In a report on antisemitism in entertainment and sports, as well as on digital-media platforms, Creative Community for Peace (CCFP) calls the extent of the antisemitism problem "glaring."

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The 20-page report, "Fomenting Hate: How the Entertainment and Sports Industries Can Address the Growing Threat of Antisemitism," documents hundreds of examples of incidents over the past year-and-a-half involving film and television studios, celebrities, influencers, sports figures and social-media platforms.

CCFP, an organization comprised of entertainment industry professionals dedicated to combating antisemitism and anti-Zionism, published the report earlier this month.

The report defines the issue using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism.

A certain perception of Jews expressed as hatred towards Jews, the targeting of Israel with Israel conceived as a "Jewish collectivity" and Holocaust denial are considered antisemitic, according to the definition.

In a section focused on film and television, the CCFP report says the HBO series "Lovecraft County," featuring an antagonist named Epstein that conducts scientific experiments on black children and adults, has "overt antisemitic tropes."

HBO's portrayal, CCFP says, amounts to "antisemitic blood-libel-esque themes."

Addressing antisemitism in the sports industry, the report describes when prominent NFL player DeSean Jackson posted a quote in 2020 on his Instagram, falsely attributed to Adolf Hitler. The quote claimed Jews "blackmail" and "extort" America.

CCFP also highlighted the frequent antisemitic slurs directed at fans of Amsterdam soccer club AFC Ajax. The team has long been associated with the Jewish community, and those rooting for opposing teams have used statements including, "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas," according to the report.

'Furthering tropes that Jews are all wealthy'

In a discussion about music, CCFP doesn't only document the widely known anti-Zionism of founding Pink Floyd member Roger Waters, whose concerts have featured animated scenes of Israel dropping bombs in the shapes of Stars of David and dollar signs. CCFP also notes the prevalence of antisemitic hip-hop lyrics.

The report also found that Rappers, including Jay Electronica, Mos Def and Freeze Corleone, are perpetuating stereotypes and conspiracies about Jews controlling the media. Corleone, a French recording artist, has released blatantly antisemitic lyrics, including about Holocaust denial.

Ari Ingel, director of CCFP, previously worked as a music manager and attorney. In a phone interview, he said hip-hop lyrics often feature philosemitism, a notable admiration for the Jewish people.

"I don't think when Jay Z [raps about earning wealth like Jews], he means it as a negative," said Ingel. "He means it as aspirational. But when he and other rappers don't realize, it is furthering tropes that Jews are all wealthy, and that's obviously not the case."

CCFP documents antisemitism in the digital community, including on TikTok, Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud and Clubhouse, among other platforms. The report omits antisemitism on larger social-media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter. CCFP did not have the bandwidth for reporting on the larger platforms, Ingel told JNS.org.

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On TikTok, "Jewish teens say they are bombarded daily with spam and death threats in the comments," the report says.

On Spotify, problematic podcasts from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan are posted, along with songs by musical artists with clearly anti-Semitic lyrics, including National Socialists Black Metal Bands.

And on Clubhouse, a newer app, "the conversations are live and monitoring spoken language is difficult in real-time," according to the report. The names of audio-only chat rooms on Clubhouse have included "White Jews have more power than blacks in America," "The Jews & Asians vs Black Reparation is the REAL BATLE" and "Were 6 million Jews really killed (serious topic)."

The report offers practical reforms for companies and corporations, from adding an expert on antisemitism to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) teams to holding mandatory annual training sessions on anti-Semitism for human-resources departments.

CCFP recommends that entertainment companies, sports leagues and digital services adopt the IHRA definition. This way, executives can identify when statements, events, content or actions cross the line into anti-Semitism.

Media organizations also ought to adopt the "Tevye Test," which is inspired by writer Ben Freeman's work, says CCFP.

Like the "Bechdel Test," measuring the representation of women in a film," the Tevye Test – named after the lead character in "Fiddler on the Roof" – offers a way of gauging the representation of Jews in media.

While many groups monitor anti-Semitism, too few look closely at the two industries responsible for shaping public opinion: entertainment and sports, says CCFP.

And while Ingel is not expecting change overnight, the report offers a first step towards transformation and creating accountability in industries in need of it.

"This isn't going to be the end all be all; it's a start," he said. "It will take many years to get these things adopted. It's a process."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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A Jewish father in Los Angeles is suing the renowned West LA-based private Brentwood School, arguing that its attempt to embrace diversity after the police-involved death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020 led to "racial divisiveness" and discrimination against Jews.

