APRIL 29, 2022 | 28 Nisan 5782
Candlelighting 7:56 p.m. | Havdalah 8:59 p.m. | Vol. 65, No. 17 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
Police make arrests, identify stolen property in separate crimes against Jewish community
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University of Pittsburgh adopts IHRA’s definition of antisemitism By David Rullo | Staff Writer
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awaiting a preliminary hearing. Brokos said she hopes he will be detained for a mental health evaluation. Brokos credits the victims who reported the incidents and provided an accurate description of the suspect promptly, as well as vigilant community members who identified Williams based on the description. “I think it was definitely an excellent community effort,” Brokos said. “That includes the police, as well.” Brokos said Federation and the Pittsburgh Police are still seeking information about separate incidents that occurred in Squirrel Hill on April 15 and days later in Mt. Lebanon. Anyone who had an antisemitic flyer in a Ziploc bag filled with rice thrown onto their property should call 911 and also report it to Brokos. In an unrelated case, the Allegheny County Police department is looking for help in identifying Jewish community members
fter Vasili Rukhadze, a visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh, was accused in February of comparing wearing a face mask to being gassed in Auschwitz, Melanie Silver, president of Hillel JUC, wanted Jewish students on campus to know they had the full support of the school and its staff. So, after learning of the incident, Silver, a junior majoring in digital narrative and interactive design with a certificate in Jewish studies, reached out to local Jewish communal professionals to see what could be done to help. Hillel JUC Executive Director Dan Marcus, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s Community Relations Council Director Laura Cherner and Dylan Groff, CRC associate, told her the answer was to have something in place that would ensure “something like this would never happen again,” she said. In response, Silver, partnering with Chabad on Campus President Ralphi Berlin, started a campaign to get the university to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. The two set up a meeting with Clyde Wilson Pickett, vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion at Pitt. On March 30, the university formally adopted the definition. The student government board voted to support the definition on April 5, and it will be included in the university’s nondiscriminatory policy. Berlin, a junior studying finance business information, said he has been working for years to get the university and student government to do more to combat antisemitism. The IHRA is one of the only organizations with a working definition of antisemitism, he said, and it provides a framework of how
Please see Clinton, page 14
Please see Antisemitism, page 14
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Some of the items recovered from the home of Andrew Clinton
Photo by David Rullo
Page 5 By David Rullo | Staff Writer
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ittsburgh Police arrested Christian Williams, 31, in connection with threats made against the Jewish community on Sunday, April 19. Williams allegedly screamed obscenities and made threatening comments to community members on Murray Avenue near Shaare Torah Congregation on April 17. Additionally, Williams reportedly harassed people near a church in Oakland, although the nature of the threats is not known. Williams was arrested on Forward Avenue after being spotted in Squirrel Hill by a community member who contacted Rick Franks, the security director for the Jewish Association on Aging, according to Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh Community Security Director Shawn Brokos. Franks notified Brokos, who contacted Pittsburgh Police. Officers arrested Williams after observing him acting erratically. Williams is in the Allegheny County Jail
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