Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on March 4, 2017

Responses against the recently published article, "Jewish identity in a pickle"

Response to Jewish identity in a pickle, written by IJV McGill

Upon reading this article, I was struck by the factual inaccuracy, slander and perversion of Jewish identity that the authors employed to further their agenda as members of Independent Jewish Voices, an organization who criticizes Israeli state policy through a de-legitimization of the Jewish connection to Israel.

De-legitimizing this connection is factually inaccurate. The authors cite the Jewish people as diasporic, however they fail to mention that the reason the Jews constitute a diaspora is because they originate from the kingdom of Judah (what is now Israel/Palestine). Failing to acknowledge this fact is an attempt to pervert history. Jews are a Semitic people indigenous to the Levant and this is non-contestable.

Zionism was not a radical idea invented by Herzl, as the authors claim. The central tenets of Zionism, which encompasses the notion that Jews should be able to return to the land they have been expelled from since 740 BCE, has always been present in the Jewish consciousness. Of course, not all Jews believe this. However, decrying Herzl as a colonial oppressor ignores the fact that many Jews very much wanted to seek refuge in their ancestral homeland, due to their persecution across Eastern Europe and in the Middle East.

The article chooses to associate Zionism with elite Ashkenazi colonialists. Claiming that Ashkenazi Jews are privileged (which perpetuates an anti-Semitic stereotype that has existed since the 1800s) ignores the diversity of Ashkenazi Jewish experiences and invalidates the authors attempt to create an inclusive space for all Jews. Being a Zionist does not mean supporting Israeli state policy. Many Israelis are Zionists who share a plurality of political views, and are constantly mobilizing in protest of unjust Israeli state policies. I would encourage the IJV to inform themselves before they make sweeping claims that generalizes an entire ethno-religious identity.

Rachel Coburn

On IJVs Rant: So Many Words, So Little Substance

I write in response to the recent McGill Daily feature, Judaism in a Pickle, penned by three students who proudly flaunted their anti-Zionism yet lacked the courage to do so using their real names, instead hiding under pseudonyms.

The facts and anecdotes in the article range from the mendacious to the absurd. Thus, the commentary itself commits historical error by marginalizing the leadership and contribution of Eastern-European-Jews to the Zionist project, despite the fact that Israels first four Prime Ministers (one a woman) came from the Russian Empire. Meanwhile, a story of rejecting Israeli pickles is offered as some courageous sign of moral development and gusty rebellion.

IJV complains that its views are ignored and marginalized. The organized Jewish community has every legal and moral right to reject views that directly conflict with, indeed threaten, its members and values. As Rabbi Reuven Poupko succinctly put it, You dont invite butchers to a vegetarians convention.

An entity that affirms everything ultimately affirms nothing.

IJV is entitled to its views, repugnant as I and many others find them. It is not entitled to impose them on the many others, myself included, who utterly reject them and for whom their Jewish heritage and identity and love for the land, people, and State of Israel are indivisible.

I wish to highlight the fact that in its approximately four-thousand word discourse, IJV did not see it necessary or even warranted to deploy any words to condemn the nakedly inciteful and violent tweet that Sadikov published.

Sometimes it is the words that arent stated that speak the loudest.

Michael A. (Mikie) Schwartz, Third Year Student, McGill University Faculty of Law

Read more here:
Letters to the Editor The McGill Daily - The McGill Daily (blog)

Category: Ashkenazi | Comments Off on Letters to the Editor The McGill Daily – The McGill Daily (blog)
Tags:

Posted By richards on March 4, 2017

JEFF MARTIN, Associated Press

ATLANTA Amid a surge of bomb threats and vandalism at Jewish institutions nationwide, members of Atlanta's Jewish community have felt a familiar wave of apprehension about what may come next.

Because all of that, and worse, has happened in the city before.

Six decades ago, during the turmoil of the civil rights era, 50 sticks of dynamite blasted a ragged hole in Atlanta's largest synagogue. A generation earlier, in 1915, Jewish businessman Leo Frank was lynched during a wave of anti-Semitism.

Some fear that history is once again arcing toward the viperous climate that set the stage for the earlier violence.

"It's heartbreaking to see the attacks and threats and desecration of Jewish cemeteries in recent days," said playwright Jimmy Maize, whose play "The Temple Bombing" is on stage this month at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre. "I have to say that writing this play feels too much like history repeating itself."

His play, which addresses anti-Semitism, fear and courage through the drama of the 1958 explosion, was inspired by a book by Atlanta author Melissa Fay Greene.

"We learned over several decades the power of hate speech," Greene said. "It can lead to people being harmed and killed."

This past weekend, more than 100 headstones were discovered toppled or damaged at a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia. In New York, a Rochester cemetery was targeted this week in the latest in a string of anti-Semitic incidents around the county. Cemetery officials said Thursday at least a dozen grave markers were desecrated.

In Indiana, an apparent gunshot fired into a synagogue Tuesday has drawn the attention of the FBI. And Jewish community centers and schools in several states also have been targets of recent bomb scares.

Atlanta has played a prominent role in American Jewish life since the late 1800s. Jewish immigrants began some of its most successful businesses, according to the Institute of Southern Jewish Life.

Atlanta was at the forefront of the new, industrial South, and many of its factories were Jewish-owned, said Jeremy Katz, archives director at Atlanta's William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum.

