Sneaker maker Nike has apologized for using the phrase “Never Again” in a billboard placed along the route of Sunday’s London Marathon.

Critics of the billboard — featuring a red background and large black letters reading “Never Again. Until Next Year” — lambasted the company for using a phrase often used by Jews and others as a reminder to heed the lessons of the Holocaust.

“The idea that @Nike would make light of the holocaust using Hitler-red imagery in a post-October 7th world is stunning,” the activist Jewish investor Bill Ackman wrote on X.

“I don’t believe for a second there was any ill malice, but please understand the concern with using the words ‘Never Again,’ what they represent and why this was in poor taste,” tweeted Arsen Ostrovsky, an attorney and pro-Israel activist.

In its apology, obtained by the Forward, Nike said the temporary billboard was part of a campaign to “inspire runners and the copy was based on common phrases used by runners.” The phrase was meant to echo runners who often swear off long races immediately after completing one, only to return for another round later.

“We did not mean any harm and apologize for any we caused,” the company said.

Nike is not the first entity to court controversy for using an otherwise common term that at least since the 1960s has been associated with calls to prevent another Holocaust. In 2018, survivors of the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, took the hashtag “#NeverAgain” to promote their national gun control campaign. The phrase has also been used in protests against Donald Trump’s Muslim ban during his first term, in remembrance of Japanese internment during World War II and recalling the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

In some of those cases, the adopters were at least directly or indirectly referencing the Holocaust and using “never again” as an injunction not to repeat the kinds of actions that lead to intolerance and genocide.

Writing in the conservative British magazine The Spectator, the columnist Jonathan Sacerdoti said he was stunned when he first saw the billboard in London.

“It would have taken just one set of discerning eyes, one solitary voice, one ‘sensitivity reader’ to raise a gentle objection,” wrote Sacerdoti, whose column last week focused on Holocaust remembrance. “Did not a single Jew suggest that it might be inappropriate? Did not a single non-Jew, with a grasp of history or an awareness of today’s climate, flag it? If not, why not? Was this ignorance, carelessness, or a chilling indifference? Either way, the result is insulting and profoundly distasteful.”

Police and protesters in New York are girding for an evening of potential confrontation in Brooklyn on Monday, amid fallout from dueling protests last week surrounding a visit by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the far-right Israeli politician. 

Police arrested one man and are investigating the harassment of two women following demonstrations in Crown Heights on Thursday, when Ben-Gvir visited Chabad’s headquarters on Eastern Parkway.

Video that went viral from the evening showed a large group of young Orthodox Jewish men following a woman while chanting “Death to Arabs” in Hebrew. Some kicked the woman, who was accompanied by an NYPD officer, and another threw a traffic cone at her before the officer got her into a police car and drove off. 

The encounter followed a protest promoted by Within Our Lifetime, the hardline pro-Palestinian group that routinely calls for Israel’s destruction and has staged disruptive protests throughout the city. Footage on social media shows protesters chanting slogans including “We don’t want no two state, we want all of it” and “Judaism yes, Zionism no, the State of Israel has got to go!”

“None of this is acceptable, in fact, it is despicable,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement on Sunday. “New York City will always be a place where people can peacefully protest, but we will not tolerate violence, trespassing, menacing, or threatening. Hate has no place in our city, and those responsible will be held accountable.”

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Now, another pro-Palestinian demonstration targeting Crown Heights has been called for Monday night. An online flier for that protest says, “Zionism is not welcome here” while another post has called for attacks on Jews. A pro-Israel group has vowed to oppose those protests. 

The protests come as Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, completes a series of stops in the New York City area, including at a number of Chabad events in Brooklyn on Thursday afternoon and evening as part of his first visit to the United States while in office. Ben-Gvir’s visit has also drawn protests from Jewish leaders over his extremist views and rhetoric.

