Seems that not even Pokémon is safe from antisemitism. Dov Aloof, a 29-year-old Israeli-American professional player, is the autistic grandson of Holocaust survivors and he found in Pokémon the one place he felt safe after lifelong bullying. He was thrown out of the 2025 World Championships as a spectator and then indefinitely banned from competing after advocating for Israeli tournaments to count toward rankings and raising concerns about antisemitic posts by other players. Aloof filed a federal lawsuit in March. The complaint said that Pokémon was central to Aloof’s life, shaping a large part of his personality and influencing friendships by way of “transcending ethnic animosities that plague the Middle East . . . .For example, he regularly interacts with Arab-Muslim Pokémon players in countries that do not or did not have diplomatic relations with Israel…. On a personal level… Pokémon has been an arena where [Aloof] can be himself and… not be judged for being a ‘weird, autistic, Jewish kid,’ for which he experienced severe bullying as a child.” His lawyer, Matthew Mainer, told The Independent when the suit was filed, that the case was “heartbreaking.” “You have an autistic young man who endured endless bullying his whole life. He finally found the one place where he felt safe: Pokémon. He somehow mustered the courage to leave the shell of autism to try his hand at advocacy for other Jewish and Israeli Pokémon players. The end result? An indefinite ban from his safe space. We will get justice for Dov.” A judge just allowed the discrimination lawsuit against The Pokémon Company to proceed. It found a plausible claim of discrimination and retaliation. “Antisemites have long dismissed Jewish attachment to Israel as mere politics. This court declined to go along,” his counsel told the JNS. Read about the latest in the court proceedings: jns.org/news/u-s-news/federa…