A monument on the campus of Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University (AUT) which commemorates a Jewish cemetery destroyed by the Nazis was targeted again by vandals on Friday.
The perpetrators smashed the marble commemorative signs placed in the old cemetary which was destroyed by the Nazis in 1942.
This is the third time the monument has been targeted. In July 2018, vandals twice daubed paint and painted a cross on the monument.
Unknown assailants spray-painted a black Swastika on the Holocaust Memorial on the northern port city of Thessaloniki's Eleftherias Square late on Friday or in the early hours of Saturday.read more
The assailants are believed to have been part of a rally held earlier on Friday by protesters opposed to the name deal Greece signed over the summer with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Local website Voria published photographs of demonstrators in that rally giving the Nazi salute.
Two anarchists of the anti-establishment group Rouvikonas stormed into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in downtown Athens on Tuesday early morning after scaling the buildings gates.read more
The anarchists left a bag containing a Palestinian flag as well as photographs depicting Palestinians killed during recent clashes with Israel’s armed forces.
The group was protesting Greece’s cooperation with Israel and a video of the raid was posted on the anti-authoritarian website.
The footage shows two members of Rouvikonas climbing the ministry’s metal gate and entering its courtyard unimpeded. “This time, we decided to take a symbolic action, depositing a bag that contained a Palestinian flag and a few pictures, in the courtyard of the foreign ministry. They were photographs of the dead from the last ‘episode’ in the genocide of a people, triggered by the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, by a diachronically of the Greek state, the US”, Rouvikonas highlighted in a post on the anti-authority website.
It’s hard to find a better example of how geopolitical realities trump ideology than the blossoming friendship between Israel and Greece.
As the leader of Greece’s leftist Syriza party before gaining office in 2015, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called to expel Israel’s ambassador and close Greek ports to U.S. arms shipments heading to Israel.
Syriza’s leftist allies in Europe still demonize Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government. Many of them back the boycott, sanctions and disinvestment campaign against Israel.
Not Mr. Tsipras—who intensified cooperation with Israel instead. The leaders of Israel, Greece and Cyprus are holding regular trilateral summits—the fourth was in May—and the Israeli air force uses Greek airspace for training. The three countries, plus Egypt, are jointly developing the eastern Mediterranean’s natural-gas reserves.read more
The key reason for all this: Turkey.
A monument on the campus of Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University (AUT) which commemorates a Jewish cemetery destroyed by the Nazis was targeted by vandals on Tuesday, the second time in two weeks.
The perpetrators daubed blue paint and painted a cross on the monument.read more @ Against Antisemitism
“Today, unknown individuals vandalized the monument to the [old] Jewish cemetery on the university campus. We restored the monument and we condemn the unacceptable action,” the university said in a press release, adding that “the solution to religious fanaticism and bigotry” is education.
Vandals threw black paint on the Holocaust Memorial in Thessaloniki, northern Greece, on Wednesday night, bespoiling the bronze sculpture that depicts a menorah with human bodies intertwined into its flames.read more
Authorities believe that the vandals may have been participants in a rally held earlier outside the Macedonia-Thrace Ministry to protest the name deal signed between Athens and Skopje.
The mayor of the small town of Argos in southern Greece, Dimitris Kambosou, was expelled from the New Democracy party on Friday over anti-Semitic references regarding his counterpart in Thessaloniki, Yiannis Boutaris.
The decision was taken by the conservative leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
In an anti-Semitic rant, Kambosou expressed his dislike of Boutaris over his stance on various national and social issues, adding that “he only gets away with it because he is liked by the Jews.”
“He can say what he wants because he wears the [kippah],” he said.
The mayor of Greece's second-largest city was admitted to hospital with injuries after he was set upon by a group of ultra-nationalist demonstrators.
The attack took place in the northern coastal city of Thessaloniki on Saturday during a commemoration marking the killing of Greeks in the Ottoman Empire during the tail end of the World War I.
