Tagged European Jewish Congress

Anti-Semitic incidents in US surging in ’17, rose by a third in ’16

Vandalized gravestones at the Waad Hakolel Cemetery in Rochester, N.Y., March 3, 2017. (Gretchen Stumme/AFP/Getty Images)

  (JTA) – Anti-Semitic incidents in the United States soared 86 percent in the first three months of 2017 after rising by more than one-third in 2016, according to the Anti-Defamation League. There has been a massive increase in harassment of American Jews, largely since November, and at least… Read more »

The Matisyahu affair: In Europe, conflating Jew and Israel

Matisyahu performing at the Rototom Festival in Benicassim, Spain, Aug. 22, 2015. (YouTube)

(JTA) — A Spanish music festival’s recent decision to rescind its invitation to the American reggae singer Matisyahu, after he declined to endorse a Palestinian state, brought international attention to a phenomenon that many European Jews have been feeling for years: that they are being targeted for Israel’s actions.… Read more »

Denmark synagogue attack seen as ‘wake-up call’

Copenhagen's main synagogue, where a guard was shot and killed early Feb. 15, 2015. (Wikimedia Commons)

(JTA) — From the window of the Jewish Community of Copenhagen’s crisis center, Finn Schwarz can see his country changing before his eyes. Hours after the slaying of a guard outside the Danish capital’s main synagogue early Sunday morning, two police officers toting machine guns were on patrol outside… Read more »

In Brussels, Jewish security professionals train for the next attack

BRUSSELS (JTA) — Seventy-two hours after a deadly attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris, dozens of Jewish community officials from across Europe were operating a hectic situation room at a hotel in the Belgian capital. But crisis managers and community leaders were not dealing with the horror unfolding… Read more »

Beleaguered Belgian Jews shocked but not surprised by museum attack

BRUSSELS (JTA) — The cold determination with which the shooter at Belgium’s Jewish museum murdered four people shocked many Belgians, but local Jewish leaders have long anticipated the possibility of such an attack on their community. The shooter who entered the Jewish Museum of Belgium on Saturday in central… Read more »