France's Jews are leaving en masse — again,
by Melissa Brodsky
> The largest Jewish community in Europe is shrinking as antisemitism, > Islamist violence, and institutional denial drive thousands to > question whether modern-day France is safe for Jews.
Recently at a friend’s bday party I was talking to one of her boyfriend’s friends who I’d never met. Probably the first thing he said to me is “oh you’re Jewish right?” And I was like, yeah but who told you that etc etc. Not because it’s a bad thing OF COURSE but because I found it very strange that that would even be something worth mentioning. Especially because I don’t wear the Star of David or have any “outward symbols.” And he got all defensive and was like “oh no no no someone just said it in the same breath as like - no jokes about Jewish people tonight!” Literally ruined my night for so many reasons
to warn their antisemitic friend he couldn’t make his beloved jokes … then
Anyway, had to vent because it really was one of my first tastes of microaggression (at least for being Jewish, I’ve had ones for being gay of course before) … and it was not fun lol
Our community is rightly enraged. It’s sickening to see this gallery give this “artist” a platform where he profits off of the paintings of tunnels where beautiful Jewish people were held hostage, starved, beaten, raped and killed. There are many comments calling him out, but his responses are heartless and enraging. I don’t even know how to respond to this, I’m just hurt and angry.
Rabbi David Ingber takes on his fellow progressive Rabbis by pointing out how some do not care enough about their own people. IMO, this is a thing but I am not sure if it as much as a thing as David Ingber is claiming. From my personal experience in the Bay Area, many progresssive Rabbis are basically trying to keep their synagogues together because of deep faction disagreements in the congregation itself on the current moment.
I applaud the representatives sharing the evidence of threatening bigotry and hate but to what end? How do you counter the normalization of obvious antisemitism?
They have already started to blame Jews for the shooting in San Diego …. Sigh….
It will be the first weekend in June. The service is Saturday (have an outfit already for this), celebration is Sunday. Is this dress appropriate for the celebration? If not, is it the cut/style of the color that is wrong?
So I’ve been wondering with tackling the definition of Zionism when talking to other people.
One example I have is me saying that Zionism simply means that the Jewish people have a right to self-determination, it’s pretty simple, right? Then the person in question would completely ignore that and want to talk about the idea that Zionism means you’re a baby killer or some bullshit.
I feel like the word has been turned completely around for what it actually stands for and anyone I talk to personally about it talks about Zionism in an expansionist/murderous way, but that just ain’t it.
UK. My dad is Jewish, my mum isn't religious but was raised in Jewish values and is very pro-Israel. So while I'm not religious myself, being Jewish is core to who I am, it's not something I picked up or could put down.
My girlfriend isn't Jewish. I've been increasingly uncomfortable with some of her family's politics. They call themselves pro-Palestine, which is fine (it’s not but for her sake I tolerate their lack of education and social conformity), I can disagree with people on that. But some of what they engage with online isn't political criticism. It's content saying Jews deserve to die, that Oct 7 was warranted, etc. That's not politics, that's antisemitism.
Today I shared the Nova festival exhibition on my Instagram story. For anyone unfamiliar, it's a memorial for the 400+ young people murdered at a music festival in Israel on Oct 7 2023, and it's just opened in London. I didn't caption it politically, it was a memorial. One of her family members saw it and blocked me.
I sent my girlfriend a careful, calm message. I said this matters to me because being Jewish isn't a political view I hold, it's who I am. I made the distinction between being ‘pro-palestine’ and being antisemitic (which is what I've actually seen from her family). I told her I wasn't asking her to change them, just to see it for what it is and acknowledge it with me. She nicely said I can’t do anything about how part of her family think or what they believe and she just wants people to get on.
This hurt quite a lot.
Am I overreacting, or is this a real red flag?
Update - thank you to everyone responding, it means a lot to me. Under halacha I’m not Jewish so I struggle with my identity. I lost many ‘friends’ after October 7th as I grew up in a rural non Jewish area.
Of course as a human being with empathy and someone that detests violence as a whole I’m upset about what happened in San Diego tonight — but am admittedly feeling very frustrated thinking about how recently we were told too bad so sad about a synagogue with kids present being attacked. And that we needed to understand why the attacker was so sad as to try to murder Jews.
I don’t know a single Jewish person at least in my own life who would make those excuses for what happened to an Islamic Center tonight. But I’ve seen so many non Jewish people post about this who’ve never posted about attacks on us unless it was to twist it into actually being the victims fault. Why are we always the ones who never get the empathy we show others returned? I know there’s no real answer to it but sometimes I wish there was. Deleted my social media apps for tonight because I was getting too wound up about it.