Jewish businessmen gained respect and became community leaders. But their success also led to anti-Semitism from Southerners who felt left behind by the changing economy, said Stuart Rockoff, the former historian for the Institute of Southern Jewish Life.

"There was this push and pull, and it was kind of a powder keg that ignited with the Leo Frank case," Katz said. "Before the Frank case, Jews were fairly accepted in the community because social lines were drawn by color of skin rather than religion, so Jews really flourished in the South."

Everything changed on a spring day in 1913, when 13-year-old factory worker Mary Phagan was found strangled in the cellar of Atlanta's National Pencil Company. Frank, the factory's manager, was arrested and put on trial. As newspaper articles inflamed anti-Semitic passions in and around Atlanta, he was convicted and sentenced to death.

Georgia Gov. John Slaton, convinced Frank was innocent, commuted his sentence to life in prison. In August 1915, a mob snatched Frank from the state prison in Milledgeville and drove him to Marietta, where Phagan had lived, and hanged him from an oak tree.

"The Leo Frank case showed that Jews were not immune from that type of violence and discrimination," Rockoff said.

In the following years, many Jews didn't speak of the Frank case.

But by the late 1940s, Rabbi Jacob Rothschild at The Temple in Atlanta had begun speaking out against racial injustice in Atlanta, said his son, William Rothschild. Some believe that made the synagogue a target for extremists.

The bomb exploded about 3:30 a.m. Oct. 12, 1958. A few hours later, during Sunday morning classes, "there would have been hundreds of children in the building," said Peter Berg, now senior rabbi at The Temple. But the children hadn't yet arrived, and no one was injured.

"I remember feeling emptiness," recalls Carol Zaban Cooper of Atlanta, who was 14 when her synagogue was bombed, and went on to become active with the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. "I felt hollow, numb."

Alfred Uhry, author of the play and movie "Driving Miss Daisy," attended The Temple as a child and had just moved to New York when it was bombed. He recalls the horror of seeing a photo of the destruction in The New York Times.

"It showed a side of the building blown off, and I had gone to Sunday school there," Uhry said.

A bombing suspect's first trial ended with a hung jury and the second with an acquittal.

Atlanta Mayor William Hartsfield said "every political rabble-rouser is the godfather of these cross burners and dynamiters who sneak about in the dark and give a bad name to the South."

Atlanta Constitution editor Ralph McGill called it a harvest of hate. One day after the blast he wrote, "It is the harvest of defiance of courts and the encouragement of citizens to defy law on the part of many southern politicians."

"To be sure, none said go bomb a Jewish temple or a school," he added in the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial. "But let it be understood that when leadership in high places in any degree fails to support constituted authority, it opens the gate to all those who wish to take law into their own hands."

Racial hatred put everyone in danger, McGill wrote.

"When the wolves of hate are loosed on one people, then no one is safe."

Read the original here:
In Atlanta, anti-Semitism is viewed through lens of history - BlueRidgeNow.com

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month | Comments Off on In Atlanta, anti-Semitism is viewed through lens of history – BlueRidgeNow.com
Tags:

Posted By richards on March 4, 2017

Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari, of Kol Tzedek synagogue, stood amidst the broken tombstones at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Philadelphia last Sunday,shocked and saddened by what he saw. It was the second of at least threegrave sites desecrated in recent weeks. In the last month, nearly 100 Jewish community centers across the country received bomb threats.

On Friday, law enforcement officials said they had arrested a man in St. Louis in connection with a number of the phone threats. Gov. Andrew Cuoma has asked State Police to investigate the destruction of headstones in a Jewish cemetery in Rochester, New York as a possiblehate crime. Meanwhile swastikas have been showing up on city streets, campuses and communities.

It was heartbreaking in many ways, Fornari said. It was stunningly devastating to see the piles of broken tombstones, echoing back to our history.

Fornari stood in vigil for hours, along with other Jewish community members and others of Muslim, Quaker and Christian faiths who were there in solidarity. The presence of non-Jewish supporters, who helped to pick up the gravestones, provided a glimmer of hope. Amidst the rise in anti-Semitic acts, interfaith coordination and cooperation between different nonprofits and networkshas arisen as aclear path for Jewish groups and individuals to fight hate.

After all, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are two heads of the same monster hate. Jewish and Muslim congregations and organizations, in concert with African American organizations, immigrant rights groups and others that advocate for minority communities, are finding that working together is the best way to stand up to hate.

Amidst the grave stones, Fornari met Tarek El-Messidi, director of Celebrate Mercy, a nonprofit that produces webcasts and videos on the life of Muhammad.He arrived at the cemetary, luggage in hand. El-Messidi had been on his way to the airport when he heard of the vandalism. He turned straight around to come to the cemetery.

It was just an incredible act of solidarity,"Fornari said. He stayed all afternoon and into the evening.

El-Messidi, with Linda Sarsour of the organizing network MPower Change, started a campaign to raise funds for repairs to the cemetery.Now, hes working with Fornari to createan ongoing fund that supports solidarity across faiths. Were just beginning to dream up how our communities can support each other, Fornari said. Solidarity happens when we truly show up for one another.

Nationally, the Council on American-Islamic Relationsalso has risen to the forefront, including by offeringa reward for information on who is responsible for bomb threats against Jewish community centers. When the Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery was desecrated in Missouri on February 20, the local CAIR chapter worked with the Jewish community to clean up the damage.

