U.S.-based Neo-Nazi Atomwaffen Division to be Banned from United Kingdom

The American neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen Division will be labeled a terrorist organization in the United Kingdom.

According to Home Secretary Priti Patel, the group has been linked to inspiring a number of terror acts in the UK. The group is linked to at least five murders in the U.S. The UK law would also cover National Socialist Order, another name under which the neo-Nazi group operates.

Patel said she would ask members of Parliament to outlaw the group in order “to protect young and vulnerable people from being radicalized,” according to BBC News.

The law would make it a crime to belong to the group or solicit support for it.

As precedent, the UK has previously outlawed similar neo-Nazi groups National Action, Sonnenkrieg Division and Feuerkrieg Division.

Prosecutors in the UK have linked all four groups to dozens of terror attacks or disrupted terror plots.

“Vile and racist white supremacist groups like this exist to spread hate, sow division and advocate the use of violence to further their sick ideologies,” Secretary Patel said.

“I will do all I can to protect young and vulnerable people from being radicalized which is why I am taking action to proscribe this dangerous group,” she added.

The UK currently lists more than 70 international groups and 14 Northern Irish groups as terror organizations.

University of Texas Passes Resolution to Adopt IHRA Definition of Antisemitism

The student government at the University of Texas at Austin unanimously passed a resolution on March 9 urging the school to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism.

Resolution A.R. 09 calls on UT’s student government to do three things: commit to better address anti-Jewish sentiments on campus; adopt the IHRA definition for anti-Semitism; and issue “a pledge of support for better Jewish inclusion and protection.”

The resolution was penned by UT student Jordan Cope.

University enrollment exceeds 50,000 students with Jewish students comprising around 7 percent of the UT undergraduate body.

“The unanimous passage of A.R. 09 is a victory for the greater American Jewish community as it is for that of our campus, especially given the size of our university student population,” Cope told JNS. “Such passage has emboldened the legitimacy of the IHRA definition, and we hope that it will inspire Jewish students to more proactively define, confront and raise awareness of anti-Semitism in their communities.”

Cope said the resolution was inspired by recent incidents of anti-Semitism on the UT campus, including anti-Semitic vandalism targeting Texas Hillel and the largely Jewish fraternity Sigma Alpha Mu, and Twitter posts by a former UT adjunct who went on a tirade against Jews and wished for all Israelis to “die.”

Seven Jewish students testified in front of the student government regarding personal encounters with anti-Semitism.

Cope noted that “while the university has been quick to address other forms of hatred, regardless of whether it actually occurred on campus, it has neglected incidents that targeted its Jewish students. It is an unfortunate double standard that we, Jewish students, have sought to address previously through petitioning, and now, through this legislation.”

Texas Hillel said in a statement after the resolution was passed that it “looks forward to partnering with our student leaders to promote an inclusive and welcoming campus environment and to help ensure that anti-Semitism has no place” on the UT campus.

University of Toronto Instructs Student Union to Stop Funding Antisemitic BDS

In a ruling announced on Thursday, the University of Toronto said it would require the Graduate Students’ Union to stop forcing students to fund the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel. It was the first time a Canadian university has intervened to stop a student group from promoting BDS.

The Complaint and Resolution Council for Student Societies (CRCSS), a university organization, had received a complaint in February 2020 about the BDS committee on the student group.

The claim, brought forward by U of T graduate student Chaim Katz and supported by B’nai Brith Canada, asked whether a student society at the university could “embark on a campaign of economic and academic warfare against people of a certain nationality, and forcibly conscript its members to the campaign by way of their membership fees?”

On Thursday, the Resolution Council (CRCSS) determined that the BDS Caucus had broken the Union’s anti-discrimination policy, by discriminating based on nationality. It recommended such steps as revising bylaws to oppose nationality discrimination and making BDS fees refundable.

“Today is the day that I hoped would come for more than five years,” said Katz in a statement. “The students and community members I have had the privilege to work with were instrumental in reaching this day. I expect the University to implement this ruling without delay.”

Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada, called the decision “a massive victory for Jewish students at the University of Toronto and across Canada.”

Paris Adopts the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism

The city of Paris adopted the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism during a session of the Council of Paris on Thursday, joining a growing number of cities around the world, including London and more recently the French city of Nice, to make the move.

The IHRA definition is an internationally agreed classification of antisemitism, which also provides contemporary examples of how antisemitism too often plays out in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere.

The decision was taken by the Council of Paris, headed by Paris' Mayor Anne Hidalgo, which consists of 163 councillors and that is responsible for governing the French capital.

"The ability to criticize Israel's policies on many subjects is something that comes under political opinion, and the exercise of political opinion. Criticizing Israel in its essence and existence falls under the definition of antisemitism, it is a new form of antisemitism," Hidalgo said during the vote in the Assembly.

We are the city in which the Vel d'Hiv roundup took place, we are the city in which a European Jewish community has settled down and made this city its city and the Republic its Republic, and this history commits us, "she continued.

The Israeli Embassy in Paris welcomed the adoption of the IHRA definition on Twitter.

Nous saluons le 🗳 du Conseil de Paris à l'initiative du @GpeChangerParis adoptant la définition de @TheIHRA qui établit le lien entre la haine d'🇮🇱 & l'antisémitisme. Merci @Anne_Hidalgo & aux groupes qui ont soutenu ce vote essentiel pour le combat contre la haine et le boycott pic.twitter.com/PyKKOTaWiB

— Ambassade d'Israël en France (@IsraelenFrance) February 4, 2021

Audrey Pulvar, Paris' deputy mayor tweeted after the adoption that "Antisemitism is not an option, but a crime," adding that the vote of the Municipality of Paris during Thursday's Council was intended to recall this and to reiterate [the] condemnation of any antisemitic words or acts, including when they disguise themselves under anti-Zionism.

Senate Passes Bill Elevating Antisemitism Monitor to Ambassador

The U.S. Senate passed a bill that would elevate the position of the antisemitism monitor to ambassador, adding punch to the envoy’s mission of pressing other governments to confront anti-Jewish bigotry.

“Antisemitism continues to rise at an alarming rate across the globe,” Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., who led sponsorship of the bipartisan bill, said in a statement Wednesday after the vote, which passed unanimously. “To equip the State Department to better address rising antisemitism, it is critical that we elevate the role of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism to Ambassador-at-Large.”

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a similar bill last year, meaning it is almost certain to become law before the year ends and the current Congress lapses.

A broad array of Jewish groups backed the measure. With the status of ambassador, the envoy will have easier access to the secretary of state, increased funding and the office’s recommendations are likelier to be seen overseas as having the backing of the administration of the day.

“This legislation provides the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism with the tools, resources and gravitas necessary to apply much-needed pressure on foreign governments to create more tolerant societies as part of their relationships with the United States,” Hadassah said in a statement.

The Orthodox Union said, “the Senate is providing powerful new tools to the State Department to lead impactful international efforts to combat what has been aptly called ‘the world’s oldest form of hatred’.”

The position of antisemitism monitor was created by Congress in 2004.