'Squad' Member Joins Hamas Leader and Supermodel as Watchdog's 'Antisemite of the Year' Finalists

A Jewish advocacy and watchdog organization has chosen US Rep. Rashida Tlaib as one of three candidates in its annual poll to determine the most antisemitic person of the year.

StopAntisemitism, a watchdog group founded in 2018, has launched its 2023 "Antisemite of the Year" poll, offering Tlaib as a finalist.

Tlaib is one of three options for the poll, joined by international supermodel Gigi Hadid and senior Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh.

All three of the selected candidates were previously featured by StopAntisemitism as their "Antisemite of the Week."

StopAntisemitism criticized Tlaib for her rhetoric referring to the Israel-Hamas conflict as a "genocide" and defense of the "River to the Sea" chant used widely at pro-Palestine protests.

Last year, the organization selected rapper Kanye West for the distinction, citing his highly publicized remarks praising Hitler and announcement he was "going death con 3 [sic]" on "Jewish people."

Students for Terror Have No Place on Campus - Opinion

Student organizations provide college freshmen with invaluable opportunities to broaden their outlook, forge meaningful connections, and integrate into the rich tapestry of campus life.

Unfortunately, more than 200 college campuses host chapters of an organization dedicated to praising antisemitic terrorism in pursuit of its extreme political goals.

The guise that glorifies terrorism

This club calls itself Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), though it may go by names like SAFE (University of Michigan), Palestine Solidarity Committee (Harvard University), or Students for Palestinian Equal Rights (Stanford University). Its stated mission is to “develop a connected, disciplined movement that is equipped with the tools necessary to contribute to the fight for Palestinian liberation.”

In reality, the club glorifies terrorists, intimidates Jewish students, and rejects peace-stances since its 1993 founding at Berkeley.

Early SJP organizers came together over their opposition to the Oslo Accords, a peace deal that laid the groundwork for an eventual Palestinian state. Those activists rejected Oslo’s incrementalism, instead agitating for an immediate end to Israeli statehood.

Amid the Second Intifada – a terrorist campaign that killed and wounded thousands of Israeli civilians – SJP founder Hatem Bazian called for “an intifada in this country” at a 2004 rally in San Francisco. Bazian has called the US Congress “Israeli-occupied territory,” repeatedly compared Israelis to Nazis, and praised terrorists – from supermarket bomber Rasmea Odeh to mass murderer Marwan Barghouti.

The organization reflects its founder’s extreme attitudes. Where SJP goes, antisemitism, and often violence, follows. Studies have repeatedly shown that the presence of SJP is one of the strongest predictors of campus antisemitism.

In 2002, 79 SJP members were arrested for disrupting a Holocaust remembrance event at Berkeley. In 2015, SJP at Georgetown publicly opposed interfaith dialogue on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying “When these interfaith discussions are normalized, it leads to religion being used as a tool to whitewash Israel’s crimes.” In 2018, SJP at Stony Brook advocated for the expulsion of Stony Brook’s Hillel, comparing the Jewish group to Nazis and the KKK.

ALL THIS was true before Hamas’s terrorist onslaught of October 7. Since then, SJP has careened even further beyond the bounds of reason and morality.

Five days after Hamas massacred more than 1,200 Israelis, raping and maiming hundreds more, SJP distributed a toolkit that referred to Hamas as “the resistance” and their brutality as “a historic win.” “Responsibility for every single death,” they said, “falls solely on the Zionist entity.” Students from George Washington’s SJP chapter projected the words “Glory to the martyrs” onto the school’s library.

Even as evidence of Hamas’s barbarity grows, SJP’s stance remains unchanged. Hamas’s founding document is explicitly genocidal against Jews. 

Yet it is Israel that SJP accuses of genocide. Hate crimes are up 60% since October 7, with antisemitic crimes accounting for the majority of the increase, yet it is President Joe Biden that SJP accuses of hate crimes because of his support of Israel.

Denying reality in favor of grievance is no recent phenomenon; it’s central to the group’s platform.

To this day, SJP recognizes neither Israel nor the United States of America, referring to the former as “the Zionist entity” and the latter as “Turtle Island,” a name borrowed from American Indian creation stories. Pettily, its members will capitalize neither “Israel” nor “Zionism” when writing the words becomes unavoidable.

As SJP celebrates Hamas and demonizes Israel, 73% of Jewish college students have either witnessed or been the victim of antisemitic incidents.

Given its promotion of antisemitism and longstanding affinity for antisemitic terrorism, StopAntisemitism took the presence of SJP chapters into account when grading colleges for our 2023 Higher Education Report Card, a damning assessment of colleges’ failure to protect Jewish students. 

Thankfully, university leaders are finally taking notice. Columbia suspended its chapter until the end of the semester; George Washington suspended their chapter for 90 days; and Brandeis banned SJP altogether. 

We commend them for their action, however belated, and urge every institution of higher education to follow Brandeis’s example.

This is no time to equivocate as the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, and MIT did in front of a congressional committee last week.

College is supposed to promote greater acceptance, knowledge, and understanding – not hate and willful ignorance.

Praising antisemitic terror should disqualify SJP from every campus.

Elite Colleges Receive ‘F’ Grade by StopAntisemitism for Conduct

The nonprofit watchdog StopAntisemitism has released its new annual research on the state of hate brewing in American academia.

The 2023 Report Card surveyed administrators and students. It compiled and noted the severity of antisemitic activities at each of the 25 schools, and provides updates on universities and colleges featured in the 2022 report. Survey data from 1,400 Jewish students documenting their experiences on campus further complements the overall assessments of educational institutions.

