Free Republic

Internationally-recognized pop music sensation Madonna on Thursday said anti-Semitism and "growing intolerance" in Europe, and especially in France, has reached a level that "feels like Nazi Germany." During an interview with Europe 1 radio that is set to be aired in-full on Friday morning, the pop diva said "anti-Semitism is at an all-time high," in France and Europe. Setting aside a fall off stage during her performance at a Brit Awards, the 56-year-old star expressed her concern over the "climate of extreme fear" that has surfaced across the European continent, and which she likened to the era during the rise...

On Wednesday, the Senate of The Associated Students of the University of California, also known as ASUC, unanimously passed a resolution condemning anti-Semitism and called for the ASUC to do a better job protecting Jews. The ASUC, the association of students at the University of California, Berkeley, is “the largest and most autonomous student association in the nation,” according to the organization’s website. The bill, sponsored by Senator Ori Herschmann and co-sponsored by numerous campus leaders including ASUC President Pavan Upadhyayula, the Jewish Student Union, and fellow ASUC Senators condemned the campus anti-Semitism with a 20-0 vote. The bill, which...

Another anti-Semitic cab driver has been unearthed in the Big Apple, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday, after one cabbie told a 51 year-old Jewish woman that "all Jews must die." On Sunday morning, Jewish news columnist Baila Sebrow hailed a cab from Manhattan's Carlton Hotel - but when she entered the cab, she was instantly asked whether she was Jewish. After answering in the affirmative, Sebrow was told that "all Jews must die," and the driver then began driving "really fast" - so much so that she was afraid he would total the car, she stated. Sebrow, terrified,...

There’s an old political saying that if your opponent is committing suicide, get out of the way. Yet professor Sean Elias requires a response, so hateful was his odious retort in The Aspen Times to my column, “Why coexist with a mortal Iranian threat?” Evidence that society’s oldest prejudice endures after a post-Nazi dormancy, Elias’ letter to the editor reflects the bigotry that’s inciting lethal anti-Jewishness in Europe and existential threats to Israel, the only nation-state of the Jewish people and the sole democracy in the Middle East’s radicalized swamp. No other nation is surrounded by as much hostility or...

Since January 15 the French army’s “Opération Sentinelle” has protected 722 Jewish schools and synagogues, some 24/7 even when the establishments were empty. The operation came to be regarded as too dangerous for the soldiers who were regularly targets of attacks. Over time the men were worn out. (snip)

A student's Jewish affiliation became the subject of a heated debate at University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) earlier this month, after the student government nearly scrapped her acceptance due to her background. Student Rachel Beyda applied to be a member of the UCLA Judicial Board in February, and presented herself as a candidate in front of the Board. However, the meeting quickly dissolved into a debate over whether her Jewish background and affiliation with Jewish life on campus is a "conflict of interest," as can be seen in the video below. The debate begins at 47:30.

Anti-Semitism is on the rise not only in Europe, but in the US as well, a recent study has shown. More than 50% of American college students have been victims of anti-Semitism, according to the 2014 National Demographic Survey of American Jewish College Students, which was published by Trinity College on Tuesday. 1,157 Jewish college students over 55 campuses across the US were surveyed for the Trinity College study over the 2013-2014 academic year over a variety of topics. However, despite the control variables of topics other than anti-Semitism, a surprisingly high number of students reported being a victim of...

The proportion of Democrats who sympathize more with Israel than with Palestinians in the Mideast conflict dropped ten points this year to 48 percent, according to a new poll by Gallup. The polling company suggested a link to tensions between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu over the Iran nuclear threat. In addition, the percentage of Democrats viewing Israel favorably also dropped—by 14 points—over the past year, from 74 percent to 60, the poll found. By contrast Republican sympathy for Israel over the Palestinians rose to 83 percent, continuing a trend that has risen from the low 50s...

Buried inside a Politico report about Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz‘s (D-FL) future aspirations was an interesting revelation: “When [Wasserman Schultz] sensed Obama was considering replacing her as chair in 2013, she began to line up supporters to suggest the move was both anti-woman and anti-Semitic.”Wasserman Schultz is reportedly very much at odds with White House staffers, and rarely even speaks with President Barack Obama.The report mainly focuses on Wasserman Schultz’s political future, and whether she should stay on as DNC chair through the 2016 campaign, co-chair a likely Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, or even run for Senate in...

What is Zionism? The ideological question, rooted in the 19th century, has gained surprising urgency in an Israeli election campaign that seems more open than had been expected. Seeking to take votes from the nationalistic right of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the relatively liberal opposition has rebranded itself as the Zionist Union—sparking a debate about a concept that some considered resolved when the Jewish state was declared and widely recognized in 1948. […] On the left, politicians speak of true Zionism as requiring the establishment of peace and equality in the land, including by making peace with the Palestinians and...

