Germany: Frankfurt’s mayor blasts Anne Frank NGO for comparing ISIS terrorists to Jews

Via Jerusalem Post:

The ballooning scandal over the Anne Frank center’s comparison between Jews who were stripped of their citizenship by the Nazi regime and the German government’s plan to revoke the citizenship of Islamic State terrorists sparked criticism from Frankfurt’s mayor on Wednesday.

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The Center published a thread of five tweets on March 6 in which parallels were apparently drawn between persecuted German Jews who were forced into statelessness and Islamic State terrorists who could lose their citizenship under a German government plan.

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The Center’s director, the Israeli-born Dr. Meron Mendel, refused to delete the Tweets. Mendel declined to say who wrote the controversial Tweets.

The Center told the Post on Twitter “No, we did not compare or equate Jewish holocaust victims to IS terrorists. And we made that very clear after some misinterpreted our tweet in that way. In no way did we defend jihadists. This is simply not true.”

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UK: When ‘progressives’ excuse Nazi ideology: The case of Bella Caledonia

Via David Collier:

Just over a month ago, my report into hard-core antisemitism in the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) was published. Following its release, condemnation of the SPSC crossed the political divide, and was swift. Given what was uncovered, it seemed an obvious and natural response. Nobody wanted to be seen protecting hard-core Nazi ideology. 

After all, what had been uncovered was indefensible. It was shown that almost every time SPSC activists ran a stall or held a demonstration, 40-50% of those present had previously shared material that circulated in far-right white supremacy websites. At one demonstration alone, ten of the attendees had shared material on their social media pages denying the Holocaust. 

Consider this for a moment. Imagine a stall run by a right wing party. Then imagine that 40-50% of those people running it, shared *EXACTLY* the same material as the SPSC activists. How would civil rights campaigners view such a group? What excuses would be considered acceptable? As I said, indefensible. 

What also spoke volumes was the relative silence from the SPSC. Little in the way of apology, regret and introspection. The SPSC shrugged their shoulders, denied all responsibility, and chose to respond by calling me names. 

Sarah Glynn’s acrobaticsAnd that was all I heard. Until three days ago. When a blog called ‘Bella Caledonia’, published a piecewritten by anti-Israel activist Sarah Glynn. Sarah’s apparent problem with the SPSC report, wasn’t the fact so many racists are out on the streets handing out SPSC leaflets, oh no, Sarah’s problem with the report, was that I had written it.Of course, in the article, Sarah had to tell everyone she was speaking ‘as a Jew’. It took 40 words for Sarah Glynn to place her Jewish credentials before the reader. Although in the strictest sense, as the first 39 words of the article were a basic introduction, ‘as a Jew’, was how she began. 

Sarah chose to condemn a report exposing Nazi ideology as ‘a gross and politically motivated slur’. According to Sarah then, it doesn’t seem to be in the public interest to inform on those who share Holocaust denial material and stand outside malls boycotting a Jewish business. As the majority of articles I had found came from hard-core white supremacist sites, I wonder if Sarah has other examples where she doesn’t want such vile racism exposed publicly? 

You see, Sarah needed to write a piece that condemned those posts, but actually wanted to write one that cleansed the SPSC, and yes, even the activists of any real blame. 

Because here is the crunch. Those activists weren’t just SPSC ‘fringe material’ as Sarah Glynn would desperately want you to believe. These activists are the people who man the SPSC stalls, they are the ones who come out in the rain to demonstrate. These activists are the ones that call the SPSC HQ their ‘second home‘. Without these activists, the SPSC can’t move. 

And the report was flawless because its findings are so clearly evident. Don’t let me tell you these people are front line SPSC activists. Google SPSC, find images of them in action, and then cross-check with the names in the report. It is that easy. Which is why the SPSC, and now Sarah Glynn’s attempts, to suggest that this isn’t actually about the ‘SPSC’, are so laughable. 

Long winded excusesWhich is also why Glynn’s article engages in a rather long winded discussion excusing those who shared antisemitic material. As Glynn explains, ‘the internet has vastly outpaced development of our critical faculties’. She goes on to suggest that these ‘progressive activists’, are  just ‘sickened by official propaganda’ and are just on the ‘lookout for alternative sources of information’. Oh! That’s all right then. Now I get it, these people became posters of racist material by accident. When these activists saw the Jews blamed for all the evils in the world, when they came across Holocaust denial, these intelligent ‘progressive people’ just didn’t see racism. 

