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Anne Frank Exhibit to Distribute 10,000 Free Copies of Frank’s Diary in Honor of Her Would-Be 96th Birthday
Inside a recreation of the annex room Anne Frank shared while hiding from the Nazis in The Netherlands that is featured in “Anne Frank The Exhibition” at the Center for Jewish History. Photo: John Halpern
Organizers of New York City’s “Anne Frank The Exhibition” will hand out 10,000 free copies of the Jewish teenager’s famous Holocaust diary as well as free tickets to the unique exhibit as part of an initiative launching on Thursday that will commemorate what would have been Frank’s 96th birthday.
Organizers of “Anne Frank The Exhibition” — which is presented by the Anne Frank House in the Netherlands and hosted at the Center for Jewish History in Union Square — announced this week a new initiative called “Summer of Reflection: The Legacy of Anne Frank.”
New York City Public Schools, Union Square Partnership, and the New York Public Library, Queens Public Library, and Brooklyn Public Library are partnering with the initiative to distribute free copies of “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” starting on Thursday – Frank’s birthday – and through the summer. Some copies of Frank’s famous diary will also join the permanent collections of schools and libraries, to guarantee lasting access for future generations.
“Anne Frank The Exhibition” features the first full-scale recreation of the secret annex in Amsterdam where Frank hid with her family and other Jews from the Nazis during World War II, and where she wrote her famous diary about her experience in hiding. “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” is one of the most translated books in the world. It is available in over 70 languages and has sold over 30 million copies. The book was published by Frank’s father, Otto, after the Holocaust. Anne and her sister Margot died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945.
“In the face of rising antisemitism around the country and world, it is critical that we take steps across our city to combat hate and intolerance,” said New York City Public Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos in a released statement about the “Summer of Reflection” initiative.
“Anne Frank’s story is one of hope, humanity, and courage, and it belongs in our classrooms and in our communities as a key part of this work,” Aviles-Ramos added. “I am confident that the distribution of 10,000 copies of her diary will leave a lasting impact on our young people, just as it did on my own students when I was a high school English teacher.”
The Anne Frank House in the Netherlands — with support from Bank of America and UJA-Federation of New York — will distribute the free copies of Frank’s diary and free tickets to the New York City exhibit for students and others. Starting on Thursday from 12-2 pm ET, educators and exhibition staff from the exhibit will be at various locations to hand out free copies of the diary.
On Friday, “Anne Frank The Exhibition” will offer free admission from 2:45-5 pm ET on a first-come, first-served basis. Organizers also announced they will extend free exhibition access – for up to 250 people – for public library card holders on select Friday afternoons in July and August, starting on July 11.
“Anne Frank’s diary is not just a historical document; it is a beacon of hope and a call to action,” said Ronald Leopold, executive director of the Anne Frank House. “Her words inspire us to confront injustice and to promote tolerance and human dignity. By distributing thousands of copies of her diary and expanding access to the exhibition, we are reaffirming our commitment to education and remembrance. It is vital that Anne’s message reaches as many people as possible, especially in today’s world where antisemitism and group hatred is on the rise and the lessons of history must never be forgotten. It is what her father, Otto Frank, sought to achieve in his dedicated and courageous pursuit of the diary’s publication.”
The distribution of the 10,000 books is being organized in collaboration with the New York City Public Schools Office of Library Services, New York City Public Schools Department of Social Studies & Civics, and New York City Public Schools Summer Rising enrichment program.
“By helping to put this book directly into the hands of New York City students, we’re giving them the opportunity to connect personally with Anne’s story, reflect on the consequences of hatred, and understand the possibility of resilience and the human spirit,” said Eric Goldstein, CEO of the UJA-Federation of New York. “Particularly now, at a time of sharply rising hatred targeting the Jewish community, our hope is that young readers will be inspired to stand up to hate, to find courage in the face of adversity, and to believe in the power of their own voices.”
“Anne Frank The Exhibition” is the first time in history that the Anne Frank House offers an experience outside of Amsterdam where visitors can immerse themselves in a full-scale replica of the fully furnished rooms where Frank, her parents and sister, and four other Jews spent two years hiding from Nazi capture. More than 100 original collection items from the Anne Frank House are on display in the exhibit, marking the first time dozens of artifacts can be seen in the United States. Many have never been seen in public.
“Anne Frank The Exhibition” opened in New York City in late January on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The exhibit is a limited engagement and was originally scheduled to close on April 30. However, due to popular demand and after selling out tickets for its limited run within one week of opening, the exhibit is now on extended view at the Center for Jewish History through Oct. 31, 2025.
The post Anne Frank Exhibit to Distribute 10,000 Free Copies of Frank’s Diary in Honor of Her Would-Be 96th Birthday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pakistani Textbooks Promote Antisemitism, Distort History, Justify Violence, New Study Finds
Sinain Bibi reads at a makeshift school in a village in Swat district in Pakistan’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Oct. 24, 2022. Photo: Thomson Reuters Foundation/Imran Mukhtar
Pakistani textbooks depict Jews and Israel through deep-rooted antisemitic stereotypes, promoting intolerance, distorting historical facts, and reinforcing prejudice among young readers, according to a new study released on Monday.
The Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), a nonprofit organization that analyzes schoolbooks and curricula around the world, examined over 80 government-approved Pakistani textbooks in subjects ranging from Islamic education and history to social sciences, English, and Urdu as part of a national curriculum assessment.
The group’s newly released study reveals persistent antisemitism in Pakistani textbooks, with hostile portrayals of Jews in Islamic education and a complete absence of Judaism in comparative religion sections.
In several textbooks, Jews are repeatedly portrayed using long-standing antisemitic stereotypes, consistently depicted as “inherently treacherous and disloyal,” the study found.
For example, a 6th-grade textbook portrays Jewish tribes in Medina as conspiring against the Prophet Mohammed, the founder of Islam, on multiple occasions.
Meanwhile, a 5th-grade textbook repeats the antisemitic stereotype that Jews “caused Prophet Isa [Jesus] and his mother to suffer,” claiming they plotted against him to protect their authority.
According to the study, this portrayal reflects medieval antisemitic tropes that blame Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus.
“These narratives frame Judaism as inherently treacherous and promote intolerance,” the report explained.
IMPACT-se also pointed out that the Holocaust is completely omitted from school curricula in Pakistan, with some textbooks even praising Adolf Hitler for restoring German pride while ignoring the atrocities committed by the Nazis.
“Given Pakistan’s prominent regional role, its nuclear status, and large percentage of young people, this curriculum has far-reaching consequences,” IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff said in a statement.
“What is taught in classrooms today will define Pakistan’s future global outlook, including its relationship with Israel and the Jewish people,” he continued.
In more recent history, the study found that Pakistani textbooks portray Israel as an aggressor solely responsible for the war in Gaza, while encouraging support for Muslim nations that seek to destroy the Jewish state.
For example, a 12th-grade textbook blames Israel for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, while making no mention of Hamas’s role in sparking the current war with its invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The textbook “frames Israel as the sole aggressor and the source of the humanitarian catastrophe with no mention of the broader conflict,” the study explained.
“Israel is portrayed as an adversary and is shockingly handed exclusive blame for the current war in Gaza,” it continued.
IMPACT-se also pointed out that several Islamic education textbooks portray jihad as a physical or armed struggle, reinforcing the idea that violent resistance is justified in the face of perceived injustice.
For instance, a 9th-grade Islamic education textbook depicts jihad as a moral duty to protect the oppressed, portraying armed action as a religious obligation with a “broader and noble purpose.”
According to IMPACT-se, this portrayal is used to justify unlimited violence under the guise of moral duty.
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US Justice Department Secures Conviction of Ohio Man Who Mauled Jewish Students
Timur Mamatov, 20. Photo: Screenshot.
US federal law enforcement officials on Friday secured a guilty plea from a man who assaulted two Jewish students at The Ohio State University (OSU) in November 2023, amid an explosion of antisemitism precipitated by the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.
As previously reported by the Algemeiner, five Jewish students returning home from an off-campus event were brutally assaulted by two men who had detained and interrogated them to determine if they were Jewish, according to a civil rights complaint filed against OSU. 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 noted that the OSU Medical Center later denied one of the injured students more than one visitor and prohibited the other a seat in the waiting room, forcing them to stand “outside in the freezing cold for over five hours.”
One of the perpetrators was identified as Tipp City resident Timur Mamatov, now 20 years of age, with the help of the FBI Cincinnati Field Office, the US Department of Justice said in a press release on Friday. He was charged with and later admitted to violating the Hate Crimes Prevention Act and could spend as much as a decade in prison, pending sentencing.
“Mamatov admitted in court today that he assaulted victims because they were Jewish,” US attorney for the Ohio southern district Dominick S. Gerace II said in a statement. “No American should fear being violently attacked based on their religious beliefs. This office, along with our law enforcement partners, will aggressively pursue violence motivated by hate.”
Jose A. Perez, FBI criminal investigative division assistant director, added, “These college students were targeted by Mr. Mamatov simply because they were Jewish. Hate crimes not only impact the victims but have devastating impact on our entire community.”
Meanwhile, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division Harmeet K. Dhillon said, “Violence against people of faith is illegal and unacceptable.”
Just days before Mamatov’s guilty plea, the Justice Department announced the sentencing of a man who fired a pump-action shotgun outside the Temple Israel synagogue in Albany, New York to express his anti-Israel views and intimidate Jewish community members.
The perpetrator, 29-year-old Mufid Fawaz Alkhader, committed the offense on Dec. 7, 2023, exactly two months after Oct. 7, amid preparations for the observance of Hanukkah. According to the Justice Department, he commuted there via Uber from his residence in Schenectady, a city of the Capital Region that once possessed a thriving manufacturing sector and large middle class. Positioning himself in the front entrance, Alkhader discharged his firearm, purchased illegally, twice “into the air” as he bellowed “Free Palestine.”