Bigots arent brain surgeons, said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesperson for CAIRs national office. They tend to hate everybody. Whether its Muslims or Jews or African Americans or Hispanics. You name it, they hate it. Unfortunately in the recent year and months, weve seen a tremendous uptick in the level of anti-Muslim bigotry, but [also] bigotry targeting a number of minority communities.

Interfaith coalitions are not a radically new concept. Jewish Voice for Peace has been building relationships with Muslim, African American and immigrant groups for two decades.

Rabbi Alissa Wise, deputy director of JVP, says the organization has since 9/11 been working with CAIR and other Muslim-led organizations on the damaging impacts of Islamophobia. Weve been building for a long time and have always seen the ways that they are mutually enforcing, she said.

"This moment is an opportunity to deepen these relationships, Wise said. A lot of people now in the Jewish community are scrambling to develop the relationship with the Muslim community."

Besides Jewish-Muslim solidarity, M. Dove Kent, who recently left her position as executive director of Jews for Racial & Economic Justice in New York City, says working with other allies, such as African American and immigrant communities, is vitally important. Kent has been working over two decades on building communities around police brutality, and anti-Black and anti-Muslim racism.

"Its a blessing to be able to rely on those relationships, she said.

With ally groups, JREF has been doing training for bystanders who witnesspolice brutality,which focus on de-escalation, as well as creating hate-free zones as a method for community defense.

Now were in the next chapter of that work, Kent said. We know that whiteness is about power and not about skin tone. What we are seeing in this moment is the conditions of the Jewish communitys relationship to whiteness are coming to the fore.

While white Jews may benefit from white privilege, they are still targeted by white supremacy, she said.

Minnesota wastargeted with two bomb threats against Jewish community centers, on in St. Paul and one ina suburb of Minneapolis, in addition a number of incidents of swastika graffiti on homes, crushed in the snow, and on the campus of the University of Minnesota. On March 2, the nonprofit organization Jewish Community Action organized a rally that featured many of the partners that JCA has developed relationships with, including the local CAIR chapter, the NAACP, Neighborhoods Organization for Change, and Mesa Latina, an immigrant rights group.

I think what were seeing in Philadelphia, St. Louis, Minneapolis... there are local communities just having each others backs in fundamental, material ways, Kent said. Thats the direction we need to be going.Local organizing is so deeply important. We need both to build power and to keep our neighbors safe.

Vic Rosenthal, the outgoing executive director of Jewish Community Action, says the rally was not just about responding to the rise in anti-Semitism, but also about connecting those hateful acts with Islamophobia,xenophobia and racism. Its all connected, he said. To gather and not acknowledge that connection would be a mistake.

In his remarks, Michael Waldman, of the St. Paul Jewish community center, said that bomb threats and the desecration of cemeteries is outrageous and offensive, the real story is the way that the friends and neighbors of the center came together to show support. We choose to say no to the intent of a phone call and yes to an inclusive community, he said.

Jaylani Hussein, directorof CAIR's Minnesota chapter, said at the rally that it is time to dust up those old boots and march again. The Jewish community knows that if we hear of hate incidents,they are not anomalous."

Wintana Melekin, an organizer for Neighborhoods Organization for Change, told the story of how she texted Carin Mrotz, incoming executive director of Jewish Community Action, when she learned that a swastika had been painted on a garage door in North Minneapolis at the end of 2016. Melekin immigrated to the United States from Sudan when she was 3 years old, and is a Black Catholicof Eritrean heritage.

When I saw on Facebook that someone drew a poorly made swastika, the first thing I did was text herand said, Lets paint over it. If our organizing isnt intersectional, it isnt organizing, she said.

Members of Jewish Community Actionshowed to protest the killing of African American teenager Jamar Clark. They also supported Neighborhoods Organization for Change and the greater Black Lives Matter movement when a gunman openedfireon protesters. JCA showed up for us
, and we show up for JCA, Melekinsaid.

Follow this link:
Recent anti-Semitic incidents are pushing local rights groups to stand together - PRI

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month | Comments Off on Recent anti-Semitic incidents are pushing local rights groups to stand together – PRI
Tags:

Posted By simmons on March 3, 2017

The chairman of the Community Security Trust has delivered a devastating assessment of Jeremy Corbyns approach to anti-Semitic anti-Zionism suggesting he is more likely to join in than oppose it.

Gerald Ronsons comments in front of an audience including deputy leader Tom Watson and new Met Commissioner Cressida Dick are perhaps the strongest condemnation yet from a senior community leader in such a forum.

He told the CST annual dinner: I dont doubt that the Labour leader opposes anti-Semitism when it comes from Nazis but when it comes dressed up as anti-Zionism he is more likely to ask if he can join in. This is far more subversive than the danger posed by Nazis.

He earlier insisted that fighting anti-Semitism must never be a party political issue stressing that the community has many friends in the party and inviting applause for Labour MPs standing up on the issue.

He added: We have many good Muslim friends here this evening, but I just wish we had many more. The more Muslim friends we have, the better off both communities will be. Well need it because in the future we expect more anti-Semitism, more terrorism and more division.

He also warned that global destabilisation and anger wont be good for the Jewish community.

Look at how fragile Europe is; and suddenly nobody knows what America stands for any more, he said. People are moving to the extremes. They face globalised problems, which they want simple solutions to. I dont need explanations of fancy modern phrases such as populism or false news or post truth, because I know the danger they point to.

