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Police, security agencies advise Jews to be on alert ahead of planned ‘National Day of Hate’ on Shabbat
This is a developing story.
(JTA) – The police bulletins have circulated among Jews on social media, in WhatsApp chats and via email: A white supremacist group is calling for a “National Day of Hate” this Saturday and encouraging antisemites to vandalize and deface Jewish institutions.
Information about the antisemitic campaign was first provided by the Chicago Police Department, and a “situational awareness alert” with NYPD insignia circulating online advises local Jewish communities to be on the lookout for suspicious activity.
The NYPD did not comment on the authenticity of the bulletin but told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, “While there are no identified threats to New York City, out of an abundance of caution, the Department will deploy additional resources to sensitive locations, including houses of worship, throughout the weekend.”
The NYPD bulletin also shared one of the hate group’s messages, which called for “MASS ANTI-SEMITIC ACTION.” The message urged followers to “shock the masses with banner drops, stickers, fliers, and graffiti,” and to film their activities.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, the campaign is being pushed by a small white supremacist group in Iowa called Crew-319, in conjunction with other extremist groups. The ADL confirmed that the hate message in the NYPD bulletin is authentic and comes from Crew-319’s channel on the social network Telegram, which is popular with extremists.
In its memo, the Chicago Police Department’s Place of Worship Safety Advisory Team, which monitors threats to synagogues and other houses of worship, urged Jewish community members to “keep situationally aware and pay attention to your surroundings while out in the neighborhood, not just on Shabbos, but during the week as well.”
An alert from the Community Security Initiative, a New York City-area Jewish security agency, advised residents that “no specific details have been shared by New York-based extremists to indicate their exact plans for this weekend. We assess that propaganda-based activities are likely, as we have seen across New York in recent months.” The alert recommended “heightened situational awareness” and cautioned residents not to confront people spreading propaganda.
The Chicago Police Department said in a statement this week, “At this time, there is no actionable intelligence.” Chicago’s Jewish federation sent a message to synagogue rabbis and leadership in the area saying that there is no discernible concrete threat to the local Jewish community at this time. Chicago Alderman Deborah Silverstein, whose ward includes the heavily Orthodox West Rogers Park neighborhood, echoed that assessment.
“There has been no threat to Chicago. Chicago is not at the moment targeted in any way. But the police are very active,” Silverstein told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “Unfortunately, because we have been targeted before, we have a very active police department.”
The messages from police and community leaders came alongside an outpouring of anxiety from Jews sharing the news of the threatened antisemitic action on social media.
The alert came roughly a week after two Jews exiting morning prayer services were shot on consecutive days in Los Angeles, allegedly by a man with antisemitic motives. Last fall, two men were arrested in Penn Station for threatening violence against New York City synagogues, and weeks earlier, police in New Jersey warned synagogues in the state about a “credible threat.”
“So being an American Jew in 2023 is choosing between 1) taking my kids to pray, anxiously looking at the exits worried about their safety or 2) staying home and letting the anti-Semites define my Jewishness,” tweeted Daniella Greenbaum Davis, a writer and former producer on the TV talk show “The View.”
Crew-319, the group behind the antisemitic initiative, is a “tiny Iowa-based neo-Nazi crew that distributes propaganda and engages in antisemitic stunts,” Oren Segal, vice president of the ADL’s Center on Extremism, told JTA. Segal said that on Sept. 11, 2022, a member of the group drove a U-Haul truck hung with posters reading “Jews did 9/11” through Des Moines.
In recent months, hate groups have targeted Jews with fliers, graffiti and in-person protests. The Goyim Defense League, one of the country’s most visible hate groups, has distributed antisemitic fliers in Jewish communities across the country and unfurled hateful banners on highway overpasses; recently they also staged an antisemitic protest outside Chabad of South Orlando. Their propaganda reportedly inspired the suspect in the L.A. shootings.
Antisemitic messages have also been projected onto sports stadiums, graffitied on college campuses and displayed outside Disney World.
The antisemitic activity also comes amid a national rise in extremist violence. An ADL study published Thursday found that the proportion of mass shootings tied to extremism has risen significantly over the last decade.
