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October Antisemitic Violence in London, NY, Berlin · Antisemitism Watch

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Antisemitism Watch, I'm Rachel Adler. Antisemitism Watch,
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  Speaker 1: Mid-Atlantic is now available, providing focused coverage from New York,
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  Speaker 1: New Jersey, Connecticut, and the Philadelphia region. Learn more at clockworkmedia.org
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  Speaker 1: slash ma today. We're tracking a disturbing surge in physical
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  Speaker 1: antisemitic violence, escalating threats against Jewish institutions, and significant developments
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  Speaker 1: in online hate and institutional responses. October saw a significant
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  Speaker 1: rise in anti-Semitic violence and threats, coinciding with the third
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  Speaker 1: anniversary of the October 7 Hamas massacre. Jews were attacked
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  Speaker 1: in ordinary public settings, Jewish schools and synagogues faced threats,
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  Speaker 1: and individuals were pushed out of professional and cultural life
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  Speaker 1: over perceived ties to Israel. According to reporting reviewed for
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  Speaker 1: this episode, official figures in Britain recorded 3,162 between April
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  Speaker 1: 2025 and March 2026, a 10% increase from the previous
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  Speaker 1: year and the highest rate per person of any religious group.
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  Speaker 1: In London, three Jewish women were assaulted in Stamford Hill
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  Speaker 1: on October 19, including a mother with a baby. Police
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  Speaker 1: are investigating these incidents as suspected anti-Semitic hate crimes, and
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  Speaker 1: one man has been charged with assault. In New York,
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  Speaker 1: federal prosecutors on October 29 charged a woman with two
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  Speaker 1: hate crimes for attacks on two Jewish men near Manhattan's
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  Speaker 1: Diamond District on October 21. One victim was jabbed with
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  Speaker 1: a needle, the other stabbed, with attacks reportedly following questions
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  Speaker 1: about their religious identity. Prosecutors also linked her to an
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  Speaker 1: earlier assault outside a Brooklyn yeshiva. In Berlin, police are
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  Speaker 1: investigating an assault on a 60-year-old man as a suspected
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  Speaker 1: antisemitic attack. and a separate report detailed repeated attacks on
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  Speaker 1: a shopkeeper who displayed posters opposing antisemitism. Threats and hostile
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  Speaker 1: messages also targeted Jewish communal life. In early October, hoax
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  Speaker 1: bomb threats disrupted Jewish schools in California and Florida. In Belleville, Ontario,
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  Speaker 1: police investigated antisemitic flyers distributed in the city, which also
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  Speaker 1: reached the local synagogue. In Lowe's Angels, the FBI arrested
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  Speaker 1: a 51-year-old man in mid-October over threats against JEMS, a
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  Speaker 1: Chabad-affiliated Jewish preschool. According to the federal complaint, he had
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  Speaker 1: posted statements like, I might bomb JEMS later, praised the Houthis,
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  Speaker 1: and called for burning synagogues. Agents found materials believed to
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  Speaker 1: be intended for incendiary devices at his home. In Kochi, India,
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  Speaker 1: police arrested a man within hours of an arson attack
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  Speaker 1: on a nursery run by the Kadima community. On campuses,
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  Speaker 1: a filmed altercation at the University of Michigan on November
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  Speaker 1: 1st went viral. A female student violently shoved a Jewish
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  Speaker 1: conservative activist, Liz Benishu, to the ground. The attacker reportedly shouted,
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  Speaker 1: I should have fucking killed you when I had the
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  Speaker 1: fucking chance. University of Michigan police identified the attacker as
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  Speaker 1: a student and took her into custody. Benishu's manager stated
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  Speaker 1: she injured her lower back from the fall and plans
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  Speaker 1: to press charges. This incident occurred after Benishu engaged with
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  Speaker 1: a tabling event. Separately, Columbia College students voted on an
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  Speaker 1: anti-Israel referendum, though the school has not yet released the
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  Speaker 1: results amidst lawsuits filed by Israeli and Jewish students alleging antisemitism.
