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Adidas CEO Defends Kanye West Against Antisemitism Charge

The CEO of Adidas, Bjørn Gulden, defended “Ye,” formerly Kanye West, asserting, that “Kanye didn’t mean what he said [about Jews],” in a recent interview on the Norwegian podcast “In Good Company.”

The German sporting goods giant announced in October 2022 that it was severing ties with West, following a series of antisemitic and offensive statements by the American rapper, producer and fashion designer.

StopAntisemitism, a U.S.-based group fighting Jew-hatred, criticized Gulden’s comments. “Ye repeatedly doubled down on his shockingly antisemitic statements, leaving no doubt that he meant every word,” the group said.

“Adidas already erred in selling off over $400 million worth of Yeezy products; while Ye will receive a percentage of that revenue, Adidas has provided no additional information on its promised donations to anti-hate organizations,” it added.

It was not until April 2023, after months of deliberations, that Adidas decided to sell its remaining $1 billion worth of shoes and clothing from its partnership with West. The company promised it would donate part of the proceeds to charity.

“Burning the goods is not the solution. … What we are trying to do now over time is to sell parts of this merchandise and donate money to the organizations [that were] hurt by Kanye’s statements,” Gulden said at the time.

One notable downside of the plan was that West would still receive 15% of sales.

Ending the collaboration between Ye and Adidas led to the sportswear brand’s first loss in 31 years, causing shareholders to file suit.

In December 2022, StopAntisemitism named West the “2022 Antisemite of the Year.”

“Kanye West’s threats of violence, hateful conduct and hate speech all led him to winning this year’s title,” the group said. “Despite losing the vast majority of his fortune, being booted from social media and ostracized from his social circles, West continued spreading his antisemitism.”

West’s most infamous statement was his remark to podcaster Alex Jones that “I see good things about Hitler.”

Thousands of Americans voted to choose the “worst anti-Jewish bigot,” selecting from StopAntisemitism’s “Antisemite of the Week” profiles.

The previous “winners” were Ben & Jerry’s executive Anuradha Mittal (2021), CUNY law student and Globalize the Intifada NYC leader Nerdeen Kiswani (2020) and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (2019).

UPenn to Host Palestinian Literature Festival Featuring Speakers Who Praise Violence Against Israel

The University of Pennsylvania is slated to host a Palestinian literature festival this week that will feature speakers who have praised terrorism against Israel and maintain links to designated terror groups, such as Hamas.

The Ivy League school located in downtown Philadelphia will play host this year to the Palestine Writes Literature Festival, a three-day event that purports to "explore the richness and diversity of Palestinian culture."

But the event’s featured speakers have ties to Palestinian terror organizations, routinely endorse violence against Israel, and malign the Jewish state’s supporters as "scum" and "filth." Some of the speakers include anti-Israel Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters, former Palestinian political prisoner Wisam Rafeedie who writes favorably about terror attacks on Israel, and Salman Abu Sitta, who sits on the advisory board of an Israeli-designated terror group.

The event, scheduled to take place Friday through Sunday on Penn’s campus—during Yom Kippur, one of the Jewish religion’s most sacred holidays—has drawn outrage from Jewish and pro-Israel advocacy groups who say the Ivy League school is fostering an unsafe environment for its Jewish students and allowing its institutions to be used as a vehicle to drive hatred of Israel.

"The Palestine Writes festival features multiple speakers with disturbing histories of antisemitism," said Liora Rez, executive director of StopAntisemitism.org. "We urge Penn to remove those speakers or move the event off campus; neither public money nor alumni donations should be used to provide a platform for Jew-hatred."

Rez’s organization is calling on its supporters to boycott the event and deluge Penn president Liz Magill with phone calls condemning it. Penn’s Hillel, a Jewish space on campus, is reportedly hosting a counter-event for Jewish students and Israel supporters on Friday.

A spokesman for UPenn acknowledged in comments to the Washington Free Beacon that "several speakers" attending the event "have a documented and troubling history of engaging in antisemitism by speaking and acting in ways that denigrate Jewish people."

"We unequivocally—and emphatically—condemn antisemitism as antithetical to our institutional values," the spokesman said.

However, the event will go on because the university’s leaders "fiercely support the free exchange of ideas as central to our educational mission," the spokesman said. "This includes the expression of views that are controversial and even those that are incompatible with our institutional values."

Several of Israel’s most prolific detractors are slated to attend the festival, including Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters, a vocal antisemite who claims Jews are nefariously manipulating foreign policy. Waters was officially labeled an anti-Semite by the U.S. State Department earlier this year after he dressed up like a Nazi during a concert in Germany.

Waters, the State Department said in January, "has a long track record of using antisemitic tropes to denigrate Jewish people."

Marc Lamont Hill will also conduct a panel during the event. Hill, who was fired from a gig at CNN for advocating Israel’s destruction, has praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan as "my brother," and refused to distance himself from the prolific anti-Semite.

Also slated to attend is Refatt Alareer, a professor at the Islamic University of Gaza. Alareer often shares anti-Semitic materials on social media and lashes at out Zionists, who he has dubbed "the ugliest, unfunniest, and most untalented people on the globe," according to Camera, a pro-Israel watchdog group.

"To be a Zionist is to be a heartless twat and a piece of shit," Alareer claimed in social media postings exposed by Camera. "Zionists are scum."

Alareer’s rhetoric is so extreme that the New York Times effectively retracted a glowing profile of the professor published in 2021, posting a lengthy editor’s note that apologized for glossing over his anti-Semitic rhetoric.

Another speaker, Wisam Rafeedie, is a former Palestinian political prisoner who has written favorably about terror attacks on Israel and publishes his writings on a website affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a terrorist organization.

Sessions at the festival will also feature Salman Abu Sitta, who sits on the advisory board for the Palestinian Return Center, a U.K.-based group that is designated as a terror outfit by Israel for allegedly maintaining ties to Hamas.

In addition to national groups like StopAntisemitism.org, 15 students representing various Jewish groups at Penn recently published an open letter condemning the event’s speakers.

"We are concerned that the students will be exposed to anti-Jewish propaganda," they wrote, "harm Jewish students who take Arabic, and open the Jewish community at Penn to discrimination."

Whoopi Goldberg’s Biggest Controversies on ‘The View’

Whoopi Goldberg has ignited a lot of controversies during her time co-hosting “The View.”

The comedian and EGOT-winning actress has been a co-host of the buzzy talk show since 2007. 

During that time, she’s had tiffs with co-hosts, made bizarre remarks about the Holocaust and domestic violence, had plenty of awkward exchanges and gotten suspended from the show.

Here’s a rundown of her controversies. 

On the Jan. 31, 2022 episode of “The View,” while discussing a Tennessee school district’s ban of the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel “Maus,” about a Holocaust survivor, Goldberg argued that the genocide – which killed over 6 million Jewish people – was “not about race,” but about “man’s inhumanity to man.” 

Other co-hosts disagreed. “Well, it’s about white supremacy. That’s what it’s about,” political strategist Ana Navarro replied. “It’s about going after Jews and Gypsies.”

But Goldberg doubled down. “But these are two groups of white people,” she said.

Joy Behar noted that the Nazis considered the Jewish people to be a different race. 

Liora Rez, executive director of watchdog group StopAntisemitism, called Goldberg’s comments “reprehensible.”

Goldberg’s remarks were slammed, and led to a two-week suspension from the show.

“While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments,” ABC News president Kim Godwin stated at the time.

Whoopi Goldberg got suspended for remarks about the Holocaust in 2022.

Goldberg has faced backlash from fans after asking inappropriate questions – such as an incident on Thursday where she randomly asked her co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin if she was pregnant.

“No,” yelled the former White House Director of Strategic Communications. “Oh my God.”

After the awkward exchange, the show dissolved into chaos. Audience members screamed while Goldberg’s co-hosts asked, “Why would you say that?” 