According to a spokesperson, he attended an afternoon prayer service at 770 Eastern Parkway, the headquarters of the Chabad Hasidic movement, then spoke at another nearby Chabad institution. On Friday, he visited the gravesite of the movement’s late leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

On Thursday night, he had returned to 770, which includes spaces for Jewish prayer and study, for a celebration of Jewish study. (He would later end his night at a Midwood kosher restaurant.) Ahead of the celebration, at around 9:40 p.m., according to police, protesters began demonstrating at the site, remaining there for about two hours. 

Yaacov Behrman, who does public relations for Chabad and lives in Crown Heights, tweeted that protesters also shouted, “We don’t want Zionists here” and “Resistance is justified.”

“Your hatred and your slogans weren’t directed at a political figure—someone most people in the community didn’t even know was here—but at all Jews: those going to synagogue, shopping in the area, passing by, or simply out for an evening walk,” Behrman wrote. “Let’s be clear: this was not about free speech or peaceful demonstration. This was an antisemitic, Hamas-supporting rally. It was meant to intimidate, to provoke, and to spread fear.”

Some area residents joined in a counter-demonstration, and a portion of them formed the group captured on the viral video harassing the woman.

On Monday, the Associated Press reported that the woman, who chose to remain anonymous, is a neighborhood resident who said she was not involved in the protest but decided to see what was happening after hearing police helicopters. She covered her face with a blue scarf to avoid being filmed.

“As soon as I pulled up my scarf, a group of 100 men came over immediately and encircled me,” the woman told the AP, saying she was left with bruises and mentally shaken.

Other photos shared online show a different woman, who was wearing a keffiyeh, or Palestinian scarf, bleeding heavily from her head. A social media post identified her as an anti-Zionist Jewish Israeli.

A Chabad spokesperson, Rabbi Motti Seligson, denounced the actions of both the protesters and counter-protesters, noting that the neighborhood has previously been the site of antisemitic protests. (Crown Heights was the site of riots in 1991 that began after a car in Schneerson’s motorcade hit a child in the neighborhood, killing him; over days of violence that followed, rioters killed one Jewish man.) 

“The violent provocateurs who called for the genocide of Jews in support of terrorists and terrorism — outside a synagogue, in a Jewish neighborhood, where some of the worst antisemitic violence in American history was perpetrated, and where many residents share deep bonds with the victims of Oct. 7 — did so in order to intimidate, provoke, and instill fear,” Seligson said in a statement.

“We condemn the crude language and violence of the small breakaway group of young people; such actions are entirely unacceptable and wholly antithetical to the Torah’s values,” he added. “The fact that a possibly uninvolved bystander got pulled into the melee further underscores the point.”

Six people were taken into custody at the scene, five of whom were released. The sixth — a man police identified as Oscar Vidal, 28, of Bayonne, New Jersey — was arrested on multiple counts of assault, criminal mischief and harassment. Police said he physically assaulted two different men at around 10:40 p.m.

Adams said on X that police are investigating “a series of incidents that began when a group of anti-Israel protesters surrounded the Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters — a Jewish house of worship — in Brooklyn.” Adams’ post specifically mentioned two women who were assaulted by counter-protesters.

On Monday, a flier announcing another pro-Palestinian demonstration popped up online, reading, “Crown Heights Run it Back!! We will flood the streets of Crown’s Heights to inform them Zionism is not welcome here. Free Palestine.” According to the flier, protesters are set to meet at 7 p.m. Monday in a different neighborhood. The meeting point is outside Barclays Center, which is about a 45-minute walk from 770 Eastern Parkway.

In addition, an Instagram account called Bronx Palestine Solidarity Committee called for attacks on Jews in Crown Heights in anticipation of that protest. 

“Waiting for the sleeping giant that is Caribbean Brooklyn, who have long suffered abuse and oppression at the hands of the racist Zionist Chabad Lubavitch to rise against them,” the post says. “Black people in Brooklyn are violently exploited via rents to then feed their genocidal land grabs in Palestine. What would happen if Caribbean Brooklyn brought that vybz kartel Barclays energy with ferocity and tore down these f—ing monsters!?”

Jewish groups in Crown Heights are preparing for more demonstrations — and telling community members to stay away. 