(...)
Kostas Tsakalidis, a Thessaloniki-based photographer, witnessed the attack while covering the flag-lowering ceremony during Saturday's commemoration.
"A group of people started to shout at him for his opinion on the Macedonian dispute, the LBGTQI community, Turkey, and [nationalist] football clubs," he told Al Jazeera, adding that he had seen many of the assailants at "extreme right protests" in recent months.
"Some people were shouting about Jews because he has had [a] close relationship with the Jewish community over the years."
Tsakalidis explained that Boutaris fell to the ground after being hit, while attackers threw bottles "and other objects" at him. One assailant proceeded to kick the mayor as he lay on the pavement.
Although a group of police officers were located nearby, Tsakalidis said "none of them intervened" to stop the attack.
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Desecration of Jewish graves in Greece stuns community
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The World Jewish Congress stands with the Jewish Community of Athens in condemning repeated anti-Semitic attacks, and its initiative to organize a silent protest at the site of a recently desecrated Jewish cemetery this Sunday in the presence of government officials and public figures. The WJC will participate in the protest, which is backed by the WJC’s local affiliate the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, and has launched in parallel a social media campaign to raise awareness of the anti-Semitic manifestations ongoing in Greece, urging people worldwide to join in support.read more
“The World Jewish Congress abhors the despicable and cowardly act of desecrating Jewish property and stands firmly with the local Jewish community in urging individuals, organizations, and public authorities to mobilize in any way possible to make it absolutely clear that there is no room for anti-Semitism in Greek society,” said WJC CEO Robert Singer. "It is inconceivable that still today, anti-Semitic stereotypes are rife in Greece. We cannot stand by in silence as hatred continues unhindered.”
Vandals destroyed nine marble Jewish tombstones in an Athens cemetery on Friday night. The headstones appear to have been kicked over and then smashed to pieces, according to a statement issued Saturday night by the Jewish Community of Athens.
“The scene is repulsive and our disappointment is great,” read the statement, which was posted to the Facebook page of the president of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, Minos Moissis, who said he was “very angry.”
“This is not the first time we see the result of a degrading act at our cemetery, but it is the first time we see such an act was organized and planned in part of the cemetery that is not visible from the neighboring houses and with incredible fury,” the statement said. “The view of the results of this abominable act causes us deep sorrow and anger.”
The community group said it would take all available legal steps and had contacted the police, who have launched an investigation.
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The ‘burning of the Judas’ in the village of Tolo, on the Peloponnese peninsula
(Easter 2018). Screenshot via YouTube
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Announcement by the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece:
read moreDuring the Easter holidays, various customs take place in our country. One of these is the “burning of the effigy of Judas”, which takes place in some areas of the country. This custom perpetuates stereotyped perceptions against the Jews. It is significant that the custom has almost been eliminated in the rest of Europe.
In the past, we, the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, have repeatedly proceeded with representations to competent bodies in order to stop the custom in our country. The fact that the Church of Greece, with its Synodic Circulars of 1891, 1910 and 1918, demanded that “these customs are expressly forbidden” is of particular significance.
We believe that this custom not only offends the Greek Jewish community but also affects every effort towards the understanding and respect of common values that characterise Judaism and Christianity.
(...) MEAD: Yeah. So how are they thinking in Greece about Erdogan’s Turkey and the U.S. relationship?read more
COONS: Well, first, thank you for the question. One of the challenges is, these are NATO allies. And at a strategic level, one of the most pressing discussions was about an F-16 upgrade package for Greece, which is expensive and complicated because we are selling F-35s to Turkey. And the idea that you’ve got one NATO ally and another NATO ally worried about each other’s jet-fighter sophistication and air superiority should be troubling. Erdogan has, as you all know, taken a quite different direction. Turkey was Israel’s first, closest, strongest Muslim ally. Turkey, under Ataturk and for a long time afterwards, was a key bastion of a sort of more moderate or liberalizing influence in the Muslim world. Erdogan, after an attempt at joining the EU and after strengthening, consolidating his power in early years, has really turned fairly hard to the east and become more of an Islamist leader. And after both the conflict with Israel over the blockade of Gaza and then the allegedly Gulenist attempt at a coup last year, it has enraged Erdogan. And he is quite agitated against the United States and against Greece.
