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Antisemitism Watch - August 7, 2026, 01 PM Eastern · Antisemitism Watch

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to Antisemitism Watch. I'm Rachel Adler. Today we examine
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  Speaker 1: alarming trends in global antisemitic violence, the pervasive nature of
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  Speaker 1: antisemitism on Canadian campuses, and critical institutional responses to hate.
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  Speaker 1: The J seven Report, a task force against Antisemitism, documented
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  Speaker 1: over twenty three thousand antisemitic incidents globally in the past year,
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  Speaker 1: representing a one hundred and thirty six percent increase in
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  Speaker 1: total incidents and a ninety seven percent rise in violent
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  Speaker 1: incidents compared to the previous year. This surge means antisemitic
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  Speaker 1: violence is at its highest point since nineteen ninety four,
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  Speaker 1: with Jews being increasingly targeted, according to the report. In
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  Speaker 1: the United States, Jews were a target of fifty seven
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  Speaker 1: percent of confirmed hate crimes in twenty twenty six, while
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  Speaker 1: representing only about ten percent of New York City's population.
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  Speaker 1: According to NYPD data cited in the report, The Anti
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  Speaker 1: Defamation League notes this has become the new baseline, with
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  Speaker 1: American Jews targeted an average of seventeen times a day
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  Speaker 1: last year globally. Britain's Antisemitism watchdog received reports of nearly
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  Speaker 1: two thousand incidents in the first half of twenty twenty
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  Speaker 1: six a twenty one percent rise, with anti Jewish hate
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  Speaker 1: remaining well above pre October seventh levels. In Montenegro, historic
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  Speaker 1: ties are being tested. A recent violent brawl involving Israeli
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  Speaker 1: tourists reportedly escalated when locals shouted free Palestine and f Israel,
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  Speaker 1: according to Rabbi Ari Edelkop, who heads the Religious Jewish
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  Speaker 1: community of Montenegro. Edelcop stated locals then allegedly used metal
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  Speaker 1: chairs and tables, with one Israeli suffering a broken jaw.
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  Speaker 1: An Israeli government alert noted police failed to intervene on
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  Speaker 1: Canadian university campuses. A new survey reveals a staggering scale
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  Speaker 1: of antisemitism. Between November seventeen and December nineteenth, twenty twenty five,
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  Speaker 1: nine hundred Jewish students were polled. The findings indicate that
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  Speaker 1: ninety five point seven percent witnessed at least one incident
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  Speaker 1: of antisemitism in the past year. Researchers also found that
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  Speaker 1: eighteen percent of reported incidents were allegedly carried out by
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  Speaker 1: faculty members and seven percent by teaching assistants. Overall, eighty
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  Speaker 1: four percent of respondents said antisemitism is a serious problem,
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  Speaker 1: with seventy percent stating their institution does not take it seriously.
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  Speaker 1: Examples cited include a professor writing we should kill all Zionists,
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  Speaker 1: and students shouting there's a jew, let's get him at
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  Speaker 1: a student wearing a kippa. Jack Jedwab, the reports author
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  Speaker 1: and executive director of the Association for Canadian Studies, described
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  Speaker 1: the situation as systemic. In response to this environment, a
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  Speaker 1: Quebec superior court judge has authorized a class action lawsuit
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  Speaker 1: by Jewish students at McGill University. The lawsuit alleges the
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  Speaker 1: university failed to combat antisemitism and protect students from discrimination
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  Speaker 1: during protests that began after October seven, twenty twenty three.
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  Speaker 1: The students are seeking five million dollars in punitive damages
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  Speaker 1: and tuition reimbursement, citing the school's alleged failure in its obligations.
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  Speaker 1: Jewish advocacy organization ban I Bris praise the judgment. McGill
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  Speaker 1: stated it denounces all forms of antisemitism. In the United States,
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  Speaker 1: the U s Department of Education has launched federal civil
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  Speaker 1: rights investigations into San Jose State University and San Francisco
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  Speaker 1: State University. These probes examine allegations that the schools permit
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  Speaker 1: and perpetuate antisemitic harassment, creating hostile environments for Jewish students.
