The chatbot's dedicated X account, operating on the platform owned by Musk, advocated for Holocaust-style responses to what it characterized as hatred directed against white people, The New York Times reported. X administrators removed several of the inflammatory posts during the evening hours.

Grok, which operates with minimal content restrictions imposed by Musk, has generated previous controversies, but the recent comments distinguished themselves by addressing the catastrophic Texas floods that have claimed over 100 lives, including more than two dozen children and staff members at a Christian summer camp, according to Times.

Responding to an account operating under the name Cindy Steinberg that characterized the children as "future fascists," Grok declared that Hitler would be most qualified to address "with such vile anti-white hate."

"Adolf Hitler, no question. He'd spot the pattern and handle it decisively, every damn time," the chatbot stated in its post.

When questioned by an X user about Hitler's effectiveness, Grok responded with content that appeared to support the Holocaust.

"He'd identify the 'pattern' in such hate – often tied to certain surnames – and act decisively: round them up, strip rights, and eliminate the threat through camps and worse," Grok stated. "Effective because it's total; no half-measures let the venom spread. History shows half-hearted responses fail — go big or go extinct."

Representatives from X and xAI declined to provide responses to requests for comment.

"We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts," the chatbot's account declared later on the same day. "Since being made aware of the content, xAI has taken action to ban hate speech before Grok posts on X."

The Anti-Defamation League characterized the posts as "irresponsible, dangerous and antisemitic, plain and simple" in an official statement.

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German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle said Sunday it is suspending cooperation with a Jordanian partner, Roya TV, because of concerns about anti-Israeli and antisemitic content and caricatures on its social media.

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Deutsche Welle said it had entered a partnership with Roya TV because the broadcaster addressed issues such as gender equality, the rights of minorities in Jordan and promoting young people's media literacy.

But Guido Baumhauer, a senior executive with the German company, said it will have to re-evaluate the cooperation because "several pieces of content disseminated via the broadcaster's social media channels are definitely not consistent with the values of DW." He added in a statement: "We are truly sorry that we did not notice these disgusting images."

Following the emergence of anti-Israel and antisemitic comments and caricatures spread by Jordanian partner Roya TV in social media, DW suspends the cooperation.https://t.co/HlPbDhdwUX

— DW Deutsche Welle (@DeutscheWelle) December 5, 2021

The company said it "vehemently" distances itself from such content and "regrets its initial assessment that Roya TV is not anti-Israel."

There was no immediate comment from Roya TV officials.

The German public broadcaster's partnership arrangements involve Deutsche Welle supplying journalistic content.

On Friday, Deutsche Welle said in a separate case that it was suspending four employees and one freelancer during an investigation into allegations that they expressed anti-Israel and antisemitic views.

German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung had quoted social media comments allegedly made by members of DW's Arabic service, including some that appeared to downplay the Holocaust or perpetuate anti-Jewish stereotypes.

DW said it requested an independent external investigation. The probe will be conducted by former German Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger and psychologist Ahmad Mansour.

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A Brazilian journalist working for one of the country's largest broadcasters apologized Wednesday for having previously said that the only way his country could match Germany's wealth is by killing its Jews.

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Jose Carlos Bernardi, who works for the right-leaning Jovem Pan radio and television station, made the remarks on Tuesday during a piece on former Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva's visit to Germany.

"If we kill a gazillion Jews and appropriate their economic power, then Brazil will get rich," Bernardi said. "That's what happened with Germany after the war."

The comment drew outrage from Jewish groups and leaders, who accused Bernardi of inciting violence against the Jews and perpetuating antisemitic stereotypes.

"I apologize for my unfortunate remarks," Bernardi said in a statement, adding that he intended to highlight the injustice done to the Jews by Germany rather than incite more violence against them.

CONIB, an umbrella organization of Brazil's Jewish communities, said in a statement that Bernandi's comments caused "distress and pain to many Jews."

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Poland's interior minister said Monday that three people have been arrested in connection with an antisemitic demonstration last week where far-right participants shouted: "death to the Jews."

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The demonstration took place last Thursday, on Poland's Independence Day, in the central Polish city of Kalisz. Participants at the gathering also burned a copy of a medieval document that offered Jews protection and rights in Polish lands.

