The new plan also includes the creation of the Weinberger Institute, a research center focused on hate crimes, led by Jonathan Fischer, a former vice president of the Jewish Community of Denmark.

By Ailin Vilches Arguello, The Algemeiner

Denmark’s government on Tuesday unveiled an $18 million, five-year plan to combat antisemitism through 2030, focusing on security, education, and research, as the country’s Jewish community continues to face a wave of targeted attacks and hostility.

“Following Hamas’s terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the subsequent war in Gaza, there has been a flare-up in antisemitism in Denmark,” the Danish Justice Ministry said while announcing the new plan.

Building on Denmark’s first national plan to combat antisemitism from 2022, the new initiative will focus on boosting security for Jewish institutions, combating online hate, and introducing programs for children and young people.

As a new addition to the previous plan set to expire at the end of this year, the newly released program will appoint an Education Ministry coordinator to fight antisemitism in schools and establish an association to combat antisemitic hate crimes.

Other measures will include expanded educational programs, giving all upper secondary schools the opportunity to apply for study trips that teach students about the Holocaust and antisemitism.

“Jews in Denmark should neither feel persecuted, harassed, nor receive death threats,” Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard said in a statement.

“Fighting antisemitism must be done through education and prevention, as well as tough and firm consequences towards those who spread antisemitism and hatred against Jews,” he continued. “Jews in Denmark must be able to live and move freely and safely.”

The new plan also includes the creation of the Weinberger Institute, a research center focused on hate crimes, led by Jonathan Fischer, a former vice president of the Jewish Community of Denmark.

The government’s new initiatives come amid a startling rise in anti-Jewish hostility in the country, with attacks that include vandalism of businesses, murals, and memorials, as well as physical assaults and death threats targeting Jews and Israelis.

According to the Danish Jewish Community’s Department for Mapping and Registering Antisemitic Incidents, the country recorded 207 antisemitic incidents in 2024, up 71 percent from 121 the previous year and up sharply from just nine before the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.

Over the last few years, the local Jewish community in Denmark has experienced a sharp rise in antisemitic bullying, violence, and death threats.

“Danish Jews are part of our common culture, history, and soul, and we as a society have a responsibility to surround our Jewish fellow citizens when antisemitism rears its ugly face,” Hummelgaard said.

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Last week in the Austrian village of Ehrwald, an Israeli couple celebrating their 25th anniversary was denied entry to a campsite after presenting their Israeli passports, according to local reports.

By Ailin Vilches Arguello, The Algemeiner

Austria is facing a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents and anti-Israel rhetoric, prompting outrage from the country’s Jewish community and urgent calls for authorities to take swift action against growing anti-Jewish hatred.

On Saturday, a group of pro-Palestinian activists burst into the opening of the Salzburg Festival — one of the world’s premier events for opera, music, and drama — waving Palestinian flags and shouting antisemitic slogans.

As Austrian Vice-Chancellor Andreas Babler began his opening speech at the event, six individuals stormed the stage, aggressively waving Palestinian flags and shouting “Blood on your hands!” along with other antisemitic slurs.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1949757750273089599

The incident raised alarming questions about the event’s security, as the six protesters gained easy access while wearing fake, misspelled staff IDs with fictitious names, revealing a clear failure in background checks.

According to festival director Lukas Crepaz, security measures and control checks have been significantly strengthened. The six activists were arrested, and authorities continue to investigate the incident.

Elie Rosen, president of the Jewish Community (IKG) of Salzburg, Styria, and Carinthia, condemned the incident, calling the disruption of the Salzburg Festival’s opening a “targeted political provocation, carried by openly anti-Israel rhetoric.”

“Jewish life in Austria must not become the collateral damage of political agitation,” Rosen said in a statement. “We often hear powerful statements at commemorative events condemning antisemitism.”

“But where are Israel’s outspoken supporters when real solidarity is needed? Antisemitism takes many forms and frequently starts with the silence of the majority,” she continued. “Hatred toward Israel is not a legitimate form of protest.”

In a separate incident last week, an Israeli couple was denied access to a campsite in Ehrwald, a village in western Austria, after attempting to make a reservation to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.

According to local media, the couple attempted to register at the campsite, but after revealing their Israeli passports, they were denied entry and asked to leave, forcing them to find alternative accommodations.

“We have no place for Jews here,” the campsite operator reportedly told them.

When asked for comment, the campsite operators told the German newspaper Jüdische Allgemeine, “These people should much rather take care of the many children in Gaza. Otherwise, there is nothing to say.”

