This timeline of antisemitism chronicles the facts of antisemitism, hostile actions or discrimination against Jews as a religious or ethnic group, in the 21st century. It includes events in the history of antisemitic thought, actions taken to combat or relieve the effects of antisemitism, and events that affected the prevalence of antisemitism in later years. The history of antisemitism can be traced from ancient times to the present day.
2000
2000s Craig Raine, in his books In Defence of T. S. Eliot (2001) and T. S. Eliot (2006), sought to defend Eliot from the charge of anti-Semitism. Reviewing the 2006 book, Paul Dean stated that he was not convinced by Raine's argument. Nevertheless, he concluded, "Ultimately, as both Raine and, to do him justice, Julius insist, however much Eliot may have been compromised as a person, as we all are in our several ways, his greatness as a poet remains." In another review of Raine's 2006 book, the literary critic Terry Eagleton also questioned the validity of Raine's defense of Eliot's character flaws as well as the entire basis for Raine's book, writing, "Why do critics feel a need to defend the authors they write on, like doting parents deaf to all criticism of their obnoxious children? Eliot's well-earned reputation [as a poet] is established beyond all doubt, and making him out to be as unflawed as the Archangel Gabriel does him no favours." 2000 Richard Baumhammers walked to the home of his next-door neighbor, a 63-year-old Jewish woman named Anita "Nicki" Gordon and fatally shot her, then set her house on fire. Some time after that, he drove to the Beth El Congregation in Scott Township, where Gordon was a member of the synagogue. There, he fired into the windows of the synagogue, then exited his vehicle and spray-painted two red swastikas on the building. Baumhammers later drove to the Ahavath Achim Congregation in Carnegie where he shattered the synagogue's glass windows with gunfire. 2000 In April 2000 the International League against Racism and Anti-Semitism and Union des étudiants juifs de France (the Union of French Jewish Students) brought a case against Yahoo! in which it objected to the auctioning of Nazi memorabilia, in France, via Yahoo!'s website on the basis that it contravened Article R645-1. Though a French judge initially ordered Yahoo! to take measures to make it impossible for users in France to purchase any Nazi memorabilia through the Yahoo! site, in December 2001, the US District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that Yahoo! would be shielded from the judgement of the French court. 2000 The Temple Beth El building, but not the sanctuary, was heavily damaged in an arson attack on 13 October 2000. Palestinian-American Ramsi Uthman was convicted in the attack. Ahed Shehadeh was convicted of aiding and abetting the arson. According to Shehadeh's testimony, after Uthman set fire to the Temple, he yelled "I did this for you, God!" In exchange for his testimony Shehadeh received a five-year prison sentence, and was released in 2008. Uthman received the maximum possible sentence of 25 years, to be served in New York's Attica Correctional Facility, although he will be eligible for parole in 2021. The building reopened in 2001 after repairing some $700,000 of damage from the attack. 2000 Firebombing of a New York synagogue (Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel of Riverdale), 2000 New York terror attack. 2000 The Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba and Nova Scotia enacted legislation to recognize Holocaust Memorial Day in 2000. 2000 October 31 Beth Israel Synagogue (Edmonton) is firebombed. 2000 On 22 November 2000, Judge Edward R. Korman announced a settlement of the World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks with his approval of a plan featuring the payment of $1.25 billion into funds controlled by the Israeli Banking Trust. Judah Gribetz was appointed Special Master to administer the plan, which is sometimes called the Gribetz Plan after its chief author. 2000 David Irving v Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt is a case in English law, decided in 2000, against American author Deborah Lipstadt and her publisher Penguin Books, filed in an English court by the British author David Irving in 1996, asserting that Lipstadt had libeled him in her book Denying the Holocaust. The court ruled that the Irving's claim of libel relating to English defamation law and Holocaust denial was not valid because his deliberate distortion of evidence has been shown to be substantially true.