Czech Republic: Jew portrayed as money-grubbing at city festival

Via Times of Israel:

A municipally organized street show in Prague celebrating Czech nationhood featured a skit apparently mocking an Orthodox Jew.

In the skit, police characters remove a man dressed like an Orthodox Jew for demanding money from the event’s host, who wears traditional Czech attire.

Sunday’s event was organized by the 3rd District of Prague.

The Jewish character was named Rozenkrants. “I will get this money from you one way or another,” the actor said, before another actor dressed as a police officer escorted him away. Hundreds of onlookers laughed.

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Czech Republic: Miloš Zeman and the Czech tradition of supporting Israel when it matters

Via The Tablet (Edward N. Luttwak):

The only European leader who starkly defied the protesting chorus to applaud Donald Trump’s recognition of Israel’s capital was the President of the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman.

By so doing, Zeman was renewing a peculiar tradition of his office that started with the founding president Thomas Masaryk, a philosophy professor who first became a public figure in Austro-Hungarian days by powerfully defending Leopold Hilsner, a Jewish tramp tried and convicted of the ritual murder of a girl in 1899. To the fury of the Catholic prelates who had incited mobs against Hilsner, the imperial authorities intervened from Vienna to stop Hilsner’s execution. A long campaign ensued till Hilsner’s liberation, and, in the process, Masaryk won over many Czechs to his view that anti-semitism was a pernicious pack of lies at a time when it was almost Catholic doctrine ( Viennas’s mayor Karl Lueger kept been re-elected till his death in 1910 on an explicitly anti-semitic platform, strongly backed by the Church). (...)

All through this, the Czechs–Israel’s one and only suppliers–were bombarded with American and British complaints, outright threats, and offers of inducements, but they stood firm, just as Miloš Zeman stood firm when Federica Mogherini, Arafat’s ex groupie and Rouhani enthusiast (not one word from her about the recent Iranian protests) and now Europe’s farcical “High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy“, chose to lead the outcry over Jerusalem.

Zeman is up for re-election against Jiří Drahoš, a nice man and a perfectly respectable scientist, but it is clearly Zeman who upholds the Masaryk tradition when it comes to Israel. He received 38 percent of the vote in the first round as against 26 percent for Drahoš, but faces a maximum effort from the Mogherini set in the concluding vote next week (for more on the election see here). He is worthy of support.

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Czech President says EU’s anti-Israel stance on Jerusalem is ‘cowardice,’

Via The Jerusalem Post:

 “The European Union, cowards, are doing all they can so a pro-Palestinian terrorist movement can have supremacy over a pro-Israeli movement,” Zeman said, according to the AFP news agency.
He spoke Saturday at an event of the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy Party.

Zeman and the Czech Republic are known for their strong support of Israel. Immediately after Trump’s speech on Wednesday, the Czech Foreign Ministry announced its recognition of west Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

In September, Zeman also spoke of international cowardice regarding Israel and cited as an example the refusal by almost all the world’s nations to recognize Israel as a Jewish state or acknowledge Jerusalem as its capital.

He went even further during a speech in New York given at an event sponsored by the The Algemeiner newspaper, in which he called for all embassies in Tel Aviv to be moved to Jerusalem.

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Czech Republic: "Jews, homosexuals and Roma should be gassed," said an influential extreme right wing politician

Via Britské listy:

"Jews, gays and Roma should be gassed," said Jaroslav Staník, the secretary of the ultra-right wing Czech populist party "Freedom and Direct Democracy" (SPD) and a close collaborator of the party leader Tomio Okamura, in parliament. Because of such statements, Staník got embroiled in a verbal conflict with the Czech Social Democratic Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Michaela Marksová-Tominová and some other MPs. The conflict took place in one of the restaurants in the Czech Parliament, which are not accessible to the public.

"As I entered the restaurant, he said 'You are that Marx-Engels minister. You support homosexuals.' He added that they should be gassed and liquidated. I remonstrated with him verbally," said the minister, adding that Staník was heavily drunk.

Marek Černoch, MP for Úsvit, said that Staník's statements were even worse. "He demanded that all homosexuals, Roma, and Jews should be shot immediately after they have been born. He also verbally attacked the women that were present with gross insults."

Several other witnesses have confirmed that Staník demanded the gassing of Jews and Roma.

