Antisemitic incidents in the U.S. jumped 360% after Oct. 7 Hamas attack, advocacy group says
The number of antisemitic incidents in the U.S. rose sharply in the three months after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, according to new data from the Anti-Defamation League, which tracked a total of 3,283 anti-Jewish incidents between Oct. 7 and Jan. 7 — a 360% increase compared to the same period in 2022.
The preliminary data compiled by the ADL, first reported by NBC News, shows there was an average of nearly 34 antisemitic incidents every day following the Oct. 7 assault, putting 2023 on track to be the highest year for antisemitic acts against Jewish people since the ADL began keeping track in the late 1970s, according to the organization.
The preliminary three-month tally was higher than the total number of antisemitic incidents recorded in any full year over the last decade, save for 2022, when the total number hit a high of 3,697. Todd Gutnick, a spokesman for the ADL, said the group will soon release data covering the first nine months of last year.
“The American Jewish community is facing a threat level that’s now unprecedented in modern history,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, the chief executive of the ADL. “It’s shocking that we’ve recorded more antisemitic acts in three months than we usually would in an entire year.”
Biden and Netanyahu have not had a phone call in 18 days
President Joe Biden and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have not spoken on the phone since Dec. 23, according to a log of readouts provided by the White House.
The cadence of calls has slowed down considerably since the initial weeks after the Oct. 7 attack, with the two leaders speaking every couple of days dwindling down to about once week through the beginning of December. On the day of their last call 18 days ago, the death of American hostage Judith Weinstein was announced.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Netanyahu and the country's war Cabinet yesterday during his visit to Israel.
Ahead of Hague hearings, Israeli and South African officials take aim at each other
Israeli and South African officials accused each other today, as the International Court of Justice is expected to start hearings tomorrow on a genocide allegation against Israel brought by South Africa.
During a news briefing, Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy accused South Africa of advocating for the devil. He referred to the country by its capital city, Pretoria.
"Tomorrow, the State of Israel will appear before the International Court of Justice to dispel South Africa’s absurd blood libel, as Pretoria gives political and legal cover to the Hamas Rapist Regime," Levy said.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa also addressed the issue today during a eulogy for anti-apartheid activist Peter Sexford Magubane. He said he had hope for the future of the region but stated that Israel has committed crimes against the Palestinians.
"Our opposition to the ongoing slaughter of the people of Gaza has driven us as a country to approach the ICJ," he said. "As a people who once tasted the bitter fruits of dispossession, discrimination, racism and state-sponsored violence, we are clear that we will stand on the right side of history."
Houthis' attack on American ship was a 'preliminary response' after Dec. 31 deaths, group says
Yemen's Houthi rebels said in a statement today that it attacked an American ship as part of a "preliminary response" to the U.S. shooting down three of its ships on Dec. 31, an incident that killed 10 people.
The Houthis "carried out a joint military operation with a large number of ballistic and naval missiles and drones" against a U.S. ship it accused of providing support to Israel.
"The Yemeni armed forces continue to prevent Israeli ships or those heading to the ports of occupied Palestine from navigating in the Arabian and Red Seas until the aggression stops and the siege on our steadfast brothers in the Gaza Strip is lifted," the statement said.
With the help of a British ship, a U.S. destroyer shot down a massive barrage of missiles and drones fired by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the Red Sea, U.S. Central Command said earlier. It's thought to be the group's largest attack since the war began.
ICJ should consider destroyed buildings as 'evidence of genocide' in Gaza, U.N. special rapporteur says
When considering genocide accusations against Israel, the International Court of Justice should consider that more than half of the houses in Gaza have been destroyed, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to housing said on X today.
Balakrishnan Rajagopal said the U.N.'s top court “should consider this as evidence of genocide when coupled with public statements documented before it by South Africa.”
South Africa filed a case to be heard by a panel of 15 judges at the ICJ starting Thursday and Friday. Its 84-page legal filing accuses Israel of killing, injuring and displacing Palestinian civilians, and denying them food, water and other essentials since Oct. 7 in a way that’s “intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group.”
The ICJ case has huge significance politically, legally and in the court of public opinion. Its rulings are binding under international law, and both Israel and South Africa are party to its decisions — but some countries, including Russia and indeed the United States, have ignored or rejected them in the past.
Israel has vowed to fight back at the hearings. The country is still reeling from the Oct. 7 attack in which hundreds of civilians were killed, including 300 partygoers at the Nova music festival, and some 240 hostages were seized in an attack that also appeared to include dozens of instances of sexual violence, according to evidence reviewed by NBC News.
Grief for family members killed in southern Gaza
A woman cries over the bodies of family members at al Najar hospital in Rafah today, after they were killed during an Israeli bombardment on the southern Gaza city yesterday.
Severe hunger aggravates charges of genocide, U.N. special rapporteur says
Almost half of the population of Gaza "experience severe hunger," the special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories said on X today.
Francesca Albanese added that in some areas 9 out of 10 families go 24 hours without food.
This aggravates charges of genocide, she added, apparently referring to a case filed at the International Court of Justice in the Hague by South Africa, which will begin on Thursday and Friday. Israel has vowed to fight back at the hearings.
South Africa's 84-page legal filing accuses Israel of killing, injuring and displacing Palestinian civilians, and denying them food, water and other essentials since Oct.7 in a way that’s “intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group.”
Israel faces a genocide case, and comments on displacing Gazans could complicate its defense
Facing accusations of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, Israel is preparing to defend itself this week at the United Nations’ top court in a high-profile legal battle that comes at a decisive time during its military campaign after Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attacks.
The courtroom charge is led by South Africa, a staunch Israel critic, which has filed a case to be heard at the U.N.’s International Court of Justice starting Thursday and Friday.
Its 84-page legal filing accuses Israel of acting since Oct. 7 — killing, injuring and displacing Palestinian civilians, and denying them food, water and other essentials — in a way that’s “intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group.”
The court, known as the ICJ, is composed of 15 judges, who will hear oral arguments from lawyers representing South Africa and Israel. The hearings will be streamed live on the court’s website, and the room itself has space for around 30 journalists to attend in person.
Gaza integral to Palestinian statehood, Abbas tells Blinken
The Gaza Strip is integral to Palestinian statehood and an international peace conference needs to be convened to end the ongoing conflict, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a meeting earlier today.
At a meeting in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the pair discussed the situation on the ground in Gaza, efforts to stop the war and speeding up the delivery of aid into the enclave, a statement from the Palestinian Ministry of Information said.
Abbas also cautioned against suggestions from Israeli officials the Palestinians should leave their land in Gaza and the West Bank, the statement said. It added that he also called Gaza “an integral part of the Palestinian state” and stressed the need for convening “an international peace conference” to end the war.
Abbas heads the Palestinian Authority, which partially administers the West Bank. His Fatah movement is a rival of Hamas, which controls Gaza.
Displaced Gaza doctor treats civilians at Rafah camp
At a refugee camp in the southern Gaza city of Rafah yesterday, Dr. Fida Atiyya al-Girshalli provides medical assistance to Palestinians after being displaced from northern Gaza.Fida, who was forced to migrate herself because of Israeli attacks, lives in one of the tents in the area with her husband and five children.