(Radio Iowa) – 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.

Bird says the task force will help train law enforcement and county attorneys to respond to reports of antisemitism and encourage victims to come forward.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and other members of her antisemitism task force spoke during a news conference at the Iowa Holocaust Memorial. (RI photo)

Jarad (JAIR-ud) Bernstein, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines, says 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.

I-S-U professor Christina Gish Hill says the expression of hatred toward Jews is growing bolder throughout the United States and Europe, especially on college campuses — and in Ames.

Bird says the task force will work with Iowa’s college and universities so students understand what antisemitism is.

Bird and other members of the task force spoke this (Friday) afternoon at a news conference staged at the Holocaust Memorical near the Iowa Capitol.