Hey, fellow Redditors! New York City's Office to Combat Antisemitism has been in the news a lot lately, so I just wanted to share my experience with it.
I saw this article in the New York Post about a hearing where Phylicia Wisdom, the current head of the OCA who is a "liberal Zionist" handpicked by Mamdani, was grilled by local government officials because the office no longer has an official definition of antisemitism. Our last mayor adopted the IHRA definition, but Mamdani scrapped it during his first week in office. One complaint I remember hearing about the OCA was that they had no phone number. But I know the Office of the Mayor also doesn't have a direct phone number, and since the NYP tends to be kind of sensationalist in its reporting, I decided to see if it was as bad as the Post said.
Trying to Google the OCA just led me to news articles that were a few years old which were reporting on Mayor Adams' creation of the office. So I had to find it by going to the NYC City Hall website and look for it in a list of all the city offices, because trying to search for it on the city website also yielded no results. I managed to find the page. https://www.nyc.gov/main/combat-antisemitism
There is indeed no phone number. There is also no email listed. In order to try and get through to anyone, you have to fill out this contact form: https://www.nyc.gov/main/forms/contact-combat-antisemitism which has a limit of 500 characters. The form says to contact the NYPD or call 911 to report a crime. I went back to the list of city offices to see if I could find an email address for Phylicia Wisdom. If you click on her name on the page that has the list of all offices, you're directed back to the contact form.
The information on the page is pretty sparse. The section titled "Recent Events and Services" only lists 5 things, none of which have dates saying when they occurred, and no links to news articles or press releases to find out more. The most egregious one I saw was about Mamdani's "Listening Tour." Here's all the information provided:
>The Mayor’s Office to Combat Antisemitism is currently embarking on a listening tour with scores of New Yorkers, which will be used to inform a report and a subsequent strategy on combatting antisemitism in New York City—the first municipal strategy of its kind.
That's it. There's no dates listed, so locations given, no way to find out information about how to attend or participate or how to request the mayor visit a certain location on this tour that's supposedly happening. And since there are no dates, last week it said the mayor is currently embarking on this tour, and it will also say he's currently embarking on this tour 3 months from now.
I used the contact form to ask where I could find more information about this listening tour that's supposedly currently happening. I hadn't heard anything after a few days, so I called 311, NYC's non-emergency number to do everything from filing a noise complaint to finding out when alternate-side parking is happening.
The 311 operator, who was lovely and polite, was also unable to find any additional ways to contact the office. She told me to just use the form, and said that contact form is pretty standard for most city offices. I told her I had, but hadn't heard anything. She assured me someone would answer and my message would be read by a real human being.
It's been 12 days, and I've still heard no response from the OCA. Unfortunately, I can't say I'm surprised. Obviously, I'm incredibly frustrated.
I just wanted to put that out there and share my experience. Mamdani likes to act like he's doing significant things to deal with antisemitism in this city. But if it's this hard to get through to the OCA, I think people should be aware that this office might be little more than a fig leaf.
surely people have posted about this and i have missed it, so if so ignore me. but instagram has become deeply unsafe for a jew. i think for a while it was primarily in the comments, but now most of my feed is antisemitic caricatures or just straight up hatred towards jews. surely this is happening outside of instagram, but i do not exist in those spaces.
i had commented on a video of a very example, which honestly was a massive mistake. i woke up to 45 comments telling me i was awful, calling me awful things. it was so awful i had to delete my comment. but one reply stood out to me so much that i reported it. the comment was “i hate the jews. fuck off k/ke”. well i woke up this morning to a notice from instagram saying that is not against their hate speech policy. you know, the slur.
i love being jewish, it is the most important thing about me, but it is becoming so unsafe to be jewish that i am starting to hide that part of me. i never want to hide that part of me, but what other choice do i have when it is putting me in danger? i feel so lost and hopeless
edit: it is really comforting to know you all relate to me on this. it is helpful to see you all on my side because now my inbox is being flooded with antisemitism </3
Police are searching for attackers who beat up an Israeli man in the heart of Golders Green last night after being he was overheard speaking Hebrew.
Shalev Ben Yakar, 22, had stepped out of his flat on Golders Green Road, close to the King Solomon Hotel at around 2am on Sunday night in order to receive a phone call from friends in South America without disturbing his flatmates.
He alleges that, after hearing him speaking Hebrew, a group of five or six men wearing tracksuits set upon him and left him close to losing consciousness.
The title of the post is a bit clumsy but this is something that I've been thinking about for a long time. There seems to be a very big disconnect between how we Jews see ourselves and how I think many non-Jews see us. Basically, many Jews, in our own way, see ourselves as one of the great civilizations of the world and something that should be treated with respect. For more than a few non-Jews, we are annoying bugs of a people with a very bad case of main character syndrome that get in the way. Thoughts?
