Soon it will be 2020. For some, the thrill of a New Year starting is tempered by concerns for what may be: an increase in hate incidents and/or crimes and an increase in hate speech both online and on the streets. Since the start of 2019, ADL Arizona has… Read more »
Tagged hate crimes
A teen allegedly attacked a Jewish woman in Brooklyn, pulling off her scarf and wig
NEW YORK (JTA) — Police said a Jewish woman reported being harassed in Brooklyn on Rosh Hashanah. The 22-year-old said that she was approached on Sunday evening by a female teenager who “pulled her scarf and wig from her head,” a New York Police detective, Annette Shelton, told the… Read more »
Tucson is not immune to hate messaging, fliers show

At least one anti-Semitic flier recently was sighted, posted on a pole in downtown Tucson. Tucson Police Department Sgt. Ben Frie told the AJP on Aug. 7 that “they started showing up about a week ago … at a couple of different locations.” Paul Patterson, Jewish Federation of Southern… Read more »
One thing Crown Heights can do to really tackle anti-Semitism

NEW YORK (JTA) – Anti-Jewish incidents made up more than half the hate crimes reported in New York City in 2018 and so far this year. The 71st Precinct, which includes the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, reported nine incidents, the most of any precinct in the five boroughs.… Read more »
Man arrested for threatening and spitting on elderly Jews in Florida village
(JTA) — A jogger was arrested for allegedly verbally threatening and spitting on elderly Jews in Florida as they walked home from synagogue. Daniel Valerivich Starikov, 33, of Hollywood, Florida and who is originally from Britain, was arrested on Wednesday on two charges of battery on persons 65 years… Read more »
Alleged Poway synagogue shooter charged with murder
(JTA) — The alleged gunman in the attack on the Chabad of Poway synagogue near San Diego was charged with murder. John Earnest, 19, was charged on Sunday afternoon with one count of murder in the first degree and three counts of attempted murder in the first degree, according… Read more »
Federal grand jury adds hate crimes charges to indictment against alleged Pittsburgh shooter
(JTA) — A federal grand jury has added hate crimes charges to the indictment against the alleged gunman in the shooting attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue that left 11 worshippers dead. The new indictment announced Tuesday adds a total of 19 charges, including 13 for hate crimes, to the… Read more »
Black Jewish actor Jussie Smollett violently assaulted in Chicago
(JTA) — Black Jewish actor Jussie Smollett, best known for his work on the show “Empire,” was hospitalized in Chicago on Tuesday following an assault that is being described by police as a possible hate crime. Smollett was exiting a restaurant when two men approached him. The Chicago Police… Read more »
James Comey, fired by Trump and reviled by Democrats, had admirers among Jewish defense officials

WASHINGTON (JTA) — “You make us better,” James Comey told the Anti-Defamation League in his final public speech as FBI director. Judging from the applause in the conference room at the venerable Mayflower Hotel here, the feeling was mutual. Mired in investigations of the scandals of 2016 (Hillary… Read more »
OP-ED I’m wearing a kippah now — for solidarity and visibility

SAN FRANCISCO (JTA) — I do not like wearing a kippah. I grew up in a Reform synagogue where few people wore them, including the rabbi. The gendered nature of it bothers me. (Why, in some “egalitarian” synagogues, are men forced to wear them but not women?) And, quite… Read more »
Could an Israeli startup have prevented Charleston church massacre?

As Wednesday’s massacre in Charleston demonstrated, houses of worship face a particularly difficult security challenge. Unlike schools, churches such as the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal, where nine people were gunned down by a lone shooter on Wednesday, need to stay open and accessible to carry out their mission of… Read more »
Sucker punch: Brooklyn Jews targeted in ‘knockout’ attacks

NEW YORK (JTA) — Chava, a student at a Chabad seminary, has lived in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn for six years, but it’s only in the past few days that she started carrying pepper spray in her handbag. Her younger brother gave her the deterrent after news… Read more »
Op-Ed: Shine a light on hateful white power music
NEW YORK (JTA) — Much has been written and said of late about the underground white supremacist subculture in which Wisconsin shooter Wade Page immersed himself, and his own involvement with white power music. But one aspect of that subculture has not been given the attention it deserves. In… Read more »
Toulouse shooting spotlights problems of tracking hate crimes in Europe
BRUSSELS (JTA) — Jihadist websites eat up a fair share of Bart Olmer’s workday. He even has passwords to some closed hate forums. “Reading hate speech is part of the job,” says Olmer, who reports on intelligence services for Holland’s largest circulation daily, De Telegraaf. It’s an explanation he… Read more »