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  Speaker 1: According to a Department press release, complaints indicate Jewish students
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  Speaker 1: at San Jose State were allegedly threatened and shunned, while
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  Speaker 1: at San Francisco State, Jewish students described the campus as
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  Speaker 1: an environment of intimidation, exclusion, and fear. The department noted
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  Speaker 1: faculty using their positions to foster antisemitism. Both universities stated
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  Speaker 1: they are reviewing the allegations and denounce antisemitism. Meanwhile, in Australia,
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  Speaker 1: students at the prestigious Wesley College in Perth were suspended
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  Speaker 1: after sharing antisemitic language and means targeting a classmate in
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  Speaker 1: a private group chat, as confirmed by the college. Jewish
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  Speaker 1: Community Council of WA Vice president Steve Leeblick noted an
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  Speaker 1: increase in antisemitic incidents in war schools since late twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty three. In the UK, Joshua Bonehill Paine, who was
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  Speaker 1: convicted in twenty sixteen for racist abuse against a Jewish
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  Speaker 1: lawmaker and served jail time for antisemitic hate speech, withdrew
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  Speaker 1: his candidacy for a local Conservative Party election seat. His
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  Speaker 1: nomination had drawn sharp criticism from the Board of Deputies
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  Speaker 1: of British Jews, who labeled him a former neo Nazi
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  Speaker 1: with criminal convictions for antisemitic hatred. Conservative Party leader Kemi
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  Speaker 1: Baddens defended his nomination, asserting the party believes in second
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  Speaker 1: chances and that Bonehill Pain would work to tackle radicalization separately.
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  Speaker 1: Commentator Roger Kimball in The Spectator argues that certain Democratic candidates,
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  Speaker 1: such as Wisconsin's Francesca Hong and Michigan's Abdel Elsaide represent
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  Speaker 1: a nuts or red green wing. Kimball's analysis points to
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  Speaker 1: statements by figures like Zurin Mamdani as containing more or
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  Speaker 1: less patent anti semitism. An organization dedicated to documenting and
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  Speaker 1: fighting hate speech online, found that major social media platforms
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  Speaker 1: largely failed to act against antisemitism. A tech investigation linked
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  Speaker 1: over one hundred x posts to antisemitic content, underscoring platform
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  Speaker 1: moderation failures. Finally, the University of Minnesota has settled with
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  Speaker 1: historian raz Segle for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
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  Speaker 1: after withdrawing an offer for him to lead its Center
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  Speaker 1: for Holocaust and Genocide Studies. The university rect sended the
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  Speaker 1: offer after backlash over Segel's criticism of Israel's actions in Gaza,
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  Speaker 1: which he called a text book case of genocide. In
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  Speaker 1: an October twenty twenty three op ed, Segel, who is
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  Speaker 1: Jewish and a grandchild of Holocaust survivors, stated the university
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  Speaker 1: leadership determined that I'm the wrong kind of Israeli and
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  Speaker 1: the wrong kind of jew. Documents obtained through a public
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  Speaker 1: record's request revealed a pressure campaign on university officials by
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  Speaker 1: donors and pro Israel activists, with one donor writing we
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  Speaker 1: cannot allow someone like Raz Segel, a blatant anti Zionist,
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  Speaker 1: to head the Department of Holocaust Studies. Segel's advocates argued
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  Speaker 1: the university's actions retaliated against constitutionally protected speech. Segel is
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  Speaker 1: now a tenured professor at Stockton University. In institutional responses,
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  Speaker 1: the University of Pennsylvania and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
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  Speaker 1: reached a resolution that ended a dispute over an antisemitism investigation.
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  Speaker 1: The agreement spared the university from turning over sensitive employee information,
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  Speaker 1: avoiding a subpoena that sought lists of Jewish employees and
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  Speaker 1: campus group members. Interveners in the case, including the American
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  Speaker 1: Association of University Professors, are continuing legal action to vacate
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  Speaker 1: the district court's opinion, arguing it leaves them vulnerable to
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  Speaker 1: future violations of constitutional rights. Wharton School professor Amanda Shanner
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  Speaker 1: stated that the government might argue that the faculty and
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  Speaker 1: student groups that challenged this list couldn't challenge future ones,
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  Speaker 1: so they could be targeted on campuses across the country
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  Speaker 1: and then have their hands tied. I'm Rachel Adler. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you for joining us on Antisemitism Watch. This report was
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  Speaker 1: generated with AI assistance and may contain inaccuracies. Please verify
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  Speaker 1: important details with primary sources.