Never have I seen such a twisted excuse for blatant racism. ‘Sorry guv, it weren’t my fault I hit the black guy, that newspaper made me do it’. Is this really the line Bella Caledonia are pushing?

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Switzerland: Journalist compares hatred of Russians to hatred of Jews

Via Pravada Report:

In May 2015, Geneva-based publishing house Editions des Syrtes published a bestselling book by well-known journalist and writer Guy Mettan titled "West - Russia: The Thousand-Year History of War Russophobia from Charlemagne to the Ukrainian Crisis."

The word combination "bestselling book" means here that the circulation of 3,000 copies of the French version of the book was sold out instantly. A "bombshell" would be too weak a word to describe the controversy that the book by this veteran journalist caused.

Although, as the author himself admits, in France, they tried to pretend that they did not notice the book. In Switzerland, Mettan's home country, on the contrary, people and major media outlets showed great interest in the work.

(...)

Guy Mettan pointed out a similarity between the persecution of Jews and hatred of Russians throughout history. "In essence, Russophobia is akin to anti-Semitism,  although, of course, this is not the same. Like anti-Semitism, Russophobia is not a temporary phenomenon associated with certain historical events. Like anti-Semitism, it is rooted primarily in the brain, regardless of how the object of dislike actually behaves. Like anti-Semitism, Russophobia seeks to build certain negative properties of an object of hate into a principle. In our case, it goes about such properties as barbarism, despotism, territorial expansion."

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Does Germany need another Islamist, anti-Israel and antisemitic Infusion by John L. Esposito?

BICSA (The Berlin International Center for the Study of Antisemitism) report by Clemens Heni:

75 year old John L. Esposito, Georgetown University’s Director of the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., will be the keynote speaker of a big conference in Germany, Jan 14–16, 2016, about „anti-Muslim racism and hostility towards Islam in Germany and Europe.“

The conference will take place at the University of Osnabrück in the North-West of Germany, over forty speakers are invited to speak. The event is organized by the “Center for Islamic Theology,” and supported by the German Federal Government and its Ministry of Education and Research, Lower Saxony’s Ministry for Research and Culture, and the Post Graduate Program Islamic Theology. 

This Center for Islamic Theology is headed by Bülent Ucar, who is the main organizer of the event alongside with his co-worker, Nina Mühe, an anthropologist and Islamic studies scholar known for her attack on Berlin’s Anti-Hijab Law in classroom. Mühe is a former fellow at a German branch of George Soros’ Open Society Institute.  [...]

In his book “Who Speaks for Islam?” (2007, together with Dalia Mogahed), Esposito used the equivalence of anti-Semitism and “Islamophobia.” In his distorted view, Jews aren’t but a “religion” and just one of two “religions with Semitic origins.” In fact, hatred of Jews is a worldwide ideology, while “Islamophobia” is rather an invention by some specific circles, namely Iran and Islamist organizations and their followers.  [...]

This “optimism” (a nice word for the spread of Islamism, no?) can also be seen in the work of leading Sunni cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi, another protagonist of Esposito. In his book “The Future of Islam” (2010), the Saudi (Prince Alwaleed) funded scholar says, al-Qaradawi “claims that everything is acceptable (halal) unless proven forbidden (haram).” This makes him a moderate according to Esposito and his German colleagues Gudrun Krämer and Bettina Gräf. Gräf co-edited a book, “The Global Mufti,” with pieces by another Georgetown academic, Barbara Freyer-Stowasser (1935–2012), about “gender equality” in a fatwa about female suiciding bombing against Israel by al-Qaradawi.  [...]

Mustafa Ceric, former Grand Mufti of Sarajevo, is another Islamist portrayed as kosher, by Esposito. Ceric once went to the Auschwitz Memorial site, not to remember the Shoah but rather to invoke the Muslims-are-the-new-Jews-analogy. Ceric has also been criticized for his ties to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, among other Islamist aspects of his approach.  [...]

August 5, 2014, during the latest Gaza War, John L. Esposito tweeted the following: “Elie Wiesel plays the Holocaust trump card in Gaza” and links to an antisemitic homepage – “Mondoweiss.” Wiesel had said, that Jews stopped using children as sacrifices some 3500 years ago, Hamas should stop it now, too. Truly a correct statement, taken the fact that Hamas is verifiably known for abusing children and others as human shields. For Esposito this was just another reason to defame Israel and make fun of the Shoah and a Holocaust survivor.

Esposito compares Israel to Nazis, uses even more antisemitic language, promotes Islamists as possible allies and defames German officials, who headed federal offices in the fight against Jihad and Islamism.