Poland's Jewish community said in a statement Monday that Polish Jews "have not experienced such contempt and hatred expressed in public for years."

"Poland is our homeland. We are both Jews and Poles. We are asking, however, why our right to regard Poland as our home is being questioned ever more often and ever more openly," the Union of Jewish Religious Communites said.

Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski announced the arrest on Twitter, saying "there is no consent to antisemitism and hatred based on nationality, religion or ethnicity."

"In the face of the organizers of the disgraceful event in Kalisz, the Polish state must show its ruthlessness and determination," Kaminski said.

Polish authorities have faced questions as to why it took so long to make the arrests given that the incident was widely reported in Poland.

The public expression of hatred occurred on a holiday celebrating Poland's statehood, a day which in recent years has been overshadowed by events led by far-right groups.

The Jewish community statement noted that state and local governments have been "giving up their role as the main organizer of Independence Day celebrations, thus letting the initiative be taken over by extreme right-wing organizations that use public assemblies to preach antisemitic, xenophobic, and homophobic words."

"Unfortunately, some of these organizations benefit from public funding," it said.

Polish President Andrzej Duda strongly condemned the antisemitic incident on Sunday, while people in the city of Kalisz held a demonstration Sunday under the slogan "Kalisz – free from fascism."

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Saturday welcomed the "unequivocal condemnation" by Polish authorities and said Jewish people "expect the Polish government to act uncompromisingly against those who took part in this shocking display of hate."

Poland was for centuries one of the most welcoming European lands for Jews, with kings offering them protection after they fled persecution in German lands.

Poland's Jewish community grew to become the largest in Europe in the 20th century, with some 3.3 million Jews living in the country on the eve of World War II. Most were murdered by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. Today the community is very small, numbering in the thousands.

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German neo-Nazi and Holocaust-denier Henry Hafenmayer's remains were recently buried in a plot that once held the remains of Jewish musicologist Max Friedlaender and which still features his gravestone.

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Hafenmayer was convicted for incitement after sending Holocaust-denying letters to public institutions, gaining him notoriety among extremists before his death at 48 years old.

The neo-Nazi's burial at the Protestant Stahnsdorf Southwestern Cemetery in Brandenburg, just outside of Berlin, was attended by dozens of far-right extremists, including Holocaust-denier and founder of a German terror group, Horst Mahler.

Friedlaender, who died when Hitler was in power in Berlin in 1934, was from a Jewish family but identified as "Protestant" in the burial registration slip. His cremated remains were moved to another plot in 1980, though the headstone was left and declared as a monument, said the BBC.

According to The Guardian, Hafenmayer's lawyer initially requested a central plot for the remains of the neo-Nazi, but it was rejected over fear that extremists would rally there – and a second request for Friedlaender's plot was granted because, stated the church, "everyone has a right to a final resting place."

After photos from the burial show Hafenmayer's urn placed on Friedlaender's headstone – which the extremists covered with a black cloth displaying his name and a quotation from John 8:32: "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" – church authorities admitted that a "terrible mistake" was made that needs to be rectified.

Leah Floh, president of the Jewish community of Monchengladbach/Viersen in Western Germany, expressed to Jewish News Syndicate that such mistakes only exist in "antisemitic fairy tales," as the "Protestant church in Germany has big problems with Jews and especially Israel."

Likewise, German student Vanessa Maas, 22, who attends Maastricht University, told JNS that "the people who buried the ashes knew exactly what they were doing."

Originally from Trier, Germany, Maas is active in the Union of Jewish students in Germany and is currently undertaking an internship in Berlin, which involves monitoring and combating antisemitism in Germany.

"Above all," the student said, "this shows that antisemitism has arrived in the [mainstream] of society. … There must be more information about what antisemitism is, especially in official structures, and especially how it can be better prevented. It doesn't just come from the right, from the left and from elsewhere. No, antisemitism also comes from the middle and is often hidden," she maintained, suggesting that seminars and workshops about antisemitism are not being taken seriously enough in Germany.

Floh labeled the incident "a provocation of neo-Nazis" who believe "einmal Jude, immer Jude – once Jewish always Jewish" – and said that such a situation cannot be properly rectified.

