Latest news with #anti-semitic
Straits Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
After several attacks, heightened anxiety among American Jews
People lay flowers at the site of the attack outside the Boulder County Courthouse on June 2 in Boulder, Colorado. PHOTO: AFP NEW YORK - The attack on demonstrators in Boulder, Colorado, marching in support of Israeli hostages being held in the Gaza Strip would have been disturbing to Jewish people across the country even if it were the only recent event of its kind. The suspect told investigators after his arrest that he had been planning the attack for a year, according to court documents. Eight people were hospitalised. For many, the connections to other recent outbursts of violence were impossible to miss. The attack in Boulder came less than two weeks after two Israeli Embassy employees were shot and killed as they left a reception at a Jewish museum in Washington. A month earlier, an arsonist set fire to the Pennsylvania governor's mansion on the first night of Passover while Governor Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, slept upstairs with his family. 'What we've seen these last few months is a shocking pattern of anti-Israel sentiment manifesting itself in anti-semitic violence,' said Ms Halie Soifer, chief executive officer of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. 'With each incident there's a further shattering of our sense of security.' In Colorado and Washington, authorities said, the suspects shouted 'Free Palestine' on the scene. In Pennsylvania, the arsonist later said he set the fire as a response to Israeli attacks on Palestinians. Ms Soifer pointed out that the Molotov cocktails used by the attacker in Boulder were strikingly similar to the incendiary devices used by Cody Balmer, the man accused of arson in Pennsylvania. The man charged on June 2 with a federal hate crime in Colorado, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, told investigators that he wanted to 'kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead,' according to papers filed in federal court. The drumbeat of violence, erupting across the country and taking an unpredictable variety of forms, has deepened anxieties among many American Jews, and contributed to a sense that simply existing in public as a Jewish person is increasingly dangerous. One of the victims of the attack at the march in Boulder was a Holocaust survivor, according to a friend of the victim who was at the scene. That all three attackers alluded to political objections to Israel raised concerns among many about the threat of left-wing political violence connected to the war in Gaza. The number of anti-semitic episodes in the United States in 2023, in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel, was the highest ever recorded in a one-year period, according to the Anti-Defamation League. 'Dangerous words turn into dangerous actions,' said Stefanie Clarke, the co-executive director of Stop Antisemitism Colorado, which she founded after the attacks in Israel on Oct 7, 2023. 'We've been sounding the alarm about the rise in anti-semitism, the dangerous rhetoric and the risks of this turning violent, and now we're seeing it play out.' Ms Clarke, who lives in Boulder, noted that conflicts about the war have boiled over in City Council meetings there. Activists have urged the passage of a resolution advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza, and some meetings have devolved into cursing and what one council member described in December as 'chanting, screaming, and threatening conduct'. In February, a rabbi in Boulder, Marc Soloway, wrote an open letter to the City Council in which he described being physically and verbally threatened at a council meeting. 'It is just a plain fact that many of us in Boulder's Jewish community simply do not feel safe or supported,' he wrote. 'Jews in America have mostly felt the threats of anti-semitism from the far right in the form of White Supremacy, yet now many of us have experienced hatred, bigotry and intolerance from progressives, those who many of us have considered friends and allies.' In April, an opponent of Israel's war circulated a 'Wanted' poster online that showed the faces of seven council members, writing that they were 'complicit in genocide' for not passing the resolution. Across the country, many Jews say they have observed an uptick in anti-semitism, both personally and in the broader culture, in recent years. In a survey of 1,732 Jews conducted in the fall of 2024, the American Jewish Committee found that 93 per cent said anti-semitism was at least somewhat of a problem, and a similar share said it had increased over the last five years. Almost a quarter of respondents said they had been the target of at least one anti-semitic remark in the past year, and 2 per cent said they had been physically attacked. The deadliest anti-semitic attack in American history remains the assault at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where a gunman killed 11 worshippers and wounded six others in 2018. The Tree of Life shooter, who was condemned to death by federal jurors in 2023, seemed to be motivated by right-wing extremism. So, too, was the gunman who opened fire at a synagogue in Poway, California, in 2019. Experts emphasise that right-wing anti-semitism remains a major threat. But the sprawling protest movement against the war in Gaza has scrambled attempts to distinguish opposition to the actions of the Israeli government, or even to the state of Israel itself, from hostility to Jews. Critics of the protesters have argued that slogans like 'globalise the Intifada' are thinly veiled calls for violence in any Jewish space. In the Anti-Defamation League's latest annual audit of anti-semitic incidents in the United States, the organisation found that for the first time, a majority of incidents (58 per cent) had 'elements that related to Israel or Zionism'. Several Jewish organisations suggested in statements that the attacks undercut attempts to distinguish anti-semitism from anti-Zionism, a distinction made by many activists critical of Israeli's approach to the war in Gaza, which has killed more than 50,000 people, according to the territory's health ministry. 