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Antisemitism Watch - August 24, 2026, 05 AM Eastern · Antisemitism Watch

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to antisemitism. Watch I'm Rachel Adler. Today we're
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  Speaker 1: tracking rising antisemitic vandalism in Melbourne, institutional responses to antisemitism,
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  Speaker 1: allegations impacting university funding, and critical commentary on the IHRA
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  Speaker 1: definition In Melbourne, Australia, Lord Mayor Nick Reese has testified
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  Speaker 1: before the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. Reese
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  Speaker 1: reported a significant fraying of social cohesion and a surge
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  Speaker 1: in antisemitic graffiti on synagogues since the war in Gaza began.
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  Speaker 1: According to reporting reviewed for this episode, between eight hundred
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  Speaker 1: and one thousand of over three thousand hateful items removed
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  Speaker 1: from synagogues were antisemitic in nature. Reese also noted that
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  Speaker 1: residents have expressed fear about coming into the city due
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  Speaker 1: to such materials and protest activity. He has recommended the
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  Speaker 1: Commission consider funding for rapid response initiatives to remove hateful
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  Speaker 1: messaging quickly, a measure he described as resource intensive. Turning
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  Speaker 1: to institutional responses in higher education, Princeton University has joined
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  Speaker 1: a coalition of thirty five research universities, including the rest
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  Speaker 1: of the Ivy League, in signing an amicus Curee brief.
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  Speaker 1: As reported by The Daily Princetonian. This brief supports Harvard's
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  Speaker 1: lawsuit against federal executive branch agencies over research funding cuts.
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  Speaker 1: These cuts, totaling two point two billion dollars for Harvard
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  Speaker 1: and around two hundred and ten million dollars for Princeton,
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  Speaker 1: were reportedly linked to allegations of antisemitism on campus. The
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  Speaker 1: universities argue in their filing that such cuts are unwarranted,
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  Speaker 1: threaten the United States leadership in scientific discovery, and endanger
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  Speaker 1: potential path breaking innovations. The brief was filed as a
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  Speaker 1: federal appeals court reviews a district court ruling that found
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  Speaker 1: the government's termination of Grant's unlawful. In commentary on policy
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  Speaker 1: definitions and lobbying, Richard Llewellyn, writing in a piece reviewed
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  Speaker 1: for this episode, has described Justice Fagin's repudiation of the
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  Speaker 1: IHRA definition of antisemitism as a masterly summation. Llewellyn links
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  Speaker 1: this development, alongside what he characterizes as the peak Zionist
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  Speaker 1: lobby body AIPAC's failure to prevent progressive democrats from opposing
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  Speaker 1: certain positions, to a crashing halt of the Israel lobby's
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  Speaker 1: political machinations. He asserts that without subservience to the Zionist cause,
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  Speaker 1: the IHRA definition will crumble. Llewellyn also criticized what he
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  Speaker 1: termed the arrogant, dissembling, hectoring bluster of the Jewish ambassador
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  Speaker 1: and the cowardice of the Foreign Minister regarding actions in Gaza. Finally,
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  Speaker 1: an analytical piece from inside Higher Ed discusses approaches to
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  Speaker 1: addressing campus issues, including antisemitism. Sean Harper argues that while
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  Speaker 1: individual anecdotes of harassment are crucial and must be taken seriously,
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  Speaker 1: institutions should not rely solely on them. Instead, Harper advocates
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  Speaker 1: for systematic campus climate assessments using rigorously validated survey tools.
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  Speaker 1: These assessments, he writes, yield more robust understandings of cultural
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  Speaker 1: realities and can reveal whether one person's experience is emblematic
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  Speaker 1: of larger, structural or systemic problems affecting multiple individuals. He
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  Speaker 1: stresses that institutions have a duty to investigate reports and
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  Speaker 1: pursue remedies, but also to systematically uncover potential widespread issues
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  Speaker 1: through data. I'm Rachel Adler, thank you for listening to
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  Speaker 1: antisemitism Watch. This report was generated with AI assistance and
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  Speaker 1: may contain inaccuracies. Please verify important details with primary sources.