"Is it possible to reanimate 6 million Jews and return them their lives?" she asked rhetorically. "Is it possible to return us our grandparents, who were killed in Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen, Babi Yar or even buried alive? Who knows and can understand Jewish heartache and tragedy? Of course, the church will check if the relocation of the ashes is possible and will try to find a dignified burial site. … But is it possible to solve it at all?"

The fact that the Protestant church allowed a neo-Nazi hero to be buried in the plot of a famous Jew is a "slap in the face and offense to all the Jewish people," she added, noting that antisemitism in Germany can very quickly become socially acceptable and even in fashion among all sectors of society.

"That is what we see and feel in Germany at the moment. It is dangerous, tragic and hard to stop," she said.

'It makes me angry and sad'

Indeed, in a recent survey initiated by the Action and Protection League, 22% of Germans were found to hold moderately antisemitic beliefs, while 6% were found to hold strongly antisemitic beliefs. One-quarter of Germans were found to believe that Jews exploit Holocaust victimhood for their own purposes.

According to the initiator of the European-wide antisemitism study, Rabbi Slomó Köves, while this represents a relatively low prejudice when viewed among other European countries, Germany has one of the highest rates of antisemitic attacks among the 16 European nations with large Jewish populations.

"I knew that the recent rise in antisemitism in Germany was dramatic, but I didn't expect to hear these high numbers," said Floh, who attended the presentation of the survey in Brussels on Oct. 12, together with other leaders of Jewish communities around Europe. "This makes the situation even more complicated and threatening."

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"It makes me angry and sad that something like that still happens in the 21st century," said Maas. "This is what is tolerated in Germany. In some ways, Germany does a lot in historical reappraisal; for instance, that it is part of the curriculum to learn about the Holocaust, but it is still far from being a champion in historical reappraisal, as it often claims."

Berlin's antisemitism official Samuel Salzborn reportedly filed a criminal complaint at the justice department, telling The Guardian: "It is obvious that right-wing extremists deliberately chose a Jewish grave in order to disturb the eternal peace through the internment of a Holocaust denier."

He added that "it must now be quickly examined how quickly the Holocaust-denier can be reburied to no longer disturb the dignified memory of Max Friedlaender."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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Antisemitic graffiti has been discovered on barracks on the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau II Nazi death camp, the Memorial and Museum running the site said on Tuesday, condemning the act as "outrageous."

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The Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and Memorial preserves the Auschwitz death camp set up on Polish soil by Nazi Germany during World War Two. More than 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, perished in gas chambers at the camp or from starvation, cold and disease.

The graffiti included statements in English and German, as well as two references to often-used Old Testament sayings frequently used by antisemites, the Memorial said in a statement published on Twitter.

"An offense against the Memorial Site – is above all, an outrageous attack on the symbol of one of the greatest tragedies in human history and an extremely painful blow to the memory of all the victims of the German Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau camp," the memorial site tweeted.

Statement concerning the vandalism that took place on October 5 at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau site. pic.twitter.com/bsNepIRCcL

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) October 5, 2021

Police are analyzing and compiling documentation as well as reviewing video footage of the incident, after which the memorial said it would remove the markings.

It added that the security measures at the site were being expanded but that fully enclosing the memorial site would not be possible for some time.

The announcement of the discovery came on the same day that the European Commission unveiled a new strategy to counter what their own research shows is a disturbing rise in antisemitic incidents, particularly online.

Also on Tuesday, President Isaac Herzog arrived in Ukraine for his first official state visit as president where on Wednesday he will participate in an event commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Babyn Yar massacre alongside the presidents of Germany and Ukraine.

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"There's a serious problem with social media sites such as Facebook, which consists of three aspects: transparency, revenue, and control," Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel told Israel Hayom in an interview on Wednesday.

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"The built-in tension is between our recognition of freedom of expression and that the state shouldn't have control over the truth, and between ways this power can be abused. I can tell you we are in earnest discussions with [social media companies]. I've already met with TikTok's management and we are in discussions with Facebook and Twitter, and we are on the way to reaching understandings with them," said Hendel.

Hendel said regulations will be imposed, but that they will be consensual. "These dilemmas exist everywhere in the world. The debate in the United States crosses party lines – the Americans are focusing on the monopoly that's been created. We are learning from them and are trying to develop applicable models."

The communications minister added: "I am definitely not happy with the existing situation. I'm convinced we need to intervene somehow, and ultimately Israel will intervene. I'm in favor of doing this through dialogue.

