Latest / Antisemitism Watch / Antisemitism Watch - September 28, 2026, 01 PM Eastern

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Antisemitism Watch - September 28, 2026, 01 PM Eastern · Antisemitism Watch

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  Speaker 1: Good morning, and thank you for joining us on Antisemitism Watch. Today,
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  Speaker 1: we begin with deeply concerning reports of incitement and violence.
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  Speaker 1: A Muslim preacher in Melbourne, identified as Abu Ahmed, has
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  Speaker 1: urged followers to take up arms against Christians and Jews,
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  Speaker 1: stating that devotion to Allah carries an obligation to oppose
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  Speaker 1: and fight enemies. According to local reports, this rhetoric has
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  Speaker 1: drawn national attention due to documented ties linking his institution
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  Speaker 1: to controversial networks. Following these reports, One Nation leader Senator
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  Speaker 1: Pauline Hanson criticized federal authorities, calling for immediate, targeted federal
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  Speaker 1: powers to confront fundamentalist Islamic extremism. Robert Gregory, president of
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  Speaker 1: the Australian Jewish Association, highlighted this as evidence of deep-seated
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  Speaker 1: failures in national security and social cohesion, pointing out that
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  Speaker 1: such warnings about radical Islamic preachers can no longer be dismissed.
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  Speaker 1: This follows earlier reports of vandalism at the Yardley Country
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  Speaker 1: Club in Pennsylvania, where Yardley Borough Police are investigating racial
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  Speaker 1: slurs and swastika symbols carved into golf course greens. Police
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  Speaker 1: described the incident, which occurred between Friday evening and Saturday morning,
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  Speaker 1: as both a criminal act and a hateful one, requesting
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  Speaker 1: public assistance to identify those responsible. Adding to the climate
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  Speaker 1: of concern, reports indicate that Jewish communities are on alert,
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  Speaker 1: with leaders warning of a toxic, antisemitic climate, and expressing
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  Speaker 1: fears of a mass casualty attack against Jews, describing hate
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  Speaker 1: crimes as a growing phenomenon. In response to ongoing threats,
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  Speaker 1: B'Yoneh Brith Canada is demanding legislative changes to permit synagogues
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  Speaker 1: to hire armed security guards, and calling for governments to
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  Speaker 1: allocate funding for law enforcement presence at every Jewish institution.
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  Speaker 1: This demand comes after an incident on Yom Kippur, where
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  Speaker 1: a gunman exchanged fire with a police officer outside the
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  Speaker 1: Sons of Jacob synagogue in Belleville, injuring the officer. B'nai
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  Speaker 1: B'rith Canada described the event as an attempted mass killing
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  Speaker 1: targeting congregants, observing the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.
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  Speaker 1: CEO Simon Wohl stated that the Jewish community can no
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  Speaker 1: longer wait for authorities to secure vulnerable locations, asserting that
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  Speaker 1: police protection is a basic function of government. We turn
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  Speaker 1: now to historical distortion. UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian
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  Speaker 1: Territories Francesca Albanese issued an apology this week after misinterpreting
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  Speaker 1: the term muselman used in Nazi camps. Albanese had claimed
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  Speaker 1: that Jews were called Muslims and that the term antisemitism
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  Speaker 1: originally encompassed hatred of all Semitic peoples. However, reputable historical bodies,
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  Speaker 1: including the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Yad Vashem, clarified that muselman,
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  Speaker 1: referred to prisoners at the brink of death, and was
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  Speaker 1: not a racial classification. They also confirmed that the term
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  Speaker 1: antisemitism was coined in 1879 specifically to denote hatred of Jews.
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  Speaker 1: Yad Vashem criticized Albanese's claims as historical inaccuracy and revisionism.
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  Speaker 1: On the topic of campus antisemitism, a unanimously approved bipartisan
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  Speaker 1: report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights identifies campus
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  Speaker 1: antisemitism as a serious civil rights concern. The report, titled
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  Speaker 1: The Federal Response to Antisemitism on American College and University Campuses,
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  Speaker 1: examines inconsistent university responses, limited federal transparency, and reduced enforcement
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  Speaker 1: capacity following the October 7th attacks. It calls for stronger
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  Speaker 1: federal coordination, greater transparency, adequate staffing of civil rights offices,
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  Speaker 1: and improved data collection. Rochelle Garza, chair of the commission,
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  Speaker 1: stated that protecting students from antisemitism is a shared civil
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  Speaker 1: rights responsibility. In related campus news, emails obtained via a
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  Speaker 1: public records request reveal controversial statements from a Lowe's Angels
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  Speaker 1: public school teacher, who expressed doubts about our Jewish students.
