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Pittsburgh Organizers Stopped an Effort to Boycott Israel; But It Was Far Too Close
A man pauses at a memorial for the 11 victims shot by a neo-Nazi at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue. Photo: Reuters/Cathal McNaughton
The city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is known for many things: bridges, steel, sports teams, and sadly, the Tree of Life Synagogue building shooting, where the worst massacre of Jews in US history took place on October 27, 2018.
After the Tree of Life attack, we felt a sense of community, support, and understanding in the area. Non-Jewish social justice and religious groups showered our community with love, and elected officials rallied to help our community recover and rebuild.
Unfortunately, that sense of love and community has shifted dramatically since October 7. After the brutal Hamas attack against Israel, the likes of which we have not seen since the Holocaust, many of us felt that Americans would more deeply understand the threats that Israelis are facing, and the risk that antisemitism poses to communities everywhere.
Sadly, the Jewish community in Pittsburgh has not felt even a fraction of the support we once felt, and we’ve often been left to fight battles with very few allies.
Like many Jewish communities around the world, my Squirrel Hill community has seen a dramatic rise in antisemitic incidents, including graffiti on my synagogue walls and my local Jewish Federation, physical and verbal attacks, hateful rhetoric during ceasefire resolution debates, encampments, and other anti-Israel protests.
In early June, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Pittsburgh tried a new tactic, dedicating their time to trying to introduce a ballot question that would have asked whether the city should participate in a boycott against Israel, and prohibit investments and public funds to “entities that conduct business operations with or in the State of Israel unless and until Israel ends its military action in Gaza.”
Such a referendum would have targeted our city’s synagogues and Jewish organizations, almost all of which have strong bonds — historical, religious, and commercial — with the State of Israel.
Anti-Israel activists spent months going to concerts, farmers markets, festivals, public pools, and anywhere they could think of with petitions for people to sign “if you’re in favor of a ceasefire.”
Of course, in many cases, the DSA activists failed to mention that this was a boycott petition that would force Israel to meet impossible (and unattainable) standards, threaten local Jewish institutions, and bring our city to a grinding halt, since some Israeli companies play an integral role in the day-to-day functions of our local government and institutions.
Those of us who have been fighting back against anti-Israel entities knew immediately how dangerous this was, and that we had our work cut out for us. We watched and waited to see if the DSA would submit the minimum number of signatures required to make it onto the ballot. All the while, we started researching, planning, and mobilizing. We found out the process for petition approval, created legal arguments, recruited legal counsel, mobilized community members, and worked to educate elected officials on the dangers of this referendum.
Finally, on August 6, our fears came true. The DSA submitted their petition, and we got to work. Our legal counsel began drafting our challenge, community leaders started recruiting hundreds of volunteers to challenge the petition, and we worked to encourage elected officials to oppose this petition on separate grounds.
We were overwhelmed with the response from within our community. Within a day, hundreds of Jewish community members were being trained on the very complex way to check signatories. Our legal counsel prepared their arguments, and City Controller Rachael Heisler issued her own challenge. We organized plaintiffs, witnesses, and testimony.
Volunteers spent hundreds of hours combing through signatures multiple times to identify those that did not meet the criteria for submission. The DSA continued to insist that, despite all evidence to the contrary, they had the minimum verifiable signatures to proceed.
However, we were able to find enough invalid signatures to stop the referendum from moving forward, and the DSA had no choice but to concede. On August 19, StandWithUs, the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, and a coalition of four local Jewish clergy, successfully defeated the petition. We were well prepared to argue the legal challenges as well, but never got the chance to do so.
This effort took massive collaboration, mobilization, and community engagement. As the Regional Director of StandWithUs, I was so proud to partner with the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, the Beacon Coalition, local synagogues and Jewish institutions, and community members to fight back against this precedent-setting referendum.
A growing number of anti-Israel entities, including the DSA, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), pose a serious threat to local Jewish communities. Their goal is to spread misinformation and propaganda, and to wear down our community by exhausting us and our resources, but we won’t let them. We’ll continue to fight back against all attempts to discriminate against our community and work to defend Israel against misinformation and propaganda.
This success was truly a community effort that required time, resources, and dedication, in order to defeat the first attempt to put an anti-Israel boycott proposal on a US city ballot. We are grateful for this result and to our partners in this work, and we will continue to fight back against all attempts to harm our community and unfairly attack the State of Israel. At a time of rising antisemitism, these efforts have never been more important.
Julie Paris is Mid-Atlantic Regional Director for StandWithUs, an international, nonpartisan education organization that supports Israel and fights antisemitism.
