Category Archives: Antisemitism

Columbia University ‘refusing to help’ identify people for arrest – White House

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Trump administration has axed $400m in federal funding to Columbia and detained student activist Mahmoud Khalil

The Trump administration said on Tuesday that Columbia University was “refusing to help” the Department of Homeland Security identify people for arrest on campus, after immigration authorities detained a prominent Palestinian activist and recent Columbia graduate over the weekend.

The Trump White House’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said on Tuesday the administration had given the university names of multiple individuals it accused of “pro-Hamas activity”, reiterating the administration’s intention to deport activists associated with pro-Palestinian protests.

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Former bikie boss Sayed Moosawi directed ‘James Bond’ arson attacks in Bondi, court hears

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NSW police allege Moosawi directed two men who have pleaded guilty to setting the Curly Lewis brewery on fire in October 2024. He has denied all charges

A former bikie boss is among 14 people charged this week over a wave of alleged antisemitic attacks in Sydney that authorities claim were designed to distract police from organised crime or influence prosecutions.

On Tuesday, 32-year-old Sayed Moosawi, a former chapter president of the Nomad bikies, pleaded not guilty to three charges related to two alleged arson attacks on businesses in Bondi Beach in October.

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Sydney caravan a ‘fake terrorism plot’ by criminals hoping to cause fear for personal benefit, police allege

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‘The caravan plot was an elaborate scheme contrived by organised criminals domestically and from offshore,’ AFP deputy commissioner Krissy Barrett says

Federal police say a caravan with explosives found in Sydney earlier this year was “never going to cause a mass casualty event” and was a “fake terrorism plot”.

The Australian federal police deputy commissioner Krissy Barrett said on Monday investigators now believed the caravan incident was concocted by criminals who wanted to cause fear for personal benefit.

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Labor was warned its perceived ‘one-sided’ Israel support over Gaza raised social cohesion concerns

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Exclusive: Department told minister in November 2023 Palestinian and Muslim communities were ‘extremely angry, hurt and betrayed’

The home affairs department warned the government as early as November 2023 that its perceived one-sidedness in support of Israel during the Gaza conflict left Palestinian and Muslim Australians feeling “extremely angry” and “betrayed” , as well as concern about social cohesion, documents reveal.

A November 2023 briefing document to the then immigration minister, Andrew Giles, was obtained by Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws. It discussed “social cohesion measures”, including a $25m package announced in October 2023 to strengthen resilience and improve support to Australian Palestinian, Muslim and other communities in Australia after the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent war waged by Israel in Gaza. A total of $52.8m had been approved for social cohesion measures relating to the conflict, according to the document.

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Pentagon official condemned over tweet about Jewish victim lynched by Georgia mob

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Kingsley Wilson cast doubt on circumstances of death of Leo Frank, in echo of white supremacist talking point

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has condemned a past social media post by the Pentagon spokesperson Kingsley Wilson that disputed the innocence of Leo Frank, a Jewish businessman whom most historians agree was wrongfully convicted of killing a 13-year-old factory worker and lynched in 1915 during a wave of antisemitism in the US.

“Leo Frank raped & murdered a 13-year-old girl. He also tried to frame a Black man for his crime,” Wilson wrote on X in response to an August 2024 tweet by the ADL marking the 109th anniversary of Frank’s lynching. “The ADL turned off the comments because they want to gaslight you.”

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Conservative peer accused of using antisemitic tropes in Lords debate

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Archie Hamilton said Jewish community in Britain ‘has an awful lot of money’ and should pay for proposed Holocaust memorial

A Conservative peer has been accused of using antisemitic tropes after saying in a debate in the Lords that Jewish people should pay for a proposed Holocaust memorial in London because they have “an awful lot of money”.

Archie Hamilton, who served as a minister under Margaret Thatcher and John Major and was made a peer in 2005, was criticised after the debate, which was about whether to put the memorial and education centre in Victoria Tower Gardens, next to parliament.

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Hopeful or ‘hate-fuelled’? Film of controversial play about Israel gets London premiere

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Director says Seven Jewish Children by Caryl Churchill, which provoked fury at its first production in 2009, is a ‘family story’ at heart

The premiere of Caryl Churchill’s short play Seven Jewish Children at the Royal Court theatre 16 years ago proved to be one of British theatre’s most controversial opening nights.

Audiences were immediately divided by the British playwright’s deliberately stripped-back treatment of Jewish generational fear and Israel’s history of conflict.

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Asio chief reveals foreign spies plotted to lure Australia-based activist overseas to injure or kill them

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Australia’s spy boss Mike Burgess highlights foreign intelligence operations, antisemitism and election disinformation in annual threat assessment speech

At least three countries have plotted to harm Australians abroad and on home soil, including a planned assassination to silence a human rights activist, Australia’s spy boss has revealed.

In a wide-ranging annual threat assessment speech on Wednesday night, which warned of an unprecedented level of threats until 2030, Mike Burgess, the head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, highlighted a foreign intelligence operation foiled by his agency.

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Education minister accused of ‘political interference’ over review of funding for prominent pro-Palestinian academic

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Jason Clare has asked Australian Research Council board to investigate $870,000 grant to Randa Abdel-Fattah, who has faced criticism for controversial comments

Academics have accused the education minister of “arbitrary political interference” in the Australian Research Council after requesting the body’s board investigate the fellowship of a prominent academic and Palestinian advocate.

Randa Abdel-Fattah, the recipient of an ARC Future Fellowship and an academic at Macquarie University, has faced sustained criticism from the Coalition, some Jewish bodies and media outlets for a series of controversial comments, including alleging Zionists had “no claim or right to cultural safety”, and posting “May 2025 be the end of Israel” in the new year and changing her profile picture to a picture of a Palestinian paratrooper after the 7 October attacks.

