Latest / Antisemitism Watch / Antisemitism Watch - August 25, 2026, 09 AM Eastern

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Antisemitism Watch - August 25, 2026, 09 AM Eastern · Antisemitism Watch

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to antisemitism. Watch I'm Rachel Adler. Today we
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  Speaker 1: cover disturbing new claims about systematic violence, dangerous rhetoric from
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  Speaker 1: a popular streamer with political ties, and significant institutional steps
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  Speaker 1: taken to combat hate. A new report by the Palestinian
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  Speaker 1: Feminist Collective and Progressive International alleges a documented history of
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  Speaker 1: systematic sexualized and gendered violence against Palestinians by Israel. The report,
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  Speaker 1: titled a Predatory State Israeli Systemic sexualized and gendered violence
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  Speaker 1: against Palestinians, claims, according to reporting reviewed for this episode,
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  Speaker 1: that Israel trains dogs to rape Palestinians. This allegation previously
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  Speaker 1: appeared in a New York Times opinion column by Nicholas
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  Speaker 1: Christoff and sparked global condemnation, with groups like the American
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  Speaker 1: Jewish Committee calling it a modern day blood libel and
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  Speaker 1: Prime Minister Benjamin Netaniahu threatening a lawsuit. The report frames
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  Speaker 1: this alleged sexualized violence as a colonial mechanism deployed to
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  Speaker 1: destroy Palestinian life. Popular streamer Hassen Piker has generated significant
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  Speaker 1: controversy with remarks directed at American Jews. During a twitch stream,
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  Speaker 1: Piker suggested that American Jews supporting Israel are making themselves
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  Speaker 1: targets of violence, stating if Jews in America keep putting
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  Speaker 1: this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel,
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  Speaker 1: eventually some one's going to come around and take action.
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  Speaker 1: Not against the State of Israel, mind you, but against
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  Speaker 1: American Jews. He further likened Israel to Jewish isis According
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  Speaker 1: to reporting from Jacob Kornbla and Seattle Read, the Anti
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  Speaker 1: Defamation League calls Piker one of the most outspoken antisemitic
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  Speaker 1: influencers online. As reported by Seattle Read, these comments have
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  Speaker 1: placed Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul Elsaide in a difficult
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  Speaker 1: political position. Elsaide released a statement disagreeing with Piker's remarks
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  Speaker 1: and opposing any rhetoric that puts the community at risk,
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  Speaker 1: though he has also campaigned with Piker, a balance that
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  Speaker 1: reflects his efforts to hold together a progressive coalition, according
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  Speaker 1: to Jacob Kornblach. Separately, Representative Premilla Jay Apple has faced
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  Speaker 1: criticism for pressuring the University of Washington to reinstate a
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  Speaker 1: canceled lecture by Piker. As Seattle Read reports, jay Apple
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  Speaker 1: cited free speech concerns, while Representative Dan Goldman, chair of
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  Speaker 1: the House Antisemitism Task Force, argued the school has Title
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  Speaker 1: V obligations to prevent hostile environments for Jewish students. Representative
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  Speaker 1: Hillary Skulton condemned Piker's remarks, calling them unacceptable and dangerous
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  Speaker 1: for directly naming Michigan elected official Jeremy Moss. According to
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  Speaker 1: reporting reviewed for this episode. In Germany, the Munich Chief
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  Speaker 1: Public Prosecutor's office has closed a fifty six year investigation
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  Speaker 1: into a deadly antisemitic arson attack on a Jewish community center.
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  Speaker 1: The attack, which occurred on February thirteenth, nineteen seventy, resulted
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  Speaker 1: in the deaths of seven Holocaust survivors and injured fifteen others,
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  Speaker 1: as confirmed by the Prosecutor's office and police headquarters. The
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  Speaker 1: case was reopened in twenty twenty five following a new
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  Speaker 1: public tip. Investigators developed compelling grounds to believe a suspect
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  Speaker 1: who died in twenty twenty was responsible. Reports indicate this
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  Speaker 1: individual was a twenty five year old German Man who
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  Speaker 1: had expressed antisemitic sentiments, remarking about Jewish residents and the
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  Speaker 1: desire to set them on fire. Shortly before the building
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  Speaker 1: was engulfed in flames. Witnesses described him as an antisemite
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  Speaker 1: with a Hitler obsession. Although definitive legal conclusions are not
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  Speaker 1: possible due to the suspect's death, the investigation found no
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  Speaker 1: reliable evidence of other individuals involvement. In Australia, a judge
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  Speaker 1: refused an extended terrorism order for an individual US named
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  Speaker 1: Mohammad Farhat, with reporting noting the judge's reasoning extended into
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  Speaker 1: contested areas of history and international law without apparent expert evidence.
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  Speaker 1: This decision proceeded, according to reporting reviewed for this episode,
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  Speaker 1: despite explicit alerts concerning potential antisemitism and a terror threat
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  Speaker 1: linked to an antisemitism graffiti case. The Institute for the
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  Speaker 1: Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy ISGAP has released a
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  Speaker 1: new report alleging that Muslim brotherhood aligned networks in Canada
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  Speaker 1: are engaged in a coordinated strategy to gain influence across government,
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  Speaker 1: civil society, and higher education. According to the report, this
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  Speaker 1: strategy operates through four key domains, narrative development, institutional embedding,
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  Speaker 1: policy impact, and what ISGAP calls legal framework manipulation. ISGAP
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  Speaker 1: identifies higher education as a particular focus, describing universities as
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  Speaker 1: central arenas for foreign fundas, ideological influence, and narrative shaping.
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  Speaker 1: The report specifically names the University of Toronto as a
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  Speaker 1: central node in the development and dissemination of anti Israel
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  Speaker 1: and related narratives, noting the involvement of interconnected student organizations
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  Speaker 1: such as the Muslim Students Association, Students for Justice in Palestine,
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  Speaker 1: and the Palestinian Youth Movement. In Institutional News, the government
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  Speaker 1: of the Dominican Republic has officially adopted the International Holocaust
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  Speaker 1: Remembrance Alliance IHR working definition of antisemitism, becoming the seventh
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  Speaker 1: Latin American nation to do so. President Lewis Abenator declared
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  Speaker 1: at the Combat Antisemitism Movement's Latin American Forum that antisemitism
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  Speaker 1: is a threat to democratic coexistence and to the rights
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  Speaker 1: and freedoms of us all. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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  Speaker 1: has been instructed to formalize the decision. US Special Envoy
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  Speaker 1: to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism. Rabbi Ambassador yehudakh Kaplan called
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  Speaker 1: it a historic moment, and Israel's Foreign Ministry welcomed the move,
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  Speaker 1: calling the IHR definition an essential tool for identifying and
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  Speaker 1: combating antisemitism in all its forms. In London, Mayor Sadik
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  Speaker 1: Khan announced record new funding of eight hundred and seventy
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  Speaker 1: five thousand pounds for the Shared Endeavor Fund. This investment
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  Speaker 1: aims to support grassroots groups combating hate and extremism and
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  Speaker 1: comes in response to a twenty four percent increase in
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  Speaker 1: antisemitic incidents recorded in London since early twenty twenty six,
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  Speaker 1: according to the Community Security Trust. I'm Rachel Adler. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you for listening to Antisemitism Watch. This report was generated
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  Speaker 1: with AI assistance and may contain inaccuracies. Please verify important
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  Speaker 1: details with primary sources.