An alert from Shomrim Crown Heights, a volunteer neighborhood security group, warned of a demonstration starting at Barclays Center that will “[move] towards Crown Heights,” but said that the “NYPD has assured us that Crown Heights will be protected and that the agitators will not pose a threat.” 

The flyer warns: “Do not go to the Barclays Center or towards Grand Army Plaza seeking any confrontation.” 

A notice from a Chabad yeshiva that has circulated online cited “notices about a protest in our neighborhood this evening by haters of Israel” in sending the same message.

“Do not show up there, and do not, God forbid, get drawn into clashes,” the notice read. “Remember that they’re trying in every way to draw our people into unrest… in order to incite against us.”

But some Jewish counter-protesters have vowed to be there — including Betar, the militant right-wing Zionist group that frequently shows up to counterprotest at pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

“Brooklyn Monday PM pogroms are planned,” Betar wrote on X Sunday night. “We urge Jews to come to the streets and meet us at 7 pm at Barclays. We will march. Hamas has given them orders to have blood in NYC!”

An Applebee’s in Miamisburg, Ohio, was closed Saturday after an employee discovered the building had been defaced with antisemitic graffiti including a swastika and the messages “F— Jews” and “Jews work here.”

“We’ve seen the statistics, an 893-percent increase in antisemitic incidents in the United States over the past decade according to the ADL,” Cathy Gardner, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton, told the Dayton Jewish Observer, citing a recent audit of antisemitic incidents by the Anti-Defamation League.

She added that the vandalism came shortly before her federation’s ceremony marking Yom HaShoah, the Jewish Holocaust memorial day that was observed last week.

“To see it here, the day before our Yom Hashoah remembrance, is devastating,” she said. “It exhibits the Jew hatred that we know exists, and that was at the root of the horrors of the Holocaust.”

Miamisburg is a suburb of Dayton, Ohio. In 2023, another town near Dayton became embroiled in another antisemitic incident when a school board member gave a Nazi salute and said “Sieg heil” at a public meeting.

Images of the weekend’s graffiti were shared in a private local Facebook group where a user posted the vandalism and wrote, “This is absolutely disgusting. There is no reason for this type of hate and vitriol. An absolutely disgusting display supporting hate and Nazi ideology,” according to the Dayton Jewish Observer.

Police responded to reports of the graffiti early Saturday morning, and the restaurant was closed for the remainder of the day. The graffiti was power-washed off its windows and walls by the afternoon, and the restaurant reopened Sunday morning.

A police report obtained by the Dayton Daily News said that the manager told police he was “unaware of any issues with other employees or customers” and didn’t know of any potential suspects.

Cameras outside of the establishment were unable to get a clear view of the perpetrators, according to the report. The investigation into the vandalism is ongoing and no arrests have been made, but there were no other recent similar incidents of antisemitic graffiti reported in the city, according to police.

“We are living in volatile and difficult times, and I cannot be more disappointed by this act.  Whether it was driven by hatred, racism, or a thoughtless prank, there is no justification.  Applebee’s has been a longstanding fixture in our community, providing a gathering place for  countless families and friends over the decades. This behavior is unacceptable and does not reflect our diverse, accepting community,” said Miamisburg City Mayor Michelle Collins in a statement.

John Peyton, CEO of the restaurant’s parent company Dine Brands, and interim president of Applebee’s, condemned the incident.

“We are disgusted by, and condemn, the vandalism that occurred at the Miamisburg Applebee’s,” he told the Dayton Daily News. “Guest and team member safety will always be our top priority and there is no place for antisemitic – or any form of – hate speech in our neighborhoods.”

Halacha is this-worldly. It deals with the observable, grounds itself in facts and reality, and provides practical, detailed guidance for daily life. It acknowledges life’s messiness while directing us through conflicting demands and competing responsibilities to ourselves, our families, and our neighbors.