The post Pittsburgh Organizers Stopped an Effort to Boycott Israel; But It Was Far Too Close first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Boulder Firebomber Charged With Murder Following Death of Victim
Boulder attack suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman poses for a jail booking photograph after his arrest in Boulder, Colorado, June 2, 2025. Photo: Boulder Police Department/Handout via REUTERS
A victim of the antisemitic Boulder, Colorado firebombing died on Monday, prompting local law enforcement to charge suspect Mohamed Soliman with murder in the first degree.
“Severe injuries” caused the death of Karen Diamond, 82, the Boulder County District Attorney’s Office (BCDA) said on Monday in a statement. She was one of 13 people injured when Soliman hurled Molotov cocktails into a crowd of Jewish people who were participating in a demonstration to raise awareness of the hostages who remain imprisoned by Hamas in Gaza. Her death adds five new charges to the over 200 federal and state criminal charges which could lock Soliman away for over 600 years.
“These additional charges, including the counts of First Degree Murder, are being filed after consultation with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Boulder Police Department,” said the DA’s office, adding that it “continues to work closely with federal, state, and local partners in the strong response to this attack. We stand united against acts of antisemitism and hate.”
“This horrific attack has now claimed the life of an innocent person who was beloved by her family and friends,” said Michal Dougherty, district attorney of Boulder County. “Our hearts are with the Diamond family during this incredibly difficult time. Our office will fight for justice for the victims, their loved ones, and the community. Part of what makes Colorado special is that people come together in response to a tragedy; I know that the community will continue to unite in supporting the Diamond family and all the victims of this attack.”
Prosecutors said in May that Soliman yelled “Free Palestine” during the attack, and, according to court documents, told investigators that he wanted to “kill all Zionist people.”
That incident came less than two weeks after a gunman murdered two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, DC, while they were leaving an event at the Capital Jewish Museum hosted by the American Jewish Committee. The suspect charged for the double murder, 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez from Chicago, also 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.”
In Garret Park, Maryland, a middle-aged man, Clift A. Seferlis, was recently arrested by federal authorities for sending a series of threatening messages to Jewish organizations in Philadelphia. Seferlis referenced the war in Gaza in his communications.
“The Victim Jewish Institution 1 received numerous additional messages since April 1, 2024, which contained a threat to physically destroy the institution,” the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said in a statement. “Prior to the receipt of the May 7, 2025, mailing, Victim Jewish Institution 1 and its employees had received very similar-looking letters, believed to have been sent by Seferlis, which referenced Victim Jewish Institution 1’s ‘many big open windows,’ ‘Kristallnacht,’ ‘anger and rage,’ and a future need to ‘rebuild’ the institution following its destruction.”
Another antisemitic incident motivated by anti-Zionism occurred in San Francisco, where Juan Diaz-Rivas, Alejandro Flores-Lamas, and others law enforcement is working to identify, allegedly beat up a Jewish victim in the middle of the night. Diaz-Rivas and Flores-Lamas, along with their associates, approached the victim while shouting “F—ck the Jews, Free Palestine,” according to the office of the San Francis district attorney.
“[O]ne of them punched the victim, who fell to the ground, hit his head and lost consciousness,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement. “Allegedly, Mr. Diaz-Rivas and others in the group continued to punch and kick the victim while he was down. A worker at a nearby business heard the altercation and antisemitic language and attempted to intervene. While trying to help the victim, he was kicked and punched.”
According to data released by the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) latest Audit of Antisemitic Incidents in April, antisemitism in the US is surging to break “all previous annual records.”
In 2024 alone, the ADL recorded 9,354 antisemitic incidents — an average of 25.6 a day — across the US, an eruption of hatred not recorded in the nearly thirty years since the organization began tracking such data in 1979. Incidents of harassment, vandalism, and assault all increased by double digits, and for the first time ever a majority of outrages — 58 percent — were related to the existence of Israel as the world’s only Jewish state.
The Algemeiner parsed the ADL data, finding dramatic rises in incidents on college campuses, which saw the largest growth in 2024. The 1,694 incidents tallied by the ADL amounted to an 84 percent increase over the previous year. Additionally, antisemites were emboldened to commit more offenses in public in 2024 than they did in 2023, perpetrating 19 percent more attacks on Jewish people, pro-Israel demonstrators, and businesses perceived as being Jewish-owned or affiliated with Jews.
“In 2024, hatred toward Israel was a driving force behind antisemitism across the US, with more than half of all antisemitic incidents referencing Israel or Zionism,” Oren Segal, ADL senior vice president for counter-extremism and intelligence, said when the report was released. “These incidents, along with all those documented in the audit, serve as a clear reminder that silence is not an option. Good people must stand up, push back, and confront antisemitism wherever it appears. And that starts with understanding what fuels it and learning to recognize it in all its forms.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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US State Department Revokes Visas of UK Punk Rap Act Bob Vylan Amid Outrage Over Duo’s Chants of ‘Death to the IDF’
Bob Vylan music duo performance at Glastonbury Festival (Source: FLIKR)
The US State Department has revoked the visas for the English punk rap duo Bob Vylan amid ongoing outrage over their weekend performance at the Glastonbury Festival, in which the pair chanted “Death to the IDF.”