The Secure Community Network, a national group that coordinates security for Jewish institutions, told JTA it had been tracking extremist activity around the date for weeks and would be issuing a more detailed bulletin to its synagogue network. CEO Michael Masters said his team “is working around the clock to ensure the safety and security of our community.”
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The post Police, security agencies advise Jews to be on alert ahead of planned ‘National Day of Hate’ on Shabbat appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Toronto man arrested after allegedly shooting at Orthodox Jews outside a synagogue
(JTA) — Police in Toronto have arrested a man they say shot at “visibly identifiable members of the Jewish community” on two occasions a week apart.
Ruslan Novruzov, 18, is charged with assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose in conjunction with the shootings, which took place on April 30 and Thursday, one week later.
In both incidents, people experienced minor injuries, according to the Toronto police. The shooting on Thursday targeted three people standing outside of Congregation Chasidei Bobov, an Orthodox synagogue.
Following the shootings, the Toronto police tracked a blue Lexus to a residence in a suburb about 15 miles north of the shootings, where they said they searched both a home and a car and seized evidence including two “gel-blaster imitation firearms.”
The shootings and arrest add to a string of recent incidents targeting Jews and Jewish institutions in the Toronto area. A different 18-year-old man was charged last week in connection with two synagogue shootings that took place on March 6, but other incidents remain unsolved. No major injuries or damage has been reported, but the incidents have swelled anxiety within the city’s Jewish communities.
“We recognize that Jewish residents have been living with a heightened sense of fear due to repeated incidents targeting their community, and this only adds to that, which is unacceptable,” Acting Deputy Chief Joe Matthews said in a statement following Novruzov’s arrest. “While the weapons used were imitation firearms, the impacts are very real. These are criminal acts that we allege were meant to intimidate and cause fear.”
The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Canada’s main Jewish advocacy group, expressed gratitude to the police for acting quickly.
“These incidents must continue to be treated with the seriousness they deserve, and those responsible must be held fully accountable,” it said on X. ”It’s long past time for governments and authorities to confront the serious threats driving violent attacks before we face a tragic loss of life.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
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Netanyahu on ‘60 Minutes’: Fight with Hezbollah should be seen as separate from Iran war
(JTA) — In an appearance on U.S. television on Sunday night, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argued that Israel should continue fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanon even if the war in Iran concludes.
Netanyahu spoke with Major Garrett on CBS’ “60 Minutes” as President Donald Trump continues to negotiate to end the Iran war that he and Netanyahu jointly began in February. When Trump declared a ceasefire with Iran on April 7, Netanyahu initially insisted that the deal did not require Israel to stop fighting Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy based in Lebanon. The Iranians insisted that it did, and Trump soon weighed in on social media to say that Israel was “prohibited” from attacking inside Lebanon.
In the weeks since, Israel and Hezbollah have continued to fight, but at a decreased intensity. Now, with Trump seemingly not eager to resume fighting with Iran even as the Iranians have not acceded to his demands at the negotiating table, Netanyahu said the conflicts should be decoupled.
“Is it possible, Mr. Prime Minister, that the war with Iran could end but the war with Hezbollah could continue? That these would be separate and divergent fields,” Garrett asked.
“They should be,” Netanyahu answered. “What Iran would like to do is to say, ‘No, you know, if we achieve a ceasefire here, we want a ceasefire there.’”
“Will you accept that?” Garrett asked. After Netanyahu said he would not, Garrett went on: “Even if President Trump asks you to?”
Netanyahu replied, “Look, he understands what I’m saying.”
Trump’s critics on both sides of the aisle have alleged that Netanyahu pushed him into entering the war. But Netanyahu said that belief is wrong. He called reporting by The New York Times about what he told Trump during a Feb. 11 White House meeting “incorrect,” saying that he had never told Trump that regime change in Iran was an assured outcome of a shared attack.
Netanyahu also insisted to Garrett that declining public support for Israel in the United States was a product of online campaigns designed to spread misinformation.
“Do you believe that’s the only explanation, or is it possible that some Americans have come to a different sense of Israel because of the last two or three years?” Garrett pressed.
“What they see is so many falsifications and vilifications that are unfounded, but they don’t know because they just get you know, the last reel in the movie. They don’t see the entire movie,” Netanyahu said.