“This is so wrong. Whoopi is a mess,” an outraged viewer posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Even if she were pregnant, she would have forced her to announce with that question. She could ask during break or before the start of the show. Such a disgusting behavior.”

Alyssa Farah Griffin was shocked by Whoopi Goldberg’s invasive question.

Goldberg dated Ted Danson in 1993. During that time, Danson came out in blackface during her Friar’s Club Roast in 1993. According to the Associated Press’ coverage at the time, multiple people got offended and left.

His racist jokes were reportedly at Goldberg’s suggestion. Although this incident came before Goldberg’s time on “The View,” the topic of blackface has come up without much condemnation from Goldberg. 

When Ted Danson infamously used blackface in the early 1990s, that was reportedly at Goldberg’s suggestion.

In 2014, when NFL player Ray Rice had a domestic violence scandal – in which he was caught on camera abusing his wife, Janay Palmer – Goldberg commented, “Don’t be surprised if you hit a man, he hits you back,” adding that she knew she would “catch a lot of hell” for that remark. 

“If you make the choice as a woman who is 4’3″ and you decide to hit a guy who is 6 foot tall and you’re the last thing you want he wants to deal with that day and he hits you back, you cannot be surprised,” she said. 

Whoopi Goldberg with Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin.

In July 2015, Goldberg defended Bill Cosby and declared him “innocent until proven guilty” when there were multiple accusations of sexual assault against the comedian. Former “The View” co-host Rosie O’Donnell has since revealed that she and Goldberg clashed about Cosby. 

“You know, Bill Cosby was a big topic and I wanted to discuss Bill Cosby and Whoopi did not,” O’Donnell said on “Now What? With Brooke Shields.” 

Cosby was accused by more than 60 women of sexual assault. In 2018, he was convicted of drugging and molesting Andrea Constand in 2004, but was released just three years later due to a technicality.

Whoopi Goldberg has landed in hot water many times.

In a March 2023 episode, Golberg used a derogatory term for Romani travelers. During a discussion about Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels, Goldberg referenced “people who still believe that he got gy—d somehow in the election.”

An hour after the episode aired, she apologized online. 

“You know, when you’re a certain age you use the words that you know from when you were a kid or you remember saying, and that’s what I did today — and I shouldn’t have,” Goldberg said in a video tweeted by the show’s official account.

She continued: “I should have thought about it a little longer before I said it and I didn’t. I should have said ‘cheated’ and I used another word and I’m really, really sorry.” 

Whoopi Goldberg with Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin, and Keke Palmer.

When Will Smith slapped Chris Rock in the face during the live Oscars broadcast in 2022, the Academy was widely criticized for not removing Smith from the ceremony. 

Goldberg defended the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’s choice.

“Picture, well OK, so they come back from break,” she said. “Now, if he’s in some sort of state and he’s struggling and you’re trying to get him out the door and it’s still on camera. Listen, we work a live show every day and stuff happens and it comes out your mouth, or you do something stupid, and you gotta sit there and deal with it.”

‘Dismayed’: US Lawmaker Calls on Ivy League Schools to Clamp Down on Campus Antisemitism

US House Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) is calling on the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University — two of America’s most prestigious institutions of higher education — to keep antisemitism off their campuses, citing recent incidents that have dismayed the American Jewish community.

“I have written to many university administrators and the US Department of Education about the rise of antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment on college campuses,” Gottheimer wrote in a letter dated Sept. 10 but announced on Wednesday to University of Pennsylvania President M. Elizabeth Magill. “I am dismayed that this is now occurring at my alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania. While policy discussion and differing views are a welcome and critical part of building cultural understanding, they cannot provide a bully pulpit for those who seek to divide others. If the university’s goal is to promote mutual understanding and bring students together, it will fail so long as antisemites and anti-Israel advocates are given a platform to spew hate.”

The Algemeiner reported earlier this week that the University of Pennsylvania is preparing to host a “Palestine Writes Literature Festival” that will feature a gamut of anti-Zionist activists who have promoted antisemitic tropes and called for violence against Israel. Speakers listed on the event’s itinerary include Islamic University of Gaza professor Refaat Alareer, who said in 2018, “Are most Jews evil? Of course they are.” Another listed speaker, Palestinian researcher Salman Abu Sitta, previously said during an interview that “Jews were hated in Europe because they played a role in the destruction of the economy in some of the countries, so they would hate them.”

Roger Waters, former frontman of Pink Floyd, is also a scheduled speaker. In recent years he has made comments about “Jewish power” and compared Israel to Nazi Germany. In May, during a concert held in Berlin, he performed in what looked like a Nazi SS officer uniform. A projection that played during the concert also compared Holocaust victim Anne Frank to Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh — who was accidentally shot and killed last year while covering an Israeli military raid in the West Bank — and the show was deemed as highly offensive to the Jewish community.

In his letter, Gottheimer also noted that City University of New York (CUNY) professor Marc Lamont Hill is also scheduled to speak at the literature festival.

In 2018, Hill was rebuked by Temple University, his former employer, and fired by CNN after calling for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea,” a slogan widely interpreted as a call for the destruction of Israel. Recently, he posted a photograph of himself holding a sign that said he supported the American Anthropological Association’s endorsement of the the so-called Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to isolate Israel from the international community as a step toward the Jewish state’s eventual elimination. Hill has also publicly associated with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in the past and refused for many months to denounce his antisemitism.

During a 2018 interview with The Breakfast Club, a popular urban radio broadcast, Hill called Farrakhan his “brother” and accused Israeli police of training American officers to kill Black people.

“Hill has never adequately apologized for these remarks,” Gottheimer said. “He has referred to Israel as a ‘Zionist project’ and continues to promote anti-Israel rhetoric in various activist circles.”

In a separate letter to Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber, Gottheimer raised concerns about a “blood libel” book being taught by Department of Near Eastern Studies professor Satyel Larson this fall.

The book, Rutgers University professor Jasbir Puar’s The Right to Maim, accuses the Israeli Defense Forces of “maiming” Palestinians and harvesting their organs. Puar began making such claims in Feb. 2016, when she said at Vassar College that “young Palestinian men … were mined for organs for scientific research.” At the same event, she accused Israel of committing “genocide in slow motion.” Later that year, during a panel at Dartmouth College, she said Israel uses “maiming as a deliberate biopolitical tactic” to enforce settler-colonialism.

“As one of the most prestigious universities in the United States, Princeton must uphold rigorous academic standards by utilizing course materials that match its caliber,” Gottheimer wrote. “The use of materials containing antisemitic tropes and anti-Israel sentiment in a Princeton classroom clearly contradict the university’s mission of inclusivity, which includes protecting Jewish students.”

The congressman added: “Employing a professor has openly endorsed the [BDS movement] and has utilized her faculty position to promote beliefs antithetical to school values should alarm your administration. This is political activism masquerading as scholarship.”

The letters were commended on Thursday by StopAntisemitism, a nonprofit organization that tracks antisemitic hate crimes and incidents across the world.

“We applaud Congressman Gottheimer for taking a stand against these antisemitic incidents and appreciation his ongoing allyship,” StopAntisemitism founder and executive director Liora Rez told The Algemeiner. “StopAntisemitism continues to call on the University of Pennsylvania and President Magill to drop all of the antisemitism speakers from the ‘Palestine Writes’ event and urges Princeton to remove the antisemitic book from its curricula that falsely accuses Israel of murdering Palestinians for organ sales.”

Jewish Groups Urge Extradition of Ahlam Tamimi; Jordan Unlikely to Turn Over Terrorist

The American Jewish Committee mentions Ahlam Tamimi twice on its website—in 2020 and in 2018. Neither the AJC’s nor its chief executive officer’s account on X (formerly Twitter) seems to have ever posted about the Jordanian national, who helped carry out the deadly terrorist attack in August 2001 at a popular Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem.

