The National Holocaust Monument in Ottawa, Canada. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The Ottawa Police Department’s hate and bias crimes unit has begun an investigation into an act of vandalism discovered on Monday at the Canadian city’s National Holocaust Monument.

Red paint proclaimed “Feed Me” in tall, thin letters below the gray structure’s front sign before workers covered the graffiti with a black tarp. The message appeared to be a reference to the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where Israel has been waging a military campaign against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

The vandals also dumped their paint in four other locations, two on either side of their message.

In a Monday statement on X, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he was “appalled” at the crime.

“This is a monument that commemorates the six million Jewish lives murdered during the Holocaust, and the millions of other victims of Nazi Germany. It is a space for mourning and remembrance, and its defacing is reprehensible,” Carney wrote.

Other officials expressed their outrage at the antisemitic act.

“This is not a way to address the concerns that people have, either about what’s happening in the Middle East or certainly about what’s happened in our own country with the high spike of antisemitism,” said Deborah Lyons, Canada’s special envoy on preserving Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism.

Lyons urged that combating antisemitism was “an effort that requires all Canadians to be engaged in fighting, I think, one of the strongest hatreds that we have ever seen Canada have to address. And if we fail at this, then we will fail at others in the future.”

Melissa Lantsman, who serves in the Canadian parliament as a conservative leader, wrote online that “defacing sacred ground in honor of the millions of victims of the Holocaust in the middle of the night with spray paint isn’t protest, it’s vandalism.”

The International March of the Living — a Holocaust education program that holds an annual march from Auschwitz I to Auschwitz II-Birkenau, the Nazis’ largest death camp where 1 million Jews were murdered during World War II — released a statement calling for law enforcement to investigate the vandalism as a hate crime and to ensure security for Jewish organizations.

“This abhorrent act is an assault on memory, truth, and dignity,” said Scott Saunders, CEO of the International March of the Living. “Holocaust memorials stand as solemn reminders of humanity’s darkest chapter and as warnings of what can happen when hatred is left unchecked. Defacing this monument is a cowardly attempt to erase history and spread division. We stand in full solidarity with survivors and with the Canadian Jewish community. We must never stay silent in the face of hate.”

Canadians who survived the Holocaust and their family members expressed their horror at the vandalism.

“I am sick. I could never believe that such an incident would happen on Canadian soil. I always felt the people living here were more compassionate and had more heart. But unfortunately, I was wrong,” Holocaust survivor Esther Fairbloom said in a statement. Calling herself “extremely sad,” Fairbloom added, “I don’t have the same faith as I used to. I don’t feel as strong. I don’t feel as secure. I feel safer in Israel.”

Lawrence Greenspon, co-chair of the monument committee, said, “My father is a Holocaust survivor. His sister and his mother and father were all killed. My daughter is named after his sister.” He said that “when somebody defaces the National Holocaust Monument, it is personal and it hurts, and particularly when it is such an act of hatred and antisemitism.”

Nate Leipciger is 95 years old. He survived Auschwitz and other Nazi camps.

“I feel terrible. I’m upset, I’m disgusted. ⁠It is a sad comment on our society, when a group takes out its hatred on the monument that represents the greatest crime in humanity by defacing it,””Leipciger said. “It just shows how depraved they are in their logic and how they’re completely unrealistic in thinking that putting graffiti ‘feed them’ onto the building would somehow help the people in Gaza.”

“Who is the message to?” Leipciger asked. “It’s Hamas that is stopping the Palestinian from being fed. I think it has to be made clear that the sign is misrepresenting in its terrible depravity. The people who are preventing the people from being fed is not Israel, but Hamas.”

According to the International March of the Living, 2024 saw a 670 percent increase in antisemitic incidents in Canada compared to previous years. This equates to Jews who make up 1.4 percent of the population enduring 70 percent of all religious hate crimes.

Fairbloom revealed the extent to which domestic antisemitism had frightened her.

“I’m scared to go out. It’s everywhere. It’s anywhere. And I live in a Jewish area,” she said. “The only way… is to stand together and fight together. I never thought I would say the word ‘fight.’ But we do, whether it’s by words or whether it’s by action. We have to.”

The post Canada’s National Holocaust Monument Vandalized With Red ‘Feed Me’ Graffiti first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi attends a press conference in Washington, DC, US, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

The US Department of Justice has sued an Oakland, California, business accused of denying service to Jewish and pro-Israel customers, an alleged act of discrimination that would violate federal civil rights statutes.