A spokesperson for StopAntisemitism told JNS that factors influencing which schools received scrutiny included requests from Jewish parents and students; the number and severity of documented incidents; and institutions with high Jewish populations. The group said that “essentially, this report is driven by Jewish parents and students who want to ensure their safety when choosing schools to attend.”

The report reveals that StopAntisemitism has seen an increase of 1,500% in the number of reports it has received of antisemitic incidents and that 79% of Jewish students polled had experienced on-campus antisemitism, with 32% not reporting the incident out of fear of retaliation. A majority (68%) said they did not think their school administrators took antisemitic acts seriously.

Some of the most notable schools with the highest quantity and severity of activity appeared on last year’s list. StopAntisemitism pointed out that compared to last year, “the University of Pennsylvania has been the biggest disappointment of the 25 schools we featured.” The report also named the City University of New York (CUNY), Yale University and George Washington University as problematic.

Three others from the previous report included Columbia University, New York University (NYU) and the University of California, Berkeley. The report noted that Columbia had received an “F” last year, and while temporary suspensions in place for its Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace chapters indicated progress, it said that’s “not enough. Both clubs should be removed from campus entirely.”

StopAntisemitism said NYU “has without a doubt been one of the worst campuses for Jewish students” since war broke out on Oct. 7 between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization that runs the Gaza Strip. Berkeley, it noted, “has become so toxic, Jewish students have been forced to plead for their safety on campus to school administrators.”

Not all schools received such disturbing assessments. Seven schools earned the top mark of “A”: Dartmouth College; Muhlenberg College; the University of Alabama; the University of Connecticut; the University of Colorado Boulder; the University of Texas at Austin; and Arizona State University. Florida Atlantic University earned a “B.”

The “C” students in the group included the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Stanford University; Bard College; Rice University; and the University of California San Diego.

StopAntisemitism slapped 12 schools with “D” marks: Wellesley College; Vanderbilt University; Duke University; Georgetown University; the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; the State University of New York at (SUNY) New Paltz; and San Francisco State University.

Those that didn’t make the grade included Brown University; Cornell University; Pomona College; the University of Vermont; and the University of Chicago. The colleges that failed in last year’s report were Yale; Columbia; Swarthmore College; City University of New York (CUNY)’s Brooklyn College; NYU; the University of Southern California; and the University of California, Berkeley.

StopAntisemitism Gives ‘F’ Grades to Brown, Chicago, Cornell, Pomona, Vermont

The nonprofit watchdog StopAntisemitism has released its new annual research on the state of hate brewing in American academia.

The 2023 Report Card surveyed administrators and students. It compiled and noted the severity of antisemitic activities at each of the 25 schools, and provides updates on universities and colleges featured in the 2022 report. Survey data from 1,400 Jewish students documenting their experiences on campus further complements the overall assessments of educational institutions.

A spokesperson for StopAntisemitism told JNS that factors influencing which schools received scrutiny included requests from Jewish parents and students; the number and severity of documented incidents; and institutions with high Jewish populations. The group said that “essentially, this report is driven by Jewish parents and students who want to ensure their safety when choosing schools to attend.”

The report reveals that StopAntisemitism has seen an increase of 1,500% in the number of reports it has received of antisemitic incidents and that 79% of Jewish students polled had experienced on-campus antisemitism, with 32% not reporting the incident out of fear of retaliation. A majority (68%) said they did not think their school administrators took antisemitic acts seriously.

Some of the most notable schools with the highest quantity and severity of activity appeared on last year’s list. StopAntisemitism pointed out that compared to last year, “the University of Pennsylvania has been the biggest disappointment of the 25 schools we featured.” The report also named the City University of New York (CUNY), Yale University and George Washington University as problematic.

Three others from the previous report included Columbia University, New York University (NYU) and the University of California, Berkeley. The report noted that Columbia had received an “F” last year, and while temporary suspensions in place for its Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace chapters indicated progress, it said that’s “not enough. Both clubs should be removed from campus entirely.”

StopAntisemitism said NYU “has without a doubt been one of the worst campuses for Jewish students” since war broke out on Oct. 7 between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization that runs the Gaza Strip. Berkeley, it noted, “has become so toxic, Jewish students have been forced to plead for their safety on campus to school administrators.”

Not all schools received such disturbing assessments. Seven schools earned the top mark of “A”: Dartmouth College; Muhlenberg College; the University of Alabama; the University of Connecticut; the University of Colorado Boulder; the University of Texas at Austin; and Arizona State University. Florida Atlantic University earned a “B.”

The “C” students in the group included the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Stanford University; Bard College; Rice University; and the University of California San Diego.

StopAntisemitism slapped 12 schools with “D” marks: Wellesley College; Vanderbilt University; Duke University; Georgetown University; the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; the State University of New York at (SUNY) New Paltz; and San Francisco State University.

Those that didn’t make the grade included Brown University; Cornell University; Pomona College; the University of Vermont; and the University of Chicago. The colleges that failed in last year’s report were Yale; Columbia; Swarthmore College; City University of New York (CUNY)’s Brooklyn College; NYU; the University of Southern California; and the University of California, Berkeley.

Claudine Gay: Harvard President Won't Lose Job Over Congress Row

Harvard University says its president, Claudine Gay, will keep her job despite mounting controversy over her appearance before Congress last week.

