Belgium: Iraqi man with kippah and knives stopped at entrance to Antwerp synagogue

Via Times of Israel:

A non-Jewish Arab man wearing a kippah and carrying several concealed knives was intercepted by guards as he attempted to enter an Antwerp synagogue.

The 34-year-old Iraqi citizen was questioned by guards when he tried to enter the Romi Goldmuntz Synagoge in the Belgian city on Monday, during the holiday of Shavuot, the Joodse Actueel newspaper reported Tuesday. The man said he spoke neither Hebrew nor Yiddish but insisted he was a member of the city’s Jewish community, the report said, citing police sources.

The guards — members of the community’s Shmira security service — had approached the man with some suspicion because they saw him arrive on a bicycle, a means of transportation that few observant Jews in Antwerp use on Jewish holidays.

The man did speak good Flemish, the report said. The guards called police, who detained the man for questioning.

“He came in wearing a hat and a kippah and pretended to be Jewish, but it was immediately clear to us he did not belong to the Jewish community,” one guard, who was not named, told Joods Actueel.

Attempts to gain access to synagogues, which are restricted to worshipers for security reasons, are common in Antwerp. But such attempts by men carrying knives are extremely rare.

Still, the incident may not have been an attempted attack, Joods Actueel wrote. The knives he carried were small, not much larger than the blade of a pocket knife, and the man seemed not entirely focused, the report said.

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Bulgaria: Synagogue in Sofia vandalized by stone-throwing incident

From Jerusalem Post:

The Great Prayer Hall of the Central Synagogue in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, was subjected to an attack in which stones were thrown through the temple windows by "unidentified assailants" on Saturday witnesses said, according to The Algemeiner.

Bulgaria and the its capital are no strangers to antisemitism and have even been subjected to other attacks over recent weeks, including graffiti depicting swastikas and an antisemitic slogan covering a monument meant to memorialize those who fell victim to the ruling Communist regime in Bulgaria during World War II.

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Switzerland: Synagogue in Basel vandalized

Via JTA:

A Chabad Lubavitch synagogue in Basel, Switzerland was vandalized.

A window of the synagogue was smashed in with a hammer, the BZ Basel news website reported.

The damage was discovered on Saturday morning as worshippers gathered for the Shabbat morning service.

“I’ve been living in Basel for 16 years. It’s the first time that I have been worried about myself and my family,” Rabbi Zalmen Wishedski of Chabad Lubavitch told BZ Basel.

There currently are no suspects in the incident, the Basel public prosecutor’s office told the news website.

The incident comes after a kosher butcher shop in Basel was vandalized four times in one month in what local Jews have condemned as an anti-Semitic campaign of intimidation.

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Russia: Swastikas daubed on Chabad center in cradle of Lubavitch Hasidic movement

Via JTA:

Anti-Semitic slogans were scrawled on the fence of a Jewish cultural center in the Russian village of Lyubavichi, the cradle of the Chabad Hasidic movement.

The inscriptions, reading “Jews out of Russia, our land” and featuring the Baltic variant of the swastika, were spray-painted on the wall of the Hatzer Raboteinu Nesieinu Belubavitch last week but reported Tuesday in the Russian-language media, the news site Cursor reported.

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Swimming Pool, Furniture Shop and Police Station: The Sorry Fate of Europe's Old Synagogues

Via Haaretz:

Europe’s Jewish population has declined from about 10 million on the eve of World War II to about 2 million today. The main reason of course is the Holocaust, followed by emigration and assimilation afterward.

As the Jews disappeared, many of their synagogues were transformed for other uses. Hungarian-Israeli photographer Bernadett Alpern has traveled around 15 European countries documenting these relics. Her work features grand buildings in famous cities as well as countryside shuls.

In some countries the old synagogues now play a cultural role, while in others they’re used for trivial purposes. They remain a silent reminder of a civilization that was part of the European fabric for many generations.

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Ukraine: "Jews out, Ukraine for Ukrainians", antisemitic graffiti on Jewish buildings in Odessa

Via JTA:

Unidentified individuals painted anti-Semitic graffiti on three Jewish institutions in the city of Odessa in southern Ukraine.

The graffiti, including the words “toasting the Holocaust” on the gate of Odessa’s Holocaust museum, were discovered Monday. The city’s Brodsky Synagogue had the words: “Jews out, Ukraine for Ukrainians” written on its exterior fence.

An offensive symbol appeared on a gate adjacent to the Beit Grand Jewish Community Center. It and the other two graffiti featured the symbol of the Azov Battalion, a National Guard of Ukraine regiment that was set up after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.

Last month, an anti-Semitic slur was painted on the wall of a Jewish charity in western Ukraine.

(...)

The incidents follow several cases of death threats and vandalism against Jewish institutions in western Ukraine, including at cemeteries and synagogues.

