The European origins of the 'New York Times' antisemitic cartoon

Via Jerusalem Post:

The antisemitic cartoon that ran in the New York Times International Edition was not printed by accident. It comes in the context of historic antisemitism that is common across Western Europe and is part of more than a thousand years of anti-Jewish stereotypes and caricatures. The cartoon originally was drawn by a cartoonist who is known for his work at a Portuguese media outlet. Cartoons similar to this that have appeared in European newspapers have not led to the kind of controversy that the New York Times cartoon has.

In 2016, author Mario Vargas llosa wrote an article condemning Israel in Spain's El Pais daily. The illustrative photo showed a man dressed in a black hat of the kind worn by religious Jews, wearing a blindfold, as if he was “blind” to the suffering of Palestinians. Anti-Jewish caricatures and tropes, conflating Israel with all Jews and using images of religious Jews whenever Israel is condemned, or Jewish symbols such as the Star of David, are too often the norm in European cartoons and illustrations. Unlike with the New York Times controversy where these images, caricatures and tropes were at least questioned, they appear consistently across Europe and rarely lead to the kind of controversy that the Times cartoon has elicited.

For instance, the cartoonist behind the Times cartoon appears on a website called ‘Cartooning for Peace.’ One of the other cartoons from 2006 depicted on the website shows a foot with an American flag for pants and a Star of David as spurs. The Star of David is dripping blood. Why is it dripping blood? Why is the US depicted wearing spurs of a Jewish symbol? Next to the Star of David is another leg with an Islamic crescent. The cartoon’s symbolism appears to imply: The Jews are the US weapon against Islam.

Similarly, the current cartoon depicts a dog with a Jewish Star of David, leading the US blindly, with its president wearing a yarmulke. From the 1930s until today, very little has changed in aspects of antisemitic imagery - only that Israel is sometimes the stand-in for “the Jews,” with the same use of Jewish symbols or traditional clothing.

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Germany: Nazis march in Duisburg

Via JFDA:

About 200 extreme right-wingers marched in Duisburg, shouting racist, antisemitic and anti-Zionist slogans.  Some carried signs "Stop Zionism: Israel is our misfortune"

UK campus minority officer to Jewish student: Be like Israel and cease to exist

Via Times of Israel:

A student minority officer at a British university told a Jewish student to “be like Israel and cease to exist.”

Omar Chowdhury, the Black and Ethnic Minorities officer at Bristol University, in southwest England, also told Izzy Posen to “fuck off” and that “your comments are like Israeli settlements: always popping up where they are not wanted.”

Chowdhury ran for his student union position on a platform of “zero tolerance for racism,” the London-based Jewish Chronicle reported.

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UK: Leicestershire councillor faces anti-Semitic abuse in letters

Via BBC:

A man said he is "disappointed" police did not investigate anti-Semitic abuse he received for displaying an Israeli flag at his micro-pub.

Councillor Michael Wyatt got letters and messages online after putting up the flag as part of a gin festival in Coalville, Leicestershire.

He said the abuse started five months ago and "got pretty scary".

Leicestershire Police said the case was "not further progressed" after being reported but would now be investigated.

Liberal Democrat Mr Wyatt, who is not Jewish, displayed the flags at Bitter & Twisted to reflect worldwide gins he was selling.

He said letters demanded he take the Israeli flag down "because it was offensive".

He was also sent threatening messages on Facebook and abused in the pub.

"It started with letters about Jewish people, then saying I was a Hamas supporter and making comments about me defending Palestinians," he said.

"It's a nice town and I don't expect to see material like that through my post."

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France declares anti-Zionism a form of antisemitism in crackdown on racism against Jewish people

Via Independent:

Emmanuel Macron has declared anti-Zionism a form of antisemitism as he ramps up France’s crackdown on racism against Jewish people.

Speaking at the 34th annual dinner of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions of France, Mr Macron said a surge in antisemitic attacks in his country had not been seen since World War Two.

He promised a new law to tackle hate speech on the internet and said France would adopt the definition of antisemitism set by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).

The IHRA definition does not use the phrase "anti-Zionism" but does say denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination "e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour," is antisemitic.

(...)

Mr Macron's words were well received from the World Jewish Congress which said: "This is just the beginning of a long road ahead. Adopting this definition of anti-Semitism must be followed by concrete steps to encode into law and ensure that this is enforced."

The IHRA definition is not legally binding but does serve as an international guideline.

