The CEO of the Jewish Federation in Rochester, N.Y., and other officials were the recent objects of an antisemitic letter and sexist cartoon accompanied by racist tropes. In Newton, Mass., there have been seven recent instances of hate crimes in the past two months, including the breaking of windows of Jewish-owned homes, with vandals targeting one residence twice. The actual threats of violence and acts of violence have moved out of the campuses and into the streets, and with the success and the comfort of a lynch-mob atmosphere, physical assaults on Jews as Jews are bound to increase. Even the Anti-Defamation League is finally concerned.
In England, it is reported that authorities are struggling in the face of extremist tactics and actions pushed both by Islamists and the far-right, according to an official report. The adviser to the UK government on social cohesion has concluded that in some areas, there is “no infrastructure in place” to tackle a “triple threat of conspiracy theories, disinformation and harassment that poses a threat to democracy.” At King’s College, death threats canceled a discussion on conflict resolution.
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