Dr Gay was facing pressure to step down after she failed to say whether students calling for the genocide of Jewish people would be disciplined.

But in a letter over the weekend nearly 700 staff members rallied behind her.

In a statement on Tuesday, the school's board said it was "reaffirm[ing] our support" for her leadership.

"Our extensive deliberations affirm our confidence that President Gay is the right leader to help our community heal and to address the very serious societal issues we are facing," said the Harvard Corporation, the highest governing board at the university.

"In this tumultuous and difficult time, we unanimously stand in support of President Gay," the 13-member board added.

The news Dr Gay will remain as president comes just days after the head of the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), Elizabeth Magill, said she would resign after facing a similar backlash over her own congressional testimony.

Dr Gay testified alongside Ms Magill and Massachusetts Institute of Technology president Sally Kornbluth at a House of Representatives hearing on antisemitism last week.

During tense questioning from Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, Dr Gay said she believed calls for the genocide of Jews were abhorrent, but said whether it would constitute a violation of Harvard's code of conduct regarding bullying and harassment depended on the context.

In an interview with Harvard's campus newspaper, the Crimson, shortly after, she apologised.

"When words amplify distress and pain, I don't know how you could feel anything but regret," she said.

In its statement, the Harvard Corporation said calls for genocide were "despicable" and added that Dr Gay's initial statement "should have been an immediate, direct, and unequivocal condemnation".

But the school noted Harvard's president had apologised for how she handled her testimony before Congress.

"Harvard's mission is advancing knowledge, research, and discovery that will help address deep societal issues and promote constructive discourse, and we are confident that President Gay will lead Harvard forward toward accomplishing this vital work," the board said.

Nearly 700 faculty members signed a petition over the weekend asking Harvard to "resist political pressures that are at odds with Harvard's commitment to academic freedom" and keep Dr Gay as president.

One signatory, Harvard Professor Alison Frank Johnson, told the BBC's Newshour programme that Dr Gay had given a "catastrophic set of answers" at the hearing, but said the "question of university autonomy" drove her and others to sign the petition supporting the president.

"I think it was a catastrophic set of answers that didn't do justice to her or to our university and I don't want to defend them. But I don't think they actually reveal a moral degeneracy on the part of the Presidency or the university leadership that requires that she should be fired" she said.

But StopAntisemitism, a non-profit focused on combatting discrimination against Jewish people, lambasted the Harvard Corporation for "failing to hold" Dr Gay accountable.

"The Corporation's decision serves only to greenlight more Jew-hatred on campus," the group said. "StopAntisemitism continues to call for President Gay's resignation and urges the Corporation to reconsider its decision and hire someone who is committed to protecting every Harvard student."

Meanwhile, more than 70 lawmakers, mostly Republicans, had called on Dr Gay to resign, claiming university president's answers at the hearing were "abhorrent".

In the wake of the war in Gaza, college campuses across the US have emerged as the sites of frequent pro-Palestinian or pro-Israeli protests, raising concerns about both Islamophobia and antisemitism.

Appointed in July, Dr Gay is Harvard University's first black president in its 368-year history. The daughter of Haitian immigrants, she earned a degree in economics from Stanford University, where she once taught.

Dr Gay went on to obtain a PhD in government from Harvard, where she began teaching African and African-American Studies in 2007.

While Dr Gay quickly received significant backing, Elizabeth Magill came under fierce external pressure to resign.

The UPenn president announced her decision to resign from the University of Pennsylvania shortly after a major university donor withdrew a $100m (£80m) grant in protest over her comments.

She had faced a backlash before her congressional testimony, including from some of the school's wealthiest donors, who argued she had not issued a swift and strong enough rebuke of the Hamas attacks.

Molly McPherson, a crisis management strategist, told the BBC that larger dynamics at their two universities also explain why one president is still standing and the other has resigned.

"Each institution has their own set of values, their own donors and donor expectations," she said. "Harvard was ready to support Gay, and UPenn was ready to let Magill go."

But she added that the way Ms Magill chose to respond to the backlash over her testimony likely did not help. While Dr Gay went directly to the student body through the school newspaper, Ms Magill issued an apology video that appeared "awkward, stilted, unrehearsed and scripted", she said.

The video "lacked all authenticity and seemed removed from what the real problem was, and that is the disconnection between her views and the protection of the students", Ms McPherson said.

Dr Gay's response stood in stark contrast, she said. "Her remarks were relatable," she said. "She chose a proactive approach."

Jewish Organizations React to Resignation of UPenn President, Recommend Next Steps

The University of Pennsylvania is looking to move forward after the resignation of embattled former president Liz Magill.

She had been criticized for not doing enough to stop antisemitism on campus. Her resignation comes as residents are learning more about how much antisemitism has increased locally.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, there have been more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents reported locally between October 7 and December 7, 2023.

That number is four times higher than the same time period last year. Some say college campuses have become 'breeding grounds' for that type of hate. It's why some pushed so hard for Penn's president to resign.

"Shockingly, Penn was a shining star when we looked at it last year," said Liora Rez, the executive director of Stop Antisemitism, a grassroots watchdog group that grades colleges on their response to antisemitism.

"Penn received an A- in our report last year," said Rez. "Having re-looked at Penn this year, the grade we would assign would definitely be an F."

It's all because of the university's response to antisemitism, with Magill at the center of the storm.

"We've been calling for her resignation for months," said Rez.

On Saturday, Magill resigned along with Board of Trustees Chair Scott Bok.

Both previously refused to leave their positions, even as antisemitism grew on campus while groups like the Anti-Defamation League watched.