Yet 22 years after the attack one year into the Second Intifada that lasted until 2005, Ted Deutch, who became CEO of the nonprofit last October, sent a letter in mid-July to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland urging the U.S. Department of Justice to “intensify its pursuit” of Tamimi’s extradition from Jordan, per Jewish Insider.

The AJC finds that “quiet diplomacy is often more effective in sensitive matters, but when time passes and it fails to produce results, other avenues must be taken,” Jason Isaacson, the nonprofit’s chief policy and political affairs officer, told JNS.

The sensitivity appears to relate less to Tamimi—for whom the U.S. State Department offers a reward of up to $5 million and whom the FBI names on its most wanted terrorist list—than to diplomatic relations with her home country.

“Israel is legitimately fearful of damaging its 1994 peace treaty with Jordan, even to the point of avoiding the subject of its ‘ally’ allowing her asylum, allowing her to celebrate the murder of innocent Jews and allowing her to propagandize for Hamas,” according to Charles Jacobs, co-founder and president of the Jewish Leadership Project.

Washington appears to share Jerusalem’s concerns about destabilizing Amman in any way—resulting in a frozen status quo—after Tamimi, who was sentenced to 16 life sentences in Israel, was freed in a 2011 prisoner exchange. She has since lived a celebrity’s life in Jordan.

Jonathan Schanzer, senior vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told JNS that King Abdullah II of Jordan is “extremely sensitive to the sentiment of the Jordanian street, and even more sensitive since the Arab Spring.”

“There’s never been a serious challenge to the king, but things haven’t been as stable as the monarch would like, and economically, things have gone very poorly,” Schanzer said. “The optics of caving, so to speak, to the demands of the U.S. or Israel on Tamimi may not play well—may not play to the king’s favor.”

‘A travesty that requires resolution and justice’

Roz Rothstein, co-founder and CEO of StandWithUs, told JNS that 17 lives were lost in the Sbarro suicide-bombing (one of the adult victims was pregnant). Another 130 were wounded, many maimed for life. Seven of those killed were children having a late lunch with their parents before the start of Shabbat.

“The fact that she is not being made to pay for her murderous crimes, and is allowed to live freely and hosted her own show on Hamas television, is a travesty that requires resolution and justice,” Rothstein said of Tamimi.

After AJC’s reported letter to the Justice Department, JNS sought comment from 45 Jewish organizations about whether or not Tamimi should be extradited. Three offered no comment, and 23 stated that they supported extradition. (The other 19 didn’t respond.)

Agudath Israel of America, AIPAC, CAMERA, the Endowment for Middle East Truth, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Union for Reform Judaism and the Zionist Organization of America told JNS that they have worked for Tamimi’s extradition for years.

The American Zionist Movement issued a call in July 2020 for Tamimi’s extradition. The Coalition for Jewish Values and 17 other organizations joined a letter urging the same that year.

Americans Against Antisemitism, the American Sephardi Federation, B’nai B’rith International, CASEPAC, the Combat Antisemitism Movement, the Democratic Majority for Israel, the Jewish Defense Fund, the Jewish United Fund, Religious Zionists of America, the Republican Jewish Coalition and StopAntisemitism also told JNS that they support extradition.

“The extradition of Tamimi to the United States for her role in these killings is more than long overdue,” Daniel Mariaschin, CEO of B’nai B’rith, told JNS. “Justice must be served—not least because in doing so, a strong message will be sent that those who carry out these acts cannot do so without a price to be paid.”

Rabbi Yaakov Menken, managing director of the Coalition for Jewish Values, told JNS that Tamimi is “an unrepentant butcher.”

“She expressed disappointment when early reports suggested three had been killed and ‘couldn’t help’ smiling as the number rose,” he said. “Far from regretting her actions, she has declared openly that she would do it again if given the chance.”

Rabbi Abba Cohen, vice president of government affairs and Washington director and counsel at Agudath Israel, pointed out that nearly half of Tamimi’s victims were children.

“The only regret she has, she has said, is that she hadn’t been able to kill more Jews,” he told JNS. “Such a criminal is richly deserving of standing trial and being punished for her horrific crime—for the sake of the many injured survivors of her heinous attack, of their families and of civilized society.”

One of the three Americans who was injured in the terrorist attacks “was left in a vegetative state for more than two decades before succumbing to her injuries,” Liora Rez, executive director of StopAntisemitism, told JNS. “Where is the justice?”

“There simply can be no peace without justice,” added Sarah Stern, founder and president of EMET.

‘A foremost priority’

Arnold and Frimet Roth have pursued justice for their daughter, Malki, who was 15 and one of three American citizens murdered in the attack orchestrated by Tamimi.

Arnold Roth told JNS that no one will ever get the State Department’s $5 million reward for helping to capture the mastermind of his daughter’s murder. Tamimi’s whereabouts have been widely known in Jordan, though no one has turned her in.

Israeli American Malka Chana (“Malki”) Roth, who was killed at the age of 15 in the Sbarro pizzeria suicide bombing in August 2001. Credit: Courtesy

JNS sought comment on the extradition from the State Department, which referred questions to the Justice Department.

“This is a matter of particular importance to the Justice Department,” according to an official from the department who did not offer a name. “However, the department does not discuss specifics on extradition matters.”

Roth told JNS that Washington’s official position on the extradition has appeared to change. In October 2022, a senior State Department official wrote to him and his wife in the name of U.S. President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The official (whom Roth declined to name) told them that bringing Tamimi to U.S. justice “is a foremost priority for the United States.”

“What does that mean? And why, despite it being ‘foremost,’ do U.S. officials suppress all public mention of the case?” Roth asked.

‘Governing is always about priorities’

Extraditing Tamimi is much lower on the U.S. government’s priority list “than one would imagine or than it should be,” Schanzer, of FDD, told JNS. “It’s one of those cases that underscores one of the unfortunate realities in D.C.—that folks are principled until they have to make compromises or trade-offs.”

The Israeli government is focused on other challenges in working with Jordan, including the latter’s absence from the Negev Summit; smuggling across the Israeli-Jordanian border; and cooperation when it comes to water and natural gas, according to Schanzer.

“Governing is always about priorities,” he said. “The Israelis have put this permanently on the back burner. It’s deeply painful for the families.”

Representatives from the United States, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt at the Negev Summit on June 27, 2022. Source: Alon Ushpiz/Twitter.

In accepting Tamimi upon her release in 2011, Jordan never agreed to have her serve additional time, so she has been able to live freely, according to Schanzer.

“From their perspective, they’re being asked to do something they don’t believe comports with their laws,” he said. “That’s deeply frustrating to anyone with a sense of justice,” but “if the U.S. isn’t demanding this and the Israelis aren’t, what is to say the Jordanians should do anything?”

Still, many Americans believe that Jordan should act. Members of the U.S. House of Representatives have sought to block funding to Jordan until it extradites Tamimi. In fact, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) questioned Yael Lempert about Tamimi during her confirmation hearing to be U.S. ambassador to Jordan.

“If confirmed, I will do everything in my power to ensure that Ahlam Tamimi faces justice in the United States for her horrific crimes,” said Lempert, who was sworn in as ambassador to Jordan on Aug. 10.

Cruz asked Lempert if she would support all options, including withholding military and economic assistance from Jordan, until Tamimi is extradited. “I think our relationship with Jordan is multifaceted and extremely important. There are obviously some issues that we are not going to agree on,” she said. “I will do everything in my power to ensure that Ahlam Tamimi faces justice in the United States.”

Lempert is likely to be reminded of that promise.

Stephen M. Flatow, president of the Religious Zionists of America (RZA), fought the U.S. government for accountability for the 1995 terrorist attack that killed his daughter, Alisa. He believes that U.S. Jewish organizations must stand with the Roths and encourage the U.S. government to press Jordan on this matter, particularly given that Washington sends some $1.65 billion in aid to Jordan.