'Make no mistake: If and when Jews are targeted to protest Israel's actions, it should clearly and unequivocally be understood and condemned as anti-semitism,' the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Amy Spitalnick, said in a statement. The Trump administration has made fighting anti-semitism a vocal priority, often using the issue to escalate the president's attacks on elite universities and to reinforce his goal to dramatically reduce immigration. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Jan 29 aimed at combating 'an unprecedented wave of vile anti-semitic discrimination, vandalism and violence against our citizens, especially in our schools and on our campuses'. Mr Trump said on social media on June 2 that attacks like the one in Boulder 'WILL NOT BE TOLERATED,' criticising former president Joe Biden for letting Soliman into the country. Soliman came to the country legally on a tourist visa, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Critics say that Mr Trump's other actions have undercut his claims of concern about rising anti-semitism. A temporary freeze in funding of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for example, paused support for a security grant programme that served many synagogues and other Jewish institutions. NYTIMES Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
West Australian
5 days ago
- Business
- West Australian
Donald Trump news: Judge blocks US President's move to ban Harvard University enrolling international students
A US court has extended an order blocking the Trump Administration's attempt to revoke Harvard University's ability to enrol international students. The ruling marks the latest twist in the US President's intensifying offensive against Harvard, which has seen him slash billions of US dollars in funding. The Ivy League university can continue admitting foreign students while the lawsuit plays out, after US District Judge Allison Burrough extended the temporary restraining order she issued last week. Sustained by a $US53 billion ($A82 billion) endowment, the nation's wealthiest university is testing whether it can be a bulwark against Mr Trump's efforts to limit what his Administration calls anti-semitic activism on campus, which Harvard sees as an affront to the freedom to teach and learn nationwide. Harvard graduates in caps and gowns have urged the Ivy League school to stand strong in the wake of a public battle with the US President. Graduating students cheered speeches emphasising the maintenance of a diverse international student body and standing up for truth in the face of attacks by the Trump Administration. 'We leave a campus much different than the one we entered, with Harvard at the centre of a national battle of higher education in America,' Thor Reimann told his fellow graduates. 'Our university is certainly imperfect, but I am proud to stand today alongside our graduating class, our faculty, our president with the shared conviction that this ongoing project of veritas is one that is worth defending.' The US Government has already cancelled more than $US2.6 billion in federal research grants, moved to cut off Harvard's enrolment of international students and threatened its tax-exempt status. Visa interviews for international students admitted to schools nationwide were halted on Tuesday, and Mr Trump said on Wednesday that Harvard should reduce its international enrolment from 25 per cent to about 15 per cent. Harvard President Alan Garber, who has repeatedly defended the school's actions, didn't directly touch on the Trump Administration's threats on Thursday. But he did get a rousing applause when he referenced the university's global reach, noting that it is 'just as it should be'. Several of the graduating speakers spoke more directly about the challenges facing the school and society. Speaking in Latin, Salutatorian Aidan Robert Scully delivered a speech laced with references to Trump policies. 'I say this: ... Neither powers nor princes can change the truth and deny that diversity is our strength,' Mr Scully said. It was a sentiment echoed by Yurong 'Luanna' Jiang, a Chinese graduate who studied international development. She said she grew up believing that the 'world was becoming a small village' and that she found a global community at Harvard. 'When I met my 77 classmates from 32 different countries, the countries I knew only as colourful shapes on a map turned into real people, with laughter, dreams and the perseverance to survive the long winter in Cambridge,' she said of the other students in her program. 'Global challenges suddenly felt personal.' Now, though, she said she wonders whether her worldview is under threat. 'We're starting to believe those who think differently, vote differently or pray differently, whether they are across the ocean or sitting right next to us, are not just wrong — we mistakenly see them as evil,' she said. 'But it doesn't have to be this way.' - With AAP
Perth Now
5 days ago
- Business
- Perth Now
Judge blocks Trump's Harvard foreign student ban