The incidents have taken place amid a divisive public debate in Ukraine over the conferring of state honors on nationalists who incited hatred against Jews during the 1930s and 1940s, including for some who collaborated with the Nazis.

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UK: Swastika and ‘Kikes’ spray painted at synagogue

Via Times of Israel:

An anti-Semitic slur and a swastika were spray painted overnight Tuesday-Wednesday on a sign outside the Etz Chaim synagogue in the city of Leeds, England, according to local police.

Authorities were treating the act of vandalism as a hate crime and police increased the number of patrols in the area in response, Israel’s Channel 10 reported.

Witnesses said racist slogans were found scribbled on a sidewalk near the Jewish house of worship as well, according to the BBC.

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Spain: Man convicted of spraying antisemitic graffiti in a synagogue in Barcelona

Via CFCA:

Barcelona's 29th Magistrate's Court sentenced a 22-year-old man to six months in prison and a fine of 480 euros for his participation in spraying an antisemitic graffiti in the Barcelona synagogue before the sun rose on last December 28th. The convicted man admitted that he had accompanied a woman whose identity is unknown to the interrogators, and while he kept an eye open to make sure she was not surprised, she sprayed a swastika with a red paint spray on the door of the synagogue, and also sprayed the mezuzah on the front door.

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UK: ‘Beware of Jews’ sign posted next to Stamford Hill synagogue

Via Jewish News:

Police are investigating after a sign appearing to warn about the presence of Jews, appeared in Stamford Hill.

Fixed to a lamppost near a synagogue on Clapton Common, the image depicted a man in Orthodox dress within a triangular sign with a red outline that traditionally denotes danger in British road signs. 

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UK: Two men shout antisemitic death threats at synagogue-goers

Via CAA:

Two men have been arrested after allegedly shouting antisemitic abuse including death threats at Jewish people walking to synagogue in Stamford Hill in London. The two adults, described only as a black man and a white man reportedly began shouting abuse at 09:00 yesterday morning as Jewish families made their way to synagogue, at one point even entering the front garden of a synagogue.

Stamford Hill Shomrim, the Jewish volunteer neighbourhood watch patrol, assisted officers from the Metropolitan Police Service in arresting the men.

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UK: Racist who plastered anti-Semitic stickers on Cambridge synagogue caught on CCTV

Via Cambridge News:

A man who plastered anti-Semitic stickers on a Cambridge synagogue has pleaded guilty to a racially and religiously aggravated public order offence.

Kristian Omilian, 30, of Perse Way, Cambridge, was caught on CCTV sticking anti-Semitic stickers on the front of the synagogue in Auckland Road, Cambridge, in November last year. His fingerprints were also found on the stickers.

Yesterday (February 9), he was given a 12-month community order at Cambridge Magistrates’ Court, for which he has to attend up to 15 days of rehabilitation activity and 120 hours’ unpaid work.

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France: Synagogue receives death threats

Via CFCA:

Metz – an anonymous antisemitic letter with death threats was sent to the synagogue of Metz. The letter reads: "Swastika, Dirty Jew, we will all kill you etc ... etc ...".

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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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Netherlands: Plot to Bomb Amsterdam Synagogue Revealed in Leaked Intelligence Reports

Via Algemeiner (h/t Honestly Concerned):

A plot to bomb an Amsterdam synagogue, planned by a Muslim terrorist cell based in the Netherlands — revealed on Thursday in leaked intelligence documents obtained by the Dutch daily De Telegraaf — is simply the latest evidence of the “very unsafe environment for Jews in the country,” a political activist told The Algemeiner.

Awi Cohen, a board member of Likud Netherlands — the Dutch arm of the Israeli Prime Minister’s party, with the self-described mission of speaking out for Jewish rights internationally — was responding to the Dutch Criminal Intelligence Agency (TFI) dossier, which describes a “James Bond-like plan” to attack a Jewish house of worship and a bank, discovered when a regular visitor to the Arrayan Mosque in northern Amsterdam was identified as a member of the group devising the strikes.

The man — referred to in the report as a “Moroccan” with a “great knowledge of Islam” — is one of a number of individuals associated with the mosque whom the TFI suspects of involvement in Islamist radicalization and jihad-related activities.

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Ukraine: Synagogue desecrated with ‘death to Jews’ graffiti

Photo: Miriam

Via Times of Israel:

Unidentified individuals wrote “death to the Jews” on the main synagogue of a city in Ukraine that earlier this month saw the rededication of another Jewish house of worship.

The hateful graffiti was discovered last week on the façade of the Central Synagogue in Chernivtsi, a city located 255 miles southwest of Kiev, a leader of the local Jewish community said.