The State Department’s decision to cancel their visas would preclude a planned fall concert tour of the US by the British rappers.
“The [US State Department] has revoked the US visas for the members of the Bob Vylan band in light of their hateful tirade at Glastonbury, including leading the crowd in death chants. Foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau wrote on X/Twitter on Monday.
During a June 28 set at Glastonbury Festival, Bob Vylan’s Pascal Robinson-Foster ignited a firestorm by leading the crowd in chants of “Death, death, to the IDF,” referring to the Israel Defense Forces. He also complained about working for a “f—ing Zionist” during the set.
The video of the performance went viral, sparking outrage across the globe.
The BBC, which streamed the performance live, issued an on‑screen warning but continued its broadcast, prompting criticism by government officials for failing to cut the feed.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer and festival organizers condemned the IDF chant as hate speech and incitement to violence. The Israeli Embassy in London denounced the language as “inflammatory and hateful.”
“Millions of people tuned in to enjoy Glastonbury this weekend across the BBC’s output but one performance within our livestreams included comments that were deeply offensive,” the BBC said in a statement following the event.
“These abhorrent chants, which included calls for the death of members of the Israeli Defense Forces … have no place in any civil society,” Leo Terrell, Chair of the US Department of Justice Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, declared Sunday in a statement posted on X.
Citing the act’s US tour plans, Terrell said his task force would be “reaching out to the U.S. Department of State on Monday to determine what measures are available to address the situation and to prevent the promotion of violent antisemitic rhetoric in the United States.”
British authorities, meanwhile, have launched a formal investigation into Bob Vylan’s controversial appearance at Glastonbury. Avon and Somerset Police confirmed they are reviewing footage and working with the Crown Prosecution Service to determine whether the performance constitutes a hate crime or incitement to violence.
United Talent Agency (UTA), one of the premier entertainment talent agencies, dropped the duo, claming “antisemitic sentiments expressed by the group were utterly unacceptable.”
The band defended their performance on social media as necessary protest, stating that “teaching our children to speak up for the change they want and need is the only way that we make this world a better place.”
The post US State Department Revokes Visas of UK Punk Rap Act Bob Vylan Amid Outrage Over Duo’s Chants of ‘Death to the IDF’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Dem House Leader Hakeem Jeffries Urges Mamdani to ‘Aggressively Address’ Antisemitism in NYC if Elected Mayor
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
US House Democratic leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY) urged Democratic nominee for mayor of New York Zohran Mamdani to “aggressively address the rise in antisemitism” if he wins the general election in November.
“‘Globalizing the intifada’ by way of example is not an acceptable phrasing,” Jeffries said Sunday on ABC’s This Week. “He’s going to have to clarify his position on that as he moves forward.”
“With respect to the Jewish communities that I represent, I think our nominee is going to have to convince folks that he is prepared to aggressively address the rise in antisemitism in the city of New York, which has been an unacceptable development,” he added.
Jeffries’s comments come as Mamdani has been receiving an onslaught of criticism for defending the controversial phrase “globalize the intifada.”
Mamdani first defended the phrase during an appearance on the popular Bulwark Podcast. The progressive firebrand stated that he feels “less comfortable with the banning of certain words.” He invoked the US Holocaust Museum in his defense, saying that the museum used the word intifada “when translating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising into Arabic, because it’s a word that means ‘struggle.’”
The Holocaust Museum repudiated Mamdani in a statement, calling his comments “offensive.”
Mamdani has continued to defend the slogan despite ongoing criticism, arguing that pro-Palestine advocates perceive it as a call for “universal human rights.”
Mamdani, the 33‑year‑old state assembly member and proud democratic socialist, defeated former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other candidates in a lopsided first‑round win in the city’s Democratic primary for mayor, notching approximately 43.5 percent of first‑choice votes compared to Cuomo’s 36.4 percent.
The election results have alarmed members of the local Jewish community, who expressed deep concern over his past criticism of Israel and defense of antisemitic rhetoric.
“Mamdani’s election is the greatest existential threat to a metropolitan Jewish population since the election of the notorious antisemite Karl Lueger in Vienna,” Rabbi Marc Schneier, one of the most prominent Jewish leaders in New York City, said in a statement. “Jewish leaders must come together as a united force to prevent a mass Jewish Exodus from New York City.”
Some key Democratic leaders in New York, such as US Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Gov. Kathy Hochul, have congratulated and complimented Mamdani, but have not yet issued an explicit endorsement. Each official has signaled interest in meeting with Mamdani prior to making a decision on a formal endorsement.
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