Latest / Antisemitism Watch / Antisemitism Watch - September 18, 2026, 09 PM Eastern

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Antisemitism Watch - September 18, 2026, 09 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: with the arrest of a North Carolina man, Brian Charles,
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  Speaker 1: accused of mailing mass antisemitic threats, including death threats, to
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  Speaker 1: Jewish leaders and organizations. Federal authorities charged Charles with mailing
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  Speaker 1: threatening communications. With the FBI alleging letters sent in June
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  Speaker 1: and July contain statements such as, I am going to
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  Speaker 1: destroy many Jews and many shall die by my wrath,
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  Speaker 1: according to a federal criminal complaint. The FBI identified Charles
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  Speaker 1: through a fingerprint on one of the letters. The Simon
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  Speaker 1: Wiesenthal Center noted that such threats are intended to terrorize
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  Speaker 1: Jewish Americans, making them fearful of opening their mail or
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  Speaker 1: living openly. This follows FBI data showing Jews remain the
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  Speaker 1: most targeted religious group for hate crimes in the U.S.,
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  Speaker 1: with 1,938 anti-Jewish hate crime incidents recorded in 2024. In
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  Speaker 1: other acts of targeted violence, the FBI has designated a
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  Speaker 1: March incident where a truck packed with explosives was rammed
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  Speaker 1: into Temple Israel in Michigan as a targeted act of
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  Speaker 1: violence against the Jewish community. The perpetrator died from a
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  Speaker 1: self-inflicted gunshot wound. In Germany, authorities arrested a 37-year-old Afghan
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  Speaker 1: national in connection with an alleged arson attack on the
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  Speaker 1: Burjish synagogue in Wuppertal days before Yom Kippur. Joseph Schuster,
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  Speaker 1: president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, called
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  Speaker 1: the incident an arson attack and warned of the progressive
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  Speaker 1: normalization of hatred of Jews. German police recorded a significant
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  Speaker 1: increase in anti-Semitic offenses in 2025. Direct threats also emerged
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  Speaker 1: in Kansas, where a man faces 23 felony counts for
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  Speaker 1: allegedly threatening to kill conservative commentator Ben Shapiro over his
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  Speaker 1: Jewish faith. According to Boca News Now, Corby Allen Stroob
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  Speaker 1: admitted to authoring social media posts, including one with a
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  Speaker 1: countdown to the killing. In Jerusalem, Jewish youths threw eggs
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  Speaker 1: at worshippers at the Reform synagogue called Haneshama on September 15,
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  Speaker 1: the second day of Rosh Hashanah. The congregation described the
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  Speaker 1: incident as an escalation in attacks and filed a police complaint.
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  Speaker 1: In Manchester, police are investigating an act of vandalism at
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  Speaker 1: the mocha pot as a hate crime, after swastikas and
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  Speaker 1: the words white power were spray-painted on the property. Separately,
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  Speaker 1: a woman in New York City verbally assaulted a Jewish
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  Speaker 1: man at a gym, calling him a racist and Zionist
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  Speaker 1: pig without prior confrontation, according to reporting reviewed for this episode.