This this-worldliness is so pronounced that halacha often frames religiosity in interpersonal terms. When asked to teach the entire Torah while standing on one foot, Hillel responded: “What is hateful to you, do not do unto your fellow. The rest is commentary; go and learn.” (Talmud Shabbat 31a). What’s startling here is that before God, before even “Love thy neighbor as thyself,” our starting point is to do no harm.

Halacha recognizes our human tendencies toward selfishness or inattention and repeatedly directs us to ensure others’ well-being. “Whoever wishes to be a hasid, a pious person,” Rav Yehudah teaches, “let him study the laws of damages.” (Talmud Baba Kamma 30a). True piety begins with our reality and care for others.

For some, however, worldly concerns don’t satisfy their religious appetites and longing for transcendence. Religious passion can be a powerful force of good, but only when anchored in reality and operating within boundaries. This is what Nadav and Avihu — the sons of Aaron, who were punished with death for bringing a “foreign fire” before God — failed to understand.

On the Tabernacle’s dedication day, amid God’s manifest presence and public rejoicing, Aaron’s sons were so religiously moved they felt compelled to draw close to God with their own incense offering. Instead of divine favor, this brought destruction: “A fire went forth from before God, and it consumed them, and they died before the Lord” (Leviticus, 10:2).

While many theories explain their punishment, the text itself is clear. They brought “a foreign fire, one that God had not commanded them” (Leviticus, 10:1). They acted on fervor without reflection or assessing propriety. When people follow unbridled religious passions, they often believe their actions are self-justifying: “If this is how my religious passion propels me to act, then it is a religious act; it gets me closer to God; it is good.”

This “ends justify the means” attitude contradicts classical Jewish thought. Looking at our world and atrocities committed in religion’s name confirms that unbridled religious passion can become evil itself.

This is why halacha, grounded in this world and in our responsibilities to others, must be our starting point. Religious passion alone speaks in absolutes and self-justifying terms. Halacha speaks in grays and nuance, emphasizes responsibility to others, helps navigate conflicting obligations, and teaches that lofty ends do not transform a sin into a mitzvah.

The key is to begin with boundaries, with concern for the other, with “what is right and good in the eyes of God.” (Deuteronomy 6:18). Within these rules, we can bring our passions to the experience: “And the people saw and rejoiced and fell on their faces.” (Leviticus 9:29).

This message resonates particularly today, especially regarding religious Zionism and Israeli society. We should aspire to a society caring for all Jews — religious and secular alike. It rejects religious coercion and commits to pluralism. It supports women’s empowerment and equality and protects LGBTQ+ individuals from discrimination and defends their right to build families of their choosing. It does not tell many of its citizens, “Go to Cyprus if you want to get married.” An Israel for all—rooted firmly in this world.

It is for this reason that I, along with Rabbi Avi Weiss and so many others, founded Dorshei Torah v’Tzion to run in the World Zionist Congress election. In 2020, we won two seats in the congress and served as bridge-builders, helping to ensure that the congress included voices from across the political and religious spectrum. Now, we are running again to make sure that these values remain represented in Israel’s national institutions.

I encourage you to vote for Dorshei Torah v’Tzion (Slate #18) in the Zionist election. Together, we can work to build an Israel that is committed to all of Am Yisrael, an Israel that protects all its citizens, combats antisemitism and anti-Zionism, leads the global fight for social justice, and supports equality of opportunity for everyone. An Israel that is guided by the principle of doing “what is right and good in the eyes of God.” 

Rabbi Dov Linzer is the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker rebuked President Donald Trump for “disparaging the very foundation of Judaism” in a fiery address in New Hampshire Sunday night.

“Stop tearing down the Constitution in the name of my ancestors. Do not claim that your authoritarian power grabs are about antisemitism. When you destroy social justice, you are disparaging the very foundation of Judaism,” said Pritzker, who is Jewish.

In his remarks Sunday at the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club Dinner, Pritzker railed against fellow party members who he says did too little to prevent Trump’s second term. His address also gained attention for urging protest and “disruption,” and for the audience to confront Republican officials.

“Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption, but I am now,” he said to cheers. “These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace. They have to understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have. We must castigate them on the soapbox and then punish them at the ballot box.”

That statement prompted backlash from Republicans who accused him of fomenting violence. Donald Trump, Jr., the president’s son, tweeted in response, “Are you trying to inspire a 3rd assassination attempt on my dad? Two wasn’t enough for you?”

Sunday’s address is the latest in a recent series of speeches by Pritzker, who is endeavoring to unify the Democratic party and “rally the troops,” he said in an interview with the Associated Press. His speech Sunday night is not the first time he has invoked his Jewish identity while condemning the Trump administration.

At his annual State of the State and budget address in February, Pritzker warned about an impending constitutional crisis over Trump’s executive actions and drew a comparison between the president’s actions and how quickly the Nazis were able to “dismantle a constitutional republic.”

During his campaign for governor of Illinois in 2018, Pritzker told local media his childhood was imbued with Jewish values. He also highlighted his support for the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in his campaign website and previously served on the board of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby.

Ahead of his swearing-in in January 2019, Pritzker recalled how his ancestors fled pogroms in Ukraine in 1881 before settling in Chicago.

Pritzker was also an early contender for Kamala Harris’ vice presidential pick during her presidential campaign.

President Donald Trump said he would not let the United States be “dragged in” to war with Iran by Israel — because he would join in an Israeli offensive willingly if Iran does not accede to his demands limitings its nuclear ambitions.

He also said there was “tremendous antisemitism going on in this country,” said he expected that Saudi Arabia would soon normalize ties with Israel and suggested that Joe Biden was more to blame than Hamas for the resumption of the war in Gaza last month.

The comments came in an extensive interview with Time Magazine on the occasion of Trump’s 100th day in office. Asked about reports that he had blocked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from attacking Iran, which has vowed to destroy Israel, Trump demurred.

“I didn’t make it comfortable for them, but I didn’t say no,” Trump said. “Ultimately I was going to leave that choice to them, but I said I would much prefer a deal than bombs being dropped.”

When the interviewers — Eric Cortellessa, Time’s senior political correspondent, and the magazine’s editor-in-chief, Sam Jacobs — then asked, “Are you worried Netanyahu will drag you into a war?” Trump said no.

“You asked if he’d drag me in, like I’d go in unwillingly,” he said. “No, I may go in very willingly if we can’t get a deal. If we don’t make a deal, I’ll be leading the pack.”

The comments do not substantially change what Trump said when he first announced that he was opening negotiations with Iran, a move seen as counter to Netanyahu’s preferences. But they offer the clearest indication yet that a U.S.-Israeli war against Iran could be in the near term.

The interview took place April 22 and was released on Friday. Over the weekend, Israel bombed sites in Beirut that it said were weapons depots of Hezbollah, Iran’s most powerful proxy. A major explosion, killing dozens of people, also rocked a port in Iran where CNN had previously reported that shipments of chemicals used in Iran’s missile program had arrived.

The interview covered a range of topics, including the war in Ukraine, Trump’s tariffs program, his attitude toward the Supreme Court and his efforts to deport immigrants and students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests. Trump told the interviewers that he was unfamiliar with the case of Rumeysa Ozturk, the Tufts University graduate student arrested after co-authoring a student newspaper op-ed that was critical of Israel. But he said he was unconcerned that his crackdown on student protesters was at odds with his promises around free speech.

“You emphasized free speech as a cornerstone of your campaign, you castigated efforts to suppress it,” Trump was asked. “But now it looks like your administration is deporting hundreds of people for engaging in speech you don’t like. Why?”

His answer reflected the allegation that his administration has cited to justify a wide range of initiatives including the arrests and sweeping funding cuts targeted to elite universities: that pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses were rife with anti-Jewish sentiment.

“Tremendous anti-semitism at every one of those rallies,” he said. “Tremendous, and I agree with free speech, but not riots all over every college in America. Tremendous anti-semitism going on in this country.”