Germany and Britain adopted the definition in texts in 2016, though the European Union adopted a softer tone, calling the IHRA definition a "guidance tool" amid concern from some member states that it could make criticism of Israeli policy, particularly with regards to Palestinians, difficult.

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France: Jewish Philosopher Alain Finkielkraut Attacked by Yellow Vest Protesters in Paris

Via Haaretz:

French Jewish philosopher Alain Finkielkraut was the target of an anti-Semitic attack Saturday night, French media outlets reported.

The philosopher, whose writing focuses on the ideas of tradition and identitary violence (including Jewish identity and anti-Semitism), was assaulted by Yellow Vest protesters who have taken to France's streets in recent months to demonstrate the country's rising fuel prices.

In videos that documented the incident, protesters can be heard yelling: "Dirty Jew" and "you're a hater, you're going to die, you're going to hell," while others called on the thinker to "go home" and "return to Tel Aviv."

In a different clip demonstrators can be heard screaming anti-Semitic profanities such as "dirty Zionist shit." 

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Other insults hurled at Finkielkraut:
"Palestine!"
"France is ours!"
"Dirty race!"
"The people will punish you!"

Iceland: Local Icon Makes Anti-Semitic Remarks Regarding Eurovision, Takes It Back And Apologises

Via Reykjavik Grapevine:

Musician and Eurovision enthusiast Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson, who is currently pressing for Iceland to withdraw from Eurovision this year on account of it being held in Tel Aviv, made some decidedly anti-Semitic remarks on national broadcasting radio yesterday. Hours later, he posted a lengthy apology.

Thousands of Icelanders currently support boycotting Eurovision as it takes place in Israel this year; support for Eurovision, it is argued, expresses tacit support for the Israeli government’s policies regarding the Palestinian people. While Iceland ultimately decided to participate, the debate is far from over, and Páll Óskar has been amongst the most vocal supporters of a boycott.

However, when speaking with radio station Rás 1 yesterday, he made remarks regarding Jewish people as a whole that crossed the line from criticism of the Israeli government into more sweeping generalisations.

“The reason why the rest of Europe has been virtually silent is that Jews have woven themselves into the fabric of Europe in a very sly way for a very long time. It is not at all hip and cool to be pro-Palestine in Britain,” he said, saying at the interview’s conclusion: “The tragedy is that Jews learned nothing from the Holocaust. Instead, they have taken up the exact same policy of their worst enemy.”

The remarks were met with sharp criticism from many Icelanders, and hours later, Páll Óskar posted an apology and retraction.

“I admit unreservedly that I put the Israeli government, the Israeli military and the Jewish people under the same hat,” he wrote. “I made judgements and generalisations about Jewish people. … I take full responsibility for these words, take back my remarks about Jewish people, they are wrong and hurtful. I will take responsibility in actions, from this point forward, and will never again speak ill of the Jewish people, wherever in the world they may live.”

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France: Jewish cemetery near Strasbourg defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti

Via Times of Israel:

Several tombstones were defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti at a Jewish cemetery near the French city of Strasbourg.

The incident was discovered Tuesday in Herrlisheim, a northern suburb, the CRIF umbrella of French Jewish communities said in a statement. “CRIF = ZOG” and the digits 88 were written on the tombstones. ZOG stands for “Zionist occupation government,” and the number is code for Adolf Hitler.

It’s the fourth time in two months that graffiti featuring far-right anti-Semitic rhetoric has been discovered at sites linked to Jews in the eastern Alsace region. In two incidents, Jewish mayors were the targets.

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UK: Racist who gave Nazi salutes and shouted 'child killers' during anti-Semitism rally is jailed for six months

Via Daily Mail:

A racist who gave Nazi salutes during an anti-Semitism rally then tried to claim it was 'freedom of speech' has been jailed.

Catering assistant Joseph Brogan, 27, shouted 'child killers' and 'you people should live in Israel' as hundreds of people, including MPs and rabbis, took part in a march.

As marshals at the rally in Manchester intervened, Brogan continued to hurl profanities and then raised his arm to mimic the Nazi salute before he was arrested.

One of the abused security staff later revealed members of his family had perished in the Holocaust.

Brogan, from Openshaw in Manchester admitted racially aggravated threatening behaviour but later tried to claim he was giving his opinion on 'Zionism'.

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Belgium: Rapper with anti-Semitic lyrics shut down during public radio appearance

Via JTA:

A Belgian public radio station kicked out of its studio a rapper who on air inveighed against Israel and “Zionists” while introducing a song whose lyrics speak of “money-loving Jews running after each cent.”

