Global Antisemitism News Roundup, July 2022
ISRAEL CALLS FOR DISBANDING UN GAZA PROBE OVER MEMBER’S “ANTISEMITIC COMMENTS”
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Yair Lapid on July 28 slammed comments by a member of the ongoing UN Commission of Inquiry into last year’s 11-day war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and called for the committee to be disbanded. Miloon Kothari, a member of the commission, said on a podcast for Mondoweiss, a website highly critical of Israel, that a lot of money was being spent on efforts to “discredit” the UN Human Rights Council, which set up the commission, and that social media was “controlled largely by the Jewish lobby.”
See also: B'nai B'rith calls to dismiss UN probe against Israel over members' 'odious remarks'
August 5 update: UN investigator apologizes for ‘Jewish lobby’ remark and other comments deemed antisemitic
MOROCCAN KING MOHAMMED VI CREATES NEW AGENCIES FOR JEWISH COMMUNITY
Morocco’s government announced in mid-July that “acting under royal instruction,” it will create several new initiatives aimed at strengthening the Jewish community there, preserving the Jewish cultural and historical connection, and improving ties with Jews of Moroccan descent. According to a local news organization, MAP: Agence Morocaine De Presse, the Council of Jewish Communities in Morocco welcomed the new initiatives, saying they would “ensure the preservation of the sacred values of Moroccan Judaism and the rehabilitation and promotion of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the Hebrew tributary of the rich Moroccan civilization.”
CANADA: JEWS MOST-TARGETED RELIGIOUS MINORITY FOR HATE CRIMES IN 2021
Canada’s 380,000 Jews were the most targeted religious minority for hate crimes reported to police in 2021. Statistics Canada reported on August 2 that the Jewish community, comprising about 1% of the population, were victims of 14% of reported hate crimes. Jews saw a 47% rise in reported hate crimes compared to 2020, according to the bureau. “We are deeply concerned that incidents of hate crimes rose yet again in Canada in 2021,” said Shimon Koffler Fogel, head of the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs. “This disturbing trend clearly proves the need for more proactive measures to stop the rising hate targeting diverse Canadians based on their identity.”
GERMAN PUBLIC TV BLASTED FOR AIRING CLAIM “JEWISH LOBBY” CONTROLS US MIDEAST POLICY
German public TV aired an interview on July 15 with political scientist Josef Braml claiming that the Biden administration foreign policy is controlled by the “Jewish lobby,” drawing sharp criticism online and in German media. There are “domestic reasons” accounting for President Biden’s Israel policies, said Braml. “It is not just the Jewish lobby, but also the Christian right…Jerusalem plays a very important role there,” he said. Journalist Max Mannhart wrote in Tichys Einblick magazine that “on German public television, the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory of the infiltration of U.S. politics by an alleged ‘Jewish lobby’ is openly played out.”
Screen capture from video of Nazi demonstrators outside the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Tampa, Florida, July 23, 2022. (Twitter)
Dozens of neo-Nazi demonstrators rallied outside a conservative conference in Florida on July 23, where they reportedly waved Nazi flags and swastikas, displayed antisemitic caricatures, and distributed antisemitic leaflets outside the building where the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit was taking place in Tampa. Turning Point USA told Business Insider that it had no connection to the Nazi group, but was unable to have the activists removed because they were standing in a public area. The leaflets were reportedly distributed by activists from the Goyim Defense League, an organization the Anti-Defamation League has identified as being behind dozens of antisemitic propaganda incidents in 2021.
LUFTHANSA CREATES POSITION TO FIGHT ANTISEMITISM AFTER KICKING JEWS OFF FLIGHT
Lufthansa Airlines is creating a senior management role dedicated to preventing discrimination and antisemitism two months after it barred a large group of Orthodox Jewish passengers from boarding a flight. An independent investigation commissioned by the airline said there was no evidence of institutional antisemitism behind the incident, which the company’s CEO deemed “categorically inappropriate.” Lufthansa Airlines CEO Jens Ritter told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations the airline had established an internal task force to investigate the May 4 incident in which more than 100 Hasidic passengers were kicked off a connecting flight from New York to Budapest because some of them had not worn masks and committed other flight violations, such as gathering in the aisles.