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  Speaker 1: The combat antisemitism movement is also tracking incidents where Jewish
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  Speaker 1: students face displacement from university campus areas. In Australia, A
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  Speaker 1: report released by Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segel,
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  Speaker 1: has drawn criticism. Described by some as Trumpian, the report
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  Speaker 1: targets the left, socialists and Marxists, conflating opposition to Israel's
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  Speaker 1: actions with antisemitism. Reporting from WSWS.org suggests the report functions
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  Speaker 1: as a pretext for state repression and attacks on democratic rights,
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  Speaker 1: asserting that even accusations of genocide against Israel are inherently antisemitic. Online,
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  Speaker 1: the scale of antisemitic content remains a major concern. The
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  Speaker 1: Combat Antisemitism Movement's latest Global Antisemitism Report documented 108 antisemitic
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  Speaker 1: incidents worldwide in the past week, with the far-left category
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  Speaker 1: accounting for the largest share at 50 incidents. A concurrent
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  Speaker 1: 75-day study by CAM's Antisemitism Research Center monitored 683 social
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  Speaker 1: media accounts across X, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. These accounts
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  Speaker 1: collectively generated 1.18 billion views for antisemitic content, prompting Cam
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  Speaker 1: to urge social media companies to reassess algorithms and content
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  Speaker 1: moderation policies. A separate report released October 29th by CyberWell
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  Speaker 1: identified antisemitic posts on X, formerly Twitter, blaming Jews for
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  Speaker 1: both starting and suppressing protests during violent unrest. In response
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  Speaker 1: to the marked rise in antisemitism, the Jewish Federations of
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  Speaker 1: North America, or JFNA, is launching a $ 35 million initiative
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  Speaker 1: called Frontline. The strategy involves placing 100 new employees in
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  Speaker 1: local federations to advocate against antisemitism and cultivate community relations. However,
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  Speaker 1: several experts told ijwishphilanthropy.com that they worry this initiative might
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  Speaker 1: be doubling down on interventions that have failed to curb
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  Speaker 1: Jew hatred and may not yield meaningful results. The programme
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  Speaker 1: aims to provide resources for advocacy, security and policy development
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  Speaker 1: in schools. Internationally, rising antisemitism in the UK is providing
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  Speaker 1: an extra incentive for British doctors, dentists and medical students
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  Speaker 1: to plan a Leah or relocation to Israel. While some
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  Speaker 1: have always intended to move, they now cite not feeling
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  Speaker 1: safe and seeking better professional opportunities, innovation and a sense
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  Speaker 1: of impact as key motivators. One medical student noted feeling
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  Speaker 1: unsafe telling people she is Jewish and expressed a desire
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  Speaker 1: to work in a field like low-resource rural medicine in Israel,
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  Speaker 1: which she finds more innovative. Finally, a personal reflection on
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  Speaker 1: developing Jewish identity and leadership. Writing for edwishphilanthropy.com, a former
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  Speaker 1: Jewish student body president at the University of California, Santa Barbara,
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  Speaker 1: shares how formative experiences like NCSY, summer trips to Israel,
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  Speaker 1: and founding a Jewish student union club in public high
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  Speaker 1: school provided the foundation and strength to navigate hostility and
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  Speaker 1: personal targeting after October 7, 2023. She emphasizes the importance
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  Speaker 1: of early leadership development and creating spaces for Jewish students
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  Speaker 1: to explore their identity and contribute to Jewish life. I'm
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  Speaker 1: Rachel Adler, thank you for listening to Antisemitism Watch. For
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  Speaker 1: focused coverage from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and the
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  Speaker 1: Philadelphia region, Listen to Antisemitism Watch, midatlantic at clockworkmedia.org slash ma.
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  Speaker 1: Follow Antisemitism Watch in your podcast app so you don't
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  Speaker 1: miss the next update. This report was generated with AI
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  Speaker 1: assistance and may contain inaccuracies. Please verify important details with
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  Speaker 1: primary sources.