Web Analytics

UMass Amherst Vandalized Again with Antisemitic Graffiti

The antisemitic slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” was found spray-painted in large letters alongside “Free Palestine” at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst on Monday.

StopAntisemitism.org posted photos and a video of graffiti found inside and outside of the South Tunnel student walkway. In both places, the slogan was accompanied by a drawing of the Palestinian flag.

One wall displayed the names of victims of police brutality, such as George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, but also included 27-year-old Palestinian motorist Ahmad Erekat, who was killed by the Israel Defense Forces in June 2020 after he violently rammed his car into a security checkpoint.

StopAntisemitism.org said “dozens” of Jewish students at the university contacted them “out of safety concerns” after seeing the graffiti.

UMass Amherst had covered most of it by Monday evening, though left the names of the police brutality victims, as well as a heart drawn on the floor in the colors of the Palestinian flag.

UMass Amherst graffiti.jpeg

The UMass campus has been defaced with similar graffiti before. Most notable was an incident on Holocaust Remembrance Day in April 2020, when “Palestine” was spray-painted in Arabic on the Hillel building.

The school has previously hosted events with musician Roger Waters, Women’s March leader Linda Sarsour and Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill, all supports of the BDS movement against Israel.

Rockland County Elementary School Playground Vandalized with Antisemitic Graffiti

A elementary school playground in West Haverstraw, NY was tagged with antisemitic symbols, including swastikas.

The vandalism at North Garnerville Elementary School depicts swastikas on the steps and indistinguishable letters that spell J-E-X, possibly a spin on ‘JEW’.

"We're not sure what that means, we're not sure if it's gang-related, or some other meaning, but the one thing we do know—we always wind up finding them, and we always do prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law," says Town of Haverstraw Supervisor Howard Phillips.

Phillips says police are investigating to see if this is a hate crime.

North Garnerville is no longer used as an elementary school, but its playground is frequented by many local kids.

News 12 reached out to the North Rockland School District for a response, but it did not give a comment.

Man Arrested After Deliberately Running Over 5 Orthodox Men in Horrific Hit and Run

Shokhobiddin Bakhritdinovon, 26, has been arrested

Shokhobiddin Bakhritdinovon, 26, has been arrested

New York police have arrested the driver responsible for a deliberate hit-and-run attack Saturday on five Brooklyn Hasidim, the New York Daily News reported Monday.

The minivan driver was caught on camera intentionally backing up into five pedestrians in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, striking the victims twice and initially lingering on the scene before ultimately speeding away.

The NYPD reportedly nabbed the suspect — Shokhobiddin Bakhritdinovon, 26 — on Sunday, after his car was spotted by members of Shomrim, a neighborhood watch group.

The Daily News reporting that the victims were five male relatives ranging in age from 11 to 82, with the oldest individual requiring medical attention for a foot injury.

Clubhouse Shuts Down Numerous Antisemitic Rooms

Clubhouse, the new audio-based social network, announced that it “shut down a number of rooms” in the wake of complaints about antisemitism.

On Sunday, a Twitter user @EliKohn3 wrote about a chat on Clubhouse that discussed “Jewish Privilege,” where they said users were repeating and promoting antisemitic stereotypes.

“Nearly 200 people talking about how Jews control the federal reserve, Jews were behind the trans Atlantic slave trade, minorities are pawns for the Jews to destroy whites,” @EliKohn3 wrote. “I can’t believe the amount of antisemitism omg.”

Later that day, Clubhouse announced that it had shut down groups that violated its anti-discrimination policies.

“We shut down a number of rooms found to be in violation and, where appropriate, issued suspensions and removed users indefinitely,” it said, responding to @EliKohn3’s tweet but not referring specifically to any accounts or groups. “All forms of racism, antisemitism, hate speech and abuse are prohibited on Clubhouse and are a direct violation of the Community Guidelines.”

The app, which was launched about a year ago and already boasts over 8 million downloads, connects users by allowing them to join together in “rooms” to talk with each other. It has faced accusations of allowing antisemitism in the past, and in September the Verge, a tech publication, reported that it “is still struggling with moderation.”

Nazi Recruitment Stickers Discovered at Omaha Synagogue

Update July 29th: Jonathan Ziegler, 31, was arrested and charged for hanging the neo-Nazi stickers; more here.

*** *** ***

Nate Shapiro was leaving Temple Israel last Friday when something caught his eye. "I just noticed something weird on the light poles and so I actually pulled back in and investigated and saw it was a Neo-Nazi recruiting propaganda poster," Shapiro said.

The Executive Director of Temple Israel said he went back through the security video and found a man who was walking his tag also placed another sticker near the playground.

The man was captured on surveillance camera walking his dog while placing the Nazi stickers.

The man was captured on surveillance camera walking his dog while placing the Nazi stickers.

"We know that there are people in the world who don't like us for whatever reason. It would be nice if we were more loved," Shapiro said.

Shapiro pulled both stickers off, but the remnants remain.

"In the last three years the hate against Muslims and Jews, in particular, is on the rise," executive director of the Tri-Faith Initiative Wendy Goldberg said.