[sending as an FYI]
Amplifying unsubstantiated claims that echo dangerous historical narratives about Jews
New York, NY — Betsy Berns Korn, Chair, and William C. Daroff, CEO, of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, issued the following statement:
The recent New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof on alleged Israeli prison abuses of suspected Hamas terrorists relies on claims that are weakly sourced, lacking in specificity, contested, and unsupported by evidence.
The column elevates anonymous testimony, much of it secondhand, from advocacy groups known for their bias and disputed credibility, including histories of fabrication, and allegations that remain unverified. Even former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, cited in support, later clarified that his remarks were misrepresented and did not support the article’s allegations.
A fundamental difference separates substantiated wrongdoing from allegations that are weakly sourced, contested, or unproven. In democratic societies, that distinction matters. It separates responsible reporting from distortion.
The timing of the column is questionable at best. It appeared on the eve of the release of “Silenced No More,” a report by the Civil Commission on October 7 Crimes by Hamas against Women and Children. The Commission report documents Hamas’s use of sexual violence during the October 7 attacks and against hostages in captivity. It draws upon more than 10,000 photos and videos, over 1,800 hours of visual material, and over 400 testimonies, all cross-referenced and geolocated.
As evidence of Hamas’ systematic and grotesque atrocities came into public view, the Kristof column instead propagates anonymous claims that remain disputed and unverified, including unprecedented and highly improbable allegations of sadism that draw attention away from the Commission’s report and suggest a false moral equivalency.
The consequences are not abstract.
For centuries, blood libels portrayed Jews as uniquely sadistic and inhuman. When modern narratives echo those themes, they reinforce patterns that have historically fueled hatred and violence against Jews.
Spreading unproven and inflammatory claims about Jews carries real risk.
At a time of dramatically rising antisemitism worldwide, that risk is growing.
When falsehoods are spread by a seemingly credible source with global reach, they do not just misinform. They dehumanize. And that has consequences.
###
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations is the recognized central coordinating body representing 50 diverse national Jewish organizations on issues of national and international concern. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the positions of all member organizations.
Antisemitism and the anti-Zionist exploitation of the universal,
by Julien Chanet K: Jews, Europe, the 21st century, 2026-05-14.
> Last month, Crise et Critique published L’Incendie Universel (The > Universal Fire). The subject at hand is left-wing anti-Zionism, as > explored by Julien Chanet. From an anti-racist and > anti-authoritarian perspective, the author develops a well-reasoned > analysis of the history of Zionism and the place that anti-Zionism > has come to occupy within a segment of the left, along with its > unintended ideological consequences. We are publishing here an > excerpt, in its first ever English translation, selected to explore > the paradoxical recycling of Christian anti-Judaism through the > falsely universalist logic of contemporary anti-Zionism.
NB: the linked-to book extract is, as noted above, a translation from the original French, ‘L’antijudaïsme et l’instrumentalisation antisioniste de l’universel’. And the author is not just writing in French, but is writing from within the French post-modern intellectual tradition. The writing is dense, and some familiarity with French sociological and academic political thinking is helpful in parsing said density.
Hey everybody! Never posted here before, but I figured this is the best place to get help fast.
Today I was talking with this friend, and while doing so, checked his discord bio out of boredom. Turns out he just has ‘anti semite’ plainly there.
I knew he’s always been super pro Palestine and anti Israeli government, but I didn’t think he’d just be against a whole group of regular people. Now that I look back, I realize there was a ton of red flags about that.
That in itself is bad enough, but adding onto it, one of my bio parents was Jewish (I’m adopted so I don’t see them). He knows that I’d be a large part Jewish because of that, but he’s never said anything against me specifically.
I’m not in the religion, I don’t know much about it, but I can respect it atleast. I’ve given him the benefit of the doubt before but this just seems so much worse. I told him we could meet up today before I knew this, now it feels awkward.
What do I do? I know I need to bring it up, but how should I?
TLDR - Friend since childhood changed his bio to ‘anti semite’. I’m partially Jewish through my bio parents. What do I do?
It took nearly two years to charge this guy. Here is hoping he gets the maximum sentence.
In this year Eurovision contest, 35 countries entered the competition and 25 of them made it to the final. Bulgaria won, since they were better than all 24 other songs (allegedly, I only watched part of the final).
Half the internet, since yesterday:
"Well done Bulgaria, for defeating the 'Israelis' at the Eurovisio!" They are completely dismissing the Bulgarian achievement (first time in history winning the competition), and somehow, people feel that what actually happen.
I can't even.