Jews inside Ukraine have formed their own combat units because the government has been unable to protect them from anti-Semitic attacks by pro-Russian terrorists.
The men have either served in the Ukranian or Israeli armies or have martial arts skills the teams founder, Tzvi Arieli, told the Jerusalem Post.
Arieli told the Post that the only weapons the force has are baseball bats that were provided by an American donor whose family originated in Kiev.
“We are trying to raise funds for bullet-proof vests which would greatly increase safety if the situation escalates,” Arieli said. Arieli is a former special forces soldier in the Israeli Defense Forces.
The force was created at the request of the chief rabbi of Ukraine in response to a lack of government support against anti-Semitic attacks. The attacks have been increasing since the removal of former president Viktor Yanukovych.
In an action that reminded many of the actions of Nazis in Germany, a militant Russian group in eastern Ukraine has told Jewish residents they need to register or they will be stripped of citizenship and their possessions taken from them.
The Ukraine government has been fighting separatists in the region who have been supported and guided by Russian Special Forces.
“Someone tried to use the Jewish community as an instrument of this conflict,” Chief Rabbi Pinchas Vyshedski told reporters. Rabbi Vyshedski has called for the government to provide additional security to Jewish synagogues and facilities in the region.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed that leaflets containing the demand for registration were dropped in Jewish areas. He attributed the fliers to Denis Pushilin of the Donetsk People’s Republic group. Kerry called the anti-Semitism “intolerable” and “grotesque.”
The documents were also reportedly handed to Jews as they approached synagogues for Passover events. The men reportedly were wearing camouflage gear and face coverings.
A man with a long record of hatred toward Jews is under arrest after killing three people outside two Jewish facilities in the Kansas City area.
Frazier Glenn Miller, 73, is facing at least three counts of murder after the shootings at a Jewish community center and Jewish retirement center in Overland Park, KS. Miller is a resident of Aurora, Missouri, 190 miles from the site of the shootings and police have not speculated why Miller chose these particular locations.
Two of those killed were a grandfather and his 14-year-old grandson, both of whom were Christians but not Jewish. The two were at the community center so that the grandson could audition for “KC SuperStar”, a singing competition for students.
Miller is a former grand wizard for the KKK and ran for Congress in 2006 and 2010 on platforms of white supremacy that included many anti-Semitic claims.
Police would not confirm a hate crime motive even though Miller was yelling “Heil Hitler” as he was driven off in a police car after his arrest and the start of the Jewish Passover the following day.
Three Arabic men who shouted anti-Semitic slurs attacked a Jewish scholar teaching in Paris.
The reports from Paris police say the three men grabbed the victim and threw him against a wall. The victim was then beaten in the face until his nose was broken and deformed. They also broke bones around his eyes.
They then threw the victim to the ground, ripped his clothing and drew a swastika on his chest.
During the attack, then men shouted “death to the Jews” and repeatedly called the victim a “dirty Jew” before punching him.
The attackers ran when the victim’s cries drew attention of people in the area.
French officials have reported a significant rise in anti-Semitic attacks in the last few weeks.
A British citizen who is a Hasidic Jew was brutally attacked on a New York street in what members of the Jewish community are calling another example of the “knockout game.”
While police are refusing to acknowledge the attack was a “knockout” attack, at least one public official says the assault on the 65-year-old man certainly appears to fit the criteria.
“He was attacked from behind by two individuals, brutally attacked,” Democratic New York City Councilman David Greenfield said. “They did not take anything from him, and he was in such bad condition that he had to be hospitalized.”
The man had traveled to New York for a wedding. He was attacked on the street in Brooklyn as he left the wedding.
The NYPD has increased patrols in the areas where the “knockout game” began in October last year. Police are reportedly looking at surveillance video of the assault for clues.
Knockout game attacks are spreading throughout the western U.S.
Police in Los Gatos, California are looking for a man who attacked a mother outside a dance studio on Monday afternoon.
The woman had just dropped off her daughter for dance class and was walking out of the building when a man attacked her. He reportedly ran up, punched the woman in the face and waited to make sure she fell before running off.
Police are searching for an African American man in his 20s.
In Denver, Colorado, police now admit four people were hurt in three separate attacks on New Year’s Eve that appear to be Knockout Game attacks.
The witnesses say they were approached by strangers and punched in the face.
One of the victims, Nick Lloyd, had his jaw broken in multiple places by the strike and will need metal plates to reconstruct his face.
Police say the pattern of attacks makes it likely the attacks are related.
The Obama administration has filed a federal hate-crimes charge against a white man accused of targeting a black man for a “knockout game” attack.
The charge marks the first time the administration has taken action on a “knockout game” case after multiple reports of African Americans targeting whites and Jews.
“Suspected crimes of this nature will simply not be tolerated,” said Kenneth Magidson, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas. “Evidence of hate crimes will be vigorously investigated and prosecuted with the assistance of all our partners to the fullest extent of the law.”
Conrad Alvin Barrett, 27, reportedly attacked a 79-year-old black man in Fulshear, Texas. Justice Department officials said they brought the case because they wanted to make a point about hate crimes.
Barrett reportedly videotaped himself beating the black man and then showed it to people in a restaurant. One of the people was an off-duty peace officer. The victim suffered lost teeth and a broken jaw.
The latest arrests for Knockout Game attacks have surprising results.
A 14-year-old girl and three other children aged 10 and 11 were arrested for a series of assaults in October and November.
The victims include a youth the gang hit in the head with a rock and another who had a plastic bag held over their face to suffocate them.
“Kids are kids — when you’re talking 10 and 11 year olds getting involved in these type of things, sometimes they don’t realize the magnitude of what they’re doing,” NYPD Deputy Inspector George Fitzgibbon told reporters.
The police say that the attacks, despite only striking Jewish children, were not motivated by hate.
The youths were charged with assault, endangerment and criminal mischief.
A 20-year-old Long Island man is behind bars after police say he committed at least seven “knockout game” attacks dating back to April 2013.
Darryl Mitchell is expected to be charged today with the assaults of residents from Babylon, New York to Amityville, New York.
One of the victims, Darryl Jones, said that Mitchell came at him out of nowhere and landed a single roundhouse punch to the face. The blow caused a gash above his eye that required seven stitches.
“If I wasn’t strong enough, I probably would’ve passed out,” told WABC. “He was walking on the sidewalk and I moved out of the way just to step into the street and he stood in front of me holding up his hands and hit me in the face.”
The victims ranged in age from 17 to 69.
Civil rights leaders and music stars are joining together to try and put an end to the knockout game in New York.
Reverend Al Sharpton, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons and others have joined together for a series of social media announcements aimed at ending the violent game where a group of youths videotape a member of their gang striking a random stranger with the intent of knocking them out with one punch.
“The knockout game is not a game,” Rev. Sharpton said in a YouTube video. “It is vicious. It is ugly. It must be stopped.”
Sharpton then released a statement saying the game cannot be tolerated.
“These kids are targeting innocent people, and in many cases specifically targeting Jewish folks. We would not be silent if it were the other way around, and we will not be silent now. This behavior is racist, period. And we will not tolerate it,” he wrote.
Russell Simmons said in his video that those who participate in the game are cowards.
“How come you all want to hit people that look like they’ve got on devotional clothing and might not hit you back? Why don’t you hit somebody that might hit you back?” Simmons said in a video.
A newly elected New York Councilwoman wrote in an open letter that said many of her black constituents feel threatened by the growth of the Jewish community and that could be contributing to the increase in violence.
