Headlines

Federal Authorities Arrest Man for Mass Antisemitic Threats
FBI Designates Michigan Synagogue Attack as Targeted Violence
Campus Tensions Escalate: Berkeley Schools Mishandle Complaints, UCLA Debates 'Genocide' Claims

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Transcript

You're listening to Antisemitism Watch, I'm Rachel Adler.

We begin with the arrest of a North Carolina man, Brian Charles, accused of mailing mass antisemitic threats, including death threats, to Jewish leaders and organizations. Federal authorities charged Charles with mailing threatening communications, with the FBI alleging letters sent in June and July contained statements such as 'I am going to destroy many Jews' and 'Many shall die by my wrath,' according to a federal criminal complaint. The FBI identified Charles through a fingerprint on one of the letters. The Simon Wiesenthal Center noted that such threats are intended to terrorize Jewish Americans, making them fearful of opening their mail or living openly. This follows FBI data showing Jews remain the most targeted religious group for hate crimes in the U.S., with 1,938 anti-Jewish hate-crime incidents recorded in 2024.

In other acts of targeted violence, the FBI has designated a March incident where a truck packed with explosives was rammed into Temple Israel in Michigan as a 'targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.' The perpetrator died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. In Germany, authorities arrested a 37-year-old Afghan national in connection with an alleged arson attack on the Bergische Synagogue in Wuppertal, days before Yom Kippur. Josef Schuster, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, called the incident an 'arson attack' and warned of the 'progressive normalization of hatred of Jews.' German police recorded a significant increase in antisemitic offenses in 2025.

Direct threats also emerged in Kansas, where a man faces 23 felony counts for allegedly threatening to kill conservative commentator Ben Shapiro over his Jewish faith. According to Boca News Now, Korby Allen Strube admitted to authoring social media posts, including one with a 'countdown' to the killing. In Jerusalem, Jewish youths threw eggs at worshippers at the Reform synagogue Kol HaNeshama on September 15, the second day of Rosh Hashanah. The congregation described the incident as an escalation in attacks and filed a police complaint.

In Manchester, police are investigating an act of vandalism at The Moka Pot as a hate crime, after swastikas and the words 'WHITE POWER' were spray-painted on the property. Separately, a woman in New York City verbally assaulted a Jewish man at a gym, calling him a 'racist' and 'Zionist pig' without prior confrontation, according to reporting reviewed for this episode.

On college campuses, state education officials issued two rulings finding that Berkeley schools mishandled antisemitism complaints, ordering training and changes to prevent discriminatory classroom environments and assembly violations. The California Department of Education reversed a district finding, ruling that posters at Berkeley High School created a discriminatory environment and ordered staff training. Separately, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating the Etiwanda School District following allegations by a Jewish student of repeated antisemitic attacks and claims the district failed to adequately address them. At George Washington University, Jewish students report feeling intimidated and targeted, citing protests with antisemitic overtones and an incident where stink bombs were deployed at an Israel Fest event. These experiences align with broader reports describing universities as 'cesspools of unchecked anti-Jewish hatred.' In a separate development, UCLA's Chancellor Julio Frenk's statement distancing the university from a law school symposium that characterized the Israel-Gaza war as 'genocide' has ignited an intense academic freedom debate, with faculty demanding retraction.

Regarding rhetoric that meets IHRA criteria, reporting indicates that three-quarters of U.S. college students now say Israel is committing genocide. This statement, when applied to Israel, often falls into categories of demonization or denial of Jewish self-determination.

In politics and media, Israel's UN ambassador slammed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for fanning anti-Israel sentiment and calling for the arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Hundreds of Jewish community leaders and residents protested outside Mamdani's home, citing a summer spike in antisemitic incidents. Rapper Macklemore is facing renewed controversy over a 2014 performance where he wore a costume featuring antisemitic tropes; this resurfaced following his recent advocacy for Palestinian freedom. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft admitted to pressuring venue owners to drop Macklemore due to alleged antisemitic rhetoric. Wall Street Journal editorial board member Elliot Kaufman argued that media coverage of the Israeli war downplays Hamas's role and promotes antisemitic narratives. Meanwhile, in Sweden, antisemitism accusations significantly shaped the recent general election campaign, leading to the removal of candidates for circulating antisemitic conspiracy theories.

In institutional and policy responses, Ventura Mayor Jeannette Sánchez-Palacios is working to have the city adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working definition of Jew-hatred following recent antisemitic vandalism. In Hamburg, Germany, the center-right Christian Democratic Union party has unveiled a 12-point plan to combat rising antisemitism, including mandatory training for teachers and appointing antisemitism officers at universities.

Internationally, Sweden expelled an Iranian diplomat for engaging in security threats, including targeting a synagogue. Australia's security intelligence agency, ASIO, has issued a stark warning that the Jewish community faces threats from state actors, particularly Iran, and has not ruled out the possibility of Iran targeting prominent Jewish Australians.

In case outcomes, a French court dismissed antisemitism-motivated charges against a woman convicted of assaulting three Jewish students, failing to recognize antisemitism as an aggravating circumstance. The Union of French Jewish Students called the ruling 'scandalous,' questioning how antisemitic violence is treated by the French justice system.

Finally, in community response and resilience, the congregation at Michigan's Temple Israel is returning for the first time since the synagogue was targeted in a terror attack, marking a significant step in community recovery.

I'm Rachel Adler, thank you for listening to Antisemitism Watch.

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This report was generated with AI assistance and may contain inaccuracies. Please verify important details with primary sources.

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Sources:
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