Anti-Muslim graffiti was found scrawled on the side of a Kensington building Monday, and some local residents are worried the incident will spark racial tensions in the remarkably diverse neighborhood. The graffiti, which was left on the side of TDS Insurance on Beverly Road, declared that "Allah is Shit." The incident is being investigated as a bias crime, and some theorize that the vandalism may be retaliation for a rash of anti-Semitic graffiti left on Jewish homes and establishments in Midwood recently. more ›

Some people give their WiFi network wacky ironic names to discourage neighbors from using it, like "Free Viruses" and "We_Can_Hear_You_Having_Sex." Over in Teaneck, N.J., they push the envelope a little bit, at least at the local recreation center, where someone gave the WiFi network at the Richard Rodda Community Center a very offensive name. "When I first saw it, I said, 'Did that say what I thought it said?," a local woman tells the Daily News. "I was shocked, hurt. I felt harassed." Which is understandable, because the WiFi in question was named "F--- All Jews And N----." more ›

The Chelsea man who was arrested last night and accused of making a string of threatening anti-Semitic phone calls has been identified by police as David Haddad, a non-practicing Jew who may have been lashing out at relatives over a failed business venture. The first call Haddad, 56, allegedly made was on December 11th, when investigators say he called an 80-year-old Sheepshead Bay woman and told her, "All Jews should die and go to hell." That woman, by the way, happens to be Haddad's mother. more ›

A Chelsea building manager was arrested today on allegations that he made a series of anti-Semitic phone calls and scrawled hateful messages and symbols on apartment doors in the neighborhood. Two people say David Haddad, 56, made threatening and anti-Semitic phone calls to an 80-year-old Brooklyn woman Brooklyn last month. Investigators also say Haddad, who is "Jewish but not practicing," according to one police source, called an unidentified woman on January 10th and threatened her in her Chelsea apartment building. more ›

Police are investigating a rash of weekend hate crimes in Midwood, Brooklyn, where swastikas were spray painted on three buildings, along with the words "Die Jews" on a garage door. The garage door vandalism occurred at a private residence located 100 feet away Assemblyman Dov Hikind's home, and the politician says the latest outburst of anti-Semitism has local residents increasingly alarmed. Midwood has one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors in America, and Hikind says, "You wouldn't believe the comments that I hear. 'Does this mean something? Is this the beginning of something?' I tell them no because this is America." more ›

We just can't keep up with fashion, what with the chocolate and jewel-encrusted brassieres that seem to be all the rage these days. Still, these earrings that a reader found at Bejeweled in Greenpoint strike us as a fashion "nein." more ›

Injecting anti-semitism into a traffic stop didn't work too well for Mel Gibson, and one Queens lawyer who pulled a "reverse Gibson" on a New Jersey state trooper has been suspended from practicing law. Elliot Dear, an orthodox Jew, was pulled over for driving 84 mph in a 55 zone in 2007. The Post reports that several days later, Dear sent the traffic court a letter claiming that the trooper called him a "Jew kike," and said "this prejudice obviously was the cause for the ticket." But Dear didn't expect the conversation to be recorded. more ›

The NYPD Hate Crime Unit is investigating swastikas discovered scrawled inside an elevator in a Williamsburg apartment building. CBS reports that the swastikas were found inside an elevator at 70 Ross Street in Williamsburg. According to the Post, the same building was targeted earlier this month, when a swastika was etched into the button control panel of an elevator. more ›

With Friday's burnt cars and anti-Semitic scrawls still fresh in their memory, Midwood community members and politicians took to the streets yesterday to make clear that they won't be standing for such attacks. "I feel wrong if I don't come and do something, it's Jews, you come out, we may not know them but we're all one, we're all together," explained one resident of the heavily Jewish stretch of Ocean Parkway. And while police have still made no arrests in the presumed hate crime, they have high hopes of getting DNA or fingerprints off the myriad bottles and gas containers left at the scene. more ›

Yesterday morning in Midwood, on the anniversary of the end of Kristallnacht, vandals torched three cars, tried to burn a fourth, and scrawled anti-semitic graffiti on a nearby van and benches. The attack took place around 5:30 a.m. in the heavily Orthodox Jewish section of Ocean Parkway. The NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force, along with 66th NYPD Police Precinct, are currently investigating the vandalism as a hate crime. “I think it’s a jealousy of wealth, and then the use of anti-Semitism as a way to express that jealousy,” Bobby Tebeli, whose mother’s BMW X5 was burned, told the Post. more ›

As the Occupy Wall Street movement grows and spreads across the country (and around the world), Republicans are trying to figure out how to make OWS work for them. Besides just calling the protesters an unruly and scary mob, some are wondering why there hasn't been any attention about the anti-Semitism at Zuccotti Park, which is what Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin did after seeing a video from Emergency Committee for Israel, whose board members include notable conservatives Bill Kristol and Gary Bauer. more ›

Six months after being fired from from Christian Dior over anti-Semitic remarks he made to fellow Parisian cafe patrons, John Galliano was found guilty of "'public insults' based on origin, religion, race or ethnicity after two incidents in February 2011 and last year." more ›

In the wake of allegations that fashion designer John Galliano uttered anti-Semitic remarks at patrons of a Parisian cafe last week (a video from months earlier show him telling someone "I love Hilter"), the fashion world has been brimming with observations and condemnations. Fellow successful designer Karl Lagerfeld was unsparing in his comments to WWD, "I’m furious, if you want to know. I’m furious that it could happen, because the question is no longer even whether he really said it. The image has gone around the world. It’s a horrible image for fashion, because they think that every designer and everything in fashion is like this. This is what makes me crazy in that story." more ›

