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Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird has assembled a task force of law enforcement officials and members of Iowa’s Jewish community to address acts of antisemitism in Iowa.
“The things that we hear about, they’re not just news stories,” Bird said during a news conference held at the Iowa Holocaust Memorial near the Iowa Capitol. “It’s real people. Real lives that are affected and it really matters.”
Bird said the task force will help train law enforcement and county attorneys to respond to reports of antisemitism and encourage victims to come forward.
“Iowa is not New York and we are thankful for that,” Bird said, “but we will not stand by as any Jewish students are harassed or targeted at their school.”
Jarad Bernstein, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines, said groups on the far right and far left are stoking harassment, vandalism and assault of Jews and there have been “dozens” of recent complaints in Iowa.
“On the campus of Iowa State University last week, protesters called for an intifada revolution — that’s a direct call to murder Jews; where at Grinnell College last fall protesters held banners decrying Zionism as white supremacy;” he said, “where at an Iowa high school graffiti was found saying Nazis were the good guys.”
ISU professor Christina Gish Hill said the ex
“My hope is that these student protesters at ISU are not fully aware of the meaning of their messaging. This is why bringing awareness to and combatting antisemitism using every tool we have is so essential in our current environment,” Gish Hill said. “Iowa’s educational communities must not fail in their responsibility to speak out when free speech turns to hate and incitement.”
Bird indicated the task force will work with Iowa’s college and universities so students “understand what antisemitism is” and how to combat it.
“People are being targeted because they are Jewish and because of who they are,” Bird said, “and that has no place in Iowa.”