Over 550 rabbis and cantors have signed a letter criticizing the Trump administration for “abusing the issue” of antisemitism, joining a growing chorus of opposition from Jewish leaders.

The letter, published Monday and titled “A Call to Moral Clarity: Rejecting Antisemitism as a Political Wedge,” was organized by two progressive Jewish groups — the Israel lobby J Street and rabbinic group T’ruah.

It follows another letter published last Tuesday by the Jewish refugee aid group HIAS that included the signatures of over 560 Jewish religious leaders. That letter condemned the “immoral use of the law” by the Trump administration, specifically citing the administration’s deportation campaigns.

The letters have become the latest in a widening call from Jewish leaders who have accused the Trump administration of using antisemitism as a pretext to further its anti-higher education agenda and its crackdown on immigrants.

“The resurgence of this age-old hatred is alarming, and we unequivocally stand against it in all its forms,” the J Street-Truah letter reads. “We must also be clear: the way in which the Trump administration claims it is combating antisemitism is not about protecting Jews — it is instead overtly abusing the issue to divide Americans, undermine democracy, and harm other vulnerable communities.”

A poll last week found that most American Jews oppose the way President Donald Trump is handling antisemitism. Also last week, five Jewish senators, including New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, signed a letter lambasting the administration’s crackdown on Harvard, which has seen $2.2 billion in federal funding frozen over its response to campus antisemitism.

The HIAS letter criticized the Trump administration’s mass revocation of student visas. The administration has revoked over 1200 student visas, including those of some pro-Palestinian student activists. The administration began rolling back the revocations amid a spree of lawsuits from affected international students.

“As Jews and as Americans, we refuse to remain silent at the co-opting of our nation’s statutes and express alarm about the path down which it leads. We demand that the administration abandon its manipulative interpretation of law and restore a commitment to the inalienable rights that are the source of our country’s greatness,” the HIAS letter read.

The J Street-T’ruah letter also denounced the Trump administration’s targeting of international students, which have included the detainment of pro-Palestinian student activists including Mahmoud Khalil of Columbia and Rumeysa Ozturk of Tufts.

“Defunding universities, threatening to deport student protesters, and using Jews as a justification for authoritarian tactics does not make us safer; it makes us more vulnerable. We reject these cynical attacks on higher education — institutions that have long been strongholds of Jewish academic and cultural life — under the pretense of protecting Jewish students,” the letter read.

The J Street-T’ruah letter was signed by clergy from across the country, a mix of mostly Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist rabbis and cantors, along with a handful of Orthodox rabbis.

Several notable rabbis signed the J Street-T’ruah letter, including Sally Priesand and Amy Eilberg, the first Reform and Conservative women, respectively, to be ordained by their movements; and Deborah Waxman, president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. The list also includes Sharon Kleinbaum, David Teutsch, Gordon Tucker, Arthur Waskow, Susan Talve, David Rosenn and Julie Schonfeld.

The letter begins and ends with a call for Jews to take seriously the threat of antisemitism, which has increased since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel, while also “refusing to let the fight against it be co-opted for authoritarian ends.”

“Our community has endured a very real spike in antisemitism in recent years. We’ve seen bomb threats, vandalism and attacks on our schools and synagogues,” said T’ruah CEO Rabbi Jill Jacobs in a statement. “It’s precisely because tackling this issue is so important that we can’t allow it to be hijacked by this administration to pursue an authoritarian agenda that puts us all at risk.”

For decades, the USC Shoah Foundation has amassed testimonies of Holocaust survivors, with the goal of preserving stories before they cannot be told firsthand. Now, with survivors dwindling, the organization founded by Steven Spielberg is expanding its mandate to collect testimonies from Jews about global antisemitism since World War II.

The Holocaust research center is partnering with the American Jewish Committee to collect 10,000 testimonies, the groups announced on Sunday. Their collaboration will form a central component foundation’s Contemporary Antisemitism Collection, seeking to showcase the various ways antisemitism has manifested since the Holocaust.

