Latest / Antisemitism Watch / Manhattan Diamond District Attacks & Haverford FBI Arrest
Transcript
- 0:06Speaker 1: Welcome to Antisemitism Watch. I'm Rachel Adler. Today, we're tracking
- 0:11Speaker 1: serious allegations of hate-motivated violence in New York City, concerning
- 0:16Speaker 1: incidents on college campuses, and significant policy developments regarding how
- 0:20Speaker 1: antisemitism is defined and combated globally. We're also launching Antisemitism Watch, Mid-Atlantic,
- 0:27Speaker 1: covering New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and the Philadelphia region.
- 0:31Speaker 1: You can find us at clockworkmedia.org slash ma. In New
- 0:35Speaker 1: York City, Authorities have charged Anna Mokalova, 32, with hate
- 0:40Speaker 1: crimes for allegedly attacking two Jewish men within minutes of
- 0:43Speaker 1: each other in Manhattan's Diamond District last week. Prosecutors say
- 0:47Speaker 1: she stabbed one man, a rabbi, with a syringe and
- 0:50Speaker 1: threatened the other with a gun, and that both were
- 0:53Speaker 1: targeted because they were visibly Jewish. Mokalova's defense attorney has
- 0:57Speaker 1: raised questions about her identification, but prosecutors maintain she specifically
- 1:02Speaker 1: selected her targets. These incidents come... as the NYPD reports
- 1:07Speaker 1: a significant rise in anti-Jewish hate crimes, making up over
- 1:11Speaker 1: half of all hate crimes recorded in the city this year. Meanwhile,
- 1:14Speaker 1: in London, Ontario, a construction worker has been charged with
- 1:18Speaker 1: a hate crime for allegedly drawing a Nazi swastika in
- 1:22Speaker 1: a parking lot near Jewish student housing. Police stated that
- 1:25Speaker 1: hate has no place in their city and that such
- 1:28Speaker 1: incidents will be thoroughly investigated. On college campuses, A disturbing
- 1:33Speaker 1: escalation at Haverford College has led to an FBI arrest.
- 1:37Speaker 1: Tenured professor Guangxin Ha faces federal charges for repeatedly sending menacing,
- 1:42Speaker 1: antisemitic messages containing graphic slurs and violent threats to a
- 1:47Speaker 1: Jewish colleague. This development follows complaints from Jewish students about intimidation,
- 1:53Speaker 1: which the college administration had previously characterized as disagreements over
- 1:57Speaker 1: political views rather than antisemitism. The messages allegedly included Nazi
- 2:02Speaker 1: language and Holocaust inversion. In political campaigns, a new ad
- 2:07Speaker 1: supporting Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed has drawn widespread
- 2:12Speaker 1: condemnation and accusations of anti-Semitism. Released by Rebellion Pack, the
- 2:18Speaker 1: ad links USAID to Israel with high grocery prices, stating
- 2:22Speaker 1: it's costing us a lot of money to drop bombs
- 2:24Speaker 1: on Gaza. The Anti-Defamation League called it scapegoating the Jewish state,
- 2:29Speaker 1: and others compared it to historical anti-Semitic propaganda. Former President
- 2:34Speaker 1: Donald Trump also weighed in, disparaging Jewish voters who support El-Sayed. Separately,
- 2:40Speaker 1: a Jewish BBC producer has received a substantial settlement after
- 2:44Speaker 1: alleging anti-Semitic harassment and unfair dismissal. Lucy Kahn, an Oscar-winning
- 2:49Speaker 1: documentary maker, claims she was targeted for being open about
- 2:53Speaker 1: her Jewish identity and Zionism. with colleagues allegedly making hostile remarks,
- 2:58Speaker 1: such as calling Zionists evil. The line between anti-Zionism and
- 3:02Speaker 1: anti-Semitism remains a critical focus. Influential Arab social media personality
- 3:09Speaker 1: Nuser Yassin, known as Nuz Daily, has publicly stated that
- 3:13Speaker 1: anti-Zionism is a form of anti-Semitism, arguing that hostility toward
- 3:17Speaker 1: Israel goes beyond legitimate criticism. He told the Jewish Telegraphic
- 3:22Speaker 1: Agency that Jews are perceived as the perfect enemy of
- 3:25Speaker 1: by Israel's detractors. In the UK, the Green Party has
- 3:29Speaker 1: faced sharp criticism after passing a resolution equating Zionism is
- 3:34Speaker 1: racism at its conference. The Board of Deputies of British
- 3:37Speaker 1: Jews has branded the party racist following the vote. Internationally,
- 3:42Speaker 1: concerns are mounting. In Ireland, the chief rabbi was reportedly
- 3:47Speaker 1: forced to cancel a public commemoration for fear of backlash
- 3:50Speaker 1: due to what is described as virulent antisemitism. Meanwhile, in Brazil,
- 3:55Speaker 1: Following the election of leftist president Lula da Silva, who
- 3:59Speaker 1: has been critical of Israel, the head of the Zionist
- 4:02Speaker 1: Federation warns of a sharp rise in antisemitism and a
- 4:06Speaker 1: significant tightening of security around Jewish institutions. He notes that
- 4:10Speaker 1: criticism of Israel and a refusal to call Hamas a
- 4:13Speaker 1: terror organization can legitimize antisemitic incitement. On the policy front,
- 4:19Speaker 1: Peru has officially adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working
- 4:24Speaker 1: definition of antisemitism, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar hailed the
- 4:29Speaker 1: move as historic, aligning Peru with several other Latin American
- 4:33Speaker 1: nations in combating Jew hatred. In the United States, a
- 4:37Speaker 1: federal advisory board has recommended suspending the accreditation of the
- 4:41Speaker 1: American Psychological Association, citing testimony about a pervasive culture of
- 4:46Speaker 1: antisemitism within the organization. we close today with a development
- 4:51Speaker 1: affirming the commitment to remembrance and restitution. A Holocaust-era Torah
- 4:56Speaker 1: scroll fragment, believed to have been used as parcel paper
- 4:59Speaker 1: by Nazi SS soldiers, was slated for auction in Norway. However,
- 5:04Speaker 1: following intervention by Israel's foreign ministry, the auction was cancelled,
- 5:09Speaker 1: and the sacred manuscript will now be donated to a U.S.
- 5:12Speaker 1: Holocaust Remembrance Organization for Preservation and Education. This action underscores
- 5:17Speaker 1: the global effort to confront the legacy of Nazi atrocities.
- 5:21Speaker 1: I'm Rachel Adler. Thank you for listening to Antisemitism Watch.
- 5:25Speaker 1: For focused coverage from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and
- 5:28Speaker 1: the Philadelphia region, listen to Antisemitism Watch. MidAtlantic at ClockworkMedia.org
- 5:34Speaker 1: slash MA. Follow Antisemitism Watch in your podcast app so
- 5:39Speaker 1: you don't miss the next update. This report was generated
- 5:42Speaker 1: with AI assistance and may contain inaccuracies. Please verify important
- 5:47Speaker 1: details with primary sources.