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  Speaker 1: On college campuses, state education officials issued two rulings finding
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  Speaker 1: that Berkeley schools mishandled antisemitism complaints, ordering training and changes
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  Speaker 1: to prevent discriminatory classroom environments and assembly violations. The California
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  Speaker 1: Department of Education reversed a district finding, ruling that posters
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  Speaker 1: at Berkeley High School created a discriminatory environment and ordered
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  Speaker 1: staff training. Separately, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for
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  Speaker 1: Civil Rights is investigating the Etiwanda School District following allegations
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  Speaker 1: by a Jewish student of repeated antisemitic attacks and claims
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  Speaker 1: the district failed to adequately address them. At George Washington University,
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  Speaker 1: Jewish students report feeling intimidated and targeted, citing protests with
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  Speaker 1: anti-Semitic overtones and an incident where stink bombs were deployed
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  Speaker 1: at an Israel Fest event. These experiences align with broader
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  Speaker 1: reports describing universities as cesspools of unchecked anti-Jewish hatred. In
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  Speaker 1: a separate development, UCLA's Chancellor Julio Frank's statement distancing the
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  Speaker 1: university from a law school symposium that characterized the Israel-Gaza
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  Speaker 1: war as genocide, has ignited an intense academic freedom debate,
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  Speaker 1: with faculty demanding retraction. Regarding rhetoric that meets IHRA criteria,
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  Speaker 1: reporting indicates that three-quarters of US college students now say
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  Speaker 1: Israel is committing genocide. This statement, when applied to Israel,
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  Speaker 1: often falls into categories of demonization or denial of Jewish self-determination.
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  Speaker 1: In politics and media, Israel's UN ambassador slammed New York
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  Speaker 1: City Mayor Zoran Mamdani, for fanning anti-Israel sentiment and calling
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  Speaker 1: for the arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Hundreds of
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  Speaker 1: Jewish community leaders and residents protested outside Mamdani's home, citing
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  Speaker 1: a summer spike in anti-Semitic incidents. Rapper Macklemore is facing
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  Speaker 1: renewed controversy over a 2014 performance where he wore a
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  Speaker 1: costume featuring anti-Semitic tropes. This resurfaced following his recent advocacy
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  Speaker 1: for Palestinian freedom. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft admitted
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  Speaker 1: to pressuring venue owners to drop McLemore due to alleged
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  Speaker 1: anti-Semitic rhetoric. Wall Street Journal editorial board member Elliot Kaufman
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  Speaker 1: argued that media coverage of the Israeli war downplays Hamas's
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  Speaker 1: role and promotes anti-Semitic narratives. Meanwhile, in Sweden, anti-Semitism accusations
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  Speaker 1: significantly shaped the recent general election campaign. leading to the
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  Speaker 1: removal of candidates for circulating anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. In institutional
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  Speaker 1: and policy responses, Ventura Mayor Jeanette Sánchez Palacios is working
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  Speaker 1: to have the city adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's
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  Speaker 1: working definition of Jew hatred following recent anti-Semitic vandalism. In Hamburg, Germany,
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  Speaker 1: the center-right Christian Democratic Union Party has unveiled a 12-point
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  Speaker 1: plan to combat rising anti-Semitism. including mandatory training for teachers
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  Speaker 1: and appointing antisemitism officers at universities. Internationally, Sweden expelled an
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  Speaker 1: Iranian diplomat for engaging in security threats, including targeting a synagogue.
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  Speaker 1: Australia's security intelligence agency, ASIO, has issued a stark warning
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  Speaker 1: that the Jewish community faces threats from state actors, particularly Iran,
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  Speaker 1: and has not ruled out the possibility of Iran targeting
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  Speaker 1: prominent Jewish Australians. In case outcomes, a French court dismissed
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  Speaker 1: antisemitism-motivated charges against a woman convicted of assaulting three Jewish students,
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  Speaker 1: failing to recognize antisemitism as an aggravating circumstance. The Union
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  Speaker 1: of French Jewish Students called the ruling scandalous, questioning how
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  Speaker 1: antisemitic violence is treated by the French justice system. Finally,
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  Speaker 1: in Community Response and Resilience, The congregation at Michigan's Temple
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  Speaker 1: Israel is returning for the first time since the synagogue
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  Speaker 1: was targeted in a terror attack, marking a significant step
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  Speaker 1: in community recovery. I'm Rachel Adler, thank you for listening
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  Speaker 1: to Antisemitism Watch. Follow Antisemitism Watch in your podcast app
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: so you don't miss the next update. This report was
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: generated with AI assistance and may contain inaccuracies. Please verify
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  Speaker 1: important details with primary sources. Thank you.