This Week’s Anti-Semitism: French Parliament Forced to Close After Death Threats to Jewish MP.

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Photo Credit: Assemblee Nationale / A Jewish MP in France received a letter with white powder forcing the parliament to be evacuated

Over the past week, the world’s Jewish community witnessed a spate of anti-Semitic incidents. Notably the far-right political party in Germany, AfD, disrupted a tour of Sachsenhausen death camp with anti-Semitic rhetoric and the French parliament was forced to close after death threats to a Jewish French MP. 

Still, there were some bright spots in the fight against anti-Semitism: two Spanish cities reversed BDS legislation after legal action by the Jewish community. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling also stood up for the Jews of Britain after a fellow writer called outrage at Labour Party anti-Semitism “synthetic.”  This is your run down of anti-Semitism from 8/27-8/3:

Anti-Semitic incidents, hate and propaganda:

A top representative of French Jewry condemned harshly what he called anti-Semitic rhetoric of a Republican politician who called the republic’s leader “President Rothschild.” Francis Kalifat, president of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish communities, on Thursday wrote on Twitter that he considered The Republicans’ secretary general Fabien Di Filippo’s comment about President Emmanuel Macron to be “revolting.” Read more: http://bit.ly/2QbwZ3U


Far-right AfD group disrupted a tour of Sachsenhausen death camp, on the outskirts of Berlin. The disruptive visitors came from from the Lake Constance constituency of the political party: Alternative for Germany (AfD) and were reportedly traveling under a federally-funded scheme to enable voters to visit parliamentarians in Berlin. Read more: http://bit.ly/2wRxaci


In an act of “digital vandalism” of a mapping service “Mapbox” used by major internet companies, New York City was renamed “Jewtropolis” on several popular online services on Thursday. Read more: http://bit.ly/2NTEDhu


Swedish Gov't Newspaper, OmVarlden, utilized innuendo to attack NGO Monitor with innuendo, factual inaccuracies, and, most alarmingly, anti-Semitic motifs reminiscent of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion (spider web, conspiracy theories). Read more: http://bit.ly/2oNnxXW


Police are investigating the toppling of four headstones at a Jewish cemetery over the weekend.The headstones at Congregation Agudath Achim Cemetery likely occurred between Saturday morning and Sunday morning, the Freehold Township police said in a news release. Read more: http://bit.ly/2MTS3Ok


Bolivian photojournalist Samy Schwartz was accused of being a “Zionist agent” while he was covering a meeteing between President of Bolivia, Evo Morales, and President of Spain, Pedro Sanchez.  Read more: http://bit.ly/2NSHjMB


A teacher put a bowl on the back of a pupil’s head and made a homophobic and antisemitic remark, a court has heard. Teacher Darren Marr repeatedly slapped Josh Harper on the back of the head before the incident at a school in Livingston, West Lothian, the pupil claimed. Read more: http://bit.ly/2M6XYud


A Jewish MP received an envelope containing white powder and antisemitic death threats, prompting security to evacuate and lock down a wing of France’s parliament. Security held the B wing of the French National Assembly in Paris on lockdown for over two and a half hours after French MP Meyer Habib reported receiving the letter. Read more: http://bit.ly/2Qd6Stp


A new video has emerged of Hearts fans in Scotland performing an anti-Semitic chant on a bus. The fans repeatedly chanted: ‘He hates the f*****g Jews, his name is Aaron Hughes’ in reference to a northern Irish player who plays for the football club. The vile clip was uploaded onto social media after the Hearts win over Kilmarnock on Saturday in the Scottish Premiership. Read more: http://bit.ly/2M71BAa


Jeremy Corbyn claims Israel controls speeches made by British MPs in Parliament, in bizarre remarks slammed as an ‘antisemitic conspiracy theory’ that ‘casts Jews as sinister manipulators’. Read more: https://dailym.ai/2oINGXQ



A campaign spokesperson for former Miami Beach Mayor Phillip Levine, who is Jewish and seeking the democratic nomination for Florida governor, reported that some campaign signs were vandalized with swastika symbols in St. Petersburg, Florida. Read more: http://bit.ly/2oMw9Oj


The Fight Against anti-Semitism


Lord Sacks has said he stands by his view that Jeremy Corbyn made "massively irresponsible" comments about Zionism and the Jewish people in 2013. Read more: https://bbc.in/2oKTEar


J.K. Rowling, made famous by the Harry Potter series and more recently for her pointed political quips via Twitter, expressed indignation at a fellow UK writer Sunday for his defense of Jeremy Corbyn and demand that a Jewish journalist explain his accusations of anti-semitism. Read more: http://bit.ly/2NSCEKu


In a letter to Labour's Chief Whip Nick Brown published on Thursday, Mr Field said he had quit the party “for two principal reasons”, the first of which “centres on the latest example of Labour's leadership becoming a force for antisemitism in British politics". Read more: http://bit.ly/2wMnCiQ


Two municipalities in Spain rescinded their motions to endorse the campaign to boycott Israel following legal action by a Madrid-based organization devoted to defending the Jewish state. Read more: http://bit.ly/2NS9drZ