Heck, who cares if the "neighbors" in question have a knife to your throat. Bill Nye, foppish self-proclaimed Science Guy, appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher this past Friday night and demonstrated why he ought to stick with his true vocation as a global-warming bedwetter. During a panel discussion on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's suggestion that European Jews fearful for their lives should come "home" to Israel, Nye mocked the idea and blamed Jews for not being friendlier to predators who consider it a holy rite to slaughter them

ARACHI, Pakistan — The nursery where they killed him, one year on, is oddly peaceful. Lush mango, palm and pomegranate trees are in bloom, their thick, green leaves whispering in a gentle breeze.The cinder-block storehouse where he was executed is empty, save for some flower pots, a cot and crumpled packs of cigarettes strewn across the floor. The 10-foot by 15-foot main room still has a metal door and metal shutters that can be padlocked. Sounds of life reach the room: birds chirping and cars driving past to a nearby religious school run by Al Rashid Trust, an organization...

The kippah is prohibited all over Europe. It is the symbol of a continent that is inexorably emptying itself of its Jews. Wearing a Jewish yarmulke is a revolutionary revolt in Berlin, Paris, Rome, Malmö and Brussels. Europe has lost half of its Jewish population, not since the Holocaust, but since 1960 to the present. Just stand in front of the the famous Portuguese synagogue of Amsterdam, built in 1675, in a period in which the Netherlands welcomed the Jews from all over the world, and you will understand what it means being a Jew in Europe. The police will...

In what is becoming an increasingly nasty grudge match, the White House is mulling ways to undercut Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming trip to Washington and blunt his message that a potential nuclear deal with Iran is bad for Israel and the world. There are limits. Administration officials have discarded the idea of President Barack Obama himself giving an Iran-related address to rebut the two speeches Netanyahu is to deliver during his early March visit. But other options remain on the table. Among them: a presidential interview with a prominent journalist known for coverage of the rift between Obama...

A Muslim prayer was recited at the start of the second day of the White House summit on “Countering Violent Extremism,” but no other religious text was presented during the portion of the event that was open to the press. Imam Sheikh Sa'ad Musse Roble, president of the World Peace Organization in Minneapolis, Minn., recited a “verse from the Quran” following remarks by Obama administration officials and Democratic members of Congress. “In translation those verses of the Quran mean ‘Whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption in the land, it’s as if he has slain mankind...

President Barack Obama told world leaders on Thursday that promoting democracy and acceptance of people of all faiths are essential to stopping the spread of violent extremism. "Groups like al Qaeda and [ISIS] peddle the lie that some of our countries are hostile to Muslims. Meanwhile we've also seen, most recently in Europe, arise inexcusable acts of anti-Semitism, or in some cases anti-Muslim sentiment, or anti-immigrant sentiment," Obama said at the closing session of a White House summit on combating extremism. "When people spew hatred towards others because of their faith or because of their faith or because they are...

Even the Obammyboppers of an otherwise adoring media seem to understand his big conference on "countering violent extremism" is a bit of a joke. Undeterred, President Obama has unveiled the summit's bumper sticker: "Religions Don't Kill People. People Killed People." It got him through to the next round in the middle-school debate-team county quarter-finals, so who knows the impact it will have on the Islamic State. I'm thrilled to discover that my tax dollars are now going to fund something called the International Center for Excellence in Countering Violent Extremism. Seriously. It's in Dubai. But perhaps we can open a...

(AFP) Dozens more graves have been vandalised at French cemeteries, the interior ministry said Wednesday, as prosecutors said that the desecration of hundreds of Jewish graves over the weekend in Sarre-Union had a clear “anti-Semitic motive”. The interior ministry said crucifixes were overturned and gravesites disturbed in Tracy-sur-Mer, a tiny town next to the D-Day landing beaches, as well as in Saint-Beat in southwest France in the latest vandalism. Swastikas were found in two other towns, the ministry said. The discoveries came as five teens faced preliminary charges for desecrating hundreds of graves at a Jewish cemetery in the eastern...

In the aftermath of the killing of a man at a Copenhagen synagogue by a member of the Religion of Peace, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “This wave of attacks is expected to continue. Jews deserve security in every country, but we say to our Jewish brothers and sisters, Israel is your home.” Russian emigre Natan Sharansky echoed Netanyahu’s call, stating, “There is no future for Jews in western Europe.” In response, European leaders shouted down Netanyahu. “We know there are doubts, questions across the community,” said French President Francois Hollande, who was elected with in excess of 93...

Inspired by a YouTube video in which a New York woman filmed all the sexist remarks she experienced while walking through the streets of her city, Zvika Klein, a reporter for Jewish news outlet NRG decided to walk the streets of Paris. In the wake of the attack on the kosher supermarket last month, Klein wanted to see if anti-Semitism was really just “random” (as President Obama would have us believe). Klein wore a yarmulke (skullcap) and tzitzit (ritual tassles) as he walked around Paris with a bodyguard while photographer Dov Belhassen documented his day using a GoPro camera hidden...