Antisemitism roundup, Nov. 27-29
German police arrested two teens, who allegedly planned a terror attack on a synagogue and a Christmas market.
Franklin Sechriest, 20, who pleaded guilty in April to setting fire to Congregation Beth Israel in Austin on Oct. 31, 2021, was sentenced to 10 years. Prosecutors cited “what they called Sechriest’s ‘deeply held’ antisemitic and racist beliefs,” USA Today reported.
Antisemitic hate crimes in Germany from Oct. 7 to Nov. 9 reportedly increased 320% compared to that period in 2022. There has been a 591% increase in antisemitism in Australia over the past seven weeks, per the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.
After getting heckled by anti-Israel hecklers, Brown University President Christina Paxson changed a prepared line in her speech—which read “Every student, faculty and staff member should be able to proudly wear a Star of David or don a keffiyeh on the Brown campus, or to cover their head with a hijab or yarmulke“—to remove the references to Star of David and yarmulke, National Review reported. (A university spokesman downplayed the change.)
A referee was fired after trying to force the Scheck Hillel girls basketball team to take “a moment of silence for the people of Gaza and Palestine.” The team plays for the Jewish middle school in Miami-Dade County. The referee reportedly told the middle schoolers, “Your behavior is disgusting. I will file a complaint against all you girls.”
“Multiple” students from among the some 400 who rioted at a high school in Queens, N.Y., forcing a Jewish teacher to remain locked in her office, have been suspended. “Many of the students who were running and jumping had no idea what was even going on,” claimed David Banks, chancellor of New York City Schools. A local Jewish activist said Banks was playing “Monday-morning quarterback.”
“As Jewish residents of southeast Michigan see friends and neighbors fearful of Islamophobia and violence against the Arab community, they also worry about antisemitic backlash and having their voices diluted in a complex, nuanced conversation,” PBS reported. (Per official U.S. statistics, antisemitic incidents represent more than half of all religion-based hate crimes in the country.)
Antisemites vandalized the Hanford office of Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) in central California. Valadao said if they really cared about Palestinian children, then “they would also support the eradication of Hamas terrorists, who are actively using Palestinian hospitals and schools as cover for their military operations and putting thousands of Palestinian civilians at risk.”
After MIT President Sally Kornbluth said students who take part in unsanctioned protests would face expulsion, she opted not to expel the antisemites “to protect foreign students, for whom expulsion would mean deportation,” Washington Free Beacon reported.
Anti-Israel activists protested outside the memorial service for former first lady Rosalynn Carter, who passed away on Nov. 19.
Someone threw a Molotov cocktail at the Jewish Community Council of Montreal. One of the building’s entrances was damaged. “We really feel attacked,” said Rabbi Saul Emanuel, executive director of the JCC.
An antisemite who vandalized E.J.’s Pizzeria, a kosher restaurant in Skokie, Ill., was caught on security cameras. Police in Burbank, Calif., are searching for a suspect who spray-painted swastikas and other Nazi symbols on a synagogue.
