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Gov. Hochul unveils new plan to combat antisemitism in New York
(New York Jewish Week) – Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the founding of a new center to combat hate via education — the centerpiece of a larger plan to fight antisemitism in New York, the state with the largest Jewish population in the country.
Hochul unveiled plans for the State Anti-Hate in Education Center during an event Tuesday at the Center for Jewish History in downtown Manhattan, in front of a crowd of about 300 people that included representatives of Jewish organizations across the city. Hochul portrayed the initiative as a response to the Biden administration’s national plan to counter antisemitism, which was presented in May.
An annual survey from the Anti-Defamation League found that antisemitic incidents in New York state had jumped 28% in 2022 from the previous year.
“I will stand here as your governor and tell you, with every fiber of my body, that we will never show indifference to the evil of antisemitism — not now, not ever,” Hochul said at the event.
The State Anti-Hate in Education Center will be part of the governor’s office and will aim to bring together representatives from major educational bodies in the state, including the City University of New York, State University of New York, the state’s Education Department and a group representing the leaders of independent campuses across the state. The center will focus on outlining ways institutions can partner to combat hate, particularly through education, and will host a conference next summer. This year, the center will focus on antisemitism, and will choose a different form of bigotry to study annually in subsequent years.
“Hate cannot be fought in silos. We know what begins with the Jews rarely ever ends with the Jews,” said Deborah Lipstadt, the State Department’s special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, who spoke after Hochul about the Biden administration’s anti-antisemitism plan. “What we’ve got to understand, and what I believe that our government does understand, is that there is an interconnectedness of hatred, that what begins with one group never ends with that group.”
L-R: Ted Deutch, Deborah Lipstadt and Kathy Hochul at the Center for Jewish History, New York, NY, Sept. 19, 2023.(Darren McGee/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)
Hochul also pledged to implement a program that would educate children about discrimination, and to enforce a law requiring Holocaust education in schools. New York has required schools to teach about the Holocaust since 1994, and last year, Hochul signed a bill directing the state to survey whether schools are complying with that mandate.
Hochul’s plan also includes measures to improve the way law enforcement responds to, investigates and collects data on reported hate crimes. She also pledged to simplify the process by which victims of crimes can apply for financial assistance for lost or damaged property and other crime-related expenses.
Another facet of the plan, Hochul said, focuses on providing culturally sensitive mental health care to help Jewish New Yorkers “handle what they’re going through over the last couple years.”
“I want the word out. We have the resources, we have the commitment, we have the people who will do the right thing,” Hochul said. “I don’t ever want to find any limitations on our ability as a state — or my ability as a governor whose number-one job is to protect people in this state.”
She also announced that $38 million of federal funding has been allocated to help fund security measures at 195 synagogues and other religious and nonprofit institutions in the state. In addition, the state has allocated $500,000 toward a program that would “empower community organizations to help lead other, non-Jewish organizations in systemwide anti-hate efforts.”
Antisemitism was not the only issue that came up at the event. Before her speech, the governor was interrupted by two screaming protesters — including Jonathan David Rinaldi, a Jewish Republican candidate for New York City Council — who demanded that she “close the border” in response to the influx of migrants into the state. The two men also demanded that Hochul stop seeking federal funding to help resettle migrants, that she fight what they termed “Jew hatred at CUNY” and that she lift COVID-19 vaccine requirements (though what they were referring to was unclear). The men were swiftly removed by security.
In addition to Hochul and Lipstadt, American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch spoke to the crowd, praising the governor and quoting the rabbinic adage that “All of Israel are responsible for one another.”
“That responsibility starts very much with us,” Deutch said. “It’s true within the Jewish community, it’s what we say about our own community, but it’s remarkable to see the governor of the state of New York recognize that responsibility the way you have.”
Some attendees hoped the governor would address Jewish concerns beyond antisemitism and hate.
“I believe it’s very good what the governor is doing, but we still need to meet about something positive,” said Alexander Rapaport, the founder of Masbia, a kosher food pantry network, and Masbia relief, a Jewish communal disaster relief team that has been aiding newly arrived migrants to New York City. “If all we can talk about is antisemitism and combating hate and it takes up all the air in the room, the haters are still winning in some way.”
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The post Gov. Hochul unveils new plan to combat antisemitism in New York appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students
Haredi Jewish men look at the scene of an explosion at a bus stop in Jerusalem, Israel, on Nov. 23, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Ammar Awad
Israel’s military said it would issue 54,000 call-up notices to ultra-Orthodox Jewish seminary students following a Supreme Court ruling mandating their conscription and amid growing pressure from reservists stretched by extended deployments.
The Supreme Court ruling last year overturned a decades-old exemption for ultra-Orthodox students, a policy established when the community comprised a far smaller segment of the population than the 13 percent it represents today.
Military service is compulsory for most Israeli Jews from the age of 18, lasting 24-32 months, with additional reserve duty in subsequent years. Members of Israel’s 21 percent Arab population are mostly exempt, though some do serve.
A statement by the military spokesperson confirmed the orders on Sunday just as local media reported legislative efforts by two ultra-Orthodox parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition to craft a compromise.
The exemption issue has grown more contentious as Israel’s armed forces in recent years have faced strains from simultaneous engagements with Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthis in Yemen, and Iran.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders in Netanyahu’s brittle coalition have voiced concerns that integrating seminary students into military units alongside secular Israelis, including women, could jeopardize their religious identity.
The military statement promised to ensure conditions that respect the ultra-Orthodox way of life and to develop additional programs to support their integration into the military. It said the notices would go out this month.
The post Israel to Issue 54,000 Call-Up Notices to Ultra-Orthodox Students first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich attends an inauguration event for Israel’s new light rail line for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, in Petah Tikva, Israel, Aug. 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich sharply criticized on Sunday a cabinet decision to allow some aid into Gaza as a “grave mistake” that he said would benefit the terrorist group Hamas.
Smotrich also accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to ensure that Israel’s military is following government directives in prosecuting the war against Hamas in Gaza. He said he was considering his “next steps” but stopped short of explicitly threatening to quit the coalition.
Smotrich’s comments come a day before Netanyahu is due to hold talks in Washington with President Donald Trump on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day Gaza ceasefire.
“… the cabinet and the Prime Minister made a grave mistake yesterday in approving the entry of aid through a route that also benefits Hamas,” Smotrich said on X, arguing that the aid would ultimately reach the Islamist group and serve as “logistical support for the enemy during wartime”.
The Israeli government has not announced any changes to its aid policy in Gaza. Israeli media reported that the government had voted to allow additional aid to enter northern Gaza.
The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. The military declined to comment.
Israel accuses Hamas of stealing aid for its own fighters or to sell to finance its operations, an accusation Hamas denies. Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe, with conditions threatening to push nearly a half a million people into famine within months, according to U.N. estimates.
Israel in May partially lifted a nearly three-month blockade on aid. Two Israeli officials said on June 27 the government had temporarily stopped aid from entering north Gaza.
PRESSURE
Public pressure in Israel is mounting on Netanyahu to secure a permanent ceasefire, a move opposed by some hardline members of his right-wing coalition. An Israeli team left for Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal.
Smotrich, who in January threatened to withdraw his Religious Zionism party from the government if Israel agreed to a complete end to the war before having achieved its objectives, did not mention the ceasefire in his criticism of Netanyahu.
The right-wing coalition holds a slim parliamentary majority, although some opposition lawmakers have offered to support the government from collapsing if a ceasefire is agreed.
The post Influential Far-Right Minister Lashes out at Netanyahu Over Gaza War Policy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Aug. 16, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy
Australian police have charged a man in connection with an alleged arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue with worshippers in the building, the latest in a series of incidents targeting the nation’s Jewish community.
There were no injuries to the 20 people inside the East Melbourne Synagogue, who fled from the fire on Friday night. Firefighters extinguished the blaze in the capital of Victoria state.
Australia has experienced several antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023.
Counter-terrorism detectives late on Saturday arrested the 34-year-old resident of Sydney, capital of neighboring New South Wales, charging him with offenses including criminal damage by fire, police said.
“The man allegedly poured a flammable liquid on the front door of the building and set it on fire before fleeing the scene,” police said in a statement.
The suspect, whom the authorities declined to identify, was remanded in custody after his case was heard at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Sunday and no application was made for bail, the Australian Broadcasting Corp reported.
Authorities are investigating whether the synagogue fire was linked to a disturbance on Friday night at an Israeli restaurant in Melbourne, in which one person was arrested for hindering police.
The restaurant was extensively damaged, according to the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group for Australia’s Jews.
It said the fire at the synagogue, one of Melbourne’s oldest, was set as those inside sat down to Sabbath dinner.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog went on X to “condemn outright the vile arson attack targeting Jews in Melbourne’s historic and oldest synagogue on the Sabbath, and on an Israeli restaurant where people had come to enjoy a meal together”.
“This is not the first such attack in Australia in recent months. But it must be the last,” Herzog said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the incidents as “severe hate crimes” that he viewed “with utmost gravity.” “The State of Israel will continue to stand alongside the Australian Jewish community,” Netanyahu said on X.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese late on Saturday described the alleged arson, which comes seven months after another synagogue in Melbourne was targeted by arsonists, as shocking and said those responsible should face the law’s full force.
“My Government will provide all necessary support toward this effort,” Albanese posted on X.
Homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles in Australia have been targeted by antisemitic vandalism and arson. The incidents included a fake plan by organized crime to attack a Sydney synagogue using a caravan of explosives in order to divert police resources, police said in March.
The post Australia Police Charge Man Over Alleged Arson on Melbourne Synagogue first appeared on Algemeiner.com.