Rightly or wrongly, people are angry. They dont only feel left behind, they feel betrayed. And they need someone to blame. None of this is going to be good for Jews.

Delivering the appeal speech, Ronson said he took his role even more seriously than any of his businesses. He detailed the CSTs recent work including setting up a nationwide control centre covering 220 sites and providing bullet proof vests to every shul.

Aspokesperson spokesperson for Jeremy Corbyn told Jewish News he hasconsistently spoken out against all forms of antisemitism and condemns all forms of antisemitism, which is why he set up the Chakrabarti inquiry into antisemitism and the Party is implementing its findings.

The event saw Amber Rudd confirm 13.4m of funding to help cover the costs of security guards at Jewish institutions.

Read more from the original source:
Gerald Ronson: 'Corbyn more likely to join anti-Semitic anti-Zionism' than oppose it - Jewish News

Category: Zionism | Comments Off on Gerald Ronson: ‘Corbyn more likely to join anti-Semitic anti-Zionism’ than oppose it – Jewish News
Tags:

Posted By simmons on March 3, 2017

Evan Bernstein, the Anti-Defamation Leagues New York Regional director, speaking during a news conference at the ADL national headquarters in New York City, March 3, 2017. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

NEW YORK (JTA) Thanking the FBI and police for the arrest of Juan Thompson, who allegedly made eight bomb threats to Jewish institutions, the Anti-Defamation League calledthe current wave of anti-Semitic acts unprecedented.

Law enforcement at all levels is a close friend to the Jewish people in America, Evan Bernstein, ADLs New York regional director, said at a news conference Friday. Just because theres been an arrest today around our bomb threats does notmean that the threats have disappeared or will stop.

Earlier in the day, sources told the media that Thompson was a copycat and that the investigation continued into finding the hoaxers behind the dozens of other bomb threats reported since January.

The news conference was convened after law enforcement announced Friday that Thompson had been charged in connection with the deluge of bomb threats received this year by Jewish institutions. Thompson, 31, of St. Louis, allegedly made bomb threats to JCCs, Jewish schools and an ADL office as part of his cyberstalking of a former romantic partner.

The ADL and several other Jewish groups had met Friday with FBI Director James Comey. According to a statement from the groups in attendance, which were not listed but included the ADL, the Jewish Federations of North America and the JCCAssociation of North America, the meeting concerned recent anti-Semitic acts and collaboration between Jewish institutions and law enforcement.

All the organizations in attendance expressed the deep gratitude of the entire community for the extraordinary effort that the FBI is applying to the ongoing investigation, the statement said. The representatives of the Jewish community left with the highest confidence that the FBI is taking every possible measure to resolve the matter as quickly as possible.

According to statistics compiled by the New York Police Department, anti-Semitic acts have nearly doubled in early 2017 as compared to one year earlier. The ADL said that due to the reach of the internet and the quantity of recent bomb threats, white supremacists are more emboldened than ever.

Were in unprecedented times, said Oren Segal, director of the ADLs Center on Extremism. Weve never seen, ever, the volume of bomb threats that weve seen.White supremacists in this country feel more emboldened than they ever have before because of the public discourse and divisive rhetoric.

In total, more than 100 Jewish institutions, mostly JCCs, have received bomb threats since the beginning of the year. The last two weeks saw vandalism at Jewish cemeteries inPhiladelphia,St. Louisand Rochester, New York, as well as twomore wavesofbomb threatscalled into JCCs, schools and institutions across the country, representing the fourth and fifth waves of such harassmentthis year.No explosive device was found after any of the calls.

The ADL called on President Donald Trump to take action against anti-Semitism, including by directing the Department of Justice to launch a civil rights investigation into the threats, and by creating a federal interagency task force on combating hate crimes chaired by the attorney general.

We need action to stop these threats, Bernstein said. History shows that when anti-Semitism gains the upper hand, courageous leaders need to speak out and take action before its too late.

Segal said the ADL has been tracking Thompson, a disgraced former journalist, since he fabricated the identity of a cousin of Dylann Roof, the gunman who killed nine at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.

On its Twitter feed Friday, the ADL posted information gleaned from the U.S. Attorneys complaint and media portraying Thompson as a former journalist he was fired from his job at the online news site The Intercept for inventing quotes and sources who had recently became more hostile to whites in general.

According to the ADL, he has posted inflammatorytweets about white police officers and the white New York liberal media.

Read the original here:
ADL: Juan Thompson's arrest alone won't stop 'unprecedented' wave of anti-Semitism - Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on ADL: Juan Thompson’s arrest alone won’t stop ‘unprecedented’ wave of anti-Semitism – Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Tags:

Posted By simmons on March 3, 2017

A man allegedly waging an intense campaign of harassment against a former lover was responsible for bomb threats against the Anti-Defamation League and some Jewish centers around the country, authorities said Friday.

Thirty-year-old Juan Thompson, a former journalist fired last year for allegedly making up quotes and sources, was arrested in St. Louis in connection with multiple threats against Jewish centers, including some in the tri-state area.

But additional sources told NBC News Thompson is not believed to be the person behind the series of threats targeting Jewish community centers across the nation in recent months.

There have been five such waves of threats this year, forcing dozens of evacuations in more than 30 states. No injuries have been reported in any of the cases and no devices have been found. The FBI is assisting in that probe.

