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October 1, 2018

Iran Launches Missiles Against ISIS in Syria While Threatening U.S. and Israel

Iran launched six medium-range ballistic missiles into Syria on Oct. 1 at ISIS targets in what it said was retaliation for their role in a recent attack at a military parade last month in Iran. The missile attack reportedly killed and wounded several militants.

Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who heads the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division, told an Iranian news agency, “Terrorists used bullets in Ahvaz. We answered them with missiles.”

The United States said that no members of the U.S.-backed coalition in Syria was harmed in the missile strikes. The missiles were emblazoned with the slogans “Down with USA,” “Down with Israel,” and “Down with House of Saud [Saudi Arabia].”

On Sept. 22, four gunmen opened fire on an Iranian military parade in Ahvaz, resulted in at least 25 dead, eight of whom were members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Both ISIS and the Ahvaz National Resistance, an anti-government militia, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Iran blamed the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia for the military parade attack. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Oct. 1 missile strikes showed that it was “ridiculous” for Iran to think that Israel was behind the attack.

“The fact that ‘Death to Israel’ was written on the missiles launched at Syria proves everything,” Netanyahu said.

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Dutch Man Assaulted in Berlin After Being Asked If He’s Jewish

A Dutch man was reportedly assaulted by a couple of men in Berlin on Sept. 29 after being asked if he was Jewish.

According to Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), the 31-year-old man, who has not been publicly identified, was asked by two men if he was Jewish. The man responded by asking why they wanted to know, and the two men allegedly proceeded to assault him.

The two men reportedly left in a taxi.

Andrew Srulevitch, the ADL’s director of European Affairs, tweeted that the man “wasn’t Jewish, but this is still an anti-Semitic assault.”

In July, a Syrian-Jewish man was reportedly assaulted in a Berlin park by 10 teenagers and young adults after they noticed that he was wearing a Star of David emblem. In June, a 19-year-old Syrian Palestinian man admitted to using a belt to attack a 21-year-old Israeli student wearing a kippah.

According to German government data, attacks on Jews in Germany increased by 10 percent in the first half of 2018 from the first half of 2017; around 20 percent of those attacks in the first half of 2018 occurred in Berlin.

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NYPD to Investigate Sukkah Defaced With ‘Free Gaza’ Graffiti As Hate Crime

The New York Police Department is investigating a sukkah that was vandalized with “Free Gaza” graffiti as a possible hate crime, according to the New York Daily News.

The sukkah, which was erected at Carl Schurz Park in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, was vandalized on Sept. 30 with “Free Gaza” spray-painted in three places. The Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) New York chapter condemned the graffiti in a tweet.

“Targeting a premises used for religious purposes during the #Jewish holiday of Sukkot is simply beyond the pale,” the ADL New York chapter tweeted. “Thankful to @NYPDnews for swiftly being on the scene & investigating.”

Rabbi Ben Tzion Krasnianski, who heads the local Chabad chapter, told the New York Post, “To come this morning and see this vicious act, insult, there is just no room for this hatred in New York City. Especially on the Upper East Side, which is a beautiful community, especially at the door steps of Gracie Mansion.”

The “Free Gaza” graffiti was eventually overwritten by messages of “Shalom” and “Sukkah of Unity” on the sukkah.

In October 2017, a sukkah on the Upper East Side was damaged by with what appeared to be a knife.

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