His gun jammed on the third attempt, after which he turned his frustration on an Israeli flag pitched in front of the institution, the Justice Department said in a press release announcing the sentencing last week. Local law enforcement later apprehended Alkhader, but the security incident he precipitated frightened the congregation, causing it to “cancel a planned concert and candle lighting ceremony to celebrate Hanukkah that evening.”
Alkhader ultimately faced several criminal charges — for purchasing an illegal firearm, violating the religious rights of Temple Israel’s worshippers, and wielding a weapon while committing a violent crime. He will serve ten years in lockup and five years of supervised release.
“This shooting, outside of a synagogue on the eve of a Hanukkah celebration, was unfortunately emblematic of the antisemitic violence, rhetoric, and practices that have swept this country over the last few years,” acting US attorney John Sarcone for the Northern District of New York said in a statement. “This year, the Justice Department has emphatically said — through its words and actions — no more. My office, with our law enforcement partners, will do everything within our powers to make sure everyone in the Northern District of New York can exercise their right to practice their religion without fear and violence and hatred.”
Alkhader’s assault on Temple Israel occurred during an unrelenting wave of over 10,000 antisemitic incidents that hit the American Jewish community in the first year after Oct. 7. According to a 2024 report published by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Center on Extremism on the first anniversary of Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel, antisemitic incidents in the US increased 200 percent. Thirty percent of the incidents recorded took place on college campuses and another 12 percent happened during anti-Israel protests. Another 20 percent targeted Jewish institutions, including nonprofit organizations and houses of worship. Of these, 50 percent were bomb threats.
The hatred has carried into 2025.
In June, a gunman murdered two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, while they exited an event at the Capital Jewish Museum hosted by a major Jewish organization. The suspect charged for the double murder, 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, yelled “Free Palestine” while being arrested by police after the shooting, according to video of the incident. The FBI affidavit supporting the criminal charges against Rodriguez stated that he told law enforcement he “did it for Gaza.”
Less than two weeks later, a man firebombed a crowd of people who were participating in a demonstration to raise awareness of the Israeli hostages who remain imprisoned by Hamas in Gaza. A victim of the attack, Karen Diamond, 82, later died, having sustained severe, fatal injuries.
Another antisemitic incident motivated by anti-Zionism occurred in San Francisco, where an assailant identified by law enforcement as Juan Diaz-Rivas and others allegedly beat up a Jewish victim in the middle of the night. Diaz-Rivas and his friends approached the victim while shouting “F—k the Jews, Free Palestine,” according to local prosecutors.
According to the latest data released by the FBI earlier this month, antisemitic hate crimes in the US have been tallying to break all previous statistical records. In 2024, even as hate crimes decreased overall, those perpetrated against Jews increased by 5.8 percent in 2024 to 1,938, the largest total recorded in over 30 years of the FBI’s counting them. Jewish American groups have noted that this surge, which included 178 assaults, is being experienced by a demographic group which constitutes just 2 percent of the US population.
A striking 69 percent of all religion-based hate crimes that were reported to the FBI in 2024 targeted Jews, with 2,041 out of 2,942 total such incidents being antisemitic in nature. Muslims were targeted the next highest amount as the victims of 256 offenses, or about 9 percent of the total.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Trump Says Hamas Must Be ‘Confronted and Destroyed’ to Secure Release of Remaining Hostages in Gaza
US President Donald Trump speaks at a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte (not pictured), at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, June 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
US President Donald Trump on Monday called for the outright defeat of Hamas, posting on social media that the only path to the safe return of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza is through the Palestinian terrorist group’s destruction.
“We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be,” Trump said on Truth Social.
His remark came as Israel continued to wage its military campaign in Gaza to free the hostages and dismantle Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, military and governing capabilities in the enclave following the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel, where Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people and abducted 251 hostages.
Nearly two years later, 50 hostages still remain in Gaza, including 20 believed to still be alive.
“Remember, I was the one who negotiated and got hundreds of hostages freed and released into Israel (and America!),” Trump added on Truth Social.
Israel has said it will ramp up military pressure on Hamas by seizing control of Gaza City, a major hub for the terrorist group, while simultaneously pursuing negotiations for a potential ceasefire and hostage-release deal. Hamas has reportedly accepted the latest proposal for a 60-day ceasefire with Israel that includes the return of half the hostages the terrorist group holds in Gaza and Israel’s release of some Palestinian prisoners.
Many families of current and former Israeli hostages have argued against escalating operations on Hamas, expressing fear that such a move could lead the terrorist group to execute their loved ones. Others have argued that military pressure is the best way to force Hamas to release hostages as part of a ceasefire on more favorable terms for Israel.
On Monday, Trump also touted his decision to authorize the US military to bomb Iranian nuclear sites in June, an act which was intended to prevent the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism from building nuclear weapons.
“I was the one who ended 6 wars, in just 6 months. I was the one who OBLITERATED Iran’s Nuclear facilities. Play to WIN, or don’t play at all! Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DJT,” he wrote.