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."

read more

UK: Life imitates art as play about antisemitism faces wave of abuse

Via Guardian:

A new play about rising antisemitism that opens in a London theatre this week has become the target of antisemitic abuse. One Jewish Boy by Stephen Laughton focuses on the relationship between a Jewish man and a mixed-race, non-Jewish woman, their experiences of hatred and abuse, and the impact on their marriage. “It’s about big themes on a domestic level,” Laughton said.

Since publicity for the play was launched in September, Laughton has been targeted with abuse on social media, and posters for the production have been defaced and torn down. Palestinian flags were posted online in response to mentions of the play.

Among the comments were: “Who cares about Jews? This looks shit”; “I must say I do not give a fuck. Perhaps you could write a play about Palestinian kids getting blown to pieces by Jews”; and “You’re a fucking enabler. You Jews disgust me”.

Laughton said he was saddened by the responses. “I expected something, but I didn’t anticipate they’d come for me. I’m worried there’ll be more antisemitism when the play opens, and I’m worried it could become physical.” The Community Security Trust, which protects and defends British Jews, had been consulted.

Laughton said he had wanted to write about antisemitism for some time as he had watched friends – mostly liberal Jews who are critical of the Israeli government’s policies – become more fearful about rising tensions and overt abuse.

“The play has been written from a place of tangible fear. Things that were on the fringes of the far right and the far left started creeping in to the mainstream.

“In the last few years it seems like people feel they have permission to be antisemitic,” he said. “You see it in our politics, on our social media, with our kids getting beaten up on the streets. I wanted to chart that.”

(...)

Laughton said his Jewish identity was of central importance to him. He belongs to Liberal Judaism, a small, radical denomination, and is “historically a Labour party supporter”. He described himself as a “romantic Zionist” with an attachment to the Jewish homeland but is highly critical of blockades and settlements. At the end of each performance during the play’s four-week run, collections will be taken for Medical Aid for Palestinians, a charity that delivers healthcare for those affected by the conflict, and Rabbis for Human Rights, an Israeli organisation that focuses on settlements and human rights violations.

The closing night of the show will be followed by a vigil for peace, incorporating a Havdalah service marking the end of Shabbat, the Jewish sabbath, and a recitation of Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead.

read more

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.

read more

Sweden: Hospital official quits over alleged anti-Semitic bullying by surgeon

Via Times of Israel:

A department head at a Swedish hospital resigned following media reports about a physician in the department continually bullying Jewish staff.

The former manager left Karolinska University Hospital, near Stockholm, due to “a combination of personal reasons, but also because he has not handled the situation [efficiently] enough,” Annika Tibell, the hospital’s director, told Sveriges Television, the broadcaster reported Tuesday. The department head was not named in the report.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center made accusations against a surgeon from the hospital in a letter sent in October, the Aftonbladet daily reported.

Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories
Free Sign Up

Management at Karolinska knew about the “obvious and open anti-Semitism” expressed by the physician to at least one Jewish employee since February, but the complaints were “ignored,” the center’s dean, Rabbi Abraham Cooper, wrote in the letter, which was obtained by JTA.

At least two other Jewish employees quit until only the one mentioned by the Simon Wiesenthal Center remained, Cooper said.

Tibell told Aftonbladet that the institution has a “zero tolerance for all types of harassment and offensive treatment.” She also said that “relevant investigative measures” are being taken when “misunderstandings arise.”

According to Aftonbladet, Karolinska has launched an internal investigation and asked outside counsel to review the complaints.

read more

Belgium: Jewish woman reportedly threatened with firearm outside her home

Via Times of Israel:

A Jewish woman whose family has endured months of anti-Semitic intimidation in Belgium said a man pointed a gun at her outside her home.

The woman, identified in the Belgian media only as Nicole, told the SudPresse media group that the incident happened on Oct. 9 outside their home in Marchienne-au-Pont, a suburb of Charleroi, 30 miles south of Brussels, the media group’s report from Friday said.

