Latest / Antisemitism Watch / Antisemitism Watch - August 18, 2026, 01 PM Eastern

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Antisemitism Watch - August 18, 2026, 01 PM Eastern · Antisemitism Watch

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Antisemitism watch, I'm Rachel Adler. Today we're
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  Speaker 1: tracking concerning statistics on hate crimes, examining the rhetoric shaping
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  Speaker 1: political discourse, and looking at institutional responses to rising antisemitism.
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  Speaker 1: We begin with stark data on hate crimes from the FBI,
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  Speaker 1: which revealed that in twenty twenty five, sixty three percent
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  Speaker 1: of all religion based hate crimes in the United States
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  Speaker 1: targeted Jewish individuals. According to reporting reviewed for this episode,
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  Speaker 1: this amounted to fifteen twenty eight antisemitic hate crime incidents,
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  Speaker 1: recorded over seven times the number of anti Muslim crimes.
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  Speaker 1: While this marked a decrease from twenty twenty four figures,
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five was still the third highest year on
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  Speaker 1: record for anti Jewish hate crimes. These incidents included one
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  Speaker 1: hundred and sixty two anti Jewish assaults, three murder offenses,
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  Speaker 1: five hundred and five acts of intimidation, and over nine
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  Speaker 1: hundred offenses involving destruction of property or vandalism. A d
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  Speaker 1: L CEO Jonathan Greenblatt stated, behind every one of these
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  Speaker 1: numbers is a person who was targeted simply for being Jewish,
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  Speaker 1: whether through vandalism, intimidation or violence. The American Jewish Committee
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  Speaker 1: CEO Ted Dutch urged continued momentum and concrete action to
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  Speaker 1: stand against anti Jewish hate. Beyond statistics, specific incidents continue
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  Speaker 1: to surface. In Belfast, Northern Ireland, an Israeli journalism crew
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  Speaker 1: from I twenty four News was physically attacked and threatened
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  Speaker 1: while filming a documentary on rising antisemitism. The Police Service
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  Speaker 1: of Northern Ireland p s n I has arrested and
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  Speaker 1: charged a thirty year old man in connection with the assault,
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  Speaker 1: which reportedly involved an anti Israel slur and the throwing
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  Speaker 1: of a glass mug at a cameraman. Democratic Unionist Party
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  Speaker 1: leader Gavin Robinson condemned the assault, stating there can be
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  Speaker 1: absolutely no justiceification for violence or intimidation directed towards journalists
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  Speaker 1: because they are Israeli or Jewish. He added, if this
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  Speaker 1: attack was motivated by antisemitism, it must be recognized and
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  Speaker 1: condemned unequivocally. There must be no place for antisemitism or
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  Speaker 1: any form of intimidation on our streets, on campuses and
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  Speaker 1: in schools. A report by United Jewish Teachers tracked hundreds
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  Speaker 1: of hostile incidents in New York City public schools between
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  Speaker 1: October twenty twenty three and July twenty twenty six. According
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  Speaker 1: to their findings, the majority of these antisemitic and anti
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  Speaker 1: Israel incidents involved direct harassment, vandalism, and threats, accounting for
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  Speaker 1: sixty four point eight percent of cases. Biased teaching materials
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  Speaker 1: and disruptive events also featured. United Jewish Teachers President Mosch
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  Speaker 1: Spern emphasized the report's goal of accountability and combating the
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  Speaker 1: rising tide of antisemitism, stating, we want to make sure
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  Speaker 1: that every Jewish student, faculty, and parents feel supported. The
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  Speaker 1: report recommended formal adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism,
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  Speaker 1: mandatory NYPD investigations before hate graffiti is removed, and transparent
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  Speaker 1: public incident tracking. In politics, a Republican primary race in
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  Speaker 1: Florida has been marked by accusations of antisemitism. According to
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  Speaker 1: reporting by Fox News, Republican congressional candidate Dan Bilzerian is
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  Speaker 1: facing accusations of employing anti Jewish tropes and referencing Adolph
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  Speaker 1: Hitler against his Jewish rival, Representative Randy Fine. Fine described
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  Speaker 1: Bulsarian's campaign as an organized pogrum against the Jews. Representative
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  Speaker 1: Josh Gotthemer. A Democrat, characterized Bulsarian's platform as Nazi like,
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  Speaker 1: noting a campaign ad that he said celebrates Hitler, draws
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  Speaker 1: horns on Jews and calls a sitting Jewish member of
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  Speaker 1: Congress a problem to be solved. Meanwhile, in Florida's Democratic
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  Speaker 1: congressional primary, candidate Oliver Larkin has drawn attention for his
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  Speaker 1: rhetoric concerning Israel. Larkin, a member of the Democratic Socialists
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  Speaker 1: of America, has accused Israel of genocide and called for
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  Speaker 1: an end to U S military aid. He has referred
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  Speaker 1: to modern day Israel as a religious supremacist country and
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  Speaker 1: supports arresting Prime Minister Benjamin Netaniahu. Larkin also links antisemitism
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  Speaker 1: to other forms of hate, stating, our campaign believes in
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  Speaker 1: collective liberation for all people, and that includes the liberation
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  Speaker 1: of Jewish South Floridians and Jewish people the world over
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  Speaker 1: from antisemitism in the realm of institutional and policy responses.