In another incident last week, a group of well-known Israeli classical musicians reported being refused service at a pizzeria in Vienna after staff overheard them speaking Hebrew.

One of the musicians recounted that while they were ordering their food, the waiter asked them which language they were speaking. When they replied in Hebrew, the waiter allegedly told them, “In that case, leave. I’m not serving you food.”

“The initial shock and humiliation were profound. But what struck us even more deeply was what came next – or rather what didn’t. The people around us were clearly startled, some offered sympathetic glances … and then, quietly, they went back to their dinners, their conversations, their wine – as though nothing had happened,” one of the musicians wrote in a post on X.

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On campus, maltreatment of Jewish students has been allegedly common and unpunished. 

By Dion J. Pierre, The Algemeiner

Three major nonprofit organizations have joined forces as co-litigants in a civil rights complaint alleging that Ohio State University (OSU) has grossly foundered in responding to numerous incidents of antisemitic harassment and discrimination since Oct. 7, thus violating Title VI of the US Civil Rights Act.

The university’s alleged neglect began just weeks after the Hamas terror group’s massacre of Israeli civilians, according to the complaint — which was filed by StandWithUs (SWU), the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), and the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law with the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR).

In November, five Jewish students on their way to an off-campus event were brutally assaulted by two men who had detained and interrogated them to determine if they were Jewish, the complaint said.

Finding their answer, the two men allegedly shouted “Free Palestine!” and slugged one Jewish student each, breaking one’s jaw and the other’s nose and leaving one of them bleeding effusively.

The complaint added that OSU Medical Center employees cut deeper wounds into their psyches by denying one of the injured students more than one visitor and prohibiting the other a seat in the waiting room, forcing them to stand “outside in the freezing cold for over five hours.”

No one, the complaint added, has explained why the Jewish students were treated so callously.

“Since Oct. 7, Jewish students on campuses nationwide have faced unprecedented antisemitic harassment and discrimination,” StandWithUs chief executive officer Roz Rothstein said in a press release announcing the action.

“Ohio State University is no exception. Antisemitism is expressed openly; blatant verbal and physical threats and attacks on Jewish students often go unaddressed by the administration. By filing this Title VI federal complaint, we aim to hold the administration accountable.”

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination in programs and activities that receive federal funding.

On campus, maltreatment of Jewish students has been allegedly common and unpunished.

Between December and February, anti-Zionists there, both students and non-students, have ordered Jewish students to remove articles of clothing bearing pro-Israel slogans, desecrated mezuzahs, disrupted Shabbat dinners held by OSU Hillel by screaming “Free Palestine,” and pantomimed “white power” hand gestures after stealing Israeli flags.

In one shocking incident, a non-student who strayed on campus refused to sign a petition denouncing antisemitism that was being circulated by Jewish students and told them that he wanted to murder Jews.

He was, however, apprehended by the police and banned from campus.

“We believe all the evidence shows that despite a pattern of escalating harassment and intimidation, Ohio State University administrators, faculty, and staff repeatedly failed in their duty to protect Jewish and Israeli students from such attacks,” ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt said in a press release announcing the legal action.

“We urge the US Department of Education to investigate these incidents and compel the university to take immediate action to address the pervasively hostile environment for Jewish and Israeli students on OSU’s campus.”

On Wednesday, Ohio State University shared with The Algemeiner a lengthy statement denying that it has been lax in addressing antisemitism and insisting that several of the incidents cited in the civil rights complaint have never been reported to the university.

The school added that it has fully adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which has been widely embraced by Jewish organizations, governments, and civic institutions around the world.

“Through both our words and, importantly, our actions, we continually reaffirm and communicate messaging focused on our expectations regarding an environment of respect and compassion during this extraordinarily difficult time for many on our campuses,” the school said in a response sent to StandWithUs, the main principal litigant of the complaint.

“It is very disappointing that your letter to us does not accurately represent what has occurred at Ohio State or the university’s strong and ongoing response, which is outlined below. Please be assured the university has both acted and spoken.”

The response added that the university has increased police “presence” on campus and pressed charges against the students who vandalized a mezuzah at OSU Hillel.

Further contradicting the complaint, the school said that the assault of Jewish students by two men occurred not during a walk but outside a bar off campus, continuing a conflict that had begun inside.

“We have received information from parents and other external stakeholders indicating they heard the victims in this case were assaulted on their way home from the Chabad house near campus,” it continued.