The last photo taken of Stephen M. Flatow with his daughter, Alisa, who was killed in April of 1995 in a terror attack in Israel along with seven others. Credit: Courtesy.

“We will be mobilizing RZA members nationwide to urge their members of Congress to take action on U.S. aid to Jordan, which, so far, has been hiding behind the United States’ refusal to demand Tamimi’s extradition,” Flatow said.

“Realizing that the threat to its American aid is real will cause Jordan to act,” he added. “We hope the American Jewish Committee will mobilize its members and supporters, too.”

San Diego Works on Ordinance to Criminalize ‘Hate Littering’ of Antisemitic Flyers

Flanked by Jewish leaders and police officials, San Diego City Councilmember Raul Campillo on Thursday announced that he is working with the city on an ordinance to criminalize antisemitic flyers. Jewish advocacy - StopAntisemitism - shared the announcement on Twitter.

The idea came in response to a rash of incidents in recent months in which antisemitic flyers were found on car windshields in neighborhoods including communities Campillo represents, such as Allied Gardens, Del Cerro and San Carlos.

“What irks me so much is that these hateful people leave these flyers around our community in the most cowardly way — in the middle of the night,” Campillo said during a news conference at Jewish synagogue Temple Emanu-El in Del Cerro.

The perpetrators — Campillo attributed the flyers to White supremacists — hope some residents are radicalized while others turn a blind eye, he said.

“They do this believing that the rest of us will do little to address this assault on our Jewish neighbors,” he said. “That inaction stops today.”

Since July, San Diego police have documented eight incidents involving antisemitic flyers in the department’s Eastern Division, which includes Allied Gardens and surrounding neighborhoods. The incidents remain under investigation, with no arrests as of Thursday.

Police say antisemitic flyers are investigated as hate incidents — acts that don’t rise to the level of hate crimes. Campillo said that “under the current municipal code, it’s nearly impossible to address (hate incidents) with any significance.”

The idea for the ordinance is to target the flyers as “hate littering.” Campillo said the ordinance would make it a misdemeanor for anyone to litter “with the intent to willfully injure, intimidate, interfere with, oppress, or threaten” anyone based on their “perceived characteristics,” which include race, religion and sexual orientation.

Punishment would include up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

“I’m not going to sit by while families and children and faith leaders continuously wake up to these hate-filled and threatening images, believing that there’s nothing their city can do to protect them,” said Campillo, a former prosecutor in the City Attorney’s Office. “We can do something, and we’re going to do it.”

While hate speech is protected under the First Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld penalty enhancements for bias-based crimes, Campillo said.

“I feel very confident that we’ll be able to pass a law that meets that scrutiny,” he said.

Jewish leaders and anti-hate officials applauded the idea. They said incidents such as antisemitic flyers incite hate and lead to violent attacks on Jewish community members.

On July 24, a man screamed antisemitic comments at a rabbi and ripped off part of his religious garb at a 7-Eleven store on College Avenue near Montezuma Avenue, not far from Chabad House at San Diego State University.

Liora Rez, executive director of StopAntisemitism, a watchdog group that combats antisemitism, said Campillo’s initiative “says to these bigots loud and clear that they are not welcome here.” She said she hopes the county and state will follow suit.

Campillo said the City Attorney’s Office is reviewing the ordinance, which will go before the Public Safety Committee and then the City Council by the end of the year.

Councilmember Wants Tougher Penalties for ‘Hate Littering’

San Diego City Councilmember Raul Campillo announced Thursday he is pushing for legislation that includes tougher penalties for anyone caught distributing flyers with hate speech in local communities.

Campillo is calling for the crackdown after flyers with antisemitic messages were distributed throughout historically-Jewish neighborhoods.

“I’m not going to sit by while families and children and faith leaders continuously wake up to these hate-filled and threatening images, believing that there’s nothing their city can do to protect them. We can do something and we’re going to do it,” said Campillo.

According to SDPD, over the summer there have been at least eight incidents where thousands of flyers were put on car windshields in neighborhoods like Del Cerro, San Carlos and Allied Gardens.

“They’re despicable. I actually sent these things to all of my neighbors. They were all shocked they couldn’t believe it,” said Lee Maio, a Del Cerro resident who found flyers on his street last month.

The flyers were left in the middle of the night and, so far, no one has been caught. And right now, if someone were caught, it’s an infraction and they can get a ticket.

At Temple Emanu-El in Del Cerro, local Jewish leaders and activists joined Campillo, who represents the district, and says he is now pushing for tougher penalties for those guilty of what he calls “hate littering.”

“When you’re outright lying about members of our community, you’re attacking them directly and trying to instill fear in them, we have to take the penalty higher to really send the signal that we’re not gonna take this lightly,” said Campillo.

Jewish leaders say they’re alarmed by the rise in antisemitism — and not just the flyers — pointing to the recent attack on a rabbi at a 7-Eleven near SDSU.

“History has shown us hatred spewed towards the Jewish people never stops with just words, it leads to horrific violence against the Jewish people,” said Liora Rez, executive director of StopAntisemitism.

Campillo says the new ordinance would help the city prosecute hate littering, with offenders facing up to a year in jail.

“We’re sending a signal to our Jewish community that we’re going to stand with them and., ultimately, this is not just going to stay within the Jewish community — there’s hate littering against our LGBT neighbors, against other racial groups. We’re just simply not gonna have it anymore,” said Campillo.

The councilmember said he’s working quickly to get an ordinance to the Public Safety Committee and then to the full city council for a vote, possibly by the end of the year.

'Good To Be On': Ramaswamy Appears on Anti-Semitic YouTuber's Podcast

Vivek Ramaswamy on Tuesday appeared on a podcast hosted by an antisemitic YouTuber who has accused Jews of having "dual loyalty" and claimed that Zionists "worship the nation of Israel over America & are willing to infringe on their own country's values to serve that agenda."

The Republican presidential candidate went on a YouTube show hosted by social media influencer Albert Faleski, who goes by the name "An0maly" and often criticizes the Republican Party's support for Israel.

Faleski, who is also a critic of pharmaceutical companies, pressed Ramaswamy about his biotech background, his work in China, and his support for the COVID-19 vaccine. The two during the 40-minute interview did not discuss Faleski's views on Jews or Israel.

Ramaswamy's appearance on the show comes as the candidate has faced scrutiny for his shifting position on U.S. aid to Israel. While Ramaswamy said in June that he would support cutting off military funding to Israel, he walked back this position after facing criticism at the first Republican debate in August. He now says he would only end the aid at Israel's request.

Faleski was recently named "Antisemite of the Week" by StopAntisemitism.com. He regularly accuses the Republican Party on Twitter of selling out to "Zionists" and "Jewish donors."

"Zionists have the Republican Party by the nuts & they pass anti-American pass speech laws for their donors/Israel because that's who controls them," he wrote last November.

In a 2020 post, Faleski wrote, "What do Epstein, Weinstein & 85% of the writers, producers & media execs making the most subversive programming have in common? I'll give you a hint, Trump & Republicans pass speech orders trying to stop you from saying the truth about it."

Faleski also objects to the U.S. government's definition of antisemitism.

"Have you ever read the State Department's 'Defining Antisemitism' page?" he wrote last year. "They say it's hate speech to say Jews killed Jesus, have more loyalty to Israel than other countries & saying they control large sectors of society."

Faleski wrote in January that the "Republican Party & the Rep. Media Establishment are Zionist."

"That means they will sacrifice America, Americans, their values, free speech & everything they claim to stand for to blacklist people who know they back hate speech laws & anti-boycott laws for Jewish donors," he added.

A spokeswoman for the Ramaswamy campaign told the Washington Free Beacon that the candidate wasn't aware of Faleski's comments on Israel and Jews prior to the interview.

"As you likely saw, it was not a friendly interview," she said.

