Latest / Antisemitism Watch / Antisemitism Watch - August 17, 2026, 09 AM Eastern

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Antisemitism Watch - August 17, 2026, 09 AM Eastern · Antisemitism Watch

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: You're listening to antisemitism. Watch I'm Rachel Adler. Today we're
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  Speaker 1: tracking overt antisemitic rhetoric emerging in political campaigns, physical assaults
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  Speaker 1: on journalists, and significant institutional and policy developments concerning Jewish safety.
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  Speaker 1: In Florida's Republican primaries, long shot candidates are employing rhetoric
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  Speaker 1: widely condemned as antisemitic, moving beyond criticism of Israel to
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  Speaker 1: outright hate speech. Dan Bilzirian, a social media personality with
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  Speaker 1: millions of followers, has repeatedly promoted conspiracy theories about Jews,
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  Speaker 1: including the false claim that Jews killed President John F. Kennedy.
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  Speaker 1: On social media, Bilzerian has asked if Adolf Hitler was
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  Speaker 1: a good person, called Jews dumb and Judaism terrible. He
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  Speaker 1: has also referred to his opponent, Republican incumbent Randy Fine,
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  Speaker 1: as a fat Jew. Campaign materials include aha Ja generated
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  Speaker 1: videos accusing Fine of wanting people to die for Israel,
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  Speaker 1: calling him Satan's creepy little minion and a Jewish supremacist.
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  Speaker 1: One video uses the slur shylock, an imagery deemed by
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  Speaker 1: Fine as celebrating Hitler. Another candidate, Jake Lang is also
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  Speaker 1: reportedly using antisemitic themes. A Combat Antisemitism Movement report, according
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  Speaker 1: to reporting reviewed for this episode, indicated that thirty three
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  Speaker 1: percent of Bilzarian's campaign content was anti Israel and antisemitic
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  Speaker 1: a broad An Israeli film crew documenting antisemitism in Europe
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  Speaker 1: was physically assaulted in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on August sixteenth.
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  Speaker 1: An individual hurled a glass object at I twenty four
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  Speaker 1: News journalists and yelled antisemitic slurs. Reporter Yanatton Revae and
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  Speaker 1: cameraman nadav Abas were interviewing people when the man, appearing inebriated,
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  Speaker 1: confronted them, saying f K Israel. The glass object struck
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  Speaker 1: ABBA's head, causing a superficial cut. According to I twenty
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  Speaker 1: four News reporting. The attacker also attempted to snatch camera equipment.
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  Speaker 1: The Anti Defamation League condemned the incident on x stating
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  Speaker 1: two journalists were targeted in Belfast for being Israeli while
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  Speaker 1: documenting antisemitism in Europe. The story they were documenting became
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  Speaker 1: their own. This is global antisemitism in action. Separately, reporting
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  Speaker 1: reviewed for this episode details a broader surge of Jew
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  Speaker 1: hatred across Europe. In France, seven Jewish individuals were reportedly
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  Speaker 1: surrounded and subjected to antisemitic chants. This incident is contextualized
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  Speaker 1: within a wider pattern that includes targeted synagogue attacks in
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  Speaker 1: Spain and France. On the campus front, Haverford College has
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  Speaker 1: agreed to a settlement with Jewish students and faculty who
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  Speaker 1: alleged the institution did not do enough to protect them
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  Speaker 1: from antisemitism. Under the terms of the settlement, Haverford leaders
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  Speaker 1: will bar discrimination specifically against Zionists, students, and employees, as
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  Speaker 1: well as those who are Jewish or Israeli. In a
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  Speaker 1: separate legal development, a federal judge dismissed the Trump administration's
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  Speaker 1: lawsuit against Harvard University. The administration had sought to claw
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  Speaker 1: back federal grant funding, accusing the university of not adequately
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  Speaker 1: addressing campus anti semitism. The judge ruled that Trump officials
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  Speaker 1: failed to prove Harvard was out of compliance with Title
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  Speaker 1: v I, which prohibits discrimination at federally funded institutions. In
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  Speaker 1: New York City, following an antisemitic attack at Manhattan's Central Synagogue,
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  Speaker 1: a Jewish security watchdog is urging the NYPD to implement
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  Speaker 1: advanced tactics to identify potential hate crime hot spots. During
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  Speaker 1: a Friday night service, Larry Monty's disrupted worship with antisemitic slurs,
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  Speaker 1: then assaulted a congregant and security personnel. The Community Security
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  Speaker 1: Initiative or CSI, is advising synagogues on safety measures and
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  Speaker 1: advocating for tools like data mining and crime cluster mapping
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  Speaker 1: to prevent hate crimes. CSI CEO Mitchell Silber noted the
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  Speaker 1: ongoing challenge of balancing openness with security. Meanwhile, in Montgomery County, Maryland,
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  Speaker 1: Jewish advocates are suing over a new county law that
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  Speaker 1: criminalizes carrying licensed firearms within one hundred yards of places
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  Speaker 1: of public assembly, including synagogues. The Silver Spring Jewish Center
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  Speaker 1: is challenging the law, arguing it effectively disarms congregants in
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  Speaker 1: an area with high antisemitism rates, preventing them from providing
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  Speaker 1: their own defense, a practice they consider a Jewish legal
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  Speaker 1: and communal imperative. Rabbi Menash Shapiro told The Washington Examiner
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  Speaker 1: that Montgomery County is unique in prohibiting houses of worship
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  Speaker 1: from having their own members or staff carry firearms inside. Finally,
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  Speaker 1: an opinion piece in the Times of Israel questions the
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  Speaker 1: implications of campaigns targeting Zionist complicity. Robert S. Miller's commentary
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  Speaker 1: asks whether ordinary economic participation, such as investing in cities,
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  Speaker 1: risks becoming a political loyalty test. The piece highlights the
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  Speaker 1: potential for such campaigns to transform every day actions into
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  Speaker 1: demands for political allegiance related to Israel. That's our report
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  Speaker 1: for to day. I'm Rachel Adler. Thank you for listening
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  Speaker 1: to Antisemitism Watch. This report was generated with AI assistance
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  Speaker 1: and may contain inaccuracies. Please verify important details with primary sources.