"We've seen swastikas and other pieces (on campus). We've seen individuals marching and chanting," said Andrew Goretsky, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League Philadelphia Office.

The final straw for many was Magill's testimony alongside the leaders of Harvard and MIT last week on Capitol Hill.

"When somebody asks you the question, 'Is the call for the genocide of Jewish people or any people a violation of conduct?' That should be a pretty clear answer," said Goretsky.

Penn hasn't announced its plans in the search for a new president. That person would be leading a school with a significant Jewish population.

According to Hillel International, Penn has about 1,600 undergraduate Jewish students, which is about 16% of the undergrad population.

"Protect your Jewish students. Include Jews in all DEI policies and initiatives," said Rez.

"One of the pieces that has contributed to (a rise in antisemitism on college campuses), is the fact Jewish culture and antisemitism hasn't been included in diversity, equity, and inclusion work," said Goretsky.

Experts say also looking at the foundation of the institution is necessary as the University of Pennsylvania searches for a new president.

"The resignation of President Magill is one step at this point," said Goretsky. "Other things need to happen on campus in order to move things forward."

Kanye West Stirs Controversy as He Announces Details of New Album with Ty Dolla $ign

Kanye West appears to have announced that his new collaborative album with Ty Dolla $ign will be released on Friday (December 15).

West, who legally changed his name to Ye last year, made an appearance in a club over the weekend, where, as reported by The Independent, he was overheard saying, “It’s called ‘Vultures’, and it’s coming out this Friday.”

Last week, Ty confirmed the album’s tracklisting with a handwritten note posted on Instagram. The album is expected to be released under the artist name ¥$, and is said to include features from Freddie Gibbs, Playboi Carti, Future, James Blake, Nicki Minaj and several others.

In November, the rapper returned with the record’s first single, ‘Vultures’. As well as Ty Dolla $ign, the track features Lil Durk and Bump J, and it sees West directly addressing the recent accusations of antisemitism against him, before stoking them further by rapping, “How I’m antisemitic, I just fucked a Jewish bitch”

Accusations of antisemitism were first levelled against West in October 2022 after he said that he would go “death con 3 on JEWISH PEOPLE”, whom he claims have a link with Black people. An ex-staffer at TMZ has also claimed that the rapper once praised “Hitler and the Nazis” during an interview with the site.

More recently, it was alleged that West drew a swastika in a meeting with Adidas about his Yeezy footwear line and former employees of the company suggested he had been engaging in antisemitic behaviour since early meetings in 2013.

Adidas officially cut ties with West in October 2022 in light of antisemitic remarks he made on social media. The rapper denied that his statements were anti-Semitic, claiming the term was “not factual”: “I don’t believe in that term”

He was later labelled the ‘Antisemite of the Year‘ by watchdog group StopAntisemitism, and widely condemned by figures in the entertainment industry, politicans, and organisations.

Kanye and Ty’s collaborative album has been in the works for a while, with Ty telling an audience in November that they had just been recording together in Saudi Arabia. Speculation had kicked up in October when West reportedly held an intimate listening party for the record at a recording studio in Italy.

A “multi-stadium listening event” had been planned for the album, but it ended up being cancelled. It had been expected that the record would be released concurrently with the event, scheduled for November 3, having previously been expected for a release on October 13.

Rumours had also been swirling about an upcoming concert in Italy to promote the new album, before sources shared that the concert will not be taking place due to safety fears.

West and Ty’s last collaboration was in the form of the track ‘Junya Pt 2’ alongside Playboi Carti, from Ye’s 2021 album, ‘Donda‘.

In September, ‘Jesus Is King 2’ – West’s follow-up to his 2019 gospel album – was leaked online. Earlier in the month, it was revealed that the rapper was suing an unknown Instagram user over music leaks.

'Good at Respecting Other People's Beliefs': Muhlenberg College Receives 'A' Grade in Addressing Antisemitism

Muhlenberg College is used to giving out the grades. But this week the school made the grade.

Watchdog group StopAntisemitism released its annual report, grading 25 different colleges across the country on efforts to address campus antisemitism. The report gives Muhlenberg an A.

Students tell 69 News the school deserves it, noticing classmates at the school remain civil, amid rising antisemitism in the U.S. and abroad, sparked by the Israel-Hamas war. 

"I think the people that feel very passionately about it are really good at respecting other people's beliefs," Ellie Dean, a sophomore at Muhlenberg, said.

"We are committed to keeping all of our students not just our Jewish students feeling safe and comfortable, and welcome on our campus," Associate Professor Jessica Cooperman said.

Cooperman serves as Department Chair of Religion Studies and Director of the school's Jewish Studies Program.

"We value free speech and a diversity of opinions," she said. "But we really want to try to stress that, you know, we can have a diversity of opinions and still engage in civil conversation."

It comes at a time when state legislators are working to tackle violence against Jews on the education level as well.

Antisemitism has been on the rise since the Israel-Hamas war. Just last week, here in the commonwealth, the University of Pennsylvania's president resigned amid controversial comments about hate against Jews on campus.

House Republicans on Monday met to discuss a legislative package to combat antisemitism in the classrooms.

"My legislation will ensure that families have access to the information being used to educate our students on the Holocaust during a time where misinformation surrounding this issue is running rampant," Pa Rep. Kristin Marcell, (R) District 178, said.

State House Republicans are planning on introducing three bills within the legislative package. No date is set for voting on them, but the lawmakers say they expect it to be a broad bipartisan push.