The incident occurred last month at the Antwerp studio of a department of the VRT public broadcaster during an interview with Bissy Owa, an up-and-coming performer who is Muslim, about his recently released song titled “Money till the Death,” the Joods Actueel news website reported Wednesday.

The VRT studio muted Owa’s microphone after he said during a live interview: “F**k the Zionists, revolution, Israel must go, free Palestine.”

The song, which begins with the expletive about Zionists, shows him dancing while wearing a black hat and fake side-locks and singing about Jewish greed. He also says “I can’t hang with a Jew.”

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Netherlands: Cop requests removal of Holocaust memorial sign, cites Israeli actions / Jew attacked

Via Times of Israel:

A bookshop owner in the Dutch capital said that a police officer asked him to remove a sign commemorating Holocaust victims, citing Israel’s actions.

Gert-Jan Jimmink told the De Telegraaf daily in a video published online Friday that the request was over a sign that read “Open Jewish Homes, Houses of Resistance.” The sign is part of a grassroots initiative from 2011 in the Netherlands in which residents of homes that used to belong to Holocaust victims open them to the public on the week of May 4, the Netherlands’ day of Remembrance of the Dead for Dutch war casualties.

The officer asked Jimmink: “Would you mind taking that off, because Israel launched an attack,” he said. Jimmink did not say when the officer, who he did not name, requested this. He ignored the request, he said. “I will not bow to this,” he added.

Jimmink, who has commemorated Holocaust victims also by having memorial cobblestones installed outside their former homes, also said that he recently saw an anti-Semitic assault outside his shop. A man of about 40 wearing a kippah was waiting for a tram, when an older man spat on him and hit him, Jimmink said. The attacker had left by the time Jimmink rushed to intervene he said.

“But it happened right in front of my eyes,” he said.

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Germany: Rappers who call for “another Holocaust” win top music award

Via Jewish News:

A German-Jewish leader condemned a music award given to two popular rappers as a “devastating” example of the normalcy of anti-Semitism in today’s society.

Kollegah and Bang won the top Echo Music Award in the hip-hop category for an album whose lyrics boast of physiques “more defined that those of Auschwitz inmates” and call for “another Holocaust; let’s grab the Molotov” cocktails.

Charlotte Knobloch, head of the Jewish community of Munich and Bavaria, was one of numerous public figures in Germany who criticised the award. The ceremony took place in Berlin on 12 April, which also was the annual Holocaust and Ghetto Uprising Remembrance Day.

The album, whose title in English is  “Young, Brutal, Good Looking 3,” won the best of Hip-Hop/Urban, National award.

(...)

When Focus magazine asked the artists how they viewed the criticism, they responded by joking about their failure to work out before the ceremony.

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Belgium: Antwerp man filmed destroying 20 mezuzahs, harassing Jews

Via JTA:

A 24-year-old refugee, believed to be Muslim, was briefly detained by Belgian police for anti-Semitic hate crimes, including the destruction of at least 20 mezuzahs in Antwerp, local Jews said.

In recent weeks, the same man was filmed in Antwerp destroying at least 20 mezuzahs, religious objects containing a parchment with biblical text inked on it that Jews affix to their door frames, and vandalizing the entrance doors of several Jewish institution, Joods Actueel, the Jewish monthly reported Sunday. He was detained for 12 hours Friday based on footage from security cameras of him destroying the mezuzahs.

He had also placed a Koran near a synagogue, and was filmed knocking off the hat of an Orthodox Jew on the street. He shouted at Jewish passersby: “This is our land, Palestine!” and: “We will show you!”

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UK: East Yorkshire MP reveals second anti-Semitic attack since becoming a Jew

Via Hull Daily Mail:

An East Yorkshire MP has revealed the “torrent” of anti-Semitic abuse he received at the hands of two people while out shopping before Christmas.

Andrew Percy, Conservative MP for Goole and a recent Jewish convert, said he was accosted by a man and a woman while in Doncaster shopping.

The ex-Hull City councillor previously alleged, as reported by the Mail, that he was targeted during the snap general election last summer, with two individuals said to have “screamed” at him for being “Israeli scum” and “Zionist scum”.

The backbencher is vice-chairman of the Conservative Friends of Israel and has defended Israel’s foreign policy in the past.