Are these enough reasons for the Jewish Museum Berlin’s Yasemin Shooman, the mainstream weekly “Die Zeit” and its author Yassin Musharbash, the left-green-wing daily “taz” and its Daniel Bax, scholars like Andreas Zick from Bielefeld University, who even sits on Board of the US based “Journal for the Study of Antisemitism” (JSA), or historian Wolfgang Benz, former head of the “Center for Research on Antisemitism” at Technical University Berlin, dozens of other scholars, activists and authors, the Government of Lower Saxony and the German Federal Government to support and join such an event?

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UK: London-based Egyptian preacher : "We deserve compensation like the Jews"

MEMRI: London-Based Egyptian Preacher Hani Al-Sibai: I Foresee the Europeans Banishing the Muslims; We Deserve Compensation Like the Jews (video)

In a November 20 Friday sermon, titled "The Fate of the Muslims after the Paris Incidents," London-based Egyptian preacher Hani Al-Sibai said that he foresaw the Muslims "being persecuted in the streets and alleys of Europe" and "loaded onto giant planes and thrown to perish in some desert." "Look what the Jews did to the Germans. Because of the issue of the Holocaust, the Germans are paying them every year," said Al-Sibai, who has been living in Britain since 1994 as an asylum seeker. "What about us? What about our compensation?"
 

Hani Al-Sibai: [...] You have plundered our countries. You have destroyed and plundered them. You must pay us compensation for the catastrophes you have caused. It is you who finance those criminals [ISIS]. It is you who have used the people who attack and kill. Look what the Jews did to the Germans. Because of the issue of the Holocaust, the Germans are paying them every year. They pay them reparations ever since the end of the World War and to this day, and they will continue to pay for generations to come. Whether they like it or not, they pay huge sums every year. Every government must pay for what the Germans did. What about us? What about our compensation for the occupation? For two centuries, you have been destroying us and plundering our money. 

 Read more.

Ireland: Outrage as developer Johnny Ronan uses Nazi slogan in attack on Nama

Via Independent:

A German phrase which is widely associated with Nazi concentration camps will not be redacted from Celtic Tiger developer Johnny Ronan's statement to the Banking Inquiry.

The businessman has caused outrage in the Jewish community by signing off his submission with 'Arbeit Macht Frei', which translates as 'work sets you free'.

Former justice minister Alan Shatter has led calls for the phrase - in German and as Gaeilge - to be removed from the statement which was published on the Oireachtas website yesterday.

Mr Ronan stresses throughout his 21-page written submission that he felt his companies had worked hard but ultimately Nama had destroyed them.

Mr Shatter said it was beyond his comprehension that the "notorious and diabolically misleading" phrase which hung at the entrance to concentration camps, including Auschwitz, was published on the Oireachtas website.

He called on Mr Ronan, who played major roles in the development of the Google Headquarters, National Convention Centre and Spencer Dock, to withdraw the remarks, and on the Banking Inquiry to remove the phrase from his submission.  more

UK: Nazi propoganda acceptable on British media

Via stuff.co.nz:

Two satirists have proven just how much you can get away with in the comments section of a news website by quoting famous pieces of Nazi propaganda.

Twitter users BestoftheMail and DMReporter, who target British tabloid newspaper the Daily Mail, were sick of seeing hateful and inappropriate comments on articles about migration in Europe.

As an experiment, they decided to comment on articles with slightly altered Nazi quotes, in most cases replacing the word "Jew" with "migrant".

Shockingly, they found their contributions received numerous "upvotes" on the website - which meant readers supported their comments.

Maybe they would have been more shocked if they'd just left the 'Jew' in there.   There's a hidden assumption here that antisemitic comments in British (and European) media are immediately taken care of.   Sadly, that is far from the case.  That is true for both straight-out antisemitic comments and definitely for comments about Zionists.

Germany: Nakba Day speaker says "Anne Frank would have been today on our side"

"Nakba Day" is not a protest against Israel's politics.  It's a protest against Israel, the Jewish state.

European countries are very proud of the fact that their school curriculum includes the Holocaust, but look at the results: Denying antisemitism today, using Anne Frank in order to deny Jews the right to self-determination, and comparing Jews to Nazis.

From a speech at the Nakba Day rally in Berlin, via emo.youth@tumblr.