Jewish Organizations React to Resignation of UPenn President, Recommend Next Steps

The University of Pennsylvania is looking to move forward after the resignation of embattled former president Liz Magill.

She had been criticized for not doing enough to stop antisemitism on campus. Her resignation comes as residents are learning more about how much antisemitism has increased locally.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, there have been more than 2,000 antisemitic incidents reported locally between October 7 and December 7, 2023.

That number is four times higher than the same time period last year. Some say college campuses have become 'breeding grounds' for that type of hate. It's why some pushed so hard for Penn's president to resign.

"Shockingly, Penn was a shining star when we looked at it last year," said Liora Rez, the executive director of Stop Antisemitism, a grassroots watchdog group that grades colleges on their response to antisemitism.

"Penn received an A- in our report last year," said Rez. "Having re-looked at Penn this year, the grade we would assign would definitely be an F."

It's all because of the university's response to antisemitism, with Magill at the center of the storm.

"We've been calling for her resignation for months," said Rez.

On Saturday, Magill resigned along with Board of Trustees Chair Scott Bok.

Both previously refused to leave their positions, even as antisemitism grew on campus while groups like the Anti-Defamation League watched.

"We've seen swastikas and other pieces (on campus). We've seen individuals marching and chanting," said Andrew Goretsky, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League Philadelphia Office.

The final straw for many was Magill's testimony alongside the leaders of Harvard and MIT last week on Capitol Hill.

"When somebody asks you the question, 'Is the call for the genocide of Jewish people or any people a violation of conduct?' That should be a pretty clear answer," said Goretsky.

Penn hasn't announced its plans in the search for a new president. That person would be leading a school with a significant Jewish population.

According to Hillel International, Penn has about 1,600 undergraduate Jewish students, which is about 16% of the undergrad population.

"Protect your Jewish students. Include Jews in all DEI policies and initiatives," said Rez.

"One of the pieces that has contributed to (a rise in antisemitism on college campuses), is the fact Jewish culture and antisemitism hasn't been included in diversity, equity, and inclusion work," said Goretsky.

Experts say also looking at the foundation of the institution is necessary as the University of Pennsylvania searches for a new president.

"The resignation of President Magill is one step at this point," said Goretsky. "Other things need to happen on campus in order to move things forward."

Antisemitic Mob Shows Up for Biden Fundraiser, Vandalizes Jewish Neighborhood

It was like a scene in downtown Tehran orchestrated by Iran's ruling mullahs, one of those "spontaneous" protests in Ramallah on the West Bank, or from 1938 Germany as the Nazis whipped up antisemitic hate in preparation for Kristallnacht — and worse.

But it was modern-day Los Angeles on Friday night, the second night of Hanukkah, when a mob marched through a largely Jewish neighborhood chanting death threats to Jews.

According to StopAntisemitism, the mob also defaced several buildings, including synagogues. 

People who still rely on the mainstream media for their news missed scenes like these.

Remember, comrades — no peaceful protest is complete without at least a little property damage.

The mainstream media was largely silent on the mob and its death threats. FoxLA 11 reported it as part of its story on Presidentish Joe Biden's fundraising sweep through Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Daily News gave it a brief mention way down in the 16th paragraph of a similar report on Biden's trip.

To be fair, a similar mob of between 1,200 and 1,500 people showed up at Biden's Holmby Hills fundraiser with chants of "Free Gaza" and "Ceasefire now." They even accused Biden and his donors of supporting Israeli "genocide" against Gaza Arabs. There were about 1.5 million Muslim Arabs in the Gaza Strip when Israel unilaterally left the region in 2005. There are more than 2 million there today, and Gaza women have one of the highest fertility rates in the world.

Some genocide, eh?

"Literally, I believe, the future of American democracy is at stake," Biden said during his fundraising speech in reference to Donald Trump. "We will be one of those generations that can say, 'We saved democracy."'

That he said all that while a Nazi-like mob chanted outside is an irony too rich for fiction — it's an absurdity that could only happen in reality. 

LAPD declared an "unlawful assembly" around 5:45 p.m. About an hour later, according to the L.A. Times, the crowd began to move out from the park and disperse elsewhere. Apparently, it was a part of that crowd that moved on to Wilshire to threaten local Jews and "tag" buildings with graffiti. 

Lieu is reliably wrong pretty much all the time (and twice as often on Twitter/X), so seeing him obliquely calling out "Squad" members of his own party was heartening. 

The LAPD said on Saturday that they were "aware of the acts of vandalism that occurred in the Westwood area last night by protestors who marched from an earlier demonstration. The graffiti is being removed today and crime reports have been taken," but "the Department was unable to immediately identify the individuals responsible."

The investigation continues. 

Calls for the NYPD to Take Action, After Political Hopeful Identified in Death Threats Targeting Jews

Yet another hater has been outed on social media, with the finger of blame pointed this time at a serial candidate for public office in a November 18th incident.

Stop Antisemitism, a non-partisan organization that has been leading the charge on social media to hold perpetrators responsible for targeting Jews, named Brooklyn resident Skiboky Stora in a verbal tirade that took place inside a Union Square apartment building. A 19 second video clip shows three people entering the building, with one asking the concierge to lock the front door just before a combative Stora walks into the lobby accompanied by a leashed dog.

“Where you running to white boy?” thundered Stora, mumbling something unintelligible as he followed the residents.

“You’re gonna die! Die Jews, die! White [obscenity],” added Stora, his dog unable to keep up as they left the building, his paws slipping on the floor.

