ADL democracy defender award ‘very meaningful,’ Oklahoma City mayor says
(JNS) — When the Anti-Defamation League confers its Levenson defender of democracy award on him at the nonprofit’s “In Concert Against Hate” event on Nov. 10, David Holt, the mayor of Oklahoma City, anticipates it will be doubly significant to him.
“It would be an honor in and of itself to be recognized by this organization that has so much history in our country and so many important achievements and that stands for so many critical American values,” the city’s first Native American mayor told JNS.
He added that “the specific award that I’m receiving is very meaningful to me, because it does feel like a lot of my work as mayor and as president of the Conference of Mayors has gone a little bit beyond the daily tasks put in front of any American mayor.”
The ADL will honor Holt, 46, and others at the event, which is scheduled to take place at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington. The annual benefit concert recognizes “individuals who have demonstrated extraordinary courage in standing up to hatred, antisemitism, injustice and bias,” per the ADL.
“The reality is that the American experiment is an outlier in the history of humanity, and maybe in recent years we’re being reminded why,” Holt told JNS. “People like me, who have a little bit of a platform in my little corner of the world, have an obligation to help explain and help articulate why this is so important, what makes it so unique and some of the obligations that each of us carry if we want to see it sustained.”
NY man who attacked Jews at 3 pro-Palestinian rallies sentenced to 17 months in prison
(JTA) — A New York City man who attacked Jewish pro-Israel counter-protesters at three separate pro-Palestinian demonstrations was sentenced on Oct. 28 to 17 months in prison.
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman read a letter from Tarek Bazrouk during the sentencing hearing where he said there was “no excuse for my behavior” and that he “let feelings over the suffering in Gaza get the best of me.”
Bazrouk, 20, became a cause célèbre for some pro-Palestinian activists after he was charged with three counts of committing hate crimes in May, following his arrest in January for punching a Jewish pro-Israel protester in the nose. During the two preceding incidents, which occurred over a period of nine months, he also punched, kicked and hurled antisemitic slurs at Jewish counter-protesters.
At the time, an investigation by law enforcement found texts on Bazrouk’s phone where he allegedly referred to himself as a “Jew hater” and called on “Allah” to “get us rid of [Jews],” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. During one of the assaults, he wore “a green headband typically worn by Hamas terrorists,” the office said.
Bazrouk pleaded guilty to targeting his victims for their Jewish or Israeli identity. His sentencing Oct. 28 also included three years of supervised release.
Bazrouk addressed his victims in the courtroom, “I’m sorry, guys, and hope you can forgive me for my actions,” according to Fox News.
Harvard conservative magazine is shut down after publishing article laced with Nazi rhetoric
(JTA) — A conservative magazine at Harvard University was suspended by its board of directors Sunday amid scrutiny over an article published in September that closely resembled the rhetoric of Adolf Hitler.
In its September print issue, the Harvard Salient published an article by student David F.X. Army that read “Germany belongs to the Germans, France to the French, Britain to the British, America to the Americans,” echoing the words Hitler used in a January 1939 speech to the Reichstag in which he forecasted that another world war would lead to the annihilation of Jews.
The Harvard Salient piece also argued that “Islam et al. has absolutely no place in Western Europe,” and called for a return to values “rooted in blood, soil, language, and love of one’s own.” (The phrase “blood and soil” also echoes a Nazi idea that the inherent features of a people are its land and race.)
In a statement to the school’s newspaper, the Salient’s editor-in-chief, Richard Y. Rodgers, claimed that Army “did not intentionally quote Adolf Hitler, nor did any member of our editorial staff recognize the resemblance prior to publication.”
Rodgers continued, “The article was a meditation on how nations and cultures preserve coherence in an age of rootless cosmopolitanism and global homogenization. To confuse a defense of belonging for a manifesto on exclusion is a fault of the reader, not the writer.”
The print edition of the article was placed in undergraduate dormitories last month. Harvard installed Salient distribution boxes in dorms in February after the publication, which is independent from the university, complained that students could not easily access its work.
Alabama man arrested for allegedly planning attacks on synagogues
(JTA) — An Alabama man was arrested this week for allegedly planning attacks on synagogues in Alabama and surrounding states as well as public figures.
Jeremy Wayne Shoemaker, 33, of Needham, Alabama, was arrested on Monday after the FBI and local agencies were alerted of “credible threats of violence” he made to local synagogues, the Clarke County Sheriff’s Office announced in a post on Facebook.
During his arrest, law enforcement also seized “weapons, more than a suitcase full of ammo, body armor and other items related to the plans of violence” in Shoemaker’s possession, the office said.
Following an investigation, the Clark County Sheriff’s office said they believed Shoemaker had “intentions of not being taken alive” and potentially planned to attack “public figures” as well. Shoemaker was locally charged during his arrest with resisting arrest and certain persons forbidden to possess a firearm. It was not clear if prosecutors were seeking hate crime charges.
The Birmingham Jewish Federation appeared to call attention to Shoemaker’s arrest in a post on social media, writing that there was “no credible threat to our community at this time.”
“We are deeply grateful that swift and coordinated action by the FBI, state investigators and local law enforcement prevented what could have been a devastating act of violence,” the post read. “This incident is a sobering reminder that threats motivated by antisemitism and hate persist.”
‘Especially traumatizing’ to Jews, Virginia district says of Muslim student groups’ staged kidnappings
(JNS) — Fairfax County Public Schools, a district in Northern Virginia with almost 183,000 students in nearly 200 schools and centers, condemned videos that two Muslim Student Association chapters posted depicting staged kidnappings of those who refused to attend chapter meetings.
A spokeswoman for the district, which says that it is the ninth largest in the nation, told JNS that the district “has been made aware of social-media videos featuring high school student organization members that are neither school- nor division-approved.”
“These videos depict violence, including kidnappings, with victims being hooded and placed in the trunk of a car, among other things,” she said. “Acting out these types of violent acts is traumatizing for many of us to watch and, given world events, especially traumatizing to our Jewish students, staff and community.”
The spokeswoman told JNS that the district “would never consider these videos to be appropriate or acceptable content,” and anyone found to have violated student conduct rules “will be held accountable for their actions.”
The videos reportedly show students putting a keffiyeh on the head of a “captive,” someone donning a sweatshirt with an apparent map of Israel with colors of the Palestinian flag and a student’s head covered with a bag as he is placed in a car trunk.
