Latest / Antisemitism Watch / Antisemitism Watch - August 21, 2026, 05 PM Eastern

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Antisemitism Watch - August 21, 2026, 05 PM Eastern · Antisemitism Watch

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: You're listening to antisemitism. Watch I'm Rachel Adler. We begin
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  Speaker 1: today with a disturbing physical assault reported in Surfside, Florida.
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  Speaker 1: According to news reports citing a police report, on August sixteenth,
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  Speaker 1: a Jewish man visiting from New York was allegedly punched
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  Speaker 1: in the head and threatened by Jordan Stephen Paroso, who
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  Speaker 1: had approached the couple on an electric scooter. Peroso allegedly
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  Speaker 1: cursed at the couple and others in the Jewish community,
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  Speaker 1: making antisemitic remarks and statements about Israel and Palestine, some
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  Speaker 1: of which were recorded by the wife. Police reportedly arrested Peroso,
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  Speaker 1: who faces charges including battery with prejudice and harassing or
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  Speaker 1: intimidating a person based on religious or ethnic heritage. Rabbis
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  Speaker 1: quoted in the reporting called the incident deeply disturbing and unacceptable,
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  Speaker 1: but described it as an isolated incident that does not
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  Speaker 1: reflect the community, while also praised local law enforcement. Police
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  Speaker 1: also reportedly arrested Perose previously for slashing a soccer ball.
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  Speaker 1: Shifting to international politics, Turkey announced it would seek an
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  Speaker 1: Interpol red notice for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netaniahu Turkish
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  Speaker 1: Justice Minister a Kin Gerlek stated that arrest warrants had
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  Speaker 1: been issued for Netanyahu and another individual on charges including
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  Speaker 1: genocide and crimes against humanity related to a case concerning
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  Speaker 1: Israel's interception of a gaz Abound flotilla. In response, the
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  Speaker 1: Israeli Prime Minister's office lambasted Turkish President receptaeyup Erdogan, calling
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  Speaker 1: him an antisemitic dictator and accusing him of harboring Hamas terrorists.
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  Speaker 1: A statement from the Turkish presidency rejected these remarks as
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  Speaker 1: delusional and reckless. Domestically Representative Jarred Moscovitz of Florida commented
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  Speaker 1: on New York City Mayor Zuren Mamdani on Fox Business
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  Speaker 1: Networks Varney and Co. Moskovitz stated that Mayor Mani is
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  Speaker 1: feeding red meat to those antisemites every day in New York,
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  Speaker 1: suggesting this rhetoric leads to daily antisemitic attacks that the
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  Speaker 1: mayor must then condemn. Moscovitz added that he believes Mamdani
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  Speaker 1: talks out of both sides of his mouth. On campuses,
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  Speaker 1: allegations have surfaced against the University of Virginia's Students for
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  Speaker 1: Justice in Palestine or SJP. Chapter. The Jefferson Council reports
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  Speaker 1: that since October twenty twenty three, UVa's SJP has allegedly
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  Speaker 1: engaged in a campaign of harassment and intimidation against the
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  Speaker 1: university's Jewish community, including masked demonstrations and calls for the
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  Speaker 1: destruction of Israel. The Council notes that neither the UVA
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  Speaker 1: administration nor the Board of Visitors condemned these events. More recently,
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  Speaker 1: SJP has reportedly instigated a petition to remove the Darden
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  Speaker 1: School's new dean, Yale Grushka Kakin, because she is a
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  Speaker 1: former IDF soldier, which the Council argues amounts to discrimination
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  Speaker 1: based on national origin. UVA has had an open Title
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  Speaker 1: VI civil rights investigation since December twenty twenty three. The
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  Speaker 1: Jefferson Council is calling on the university administration to condemn
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  Speaker 1: SJPS actions in institutional responses. A whistleblower complaint has been
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  Speaker 1: filed by Hailey van Erem, a former career attorney in
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  Speaker 1: the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. The complaint alleges that
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  Speaker 1: the Trump administration's task force investigating antisemitism at universities engaged
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  Speaker 1: in an unlawful process designed to achieve predetermined political goals.
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  Speaker 1: According to the complaint and reporting by Democracy Now, the
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  Speaker 1: probes pushed universities like Harvard, Brown, and Columbia into massive
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  Speaker 1: settlements despite allegedly turning up little to no evidence of
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  Speaker 1: anti Jewish discrimination. Brown University settled for fifty million dollars
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  Speaker 1: and Columbia for two hundred million dollars, while Harvard refused
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  Speaker 1: to settle and a case against it was dismissed. Democratic
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  Speaker 1: Representative Jamie Raskin has launched a probe into these allegations.
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  Speaker 1: Marian Hirsch, a professor emerita at Columbia University, described these
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  Speaker 1: as sham investigations aimed at dismantling higher education and silencing
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  Speaker 1: pro Palestinian voices. In terms of accountability, an Argentine federal
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  Speaker 1: judge has been removed from office. An impeachment panel ruled
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  Speaker 1: that Alfredo Eugenio Lopez's antisemitic social media posts constituted misconduct
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  Speaker 1: incompatible with his role. This marks the first time in
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  Speaker 1: Argentina's history a judge has been impeached for such remarks.
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  Speaker 1: According to the panel and statements from organizations like Daia,
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  Speaker 1: Lopez referred to Jewish people as a brood of vipers,
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  Speaker 1: Israel as a fictitious state, and Argentinian Jews as foreigners,
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  Speaker 1: also using terms like Zionist and gay as insults. Prosecutors
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  Speaker 1: argued these messages reflected a pattern of hostility, and the
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  Speaker 1: panel cited discrimination and denial of equal rights against the
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  Speaker 1: Argentine Jewish community. Finally, in Community Response and Positive Developments,
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  Speaker 1: a new study by the Anti Defamation League or ADL,
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  Speaker 1: shows the impact of education in combating antisemitism. According to
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  Speaker 1: the ADLs Center for Antisemitism Research, a forty five minute
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  Speaker 1: course on contemporary antisemitism meaningfully reduced high school students belief
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  Speaker 1: in antisemitic tropes, including the dual Loyalty conspiracy, which falsely
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  Speaker 1: accuses Jewish Americans of lacking allegiance to their home country.
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  Speaker 1: ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt stated that education is one of
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  Speaker 1: their most powerful tools. The study, conducted across nine schools
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  Speaker 1: and replicated nationally, found that students who received the lesson
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  Speaker 1: were significantly more likely to disagree with common antisemitic statements.
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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 MHM