According to a December 8th Twitter post by StopAntisemitism, residents of the building reprimanded Stora for removing pictures of Israeli hostages that were attached to a Manhattan streetlight, triggering the angry outburst.

Reactions to Stop Antisemitism’s post showed little sympathy for Stora and called for the NYPD to take action.

“That is quite literally hate speech, harassment, and a death threat,” tweeted AlliGee. “That is punishable by law.”

“Well, he’s on camera for the police to arrest him for hate crimes,” tweeted Jesse Houghton, MD, FACG. “Let’s see if they do.”

Another tagged a high ranking public official and read “Hey @MarkLevinNYC is this your borough?”

Stora is no stranger to the spotlight. His Twitter feed contains multiple videos alleging systemic racism in the United States, and he appears shirtless in many of them. It also includes references to a failed gubernatorial run, with Stora posting in May 2022, “Damn racist Republicans remove my name Skiboky Stora off the ballot when they found that I’m Black and Poor.” Stora’s 2021 mayoral bid was short lived and, according to Ballotpedia, he was disqualified from a run to represent District 9 in the City Council in the most recent general election.

Stora claims to be the great grandson of Marcus Garvey, described in the National Archives as a controversial civil rights activist. In addition to believing in racial separatism, Garvey met with the Ku Klux Klan and was jailed on mail fraud charges before ultimately being deported to his native Jamaica.

Demands Action from the NYPD Following the Identification of Political Hope in Death Threats Against Jews

Another hatemonger has surfaced on social media, and this time, the victim of the November 18th event is a serial contender for public office.

Stop Antisemitism, a nonpartisan group that has been spearheading the effort on social media to identify and apprehend those who attack Jews, has called attention to Brooklyn resident Skiboky Stora in an exchange of words that transpired inside a Union Square apartment building.

Three people are seen entering the property in a 19-second camera clip. One of them asks the concierge to shut the front door, and right before that, a confrontational Stora and her leashed dog go into the lobby.

“You will not survive! Jews, please perish! Stora said, “White [obscenity],” his dog losing pace as they left the building and scuffing his paws on the ground. Residents of the building chastised Stora for taking down images of Israeli hostages that were affixed to a Manhattan streetlight, which set off the furious reaction, according to a StopAntisemitism tweet from December 8.

Reactions to Stop Antisemitism’s article demanded action from the NYPD and showed no sympathy for Stora. AlliGee tweeted, “That is hate speech, harassment, and a death threat, quite literally.”

“That is against the law.” Jesse Houghton, MD, FACG, tweeted, “Well, he’s on camera for the police to arrest him for hate crimes.” “Let’s see if they succeed.”

A high-ranking public figure was tagged by another, who wrote, “Hey @MarkLevinNYC, is this your borough?”

Stora is accustomed to being in the spotlight. Several films on his Twitter account claim that systemic racism exists in the US, and he frequently appears in them without a shirt on. In May 2022,

Stora posted on social media, “Damn racist Republicans for taking my name Skiboky Stora off the ballot when they found that I’m black and poor.” Stora’s 2021 mayoral bid was short-lived, and he was disqualified from running to represent District 9 in the City Council in the most recent general election, according to Ballotpedia.

There are also references to a failed attempt at becoming governor.
As the National Archives describes Marcus Garvey as a contentious civil rights fighter, Stora claims to be his great-grandson.

Garvey was arrested for mail fraud and met with the Ku Klux Klan in addition to his belief in racial secession. He was eventually deported back to his native Jamaica.

Ivy League University Leaders Resign Amid Outrage Over Handling Of Campus Antisemitism

The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) president and Board of Trustees chairman both announced their resignation on Saturday, according to The Daily Pennsylvanian.

UPenn President Elizabeth Magill faced widespread criticism following a hearing of the House of Representatives Education and Workforce Committee on Dec. 5, where she refused to say that calling for the genocide of Jews would violate the university’s policies. Scott Bok, the chairman of UPenn’s Board of Trustees, announced that Magill had resigned from her position in a community message before later announcing he would also step down.

“Today, following the resignation of the University of Pennsylvania’s President and related Board of Trustee meetings, I submitted my resignation as Chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, effective immediately,” Bok said in the statement, obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian. “While I was asked to remain in that role for the remainder of my term in order to help with the presidential transition, I concluded that, for me, now was the right time to depart.”

Magill will remain at her position until an “interim president is appointed,” Bok said in his original announcement. She will also “remain a tenured faculty member at Penn Carey Law.”

“It has been my privilege to serve as President of this remarkable institution,” Magill wrote. “It has been an honor to work with our faculty, students, staff, alumni, and community members to advance Penn’s vital missions.”

Magill’s testimony prompted one donor to UPenn, Ross Stevens, to withdraw around $100 million donation to the university. The board of the university’s Wharton School, its well-renowned school of economic and business studies, also explicitly called for her resignation.

UPenn’s board held an emergency meeting to discuss the fallout from Magill’s testimony on Thursday.

Over 70 members of Congress issued a letter calling for her removal, alongside that of Harvard University President Claudine Gay and Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Kornbluth. Gay has since apologized for her testimony.

UK Police Said Searching for Demonstrator Who Carried ‘Final Solution’ Placard

Britain’s Metropolitan Police is reportedly searching for a demonstrator in today’s anti-Israel rally in London who carried a placard appearing to call for “The final solution” against the Jewish state — the term used by Nazi Germany as code for their plan to exterminate all Jews during the Holocaust.