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Czech Republic: Evangelical Christians successfully campaigned for recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel

Via Mosaic Magazine (Jürgen Bühler):

In the 21st century, evangelical Christians have come to constitute the world’s fastest-growing religious group; if current trends continue, they will outnumber Catholics and possibly even Muslims in a few decades. The movement’s growth corresponds to a shift in its center of gravity; a majority of evangelicals now come from Asia, Africa, and Latin America rather than the U.S. Given that evangelical Christianity tends to encourage a positive attitude toward Jews and the Jewish state, argues Jürgen Bühler, this change could be especially significant for Israel: 

The last few decades have seen evangelical Christianity become the religious denomination with the most rapid growth rates in the world. It is set to surpass Catholicism, and perhaps even Islam, in a few decades. The most significant growth rates, however, are not in cities like Wurttemberg, Geneva, London, Dallas, or Nashville, but places like Manila, Lagos, Beijing, and Sao Paolo. This means a dramatic change in the demographic landscape of the Christian world, in which the average Christian is no longer a white European or North American; most evangelicals today are Asian, Africans, or residents of Latin America. This has enormous significance for Israel. (...)

One factor that unites evangelicals across the world, whether in the Amazonian rainforests, the Niger delta, or in Chinese cities is a great love of Israel. . . . The rapid increase in the number of evangelicals may turn these countries into strategic allies for Israel, as they are becoming a significant part of the general population. In Brazil, between 26 and 30 percent of the citizens are evangelicals. In Guatemala, more than 40 percent. In Uganda, 37 percent. In Nigeria, 40 percent. Even in Muslim Indonesia, 12 percent of the population are evangelicals. Their number in China is estimated at around 100 million. 

Already today, this phenomenon has political and diplomatic influence that aids Israel, both at the national level and in international organizations like the UN—and this influence is set to increase in the coming years. For instance, the previous president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan, ordered the state’s representatives in the UN not to support the vote on recognizing the Palestinian Authority as a state, due to pressure from the evangelical community in his country. 

Even countries with a small evangelical community play a significant role in support for Israel. The International Christian Embassy in the Czech Republic, for instance, played a decisive role in promoting a decision by the country’s parliament, adopted a few weeks ago, which recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel—an unprecedented move in Europe. In addition, the activity of the International Christian Embassy in Muslim countries in West Africa has led to a moving-together between their governments and Israel in recent times. 

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European study shows 10 per cent of people don’t want Jews in their countries

Via Jewish Chronicle:

More than 10 per cent of central and eastern Europeans do not want Jews as citizens of their countries, according to a new report.

The study, carried out by the Pew Research Centre, found that while 80 per cent of people surveyed would accept Jews as fellow citizens, the rest were not sure or declined to answer.

Less than half from the 18 countries surveyed would accept Jews as family and fewer than three quarters said they were happy to have them as neighbours.

The study, entitled Religious Belief and National Belonging in Central and Eastern Europe, found that Jews were a lot less popular in some countries than others.

In Armenia a third of respondents said Jews should not be citizens.

Countries which had large Jewish populations before the Holocaust were more likely not to want Jews as citizens.

Lithuanians surveyed were against the idea at 23 per cent, while in Romania 22 per cent said they did not want Jews as citizens.

In the Czech Republic the figure was 19 per cent, and in Poland, 18 per cent.

Respondents from more educated backgrounds were more likely to accept Jews as family, neighbours and citizens, researchers found.

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Czech Republic: Tombstone of famed rabbi damaged in Prostejov

Via KSL (h/t CFCA):

A tombstone of a well-known rabbi at a former Jewish cemetery in the Czech town of Prostejov has been damaged.

A Jewish foundation said Friday it discovered earlier this week that the tombstone of Prostejov Rabbi Zvi Horowitz, who died in 1816, was broken into two pieces.

It was installed at the site in 2013 by New York philanthropist Louis Kestenbaum.

The cemetery was destroyed during the Nazi occupation and is currently a public park. It has been controversial due to recent efforts to rehabilitate the site after some of the original tombstones were discovered in Prostejov and nearby villages.

Many locals, including town officials, oppose any changes.

The controversy has been accompanied by an unusual outburst of anti-Semitism.

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Czech Republic: Hitler graffiti near synagogue

Via CFCA:

Prague - A swastika and the words "Adolf Hitler" was spray-painted on ATM in Maiselova Street, which is the main street of Old Jewish Quarter in Prague.

The ATM is situated at the entrance of restaurant near to Maisel Synagogue.

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Czech Republic: Prague subway worker allegedly threatened to behead Jewish passenger

Via Times of Israel:

The company operating Prague’s subway is investigating a complaint alleging one of its employees threatened to “cut off the head” of a Jewish passenger wearing a kippa.

The incident was reported last week by a member of Prague’s Bejt Simcha Reform Community, the president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic, Petr Papousek, told JTA on Tuesday.

The Prague Public Transit Company, he said, “is taking the complaint very seriously, and is investigating the details of the incident in order to draw conclusions on the behavior of the employee in question,” Papousek said. He did not identify the complainant, who requested anonymity.