Ramaswamy thanked Faleski for welcoming him onto the show and said he was happy to face tough questions from the YouTuber.

"It's good to be on, man. Nice to meet you," said Ramaswamy, adding that his "view is, you know, you shouldn't run for president and hide."

Faleski pressed Ramaswamy over the candidate's conflicting statements on whether there was election fraud in 2020 and whether then-vice president Mike Pence did the right thing on Jan. 6, 2021. Ramaswamy said he thinks there was some voting fraud, but hasn't seen evidence that it was enough to swing the election. He also said he would have handled the situation on Jan. 6 differently than Pence and would have used the opportunity to push for voting law reforms.

Videos Show Neo-Nazis Marching in Florida, Chants of 'We Are Everywhere'

Neo-Nazis have marched across a Florida town giving fascist salutes and chanting "We are everywhere."

A series of videos uploaded to X, formerly Twitter, this weekend showed dozens of people dressed as Nazis shouting racist abuse in Altamonte Springs in north Orlando on Saturday, September 2.

A video shared by Florida Rep. Anna V. Eskamani said it was filmed in Cranes Roost Park in the center of the town. Another series of clips uploaded to X by journalist Oliya Scootercaster shows men dressed in red and black giving Nazi salutes on an overpass, although it was not clear if the groups were connected.

The footage also contained several instances of racist speech and harassment toward Jewish people and anti-racists.

In videos uploaded to X, white supremacist and Goyim Defense League (GDL) founder Jon Minadeo II and the leader of neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe, Christopher Pohlhaus, were present. Among the racist stunts carried out by the pair in the past is a recording of Minadeo displaying far-right propaganda at the gates of the former Nazi death camp Auschwitz last year.

In the footage, some members of the group said they supported President Joe Biden over his support for Ukraine and, by extension, the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion, while another group was heard saying he supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, although he backtracked on the statement later.

Neo-Nazis and other white supremacist groups have a history of trolling and paradoxically endorsing causes they do not agree with, including politics. Many neo-Nazis and white supremacists reject both the Democrats and Republicans over their support for Israel.

Since the videos were uploaded to X, they have been viewed more than 2 million times combined.

Liora Rez, executive director of StopAntisemitism, told Newsweek: "Members of the GDL are dangerous criminals with records of assault, pedophilia, arson, and domestic abuse.

"The collaboration between the white supremacist groups GDL and Blood Tribe is not surprising: birds of a feather flock together. The joint event created a larger-than-normal crowd meant to be an intimidation tactic.

"These neo-Nazis are cowards who cover their faces while making the 'Heil Hitler' salute and StopAntisemitism calls on Governor DeSantis to condemn the gathering so that these hate-mongers know that they are not welcome in Florida."

San Diego Councilmember Working on New Law to Curb Antisemitic Littering

San Diego City Councilman Raul Campillo Thursday announced legislation he is working on to strengthen laws that would deter hateful incidents like dozens of antisemitic flyers found on car windshields in Allied Gardens in July.

"The perpetrators of these antisemitic crimes won't just stop `flyering' out of the goodness of their hearts -- they need strong laws to deter them, and our laws on the books now aren't forceful enough," Campillo said. "My office is actively working on legislation to address this disparity. I want the community to be the first to know that we are taking action on this. Help is on the way to stop these hateful incidents."

Campillo's ordinance would amend and expand the city's municipal code, making it a misdemeanor for any person to litter "with the intent to willfully injure, intimidate, interfere with, oppress or threaten any other person based on their perceived characteristics," a statement from his office read. The ordinance will come before Public Safety Committee and ultimately the City Council in coming months.

Campillo was joined Thursday by Jewish leaders, anti-hate organizations, law enforcement, other faith leaders and members of the community, who were on hand to show their support for action to address these crimes. These groups included Jewish watchdog organization, StopAntisemitism.

"StopAntisemitism has been tracking these vile flyers for years and we know that they are more than just trolling -- they're inciting hate," said Liora Rez, executive director of StopAntisemitism, a national nonpartisan organization dedicated to fighting antisemitism. "That's why we are proud to work with Councilmember Campillo on this initiative because taking action to hold these bigots accountable is in everyone's best interest."

San Diego has seen multiple antisemitic flyering incidents in recent months largely taking place in District 7, represented by Campillo. According to his office, under current law, the city attorney has limited ability to prosecute these incidents of hateful littering.

In July, the antisemitic flyers were found on car windshields on Zion and Archwood streets in the Allied Gardens area. Just days before, a rabbi was assaulted at a convenience store near San Diego State.

"The Jewish community is thankful for the support, friendship and partnership of our many neighbors and friends who have stood with us time and again in the face of blind hatred aimed at our people," said Devorah Marcus, senior rabbi at Temple Emanu-El and Former Chair of the San Diego Rabbinical Association. "San Diego has a long and rich history of being a multicultural city of diversity and we celebrate the beauty of our diversity with all of our neighbors.

"We want to thank our neighbor and friend, Councilmember Campillo, for focusing on action that will hold the peddlers of hate and incitement accountable for their actions and dissemination of libelous slander that leads directly to violence and death," Marcus said.

Earlier this year, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors signed a resolution denouncing antisemitic rhetoric and hate crimes, citing rising antisemetic crimes in recent years.

Councilmember Campillo to Join Jewish Leaders in Denouncing Antisemitic Actions

San Diego City Councilman Raul Campillo will join Jewish leaders Thursday to denounce recent acts of antisemitism and ask for the public's help in identifying the perpetrators.

San Diego has seen multiple antisemitic flyering incidents in recent months largely taking place in District 7, represented by Campillo. According to his office, under current law, the city attorney has limited ability to prosecute these incidents of hateful littering.

The Councilman, Jewish leaders, and anti-antisemitism activists "are united in support of action that can help bring justice and an end to these antisemitic hate incidents," a statement from Campillo's office said. He will be joined Thursday by Liora Rez, executive director of StopAntisemitism.

In July, antisemitic flyers were found on car windshields on Zion and Archwood streets in the Allied Gardens area. Just days before, a rabbi was assaulted at a convenience store near San Diego State.

"We are horrified to hear a member of the San Diego Chabad Jewish Center at San Diego State University has been assaulted," wrote the organization StopAntisemitism on X, formerly known as Twitter. "The attacker ripped the victim's tzitzit (a traditional Jewish garment) and yelled antisemitic slurs. In March, the same Chabad's menorah was vandalized."

Earlier this year, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors signed a resolution denouncing antisemitic rhetoric and hate crimes, citing rising antisemitic crimes in recent years.

Then-Supervisor Nathan Fletcher and Vice Chair Terra Lawson-Remer introduced the resolution.

According to county data, in 2021, the Jewish community in San Diego experienced 38 recorded incidents of antisemitism, including 14 cases of vandalism, 23 incidents of harassment and one assault. On April 27, 2019, Chabad of Poway synagogue was the site of an antisemetic shooting in which one person was killed and three were injured.

In 2020 the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported a 6% increase in hate crimes from the previous year, representing the highest total in 12 years, and found that attacks against Jews or Jewish institutions made up nearly 60% of all religious-based hate crimes.

Dem DA Staffer Who Praised Farrakhan, Made Antisemitic Remark Still on Payroll After Leave

An official in a Massachusetts district attorney’s office remains on paid leave nearly three months after his comment pushing antisemitic tropes and praising Nation of Islam’s leader Louis Farrakhan were brought to light.

True-See Allah, the director of community engagement/strategic partnerships at the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office — which covers Boston — was placed on paid leave on June 16 after it was revealed he said in a 2016 interview that his minister and mentor wouldn’t be friends with "a Jewish guy that’s got short arms and deep pockets."

The office’s chief of communications, James Borghesani, said Monday that the review of Allah is still ongoing and that "it will take as long as it takes," reported Focus on Western Islamism.