In total, authorities have been looking into more than 120 bomb threats called into nearly 100 JCC schools, child care and other similar facilities.

Thompson is considered a "copycat," the sources said. A criminal complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan indicated that Thompson was trying to "harass and intimidate" an unnamed victim with whom he had a relationship.

He allegedly made at least eight of the threats -- some in the victim's name, and some in his own name, as part of a purported campaign to smear the victim. Thompson allegedly went to extreme lengths to do so, including sending hoax faxes to the woman's employer last year alleging she had made anti-Semitic statements on social media, according to the complaint.

He was allegedly behind a threat to the national ADL headquarters in Manhattan last week. According to the FBI complaint, the emailed threat named the woman and said she was "behind the bomb threats against the jews. She lives in nyc and is making more bomb threats tomorrow." The next day, the ADL received a phone call claiming a bomb was in its headquarters.

He also claimed she was responsible for placing a bomb in a Jewish center in Dallas, and emailed a JCC in San Diego saying she wanted to "kill as many Jews asap," the complaint says.

An anonymous threat emailed to a JCC in Manhattan early in February included Thompson's own name. It said he "put two bombs in the office of the Jewish center today. He wants to create Jewish newtown tomorrow," the complaint said. "Newtown" apparently refers to the December 2012 massacre at a Connecticut school that claimed the lives of 26 people, including 20 children.

The FBI complaint quotes Thompsons Twitter post on Feb. 24 that says, Know any good lawyers? Need to stop this nasty/racist #whitegirl I dated who sent a bomb threat in my name & wants me to be raped in jail.

The exact same tweet on the same date appears on the Twitter account @JuanMThompson. That same account sent a number of other tweets in late February that match the FBI complaint word for word.

Juan Thompson wrote for online publication The Intercept from late 2014 until early 2016, when he was fired for fabricating sources and quotes in his articles, according to Betsy Reed, editor-in-chief.

In a statement Friday, Reed said everyone at The Intercept was "horrified" to learn of Thompson's arrest in the bomb threats case.

"These actions are heinous and should be fully investigated and prosecuted," Reed said. "We have no information about the charges against Thompson other than what is included in the criminal complaint."

Thompson is charged with one count of cyberstalking, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, in connection with the case. He is expected to be arraigned in federal court in Missouri later Friday.

Scott Barbour/Getty Images

His mother, Yolanda Thompson, said from her home in St. Louis Friday that she hadn't seen her son in weeks. She tearfully described him as a "good man" and declined to comment further on his arrest.

ADL officials said the diligence of law enforcement in such a troubling time was "reassuring," at a news briefing on Friday. The group said it met with top FBI officials and others to discuss the ongoing investigation into the threats.

"There are many more JCC bomb threats that have not been solved, and communities are hurting," one official said. "Just because there's been an arrest today around our bomb threat does not mean the threats have disappeared or will stop. Hate toward the Jewish community and other minority groups is very real and deeply disturbing."

University City, Missouri, police Lt. Fredrick Lemons told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that detectives will question Thompson about the 154 headstones toppled last month at a Jewish cemetery in the St. Louis suburb. He declined to say whether Thompson was considered a suspect.

Information on an attorney for him wasn't immediately available.

"Today, we have charged Juan Thompson with allegedly stalking a former romantic interest by, among other things, making bomb threats in her name to Jewish Community Centers and to the Anti-Defamation League," U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara said. "Threats of violence targeting people and places based on religion or race whatever the motivation are unacceptable, un-American, and criminal."

NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill thanked local and federal law enforcement for a collaborative effort.

"The defendant allegedly caused havoc, expending hundreds of hours of police and law enforcement resources to respond and investigate these threats," O'Neill said. "We will continue to pursue those who peddle fear, making false claims about serious crimes."

The arrest comes amid an alarming increase in anti-Semitic hate crimes in New York Cityand across the nation. NYPD officials said earlier this week such bias reports are up 94 percent year over year in the city. Other states have reported an increase as well.

In a statement Friday, Mayor de Blasio called on all Americans to protect the foundational values of this country.

We must not be indifferent to the rising tide of hate crimes were seeing in New York City and nationwide," the mayor said. "When you attack someone because of who they are, how they worship or who they love, you are attacking our democracy."

In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie ordered increased patrols at houses of worship, faith-based institutions, community centers and cemeteries throughout the state in response to the uptick in threats.

Published at 6:45 AM PST on Mar 3, 2017 | Updated 3 hours ago

See the article here:
Suspect Arrested in St. Louis in Bomb Threats Against ADL, 7 Other Jewish Centers - NBC 7 San Diego

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on Suspect Arrested in St. Louis in Bomb Threats Against ADL, 7 Other Jewish Centers – NBC 7 San Diego
Tags:

Posted By simmons on March 3, 2017

NEW YORK (FOX5NY) - A former reporter was arrested Friday in connection with a bomb threat made against the New York City headquarters of the Anti-Defamation League and other Jewish institutions in recent months.

The threat against the civil rights group was made on Feb. 22 and forced the evacuation of the center. It was later deemed incredible. On Friday, the ADL of New York announced via Twitter that the FBI, NYPD, and NYS had informed leaders about an arrest.

Federal authorities later confirmed that Juan Thompson, 31, had been taken into police custody in St. Louis, Missouri. He is reportedly accused of making eight threats.