A man wearing the transit company’s uniform earlier this month harassed the alleged victim in the presence of witnesses aboard the B line, which runs through the Czech capital and its Old Town, the Jewish news website ZTIS reported. According to the account, the uniformed man told the Jewish passenger: “When we meet next time, Jews, it’ll be to cut off your head.”
File: Rabbis take part in self-defense training during the Conference of European Rabbis in Prague, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015. (photo credit: AP/Petr David Josek)

File: Rabbis take part in self-defense training during the Conference of European Rabbis in Prague, Czech Republic, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015. (photo credit: AP/Petr David Josek)

None of the other passengers intervened, according to the report. The alleged victim took a picture of the man who he said threatened him. It shows a man with a shaved head facing away from the camera while putting on a black coat over the company’s blue uniform. He is wearing black boots.

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Czech Republic: Children’s Volleyball Team named for Poison Used by Nazis

Via The Forward:

Czech Jews protested the naming of a children’s volleyball team after the poison that Nazis used to kill Jews and Roma in gas chambers during the Holocaust.

The team Cyklon B – the Czech-language transliteration for the Zyklon B pesticide that the Nazis used — participated recently in a Prague tournament featuring teams from Czech Republic orphanages.

Fans at the tournament, which was sponsored by the ING Bank Fund of the Tereza Maxová Foundation, shouted “Go Cyklon B,” the Pravo daily reported Thursday.

Tomas Jelinek, a former leader of the Jewish Community in Prague, told the daily that the Cyklon B team from an orphanage in Dolni Pocernice, an eastern suburb of Prague, had also played against a team of Roma players.

The Czech Freedom Fighters Association condemned the choice of name.

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Czech Republic: Gov't to 'correct' atlas - Tel Aviv will now be Israel's capital

Via Times of Israel:

Tel Aviv will replace Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in a Czech school atlas, following Palestinian complaints.

Khaled Atlattrash, Palestinian ambassador to Prague, raised the issue earlier this month with the Czech Foreign Ministry, and subsequently the Education Ministry, after local Palestinian parents alerted him to texts and maps depicting Jerusalem as the capital city of Israel.

Israel regards the whole of Jerusalem as its capital, while the international community regards the eastern part of the city — including the whole of the Old City — as occupied territory.

“The data in the atlas will be corrected as of the New Year,” the Prague Daily Monitor quoted Czech Education Ministry spokeswoman Klara Bila as saying.

“The Czech Republic does not consider East Jerusalem a part of the State of Israel,” Czech Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Irena Valentova said, adding that the atlas, published by Shocart, did not express Prague’s official position.

“The EU member countries, including the Czech Republic, view Jerusalem as the future capital of both states, i.e. the State of Israel and the future State of Palestine,” Valentova said.

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Czech Republic: Social Democratic MP posts Holocaust-denial video

Via romea (h/t CFCA):

The weekly Euro in the Czech Republic reports that Stanislav Huml, an MP for the Czech Social Democratic Party, has published a video denying the Holocaust to his Facebook profile. The video, which Huml called "brutal and [politically] incorrect" but "inspiring", is a sort of criticism of the "ethnomasochism" of Western civilization, defined as a feeling of guilt for the historical injustices of colonialism, slavery, etc., including what the video terms the "alleged" Holocaust.

The producers of the video say they refuse to accept the blame for this history. They call on Europe to "stop apologizing" for its previous actions.

What's more, the video says the Jews are "to blame" for the Holocaust, not that they were its victims. Huml said that it is not essential to him that the Iron Dawn YouTube channel, from which he shared the video, has also posted video footage of NSDAP conventions, footage of the occupation of Ukraine by the Nazis, or videos promoting the "healthy lifestyle" of the Nazi Third Reich.

"I don't concern myself with those details," Huml said in response to an query from a reporter with Euro. "The video has an actual basis in history extending back to the 15th century."

The MP then added this note to his Facebook post:  "P.S. for journalists - I actually do not approve of the Holocaust and I do not see it being approved of in the context of this video either." The video, published online on 9 August, was ultimately removed from the MP's public profile.

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Czech Republic: Antisemitism graffiti by football fans

Via CFCA:

Prague - Antisemitic sign found in the lift at Prague subway station in the center (Muzeum station). Sign displays Star of David and text JUDE ACS.(AC Slavia - Prague football team). JUDE SLAVIE is traditional hate hue used by hard core supporters of another Prague football team AC Sparta.