A US court has extended an order blocking the Trump Administration's attempt to revoke Harvard University's ability to enrol international students. The ruling marks the latest twist in the US President's intensifying offensive against Harvard, which has seen him slash billions of US dollars in funding. The Ivy League university can continue admitting foreign students while the lawsuit plays out, after US District Judge Allison Burrough extended the temporary restraining order she issued last week. Sustained by a $US53 billion ($A82 billion) endowment, the nation's wealthiest university is testing whether it can be a bulwark against Mr Trump's efforts to limit what his Administration calls anti-semitic activism on campus, which Harvard sees as an affront to the freedom to teach and learn nationwide. Harvard graduates in caps and gowns have urged the Ivy League school to stand strong in the wake of a public battle with the US President. Graduating students cheered speeches emphasising the maintenance of a diverse international student body and standing up for truth in the face of attacks by the Trump Administration. 'We leave a campus much different than the one we entered, with Harvard at the centre of a national battle of higher education in America,' Thor Reimann told his fellow graduates. 'Our university is certainly imperfect, but I am proud to stand today alongside our graduating class, our faculty, our president with the shared conviction that this ongoing project of veritas is one that is worth defending.' Graduating students cheered speeches celebrating the diverse international student body. (EPA PHOTO) Credit: AAP The US Government has already cancelled more than $US2.6 billion in federal research grants, moved to cut off Harvard's enrolment of international students and threatened its tax-exempt status. Visa interviews for international students admitted to schools nationwide were halted on Tuesday, and Mr Trump said on Wednesday that Harvard should reduce its international enrolment from 25 per cent to about 15 per cent. Harvard President Alan Garber, who has repeatedly defended the school's actions, didn't directly touch on the Trump Administration's threats on Thursday. But he did get a rousing applause when he referenced the university's global reach, noting that it is 'just as it should be'. Several of the graduating speakers spoke more directly about the challenges facing the school and society. Speaking in Latin, Salutatorian Aidan Robert Scully delivered a speech laced with references to Trump policies. 'I say this: ... Neither powers nor princes can change the truth and deny that diversity is our strength,' Mr Scully said. It was a sentiment echoed by Yurong 'Luanna' Jiang, a Chinese graduate who studied international development. She said she grew up believing that the 'world was becoming a small village' and that she found a global community at Harvard. 'When I met my 77 classmates from 32 different countries, the countries I knew only as colourful shapes on a map turned into real people, with laughter, dreams and the perseverance to survive the long winter in Cambridge,' she said of the other students in her program. 'Global challenges suddenly felt personal.' Now, though, she said she wonders whether her worldview is under threat. 'We're starting to believe those who think differently, vote differently or pray differently, whether they are across the ocean or sitting right next to us, are not just wrong — we mistakenly see them as evil,' she said. 'But it doesn't have to be this way.' - With AAP
Daily Mirror
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Gary Lineker makes trademark joke in first words on Match of the Day farewell
Gary Lineker joked 'it wasn't meant to end this way' as he got his last ever Match of the Day show underway. The former England striker was the host for the BBC's Premier League highlights show on Sunday for the final time. The channel had already announced Lineker's exit last November, with his contract set to expire. It was confirmed that this season would be his last, albeit he would front the BBC's coverage for next season's FA Cup and next summer's World Cup. But his exit was brought forward amid an ongoing row over a perceived anti-semitic tweet. Therefore, Lineker hosted Match of the Day for the final time on Sunday night. Speaking during the opening moments of his final show which followed a montage of some of his standout moments, Lineker said: "It wasn't meant to end this way but with the title race over and the relegation places left confirmed, the Champions League was all we had left to talk about. I'm delighted to say joining us for this one, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards." Lineker's latest comments come after he had addressed his upcoming exit on social media. Writing in a statement after his exit was confirmed, Lineker said: "Football has been at the heart of my life for as long as I can remember - both on the pitch and in the studio. "I care deeply about the game, and about the work I've done with the BBC over many years. As I've said, I would never consciously repost anything antisemitic - it goes against everything I stand for. "However, I recognise the error and upset that I caused, and reiterate how sorry I am. Stepping back now feels like the responsible course of action." BBC director general Tim Davie added: "Gary has acknowledged the mistake he made. Accordingly, we have agreed he will step back from further presenting after this season. "Gary has been a defining voice in football coverage for the BBC for over two decades. His passion and knowledge have shaped our sports journalism and earned him the respect of sports fans across the UK and beyond. We want to thank him for the contribution he has made." Meanwhile, Alex Kay-Jelski, the BBC's director of sport, sent an email to staff ahead of Lineker's final show. He said: "It is sad to be saying goodbye to such a brilliant broadcaster and I also want to thank Gary for his years of service. As ever, if you have questions, you know where I am. "Let's finish the season strongly with Gary's final show, enjoy an incredible summer of sport and look forward with excitement to what lies ahead." The BBC have already announced Lineker's eventual replacement. Mark Chapman, Kelly Cates and Gabby Logan are all going to share the presenting duty from next season. Join our new WhatsApp communityand receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Sky has slashed the price of its bundle ahead of the 2025/26 season, saving members £192 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more. Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games next season, an increase of up to 100 more.