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  Speaker 1: A whistleblower disclosure from a former Justice Department lawyer alleges
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  Speaker 1: that a Trump administration task force created to combat antisemitism
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  Speaker 1: pushed for settlements with Ivy League universities despite investigations that
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  Speaker 1: were rushed, incomplete, or failed to establish legal violations. According
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  Speaker 1: to reporting from the Associated Press and other outlets. The
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  Speaker 1: complaint alleges these investigations were designed to strong arm schools
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  Speaker 1: for political purposes, with outcomes predetermined and unsupported by evidence.
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  Speaker 1: The former lawyer Hailey Vanirem reportedly left the Justice Department,
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  Speaker 1: citing her unwillingness to participate in politically motivated investigations unsupported
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  Speaker 1: by facts and contrary to law. Separately, Representative Mike Lawler
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  Speaker 1: of New York has directly criticized New York Attorney General
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  Speaker 1: Lettisha James for what he called a failure to prosecute
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  Speaker 1: antisemitic hate crimes. At a campaign event, Lawler demanded James
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  Speaker 1: do her effing job, urging her to prosecute attacks on
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  Speaker 1: synagogues and end perceived in action. He cited rising antisemitic
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  Speaker 1: hate crimes in New York City, noting that anti Jewish
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  Speaker 1: attacks made up more than half of all hate crimes
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  Speaker 1: in the city, an increase from the previous year, providing
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  Speaker 1: broader context on how antisemitism is handled legally and socially.
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  Speaker 1: Historian James Loefler's new book, Exceptional Hatred argues that antisemitism
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  Speaker 1: has often been treated as a unique case in American
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  Speaker 1: debates on free speech and law, leading to inconsistent applications
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  Speaker 1: and perceptions across the political spectrum. Loeffler's research suggests that
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  Speaker 1: Jewish civil rights should be defended using the same standards
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  Speaker 1: applied to any other group. Globally, reports indicate a surge
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  Speaker 1: in disturbing and violent incidents targeting Israelis and Jews. According
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  Speaker 1: to reporting reviewed for this episode, this wave of attacks
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  Speaker 1: has spanned locations from Bangkok to Manila, Greece to Montenegro,
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  Speaker 1: making speaking Hebrew or being Israeli a potential danger. This
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  Speaker 1: trend is occurring as political anti Zionism is being normalized
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  Speaker 1: in the United States. The article notes that rhetoric from
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  Speaker 1: figures like New York City mayor Zorin Mamdani is seen
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  Speaker 1: by some as fueling this fire. With a specific mention
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  Speaker 1: of an attack on a New York synagogue and a
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  Speaker 1: reported fifty three percent increase in anti Jewish attacks in
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  Speaker 1: NYC in July compared to a decrease in overall crime,
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  Speaker 1: the reporting suggests that calls to globalize the Intafada are
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  Speaker 1: being tested in real life attacks against Jews. And Israelis
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  Speaker 1: around the world. Finally, in a positive development, newly revealed
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  Speaker 1: details from Samuel Beckett's diaries from his nineteen thirties trip
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  Speaker 1: to Nazi Germany illuminate his active opposition to Nazism and antisemitism.
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  Speaker 1: The Nobel Prize winning author, then from neutral Ireland, risked
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  Speaker 1: his life to join the French Resistance, undertaking sabotage operations
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  Speaker 1: against German occupation forces. Beckett's diary show he was never
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  Speaker 1: seduced by German propaganda, refused to accept Nazi beliefs on race,
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  Speaker 1: and spent time with Jews who had suffered under the
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  Speaker 1: regime's racial laws, demonstrating a clear moral stance against the
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  Speaker 1: pervasive antisemitism of the era. I'm Rachel Adler. Thank you
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  Speaker 1: for listening to Antisemitism Watch. This report was generated with
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  Speaker 1: AI assistance and may contain inaccuracies. Please verify important details
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  Speaker 1: with primary sources.