According to a federal complaint, Thompson dated a woman at the Anti-Defamation League until last summer, when they broke up. The following day, her boss received an email purporting to be from a national news organization saying that she'd been pulled over for drunken driving.

The harassment got worse from there, federal officials said. The Anti-Defamation League received an email on Feb. 21 that said she was behind the bomb threats to JCCs and there'd be more the next day. On Feb. 22, it received a phoned-in bomb threat.

He also claimed she was responsible for placing a bomb in a Jewish center in Dallas, and he also emailed a JCC in San Diego saying she wanted to "kill as many Jews asap."

Thompson appeared in a Missouri court Friday on charges that include cyber-stalking. A public defender accompanied him, When the judge asked if he would need the public defender going forward, he said he had some money to hire a lawyer.

Thompson worked for The Intercept, a multi-media website, from November 2014 to January 2016, when he was fired.

A statement on the site says Thompson had fabricated sources and quotes in his articles.

"We were horrified to learn this morning that Juan Thompson, a former employee of The Intercept, has been arrested in connection with bomb threats against the ADL and multiple Jewish Community Centers in addition to cyberstalking. These actions are heinous and should be fully investigated and prosecuted."

"We are relieved and gratified that the FBI has made an arrest in these cases. We applaud law enforcement's unwavering effort to resolve this matter," ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said. "We look forward to the quick resolution of the remaining open cases."

At least nine states reported bomb threats made within a few hours of each other at Jewish Community Centers Monday.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he ordered the State Police to investigate the threats. He also said that Thompson's arrest "sends a strong message."

"New York State Police will continue to work in close partnership with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and local law enforcement to aggressively pursue investigations into any reported hate crime in our state," Cuomo said. "We will remain vigilant in our efforts to hold those responsible for these reprehensible actions fully accountable under the law."

With the Associated Press

See original here:
FBI: Man threatened Jewish centers to frame ex-girlfriend - Fox5NY

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on FBI: Man threatened Jewish centers to frame ex-girlfriend – Fox5NY
Tags:

Posted By admin on March 3, 2017

NEW YORK - Jewish institutions in the US should think security at all times," CEO of the Anti-Defamation League Jonathan Greenblatt told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday, addressing the recent wave of antisemitic incidents in the United States.

Since the beginning of the year, over 100 bomb threats have been called in to Jewish institutions including community centers, schools as well as two of ADLs offices across some 30 states.

In addition, two Jewish cemeteries were vandalized in the past week in St. Louis and Philadelphia, and on Wednesday morning a swastika was found spray painted on the front step of a home in the Somerton section of Philadelphia.

American Jews have achieved in an extraordinary way here; the economic heights weve reached, the social capital we have accumulated, the political achievements, its really quite remarkable, Greenblatt acknowledged. And at the same time what we know from the history of the Jewish people is that we need to remember that we are still a minority and we need to remember that we are still vulnerable.

We need to be vigilant every step of the way and not take our eye off the ball, he added.

The ADL has been measuring antisemitic attitudes in the United States since the 1960s, and while generally the numbers have gone down since then, the organization has become well accustomed to threats over the years. Over the past week two of its offices in New York and San Francisco received bomb calls as well.

We are office environments, filled with professionals who are in the business, on the front-line of fighting antisemitism, dealing with bigots and racists and we unfortunately see our fair share of threats, Greenblatt told the Post.

So while it's difficult when your building gets evacuated, I wouldnt even compare it to what it's like to be a mother whose pre-school aged child is rushed out of the building, or to a daughter or a son whose elderly parent is wheeled out of their care program.

Greenblatt believes those targeting the ADL are trying to send a message of intimidation to the whole community.

We have been in the crosshairs of the KKK, of the neo-nazis, of the alt-right for quite some time, he said. I am not daunted, my staff is not deterred, my board is not distracted, my amazing courageous volunteers are by no means dissuaded and we wont be by these threats.

These are cowards, these are pathetic people who mask their voice and hide behind the Internet and dont even have the courage to show up, he went on. Its not hard to tip over headstones in the middle of the night. Its not difficult to threaten pre-school children.

Over the past months and in general, the ADL has been working with law enforcement on security measures for Jewish institutions across the country.

This has also been the main work of the Secure Community Network since it was launched in 2004. The organization seeks to be a central address serving the American Jewish community concerning matters of communal safety, security, and all-hazards preparedness and response. It works in tight collaboration with federal agencies including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security in providing support and security training for Jewish organizations staff.

National Director of SCN Paul Goldenberg, who has several decades of background in law enforcement, said that the last few months have been somewhat of an enigma for him.

The current climate and threat environment, even for us who have spent years in the business, is alarming and the incoming data in recent month is troubling, he said.

In the past month SCN representatives have been on the ground of some of the affected communities. Earlier this week they also held a virtual training session with Jewish organizations staff including many JCC workers.

When communities are trained to engage, to understand that if they see something they have to say something, to know how to behave and respond if there is an attack on their facilities, that makes not only for a safer facility, a more empowered people but also good partners multiply, Goldenberg said. Every bit of training becomes more precious today than ever.

According to him, the goal of those making the threats is often not just to cause loss of life but more dangerously to try to wear us down along with our spirit, our sense of endurance.