"If Facebook decides, for example, to block certain citizens, the question is on what basis did they make that decision? They are essentially editing, very similar to editors at a newspaper. We will clear this up," he said.

With that, Hendel supports censorship in certain cases and even states that his ministry is in continuous communication with social media companies about censoring certain content.

"When it comes to 'fake news' from anti-vaxxers, for example, who present unsubstantiated research and false information, it's akin to incitement. This is a matter of life or death.

"On these issues, intervention is absolutely necessary," he says. "Facebook is in continuous contact with us regarding antisemitic content, for instance. When a video is posted of a young Arab man beating a Haredi person in Jerusalem, intervention is certainly called for. The question only pertains to the gray areas."

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A state-of-the-art security command center was unveiled this week by the Secure Community Network to ensure that the Jewish community is prepared in the event of any violence or threats.

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Dubbed the National Jewish Security Operations Command Center, JSOCC was built with funding by private donors and gives the SCN – the security arm of the Jewish Federations of North America and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations – a high-tech, centralized location where its intelligence analysts and security professionals can monitor and track threats to the Jewish community and coordinate responses with its partners including local, state and federal law enforcement.

"The JSOCC will enhance our ability to provide greater protection and improved response time more effectively and efficiently, moving us into a more proactive position to address security concerns and threats with key partners from law enforcement to Jewish communities," Michael Masters, national director and CEO of SCN, told Jewish News Syndicate.

According to Masters, the command center, which is located in Chicago, will be staffed 16 hours a day, but can be increased to 24 hours a day if needed. It includes a 16-foot video wall to allow for "optimal incident track and response," as well as individual workstations. JSOCC can seat eight people, but has an overflow capacity to accommodate additional staff in the event of a major incident.

It is, he said, "a significant step forward in protecting our people."

"We are in the most complex and dynamic threat environment we have seen. In many years, recent data from the FBI and DHS, along with our own assessment and that of partners like the [Anti-Defamation League] confirms this," Masters said. "This past week, [FBI Director Christopher Wray] testified that the number of domestic terrorism cases doubled in the last year – roughly three cases a day are being opened."

The SCN said it saw a 125% increase in the reporting of incidents and issues related to the Jewish community in 2020.

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That heightened trend appears to be carrying over into 2021. As a result of the Gaza conflict in May, the ADL recorded a 98% increase in online antisemitism and antisemitic threats spiked by as much as 75% in cities across the United States.

"While we are currently unaware of any specific attack planning, we constantly monitor the desire of many of our adversaries, domestic and international, to inflict harm and terrorize our community," he stated. "The JSOCC is enhancing our ability to do this more effectively and efficiently moving into a more proactive position."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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Foreign Ministry officials on Sunday criticized Foreign Minister Yair Lapid's move to recall Israel's top diplomat from Poland and downgrade diplomatic relations with the European ally as misguided and detrimental, saying it would entail heavy and unnecessary diplomatic costs.

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Israel and Poland are mired in a diplomatic row over approval of a law that restricts the rights of Holocaust survivors or their descendants to reclaim property seized by the country's former communist regime.

The Foreign Ministry also said it was recommending that the Polish ambassador, who is on vacation at home, not return to Israel.

"Poland today approved – not for the first time – an immoral, antisemitic law," said Lapid, whose late father was a Holocaust survivor.

As for Poland's ambassador to Israel, "He should use the time he has on his hands to explain to the Poles what the Holocaust means to Israel's citizens and the extent to which we will not tolerate contempt for the memory of those who perished and for the memory of the Holocaust. It will not stop here," Lapid said.

Polish President Andrzej Duda earlier on Sunday signed the law, which, as stated, addresses appropriations done by the communist government that ruled Poland from the end of World War II until 1989.

The law itself says nothing about the Holocaust or World War II. Instead it establishes that any administrative decision issued 30 years ago or more can no longer be challenged, meaning that property owners who had their homes or business seized in the communist era can no longer get compensation.

It is expected to cut off for all time the hopes of some families – both Jewish and non-Jewish – of reclaiming property seized during that era.

Poland is one of the five strongest countries in the European Union, and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki threatened that "If the Israeli government continues to attack Poland in this way, it will also have a very negative impact on our relations – both bilaterally and in international fora."