“We must clearly show to the world — and preserve for the future — what antisemitism is, what it looks like, and the personal toll it takes on Jews around the world. AJC has seen, firsthand, the way antisemitism has morphed and manifested itself in different ways since the end of the Holocaust,” said AJC CEO Ted Deutch in a press release.

The USC Shoah Foundation, founded by Steven Spielberg in the wake of the success of his Holocaust drama “Schindler’s List,” is home to the largest collection of testimonies of victims of genocide, including the Holocaust, in the world. It houses over 61,000 testimonies.

In the immediate aftermath of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the foundation said it would take testimony from survivors. The new partnership widens the funnel of new stories.

“Our partnership with AJC will enable us to reach survivors of antisemitic violence from all over the globe,” said Robert Williams, CEO of the USC Shoah Foundation. “In turn, this is a powerful statement that bringing the world’s attention to antisemitism requires partnerships built on a shared commitment to giving voice to the personal histories of those who have and continue to experience one of humanity’s oldest and most enduring forms of hatred.”

One testimony that will be included in the new collection is that of Daniel Pomerantz, a survivor of the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and has been attributed to the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.

“The [Hezbollah] terrorists killed 85 and injured 300. These were my friends and colleagues. They were Argentinian Jews and Argentinians of all backgrounds. Thirty-one years later, those responsible for orchestrating that horrible day – for attacking my place of work, my community’s gathering place, and for murdering and maiming dozens – have still not been brought to justice or held accountable for their crimes,” said Pomerantz, who is now the executive director of AMIA, in a press release.

Another testimony will come from Antoine Haguenauer, who was attacked in Paris in February while attending a memorial for the Bibas family, who were killed in Hamas captivity.

“I was berated, told I supported genocide. I was threatened – they told me they would follow me home, leak my address, kill me and my family. I was assaulted –  punched in the head from behind. When I reported the attack to a police officer, he told me: ‘You could press charges, but what would be the point?’” said Haguenauer in a press release.

Once completed, the collection will be the largest archive of first-hand testimonies of postwar antisemitism.

Antisemitism, and discourse surrounding it, has remained a central part of the Jewish experience. Last week, the ADL released a report that found that antisemitic incidents in the United States had set a new record for the fourth year in a row. Part of the trend was spurred by what the organization determined was an over 80% increase in antisemitic incidents on college campuses.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson came under fire from local Jewish leaders after he wore a keffiyeh, or a traditional Palestinian headscarf, to a public event this week.

The Chicago chapter of the Council on American–Islamic Relations posted a picture of Johnson with its executive director, Ahmed Rehab, at an event to mark Arab Heritage Month. In it, Johnson, who was elected in 2023, is wearing a black-and-white keffiyeh.

“Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (appropriately) commemorated Arab Heritage Month this week. Arab Heritage should be honored and celebrated,” Rabbi Ari Hart of Skokie Valley Agudath Jacob Synagogue wrote on Facebook. “But would it not be possible [to] commemorate Arab Heritage without wearing the symbol that millions of Jews around the world saw worn to celebrate the murder, rape and kidnapping of October 7th?”

Hart was voicing concerns about keffiyehs that have accrued over the last year and a half as the keffiyeh has become closely associated with anti-Israel protests that followed Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. While the keffiyeh has a long history and is not considered a hate symbol even by staunchly pro-Israel watchdog groups such as the Anti-Defamation League, the protests have caused many Jews to grow wary and even feel threatened when seeing it in public places.

“We understand that Mayor Johnson may not have intended to cause harm, but at a time of historic antisemitic threat levels, including in Chicago, symbols matter. Their public use, especially by elected officials, carries weight and meaning,” Lisa Katz, chief government affairs officer of the Combat Antisemitism Movement, a pro-Israel group, said in a statement.

The Chicago Jewish Alliance, launched in early 2024 after Johnson cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of a City Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza war, condemned the mayor’s attire at the Arab Heritage Month event.