"I’m not commenting any further," he added. "When we have an announcement to make, we’ll make an announcement."

The DA’s office did not return Fox News' multiple requests for comment, and Allah did not immediately respond.

Allah was paid as recently as Aug. 26, according to the website of the Massachusetts Office of the Comptroller.

"True-See Allah’s bigotry is a matter of public record," StopAntisemitism Executive Director Liora Rez told Fox News. "He has affirmed his allegiance to Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam’s poisonous racism on multiple occasions, and refused to renounce them when given the opportunity."

"The District Attorney’s office should proceed expeditiously with their investigation rather than leaving a confirmed antisemite on the payroll at the taxpayers' expense," she added.

Other organizations are awaiting the review's completion before weighing in.

"We respect the DA’s internal process and will await its outcome before commenting further," Jeremy Burton, the chief executive officer of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, told Fox News.

The comment was made during a podcast as part of a story he recounted about his former mentor and Boston-based Nation of Islam minister, Don Muhammad, who helped him get hired at a Reebok store. 

"So I did a couple of temp jobs, and then Minister Don had a, I want to say, a colleague, um, an acquaintance," he said. "I ain't gonna call him a friend 'cause he's a Jewish guy that's got short arms and deep pockets, but he was basically in charge of bringing Reebok to the Washington Park Plaza."

True-See Allah posted a photo of him and Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan, calling him "the undisputed champion for all of humanity."

Prior to the comment's revelation, Allah garnered attention for other statements in interviews and social media posts, including praise for Farrakhan. In one 2020 post, he called Farrakhan the "Undisputed Champion for all of humanity" with a photo of the two of them. 

In 2022, three months after Allah started his role in the DA’s office, he defended Farrakhan's reputation in another interview, saying people were trying to paint it "incorrectly."

After his praise for the Nation of Islam leader came to light, the Suffolk County DA's office stood by Allah, saying he never espoused Farrakhan’s "derogatory statements." But a probe was launched after Fox News uncovered the antisemitic comment.

"In keeping with our policy of intolerance for racism, bigotry, bias or prejudice against any segment of our population, we have initiated a review of information provided to us regarding alleged statements made seven years ago by True-See Allah," Borghesani said in June. "Mr. Allah has been placed on administrative leave while the review takes place."

Rez called for Allah’s termination in June, adding that District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office should provide an explanation about "how somebody like this was hired in the first place."

"So if we have somebody who's a fan of David Duke, for instance, and posting pictures on social media with David Duke and espousing David Duke is a champion of all humanity, then that individual is found out to work for the government or work for an organization that has community outreach, that's startling," Rez said. "This is where we are with what's happening in Boston."

Bradley Cooper 'Stole' Leonard Bernstein Role from Half-Jewish Jake Gyllenhaal

Bradley Cooper has been accused of 'stealing' the role of legendary composer Leonard Bernstein from half-Jewish actor Jake Gyllenhaal after he was slammed for donning a large prosthetic nose for the part. 

Cooper, 48, has been accused of being antisemitic by critics who feel he took the role from Gyllenhaal, 42, as well as being accused of 'Jewface'. 

The Philadelphia native plays the role of the legendary musical conductor in the film opposite Carey Mulligan, who portrays his wife Felicia Montealegre, with the movie examining their relationship.

Many have been quick to question why Gyllenhaal, whose mother is Jewish, was not cast despite previously showing interest. 

The two top Hollywood A-Listers both pitched movies about the music star in 2018 - but Cooper's project won the rights to Bernstein's music, effectively killing the Gyllenhaal rival. 

Gyllenhaal announced his project first, on May 1, confirming that he would be working with director Cary Fukunaga, with Bron Studios, before the pair scrambled to get permission for the musical rights. 

Cooper announced his plan on May 18.

Ultimately Cooper came out on top, with Hollywood heavyweights Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese being given the rights alongside Paramount.

Gyllenhaal's movie - The American - was not given permission to feature any music that Bernstein composed, including West Side Story, causing the project to come screeching to a halt. 

Since the first trailer for Maestro dropped, Cooper has been slammed for wearing a prosthetic nose, and being accused of being antisemitic. 

New York City-based group StopAntisemitism tweeted a picture of Bernstein, before launching an attack on Cooper.

They tweeted: 'Hollywood cast Bradley Cooper - a non-Jew - to play Jewish legend Leonard Bernstein and stuck a disgusting exaggerated 'Jew nose' on him.

'All while saying no to Jake Gyllenhaal, an actually Jewish man, who has dreamt of playing Bernstein for decades. Sickening.'

Maestro was tabbed as one of this year's most anticipated releases and marks Cooper's first project as director since his Oscar-nominated movie A Star is Born.

However some then doubled down on their accusations, calling the use of the prosthetic 'completely unnecessary'.

Another added that 'there was no need for Bradley Cooper to add an odd prosthetic nose on top of this to play Leonard Bernstein,' as 'his own nose is longer!'

One user noted that the Academy Award-nominated star, who is not Jewish, should not have even been in the casting discussion with 'so many great Jewish actors out there.'

A third said that Cooper's appearance was both offensive and unnecessary to the actual storytelling process in the film.

'Bradley Cooper wearing a prosthetic nose to play Leonard Bernstein is the equivalent of Black face,' the user said. 'He should be able to portray the character through the magnificence of his own acting. 

'Particularly if Cooper has been hired over a Jewish actor. There has to be a line.'

The concept of 'Jewface' has been debated across Hollywood, with some people critical of Felicity Jones, who is not Jewish, playing late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the 2018 film On the Basis of Sex.

Another controversy come in the fall of 2021 when Kathryn Hahn, who is not Jewish, was cast to play late comic and talk show host Joan Rivers in a limited series titled The Comeback Girl. (The project did not move forward due to licensing rights.)

One of the biggest critics of Hahn's casting was Sarah Silverman - who, in an ironic twist, plays the role of Shirley Bernstein in Maestro alongside Cooper.

On The Sarah Silverman Podcast in October of 2021, Silverman said that 'there's this long tradition of non-Jews playing Jews, and not just playing people who happen to be Jewish but people whose Jewishness is their whole being.'

Silverman said that 'one could argue, for instance' that a non Jewish actress 'playing Joan Rivers correctly would be doing what is actually called 'Jewface.''

Silverman on the podcast said that 'Jewface' is 'defined as when a non-Jew portrays a Jew with the Jewishness front and center, often with makeup or changing of features, big fake nose, all the New York-y or Yiddish-y inflection'

She asked, 'In a time when the importance of representation is seen as so essential and so front and center, why does ours constantly get breached even today in the thick of it?'

Maestro is set to arrive in theaters and on Netflix December 20. 

In Antisemitism Discourse Around Jamie Foxx’s ‘Jesus’ Post, Evidence of a ‘Culture Clash’

When Shawn Harris saw that Jamie Foxx had written “They killed this dude name Jesus… What do you think they’ll do to you???!” on Instagram on Saturday, she thought, “Let’s see what happens next.”

Harris, a Black Jewish artist and educator in Virginia, weighed the possibility that the Oscar-winning actor was echoing the age-old antisemitic charge that the Jews killed Jesus. But she also considered that, in this case, “they” did not refer to Jews.

So when Foxx deleted the post and clarified his statement in an apologetic post on Sunday, Harris felt reassured. Foxx wrote, “I want to apologize to the Jewish community and everyone who was offended by my post,” explaining that he was “betrayed by a fake friend and that’s what I meant with ‘they’ not anything more.”

But if Harris wasn’t upset with Foxx, she was troubled by the social media conversation surrounding his posts. Multiple antisemitism watchdogs criticized Foxx for the post, implying despite his clarification that his initial post was antisemitic. Other users on the network popularly known as Twitter denied that the post suggested anything antisemitic. Still others posted explicitly antisemitic comments in response to the debate.