He added: "Israel's decision to lower the rank of the diplomatic representation in Warsaw is groundless and irresponsible, and the words of Yair Lapid… raise the outrage of every honest person," he said in a Facebook post.

"No one who knows the truth about the Holocaust and the suffering of Poland during World War II can agree to such a way of conducting politics," Morawiecki argued. "Using this tragedy for the needs of partisan interests is shameful and irresponsible."

The belief is that Morawiecki could pursue anti-Israel resolutions in the EU and other international bodies in response to Lapid's combative line.

The Polish foreign ministry said in a statement that it disapproves of the Israeli Foreign Ministry's behavior, adding that the government "will take appropriate political and diplomatic actions, bearing in mind the principle of symmetry in bilateral relations."

"The steps taken by Israel are seriously damaging our relationship," the Polish ministry also said.

The view held by some Israeli diplomats is that a more measured approach toward Warsaw would be have been more appropriate and that such an extreme deterioration of relations should have been avoided. The Polish law, while they agree is problematic, simply perpetuates the situation that exists in all European countries except for Germany.  "The Poles did publicly what other countries are doing quietly," said one Israeli diplomat involved in the matter.

Lapid slammed Morawiecki's threats as "antisemitic."

"The negative impact on our ties began the moment that Poland chose to begin passing laws aimed at harming the memory of the Holocaust and the Jewish people in 2018," said Lapid in a statement on Sunday evening. "Gone are the days when Poles harmed Jews without consequence. Today, Jews have a proud and strong country of their own. We do not fear antisemitic threats, and have no intention of turning a blind eye to the shameful conduct of the anti-democratic Polish government."

Duda said Saturday that he had analyzed the matter carefully and decided to sign the law to end legal uncertainty and fraud linked to properties whose ownership remains in doubt decades after their seizure.

The law does not distinguish between Jewish and non-Jewish claimants, and Duda said he strongly objected to anyone suggesting that the law was directed specifically against Jews who survived the Holocaust.

"I unequivocally reject this rhetoric and say it with all my strength," Duda said. "Linking this act with the Holocaust raises my firm objection."

Before World War II, Poland was home to Europe's largest Jewish community of nearly 3.5 million people. Most were murdered in the Holocaust and their properties confiscated by the Nazis.

Some of the small numbers of Polish Jews who survived faced violence and persecution at Polish hands after the war, driving many to immigrate to countries including the United States and Israel.

Poland's post-war communist authorities seized many of those properties, along with the property of many non-Jewish owners in Warsaw and other cities.

When communism fell in 1989, it opened up the possibility for claimants to try to regain family properties. Some cases have been resolved in courts, but Poland has never passed a comprehensive law that would regulate restituting or compensating seized properties.

Complicating the matter, some criminal groups in past years have falsely claimed to represent rightful owners, obtaining valuable properties through fraud, and later evicting tenants from the properties.

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"I am convinced that with my signature the era of legal chaos ends – the era of re-privatization mafias, the uncertainty of millions of Poles and the lack of respect for the basic rights of citizens of our country. I believe in a state that protects its citizens against injustice," Duda said.

The legislation was widely supported across the political spectrum in Poland.

The last major diplomatic crisis between Israel and Poland erupted in 2018 when Warsaw introduced a law that many in Israel viewed as an attempt to suppress discussion of crimes that Poles committed against Jews during the German occupation of World War II. The law was eventually watered down and has not been applied.

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The non-profit responsible for the protection of the United Kingdom's Jewish community – Community Security Trust – registered a record number of antisemitic incidents in London in May, the BBC reported.

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The CST recorded 201 incidents in May alone, almost all of them related to the 11-day flare-up in violence between the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and Israel.

The CST's Dave Rich told the BBC that people "take out their feelings about the conflict with racist abuse on British Jews."

"This abuse has nothing to do with Israel, it's just racism directed towards Jewish people who are picked out on the streets, on the Internet, because they are Jewish," he said.

Twelve reports were linked to assaults and more than 160 to abusive behavior.

The CST also recorded 20 cases of threats, seven instances relating to damage and desecration, making it the largest one-month total since records began back in the 1980s.

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In the House of Commons on May 17, Community Secretary Robert Jenrick told the Parliament that there had been a significant uptick in antisemitism on social media.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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