“This information is not accurate. The assault occurred when the victims left a bar near campus where the altercation is believed to have begun before it escalated outside of the bar.”

StandWithUs fired back on Tuesday in a statement acknowledging that it has amended the complaint to reflect newly emerged details but arguing that OSU has still left much undone.

“While OSU’s response identifies a number of ways the administration asserts it is working to address the antisemitic climate on its campus, the reality is that between the time of OSU’s response and the filing of this complaint, based on information from students and campus stakeholders, that hostile climate has not improved,” Rothstein said.

“To the extent that there are factual discrepancies between the complaint’s allegations and OSU’s understanding of these matters, this is one of many reasons OCR intervention is necessary; it is far too common for administrators to misunderstand the realities of contemporary antisemitism.”

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Pro-Hamas supporters ripped away Israeli flags from Jewish protesters, prompting several arrests by NYPD.

The post WATCH: Violent clashes erupt as anti-Israel demonstrators attack Jewish counter-protesters in NYC appeared first on World Israel News.

Orthodox Jew stabbed in Zurich, another beaten in Paris, and a third was shot and killed in San Diego.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Two religious Jews were seriously injured and one killed in separate antisemitic attacks in Switzerland, France and the U.S. over the last two days.

In the most recent incident, a fifteen-year-old knifed and seriously wounded an ultra-Orthodox man on Saturday night in Zurich, Switzerland.

Some news reports noted that he was a Muslim.

Witnesses said he shouted “Death to all Jews” and other antisemitic slurs as he attacked.

The 50-year-old, who was named as Meir Zvi Jung on a New York-based Orthodox website, was rushed to a hospital and his condition was stabilized.

Swiss media said the assailant was already arrested on the scene by the authorities. The city’s police department said that it was “explicitly includ[ing] the possibility” that this was “an antisemitic-motivated crime.”

The Swiss Association of Jewish Communities (SIG) said in a statement that it was “deeply shocked” at the attack and asked the community to “behave cautiously and prudently until further notice.”

Antisemitic incidents in Switzerland rose 68% in 2023 over the previous year, with over half of the events occurring after the Hamas massacre of 1,200 people in Israel on October 7, sparking Israel’s ongoing war against the terrorist organization.

In Paris, a Jewish man in his sixties wearing a skullcap was beaten upon leaving synagogue Friday night.

His assailant reportedly called him “a dirty Jew” among other insults while punching and kicking him before running away.

The victim was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin expressed his horror at the attack.

“Everything is being done to find the perpetrator of this unspeakable act,” he posted to X Saturday, saying that his “initial information” was that it was antisemitic in nature.

He added that he had instructed local police to “reinforce surveillance of places frequented by our Jewish compatriots who must not be the victims of tragedies taking place in the Middle East.”

This includes having a police presence at schools as well as houses of worship during arrival and departure times.

In the most serious incident, Dr. Benjamin Harouni, an Orthodox dentist, was murdered Thursday afternoon at the clinic he ran with his father. Two other employees were also shot and wounded in the attack.

The police, who arrived as the shooting was still in progress, are credited with causing the suspect, Mohammed Abdulkareem (29), to flee quickly.

He was arrested in the evening after the police publicized the image of him and his truck on social media and people who saw the vehicle called the authorities, leading to a quick manhunt and capture.

Abdulkareem’s motivation is being reported as dissatisfaction with professional services received rather than antisemitism, but the FBI is involved in the investigation as it has been labeled a possible hate crime.

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The daily average is 15.1 incidents a day.

By JNS

The Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) has released its monthly report of antisemitic incidents, finding 468 running across a spectrum of actions and motives.

Comparing last month’s total to January 2023, CAM reports an increase of 171%, making a daily average of 15.1.

The largest share of the incidents (65.3%) were Israel-related with 16.25% as expressions of “classical” antisemitism; 8.97% as Islamist in motivation; and the rest as Holocaust denial, minimization, distortion or unattributable categories.

Types of incidents included vandalism (68 incidents), physical threats (52) and the majority—329, or 70%—as hate speech.

The organization cited such examples as a man who tried to stab Jews at a kosher supermarket in London and anti-Israel protesters yelling “shame on you” at pediatric cancer patients whose place of treatment had received a donation from a Jew.

CAM also noted that a neo-Nazi podcaster had said Jews should be “absolutely annihilated” and that Turkey, which has come out strongly against Israel over its war with Hamas in Gaza, had seen an uptick in antisemitic incidents.

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