France: Anti-Semitic graffiti found at home of Muslim victim of Toulouse Jewish school killer

Via JTA:

The home of the Muslim mother of a victim of the jihadist killer Mohammed Merah from Toulouse was sprayed with anti-Semitic threats.

Latifa Ibn Ziaten, whose son, Imad, was murdered in 2012, discovered the graffiti Monday, she wrote on Twitter. One graffiti, written in misspelled French, read: “Jew, soon dead.” Another said: “Your time is coming soon, dirty Jew.” Ibn Ziaten, who has traveled to Israel in the framework of her activism against anti-Semitism and hatred, spoke at a convention of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jews of her indignation when she hears young Muslims speak of Merah as a martyr.A third read: “Long live Merah.”

Latrfa Ibn Ziaten has campaigned with French Jews against anti-Semitism.

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pics @ https://twitter.com/LatifaIbnZ/status/1138012568579182593

Poland: Again, an attack on the Jewish cemetery in Czestochowa

Via CFCA:

Czestochowa – In December, antisemitic inscriptions was spray-painted on the gate of the Częstochowa Jewish cemetery.

Now a vandal smash the grave of Rabbi Pinchas Menachem Justman, who died in 1920.

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France: 'Vandalized' synagogue memorial - an accident

Via Israel National News:

Damage to a memorial marking the site of Strasbourg's Old Synagogue, destroyed by the Nazis during World War II, was caused accidentally by a motorist and was not an act of anti-Semitism, a French police source has said.

The incident last weekend sparked outrage, with Strasbourg deputy mayor Alain Fontanel describing it as an "act of vandalism" and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu condemning "another shocking anti-Semitic incident".

A police probe using surveillance cameras revealed that a 31-year-old man reversed into the memorial after leaving a nearby nightclub with friends, the source told AFP on Thursday.

"At this stage, no anti-Semitic nature has been detected," the source said, adding the driver has been summoned to court in June over hit and run charges. 

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France: Synagogue memorial stone vandalised in antisemitic attack (update: it was a car accident)

Update: turns out this was an accident

Via Independent:

A memorial stone marking the site of a former synagogue destroyed by the Nazis has been vandalised in Strasbourg.

Officials said the heavy memorial stone was discovered moved from its base in the French city on Saturday morning.

Strasbourg mayor Roland Ries denounced the incident as “a new antisemitic act”.

French officials in the region said that antisemitism “undermines the values of the republic”.

The monument commemorates a synagogue built in 1898 that was set on fire and razed to the ground by the Nazis in 1940.

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Poland: Antisemitic signs on buildings in Warsaw

Via CFCA:

At the beginning of the week, huge signs were hung on the walls of several residential buildings in Warsaw with the inscription “These buildings will soon be returned to the Jews to meet their demands.”

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France: Rise in antisemitic attacks, Yellow Vests leader voices support for anti-Zionism

Via Jerusalem Post:

Only a few days after the Macron said he would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, also stating that anti-Zionism is a form of antisemitism, the country saw a rise in antisemitic incidents lately.

It seems that Macron's words created the opposite effect in France, and the Bureau for the War on Antisemitism called the rise in incidents as "frightening." Among other incidents, graffiti were found condemning Jews in various parts of the country.

(...)

A 17-year-old riding a bicycle in a suburb north of Paris, was attacked by three unknown assailants who called him "dirty Jew", broke his wrist and robbed his cell phone, all for wearing a kippah.

A 51-year-old woman was attacked near her home in Garez-les-Gons by two men with knives. The two called out to her, "Jewish whore, we'll burn all of you."

In another incident, people inscribed "dirty Jew" on the nameplate of a Jewish doctor on the facade of a dental clinic in Paris whereas they did not touch the label of his colleague a non-Jewish doctor.

There were also reports of Jews in the country receiving death threats by phone and mail, sometimes accompanied by swastikas.

Jerome Rodriguez, one of the prominent leaders of the yellow vests movement in France, who lost his eye from a rubber bullet fired by the police, told Maariv that his movement was not antisemitic. (...)  According to Rodriguez, he did not take part in a demonstration against antisemitism because he was "busy visiting his movement's checkpoints in various parts of the country." However, he added that if he had time, he would prefer to participate in a demonstration organized by an anti-Zionist organization that supports boycotting Israel".