Date: May 15, 2015
Location: Berlin
Speaker: Ahmed from “JugendtheaterBüro Berlin” (english: “Youth Theater Office Berlin”)
Source: Redebeitrag und Poetry Ahmed JTB
Minute: 3:47 min – 4:44 min

Now I will give an example on how German circumstances are. We just made a theater play about Anne Frank. The father of Anne Frank said he wants the story of Anne Frank to be a universal story. Anne Frank counts for everybody. A group of Muslims from Kosovo, Palestine, Afghanistan have met and looked into the story of Anne Frank and have gathered courage and inspiration from this, because they say we know what it means to be a minority in today’s Germany just like the Jews were back then. Anne Frank belongs to us. We made a play about it. And you know what they wrote? “Anti-semitic! Muslims are not able to refer to Anne Frank.” We say Anne Frank would have been on the streets today on our side against racism and Israel’s politics.

Sweden: Journalist Jan Guillou accuses Jews of lying and exaggerating about antisemitism

Swedish journalist and author Jan Guillou asks in an op-ed in Aftonbladet why Jews are receviing protection, when the real victims of racism in Sweden today are the Muslims.

"After more than a dozen mosques in Sweden were targeted by arson and other attacks, the police decided to take exceptional measures."

"They stationed armed specialized police officers with exceptionally heavy German machine-guns outside the country's synagogues and Jewish schools."

Guillou continues to ask: why is the country debating antisemitism when the dominant form of racism is against Arabs and Muslims?

Guillou also accuses the Jews of lying about antisemitism.

"For those who want to portray Sweden as an antisemitic rather than an Islamophobic country, every lie and exaggeration is a means justified by the end."

For example, Willy Silberstein head of the Swedish Committee against Antisemitism, claimed that Jews are packing their bags.  Obviously he's lying, for a good cause.

UK: Holocaust Memorial Day op-ed claims that Jewish 'victim mentality' causes antisemitism

Under the headline "Yes, Let's 'Never Forget' but Let's Also Remember the Black Holocaust" (Huffington Post), Sophia Erbo engages in the most despicable antisemitic journalism: Jews are powerful in both Britain and the UK, Israel is powerful and has very powerful allies.

"For Jewish people, there can be no more victim mentality, no rush to all blame slights and injustices on anti-semitism. Perhaps it's this (what can be perceived as) victim mentality, that causes certain other minority groups to feel a resentment that can be mistaken for, or even turn into, anti-semitism."

Let's repeat that: Jews cannot complain about injustices, because it causes resentment and antisemitism.

Of course, she realized it might sound antisemitic, so she put in the regular disclaimer: She's not. And she has a Jewish friend.

"I am only pointing out that Jews don't have a monopoly on suffering - nor am I saying that they they claim to."

But, she still decided to use the one day dedicated to the persecution of Jews by the Nazis, as a platform to discuss Black suffering.

Apparently, a lot of people disagreed about the antisemitism  part, because she felt she had to write an apology: "Why I Should Have Chosen My Words More Carefully When Talking About the Holocaust"

She didn't mean to sound antisemitic, and she really doesn't think badly of Jews.  I actually believe her.  Like many other antisemites, it's so ingrained in her, that she doesn't even notice it.  She really doesn't want to denigrate Jews, she just does.

Anyway, she could have used Martin Luther King Day as a platform to talk about Black suffering.  But why go for the obvious?

Belgium: Minister compares Islamic State fighters to Nazi-era Jews

Via World Bulletin:

The head of the regional government in Brussels compared on Wednesday the Belgian government’s plans to revoke foreign fighters’ citizenship to methods adopted by the Nazis.

Rudi Vervoort, the Francophone Socialist and Prime Minister of the Brussels region, told local Belgian media, "taking away nationality is a weapon used by several extremist regimes. One of the first measures adopted by the Nazis was to take German nationality away from the Jews. The Vichy regime in France did the same."

Norway: Christian priest accuses the Jesus-killer Jews of persecuting Christians

Via MIFF:

Pastor Olav Vikse wrote in a recent community newsletter an article about "Christmas in Palestine".  Which he uses to attack Jews on all fronts.  They never did what God wanted, were unjust, oppressed the poor, and... killed the Son of God.

When a reader complained, Vikse answered him that Christians have more Jewish blood than the Jews, and that it's a shame people try and defend Jesus-murderers while leaving their Christian brothers to suffer.

The rest of the article goes into the suffering of Christian Palestinians, by (and only by) the Jews.  No mention of any terror attacks either, which just might explain why the Israelis are so mean.

He also discusses who are the 'real' Jews, racially speaking.  He cites a Christian Palestinian who claims he's 64% Jewish, while the average in Israel is 'only' 50%.