Scottish Sun
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Kanye West's unlikely friendship with Mike Ashley revealed as he & wife Bianca hole up at sports mogul's Majorca villa
The disgraced star has been hauled up in a £29million mansion in Spain TOON TOWN Kanye West's unlikely friendship with Mike Ashley revealed as he & wife Bianca hole up at sports mogul's Majorca villa UNLIKELY showbiz friendships come in all shapes and sizes, just look at Ronnie Wood and H from Steps, or Ekin-Su Culculoglu and Deontay Wilder. And now rapper Kanye West and British businessman Mike Ashley can be added to that list. 8 Kanye's wife Bianca Censori has also been holed up at the mansion Credit: BackGrid 8 Ex-football boss Mike Ashley has leant a helping hand to the rapper Credit: Alamy 8 It's understood that Kanye has been holed up at Mike's palatial home in Majorca Credit: Handout The Sun understands Kanye, or YE as he prefers to be known, has been holed up for the past few weeks at Mike's £29million mansion in Majorca. Insiders said Kanye was working on his new album in the posh bolthole by the sea and has conducted interviews from there. This included his car crash run in with Piers Morgan where he stormed off in a strop after just minutes while live on air. A source said: "Kanye has been staying at Mike's place in Mayorca. "It's beautiful and secluded which means he can go about his business without anyone disturbing him." It turns out the friendship originated with Mike's son Oliver who is a huge fan of the disgraced rapper. The insider continued: "Mike's son Oliver is a huge fan of Kanye's music and offered to put him up with him and his dad. "Oliver is hoping that Kanye might be able to help make his way in music and they've all struck up a rather chummy friendship. They added: "From the outside it seems rather strange - but Kanye for all his faults can be very good company and they've had a great time together." It's understood Kanye's wife, the always-nearly-naked Bianca Censori, has also been holed up at the house - which boasts its own private cave. Kanye West 'storms off' during Piers Morgan interview after chat with sunglasses-clad rapper 'didn't go well' Kanye's life has become a one-way ticket to disaster this year, after his disgusting anti-semitic rants on social media. His comments correctly saw him dumped by Adidas who refused to work with him. The rapper is now busy working on his next record, which he originally called WWIII before changing the name to Cuck. It comes as Mike's former club Newcastle United previously settled it's kit war with the former owner. 8 Kanye famously stormed out of his interview with Piers Morgan from the location Credit: Eroteme Bianca Censori and Kanye West's relationship Bianca Censori was born on January 5, 1995, in Melbourne, Australia Before her current full-time job, the 30-year-old started a jewellery company called Nylons after leaving high school. After working as a student architect for three years, she completed a master's degree between 2019 and 2020 ahead of moving to Los Angeles. In a radio interview, a childhood friend of Bianca's claimed that Kanye slid into her DMs on Instagram, reportedly saying: "Come and work for me." The designer then moved to LA to join his company, Yeezy, as "head of architecture" - and has stayed in this role since November 2020. WEDDING BELLS In October 2023, The Daily Mail reported Kanye and Bianca wed on December 20, 2022. The couple tied the knot under a "confidential marriage license" in the state of California. The two wed in Palo Alto, California, according to the document. The wedding came just one month after Kanye and Kim Kardashian finalized their divorce. The Sports Direct chief took the St James' Park side to court after his shops were banned from selling official Toon kit in a £1.5million claim. However, Newcastle, adidas and JD Sports since reached a confidential agreement with Ashley and Sports Direct. The agreement - called a 'Tomlin Order' - is legally binding and enforceable if either side doesn't stick to it. 8 His always-nearly-naked partner has been keeping the star company Credit: Splash 8 Mike's mansion on the Spanish island is reportedly worth £29million Credit: Ray Collins 8 Kanye has been working on his new album in the posh bolthole Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk
