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Influential left-wing Brazilian politician expresses interest in boycott of ‘certain Jewish companies’
(JTA) — Jewish groups in Brazil are expressing grave concern after a leading politician in the left-wing party of the country’s president called for a national boycott of Israel and expressed interest in the boycott of “Jewish companies.”
José Genoino, a two-decade congressman from São Paulo who spent three years at the helm of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s Workers Party before being ousted in a corruption scandal, made the comments during an appearance on a left-wing TV show last week where he was discussing Lula’s support for South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
Genoino criticized a petition by Brazilian business leaders against Brazil’s support for the ICJ investigation, then seemed to propose a boycott of them.
“I find this idea of rejection interesting, this idea of boycotting for political reasons that harm economic interests. It’s an interesting approach,” Genoino said. “There’s even this boycott in relation to certain Jewish companies.”
Alluding to the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement against Israel, known as BDS, which calls for eschewing all goods and services from Israeli companies, Genoino offered full-throated support for a narrower form of an Israel boycott.
“There is a boycott of companies linked to the state of Israel. In fact, I believe Brazil should cut commercial relations in the security and military sectors with the state of Israel,” he said.
Opponents of the BDS movement say that it is antisemitic because it opposes the very existence of Israel as a Jewish state. But even vociferous critics of Israel tend to say it is inappropriate to target Diaspora Jews or Jewish institutions as a form of anti-Israel protest. And Genoino’s comments have drawn criticism from Jewish and non-Jewish groups alike.
The Jewish Federation of the State of Sao Paulo said Genoino had suggested boycotting Jewish businesses. “Antisemitism deserves total condemnation,” it said in a statement. “We hope, once again, for retraction and, above all, the repudiation of good people who defend the values of peace and democracy.”
The Brazilian Israelite Confederation, known as CONIB, also swiftly responded, issuing a statement condemning Genoino’s remarks as antisemitic and highlighting that antisemitism is a crime in Brazil.
Plus, the statement said, “The boycott of Jews was one of the first measures adopted by the Nazi regime against the German Jewish community, culminating in the Holocaust.”
CONIC also appealed to Brazilian political leaders for “moderation” and balance in the context of “the Middle East conflict,” alluding to the current Israel-Hamas war that has ignited global protests. They emphasized that “extreme statements, contrary to the tradition of Brazilian foreign policy,” could import tensions from the region into the country.
Geroino rejected the criticism. “I repudiate the note from CONIB and I affirm that I am not and have never been antisemitic,” he said in a statement. “I also repudiate any type of prejudice against the Jewish people and defend the existence of two states. … We have an obligation to denounce the Israeli government’s genocide against the Palestinian people. I have tirelessly defended the ceasefire, peace between peoples and solidarity with the Palestinian people.”
Guto Zacarias, a 24-year-old Sao Paolo politician from a right-wing party, announced that he had asked the police to investigate Genoino over his comments. He cited a 2003 Brazilian supreme court ruling in a case about the publisher of antisemitic books that made Jews a protected class under the country’s anti-racism law.
“Racism and religious intolerance will not be tolerated in SP!” Zacarias wrote. It was not clear whether the police would decide to open a case.
Brazil has undergone an abrupt shift from being a staunch supporter of Israel, under the past right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro, to supporting the most extreme criticism of it. But locals said they did not believe that Genoino’s support for economic boycotts would find much practical support.
The Brazil-Israel Chamber of Commerce told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that it did not believe “that this isolated episode could affect the business relationship between Brazil and Israel. Today, business between the two countries is solid, growing in volume and Brazil has made much use of Israel’s technology in various segments.”
And Sebastian Watenberg, regional director of the Brazil-Israel Chamber of Commerce, said he was pleased that Genoino’s comments had drawn widespread criticism and that he did not expect them to have any significant impact.
“I think his statement was widely condemned, and I believe the BDS movement, which is actually behind all of this, has been around for years and has not worked. It has not harmed Israel’s business; it has not gained significant traction outside of the intellectual world,” he said. “I think business on the ground will not be affected by this, but in any case, manifestations of this nature are never good, especially because they are antisemitic above all else.”
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The post Influential left-wing Brazilian politician expresses interest in boycott of ‘certain Jewish companies’ appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Twitter AI’s Spree of Antisemitic Answers Provokes European Union Meeting as US Military Signs Deal With Company
European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on June 17, 2022. Photo: Reuters/Yves Herman
Following an update earlier this month to xAI’s Grok chatbot which resulted in a wave of antisemitic and pro-Hitler responses to users on X/Twitter, the European Commission summoned representatives from billionaire Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company to a Tuesday meeting to explain themselves.
The move comes after Italian parliament member Sandro Gozi urged for the Commission to begin a formal inquiry, as “the case raises serious concerns about compliance with the Digital Services Act (DSA) as well as the governance of generative AI in the Union’s digital space.”
Poland’s Minister of Digital Affairs Krzysztof Gawkowski had also called for the Commission to take action and said that the Polish government would consider banning the app.
Due to the size of the X platform, the site falls under the European Union’s DSA which requires transparency about operations. Musk’s app already faces multiple investigations by the Commission.
On Wednesday, following the initial antisemitic statements from Grok, X’s Linda Yaccarino, the company’s CEO, announced her resignation.
On Monday, xAI announced a $200 million deal to provide Grok to the US military. The company stated that “under the umbrella of Grok For Government, we will be bringing all of our world-class AI tools to federal, local, state, and national security customers.” Customers in the plan could “use the Grok family of products to accelerate America – from making everyday government services faster and more efficient to using AI to address unsolved problems in fundamental science and technology.”
The Pentagon also announced on Monday other AI companies would receive contracts, including Anthropic, Google and OpenAI.
Douglas Matty, chief digital and AI officer at the Defense Department, said that “leveraging commercially available solutions into an integrated capabilities approach will accelerate the use of advanced AI as part of our Joint mission essential tasks in our warfighting domain as well as intelligence, business, and enterprise information systems.”
Also on Monday, Musk unveiled a new release to the AI capabilities on X. The Companions feature will allow users to interact with cartoon characters, including a mischievous fox and an anime-style goth girl named Ani.
On Tuesday, xAI put out a statement explaining that it had “spotted a couple of issues with Grok 4 recently that we immediately investigated & mitigated.” The company said it had “tweaked the prompts and have shared the details on GitHub for transparency. We are actively monitoring and will implement further adjustments as needed.”
The post Twitter AI’s Spree of Antisemitic Answers Provokes European Union Meeting as US Military Signs Deal With Company first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Jewish Synagogue, Holocaust Memorial Vandalized in Poland After Politician Denies Holocaust
An antisemitic slur spray-painted on the ruins of a former synagogue in Dukla, Poland. Photo: World Jewish Restitution Organization
Two Jewish sites in Dukla, Poland, were vandalized over the weekend mere days after Polish member of the European Parliament (MEP) Grzegorz Braun claimed gas chambers at the former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp were fake and repeated an antisemitic blood libel in a live radio interview.
Vandals spray-painted the word “F–k” followed by a Star of David on the ruins of a former synagogue that was destroyed by the Nazis during the Holocaust, and a memorial commemorating Holocaust victims located at the entrance of the Jewish cemetery in Dukla was defaced with a swastika and the word “Palestine,” according to the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO). The memorial honors Jews of Dukla and the surrounding areas who were murdered by Nazis during the Holocaust.
The two Jewish sites in Dukla are cared for by the Foundation for the Preservation of Jewish Heritage in Poland (FODZ), which was established in 2002 by the Union of Jewish Communities in Poland and the WJRO to protect and commemorate Poland’s Jewish heritage sites.
“These hateful acts are not only antisemitic, but they are also attempts to erase Jewish history and desecrate memory,” said WJRO President Gideon Taylor in a released statement on Tuesday. “Polish authorities must take swift and serious action to identify the perpetrators and ensure the protection of Jewish heritage sites in Dukla and across the country.”
“The vandalism of Jewish sites in Dukla—with swastikas and anti-Israel slurs—is not an isolated act,” insisted Jack Simony, director general of the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation (AJCF), in a statement to The Algemeiner. The nonprofit focuses on preserving the memory of the Jewish community in Oświęcim (Auschwitz) and maintains the Auschwitz Jewish Center, the last remaining synagogue in town.
“While we cannot say definitively that it [the vandalism] was sparked by Grzegorz Braun’s Holocaust denial, his rhetoric contributes to an atmosphere where hatred is emboldened and truth is under assault,” added Simony. “Braun’s lies are not harmless — they are dangerous. Holocaust denial fuels antisemitism and, too often, violence. This is why Holocaust education matters … because when we fail to confront lies, we invite their consequences. Memory must be defended, not only for the sake of the past, but for the safety of our future.”
