has been vandalized by hateful messages targeting me, communities of color, and the Jewish community,” said Kim Walz, a former candidate for the Illinois House of Representatives.
“This is a hate crime. The vile language tagged by the assailants is unacceptable and has no place in Lakeview, Chicago, this state, or the country,” Walz continued. “We are better than this racist, antisemitic, and misogynistic rhetoric.”
Walz said she is not associated with the Klobuchar PAC.
Police responded to the office at 3151 North Broadway around 2:45 p.m. Thursday after a worker called 911 to report the incident.
The police department did not have a formal report documenting the graffiti as of 5 p.m., according to a CPD spokesperson. Police told an office worker that the building landlord would have to file the complaint.