The Israeli government recently allocated $730 million for public diplomacy, including online campaigns, designed to boost public opinion about Israel. The allocation quadrupled what was set aside last year for that purpose.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
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Labour politician is booed as thousands rally against antisemitism in London
(JTA) — Thousands of British Jews, as well as politicians from multiple parties, rallied in London outside the prime minister’s residence on Sunday to call for more aggressive action against antisemitism following a string of violent attacks.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative party leader whose response to a heckler making light of threats against Jews went viral last week, spoke forcefully in defense of U.K. Jewry, to applause.
“I stand for a Britain where Jews can go to school freely without worrying about security,” she said. “I stand for a Britain where you can worship freely and not worry about who is coming to attack you. I stand for the celebration of Jewish culture and Jewish people. And I stand for a Britain that will always fight for you, that will always support you.”
The Labour Party representative dispatched by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, meanwhile, drew boos from an audience frustrated by what many British Jews view as an inadequate response from the government.
“I hear your anger, I hear your pain,” said Pat McFadden, the secretary of state for work and pensions. “I stand against antisemitism, I stand with you.” As he spoke, rally organizers at times interrupted to exhort the crowd to quiet down.
Gideon Falter, head of the nonprofit Campaign Against Antisemitism, called in his speech for a ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations, which he called “hate marches,” as well as a ban on groups associated with antisemitic violence. He said U.K. Jews were facing a “Britifada,” a play on the word intifada.
He referred to a number of the most prominent recent incidents, including a stabbing in the Orthodox neighborhood of Golders Green earlier this month and an attack on a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur in which two congregants were killed.
“Jews stabbed. That’s the Britifada! Murder on Yom Kippur. That’s the Britifada! Synagogues ablaze. That’s the Britifada! Hatzola ambulances pelted with rocks and torched. That’s the Britifada! Jewish children nearly mown down in a car ramming. That’s the Britifada!” Falter said. “The attacks are coming thick and fast. Because Britain has become radicalized.”
The Jewish Leadership Council and the Board of Deputies of British Jews organized the rally, titled “Standing Strong: Extinguish Antisemitism,” and were joined by dozens of Jewish groups. It took place outside 10 Downing Street in central London and featured video appearances from Jews around the world as well as from Boy George, the pop singer who has emerged as an advocate against antisemitism.
The rally also drew attention because of who was and was not invited.
Ahead of the rally, thousands of people signed a petition calling for Nigel Farage, who heads the right-wing Reform party, which made significant gains in local elections on Thursday, to be disinvited, given his “division, scapegoating, racism and inflammatory rhetoric” and allegations of antisemitism during his school years. (Farage dismissed the allegations when they emerged in 2024, saying that he could not remember all instances of “playground banter” from his childhood but that he had never sought to be intentionally hurtful.)
Farage did not appear at the rally, but his deputy, Richard Tice, did. He called for penalties against universities that are seen as encouraging antisemitism.
Zack Polanski, the Jewish leader of the left-wing Green party, which made gains in the local elections despite an antisemitism scandal involving dozens of candidates, was not invited to speak.
Saul Taylor of United Synagogue, the British Orthodox umbrella group, called out Polanski during his speech, alluding to both Polanski’s criticism of the Metropolitan Police’s handling of the arrest of the alleged Golders Green attacker and his party’s pro-Palestinian platform. “The constant vilification of Israel has fueled the flames of antisemitism across our nation,” Taylor said.
Taylor said the previous week had “probably been the most movement from the government we have seen in a long time” but that the pressure should remain. Last week, after an emergency meeting at 10 Downing Street, the Metropolitan Police announced a 100-member special force to protect Jewish communities. On Sunday, the police said they had charged a man with racially or religiously motivated assault and harassment after he attacked three Jews in Enfield.
At least one liberal Jewish group opted not to participate in the rally after initially signing on. The New Israel Fund UK announced ahead of the rally that it was backing out after political figures were invited to participate.
Other liberal Jews did take the stage. Rabbis Charley Baginsky and Josh Levy of Progressive Judaism, the U.K. equivalent of the Reform movement, who were booed off the stage at an August 2025 rally for the release of the Israeli hostages after calling for an end to the war in Gaza, exhorted attendees to ensure that England is not “shaped by suspicion, anger and permanent division.”
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
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