While the police have said they made 13 arrests today of people who carried posters deemed offensive, a spokesperson for the Met has been quoted by the Daily Mail as saying the force is “not aware of any arrests in relation to this specific placard.”

However, the spokesperson adds, “officers are aware of the image and are actively investigating.”

WATCH: Mobs of Antisemitic Rioters Storm Streets of L.A., Chanting and Spraying Hate Graffiti

In a community with a heavy Jewish population, mobs of antisemites stormed the streets chanting antisemitic slogans and spraying antisemitic graffiti on buildings, including shuls.

The terrifying scene took place as Jews were lighting candles on Friday evening, at the start of Shabbos and the second night of Chanukah.

According to “Stop Antisemites”, this particular location is the epicenter of Persian Jewish life on the Wilshire corridor.

NOTE: This is a developing story.

Penn Lost $100 Million and Potentially a President. It's a Good Start

The University of Pennsylvania lost a donation of $100 million and is on the verge of ousting its president in response to her handling of antisemitism on campus. That isn’t enough to solve the problem, but it is a good place to start.

Penn President Liz Magill was unable to say that calling for the genocide of Jews was a violation of the university’s code of conduct. In front of Congress, Magill said that it was a “context-dependent decision” to determine whether calling for the genocide of Jews would be classified as bullying and harassment under the university’s policies. Antisemitism at Penn has run so rampant that Penn police had to loop in the FBI. Students have projected antisemitic messages onto school buildings and held an antisemitic literature festival over the past month and a half.

Magill tried to clean up her embarrassing testimony by recording herself reading a prepared statement and posting it on social media, but the damage has been done. Former CEO of Stone Ridge Asset Management Ross Stevens pulled a $100 million donation to the university, the board of the university’s business school is calling on Magill to resign, and Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) ripped her comments as “absolutely shameful.” It would be tough to imagine Magill holding her position this time next week.

But Magill is not the only problem with Penn. If anything, she is simply a byproduct of the “diversity, equity, and inclusion” racial obsession rot that infested Penn and other universities. Magill was only doing what she thought her university would want because universities have become DEI havens that only consider people to be victims based on their skin color or nationality.

Eliminating the antisemitic rot at Penn means firing DEI bureaucrats and shuttering their departments, which are designed to promote the exact racial obsessions and antisemitism that lead to someone saying that calling for the genocide of Jews is sometimes acceptable. That includes bringing the hammer down on antisemitic students for violating harassment policies and on antisemitic professors who think that “playing the victim is what Jews are best at.”

University presidents like Magill or Harvard’s Claudine Gay are the figureheads of their universities, but the problems go far deeper. Antisemitism and bigotry flow from DEI bureaucracies and through faculty and students at these universities, and changing the figurehead at the top of the university hierarchy won’t uproot the hatred being fomented on campuses across the country.

Take Black Hebrew Israelism Seriously

Last May, four Yeshiva students walking through Brooklyn Bridge Park were accosted by a black man. According to the watchdog group StopAntisemitism, the man drew a knife and demanded the students’ money. He also allegedly yelled anti-Semitic slurs, telling the students that he was the real Jew, not them.

This peculiar claim—that four Yeshiva students are less Jewish than the black man robbing them—may sound like the ramblings of an unwell individual. But the incident in Williamsburg is not isolated. The same ideas motivated a 2019 mass shooting in a Jersey City kosher grocery store and, several months later, the stabbing of a Monsey, New York, Orthodox rabbi. Prominent black figures, including, most recently, Kanye West and NBA star Kyrie Irving, have parroted them.

Despite these and similar high-profile, sometimes violent incidents, we know surprisingly little about the prevalence of “Black Hebrew Israelism”—an ideology holding that blacks are descendants of, and in some tellings the true descendants of, the biblical 12 tribes of Israel. Groups like the Anti-Defamation League assert that extremist, anti-Semitic Hebrew Israelism is relatively uncommon. But few efforts have been made (I’ve found just one survey) to measure how many people, black or otherwise, agree with the main tenets.

This dearth of study is all the more surprising given the rising interest in extremist ideologies and their nexus to violence more generally. Law enforcement officials have emphasized the threat from white supremacists, and President Joe Biden has claimed that former president Donald Trump is leading an extremist movement. Yet little attention is given to similar extremism among black Americans, with groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center actually reducing its coverage of black extremist ideologies in the name of “equity.”

To fill this gap, I recently fielded a survey under the auspices of the Manhattan Institute to measure the prevalence of Black Hebrew Israelism and its association with anti-Semitism and support for violence. The results paint a complicated picture, but one that generally supports the idea that extremist Hebrew Israelism should be taken seriously as a security threat.

To measure agreement with the core idea of Black Hebrew Israelism, survey respondents were given a short paragraph describing the biblical Israelites. They were asked if they believed that modern-day blacks, Jews, and other nonwhite groups were descended from the biblical Israelites. A plurality (49 percent) of the main, all-black sample somewhat or strongly agreed that black people were descended from the Israelites, compared with 29 percent of the smaller nonblack sample. Black respondents were also more likely to think that modern Jews were not descended from the Israelites, 13 percent versus 6 percent.

Of course, holding this view doesn’t mean that one attends a Black Hebrew Israelite (BHI) worship service, but it does imply a degree of influence by those beliefs. I define two groups: one, BHI believers, agrees that black people are descended from the Israelites and report being familiar with the actual story; another, those who identify as BHIs, are the subset of BHI believers who also call themselves Hebrew Israelites when asked. In total, about a quarter of the black sample are believers, and 9 percent identify as BHI. That compares with 14 percent believers in the nonblack sample, and 3 percent self-identified BHI (the latter are probably weird test-takers).