And what we heard was reports of very regular interactions – encounters between naval and air forces between the Greeks and the Turks. The flood of refugees and how they’ve been handled and the navigation around that has created further tension. And just a lack of clarity about the relationship has put some severe pressure on it. Erdogan, though, to be clear, has visited Greece – the first head of Turkey to do so in decades. And the prime minister of Greece indicated an openness to trying to negotiate a way through this. Both parties see, I think, the United States as essential to helping pull them closer together rather than allowing, what may be unintended, accidents between naval forces or conflicts between – between aerial forces to create a flashpoint and drive them apart.
The broader reality is that Greece is looking to be a stronger security partner for Israel, a stronger security partner for the United States, and made clear to us, they know they’re in a tough neighborhood. To the north, to the west, to the east, to the south, they’ve got potentially combative forces. And we shared some pointed conversations about Libya, the consequences of the Libyan adventure and the fall of Gaddafi and then the really destabilizing influence that’s having on the whole region
Despite having voted in favor of resolution condemning U.S. move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, which urges states to refrain from operating missions in Jerusalem, eight European states maintain Palestinian consulates or embassies there.read more
Several European countries have been found to be in violation of a U.N. resolution they themselves supported when condemning U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.
The U.N. General Assembly resolution that followed the U.S. announcement on Dec. 6 called on all countries "to refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in the Holy City of Jerusalem." But the eight European countries in question – Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and the United Kingdom – actively operate Palestinian Authority consulates or embassies in Jerusalem despite having voted in favor of the resolution.
The president of the world's largest Zionist Christian organization, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem has come out against what he called the "hypocritical and inappropriate conduct of the international community toward Israel and Jerusalem."
ICEJ President Jurgen Buhler sent letters to each of those nation's leaders, in which he noted that "the international community has always called for an even-handed approach to Jerusalem, so as not to prejudge this sensitive final-status issue. Yet here are eight nations that have never been called out for violating this principle by placing their chief missions to the Palestinians in Jerusalem. It turns out the demand for neutrality has just been a hollow pretext for denying the Jewish people and state their rightful place in Jerusalem. So no nation can now complain when a country decides to open an embassy to Israel in Jerusalem.
"Many world leaders have been critical of the recent decision by U.S. President Donald Trump regarding Jerusalem, contending that it prejudges a sensitive issue which should left to final-status talks. Instead, they have urged an even-handed approach to Jerusalem. Yet [your country] has been violating this very principle for some time now due to your chief diplomatic mission to the Palestinians being located in … Jerusalem. If you truly wanted to be fair, you would either have both your diplomatic missions to Israel and the Palestinian Authority in Jerusalem, or neither."
Supporters of Artemis Sorras, a convicted embezzler, notorious antisemite and conspiracy theorist, rallied last week in the streets of Larissa, capital and largest city of the Thessaly region, displaying a huge antisemitic banner. The banner reads: "The Convention of Greeks [the organization founded by Sorras] opposes fascism, Zionist ideology and anything being against Greek values".See more
Here is footage from the rally including the antisemitic banner.
Members of an anarchist group in Greece vandalized the Israeli embassy in Athens using bottles of red paint.read more
The group, Rubicon, filmed themselves committing the early-morning attack on Monday and posted the video online. The video shows the members of the group riding up to the embassy building on motorcycles and throwing the paint at it.
The embassy may not have been as well-guarded as usual due to the Christmas holiday. The building is located at a busy intersection, according to local reports.