Earlier this month, hundreds of Orthodox Jews convened at the Chernivtsi district of Sadhora of for the rededication of a synagogue that was built in the 19th century by followers of the influential Hasidic rabbi Israel Friedman of Ruzhyn. It had fallen into disrepair decades ago.

“It’s a shame to admit that when the country is dealing with war, instead of uniting society, some provocateurs are trying to sow ethnic hatred,” Ilya Hoach, leader of the local Jewish charity Miriam, wrote on Facebook, along with photos of the vandalism. The perpetrators also drew a cross on the synagogue.

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UK: Police investigate 'drive-by' antisemitic incident outside London synagogue

Via Jewish Chronicle:

The Shomrim volunteer security group is appealing for eyewitnesses after an incident in which antisemitic abuse was directed at shul-goers.

According to the group, on Monday afternoon at 2.50pm, a car pulled up outside a synagogue in Hendon, north-west London, where a celebration had just taken place.

The driver of the vehicle, described as a white man in his mid-to-late twenties, allegedly shouted “F*** Jewish [sic], f*** Jewish, Heil Hitler”, as well as performing Nazi salutes, at people emerging from the shul.

There was at least one other person in the car, with reports suggesting they joined in.

Police are investigating

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Germany: Holocaust memorial vandalized with "Jews are criminals" graffiti

Via hessenschau.de (h/t Honestly Concerned)"

A memorial for the synagogue of Rödelheim (Frankfurt) was vandalized with "Jews are criminals" graffiti.  In addition the menorah was crossed out.

The memorial was dedicated last year.

Germany: Neo-Nazi cell 'spied on Berlin synagogue to plot attack'

Via The Local:

Statements from a police officer in 2000 reveal that the NSU terrorist group may also have been active in Berlin, and appeared to be scouting out a major synagogue to attack.

A lawyer told the court in an ongoing case against the last surviving member of a murderous neo-Nazi cell that a police officer saw its members scouting out Rykestrasse Synagogue in Berlin, Germany’s largest synagogue, according to Tagesspiegel.

The prosecutor, Yavuz Narin, was relying on a report that the officer made to the Berlin Office of Criminal Investigations.

In 2000, the police officer was guarding the synagogue when he saw the now deceased National Socialist Underground (NSU) member Uwe Mundlos at a cafe nearby, along with Beate Zschäpe, who is currently on trial for the ten murders committed by her three-person cell.

The two were joined by another man and a woman with two children, according to Narin. And the group was together looking at a city map. Later the police officer saw Zschäpe and Mundlos again by the synagogue.

Narin explained that it appeared Zschäpe and Mundlos were scoping out the synagogue for a possible attack.

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UK: Belfast rabbi says antisemitism growing in Northern Ireland

Via Jerusalem Post:

Antisemitism is on the rise in Northern Ireland as the Jewish community continues to suffer from repeated threats and acts of vandalism in Belfast, one local rabbi told the BBC Sunday.

Rabbi David Singer, head of the Belfast Jewish Community congregation, said that Jewish graves, synagogues and public spaces throughout Northern Ireland have been defaced with anti-Jewish graffiti over recent months.

“Yes, antisemitism is on the rise," Singer told BBC Radio Ulster's Sunday Sequence. "Let me tell you about four things - first of all...[the graffiti] in the process of being cleaned up right now. It is graffiti in town where what is written is the ‘F word’, a picture of a swastika and it says, ‘gas the kikes.’"

“On the synagogue walls," Singer continued, "there is graffiti. I am not going to read it out - it is really very unpleasant."

Singer also said he has received a number of "suspicious emails" over the same period of time.

“If we add these things together – the graffiti in town, the smashing of the gravestones, suspicious emails, and the graffiti on the synagogue wall – yes, I would say things are on the increase.”

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Russia: Guard injured in attempted attack on Moscow synagogue

Via JTA:

Russian police beefed up security around a central synagogue of Moscow following what they said was an attempted attack by an armed resident of the capital in which a security guard sustained mild injuries.

The incident occurred on Saturday at the Moscow Choral Synagogue, where the alleged attacker, carrying a canister of gasoline and a firearm, lightly wounded a security guard during a struggle, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. Police detained the suspect, who threatened to burn down the building, according to the report.

The Moskovskij Komsomolets daily identified the injured security guard as Oleg Demshin, 35. He suffered injuries to his hand, the paper reported. Demshin, a father of one, prevented the suspect from entering the building and other security guards overpowered him at the entrance, according to the report.  He has worked at the synagogue for two years.

The attacker was Ivan Lebedev, a 40-year-old man with a history of mental illness, Moskovskij Komsomolets reported.

Approximately 150 people, including the chief rabbi of Moscow, Pinchas Goldschmidt, were in the building when the attempted attack happened, Goldschmidt wrote on Facebook Saturday. Goldschmidt wrote the suspect was carrying a pistol.

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