Survey respondents were then administered two rounds of questions: one about anti-Semitism and one about violence. The anti-Semitism section asked them to express how they felt about a variety of groups, including Jews, on a “warm/cold” scale from zero to 100. Remarkably, BHIs of both samples and kinds were warmer toward Jews—though they were also warmer toward everyone else. Respondents were also asked if they agreed with a series of claims about Jews: that Jews were more loyal to Israel than to America, that Jews have too much power, and so forth. Here, BHIs were significantly more likely to agree with all of the claims, indicating anti-Semitic beliefs.

The second round of questions tried to measure support for two kinds of violence, interpersonal and political. On the interpersonal survey—which asked about the appropriateness of a hypothetical man striking another man in various circumstances—BHIs were no more or less supportive than their non-BHI peers. But on the political-violence survey, which asked about using violence to advance political goals or stop discrimination, BHIs were more likely to support it.

In other words: Black Hebrew Israelites are not uniformly more anti-Semitic or more supportive of violence. But they are more likely than their same-race peers to agree with anti-Semitic ideas and to support specifically political violence.

What this implies is that Black Hebrew Israelism is not predictive of animosity, anti-sociality, or a tendency toward violence on its own. To the extent that BHI is a dangerous influence on black communities, it is not because it encourages such base tendencies. Rather, BHI should be understood as an extreme belief that carries with it other extreme beliefs—such as the view that Jews have too much power or were deeply involved in the slave trade—that raise the risk for extreme action.

To be sure, not every person identified as a Black Hebrew Israelite in this survey poses such a risk. Some simply believe that black people are descended from the biblical Israelites, period. That’s wrong—even kooky—but not necessarily dangerous.

What is dangerous is when that belief becomes associated with other, more extreme views that license, say, supermarket shootings or the stabbing of rabbis. The survey suggests that in the black community, such extreme views are, if not common, then certainly not nonexistent. Insofar as we insist that other extremist views are a threat to the American public, we should include BHI in that calculus.

StopAntisemitism Report Reveals Dire State of Campus Antisemitism

The watchdog group StopAntisemitism released its annual Antisemitism on U.S. College & University Campuses Report on Wednesday, which uses a report card-style grading system to assess 25 different colleges across the United States on their previous and current efforts to address campus antisemitism and protect their Jewish students.

Following the barbaric Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, StopAntisemitism updated this report to address schools’ responses to antisemitic incidents after the massacre, highlighting specific incidents and re-grading some schools. The report was originally slated to be released on Oct. 9, but due to the horrific violence in Israel, it had to wait.

StopAntisemitism initially created this report in response to Jewish parents and their children inquiring where it’s safe for them to attend school. Since Oct. 7, there has been an influx of such requests from concerned Jewish parents who feel anxious about sending their children away during an especially vulnerable time.

This year’s report classifies 25 schools into five categories: Ivy League (and adjacent); Liberal Arts; Private Universities; Public Universities-East; and Public Universities-West. Five schools received an “F”, while seven schools received an “A”.

“Rising campus antisemitism has been supercharged by the recent Israel-Hamas conflict,” said StopAntisemitism executive director, Liora Rez. “This Report Card will help guide Jewish parents in assessing where it’s safe to send their children—a new and frightening consideration that would’ve been unthinkable just a few years ago. Armed with this information, it’s on all of us to hold colleges accountable for recognizing, calling out, and protecting their students from antisemitism.”

StopAntisemitism takes four major categories into account when formulating grades:

• Protection: How does the school report antisemitic incidents? Is there a willingness to work with Jewish advocacy groups? What are the reactions from college administrators after an incident occurs?

• Allyship: Does the college speak out against antisemitism? Are Jews included in the school’s DEI policies?

• Identity: Do Jewish students feel safe at their school? Do Jewish students feel the need to hide their identity on campus? Do Jewish students feel like they are being held responsible for Israel’s actions?

• Policy: Has the school adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism? Is there a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) organization on campus? Have BDS resolutions been adopted?

StopAntisemitism assesses how each school has responded to antisemitic incidents by conducting two different surveys—one to each university’s administration, of which seven completed this year, and one to their Jewish students, which was completed by more than 1,400 respondents. 79% of students responded “yes” when asked if they had experienced antisemitism on campus, and 72% said they feel unwelcome as a Jewish person in all spaces on campus. The survey was sent out before Oct. 7, but the organization strongly feels that these percentages would have increased dramatically had it sent out the survey following the attacks.

You can view the full report here.

Report Card Grades for 25 U.S. Colleges at a Glance:

Ivy League

• Dartmouth University: A

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): C

• Stanford University: C

• Brown University: F

• Cornell University: F

Liberal Arts

• Muhlenberg College: A

• Bard College: C

• Wellesley College: D

• Pomona College: F

• University of Vermont: F

Private Universities

• Rice University: C

• Duke University: D

• Georgetown University: D

• Vanderbilt University: D

• University of Chicago: F

Public Universities-East

• University of Alabama: A

• University of Connecticut: A

• Florida Atlantic University: B

• University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign: D

• SUNY New Paltz: D

Public Universities-West

• University of Colorado Boulder: A

• University of Texas at Austin: A

• Arizona State University: A

• University of California San Diego: C

• San Francisco State University: D