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Greece: Holocaust memorial in Thessaloniki desecrated with "Free Palestine" graffiti

Via Avi Mayer@Twitter

Germany: 'Hitler Was Good!' Jewish Student Attacked by Classmates

Via Sputnik News:

The anti-Semitic incident occurred in a Berlin school in mid-December and has made headlines in media over the last few days.

A Jewish German student has become a victim to anti-Semitic abuse by his Arab classmates in the Ernst Reuter School in Berlin, according to reports.

The incident took place during a discussion of the Middle Eastern conflict when the 18-year-old Jewish student spoke against the creation of a Palestinian state and received a tough response from his fellow students.

As reported by the Berliner Zeitung, several young people who originally come from Arab countries surrounded their Jewish fellow student and verbally abused him. For example, one girl allegedly said: "Wallah, Hitler was good, because he killed the Jews, he was a good man!"

Talking to a local Jewish newspaper, the student said that he faced insults before and that anti-Semitic abuse had been a common practice in his school life.

"I tried to stay calm, to smile and to present facts, but I decided to break my silence on the comment about Hitler," he said.

(...)

According to the Berliner Zeitung, the girl who made the abusive statement immediately noticed that her words were discriminatory and apologized to the student.

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UK: Pensioner sentenced over anti-Semitic slogans

Via Jewish News:

A 68-year-old pensioner from Altrincham has been sentenced for carrying out a spray-paint graffiti campaign which saw him scrawl slogans which included “BDS”, “Gaza Bleeds” and “ZioNazis”.

Timothy Rustige pleaded guilty to eight counts of criminal damage, which were carried out between September 2016 and August 2017, and saw the messages written on the River Bollin Aqueduct in Dunham Massey. 

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UK: UK: Pensioner fined £250 for antisemitic mail campaign against 'Zionist Jews'

Via CAA:

James Evans, a 70-year-old pensioner from Worcester, has been fined for harassing Worcester MP Robin Walker after writing him over 150 letters which included references to “Zionist Jews” being a “death cult” and claims that they will “get us all killed in the Third World War.” He also said the Jews were “not a race.” Mr Evans was fined £250, despite him refusing to express remorse and the fact that this is his third conviction for a similar offence.

Mr Evans wrote over 150 letters to Mr Walker between 1st August and 25th November last year. Mr Evans, who represented himself, had previously admitted racially aggravated harassment against Mr Walker when he appeared at Worcester Crown Court to be sentenced.

It is Mr Evans’ third conviction for similar offences, one of which led to a restraining order preventing him from contacting staff at BBC Hereford and Worcester after he sent them 70 offensive letters. It was a restraining order he later breached.

Mr Walter even contacted Mr Evans in an attempt to stop the letters being sent, but he continued to send and hand deliver letters, sometimes several times a day.

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France: Up to 8,000 Jews leave France each year

Valeurs Actuelles has a piece by Rachel Binhas about antisemitism in France:

Each year, several thousand French Jews leave to Israel, the United Kingdom or America. BNVCA (Bureau of Vigilance against anti-Semitism) puts the figure at between 6,000 and 8,000 Jews.

There is also an internal displacement phenomenon.   In the Île-de-France region many Jews move to safer areas. "In Sarcelles, branded the "Little Jerusalem", the synagogues now stand empty," says Marc Bensimhon, the Pinto family lawyer and a member of the BNVCA.

This year, in Noisy-le-Grand (Seine-Saint-Denis), a Jewish family discovered a kalashnikov bullet and a note with insults in their mailbox.  At Anet (Eure-et-Loir) another family got the message: "Hitler was right, all Jews should have been burnt in ovens".

While Jews account for less than 1% of the population, they are the target of half the racist acts committed in France. In the last fifteen years, the individuals involved in these acts are mostly of Muslim origin, very far from the skinhead affiliated to the extreme right.

read the article (in French) & Valeurs Actuelles

Related:
France: 60,000 Jews have moved out of Ile-de-France in the last 10 years

Germany adopts international definition of anti-Semitism

Via JTA:

Germany has formally accepted an international definition of anti-Semitism in a move designed to provide clarity for the prosecution of related crimes.

The German Cabinet announced Wednesday that it unanimously adopted the working definition promoted by the International Alliance for Holocaust Remembrance, a body with 31 member states.

In addition to classic forms of anti-Semitism, the definition offers examples of modern manifestations, such as targeting all Jews as a proxy for Israel, denying Jews the right to a homeland and using historical anti-Semitic images to tarnish all Israelis.

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