“What was distressing to me was the conversation happening around it,” Harris said. “As often happens, the initial incident is a relatively minor thing, and it gets blown out of proportion by a whole bunch of people, and it encourages loud, ignorant people to come out of the woodwork.”

She added, “To me it looked like a basic kind of culture clash that was taken in all kinds of directions by people adding their two cents about it and not really listening to the substance.”

Foxx’s posts, and the responses to them, showcase the delicate nature of adjudicating accusations of bigotry in real time. The posts also resurface questions that have circulated as both antisemitism and social media have become increasingly prominent in American public life.

When should audiences read prejudice into ostensibly anodyne statements? How should advocates react when they detect signals of hate? How should the public judge apologies against the statements they have come to apologize for? How much does context matter — and which context counts?

“Either way you slice it, this is a perfect storm of cultural competency failures in multiple directions,” Rabbi Shais Rishon, a Black Jewish writer who goes by the name MaNishtana, wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. In a subsequent tweet, he wrote, “Multiple things can be true at the same time… Multiple things can be wrong at the same time.”

In the immediate aftermath of Foxx’s posts, multiple Jewish groups called him out. StopAntisemitism, a watchdog with 72,000 Twitter followers, posted a screenshot of the “Jesus” post and wrote, “Did Kanye hack Jamie Foxx’s Instagram account?” That was a reference to the rapper and fashion mogul formerly known as Kanye West, who went on an antisemitic tirade last year.

After Foxx apologized, StopAntisemitism tweeted, “Words matter. And those with massive audiences on social media have a responsibility to be careful with their content to not incite more hatred than already exists.”

On Saturday, the American Jewish Committee released a statement referencing the initial post and the apology. It praised Foxx’s apology — and conveyed that the “Jesus” post was antisemitic, regardless of his intent.

“The deicide charge, falsely implicating Jews in Jesus’ death, has fueled antisemitic hatred for centuries,” the statement said. “Jamie Foxx did the right thing by apologizing for this statement. It is important for everyone, including Foxx’s millions of followers, to know why his post was harmful.”

The condemnation spread beyond Jewish activists. The actress Jennifer Aniston, who had initially liked Foxx’s first post, wrote on Instagram: “This really makes me sick” and “I do NOT support any form of antisemitism.”

Several Twitter users wrote that what Foxx had initially posted was a phrase understood among many Black Americans to refer to betrayal among friends, rather than to an antisemitic dog whistle. Yvette Nicole Brown, the actor and comedian known for her roles on the TV show “Community” and a range of other shows and films, tweeted that Aniston “owes Jamie an apology.”

“The phrase ‘They killed Jesus, what you think you got coming?’ Has been a phrase in Black churches & homes FOREVER,” Brown tweeted on Monday. “It has ALWAYS been about #FakeFriends. It is NEVER said as a dig against Jewish people. NEVER!”

The groups that criticized Foxx have stood by their statements. In an email to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, a spokesperson for the American Jewish Committee wrote that the group’s reaction was warranted because Foxx’s post could have been read as antisemitic regardless of what he meant.

“It is important to continue to educate and explain why something may be interpreted as antisemitic,” the spokesperson wrote. “Foxx has 16.7 million followers; we do not know how they will interpret and internalize the comment, so it is imperative to call out statements that can be antisemitic.”

Liora Rez, StopAntisemitism’s executive director, told JTA that while the group appreciated Foxx’s apology, antisemitism “must be called out each and every time no matter who it is from.” She added, “Words matter and it’s important for Jews to be able to define and identify what we consider to be antisemitism.”

The discourse around Foxx’s posts did lead to explicit antisemitism. Some of the more than 150 people who shared StopAntisemitism’s post included their own antisemitic statements. One wrote that Jews find the deicide charge offensive “because the Jews know better than anyone who killed Jesus.” Another, whose account supports West’s supposed 2024 presidential campaign, wrote: “They spread more hate than anyone that they complain about.”

Harris said one possible takeaway from the discourse — the idea that Foxx had intentionally said something antisemitic — did not sit well with her, especially as some critics seemed to liken Foxx to other Black public figures who have been accused of bigotry toward Jews.

“It was a bunch of people trying to make Jamie Foxx the latest Black face of antisemitism, which got on my nerves because Jamie Foxx is not advocating hatred of Jewish people or giving people who hate Jewish people a platform,” she said. At the same time, she added, “Some people did kind of get very dismissive of the concerns about antisemitism.”

MaNishtana wrote that one way to lessen misunderstandings of this kind is to seek out the perspectives of African-American and Caribbean Jews, “Because we live in BOTH worlds and speak BOTH languages, and we’re CONSTANTLY watching our worlds talk past each other.”

The upshot of the incident, Harris said, is that Foxx apologized exactly how she would have wanted him to. “He did exactly what we wish everyone did in that situation,” she said, “which is [say] like, ‘OK, I get it now, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way.’”

The lesson, she said, is “Listen a little better, be a little more sensitive.”

RFK Jr. Branded 'Antisemite of the Week' by Jewish Watchdog

A Kennedy spokesperson strongly denied he was antisemitic in a statement sent to Newsweek that read: "Mr. Kennedy did not say and does not mean to imply that the COVID-19 virus was targeted to spare Jews. That characterization of his remarks is a malicious and inflammatory smear. Mr. Kennedy is a staunch supporter of the state of Israel and the Jewish people. He categorically repudiates the disgusting conspiracy theory falsely attributed to him.

"Mr. Kennedy does not believe that COVID-19 was 'manufactured to target a specific ethnic group.' He was only using that example to illustrate that such a thing is possible, and should be prevented."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), data as of June 28 showed 1.13 million people in the U.S. have died from COVID-19.

The CDC figures show 66 percent of deaths were among non-Hispanic whites, 15 percent were of people of Hispanic origin, 14 percent were Black and 3 percent were listed as non-Hispanic Asian. No separate data was available for Jewish Americans.

Data from England and Wales taken in the early phase of the pandemic indicated Jews in Britain were more greatly impacted when adjusted for population.

Between March 2 to May 15, 2020, 453 people who identified as Jewish died due to COVID-19 making up 1.2 percent of all deaths.

The U.K. Office for National Statistics at the time said: "When taking account of region, population density, socio-demographic and household characteristics, and ethnic background, those who identified as Jewish at the time of the 2011 Census showed an increased risk of a death involving COVID-19 compared with the Christian population; Jewish males were at twice the risk of Christian males, with the difference in females being 1.2 times greater risk."

"Last year, RFK Jr. was forced to apologize for invoking Anne Frank to say COVID restrictions were less severe than Nazi Germany's," Stop Antisemitism told Newsweek.

"A few months ago, RFK Jr. defended ASOTW ['antisemite of the week'] Roger Waters after his Nazi-inspired Berlin performance, calling him a "global hero."

"And just weeks before his Congressional testimony, RFK Jr. met with ASOTW rapper Ice Cube, a supporter of the Black Hebrew Israelites hate group. This pattern of associating with known antisemites belies any apology from RFK Jr. Additionally, blaming Jews for disease, or alleging they are unaffected by a pandemic, evokes antisemitic tropes that date to the Black Plague and before."

Kennedy also responded to allegations of antisemitism in a July 16 Twitter thread where he said the charges had been "cynically" leveled against him. He has since shared messages of support from Jewish people, including Rabbi Shmuley Boteach.

While testifying in front of a House Select Subcommittee meeting last week, Kennedy denied any accusations of antisemitism and claimed the accusations were a move to keep him quiet.

"Antisemitism, racism—these are the most appalling, disgusting pejoratives, and they're applied to me to silence me," he said.

StopAntisemitism noted other incidents that helped inform their decision to give Kennedy the title.

It referred to Kennedy's 2015 meeting with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan who has been condemned over comments widely regarded as antisemitic.