...

Recounting the firearm incident, Nicole told SudPresse: “We stopped at a red light in front of a hair salon near our street. There was a bearded individual there whom I recognised because he verbally assaulted me two weeks ago. He turned to us. He first looked at my husband and then at me, saying: ‘I’m going to put a bullet in your head’.” Then he took out a gun and pointed it in her direction, Nicole said.

Earlier this year, the La Meuse regional daily published an article about the multiple cases of harassment directed at the couple. They had been living for over two years in Marchienne-au-Pont without incident, according to the report.

But this summer, the report said, she and her family have been targeted in a campaign of harassment that has featured written death threats stuffed into their mailbox and the scrawling of anti-Semitic graffiti on their front door.

“We are too afraid to leave our home since this started,” Nicole, a native of Chile, told the newspaper. “Several people discovered we’re Jewish and ever since we’ve been getting death threats.” One letter addressed to Nicole called her a “dirty whore” and other insults.

read more

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.

read more

UK: Pro-Israel MP tells of swastika daubing during election campaign

Via The Jewish Chronicle:

Sheryll Murray MP

Sheryll Murray, the pro-Israel Conservative MP for South East Cornwall, has described the abuse she suffered during the general election campaign. 

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Ms Murray, a Conservative Friends of Israel supporter, told MPs that opponents had carved swastikas into her campaign posters and urinated on her office door. 

She said: "Over the past months, I've had swastikas carved into posters, social media posts like ‘burn the witch’. 

"People putting Labour Party leaflets on my home photographed them and pushed them through my letterbox. 

"Someone even urinated on my office door. Hardly kinder, gentler politics. 

read more

Sweden: Malmö woman still suffers from antisemitic vandalism attacks

For the past few years, a Jewish woman in Malmö has been targeted by a hate campaign (see here and here).  Her front door is repeatedly vandalized.  She files complaints with the police, but they take no action whatsoever.


The latest attack was a couple of weeks ago, when her door was vandalized with a swastika and Star of David.

European nationalists to join American Nazi harassment of Montana Jews

Via Jerusalem Post:

A neo-Nazi website said it has filed the paperwork for an armed neo-Nazi march designed to harass the Montana Jewish community of Whitefish.

The march was moved to Jan. 16, a Monday and the national holiday day set aside to observe Martin Luther King Day this year. The march had originally been set for the day before.

Andrew Anglin, who runs the Daily Stormer website, posted a photo of the filed application on Thursday. The Whitefish City Clerk’s Office told the Forward that it had not received an application, and that what was on the website appeared not to be complete.

Anglin wrote in a post published Thursday that nationalist groups from the United Kingdom, Sweden, France and Greece will attend the march. He also confirmed that “a representative of Hamas will be in attendance, and will give a speech about the international threat of the Jews.”

He said that participants will march through the center of Whitefish, and end at Memorial Park, where several people will speak.

read more

Fake EU organization supporting ethnic minorities targets Jewish charities for “harassing” antisemites

Via CAA:

An investigation by Campaign Against Antisemitism into the activities of the “European Forum for Ethnic Minority Individuals, Communities and Organizations” (EFEMICO) has revealed that it is in fact a front organisation run by an antisemite.

EFEMICO is in fact a one man band run by Schumann. Draped in the flag and colours of the EU, its official-sounding website, efemico.eu, claims to represent all minority “migrant settlers to the EU” but explicitly excludes Jews.

But the man behind the website, Jason Schumann is an antisemite who recently told a Jewish Facebook user: “It is Jews who are the real nazis. [sic] No group of people more insidious, more evil, or more pernicious. An eternal curse upon them.” His personal Twitter account has been suspended.

