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Antisemitism Watch - August 13, 2026, 05 PM Eastern · Antisemitism Watch

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: You're listening to antisemitism. Watch, I'm Rachel Adler. Today we
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  Speaker 1: begin with a significant legal development. A federal judge has
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  Speaker 1: dismissed the Trump administration's multi billion dollar lawsuit against Harvard University,
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  Speaker 1: which had alleged the school failed to protect Jewish students
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  Speaker 1: from antisemitism. U S District Judge Richard G. Stearns ruled
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  Speaker 1: on August thirteenth, twenty twenty six, that the government failed
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  Speaker 1: to provide sufficient evidence of an ongoing violation of federal
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  Speaker 1: civil rights law, particularly after Harvard received formal notice of
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  Speaker 1: the claims. The judge found the incidents, cited largely from
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  Speaker 1: the twenty twenty three minutes two thousand and twenty four
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  Speaker 1: academic year, to be too isolated an episodic to support
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  Speaker 1: a plausible inference of institutionalized non compliance with Title V
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  Speaker 1: of the Civil Rights Act. The Justice Department, according to reporting,
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  Speaker 1: disagreed with the ruling and stated it was assessing next steps.
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  Speaker 1: Harvard had denied the allegations, asserting it cares deeply about
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  Speaker 1: its Jewish and Israeli community and has taken steps to
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  Speaker 1: address antisemitism on the campus front. Representative Premilla Jay Apple
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  Speaker 1: has drawn attention for her comments regarding a controversial speaker
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  Speaker 1: at the University of Washington. JNS reported that jay Apple
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  Speaker 1: encouraged student groups to proceed with hosting Hassen Piker, described
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  Speaker 1: in reporting as an antisemitic podcaster at the university after
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  Speaker 1: a prior event with him was canceled. Jay Apple cited
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  Speaker 1: free speech protections, a stance that contrasts with her past
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  Speaker 1: public statements on hate's speech. Meanwhile, state Representative Mari Leavitt
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  Speaker 1: told JNS that the university used extremely poor judgment and
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  Speaker 1: would need to plan for security if a student group
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  Speaker 1: were to host Piker. In New York City, Mayor Zurin
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  Speaker 1: Mamdani met with a group of rabbis who urged him
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  Speaker 1: to alter his rhetoric regarding Israel, warning that his messaging
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  Speaker 1: could heighten tensions and endanger the Jewish community amidst rising antisemitism.
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  Speaker 1: According to participants, the rabbis expressed concerns about Mamdani's past
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  Speaker 1: calls for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netaniahu's arrest and his
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  Speaker 1: broader statements on the conflict. Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of
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  Speaker 1: the Union for Reform Judaism, directly told the mayor, the
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  Speaker 1: way you continue to talk about Israel endangers the Jewish community,
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  Speaker 1: writ large Mamdani, who called the meeting candid and productive,
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  Speaker 1: highlighted his administration's efforts to combat antisemitism, including increased funding
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  Speaker 1: for hate crime prevention. However, Rabbi Chaan Steinmetz, who did
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  Speaker 1: not attend the meeting, criticized the outreach, questioning its sincerity.
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  Speaker 1: JTA also reported Mamdani stating that rising antisemitism is not
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  Speaker 1: caused by the Palestinian movement or protests. In media and politics,
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  Speaker 1: Tucker Carlson is facing scrutiny for claims made about commentator
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  Speaker 1: Ben Shapiro. According to reporting reviewed for this episode, Carlson
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  Speaker 1: alleged that Shapiro is a syap created by Israel, which
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  Speaker 1: he claimed facilitated Shapiro's entry into Harvard Law School and
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  Speaker 1: secured favorable deals for his company, The Daily Wire. The
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  Speaker 1: article suggests Carlson's rhetoric implies that Israel or unspecified Jews
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  Speaker 1: are directing Shapiro's success. Turning to online spaces, a new
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  Speaker 1: study by the World Jewish Congress's Technology and Human Rights
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  Speaker 1: Institute highlights significant failures in platform enforcement. According to the WJC,
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  Speaker 1: eighty one point two per cent of seven hundred and
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  Speaker 1: fifty four reported antisemitic posts reviewed between February twenty twenty
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  Speaker 1: five and April twenty twenty six remained online as of
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  Speaker 1: May twenty twenty six. The study found that Israel related
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  Speaker 1: antisemitism had the lowest removal rate, with just five point
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  Speaker 1: two percent of such posts taken down, and posts equating
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  Speaker 1: Israeli policies with Nazi Germany often remained at SCPs scessible.
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  Speaker 1: Experts warned that this persistent presence of hate speech is
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  Speaker 1: creating a hostile climate for Jewish communities. In employment news,
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  Speaker 1: Apple has agreed to pay one hundred and fifty thousand
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  Speaker 1: dollars to settle a federal lawsuit filed by the US
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  Speaker 1: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The EEOC alleged that Apple failed
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  Speaker 1: to accommodate a Jewish employee's observance of Shabbat and later
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  Speaker 1: fired him after he complained of religious discrimination. According to
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  Speaker 1: the complaint, the employee's manager allegedly told him he could
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  Speaker 1: become a Rule's Nazi with regards to our policies. We
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  Speaker 1: also have a legal development from Columbia University, where five
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  Speaker 1: Palestinian Americans have filed a lawsuit. They claim the university
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  Speaker 1: ignored their reports of anti Palestinian harassment while investigating them
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  Speaker 1: for protected advocacy under measures designed to combat anti Semitism,
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  Speaker 1: raising questions about how higher education institutions handle competing bias complaints. Finally,
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  Speaker 1: in community rec Reponse, an Israeli attorney and Special Forces
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  Speaker 1: reservist Staff Cohen is leading a seven member delegation from
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  Speaker 1: the Israeli non profit Frontline Advocates. The group is visiting
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  Speaker 1: New York City campuses from August twenty third to August thirtieth,
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, aiming to counter perceived threats through public
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  Speaker 1: debates and social media engagement. Cohen, a grandchild of Holocaust survivors,
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  Speaker 1: told JNS that he sees this work as a way
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  Speaker 1: to build bridges and stop what he described as craziness.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Rachel Adler, Thank you for listening to Antisemitism Watch.
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  Speaker 1: This report was generated with AI assistance and may contain inaccuracies.
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  Speaker 1: Please verify important details with primary sources.