StopAntisemitism also said RFK Jr. defended musician Roger Waters, who was previously named antisemite of the week by the watchdog group and has been condemned over his support for the Palestinian-led boycott of Israeli products.

Pro-Palestinian 'Monsters' Get Anti-bias Training Instead of Jail Time for Brutal Attack on Jewish LA Diners

Two Pro-Palestinian individuals who attacked Jews at a Los Angeles restaurant in 2021, leaving one victim hospitalized, will not be going to jail after being sentenced in June, leading activists to blast the ruling as "laughable" and a miscarriage of justice. 

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Laura Priver sentenced Xavier Pabon, 30, and Samer Jayylusi, 36, with a trip to the Holocaust museum and cultural bias training. Priver declined a comment request. 

The caravan of pro-Palestinian activists waving flags drove by Jewish-populated areas in Los Angeles, according to police. Some reports said the individuals in the caravan were yelling, "F--k the Jews" and were asking "Who is Jewish?" before the incident occurred. 

A mob then commenced at LA restaurant Sushi Fumi and began attacking the Jewish patrons, knocking them to the ground, hitting them with a heavy metal pole, and punching and kicking them on the ground, before running off. 

District attorney, George Gascon, charged only two of the attackers – Pabon and Jayylusi – with two felony counts of assault by means of force likely to cause great bodily injury. The charges also include one hate crime allegation in September 2021. 

Gascon's office told Fox News that it was Judge Priver who was responsible for the sentencing. 

"In a criminal case, if the defense and the prosecution do not reach a plea agreement, the defense has the right to plead open to the court and the court may sentence them over the DA’s objection. In this matter, the defense plead open and was sentenced by the court," a spokesperson said. 

In June, Judge Priver of the Los Angeles Superior Court sentenced Pabon and Jayylusi to no jail time, stating, "The court does not condone or approve of this type of behavior."

"The court would like to dissuade them from this type of behavior," she added, according to Patch. 

"I was furious," Liora Rez from Stop Antisemitism told Fox News Digital about hearing the sentencing of the perpetrators, whom she called "monsters."

"What the heck does a Holocaust museum have to do with this?" she asked.

"The thing that really irks me about this is that these are not neo-Nazis that are saying the Holocaust was exaggerated, that the Holocaust didn't happen… These are two radical pro-Palestinian supporters that are simple search on social media will show just how radical they are."

The brutal assault by the pro-Palestinian activists occurred in May 2021 as tensions flared in the Middle East, which spilled into hate crime assaults on Jews in America. 

Former mayor Eric Garcetti had characterized the incident as an "organized, antisemitic attack" at the time. 

Another victim, Joseph Borgen, was attacked by a pro-Palestinian mob in Times Square, leading to permanent, and painful, soft-tissue damage in his wrist. 

RFK Jr. Sister, Nephew Speak Out on ‘Deplorable’ COVID Comments

The sister and nephew of Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday disavowed a conspiracy theory floated by the political scion last week suggesting that COVID-19 may have been genetically engineered to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.

“I strongly condemn my brother’s deplorable and untruthful remarks last week about Covid being engineered for ethnic targeting,” Kerry Kennedy, the president of the nonprofit Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, said in a statement. 

“His statements do not represent what I believe or what Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights stand for, with our 50+ year track record of protecting rights and standing against racism and all forms of discrimination,” the 63-year-old daughter of the late US attorney general and New York senator added. 

Kennedy Jr., 69, made the remarks during the question-and-answer portion of a dinner held the evening of July 11 at Tony’s Di Napoli on East 63rd Street.

“COVID-19. There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately,” Kennedy Jr. said. “COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.”

“We don’t know whether it was deliberately targeted or not, but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact,” he hedged.

RFK Jr.’s nephew, former Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) also repudiated his uncle’s statements on Monday. 

“My uncle’s comments were hurtful and wrong,” Kennedy III, now the special US envoy for Northern Ireland, wrote on Twitter. “I unequivocally condemn what he said.”

Both the Department of Energy and the FBI have assessed that COVID-19 escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China — but there is no evidence it was designed to spare certain religious groups or ethnicities. 

Meanwhile, a congressional watchdog group called on Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to cancel Kennedy Jr.’s invitation to testify before the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government later this week, deriding the presidential candidate as a “madman.”

“Chairman Jordan must immediately disinvite Kennedy from next week’s hearing. In fact, we’re frankly shocked that in the time it’s taken to write and send this statement, Jordan apparently still plans to let Kennedy testify in the halls of Congress,” wrote Kyle Herrig, the executive director of the Congressional Integrity Project, in a letter to Jordan. 

“By inviting this madman, Jordan is giving a platform to dangerous and racist conspiracy theories targeting Chinese and Jewish people. It’s hateful. It’s despicable. And it has no place in Congress,” Herrig added.

The Ohio Republican told Politico that he disagrees with RFK Jr.’s comments, but will not be rescinding his invitation to testify on Thursday about the federal government’s role in censoring free speech. 

Liora Rez, the executive director of StopAntisemitism, suggested that there is little doubt that Kennedy Jr. is an antisemite.  

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can no longer credibly defend himself against accusations of antisemitism. His recent comments regarding the COVID vaccine weren’t taken out of context – he repeated them in a 2020 meeting with infamous antisemite Louis Farrakhan, where he said the vaccine had been ‘genetically modified to attack black and Latino boys,’” Rez told The Post Monday.

“Kennedy defended Roger Waters’s Nazi-inspired Berlin concert, lauding Waters as a ‘global hero’ and exhorting him to ‘keep speaking truth to power.’ He also equated COVID controls with the Nazi policies that forced Anne Frank’s family into hiding for years. Nor can these positions be attributed to ignorance; Kennedy’s ‘apology’ tried to distance himself from the specific antisemitic tropes his comments evoked. As antisemitic incidents continue to rise, we cannot tolerate antisemitism on the part of our elected officials,” she added.

Some polls have shown Kennedy Jr. garnering 20% support among Democratic primary voters.

“I do not believe and never implied that the ethnic effect was deliberately engineered,” the candidate wrote in a tweet on Saturday, attempting to clarify his recorded remarks.

Watch: RFK Jr. Claims Covid ‘Ethnically Targeted’ — Says Jewish and Chinese People Most Immune

Jewish organizations are condemning Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s latest conspiracy theory that claimed that Covid-19 “ethnically targeted” certain races while others — specifically Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese — were “most immune” to the disease.

In video published by the New York Post of the anti-vax Democratic presidential candidate’s press event at a Manhattan restaurant, Kennedy Jr. argued that “COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately. COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.”

StopAntisemitism added of the claims, “We have no words for this man’s lunacy.”

“This is crazy,” the Zionist Organization of America’s Morton Klein told the NY Post of RFK Jr.’s comments. “It makes no sense that they would do that. I read everything. I was totally against the vaccine… I wanted to convince myself it was correct not to take it. I have never seen anything like this.”

As noted by the Jerusalem Post, an Oxford University study found that one in five British citizens believed that the Covid-19 pandemic was engineered by the Jews for financial gain. JPost also pointed out that, factually, RFK Jr.’s claims were untrue, according to a study by the Office for National Statistics that found Jews had a higher mortality rate from COVID-19 in the United Kingdom compared to other ethnic groups.

Last year, Kennedy Jr. compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust. “Even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps into Switzerland, you could hide in the attic like Anne Frank did,” Kennedy Jr. said at a Jan. 2022 rally in Washington, D.C.; he later apologized for the comment, “My intention was to use examples of past barbarism to show the perils from new technologies of control. To the extent my remarks caused hurt, I am truly and deeply sorry.”

In a tweet Saturday following the publication of his Covid-19 comments, Kennedy Jr. said that — despite there being video of his comments — “I have never, ever suggested that the COVID-19 virus was targeted to spare Jews.”

He continued, “I do not believe and never implied that the ethnic effect was deliberately engineered.”