On July 10, a ceremony was held commemorating the 84th anniversary of the 1941 Jedwabne massacre, when hundreds of Polish Jews were massacred – mostly by their neighbors – in the northeastern town in German-occupied Poland. The ceremony was attended by dignitaries and faith leaders including Poland’s Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich and Israeli Deputy Ambassador Bosmat Baruch. Groups of anti-Israel and far-right activists — including MEP Braun and his supporters – tried to disrupt the event by holding banners with antisemitic slogans and blocking the vehicles of the attendees, according to Polish radio.
Hours later, during a live radio broadcast, Braun falsely claimed the Auschwitz gas chambers were “a lie” and the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum was promoting “pseudo-history.” He also claimed that Jewish “ritual murder is a fact.” Polish prosecutors launched an investigation into Braun’s comments, they announced that same day. Under Article 55 of the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), Holocaust denial is a criminal offense in Poland.
The Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum issued a swift condemnation of Braun’s remarks and said it intents to pursue legal action. The Institute of National Remembrance — which is the largest research, educational and archival institution in Poland – also denounced Braun’s remarks, saying there is “well-documented” evidence supporting the existence of gas chambers. His comments were also condemned by the Embassy of Israel in Poland, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski and the US Embassy in Warsaw, which said that his actions “distort history, desecrate memory, or spread antisemitism.” AJCF called on the European Parliament to consider disciplinary measures against Braun, including potential censure or expulsion.
Auschwitz Jewish Center Director Tomek Kuncewicz said Braun’s comments are “an act of violence against truth, against survivors, and against the legacy of our shared humanity.” AJCF Chairman Simon Bergson called the politician’s remarks “blatant and baseless lies,” while Simony described them as “a calculated act of antisemitic incitement” that “must be met with legal consequences and universal moral condemnation.”
The post Jewish Synagogue, Holocaust Memorial Vandalized in Poland After Politician Denies Holocaust first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Coalition of 400 Jewish Orgs and Synagogues Urge Teachers Union to Reverse Decision Cutting Ties with ADL
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt. Photo Credit: ADL.
Following a vote by the National Education Association (NEA) on July 6 to end its relationship with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), 400 Jewish communal groups, education organizations, and religious institutions have come together to call for the influential teachers union to change course.
“We are writing to express our deep concerns about the growing level of antisemitic activity within teachers’ unions, particularly since the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023,” the letter to NEA President Becky Pringle stated. “Passage of New Business Item (NBI) 39 at the National Education Association (NEA) Representative Assembly this past weekend, which shockingly calls for the boycott of the Anti-Defamation League, is just the latest example of open hostility toward Jewish educators, students and families coming from national and local teachers’ unions and their members.”
In addition to the ADL, signatories of the letter included American Jewish Committee (AJC), Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Jewish Federations of North America, #EndJewHatred, American Jewish Congress, B’nai B’rith International, CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting & Analysis), Combat Antisemitism Movement, Democratic Majority for Israel, StandWithUs, Simon Wiesenthal Center, Zioness Movement, and Zionist Organization of America (ZOA).
The group told Pringle that “we have heard directly from NEA members who have shared their experiences ranging from explicit and implicit antisemitism within the union to a broader pattern of insensitivity toward legitimate concerns of Jewish members – including at the recently concluded Representative Assembly. We are also deeply troubled by a broader pattern of union activity over the past 20 months that has targeted or alienated Jewish members and the wider Jewish community.”
The letter to Pringle included an addendum providing examples of objectionable rhetoric. These named such incidents as the Oakland Education Association (OEA) putting out a statement calling for “an end to the occupation of Palestine” and the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) accusing Israel of genocide.
The coalition of 400 organizations urged the NEA to “take immediate action” and suggested such steps as rejecting NBI 39, issuing a “strong condemnation” of antisemitism within the union, drafting a plan to counter ongoing antisemitism in affiliate chapters, and opposing “any effort to use an educator’s support for the existence of Israel as a means to attack their identity.”
ADL CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt wrote on X that “Excluding @ADL’s educational resources from schools is not just an attack on our org, but on the entire Jewish community. We urge the @NEAToday Executive Committee to reverse this biased, fringe effort and reaffirm its commitment to supporting all Jewish students and educators.”
The post Coalition of 400 Jewish Orgs and Synagogues Urge Teachers Union to Reverse Decision Cutting Ties with ADL first appeared on Algemeiner.com.