Justice Department officials on Monday said they pursued litigation under Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — a provision of the law which proscribes denying public accommodations based on race, color, religion, or national origin.

“It is illegal, intolerable, and reprehensible for any American business open to the public to refuse to serve Jewish customers,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said in a statement announcing the action. “Through our vigorous enforcement of Title II of the Civil Rights Act and other laws prohibiting race and religious discrimination, the Justice Department is committed to combatting antisemitism and discrimination and protecting the civil rights of all Americans.”

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, Jerusalem Coffee House owner Abdulrahim Harara in October confronted Jonathan Hirsch, a Jewish man who was wearing a hat emblazoned with a Star of David patch, charging that the apparel carried a “violent” connotation and labeled him as a “Zionist” — a perceived offense for which he demanded that Hirsch leave the premises without completing his order.

“You’re being asked to leave. You’re causing a disruption. This is a private business. You’re being asked to leave,” Harara was overheard saying in footage of the incident. “This is a violent hat, and you need to leave … Get out!”

The police soon arrived and recommended that Hirsch leave when anti-Israel protesters started arriving.

The Jerusalem Coffee House, which celebrates Palestinian culture, has previously stirred controversy for offering two drinks that seemingly indicate support for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and violence against Israel. One drink is called “Iced In Tea Fada,” a reference to extended periods of Palestinian terrorism perpetrated against Israel known as “intifadas,” or violent uprisings. The other drink is called is called the “Sweet Sinwar.” Yahya Sinwar, who was killed by Israeli forces last year, was the leader of Hamas and mastermind of the terrorist group’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel. While the drinks were debuted on the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 atrocities, Harara denied that the drink was named after the terrorist leader.

Hirsch is not the only Jewish patron who was allegedly refused service by Harara. In June 2024, local nonprofit director Michael Radice, who is Jewish, was wearing a cap which said “Am Yisrael Chai [Long Live Israel]” at Jerusalem Coffee House when Harara and another employee began shouting “Jew” and “Zionist” at him, according to court documents. The two men menacingly pursued Radice into the street, forcing him to maneuver around a parked car to create a defensive barrier against their advance, prosecutors alleged.

“Neither customer stated anything about their political views to Harara or any other employees while at the coffee house,” the Justice Department said on Monday. “The lawsuit further alleges that the coffee house’s exterior side wall displays inverted red triangles, a symbol of violence against Jews that has been spray painted on Jewish homes and synagogues during antisemitic attacks.”

The Trump administration’s Justice Department has launched a robust effort to fight antisemitism at every level of society. In February, it created a “multi-agency” Task Force to Combat Antisemitism. Its “first priority will be to root out antisemitic harassment in schools and on college campuses,” the department said in a press release, which noted that the group will be housed inside the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and include representatives from the departments of education and health and human services.

The announcement came less than a week after US President Donald Trump directed federal agencies to combat campus antisemitism and hold pro-terror extremists accountable for the harassment of Jewish students, fulfilling a promise he made while campaigning for a second term in office. Continuing work started started during his first administration — when Trump issued Executive Order 13899 to ensure that civil rights law apply equally Jews — the new executive order, titled, “Additional Measures to Combat Antisemitism” calls for “using all appropriate legal tools to prosecute, remove, or otherwise … hold to account perpetrators of unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence.”

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

The post US Justice Department Sues California Coffee House for Alleged Discrimination Against Jewish Customers first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Israeli athletes were harassed by members of the African National Congress (ANC) during South Africa’s Comrades Marathon on Sunday, June 8, 2025. Photo: Screenshot

Israeli athletes were harassed by members of the African National Congress (ANC) during South Africa’s Comrades Marathon on Sunday, after the youth wing of the largest political party in the South African government’s ruling coalition called for their exclusion from the race — an incident that has sparked international outrage and condemnation.

Every year, South Africa hosts the Comrades Marathon, the world’s oldest ultramarathon spanning 54 miles (87 kilometers) through the province of KwaZulu-Natal, in the southeast of the country. This year, the race drew nearly 19,000 runners from more than 80 countries.