EFEMICO came to our attention when it targeted three organisations, Campaign Against Antisemitism, the Community Security Trust and Jewish Human Rights Watch, accusing them all of harassing innocent individuals and menacing them with a Charity Commission investigation, repeatedly tweeting: “Whilst antisemitism is wrong, anyone harassed by @CST_UK, @antisemitism or @jhrwatch, please contact us to take further. @ChtyCommission”

    . Whilst anti-Semitism is wrong, anyone harassed by @CST_UK, @antisemitism or @jhrwatch, please contact us to take further.@ChtyCommission

    — efemico.eu (@efemico_online) November 23, 2016

Additionally, EFEMICO believes in the existence of a nefarious “Jewish lobby”. According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective” is antisemitic.

(...)

Through EFEMICO, Schumann has tried to intimidate organisations which fight antisemitism by falsely suggesting that they engage in harassment of innocent individuals. This incident shows the sophisticated techniques now being used against Jews, even to intimidate them from taking action against antisemitism.

Now that they are aware of the situation, EURid, which granted Schumann his official-looking online presence, should cease to play a part in the EFEMICO charade. You may wish to contact EURid about this matter through their website.

read more

UK: Jewish Labour MP reveals she received more than 20,000 pieces of abuse in just 12 hours

Via Telegraph:

A Jewish Labour MP who criticised Jeremy Corbyn has revealed that she received  more than 20,000 pieces of abuse in just 12 hours.

Ruth Smeeth, the Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent, said Jeremy Corbyn should be "naming and shaming" supporters who are attacking moderate Labour MPs "in his name".

(...)

Speaking to the BBC this morning the MP said: "Since the end of June I have received somewhere in the region of 25,000 pieces of abuse. 

"I got 20,000 pieces of abuse within 12 hours and once it starts on social media it keeps going."
Harman: Corbyn needs to stop intimidation Play! 00:57

"It's vile, it's disgusting and it's done in the name of the leader of the Labour Party, which makes it even worse.

"I know that Jeremy Corbyn will condemn this, but it's not about condemning, it's about what people are doing in his name and what is now seemingly acceptable.

read more

UK: London Mayor opposes Corbyn, is attacked for being a 'Zionist stooge'

Via Yair Rosenberg, Adam Bienkov:

London's Muslim mayor came out against Labour party head Corbyn. So anti-Semites came out for him:

Germany: Antisemitic propaganda warns of "anti-German Jewish terrorists"

Via RIAS, CFCA:

A Jewish woman in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin found an antisemitic note on her car.  The woman, and other residents of the building, are visibly Jewish.

The note warns of "Jewish terror" and says that hundreds of Mossad agents have infiltrated Germany in order to commit anti-German terrorism in retribution for the Holocaust.

This is not the first time such notes are left for Jewish residents of the area (see here and here)

France: Jewish doctor claims his career has been ruined by 'state-backed' antisemitism

Via Point of No Return:

A French -Jewish doctor of Tunisian origin has claimed that his career has been ruined by 'state-backed' antisemitism.

Dr Lionel Krief ran two nuclear medicine clinics in northern France, but fell out with his professional partner.

Dr Krief's troubles began when a legal case was brought against him  after he replaced a faulty scanner 'which did not belong to him', resulting in his eviction from his clinics. After eight years of fighting in the courts, Dr Krief's career is in ruins and he has been forced to sell his home to pay legal costs. He  has taken up Israeli citizenship and sent away his children for their own safety.

His defenders allege a witchhunt against him. Says journalist Veronique Chemla, who has campaigned on his behalf, Krief did nothing illegal. Indeed, she claims, key evidence was withheld from the courts.

Ms Chemla blames government and public institutions for incompetence,  but also detects  a strong whiff of antisemitism about the Krief case.

Extreme right and leftwing - but not mainstream - politicians support him. A local MP said: "Dr Krief's only problem is that he does not have Catholic genes going back 22 generations." 

read more  (see also here)

UK: Anti-Semitic abuse of Labour activist

Via STV (h/t CFCA):

A Labour activist standing for the party's National Executive Committee (NEC) has faced "vile" anti-Semitic abuse, a trade union has said.

