A/74/358 condemned as complicit in the actions of the Government of Israel by fellow students and organizations aligned with the political “left”. 30 24. The Special Rapporteur received numerous reports that in countries in the Middle East and North Africa, Jews are frequently conflated with Israel and Zionism, even in countries with a deep history of Jewish life. Literature demonizing Jews is prevalent in the media in the region. 31 It was reported that school textbooks in Saudi Arabia contained antisemitic passages, with some even urging violence against Jews. 32 In August, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed serious concern “about the existence of hate speech, in particular hate speech directed against Israelis, which at times fuels antisemitism towards this group, in certain media outlets, in particular those controlled by Hamas, as well as on social media, in public officials’ statements and in school curricula and textbooks, which also fuels hatred and may incite violence” (CERD/C/PSE/CO/1-2, para. 19 (c)). 25. Although there are small Jewish populations in the Asia-Pacific region, representatives reported some particularly concerning examples of pervasive antisemitic rhetoric, often reportedly stemming from the popular association of all Jews with Israel and its policies. 33 For example, over 57 per cent of teachers and lecturers and 53.74 per cent of students in Indonesia agreed with a survey statement asserting that “Jews are the enemies of Islam”. 34 D. Antisemitic violence: regional trends 26. A number of exceptionally violent antisemitic incidents have had an outsized impact on Jewish individuals’ sense of security in recent years. On 27 October 2018, a gunman attacked the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pennsylvania, United States, murdering 11 congregants and injuring 7 others in the deadliest attack on Jews in United States history. His comments during the attack and his social media activity on the days preceding it revealed a belief in a host of antisemitic conspiracy theories rooted in a far-right, white supremacist ideology. 35 Six months later, on 27 April 2019, a gunman similarly motivated by white supremacist ideology killed one congregant and wounded three others at a synagogue in the Poway community in California. 36 27. Earlier, between 2012 and 2015, French citizens carried out violent attacks resulting in deaths at a kosher supermarket in Paris, at the Jewish Museum of Belgium and at a Jewish day school in Toulouse. In 2015, a Danish citizen who had pledged loyalty to the Islamic State carried out multiple attacks in Copenhagen, including one outside a synagogue while a bat mitzvah was being celebrated, killing a volunteer security guard. The alleged perpetrators in all four of the above -mentioned cases were __________________ 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 19-16257 Based on consultations with Jewish communities. Examples: in Saudi Arabia, the newspaper Al-Iqtisadiyya printed an editorial cartoon showing a grinding machine in the shape of the Star of David, grinding Gazans into skulls. In Algeria, Echourouk El Youmi published an article claiming that Jews had been plotting against Muslims for centuries, that Jews were responsible for most of the disasters that had befallen Muslims and that Jews controlled the media, cinema, art and fashion. In Qatar, the privately owned Al-Raya newspaper published a cartoon showing a witch with a Star of David wand causing inter-Arab disputes. See www.adl.org/resources/reports/teaching-hate-and-violence. Based on consultations with Jewish community representatives from Indonesia. See https://conveyindonesia.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Survey-Nasional-KeberagamaanGenZ.pdf. See www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/10/28/analyzing-terrorists-social-media-manifestopittsburgh-synagogue-shooters-posts-gab. See www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/New-Details-Emerge-in-Deadly-Poway-SynagogueShooting-511375582.html; and https://ctc.usma.edu/terrorist-attacks-jewish-targets-west-20122019-atlantic-divide-european-american-attackers/. 9/23