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In the complaint filed on June 8 in Los Angeles Superior Court, Jerome Eisenberg, whose minor daughter attended the school and is referred to in court filings as "J.E.," claims, among other things, breach of contract, violation of California's Unruh Civil Rights Act and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Under the Unruh act, businesses are barred from discriminating against individuals for numerous reasons, including religion.

Named as the defendants are the Brentwood School and the head of school Michael Riera. The Brentwood School is a K-12 co-ed school whose alumni and parental body include celebrities and politicians. Annual tuition for grades six through 12 is nearly $50,000.

According to the complaint, Eisenberg enrolled his daughter for the 2019-20 academic year, but changes in the school curriculum soon occurred. In his daughter's eighth-grade literature class, for example, classic texts such as To Kill a Mockingbird and Lord of the Flies were replaced with Ibram X. Kendi's Stamped: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. 

Additionally, students were forced to study charts on "Becoming Anti-Racist," the complaint alleges.

While the school's Office of Equity and Inclusion created affinity groups that allowed students and parents to share their culture with each other, attempts to create an affinity group among Jewish parents were "stifled" by Brentwood School leadership, Eisenberg claims. The complaint attributes this to the defendants' "antisemitic animus."

When he expressed concern about this and other issues, his daughter was eventually asked to not return to Brentwood for ninth grade, Eisenberg said, although she was allowed to finish her eighth-grade year at the school. 

"As a result, J.E. was deprived of attending school with the friends she loved and the community she knew," the complaint noted. 

"Michael Riera pulled a bait-and-switch with the school's curriculum and culture," the lawsuit states. "Parents eventually discovered defendants' scheme to transform the school under a racially divisive, antisemitic ideology that seeks to indoctrinate children to reject Western values."

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Attorney David Pivtorak of the LA-based Pivtorak Law Firm is representing Eisenberg. In a phone interview with JNS, he said the lawsuit aimed "to bring what has happened at the school to light."

The complaint does not specify how much Eisenberg is suing the school for, but "whatever a jury believes he is entitled to, that's what he will be awarded," Pivtorak said. 

In a statement, Brentwood School denied the claims made by Eisenberg, saying "the allegations contained in the complaint are baseless, a work of whole fiction and nothing more than a desperate attempt to embarrass the school."

According to the school's website, it has taken many steps to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion in recent years. The student populations at its elementary school – serving grades kindergarten to fifth grade – and its middle and high school for grades 6-12 are currently 49% students of color, according to the website.

An estimated 40% of the student population is Jewish.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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A vehicle displaying antisemitic rhetoric drove around Beverly Hills and West Hollywood this past weekend, causing a minor uproar among passersby.

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While it was not immediately clear if it was one or more than one vehicle, video on social media of a truck at various sites showed large and hateful slogans painted onto canvases draping its sides, including: "Ann Coulter is right about Jews," "Leo Frank raped and killed Mary Phagan" and "Abort the ADL, America's Unelected Speech Police."

The Los Angeles Times described the vehicle as a "rental box truck." On May 21, it was spotted parked at a West Hollywood gas station on Santa Monica Boulevard, as well as in the drop-off area of the Beverly Hilton.

The truck drove through Beverly Hills as residents of the area and others were enjoying a biannual spring art show in Beverly Gardens Park.

Meanwhile, in West Hollywood, the sightings of the truck on Saturday coincided with the LGBTQ-friendly city's celebration of Harvey Milk Day, which commemorates a Jewish gay-rights activist and politician who was assassinated.

Report of vehicles displaying antisemitic rhetoric "are particularly distressing as we mark Harvey Milk Day," the City of West Hollywood said in a statement.

According to the Times, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is investigating the incident and has identified the license plate of the truck. Authorities are working to identify who rented it, reported the daily newspaper.

On Sunday, the nonprofit watchdog StopAntisemitism.org posted video online of a truck parked at the Beverly Hilton with one of two drivers heard saying, "The Nazis are coming!"

The group described those responsible for the incident as "white supremacists from the Goyim Defense League dressed as Nazi brownshirts."

This was not the first time the group known as the Goyim Defense League has caused concern in the Southern California Jewish community. It was previously responsible for distributing antisemitic leaflets around Beverly Hills, Pasadena and other areas.

