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The FBI has opened a probe into an antisemitic assault on a Las Vegas Jewish teen with autism who came home from school with a swastika carved into his back, according to Newsweek. The 17-year-old boy who wears a kippah is non-verbal. He uses a service dog to go to school at Clark High School in Las Vegas, the Jewish Press reported. In the incident, the boy’s service dog’s equipment bag was also vandalized. The teen’s mother told the news outlet that Clark High School refused to take her complaint seriously. The mother questioned how the boy’s assistant could have...

On Monday, the popular German newspaper Bild will print a kippa on its pages that can be cut and worn on the head. The newspaper's unusual action is to protest against the remarks made by Felix Klein, the government official responsible for combating anti-Semitism in Germany, who warned Jews throughout the country, "Unfortunately, I can not recommend that Jews wear a skullcap anywhere in Germany." Bild's chief editor said on Twitter, "If there is even one Jew in Germany who does not feel he can wear a skullcap without risk, our only answer should be that we all have to...

Germany's government commissioner on anti-Semitism has warned Jews about the potential dangers of wearing the traditional kippah skullcap in the face of rising anti-Jewish attacks. "I cannot advise Jews to wear the kippah everywhere all the time in Germany," Felix Klein said in an interview published Saturday by the Funke regional press group. In issuing the warning, he said he had "alas, changed my mind (on the subject) compared to previously." Klein, whose post was created last year, cited "the lifting of inhibitions and the uncouthness which is on the rise in society" as factors behind a rising incidence of...

As they prepare to welcome two newly-elected Muslim women into the 116th Congress, Democrats have proposed a clarification to a 181-year-old rule banning representatives from wearing hats on the House floor. If approved, the new rules would allow lawmakers to wear religious headwear, like hijabs and kippahs, once Democrats take control of the chamber in January. Representative-elect Ilhan Omar, one of the first two Muslim women to serve in Congress, wears a headscarf. She was born in Somalia and came to the United States as a refugee.

The recent attack on two men wearing kippas in Berlin has alarmed the Central Jewish Council. On Tuesday its President, Josef Schuster, advised Germany’s Jews against wearing kippas in cities like Berlin or Munich. […] Jewish people living in Germany’s major cities should “wear a baseball cap or something else”, rather than the traditional Jewish head covering, Schuster suggested. Schuster warned that if open anti-Semitism is not countered, then democracy in Germany is in danger. “It is not just anti-Semitism; it is also racism and xenophobia. This requires a clear stop sign,” he said. Despite this warning, Schuster said in...

A video has emerged showing an Arab youth attacking two Jewish men in broad daylight on the streets of Berlin on Tuesday. The attack happened at around 8 pm on Tuesday evening in the Prenzlauer Berg district, police report. The two Jewish men, who were reportedly wearing kippas, were verbally attacked by a group of three youths, who used anti-Semitic epithets against them. One youth then emerged from the group of three young men and attacked a 21-year-old Israeli with his belt, while shouting “Jew” at him. The victims of the attack were able to record footage of it on...

Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right National Front Party, vowed that if she is elected the country’s president she would ban all public displays of religious symbols and clothing, including kippot. Le Pen made the statement during an interview on Sunday with France’s BFM-TV. She is expected to seek the country’s presidency in 2017. She heads the third-largest party in France. Le Pen is seeking to broaden an existing law, called the headscarf ban, that does not allow conspicuous displays of religious symbols in public schools to include all public areas. She called the ban a struggle against...

A young man reported being attacked in the east of the capital in Tuesday evening by a group of three men who spotted his religious skullcap. The attack happened at around 9:30 pm in the Alt-Treptow neighborhood, police report. According to the 21-year-old victim, three men of Arabic appearance reacted to his kippah — a religious cap worn by Jewish men — and then started to insult him. The men then went on to kick and punch him before running away from the scene. …

Quebec’s separatist government is betting on broad popular support with a proposal that prohibits public workers from wearing headscarves, skullcaps and other religious symbols, yet it is dividing the movement that advocates independence from Canada. The proposal, unveiled by the ruling Parti Quebecois last week, plays with the explosive issue of minority rights in a part of Canada, a country that prides itself as being a tapestry of immigrants rather than a U.S.-style melting pot. The government’s proposed Charter of Quebec Values would ban teachers, doctors and other public workers from wearing highly visible religious symbols, including yarmulkes, headscarves and...

The leader of France’s far-right nationalist party, Marine Le Pen, is calling for a ban not only of Muslim headscarves but also the wearing of the kippah – or Jewish skullcap – in public. In an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde, Le Pen called for religious headwear to be banned “in stores, on public transport and on the streets.” AFP reports on this latest controversy over religious tolerance in France, already rocked once in recent days by the publishing of offensive drawings depicting the Muslim Prophet Muhammad in X-rated positions: Asked whether the ban should apply to the...