Combat Antisemitism Movement’s Antisemitism Research Center tracked thirteen antisemitic incidents in which Hanukkah-related events were targeted by acts of disruption or vandalism, CAM reported on Friday.
Five of the incidents tracked by the Antisemitism Research Center (ARC) were carried out by anti-Israel perpetrators, CAM stated. The acts of disruption and vandalism against the Hanukkah events occurred across five countries in North America, South America, and Europe.
In Washington State’s Gig Harbor, vandals ripped the lights out of a menorah and damaged its frame.
At the Santa Fe Plaza, in New Mexico, another menorah, this one made of ice, was demolished.
Three more incidents took place in California.
A Hanukkah concert scheduled to take place at northern California’s Harbin Hot Springs Retreat Center was reportedly canceled due to threats and violent rhetoric posted on social media.
The Jewish performer at the canceled event, Mikey Pauker, was labeled a “terrorist lover” who played “psychotic Zionist genocidal sh*t.”
Additionally, in Sherman Oaks, vandals knocked over a menorah, CAM stated.
Chabad events targeted
Further, in Oakland, “Israelis are the new Nazis” was spray-painted a few feet away from a menorah belonging to the Chabad-Lubavitch Orthodox movement.
Another Chabad-related Hanukkah event was targeted in Little Rock, Arkansas when demonstrators attempted to use anti-Israel chants to drown out a menorah lighting ceremony attended by Trump-nominated US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, CAM reported.
Anti-Israel protesters also targeted a Chabad-sponsored menorah lighting event, this one in England’s London Borough of Islington. CAM reported that police were needed to protect the attendees of the event.
Another menorah was destroyed in Bricket Woods, a village just northwest of London.
In East London’s Gants Hill, an individual in a vehicle passing by hurled antisemitic slurs at the people attending a Hanukkah event there.
In Canada, an individual slammed their car into a menorah in North York, Ontario.
At Calgary City Hall in Alberta, police prevented over a dozen anti-Israel protesters from derailing a municipal menorah-lighting ceremony.
In South America, vandals wrote the word “assassins” on a menorah in Puerto Montt, Chile. The spilled fake blood at the base of the menorah as well.
CAM stated that the use of fake blood was employed a number of times in 2024 by anti-Israel demonstrators “with the apparent aim of implying that Jews are collectively responsible for the supposed crimes of the State of Israel against the Palestinians.”
In Ukraine, arsonists firebombed a Mykolaiv synagogue, CAM continued, and in Lviv, an intoxicated 19-year-old man cut the power cord of a public menorah display. The man was reportedly later arrested after fleeing the scene.