Prior to the marathon, the ANC Youth League for the province of KwaZulu-Natal (ANCYL-KZN) publicly released the names and race numbers of the Israeli runners in a statement that called on organizers to “reverse” their decision to allow them to compete.

“Symbolic acts of international solidarity must translate into tangible actions,” the youth league said in the statement.

“Allowing representatives of an apartheid state to participate in an event as iconic and morally significant as the Comrades Marathon sends a dangerous and conflicting message, one that undermines the very principles this race has come to embody such as unity, sacrifice and justice,” the statement continued.

Despite being allowed to compete, Israeli runners were harassed along the course by ANC members waving Palestinian flags.

Some carried signs accusing Israel of “war crimes,” while others shouted antisemitic slogans such as, “Down, down Israel, you are not welcome here” and “This is not your land — go home!”

The @MYANC @ANCYLhq published names and badge numbers of Israeli participants in @ComradesRace. They then tracked and harassed them.
@GaytonMcK, would love your thoughts.. pic.twitter.com/ClrJWonJMR

— Howard Feldman (@HowardFeldman) June 9, 2025

The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD), the umbrella group of the country’s Jewish community, condemned the incident, describing the attacks by “anti-Israel protesters” on Israeli runners as “the antithesis of the very spirit of the Comrades.”

“We are equally dismayed by the ANCYL in KwaZulu-Natal’s statement calling for the exclusion of Israeli athletes, identified by name and race number, to facilitate targeted harassment. This is a form of doxing, which is reprehensible,” SAJBD said in the statement.

“The harassment of these athletes exemplifies the anti-Israeli movement’s unwanted and unconstitutional exploitation of public spaces to antagonize and intimidate those who challenge its narrow political bent,” the statement continued.

“These theatrical displays make no contribution toward improving or saving a single life in Gaza,” SAJBD added.

The European Jewish Association (EJA) also denounced the harassment, warning of its dangerous consequences.

“When the names of Jews or Israelis are deliberately published like this — especially after the horrifying incidents we’ve seen in the US in recent weeks — it’s not activism, and it’s certainly not politics,” EJA wrote in a post on X, referring to the shooting of two Israel embassy staffers in Washington, DC last month and the firebombing of a pro-Israel gathering in Boulder, Colorado less than two weeks later.

“It’s hatred. And it’s a call for violence,” the group said.

When the names of Jews or Israelis are deliberately published like this — especially after the horrifying incidents we’ve seen in the U.S. in recent weeks — it’s not activism, and it’s certainly not politics.

It’s hatred.
And it’s a call for violence.

Did the ANC members who… https://t.co/XU42nu4Wxa

— EJA – EIPA (@EJAssociation) June 10, 2025

The South African Zionist Federation (SAZF) also condemned the harassment of Israeli participants, stating that such actions reinforce the ANC’s apparent intent to alienate and marginalize those with differing views.

“This action is not an isolated occurrence. It forms part of a broader, deliberate campaign to denormalize Israelis and the Jewish connection to Israel in South Africa, and to discriminate against them,” SAZF told The Algemeiner. “For a minority community, this kind of targeted hostility is deeply concerning and creates an atmosphere of fear and exclusion.”

“We call on the Comrades Marathon organizers to investigate how such blatant discrimination was allowed to occur at a major sporting event, and we will engage the relevant authorities to demand concrete action that ensures the safety, dignity, and equal treatment of all participants in the future,” the group continued.

Since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, the South African government has been one of the most vocal critics of Israel on the international stage, repeatedly targeting the Jewish state through diplomatic actions.

Since December 2023, South Africa has been pursuing its case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of committing “state-led genocide” in its defensive war against the Palestinian terrorist group in Gaza.

Israeli leaders have condemned the case as an “obscene exploitation” of the Genocide Convention, noting that the Jewish state is targeting terrorists who use civilians as human shields in its military campaign.

Last year, the ICJ ruled there was “plausibility” to South Africa’s claims that Palestinians had a right to be protected from genocide. However, the top UN court did not make a determination on the merits of South Africa’s allegations, which may take years to go through the judicial process.

Instead, the ICJ issued a more general directive that Israel must make sure it prevents acts of genocide. The ruling also called for the release of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the terrorist group’s Oct. 7 rampage.

The ruling ANC lost its majority in parliament last year for the first time in South Africa’s post-apartheid democratic history. However, it still remained the largest party and retained power at the national level through a coalition.

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