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Proposed ban on protest outside places of worship could prevent town hall rallies, Sydney mayor warns

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Clover Moore says police would have power to block peaceful demonstrations and warns against eroding civil rights

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Sydney’s mayor has warned that new laws proposed by the New South Wales government would give police powers to block peaceful protests at town hall – a regular site for demonstrations in the city.

The laws, introduced to parliament on Tuesday and carrying a maximum of two years in prison, are the first tranche of a suite of measures aimed at stemming antisemitism after a series of arson attacks and graffiti on synagogues and in Sydney’s suburban streets in recent months.

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‘Harassing’ people outside places of worship could result in jail under proposed NSW law

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Premier Chris Minns flags new measures, which would make certain types of protests a criminal offence, in response to ‘racial hatred and antisemitism’

The New South Wales government has proposed legislation that could make certain types of protests outside places of worship a criminal offence amid growing fears about antisemitism.

The reforms are part of a broader measures in response to a wave of arson attacks and antisemitic vandalism over the past two months in Sydney.

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Labor attempts to pass minimum sentences for hate speech crimes in departure from national platform

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Albanese government will reverse stance on mandatory terms to head off opposition attacks on antisemitism

The Albanese government will attempt to pass minimum jail sentences of between one and six years for hate speech crimes in a bid to stave off opposition attacks on its response to antisemitism before the federal election.

The move marks a significant departure from Labor’s own national policy platform, which opposes minimum sentencing laws which it says do “not reduce crime”, “lead to unjust outcomes” and are “often discriminatory in practice”.

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Guardian Essential poll: more voters say Albanese ‘out of touch’ with ordinary Australians than Peter Dutton

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Survey also finds 40% of people say antisemitism is a major issue in Australia, while 48% say it is a minor issue

More voters see Peter Dutton as in touch with ordinary Australians, decisive and better in a crisis than Anthony Albanese, with the opposition leader’s standing improving on key leadership indicators in the latest Guardian Essential poll.

Parliament returns on Tuesday for potentially the last sitting fortnight before the federal election (which must be held by mid-May). Questions about the Labor government’s response to antisemitism and the alleged caravan bomb discovered in Sydney are expected to dominate the political agenda.

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Caravan laden with explosives found in Sydney allegedly intended for antisemitic attack

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NSW police investigating after explosives found in Dural with premier Chris Minns warning incident could have led to ‘mass casualty event’

More than 100 counter-terrorism police are investigating after a caravan was found laden with explosives at a residential property in greater Sydney with indications the explosives would be used in an antisemitic attack.

Police said they had found the caravan on a property in Dural, on the outskirts of Sydney on 19 January after a report was made.

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Third of young adults in UK ‘unable to name Auschwitz or any Nazi death camps’

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Lack of knowledge about Holocaust identified as well as level of denial and disinformation seen on social media

A third of young adults in the UK are unable to name Auschwitz or any of the other concentration camps and ghettoes where the crimes of the Holocaust were committed, according to a study.

Other growing gaps in knowledge – especially among those aged 18-29 – were also identified, as part of a major international survey in countries including the US and UK.

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Jewish non-profit chief says Musk will spur violence with his ‘Nazi salute’

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Amy Spitalnick of Jewish Council for Public Affairs warns far right will take action as ‘license for violent extremism’

The head of a prominent US Jewish civil rights body said Elon Musk’s repeated fascist-style salute during Donald Trump’s inauguration could act as a spur for violent extremists.

“The salute itself should be enough to warrant condemnation and attention,” said Amy Spitalnick, adding that so should “the ways extremists see an action like this and take it as license for their own violent extremism”.

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Anthony Albanese has pledged action on antisemitism – but Peter Dutton is still setting the agenda | Josh Butler

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The prime minister’s about-face after attack on Sydney childcare centre has left him once again looking like he’s playing catchup

Anthony Albanese has pledged action on antisemitic attacks – but his decision to call a snap national cabinet meeting less than a day after rebuffing that suggestion has left him once again looking like he’s playing catchup.

The prime minister condemned an arson and graffiti attack on a childcare centre in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra this week as a hate crime and “vile, antisemitic violence”. Scheduled to hold a press conference in western Sydney on Tuesday morning, he rerouted to the city’s east instead, visiting the site of the attack and then holding a press conference with the New South Wales premier, Chris Minns.

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Anthony Albanese convenes national cabinet on antisemitism after Sydney childcare centre set alight

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Prime minister, who has previously resisted calling the meeting, says it will focus on recent wave of attacks and graffiti

National cabinet will meet on Tuesday afternoon to discuss antisemitism in Australia, after Anthony Albanese pledged that the latest attack on a Sydney childcare centre “will lead to action”.

The prime minister previously resisted calls for such a meeting, saying on Monday Australians did not just want to see more meetings on antisemitism.

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Counter-terrorism police take up investigation of swastika attack at Sydney synagogue

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Vandals also started a fire in Newtown that could have had deadly consequences, commissioner says

Counter-terrorism police have taken over the investigation of a swastika vandalism attack at a Sydney synagogue as the police commissioner and premier call on the public to help catch the perpetrators.

Jewish leaders condemned the latest antisemitic attack, in which red swastikas were spray-painted across the front wall of Newtown synagogue in Sydney’s inner west by a male and female about 4.30am on Saturday.

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Second Sydney synagogue vandalised with swastikas as NSW premier condemns ‘monstrous’ acts

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Police investigating graffiti on Newtown synagogue a day after similar attack in Allawah

A second Sydney synagogue has been vandalised with swastikas in as many days in an attack the Jewish community said was intended to erode social cohesion.

The Newtown synagogue in Sydney’s inner west was the latest site targeted, with red swastikas spray painted across its front wall.

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