Latest / Antisemitism Watch / Antisemitism Watch - August 9, 2026, 05 PM Eastern

Transcript

Antisemitism Watch - August 9, 2026, 05 PM Eastern · Antisemitism Watch

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: You're listening to antisemitism. Watch, I'm Rachel Adler. Today we're
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: tracking escalating rhetoric from officials, disturbing trends on campuses, and
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: crucial law enforcement actions against hate's speech. We begin with
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: stark rhetoric from Pakistan's Defense Minister Kawaja Mohammad Asif. According
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: to reporting reviewed for this episode, Asif declared that the
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Islamic world must unite to confront the common threat posed
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: by Israel, calling Israel an illegitimate state and a product
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: of the bal for declaration. In a previous post, Acif
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: described Israel as evil and a curse for humanity and
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: prayed that people who created this cancerous state on Palestinian
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: land get rid of European Jews. Sick Burn and hell
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Israeli Ambassador to the US Yetchiel later directly criticized Acith's
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: remarks on X, stating, you are not a mediator, mister
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: a Sif, You are the problem. These comments, made in
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: the context of a new trilateral defense agreement between Pakistan,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, demonize Israel and directly blame Jewish people,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: invoking patterns identified by the IHRA working definition in New
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: York City mayors are in Mamdani's public statements are raising
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: serious concerns among law enforcement and city officials. According to
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: NYPD and New York City government sources cited by The
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: New York Post, Mamdani's calls to arrest Israeli Prime Minister
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Benjamin Netaniahu and his description of the Israeli leader as
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: a war criminal are significantly complicating security arrangements for Netaniahu's
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: planned visit in late September. One NYPD source told the
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Post that Mamdani's words turn what would be a manageable
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: security situation into a Category five challenge, potentially emboldening radical agitators.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: A city government source assessed that the mayor's hostility toward
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Israel has clearly caused an uptick in antisemitism all across
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: our city, and that urging people to protest creates a
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: powder keg situation that is likely to be very violent.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Alarm is growing over a significant build up of Palestinian
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: authority forces and weaponry described as potentially leading to a
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Jewish genocide of Holocaust proportions, detailed in a recent article
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs titled
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: the PA's massive army threatens millions of Israelis within just
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: twenty two kilometers. The PA's security force has expanded from
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: its Oslo Accords limit of twelve thousand individuals to an
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: estimated seventy thousand, with a correspondingly large arsenal. The report
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: warns this build up, coupled with military training, could make
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: October seventh seem like a minor prelude to a future
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: massive scale attack on Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: This rhetoric invokes Holocaust inversion and the denial of Jewish
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: self determination, aligning with IHRA's contemporary examples of antisemitism. Turning
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: to law enforcement, the Toronto Police Service announced significant action
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: in response to hate speech at a pro Palestinian protest.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: According to police, two additional individuals have been arrested, bringing
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: the total charge to eight for wilful promotion and public
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: incitement of hatred. Investigators alleged that on March fifteenth, the
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: accused retrieved antisemitic signs from a storage locker and later
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: displayed them publicly at a protest. Police stated the individuals
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: marched toward counter protesters while shouting derogatory slurs. Advocacy groups
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: like the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs or CIJA,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: welcomed the arrests, stating there must be consequences for promoting hatred.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: This development comes amid a surge of incidents targeting Jewish
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: institutions across Canada on campuses, a disturbing picture of widespread
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: antisemitism is emerging. A Canadian federal government report examining antisemitism
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: at higher education institutions found that antisemitism is widespread and endemic.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: The report states that ninety five percent of Jewish students
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: at Canadian universities have experienced or witnessed at least one
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: antisemitic incident over the past year. This follows a survey
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: from the Department of Canadian Heritage indicating that university students
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: surveyed reported being exposed to antisemitism. In the United States,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: colleges and universities have faced numerous lawsuits alleging they encouraged
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: or permitted antisemitism, particularly after Hamas attacked Israel in October
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty three. According to reporting reviewed for this episode,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: one university has settled a twenty twenty four lawsuit that
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: claimed it failed to adequately support its Jewish students amid
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: campus tensions. For the Jewish community in France, the events
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: of October seventh, twenty twenty three are seen not as
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: a rupture, but as the latest chapter in a decade's
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: long struggle. Jonathan Arpi, president of the CRIF, states that
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: for French Jews, the turning point was October two thousand,
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: contrasting with other European nations where October seventh marked the
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: primary rupture. According to a twenty twenty five report by
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: the Jewish Community Protection Service or sbcj antisemitism in France
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: is daily, durable, established, widespread throughout French territory, and increasingly violent.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: While Jews constitute less than one percent of France's population,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: they account for fifty three percent of all and religious
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: hate incidents, including one hundred and twenty six physical assaults
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: last year. ARFI notes that previously antisemitism existed but was
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: ashamed and hidden. Today it is proud and embraced. In
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Michigan politics, Democratic Senate nominee Abdel Elsaide has made opposition
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: to unconditional US military aid to Israel a defining issue
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: of his campaign. In an interview on NBCs meet the press.
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: Elsay distinguished aid to Ukraine froms aid to Israel, arguing
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: the US has been offering unconditional foreign military aid to Israel,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: independent of the circumstances for years. During his primary he
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: reportedly called Israel bloodthirsty. Hailey Seyfer, j DCA's chief executive,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: noted in a substack post that Jewish voters remain uneasy,
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: rooting their concern in concern for our safety and security
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: given rising antisemitism and antisemitic violence, including when Jews are
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: blamed for the actions of Israel. Across the Atlantic. British
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: activist Charlie downs is accused of antisemitism. According to reporting
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: reviewed for this episode. Downes, a spokesman for the nationalist
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Restore Britain party, posted a photograph implying Reform UK leader
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Nigel Farage had been bought by Jews. The image showed
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Farage at an event with the Reform Jewish Alliance logo
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: and a star of David visible. Alex Hearn of Labor
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Against Antisemitism told The Telegraph newspaper that this post inked
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: a long standing antisemitic trope that portrays Jews as secretly
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: wielding financial or political influence. The campaign against Antisemitism also
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: condemned the post, questioning why such an imputation would be
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: reserved for Jews. Finally, a development from the campus landscape,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: Haverford College has agreed to form an antisemitism committee and
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: enact new policies supporting Jewish, Israeli and Zionist students as
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: part of a settlement to a twenty twenty four lawsuit.
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: The suit, filed after Hamas attacked Israel, contended the college
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: failed to protect plaintiffs and allowed antisemitic harassment to flourish.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Laurie Lowenthal Marcus, Legal director for the Deborah Project, the
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: law firm that took the case, stated We're very proud
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: that Haverford College will be a welcoming place for everyone,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: including Jews and others that support a Jewish state. As
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: part of the settlement, the college will establish an Antisemitism Committee,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: which will consult guidance from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alive
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: to examine if anti Israel's sentiment constitutes antisemitism. I'm Rachel Adler,
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Antisemitism Watch. This report was
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: generated with AI assistance and may contain inaccuracies. Please verify
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: important details with primary sources,