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  Speaker 1: In the political arena, French investigative outlet Mediapart has published
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  Speaker 1: allegations that Jordan Bardella, president of France's far-right national rally,
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  Speaker 1: made antisemitic remarks in private conversations as a teenager in 2013.
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  Speaker 1: Bardella vehemently denied the claims, calling them blatant falsehoods and
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  Speaker 1: accusing Mediapart of a smear operation. Mediapart cited verified correspondence
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  Speaker 1: containing phrases like, the Jew must dominate other peoples, crush
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  Speaker 1: them and rob them. Bardella is instructing his lawyer to
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  Speaker 1: initiate proceedings, while national rally leader Marine Le Pen dismissed
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  Speaker 1: the report as insanity. Separately, In Spain, Israel's foreign ministry
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  Speaker 1: summoned Spain's Chargé d'Affaires to protest comments by Spanish Minister
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  Speaker 1: of Youth and Children, Syrah Abed Rigo. Rigo stated the
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  Speaker 1: Spanish public supports a Palestinian state, from the river to
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  Speaker 1: the sea, a slogan the Israeli ministry interprets as implying
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  Speaker 1: the erasure of the state of Israel. The ministry accused
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  Speaker 1: the Spanish government of pursuing a systematic anti-Israel policy. Meanwhile,
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  Speaker 1: in New Jersey, Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence
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  Speaker 1: at Princeton and Chair of the NJ Advisory Committee to
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  Speaker 1: the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is studying the revival
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  Speaker 1: of antisemitism, noting a spike after the October 7th Hamas attacks.
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  Speaker 1: George expressed shock at seeing hardcore antisemitism advanced by respectable
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  Speaker 1: people on both the right and left. The New Jersey Commission,
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  Speaker 1: which recorded 687 antisemitic incidents last year, is drafting its
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  Speaker 1: report with recommendations. On the digital front, reports indicate a
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  Speaker 1: significant surge in anti-Semitic content across social media platforms since
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  Speaker 1: October 7, 2023, alongside a documented collapse in Israel's capacity
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  Speaker 1: to shape its own online narrative. The Institute for Strategic
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  Speaker 1: Dialogue recorded a more than 50-fold increase in anti-Semitic comments
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  Speaker 1: on YouTube regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict in the days following
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  Speaker 1: the Hamas attack. The Center for Countering Digital Hate reported
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  Speaker 1: that X, formerly Twitter, was still hosting a high percentage
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  Speaker 1: of flagged antisemitic posts, and Holocaust denial videos remained on TikTok.
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  Speaker 1: The American Jewish Committee survey work identifies online spaces as
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  Speaker 1: where American Jews most often encounter antisemitism. Turning to case outcomes,
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  Speaker 1: police in London announced that the stabbings of two Jewish
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  Speaker 1: men in Golders Green in April are now being treated
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  Speaker 1: as an alleged hate crime. not a terrorist attack. This
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  Speaker 1: follows a court hearing where the prosecution stated it would
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  Speaker 1: not pursue a terrorist connection as part of the criminal proceedings.
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  Speaker 1: The Metropolitan Police reassured residents that the seriousness with which
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  Speaker 1: the matter is treated has not changed. Finally, the 2026
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  Speaker 1: Daniel and Marissa Class, USC, Shoah Foundation lecture series on
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  Speaker 1: antisemitism continues its examination of contemporary antisemitism. This week's episode
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  Speaker 1: featured Dr. Lawrence Rickles discussing the Nazi regime's use of psychoanalysis,
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  Speaker 1: how psychological knowledge can be weaponized through propaganda, and the
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  Speaker 1: role of archives in confronting antisemitism. I'm Rachel Adler. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you for watching Antisemitism Watch. Follow Antisemitism Watch in your
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: podcast app so you don't miss the next update. This
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  Speaker 1: report was generated with AI assistance and may contain inaccuracies.
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  Speaker 1: Please verify important details with primary sources.