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Czech Republic: Many people believe Jews are behind the 'Islamization of Europe'

Via Watch: Antisemitism in Europe:

The online radio Radio Praha published an article about the recent situation of antisemitism in the Czech Republic. Two main issues of this short comment are that the web plays a huge role in nowadays antisemitism as well as a lot of people believe crude conspiracy theories like 'the Jews are behind the so-called Islamization of Europe'.

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Czech Republic: Number of antisemitic incidents unchanged in 2015

Via Prague Monitor:

The number of displays of hatred for Jews remained as high in the Czech Republic in 2015 as in the preceding year, and reached 221, the Czech Federation of Jewish Communities (FZO) says in a report released to CTK on Tuesday.

In 2014, the number reached 234.

Hatred was mainly spread via the Internet, the annual report says.

The rising number of issued books is dangerous, since the revenues from their sale may help finance extremist groups' activities, the report says.

"Although the Jewish community in the Czech Republic was not a target of terrorist attacks...we view this threat as very serious in the world context and we have adjusted our security measures accordingly," FZO Secretary Tomas Kraus said.

Nevertheless, the report says the Czech Republic still ranks among the countries where anti-Semitism is present only marginally.

(...)

No physical attack on people was registered last year, compared to one in 2014.

Five attacks on property were registered, the same number as in 2014.

The number of threat cases dropped to three and of harassment rose to 31.

Displays of hatred on the Internet were the most frequent like in the previous years. They made up 182 (82 percent) of the total of 221 incidents, the report says.

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Czech Republic: Extremist politician charged with crimes against humanity

Via JTA:

The Czech Police have filed charges of crimes against humanity against Adam Bartos, the leader of the extremist far-right National Democracy political party.

Bartos is also charged with defamation, incitement to hatred, and genocide denial, the police announced on Friday. If convicted, he faces up to three years in prison.

Bartos, 36, was detained on Thursday morning, when police searched his home and several other sites in the Czech capital, seizing documents and other materials. He was released on Friday after questioning.

“Police investigators concluded that Mr. Bartos committed the criminal acts between May 2013 and April 2016. He was charged mainly over the content of books he published and other documents and public speeches in which he publicly and purposefully incited hatred towards people of Jewish ethnicity and faith,” the police said in a statement.

Shown in video footage of his arrest, Bartos said he considered the case “a politically motivated trial” and “another attempt to damage the only true opposition to the system.”

The Czech Republic’s Jewish community is closely following the case. “Let’s wait and see what comes out of this. He should not be allowed to assume the role of a political martyr,” Tomas Kraus, the executive director of the Federation of the Czech Jewish communities, told JTA.

“Bartos has regularly appeared in our annual reports on anti-Semitism. But he is a complicated figure: we knew him as an Israel supporter who was running about Prague waving the Israeli flag. I think he should maybe seek psychiatric assistance,” Kraus added.

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Czech Republic: Security at Jewish Sites in Prague to Be Increased Amid Terror Concerns

Via Haaretz:

Security at Jewish sites in Prague and across the Czech Republic will be tightened due to increased terror concerns.

On Tuesday, Czech officials and Jewish groups signed a memorandum on cooperation on security issues. The Jewish groups — the Federation of the Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic along with the Chabad center and the Jewish Museum in Prague — agreed to form a security council that will be responsible for communication with the police and providing information to the authorities about potential threats. The council will also propose measures to make Jewish sites safer.

“The agreement should establish a more effective communication channel between Jewish organizations and the security forces,” Tomas Kraus, the Jewish federation’s executive director, told JTA. “It’s high time we start talking about more security measures to address the situation.”

No details on funding for the measures have been released.

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Czech Republic: City council-member posts antisemitic joke about Jews and money

Via Rotter:

Dominik Feri, a member of the city council of Teplice, posted an antisemitic post on his Facebook.

The post asks "What is your Jewish name?" and gives a numbered list of "Jewish" names.  Per the name, you can find out your credit card PIN.  The question is illustrated with two long-nosed Jews rubbing their hands.

When it was pointed out to him it was antisemitic he answered: "I think it's funny, I don't understand what's the problem, it's just a joke to see who publicizes their PIN"

Facebook doesn't see the problem either, as they say that this doesn't violate community standards.

Czech Republic: Jews accused of 'terrorism' because of Holocaust memorial stones

Via CFCA:

Liberec - The Jewish community in city have received a hate mail. The authors of the mail accuse Jews for terror on Czech citizens by laying the Stolpersteine, Holocaust memorial stones in the city.

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Czech Republic: People shout 'Allah Akbar' at synagogue during Shabbat service

Via CFCA:

Prague - During Friday night service in Spanish synagogue in Prague, a black VW car got close to the main entry and the passengers shouted "Allah Akbar" toward the security.

They left and came back after a few minutes doing it again. This time, a police patrol was also present at the entrance.

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