“We identify with the Palestinians, a nation that for decades has been a victim of oppression,” Rubicon said in a statement released after the attack. “In reality, the Palestinians are pressured to leave their land. This is ethnic cleansing at a low intensity level for decades.”
The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece condemns unequivocally the malicious and vulgar insults, containing fierce racist and anti-Semitic references, launched against the President of the Athens Jewish Community Mr. Minos Moissis by the web edition of the newspaper MAKELEIO.read more
The headline of the article reads: “Cruel Jew at the head of a company of “crows” that has been assigned to liquidate the “red loans” (past due debt) of poor Greeks. President of the Jewish Community, he pretends friendly and takes (our money) from the back door”.
The article targets and treats with contempt Mr. Moissis - a renowned and experienced professional and a top executive manager in the banking and insurance industry for 30 years - because only of his Jewish identity and his position as the President of the Jewish Community of Athens. Apart from the insulting references, the racist and malicious intent against Mr. Moissis, is indicated by the fact that he is referred to as the “cruel Jew” who has allegedly undertaken the task of “clearing out the loans of the poor Greeks”. Thus, in an unacceptable manner, the hideous and racist stereotype of the evil hard Jewish is reproduced.
Unknown vandals stripped the inscription in Elie Wiesel's words at the Holocaust Memorial in Athens on Saturday.
The meaningful inscriptions in Greek and French calling on passer-by to remember the victims of the Holocaust disappeared in two of memorial tracks.
Minor Moisis, President of the Jewish community of Athens declared: "Elie Wiesel's appeal to the passer-by to stand, to remember, to honor the victims of the Holocaust was turned into an act of vandalism, disrespect, insult."
He denounced the fact that this was not the first time the memorial was desecrated. "It won’t be the last either," he said.
He said the city of Athens to which the monument belongs "hopefully will restore the pieces that have been removed."read more
The Greek media have a consistent history of hostility toward the Jewish state, a hostility that seems both to shape and to reflect a great deal of popular sentiment. But since 2010, as Athens and Jerusalem have formed closer economic and diplomatic ties, popular opinion seems to be improving. George Tzogopoulos writes:
Greek sympathy for the Palestinian cause is rooted in the proximity of the Arab world and the support of most Arabs [for Greece’s stance on] the Cyprus question. Anti-Semitism has also played a role. But there is another reason why Israel was constantly blamed by the Greek media, at least before 2010. It served as a useful scapegoat for all the problems in the Middle East, if not all the problems in the world. This made it easy for journalists to avoid time-consuming, in-depth research on international affairs. Jerusalem’s close cooperation with Ankara only fueled the negative perception of Israel within the Greek media. . . .
When Jerusalem decided to look for new allies in the eastern Mediterranean following the setback in its relations with Ankara [over the Mavi Marmara affair], it turned to Athens. In August 2010, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Greece, opening a new chapter in a relationship that had been marked for decades by misunderstandings and suspicion.
George Papandreou, the Greek premier at the time, saw Israel as a critical ally in an era of economic austerity and uncertainty over Greece’s potential default and exit from the Eurozone. . . . In the aftermath of the Netanyahu-Papandreou meeting, most Greek journalists began to grasp that Israel is no longer an unknown, distant neighbor. [Rather], it is a partner. This strategic partnership yields positives for Greece in terms of security and energy affairs, and also has a tangibly positive effect on the Greek economy. While 207,711 Israeli tourists came to Greece in 2012, expected arrivals from Israel are expected to be 530,712 in 2017. . . .
Read more at BESA CenterAfter 2015, an additional barrier tarnishing Israel’s image in Greece was removed. A leftist government, Syriza, came to power, bringing with it a new prime minister, Alexis Tsipras. Though he had participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the past, his tune changed when he assumed his new position. In contrast to his pre-election stance, Tsipras treats Israel as an ally, and his foreign policy is reflected in media coverage on both left and right. . . . The improving image of Israel in Greece could theoretically go hand in hand with a reduction in anti-Semitism. . . .