We cannot voluntarily allow for what these offenders themselves could never have achieved on their own and thats by giving up our values as a community, our way of life, he said. Communities that address the psychological impact of these hate crimes and terrorist threats no doubt have a greater ability to resist manipulation.

When asked whether he believes antisemitism is more widespread in the US than it is perceived to be, Goldenberg told the Post that while the Jewish community has dealt with vandalism, intimidation and assault for years, it is very much a part of the fabric of life in the United States.

The relationship with American law enforcement is extremely mature, he added. In many of the the communities across Europe we see armed paratroopers in front of Jewish schools, museums and Jewish centers. I dont believe that we will ever get to that point here.

In recent days many Jewish groups including ADL have called on the US administration to make sure the perpetrators of the bomb threats and vandalism are brought to justice, while acknowledging that President Trumps rhetoric since the first days of his campaign may have played its role in the recent phenomenon.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security said it is working closely with Jewish communities to advise and support on protective measures they can put in place to help keep people in their community safe.

Words have consequences and the lack of words has consequences too, ADLs Jonathan Greenblatt told the Post. We welcome the Presidents strong statement at the start of his first address to congress, but unfortunately, it took a long time for these comments to be made in a clear manner.

Now they need to be done in a consistent approach because the antisemites have rushed to fill the vacuum that was created when we didn't have more immediate denunciations of David Duke or quicker clarifications when antisemitic images were tweeted out during the campaign, he continued. I do think it is incumbent upon our elected officials and our political leadership, and all public figures to speak out in a clear and consistent voice against antisemitism.

Greenblatt said he hopes the administration will now pivot from words to action.

To facilitate this, the ADL has published this week its suggestion for a plan of action the president should adopt in response to the situation including investigating the crimes, convening a task force against hate, and countering cyber hate problems.

There is considerable concern but I think the things that is kind of neat about the Jewish community is how tough they are, he said. There is a real strength and its incredibly inspiring to me. I talked to many people - everyone is rolling up their sleeves.

Relevant to your professional network? Please share on Linkedin

Original post:
Jewish groups have to 'think security at all times' amidst antisemitism ... - Jerusalem Post Israel News

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on Jewish groups have to ‘think security at all times’ amidst antisemitism … – Jerusalem Post Israel News
Tags:

Posted By simmons on March 3, 2017

A prominent Jewish group is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the vandal or vandals who desecrated a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia on Sunday.

We are horrified by the desecration at Mount Carmel Cemetery, the Anti-Defamation Leagues Philadelphia regional director Nancy K. Baron-Baer said in a statement Monday.

Police said that the incident at the citys Mount Carmel Cemetery was an act of vandalism and have opened an investigation, according to a local ABC affiliate.

Police did not say whether they were treating the case as a possible hate crime.

The discovery of the vandalized Jewish headstones in Philadelphia Sunday followed a similar incident last week in which over 150 graves were damaged at a Jewish cemetery near St. Louis.

This act is cowardly and unconscionable, and is all the more despicable coming on the heels of a similar vandalism at another Jewish cemetery in St. Louis last week. We urge anyone with information on this crime to report it immediately to the Philadelphia Police Department at 215-686-TIPS.

Israels Foreign Ministry Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon condemned the incident, writing on Twitter that the Philadelphia Jewish cemetery desecration is shocking and a source of worry. Full confidence US authorities catch and punish culprits.

In the ADL statement, Baron-Baer said, We stand with the Jewish community and all decent Philadelphians in condemning this crime, and we are inspired by the outpouring of support from law enforcement, community leaders and neighbors. We all must band together in the face of senseless crimes like the vandalism at Mount Carmel Cemetery.

New Jersey resident Aaron Mallin, who made the discovery when visiting his fathers grave, told the local ABC station he hoped it was not an anti-Semitic attack.

Im hoping it was maybe just some drunk kids. But the fact that theres so many it leads one to think it could have been targeted, Mallin said.

The vandalism at the Jewish graveyard in Missouri was decried by leading American Jewish groups, who called on the US authorities to take action in response to a perceived recent increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the US. It was also followed by US President Donald Trumps first explicit condemnation over the trend.

On Wednesday, US Vice President Mike Pence visited the Chesed Shel Emeth Society cemetery outside of St. Louis where the incident took place, joining Missouris Jewish Governor Eric Greitens and other volunteers in an interfaith service and cleanup effort.

US Vice President Mike Pence visits a Jewish cemetery in St. Louis following an act of vandalism at the site. (YouTube screenshot)

In addition to the vandalism at the Jewish cemeteries, there were also instances of anti-Semitic vandalism at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, and in a suburb of Buffalo, New York, over the past week.

At Drake University, an anti-Semitic slur was discovered carved into a chair in a university lecture hall. The university is investigating the incident as a hate crime.

Let me be clear that we will not tolerate acts of oppression and hate, and will do everything in our power to deal with this, University Provost Dr. Sue Mattison said in an email sent to students.

In the suburb of Orchard Park outside of Buffalo, about one dozen swastikas and racial slurs were drawn on cars and a building.

A nearby elementary school playground and railway overpasses were similarly vandalized.

The spray-painted swastikas and slurs were discovered on Saturday morning and were believed to have been painted late on Friday night, according to reports.

At least 11 cars and an apartment building in the Village of Orchard Park near Buffalo were vandalized with the spray-painted swastikas and slurs, according to local reports. The reports began coming in to police at 3 a.m. on Saturday and continued throughout the morning.

Public and private surveillance camera footage is being checked to find the perpetrators, according to village police. Investigators believe more than one person could be involved, according to the reports.

JTA, Raphael Ahren contributed to this report.

Go here to read the rest:
ADL offers $10000 for help finding Philadelphia cemetery vandals - The Times of Israel

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on ADL offers $10000 for help finding Philadelphia cemetery vandals – The Times of Israel
Tags:

Posted By admin on March 3, 2017

ATLANTA (AP) Amid a surge of bomb threats and vandalism at Jewish institutions nationwide, members of Atlantas Jewish community have felt a familiar wave of apprehension about what may come next.

Because all of that, and worse, has happened in the city before.

Six decades ago, during the turmoil of the civil rights era, 50 sticks of dynamite blasted a ragged hole in Atlantas largest synagogue. A generation earlier, in 1915, Jewish businessman Leo Frank was lynched during a wave of anti-Semitism.

Some fear that history is once again arcing toward the viperous climate that set the stage for the earlier violence.

Its heartbreaking to see the attacks and threats and desecration of Jewish cemeteries in recent days, said playwright Jimmy Maize, whose play The Temple Bombing is on stage this month at Atlantas Alliance Theatre. I have to say that writing this play feels too much like history repeating itself.

His play, which addresses anti-Semitism, fear and courage through the drama of the 1958 explosion, was inspired by a book by Atlanta author Melissa Fay Greene.

We learned over several decades the power of hate speech, Greene said. It can lead to people being harmed and killed.

This past weekend, more than 100 headstones were discovered toppled or damaged at a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia. In New York, a Rochester cemetery was targeted this week in the latest in a string of anti-Semitic incidents around the county. Cemetery officials said Thursday at least a dozen grave markers were desecrated.

Jewish community centers and schools in several states also have been targets of recent bomb scares.

On Friday, federal officials said a 31-year-old man is a suspect in at least eight of the threats made against Jewish institutions nationwide, and a bomb threat to New Yorks Anti-Defamation League.

Atlanta has played a prominent role in American Jewish life since the late 1800s. Jewish immigrants began some of its most successful businesses, according to the Institute of Southern Jewish Life.

Atlanta was at the forefront of the new, industrial South, and many of its factories were Jewish-owned, said Jeremy Katz, archives director at Atlantas William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum.

Jewish businessmen gained respect and became community leaders. But their success also led to anti-Semitism from Southerners who felt left behind by the changing economy, said Stuart Rockoff, the former historian for the Institute of Southern Jewish Life.

There was this push and pull, and it was kind of a powder keg that ignited with the Leo Frank case, Katz said. Before the Frank case, Jews were fairly accepted in the community because social lines were drawn by color of skin rather than religion, so Jews really flourished in the South.

Everything changed on a spring day in 1913, when 13-year-old factory worker Mary Phagan was found strangled in the cellar of Atlantas National Pencil Company. Frank, the factorys manager, was arrested and put on trial. As newspaper articles inflamed anti-Semitic passions in and around Atlanta, he was convicted and sentenced to death.

Georgia Gov. John Slaton, convinced Frank was innocent, commuted his sentence to life in prison. In August 1915, a mob snatched Frank from the state prison in Milledgeville and drove him to Marietta, where Phagan had lived, and hanged him from an oak tree.

The Leo Frank case showed that Jews were not immune from that type of violence and discrimination, Rockoff said.

In the following years, many Jews didnt speak of the Frank case.

But by the late 1940s, Rabbi Jacob Rothschild at The Temple in Atlanta had begun speaking out against racial injustice in Atlanta, said his son, William Rothschild. Some believe that made the synagogue a target for extremists.

The bomb exploded about 3:30 a.m. Oct. 12, 1958. A few hours later, during Sunday morning classes, there would have been hundreds of children in the building, said Peter Berg, now senior rabbi at The Temple. But the children hadnt yet arrived, and no one was injured.

I remember feeling emptiness, recalls Carol Zaban Cooper of Atlanta, who was 14 when her synagogue was bombed, and went on to become active with the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. I felt hollow, numb.

Alfred Uhry, author of the play and movie Driving Miss Daisy, attended The Temple as a child and had just moved to New York when it was bombed. He recalls the horror of seeing a photo of the destruction in The New York Times.

It showed a side of the building blown off, and I had gone to Sunday school there, Uhry said.

A bombing suspects first trial ended with a hung jury and the second with an acquittal.

Atlanta Mayor William Hartsfield said every political rabble-rouser is the godfather of these cross burners and dynamiters who sneak about in the dark and give a bad name to the South.

Atlanta Constitution editor Ralph McGill called it a harvest of hate. One day after the blast he wrote, It is the harvest of defiance of courts and the encouragement of citizens to defy law on the part of many southern politicians.

To be sure, none said go bomb a Jewish temple or a school, he added in the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial. But let it be understood that when leadership in high places in any degree fails to support constituted authority, it opens the gate to all those who wish to take law into their own hands.

Racial hatred put everyone in danger, McGill wrote.

When the wolves of hate are loosed on one people, then no one is safe.

Read this article:
In Atlanta, anti-Semitism is viewed through lens of history - Winona Daily News

Category: Jewish American Heritage Month | Comments Off on In Atlanta, anti-Semitism is viewed through lens of history – Winona Daily News
Tags: