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UK Hate Crimes Spike, Campus Discrimination Allegations Surface · Antisemitism Watch

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Antisemitism Watch. I'm Rachel Adler. This week,
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  Speaker 1: we're tracking a significant rise in recorded hate crimes in
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  Speaker 1: the UK, allegations of religious discrimination on US campuses, and
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  Speaker 1: troubling instances of antisemitic rhetoric from political parties abroad. We'll
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  Speaker 1: also cover responses to online hate and institutional failures. And
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  Speaker 1: a quick note, we're excited to announce the launch of
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  Speaker 1: Antisemitism Watch. Mid-Atlantic, providing focused coverage from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut,
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  Speaker 1: and the Philadelphia region. You can find it at clockworkmedia.org
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  Speaker 1: slash MA in England and Wales. Police recorded hate crimes
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  Speaker 1: targeting Jewish people rose by 10% in the year ending
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  Speaker 1: March 2026, reaching over 3,100 offenses, according to the latest
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  Speaker 1: data released by the Home Office. This represents the highest
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  Speaker 1: per capita rate of religious hate crime for any faith group.
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  Speaker 1: Jewish community groups, including the Community Security Trust, described the
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  Speaker 1: level as unacceptable, noting the disproportionate scale of anti-Jewish hatred
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  Speaker 1: and its impact on Jewish life. This data follows a
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  Speaker 1: year that saw spikes after incidents like the attack on
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  Speaker 1: Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur, where two
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  Speaker 1: men were killed. A spate of other violent incidents last
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  Speaker 1: year included the torching of four ambulances belonging to Jewish
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  Speaker 1: volunteer service Hatzolah and the stabbing of two Jewish men
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  Speaker 1: in separate attacks. The British Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband, met
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  Speaker 1: with the J7 Global Task Force to discuss combating antisemitism,
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  Speaker 1: which has proposed a new international intergovernmental ministerial task force.
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  Speaker 1: In Berlin, police are investigating a possible antisemitic motive in
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  Speaker 1: repeated assaults against a 67-year-old shopkeeper who uses a wheelchair.
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  Speaker 1: The shopkeeper was attacked by groups of youths after displaying
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  Speaker 1: posters opposing antisemitism for the third anniversary of the October
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  Speaker 1: 7 massacre, according to Berlin police. The assaults included being
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  Speaker 1: pepper-sprayed and beaten. Berlin police figures show that 2025 saw
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  Speaker 1: a 24.3% increase in antisemitic offenses in the city compared
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  Speaker 1: to the previous year. An organization monitoring antisemitic incidents, RIAS,
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  Speaker 1: documented nearly 2,000 200 incidents in Berlin in 2025. In Brooklyn,
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  Speaker 1: New York, two Jewish schools were evacuated on Friday following
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  Speaker 1: phoned-in bomb threats, according to the New York Police Department.
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  Speaker 1: The NYPD responded to the yeshiva of Flatbush Joel Braverman
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  Speaker 1: High School and the United Talmudical Academy, with emergency units
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  Speaker 1: conducting thorough searches. No explosives were found, and the threats
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  Speaker 1: were ultimately deemed unfounded. The Anti-Defamation League noted the incident
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  Speaker 1: followed a similar bomb threat at a synagogue in Lakewood,
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  Speaker 1: New Jersey, stating that Jews must be able to pray
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  Speaker 1: and attend school without fear. In London, authorities arrested 20
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  Speaker 1: individuals during a Palestine coalition march. The offences cited by
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  Speaker 1: the Metropolitan Police included alleged criminal damage to the Battle
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  Speaker 1: of Britain Memorial, assault on police officers, and one arrest
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  Speaker 1: for a racially aggravated public order offence after a woman
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  Speaker 1: was seen making a Nazi salute. The National Jewish Assembly
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  Speaker 1: welcomed the arrests, emphasizing the need for prosecutions and meaningful consequences. Separately,
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  Speaker 1: a stark reminder of ongoing threats came from Michigan, where
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  Speaker 1: an attacker rammed a vehicle into Temple Israel in West
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  Speaker 1: Bloomfield on March 12 and exchanged gunfire with security guards.
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  Speaker 1: The FBI determined the attack was an act of terrorism
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  Speaker 1: inspired by Hezbollah. This incident occurred amidst accounts of personal
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  Speaker 1: harassment and a 2025 survey by Echo Research indicating 55%
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  Speaker 1: of American Jews have changed their behavior out of fear
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  Speaker 1: of antisemitism. On U.S. campuses, allegations of religious discrimination have surfaced.
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  Speaker 1: A former Jewish employee has filed a lawsuit against Harvard University,
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  Speaker 1: claiming he was fired nine days after taking approved leave
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  Speaker 1: for Rosh Hashanah. The suit alleges his supervisor began questioning
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  Speaker 1: his performance on the first day of the holiday, despite
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  Speaker 1: having approved his absence, according to Anit. Meanwhile, a former
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  Speaker 1: Rutgers Law School student alleges in a lawsuit that university
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  Speaker 1: campus police arrested him for posting anti-Hamas flyers, violating his
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  Speaker 1: free speech rights. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District
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  Speaker 1: Court for the District of New Jersey, claims university administrators
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  Speaker 1: conspired against him, removed his flyers while allowing anti-Israel materials
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  Speaker 1: to remain, and that he was charged with disorderly conduct,
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  Speaker 1: though the charges were later dismissed by a municipal prosecutor.
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  Speaker 1: The student, a disabled U.S. Army veteran, asserts his rights
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  Speaker 1: were violated. A post on LinkedIn notes that while campus
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  Speaker 1: encampments have subsided this semester, the pernicious problem of virulently
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  Speaker 1: anti-Israel and one-sided courses and biased teaching practices remains. The
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  Speaker 1: Post highlights that Jewish students are increasingly seeking support to
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  Speaker 1: navigate these challenges and cites a survey finding that 37%
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  Speaker 1: of Jewish students felt their campus was hostile toward Jews,
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  Speaker 1: a figure similar to sentiments expressed by black and Muslim
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  Speaker 1: students regarding hostility toward their communities. In political discourse, Conservative
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  Speaker 1: leader Russell Findlay has accused the Scottish Green Party of
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  Speaker 1: ugly antisemitism. over a recent motion that defined Zionism as
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  Speaker 1: a form of racism and effectively called for the end
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  Speaker 1: of Israel, according to UK news reports. Findlay urged SNP
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  Speaker 1: leader John Swinney to block the Green Party's appearance at
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  Speaker 1: the SNP conference, stating that Swinney must choose between legitimising
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  Speaker 1: their antisemitism or excluding them. The motion also reportedly links
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  Speaker 1: to an Israeli flag image with a swastika, though an
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  Speaker 1: MSB involved called it an error. This follows broader commentary,
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  Speaker 1: as seen in an Australian news article titled The Greens
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  Speaker 1: are the worst antisemites, referencing a report suggesting a significant
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  Speaker 1: portion of British voters now support openly antisemitic parties. An
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  Speaker 1: investigation by the Campaign Against Antisemitism has identified five UK
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  Speaker 1: National Health Service staff members, including three doctors, who shared
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  Speaker 1: social media content deemed antisemitic. These posts celebrated the October
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  Speaker 1: 7th attacks, referred to Hamas as the Resistance, spread tropes
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  Speaker 1: about Zionists controlling the world and the Rothschild family, and
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  Speaker 1: used language such as Zionists are the new Nazis, one
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  Speaker 1: identified staff member, a midwife, refused to delete her posts
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  Speaker 1: and resigned before her case was dismissed by referral authorities.
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  Speaker 1: In the US, the Israeli-American Council has organized protests at
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  Speaker 1: documentary screenings of NAZA, a film examining the IDF's use
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  Speaker 1: of artificial intelligence in Gaza. Critics argue the film promotes
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  Speaker 1: a distorted and biased narrative against Israel's military. Protesters, carrying
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  Speaker 1: signs and flags, voiced opposition to what they described as
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  Speaker 1: the documentaries, factual problems and distorted narrative. One sign displayed
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  Speaker 1: the hashtag, number me too, unless I'm a Jew, alongside
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  Speaker 1: messages supporting Israel's right to exist. In the United Kingdom,
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  Speaker 1: The Home Secretary has announced a public inquiry into the
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  Speaker 1: October 2025 terrorist attack at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation
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  Speaker 1: Synagogue in Manchester. The inquiry will examine all evidence, including
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  Speaker 1: sensitive national security material, related to the deaths of two
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  Speaker 1: Jewish men during the attack. The government has also increased
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  Speaker 1: police funding by £ 250 million, with the Home Secretary stating
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  Speaker 1: a commitment to root out the evil of antisemitism. Additionally,
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  Speaker 1: the UK summoned the Iranian ambassador, stating, we will not
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  Speaker 1: tolerate Iran-backed threats and security risks following the synagogue terror attack.
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  Speaker 1: The J7 Global Task Force has expressed serious concern regarding
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  Speaker 1: recent UK government actions while affirming the UK's dedication to
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  Speaker 1: combating antisemitism globally. On the advocacy front, a US-based charity,
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  Speaker 1: Gaza Children Village, plans to implement AI-powered microphones in dozens
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  Speaker 1: of Gaza classrooms. The initiative aims to monitor conversations for antisemitic, inciting,
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  Speaker 1: or hateful language as part of an effort to overhaul
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  Speaker 1: a curriculum long criticized for promoting hatred. The charity's founder
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  Speaker 1: stated this is the only way they feel they can
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  Speaker 1: survive and deliver this curriculum. In the UK, a group
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  Speaker 1: of non-Jewish activists called Our Fight has launched a campaign
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  Speaker 1: titled Some People Are Zionist. Get over it, this campaign
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  Speaker 1: challenges antisemitism and anti-Zionism. asserting Israel's right to exist, following
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  Speaker 1: the Green Party's recent motion labeling Zionism as racism. The
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  Speaker 1: group aims to encourage public solidarity and visible support for
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  Speaker 1: the Jewish community from non-Jewish allies. I'm Rachel Adler, thank
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  Speaker 1: you for listening to Antisemitism Watch. For focused coverage from
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  Speaker 1: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and the Philadelphia region, listen
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  Speaker 1: to Antisemitism Watch. Follow Antisemitism Watch in your podcast app
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  Speaker 1: so you don't miss the next update. This report was
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  Speaker 1: generated with AI assistance and may contain inaccuracies. Please verify
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  Speaker 1: important details with primary sources.