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Antisemitism Watch - August 18, 2026, 05 AM Eastern · Antisemitism Watch

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to antisemitism. Watch, I'm Rachel Adler. Today we
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  Speaker 1: begin with developments on university campuses and in the legal arena.
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  Speaker 1: In Germany, Jewish student lah Of Shapira is appealing a
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  Speaker 1: court ruling against Berlin's Free University, seeking better protection against
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  Speaker 1: antisemitic discrimination. His lawyers filed the appeal after the Berlin
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  Speaker 1: Administrative court rejected his lawsuit, stating the university's Higher Education
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  Speaker 1: Act does not provide for individually enforceable rights. According to
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  Speaker 1: reporting by DPA, Shapiro issued after being attacked and injured
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  Speaker 1: by a fellow student in February twenty twenty four, an
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  Speaker 1: incident with ongoing criminal proceedings. The Berlin Public Prosecutor's office
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  Speaker 1: has also appealed the attacker sentence, which was reduced and
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  Speaker 1: whose antisemitic motivation was not assumed by the higher court,
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  Speaker 1: unlike the lower court's assessment. Benjamin Steinitz of the Research
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  Speaker 1: and Information Center Antisemitism Berlin or RIAS, called the appeal
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  Speaker 1: an important step to close a protection gap, adding that
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  Speaker 1: Jewish students often feel their experiences of antisemitism are questioned
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  Speaker 1: or not taken seriously. According to RIAS, project manager Julia Kopp.
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  Speaker 1: Julia Bernstein of the Network of Jewish University Lecturers echoed this,
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  Speaker 1: stating guaranteed protection rights must be enforceable. Concerns about campus
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  Speaker 1: antisemitism are also evident elsewhere. Reports detail antisemitic graffiti in
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  Speaker 1: washrooms and spoiled milk being thrown at TMU, affecting Jewish
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  Speaker 1: students and staff. These incidents have fueled concerns that the
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  Speaker 1: university has not acted fast enough to address the campus climate,
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  Speaker 1: according to reporting reviewed for this episode. Adding context to
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  Speaker 1: the broader issue, a report surveyed nine hundred Jewish students
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  Speaker 1: at Canadian universities and colleges regarding antisemitism on campuses, indicating
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  Speaker 1: a significant problem requiring attention, according to reporting reviewed for
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  Speaker 1: this episode. Turning to political and media rhetoric, a NSW
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  Speaker 1: Supreme Court judge in Australia has sharply criticised the International
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  Speaker 1: Holocaust Remembrance Alliances working definition of antisemitism. Justice Desmond Fagin,
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  Speaker 1: ruling on a case, called the definition verbose, imprecise, and
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  Speaker 1: detached from reality, and accused its proponents of using it
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  Speaker 1: to shut down protest against Israel, according to reporting reviewed
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  Speaker 1: for this episode. On a more constructive note. Veteran business
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  Speaker 1: leader David Gansky has proposed the creation of a national
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  Speaker 1: institute to teach ethics across all levels of education and
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  Speaker 1: advise businesses. Gansky made this call in a personal capacity
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  Speaker 1: at the Antisemitism Royal Commission, noting that the Albanese government's
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  Speaker 1: Antisemitism Education Task Force, which he chairs, is likely to
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  Speaker 1: support the initiative as a key measure to improve social cohesion.
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  Speaker 1: According to reporting reviewed for this episode, I'm Rachel Adler.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Antisemitism Watch. This report was
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  Speaker 1: generated with a I assistance and may contain inaccuracies. Please
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  Speaker 1: verify important details with primary sources.