Fashion designer John Galliano, who was fired from Christian Dior after accusations he uttered anti-Semitic remarks at Parisian cafe customers and after a video of him proclaiming his love for Hitler surfaced, "completely" denies the allegations of racism and anti-Semitism. In a statement, he said, "Anti-Semitism and racism have no part in our society. I unreservedly apologize for my behavior in causing any offence." But French authorities are moving ahead to prosecute him. more ›

Last week, fashion house Christian Dior suspended its iconoclastic designer, John Galliano, after he was accused of making anti-Semitic statements at a Paris cafe. Today, after an undated video of Galliano saying he loved Hitler and other allegations of anti-Semitism piled up, Dior announced that Galliano was fired. CEO Sidney Toledano condemned the bad boy designer "in the strongest terms" and said Galliano's behavior was "in total contradiction with the essential values that have always been defended by the Christian Dior house." more ›

On Good Friday a Vatican priest compared recent criticism of the Catholic church to anti-Semitism, drawing ire from Jewish groups and advocates for victims of sexual abuse. Just like the “collective violence” that the Jews have endured the church has come under attack, observed Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, supposedly quoting a letter from an unnamed Jewish friend. In front of an audience that included the pope, he continued: "'The use of stereotypes, the shifting of personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt remind me of the most shameful aspects of anti-Semitism.’" more ›

The terror suspect who demanded potential jurors take genetic tests to make sure they aren't Jews was thrown out of court yesterday for ranting that she had "nothing to do with 9/11." Aafia Siddiqui — a 37-year-old Pakistani neuroscientist accused of "trying to kill American soldiers and FBI agents" in Afghanistan — was hauled out of the courtroom by US marshals following her outburst. more ›

There's always a lot of political name-calling on the eve of election day, but we're pretty sure this one is a first. Democratic Queens Council candidate Kevin Kim is alleging that his Republican rival isn't just an anti-Semite — he's also a pagan. Kim's campaign is accusing Dan Halloran of insulting Jews in his attempt to downplay the role of blood sacrifice in the ancient Germanic religion of Theodism, a faith in which the City Hall hopeful has risen to the title of "'First Atheling,' or King," of a New York City area pre-Christian group according to the Queens Tribune. more ›

An update about the fallout from Irish tenor Ronan Tynan's anti-Semitic "joke"—his hope that a potential buyer in his apartment building wasn't Jewish. Well, the potential buyer, NYU Medical Center pediatirian Dr. Gabrielle Gold-von Simson, apparently emailed the Yankees about his remarks, and a Yankees spokeswoman told the Post, "[Tynan] admitted that the contents of the e-mail were true. He said it was a bad joke. So we told him that was absolutely intolerable behavior and he needed to apologize." In spite of Tynan's apology (which Gold-von Simson accepted), the Yankees decided to nix his 7th inning stretch singing of "God Bless, America" for the rest of the playoffs. more ›

The five people from the Westboro "Baptist" "Church" who picketed Brooklyn Tech yesterday were drowned out more by the hundreds of Tech students, counterprotesters, and Brooklynites chanting "We Love Jews" and shouting "Go Home" to the freaks from Topeka, who were outnumbered more than forty to one. The Times' Fort Greene blog noted that "many if not most" of the counterprotesters were students who had organized by "word of mouth and Facebook status." You do need something to do in Health class. more ›

The kooky Kansas "church" famed for its God-hates-fags message will be harassing Brooklyn Tech after school today and three synagogues on Saturday. Their spokeswoman, Shirley Phelps-Roper, also issued a contemptuous put-down of Brooklyn— asked whether she feared violent confrontations at the picketing locations, she replied: “Don’t flatter yourself, Brooklyn. We serve the living God. You mess with us, you’ll get double destruction for what you do.” more ›

School's out—here comes trouble. Two teenagers have been arrested after they went on "an anti-Semitic spree" on Thursday afternoon in Manhattan. Two boys, 15 and 16 respectively, drew swastikas in black Sharpie on walls at both the Bialystoker Synagogue and the United Hebrew Center on the Lower East Side. At the Hebrew Center, they also lit off smoke bombs; at the synagogue, they hurled eggs and also wrote an anti-Semitic slur on the wall. The synagogue happens to be the East Broadway temple where Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has worshiped since he was four years old. Silver told NY1, "This is a crime, not against the synagogue; this is a crime against society. When people choose to desecrate a house of worship, it doesn't matter whether it's a church, a synagogue. It is just a despicable act that really should tug at the heartstrings of all of us." It's believed that a nearby surveillance camera led police to the two teens. more ›

Senator Chuck Schumer said nothing more than "apology accepted" after learning of the apology from the Arkansas Senate candidate who referred to him as "that Jew" last week at a GOP gathering. The apology from Arkansas State Senate Minority Leader Kim Hendren was nothing short of a classic. He said, “I ought not to have referred to it at all. When I referred to him as Jewish, it wasn’t because I don’t like Jewish people...I don’t speak with a TelePrompTer, and if I had, that reference would have never made it in there." He explained that at the time, he was responding against Schumer's claim on The Rachel Maddow Show that traditional values were behind Democrats. Hendren told Arkansas News that he believed in the traditional values that came from Andy Griffith, Aunt Bea, Barney and Opie (who is a child). He added, "I said there was another Jew that I did agree with, and that was Jesus Christ.” We're guessing that Hendren may have missed this video where Andy and Opie articulated some of their current values. more ›