“For the mayor of Chicago to stand there — cloaked in a symbol now synonymous with Jewish bloodshed, flanked by an organization that justifies it — is more than tone-deaf. It’s a betrayal,” the group said in a Facebook post. “It tells Jewish Chicagoans: your pain doesn’t matter. Your dead don’t count. Your safety is negotiable.”

CAIR-Chicago pushed back against the group’s characterization in its own post. “Reducing an entire people’s heritage to terrorism is not advocacy — it’s dehumanization,” the group said.

“By their logic, should the kippah be cancelled because Israeli soldiers wear it? Of course not. But, that is their argument.”

Johnson, who was previously a progressive activist in Chicago’s teachers union, is historically unpopular, with an approval rating of well under 20%. Among his many critics are many in the city’s Jewish communities who have felt betrayed by his public criticism of Israel — he called its conduct in Gaza “genocidal” last year — and concerned that he is inadequately concerned with Jewish safety.

Last October, he drew criticism for condemning the shooting of an Orthodox Jewish man but neglecting to mention the victim’s Jewish identity. The shooter, who prosecutors revealed had mapped Jewish sites in Chicago, was charged with a hate crime and terrorism before dying in jail.

Jewish leaders in Savannah, Georgia, snapped into action Friday after seeing a social media post with a flyer for a party that included an apparently antisemitic message.

The flyer purported to invite students at the Savannah College of Art and Design to a party that included a list of instructions for the affair written in micrographic form — within letters spelling out the phrase “No Jews.”

When it first began circulating, Jewish leaders on campus and in the local community quickly decried it and called for action.

“We are proud as the Jewish community of SCAD and will not feel safe if nothing is done,” said SCAD Hillel in an Instagram post.

“We are deeply disturbed and saddened by the antisemitic incident that occurred at SCAD where a party invitation stated that no Jews were welcome,” said Chabad of Savannah, where many Jewish SCAD students affiliate, in a post on Instagram. “This type of hate has no place on campus in our community or anywhere in society.”

And the Savannah Jewish Federation condemned the incident, writing in a post on Instagram that it was working with school officials and police on a response.

“At this juncture, our priorities are the welfare of the Jewish community,” the federation’s post read. “Appropriate disciplinary measures, and education to ensure Jewish students understand the nature and history of antiSemitism and why such an invitation is beyond the pale.”

The incident landed amid high alert about antisemitism on college campuses. The Anti-Defamation League tallying an unprecedented number of incidents it deemed antisemitic last year, largely related to protest against Israel’s war in Gaza, and the Trump administration is levying steep penalties on schools it says did not adequately protect Jewish students.

But soon, it became clear that the person who posted the original image was not a SCAD student, meaning that there was no new instance of campus antisemitism in this case.

“There was no party,” said Rabbi Zalman Refson, co-director of Chabad of Savannah. “It was clearly just, obviously, just to either show his disdain for the Jewish community, or he’s going through a mental episode, and we’re not quite sure just yet.”

The person behind the post was not enrolled at SCAD, and the school found no evidence of the party or signage discriminating against Jewish students, SCAD said in an emailed statement.

“The investigation is ongoing to confirm that no current member of the SCAD community was involved in the creation of the social media post or related activities,” the statement said. “SCAD leadership is reaching out to students, faculty, and staff who have been affected by the social media post to offer support and resources.”

And the federation issued an updated statement, thanking SCAD’s administration for its “swift action” and noting that national Jewish groups had also stepped in.

“The Savannah Jewish Federation appreciates the swift action of SCAD administration and their commitment to the continued safety and security of all students,” the post read. “We also want to express our deep appreciation for the many National Jewish organizations and elected officials who have offered their support during this process.”

Because the student had withdrawn in the fall, it is unclear what action, if any, can be taken against them for the offensive post, Refson said.

“There’s a lot of outside parties, like a lot of outside aggravators, who are stirring up a lot of the hate, which seems to be the case in other schools as well,” he said. “We hope that he comes to his senses in some way, and nothing illegal was done. So it’s hard to penalize, but we do know that if he was at SCAD, he would have been expelled instantly.”