A Nazi flag was recovered from the U-Haul truck that was deliberately crashed into a security barrier just north of the White House Monday. Sai Varshith Kandula, the 19-year-old suspect, allegedly told authorities that he admires Nazis and wanted to kill President Biden in order to “seize power,” according to court documents. Kandula told Secret Service agents he viewed Adolf Hitler as a “strong leader,” admires the Nazi party’s “authoritarian nature, eugenics, and their one world order,” and bought the Nazi flag online due to their “great history.”

 

Many users online have disputed that Kandula bought into white-supremacist and Nazi ideologies due to his non-white ethnicity, similar to conversation about the recent Allen, Texas shooting. Some went one step further and suggested Kandula was carrying a swastika due to his perceived Indian background, as the swastika is a symbol that has an important meaning in Hindu cultures.

 

Roger Waters, former member of ‘Pink Floyd’, sparked outrage for performing numerous provocative and antisemitic acts during his concert in Berlin last weekend. 

 

Waters began his show by proudly announcing that a Frankfurt court ruled Waters wasn't antisemitic, leading the audience to erupt into applause. Waters would not have been allowed to perform had the courts ruled him to be antisemitic.
 

Waters staged antisemitic acts throughout his performance. He compared Anne Frank to Shireen Abu Akleh, an Al-Jazeera journalist that was killed in the crossfire between Israeli and Palestinian soldiers last year. While dressed in a nearly-identical SS uniform, Waters pretended to fire a machine gun at the audience and sang the song “In the Flesh,” whose lyrics include, “and that one looks Jewish… if I had my way, I’d have them all shot.” Waters also released a giant inflatable pig emblazoned with the Star of David into the crowd.

 

Berlin police have opened an incitement investigation into Waters over this performance, according to the Jewish News. In response to Waters’ SS-like uniform, Berlin police chief inspector Martin Halweg stated, “[t]he context of the clothing worn is deemed capable of approving, glorifying or justifying the violent and arbitrary rule of the Nazi regime in a manner that violates the dignity of the victims and thereby disrupts public peace.”

 

Social media users were appalled at Waters’ overt antisemitism. Many people were angered that a concert so laden with antisemitism was allowed to proceed, particularly in Berlin, and in response are urging other cities to cancel Waters’ shows. 

The White House released the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism Thursday, which includes over 100 new actions the administration will take to raise awareness and combat antisemitism across the United States. The strategy sets forth a whole-of-society plan that will act against escalating hatred and lay the foundation for reducing antisemitism over time. It rests on four pillars:

The national strategy embraces the highly accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and reaffirms the United States' commitment to Israel's right to exist, its legitimacy, and security. It also stresses the importance of combating antisemitism to counter all forms of hate that are fueled by antisemitic conspiracy theories.

 

The strategy also includes a convening, hosted by the Foundation to Combat Antisemitism and including major sports leagues and teams, to discuss strategies, tools and best practices to effectively combat antisemitism and all forms of hate.

 

Jewish organizations welcomed the new strategy as a historical and groundbreaking initiative for combating antisemitism on a national level.

 

 

 

 

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