Germany: Neo-Nazis moving to the mainstream

'Happy Holocaust' BBQ next to NPD office

Rolling Stone magazine published an article about the 'new' face of the German Neo-Nazi movement.  They barely mention Jews or the Holocaust.

Back in Bavaria, Patrick Schroeder is driving around downtown Weiden with his former co-host, Martin, a clean-cut 27-year-old computer programmer. Martin is not his real name, but he's already lost his job twice because of his politics, and is worried about jeopardizing his newest position. Both men are complaining about the repression they face on the job market as neo-Nazis — since finishing his training as a salesman, Schroeder has only worked for companies tied to the scene. "We're the new Jews in Germany," he says, "except we don't wear stars." 

Putin envoy: Russians are the New Jews

Russian adviser to Vladimir Putin, Sergei Markov, made headlines this weekend for pointing the finger at Sweden as one of the most "Russophobic" nations - rivalled only by Finland, Poland, and the Baltic states. On Monday several Swedish politicians dismissed his antics and said Markov doesn't have nearly the political clout he presumes.

"Anti-Semitism started the Second World War, and Russophobia can start a third," Markov told the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper this weekend. "Europe today looks upon Russians the same way as Jews were viewed before. Your goal is to destroy Russia. But you will destroy Europe instead."

More: The Local

Israel: Pope prays by his graffiti message comparing Israel to the Nazis

Via Tom Gross Mideast Media Analysis: On his visit to Bethlehem, the Pope posed to pray by the security barrier.  Which happens to have a "Bethlehem look like Warsaw Ghetto" graffiti.

The graffiti is not there 'from time immemorial'.  It's part of a message to the Pope.  The entire thing says "Pope we need some one to speak about justice, Bethlehem look like Warsaw Ghetto".

In case anybody thought this was an unplanned stop..

All the news stories I saw decided to cut the graffiti out.  The Arab press didn't.

Germany: Party officials say they're persecuted like Jews during WWII

The  Euroskeptic party AfD ("Alternative for Germany") apologized to the Jewish community after two of its officials (one of whom is Jewish) compared the situation of party members to the persecution of Jews under the Third Reich.

More: Die Welt

Germany: PETA compares slaughtered pigs to Holocaust victims

Via Elder of Ziyon:

PETA Germany came out with a new poster comparing the slaughter of pigs to the Holocaust.  While they're at it, they also compare it to slavery and racism. The poster quotes Dr. Martin Luther King: "Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal".

Netherlands: Muslim group to hold conference on 'Shadow Holocaust'

May 4th is Dutch memorial day, commemorating those who died in WWII and in later wars and peacekeeping missions.  The Muslim group 'Bewust Moslim' intends to hold a conference on that day on the 'Shadow Holocaust' in order to examine the 'ethnic cleansing in Palestine and the passive stance of the international community'. Among the speakers are Islamist preachers Abou Hafs and Abdul-Jabbar van de Ven.

More: Katholiek Nieuwsblad

UK: MP Galloway compares Gaza to Warsaw Ghetto

Clip here on YouTube

British MP George Galloway recently compared Gaza to the Warsaw Ghetto, saying that while the people of the ghetto uprising were hailed as heroes, "the Palestinians, when they rise up out of their Warsaw Ghetto, are called terrorists." Galloway, speaking on his weekly show on the Iranian English-language Press TV channel on April 12, 2014, also said that the Egyptian "junta" was "doing Israel's work" in murdering nearly two million Palestinians in Gaza.

More: MEMRI, via CFCA

Vatican: Priest Likens Criticism Over Abuse to Anti-Semitism (update: old news)

Update: This is a story from four years ago.  I did not notice when first posting.

A senior Vatican priest, speaking before Pope Benedict XVI at a Good Friday service, compared the world’s outrage at sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church to the persecution of the Jews, prompting angry responses from victims’ advocates and consternation from Jewish groups.

(...)

Speaking in St. Peter’s Basilica, the priest, the Rev. Raniero Cantalamessa, took note that Easter and Passover fell during the same week this year, and said he was led to think of the Jews.

“They know from experience what it means to be victims of collective violence, and also because of this they are quick to recognize the recurring symptoms,” said Father Cantalamessa, who serves under the title of preacher of the papal household. Then he quoted from what he said was a letter from a Jewish friend he did not identify.

“I am following the violent and concentric attacks against the church, the pope and all the faithful by the whole world,” he said the friend wrote. “The use of stereotypes, the passing from personal responsibility and guilt to a collective guilt, remind me of the more shameful aspects of anti-Semitism.”

More: New York Times