In a report on its website, the Anti-Defamation League describes the GDL as a "loose network of individuals connected by their virulent antisemitism … [that] engages in antisemitic stunts and schemes to troll or otherwise harass Jews."

Jon Minadeo II, of Petaluma, Calif., is the alleged leader of the antisemitic group, according to the ADL.

In the aftermath of the weekend's events, the City of Beverly Hills said the Beverly Hills Police Department was working with private businesses on educating them about how to obtain trespass letters or temporary restraining orders against those that seek to harass or annoy their guests.

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Responding to the display of Jew-hatred in her city on Saturday, Beverly Hills Mayor Lili Bosse told JNS, "From my perspective, what occurred this Saturday in our city – and apparently, this truck went to our neighboring city [West Hollywood] – was disgusting and vile. It was an antisemitic truck spewing Jew-hatred through our streets."

Bosse, the daughter of Holocaust survivors, acknowledged groups like the GDL, from a legal standpoint, have the First Amendment right to free speech on their side, but people like her also have the right to push back against hateful rhetoric, she said.

"The more these disgusting animals go out and spew hate," said Bosse, the more "I will only get stronger and stronger, and fight back more and more."

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"Is feminism your new religion?"

"It's my purpose in life."

Such was an exchange between Julia Haart, star of the hit Netflix reality television show My Unorthodox Life, and American Jewish University (AJU) Rabbi Sherre Hirsch during a recent community webinar.

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The April 21 discussion, titled "Heartbreak, Resiliency and Courage," was promoting Haart's new memoir, Brazen: My Unorthodox Journey From Long Sleeves to Lingerie.

Over the course of 45 minutes, the always-outspoken Haart shared how, while Judaism was once the center of her life, empowering other women is now what fuels her. Hirsch, chief innovation officer at AJU, and Haart also talked Judaism, family and Haart's writing process.

At the age of 42, Haart (now 51) left behind the Haredi community of Monsey, NY; after marrying at age 19 and remaining in the marriage for 23 years, she finally reached a breaking point and opted to leave the religious world, her story goes. She then threw herself into the secular worlds of fashion, dating and sex. After founding a shoe brand, a lingerie company and then being named CEO of Elite World Group, a modeling agency, she became one of the most powerful women in the fashion industry.

In the summer of 2021, Netflix released the reality show about her and her family; think "Keeping Up with the Kardashians," albeit with more Jewish references – and she has since enjoyed increased visibility in the Jewish community and beyond.

Not all the attention has been positive. Available in more than 190 countries and recently renewed for a second season, Haart's show has received some backlash from those who feel it misrepresents what life is like for the Orthodox. Then there are those who claim to know Haart from her past and have publicly criticized her for fabricating what her life was like in the religious community.

Asked where she lands with Judaism today, Haart said she continues to keep several of the holidays, including Passover – although, "my version," she said – Sukkot and Hanukkah, mostly for the sake of her son, who leads an observant life.

Family, indeed, is a central part of Haart's life and TV show. Her departure from the observant community has caused permanent rifts in her immediate family, she told Hirsch. Her parents and siblings no longer speak to her.

But Haart and her ex-husband, Yosef Hendler, who have four children together, remain close. Hendler, the children and Haart's current husband, Silvio Scaglia, appeared regularly on the nine episodes of the show's debut season.

Speaking with Hirsch, Haart provided updates about her children, including her oldest, 28-year-old Batsheva, who has become a celebrity and social-media influencer in her own right.

The webinar also focused on the new book. When writing it, Haart wavered between including stories about her sexual history (also a major part of the show) and leaving them out. Ultimately, Haart opted to include them, hoping they would bring comfort to those, who like her, were once naive and inexperienced in this area of life.

Haart confirmed there would be a follow-up, predicting it would likely come out in 2026.

Over the course of the discussion, Hirsch posed a series of questions to the reality-TV star, including if Haart binge-watched her own Netflix show. She has not, for those wondering.

Given her role as executive producer, she has seen the show more than enough times, she said.

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Ultimately, the conversation reinforced how with any public personality, it's often hard to reconcile the onscreen and off-screen. In her TV show, Haart comes off as larger-than-life, outgoing and super-confident. Yet speaking with Hirsch, the businesswoman, public persona and influencer revealed that she is actually quite shy.

"People think I party all the time and go to all these fabulous events. My favorite thing to do," she said, "is to get into my pajamas, get into bed and read a really good book."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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