Latest / Antisemitism Watch / Wisconsin Candidate Arrested for Hate Crime Rant

Transcript

Wisconsin Candidate Arrested for Hate Crime Rant · Antisemitism Watch

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: You're listening to Antisemitism Watch, I'm Rachel Adler. Today, we're
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: launching Antisemitism Watch, Mid-Atlantic, providing focused coverage from New York,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: New Jersey, Connecticut, and the Philadelphia region. Visit clockworkmedia.org slash
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: MA for more. A Wisconsin congressional candidate has been arrested
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: on disorderly conduct charges with a hate crime enhancer after
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: engaging in a vulgar anti-Israel rant against an Israeli father,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: and his son, Naipost.com reported. Matthew Arndt allegedly cut off
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: the father, flipped him the bird, and continued his tirade
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: at a gas station, calling the man a F-King piece
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: of ST, a F-King traitor, and a F-King Israel F-King traitor,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: while shouting F-K Israel. Arndt, who is running for Wisconsin's
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: 6th Congressional District, declared, Free Palestine, Matthew Arndt. The victim
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: stated his bumper sticker read F-K Hamas. Arndt's campaign platform
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: includes severing U.S. ties with Israel. This incident directly connects
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: a political candidate to a hate-motivated verbal assault. New York
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: City Mayor Zoran Mamdani defended his statement accusing Israel of genocide,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: repeating the accusation multiple times during a press conference, according
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: to reporting from IsraelNationalNews.com. Mamdani issued a statement on the
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: third anniversary of the October 7 Hamas massacre, condemning Hamas
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: but dedicating significant content to allegations of genocide, apartheid, and
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: war crimes against Israel. He stated, the Israeli government used
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: and continues to use that day, those war crimes as
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: a justification for an ongoing genocide. He accused Israel of
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: genocide six times, contrasting the 1,100 Israelis killed by Hamas
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: with the 74,000 Palestinians the Israeli government has killed since.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: This follows his controversial act. 8. 2023 Statement and Refusal
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: to Condemn, Globalize the Intifada At Haverford College, Professor Guangxin
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Ha is accused of cyberstalking and sending over 50 antisemitic,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: threatening messages to a Jewish co-worker, as reported by CyberNews.com
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: and CampusReform.org. Prosecutors argue Ha is a danger and should
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: be detained pending trial. He allegedly used anonymous social media accounts,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: including one linked to his IP address, to send messages
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: featuring antisemitic language referencing Hitler and the Holocaust. One message
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: included a picture of the victim's mailbox with an eyes emoji,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: and another stated, Blurring your home on Google Maps and
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: installing a security camera next to your mailbox won't help.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: This case highlights severe online harassment originating from within an
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: academic institution. A bipartisan U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: concludes the Trump administration's handling of campus antisemitism was ineffective
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: and counterproductive, according to Yahoo.com. The report noted difficulty distinguishing
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: media perceptions from actual campus experience, stating 97% of protests
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: were peaceful. It also cited court rulings clarifying that anti-Zionist
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: speech cannot be assumed to be antisemitic. The commission found
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: flawed data collection, with the Anti-Defamation League's expanded definition after
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: October 7 making its claims unreliable. Federal agencies, including the
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, were found to
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: have flawed methodologies and staffing issues. The Trump administration's actions
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: were described as wrenching concessions from universities rather than relying
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: on careful investigation. On college campuses, a play featuring testimonies
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: from victims of the 2023 Hamas attacks at Northwestern University
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: was disrupted by a fire alarm, WFMD.com reported. Creators Anne
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: McElhinney and Phelan McAleer characterized the incident as deliberate and cowardly.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Northwestern University police are investigating. Meanwhile, at the University of
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: New Mexico, a memorial for October 7 victims was vandalized
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: by students chanting anti-Israel slogans, JNS.org reported. The memorial, set
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: up by non-Jewish student Lawrence Puccini, was stomped on, its
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: sign torn, and participants spat on it while chanting from
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: the river to the sea and death to Israel. Puccini
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: reported the vandalism to campus police. Columbia University faced backlash
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: after its John Jay dining hall menu listed October 7th
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: next to blush sauce on the anniversary of the Hamas attack,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: according to Ground News. The wording appeared on the anniversary
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: of the October 7 attacks, leading to online speculation and
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: accusations of antisemitic harassment, despite the university's stated commitment to
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: combating antisemitism. In the UK, a Green Party motion has
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: been reported to label Zionism as racism, NewArab.com states. This
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: development within a significant political party engages with rhetoric that
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: critics argue denies Jewish self-determination. French far-right leader Jordan Bardella
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: faces new allegations of deleting messages from an old Facebook
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: account potentially containing anti-Semitic remarks from his teenage years. 24
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: News at TV reported. Investigative website Mediapart reported Bardella made
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: disparaging remarks about Jewish people in 2013. Le Canard Enchaîné
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: reported Bardella deleted data from one of his Facebook accounts
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: shortly after the allegations surfaced. Bardella denies the allegations and
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: has threatened legal action. Internationally, two men have pleaded not
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: guilty to charges of conducting surveillance on Jewish and Israeli
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: sites in London on behalf of Iran's intelligence service, according
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: to BBC.com and TimesOfIsrael.com. Prosecutors allege hostile reconnaissance targeting locations
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: including the Israeli embassy and consulate, a college, and Britain's
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: oldest synagogue between July and August 2025. In institutional news,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Germany's left party agreed on measures to address antisemitic incidents,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: including adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism, Haaretz.com reported. This
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: move satisfies a key condition for potential coalition partners. Pennsylvania
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: law enforcement officers are also undergoing training to identify evolving
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: forms of antisemitism, which increasingly relies on coded language, combatantisemitism.org noted.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Reflecting on community security, a YouTube.com video highlights the one-year
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: anniversary of a Manchester synagogue attack. Discussing ongoing security measures
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: and community resilience, noting schools are described as open-air prisons. Finally,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: the Secure Community Network has launched an oral history project,
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Standing with Strength, Stories of Survival, Preserving First-Hand Accounts from
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: Survivors of Antisemitic Terror Attacks, jpost.com announced. This initiative integrates
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: these testimonies into SCN's security training programs. I'm Rachel Adler,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: thank you for listening to Antisemitism Watch. For focused coverage
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and the Philadelphia region,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: listen to Antisemitism Watch, midatlantic at clockworkmedia.org slash m-a. Follow
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Antisemitism Watch in your podcast app so you don't miss
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: the next update. This report was generated with AI assistance
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: and may contain inaccuracies. Please verify important details with primary sources.