antisemitism in the US

FBI Special Agent In Charge Matthew DeSarno speaks at a news conference near the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue on January 15, 2022 in Colleyville, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images via AFP)

Analysis

With info scarce, US authorities, Jewish groups differ on Texas attacker’s motives

FBI declares gunman ‘singularly focused,’ Biden says he had multiple agendas; Reform movement sure targeting of synagogue was antisemitism, but synagogue itself says it was random

An aerial view of police standing in front of the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022, in Colleyville, Texas. (AP/Brandon Wade)

January 18, 2022, 5:27 am

Convinced they are also targets, Colleyville residents stand with Jewish neighbors

‘That’s Texas people’: Residents of mostly Christian town quick to support Congregation Beth Israel, but don’t believe synagogue was specifically targeted by hostage-taker

By Jacob Magid

Congregation Beth Israel member Jeffrey Cohen speaks via Zoom with The Times of Israel on January 17, 2022. (Screen capture/Zoom)

January 18, 2022, 1:14 am

Hostage: Attacker chose synagogue, thinking Jews powerful enough to free ‘sister’

Jeff Cohen recounts emotional moment he phoned family for what he thought would be last time; urges Jewish communities to take active shooter course, which helped save their lives

By Jacob Magid

For a significant amount of time after a gunman took four people hostage at Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, the synagogue's livestream continued to broadcast. (Screenshot/ via JTA)

January 17, 2022, 7:32 pm

COVID-era livestreamed service meant whole world could hear Texas synagogue attack

While some attackers have tried to utilize social media, this time a congregation’s own technology meant unprecedented numbers could listen to the unfolding horror

By Shira Hanau and PHILISSA CRAMER

January 17, 2022, 9:03 am

With info scarce, US authorities, Jewish groups differ on Texas attacker’s motives

FBI declares gunman ‘singularly focused,’ Biden says he had multiple agendas; Reform movement sure targeting of synagogue was antisemitism, but synagogue itself says it was random

By Jacob Magid

US President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the White House in Washington, DC, December 6, 2021. (CHIP SOMODEVILLA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

January 16, 2022, 9:53 am

Biden after Texas synagogue attack: ‘We will stand against antisemitism’

US president says he’s sending a ‘clear’ message to those who spread hate; Bennett thanks rescuers, says Israel in solidarity with Jews worldwide

By Agencies and Jacob Magid

Salt Lake City’s Congregation Kol Ami. (Screenshot from Google Maps via JTA)

January 11, 2022, 9:51 pm

Tech firm pledges 6-figure sum to Utah synagogue after founder’s antisemitic screed

After David Bateman blamed COVID on Jews, Entrata executives meet with rabbi of Salt Lake City’s Congregation Kol Ami, donate to fix up house of worship, repair damaged Torahs

By Shira Hanau

New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov leads a protest against antisemitism in Brooklyn, New York, January 2, 2022. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

January 3, 2022, 4:23 am

Dozens protest antisemitism in New York after two Jews attacked

Group led by local politicians rallies in Brooklyn after men assaulted, called ‘dirty Jews’ for wearing IDF sweatshirt; anti-Israel activists hold a counterprotest

By Luke Tress

FILE - Defendant John Earnest listens during testimony by witness Oscar Stewart during Earnest's preliminary hearing, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019, in Superior Court in San Diego. Earnest has been sentenced on Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2021, to life in federal prison for killing a woman and injuring three others when he burst into a Southern California synagogue in 2019, adding to a life sentence he received three months earlier in state court. (John Gibbins/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP, Pool, File)

December 29, 2021, 3:15 am

White supremacist gets second life sentence for deadly Poway synagogue shooting

Federal judge symbolically orders John T. Earnest to serve life term following first life sentence handed down by state court for killing Lori Gilbert-Kaye and wounding 3 others

By Elliot Spagat

The Watkins Elementary School in Washington DC where 3rd grade children were made to reenact scenes from the Holocaust in December 2021 Screencapture/Google Maps)

December 20, 2021, 3:28 am

DC 3rd graders made to reenact Holocaust ‘because Jews ruined Christmas’

Children told to simulate digging mass graves and shooting victims; Jewish student cast as Hitler and made to pretend to commit suicide at end of exercise

By TOI staff

Defense Minister Benny Gantz addresses the Israeli American Council's national summit in Hollywood Beach, Florida on December 10, 2021. (Noam Galai)

December 11, 2021, 2:50 am

Gantz: Iran is the biggest threat to global peace, and only then a threat to Israel

Addressing IAC Florida confab, defense minister seeks to combat narrative placing Israel at center of Iran issue; says Jews must never hide their identity amid antisemitism spike

By Jacob Magid

California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks at a news conference in Sacramento, California, on August 17, 2021. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP)

December 9, 2021, 7:55 am

Probe opened into LA-area police for racist texts about Jews, people of color, LGBTs

Hundreds of criminal cases imperiled by exchanges between officers, with 85 cases already dismissed

By AP

This October 10, 2012, file photo shows the New York Times building in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

December 8, 2021, 7:34 pm

Dropping hyphen, New York Times updates style guide to ‘antisemitism’

Biden’s nominee for antisemitism envoy argues that keeping hyphen and capital ‘S’ implies existence of racial category called ‘Semite’ that obscures actual hatred of Jews

By Shira Hanau

A picture of a menorah intended to explain the object's symbolism was actually a Messianic image in which the menorah's branches were described as symbolizing the 'cross' and 'resurrection.' (Screenshot from Facebook/ via JTA)

December 7, 2021, 3:41 am

Massachusetts town apologizes after using Christian menorah photo in holiday display

In a Boston suburb that recently began taking steps to make Jewish residents feel more accepted, some say the slip-up wouldn’t have occurred if their community had been consulted

By PHILISSA CRAMER

The New Hampshire State House in Concord, Feb. 3, 2020. (Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images via JTA)

December 6, 2021, 1:49 pm

New Hampshire legislature leaders condemn antisemitism among state representatives

Statement comes after Democrat Rep. Maria Perez calls Israel an apartheid state and tweets ‘from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’

By Jordyn Haime

Alex Edelman, a Jewish comedian raised in a Modern Orthodox home, who was the head writer last year for 'Saturday Night Seder,' is now performing a show centered on the time he attended a white nationalist meeting. (Stephanie Augello/ via JTA)

December 6, 2021, 3:30 am

In solo show, comic Alex Edelman says life not black and white for US Ashkenazi Jews

‘Just for Us,’ which opens off-Broadway on Dec. 8, discusses navigating life in a mostly non-Jewish America; the central story is about attending a white nationalist meeting in NYC

By Ben Sales