The Tri-Faith Initiative organization connects Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities. The most recent numbers from the FBI show more than 1,600 religious hate crimes in 2019, 60% were antisemitic.

"Until we're ready to teach people to have a civil conversation with people who are different from them across a spectrum of identity we're going to continue to see these kinds of hate happen," Goldberg said.

Shapiro just wants to talk with this person.

"I want to give them a chance to remind them that we are human there's a lot we have in common and you don't have to be motivated by hatred," Shapiro said.

Omaha police are still looking for the suspect. Call Crime Stoppers at 402-444-STOP if you know anything that may help identify the person.

Armed Robbers Storm South Africa Synagogue, Tie Up Rabbi and Two Men with Tallit

Armed robbers stormed the Kehillas Shomrei Emunin in Johannesburg on Thursday morning , tying up the Rabbi and two other men with Tallit. The thieves left the men tied on the floor as they fled with stolen belonings, B’Chadrei Chareidim reported.

The building is guarded by a private security company whose guards regularly patrol the area but the guards somehow missed the incident.

While the men were trying to free themselves from their restraints, the non-Jewish cook who prepares the food for the Kiddush on Shabbos discovered them on the floor and called the police.

Only two days before the incident, a Jewish man who lived close by to the shul was murdered during a robbery.

“What happened only strengthens the belief that the Torah protects us,” one of the congregants told B’Chadrei. “The thieves could have shot them – it was mamash a neis.”

MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan Tweets Antisemitic Libel, Issues Correction After Being Called Out

Mehdi Hasan, the host of MSNBC’s “The Mehdi Hasan Show” tweeted a libelous claim on Saturday about a supposed Israel Defense Forces sniper injuring a Palestinian boy, reported the media watchdog group CAMERA.

After being contacted by CAMERA, Hasan published a tweet on Tuesday noting “conflicting accounts” surrounding the incident and provided a link to a Times of Israel article with more information.

Hasan retweeted a post by Palestinian activist Issa Amro that included a nine-second video of a Palestinian boy in a vegetable store in Hebron. The youngster runs off-camera by the end of the clip, while another man in the video ducks for cover. The video does not show violence or a shooter, and it’s unclear from the footage how the Palestinian boy was injured.

In the video’s caption, Amro claimed that the Palestinian child “was shot in his eye, he got a rubber bullet which was shot by an Israeli army sniper. The video is clear, the child didn’t show any threat on the soldiers.” Hasan retweeted the post and caption, then advocated for the cutting of U.S. funding to Israel based on Amro’s accusations.

In a statement on April 10 about the incident, the IDF said that during a recent raid in Hebron, Israeli troops were attacked by Palestinians and “responded with riot dispersal means, including rubber bullets.”

“Rubber bullets were not fired towards stores or bystanders,” according to the IDF. “Following a report regarding a Palestinian who was injured in a store close to the area of the riot, the incident was examined. The examination concluded that there was no direct fire towards the store at the individuals inside.”

IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told CAMERA that to the best of his knowledge, no Israeli snipers were at the scene.

Swastika Discovered at Massachusetts Area College Just Before Holocaust Remembrance Day

President James Birge announced there was a swastika carved into a piece of furniture on the first floor of the Amsler Campus Center on Wednesday, April 7, the day before Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“Facilities staff has removed the symbol from the piece of furniture, campus public safety is investigating, and I have referred the student to the Counseling Center for support,” Birge wrote in the campus-wide email.

He categorized the swastika as representative of “violence, hate, discrimination, and bias.” It was the symbol used by the Nazis as they occupied Germany and invaded other European countries during the 1930s and World War 2.

“Although we are a Nation that values free speech, speech that incites or promotes hate and violence against anyone goes beyond the concept of that freedom. Free speech is a responsibility as much as a right; we must choose our words carefully and look hard at our well-worn beliefs and biases,” Birge said.

He directed students who have faced discrimination to contact Nicole Comstock, the college’s Director of Equal Opportunity and Title IX, and/or Christopher MacDonald-Dennis, MCLA’s Chief Diversity Office.

Students can also file a complaint report under the MCLA Equal Opportunity (EO) plan; the report can be found at https://www.mcla.edu/_pdfs/administration/title-ix/EO-COMPLAINT-FORM.pdf .

“Finally, I will remind you, there is no room on our campus for any kind of hateful rhetoric or action. Even as we have shifted to remote learning, we remain committed to creating a campus community that is safe for all and will continue to support each other,” Birge concluded.

San Francisco State University Attempts to Host Terrorist Leila Khaled Again

In September 2020, an online seminar featuring Khaled — who took part in the hijacking of a Tel Aviv-bound commercial flight in 1969 — was dropped by Facebook, Zoom, and Youtube.

University of Illinois Offers Jewish Only Housing to Combat Excessive Antisemitism on Campus

A Title VI complaint filed against the university with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in October 2020 claimed that the university “failed to combat antisemitism as vigorously as it has combated other forms of bigotry on its campus.”