GMB Scotland condemned the online attacks on Rhea Wolfson, a Jewish Scottish Labour activist and the trade union's Glasgow branch secretary.

Ms Wolfson recently announced her candidacy to replace Ken Livingstone on Labour's NEC, the party's chief administrative body, and has been backed by the influential pro-Jeremy Corbyn group Momentum.

Livingstone was suspended from the Labour Party following controversial remarks regarding Hitler and Zionism.

After Ms Wolfson's candidacy was confirmed, she faced a spate of coordinated anti-Semitic abuse on social media which was also extended to members of her family.

read more

France: Jewish family targeted with continuous vandalism

Via CFCA:

A Jewish family's home in Versailles was vandalized with Jewish stars. 

Michèle says this is the 9th time they've suffered such vandalism in the past three years.  The first incident was in February 2013 when both their apartment and her parents' apartment were vandalized with swastikas.  They once found an anonymous letter that said "dirty Jews".

Michèle says she's sure it's the same person, and that she does not know why they're targeted as they're not visibly Jewish and their children went to Catholic school.

Austria: Vienna Jewish community buildings targeted with antisemitic notes

Via Heute:

Over the past year, the Jewish Museum in Vienna and other buildings in the Jewish community were repeatedly targeted with antisemitic notes attached to windows and doors.


Police have now published photos of a suspect.

Norway: Jewish student faces harassment, school ignores it

Via Aftenposten (h/t Scandinavian Anti-Semitism Watch)

A Jewish student in Oslo says he was subjected to continuous antisemitic harassment by classmates.

The student started a new high-school in the fall of 2014.  The harassment started when his classmates found out he was Jewish.  They made the Nazi salute at him and said things like "your nose is getting bigger" or held an ashtray in front of him and said "this is what your people look like".  In the shower he was told "Norwegian children get water here, but you get gas". 

One fellow student wrote on Facebook "It's a shame that Hitler didn't finish the job".  Though in this case the message wasn't aimed at him, as nobody knew yet that he was Jewish.

The student complained to the school, and later turned to the country and complained that the school wasn't handling the case properly.  Last year the country decided that the school broke the law as it did not take reports from the student and his parents seriously.

Austria: Vienna municipality forced Jews to pay Nazi debts

The Israeli embassy in Vienna is housed in a building called the "Villa Moller".

Before World War II, the building belonged to Hans Müller, a Jewish industrialist.  After the Nazi annexation of Austria (Anschluss), the villa was confiscated by the Nazis. 

Well, you can't expect much from the Nazis.

The Nazis didn't bother to pay the municipal property taxes on it, and as it turns out, when the villa was returned to Müller after the war, the Vienna municipality demanded he pay the Nazi debt.


Müller refused to do so.  He turned the villa over to the Israeli government and they paid the debt of 45,000 Schilling.

Which begs the question: How many other Austrian Jews were forced to pay taxes for buildings that were either confiscated during the war, or that their owners couldn't pay since they were otherwise occupied with being persecuted.

Read more here on Ynet

France: French-Jewish academic assaulted following anti-Semitic threats

More background here.

Via JTA: 

A French-Jewish university director who has been the subject of an anti-Semitic campaign of intimidation was assaulted outside his home near Paris.

An unidentified individual attacked Samuel Mayol, the director of the Technical University Institution, or IUT, on the evening of Oct. 9 while Mayol was walking his dog in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis, the Tribune Juive weekly reported.

The assailant bashed Mayol’s head three times against a wall, causing him a concussion and multiple lacerations. The assailant fled the scene after the attack.
Breaking News

Mayol, who was speaking to a friend on his cellphone when the attack occurred, sustained minor injuries. His attacker told him: “We are going to bump you,” which in French slang also means to kill. Mayol filed a criminal complaint for assault with police, who are investigating the attack as a possible hate crime.  more