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UK: Spate of antisemitic attacks in Stamford Hill probed by police

Via Jewish News:

There has been a spate of alleged antisemitic attacks in Stamford Hill in the past week, with reports of bricks thrown in the windows of Jewish homes and a family subjected to abuse on Shabbat. 

The Met Police received reports a man was allegedly punched by one of four women who apprehended him and shouted antisemitic abuse at around 11.40am last Saturday.

According to the neighbourhood watch group Stamford Hill Shomrim, the man was leaving Shul with his family when he was allegedly punched and called a “germ on society”.

However, the Met Police said they closed the case after the victim failed to attend an appointment.

The victim, who did not wish to be named, told Jewish News: “My family witnessed it, and they are still in shock.

“My son woke up last night crying about it and was all traumatised.

“I was trying to calm him down as best as possible and trying my best to speak to him about it. It’s not an easy thing to explain.”

The father said he did not attend the meeting because of a lack of faith in the system. “The punishment is always minor when it comes to antisemitism,” he added.

On Wednesday, a man walked into a clothing shop in Clapton Common at around 1.30pm and shouted antisemitic abuse at a shop assistant.

The Met Police said the incident took place after the man asked whether the shop assistant wanted the windows cleaned and disputed the price they had agreed on.

Shomrim added the suspect had allegedly shouted: “Hitler should have called [ed. killed] all the Jews”. 

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Ukraine: Anti-Semitic images painted on memorial to desecrated Jewish cemetery

Via JTA:

Unidentified individuals painted anti-Semitic cartoons on a memorial wall in Ukraine that was made of ancient Jewish headstones destroyed by Soviet authorities.

The graffiti found this week in the western city of Kolomyya show a man tossing a Star of David in the trash. The memorial wall commemorates one of three Jewish cemeteries that existed there before they were razed and plundered.

Eduard Dolinsky, the director of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee, on Tuesday wrote on Facebook that the act was typical of a recent spate of anti-Semitic vandalism in Ukraine.

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Poland: Amid tensions over the Holocaust, Jewish cemeteries vandalized

Via JTA

Two Jewish cemeteries have been vandalized in Poland amid a fresh diplomatic crisis between that country and Israel over complicity in the Holocaust.

In the city of Świdnica, a suburb of Wroclaw in southwestern Poland, at least 15 headstones were smashed last week at the local Jewish cemetery. Other headstones were painted with black graffiti, including one of a pentagram – a symbol associated with Satanism.

Local police are investigating possible anti-Semitic motives, the website Wmeritum reported.

The cemetery had seen previous incidents, Monika Krawczyk, chairwoman-elect of the Union of Jewish Religious Communities in Poland, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

“The evil comes back,” she added.

Separately, in Wroclaw the words “Jesus is King” were written on the fence of another Jewish cemetery on Feb. 13. Several locals showed up earlier this week to paint over the slogan, Gazeta Wroclawska reported Sunday.

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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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France: 80 graves vandalised at Jewish cemetery in eastern France

Via Local:

Swastikas and anti-Semitic tags were found daubed over 80 gravestones at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France on Tuesday on the day of nationwide marches against a rise in anti-Semitic attacks.

The damage was discovered on Tuesday morning at a cemetery in the village of Quatzenheim, close to the border with Germany in the Alsace region, a statement from the regional security office said.

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France: Outrage as swastikas, 'Jews' scrawled on Jewish symbols

Via France24:

A tree planted in a Paris suburb in memory of a young Jewish man who was tortured to death in 2006 has been chopped down, authorities said Monday, confirming the latest in a series of anti-Semitic acts in France.

Ilan Halimi was kidnapped by a gang that demanded huge sums of money from his family, believing them to be rich because he was Jewish.

After being tortured for three weeks, the 23-year-old cellphone salesman was found dumped next to a railway in the southern suburb of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois. He died while being brought to hospital.

On Monday, municipal workers sent to prepare a memorial site for a annual remembrance ceremony this week discovered that a tree planted in his honour had been chopped down and a second one partly sawn through, local officials told AFP.

The police are investigating the incident, which the French government's special representative on racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination, Frederic Potier, described as "ignominious".

It is the latest in a series of anti-Semitic acts and attacks that have raised fears of a new wave of anti-Jewish violence in a country that is home to Europe's biggest Jewish population.

In two separate incidents in the past two days, swastikas were drawn on Paris postboxes containing portraits of late Holocaust survivor Simone Veil and the word Juden (German for Jews) was sprayed on the window of a bagel bakery in the capital.

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France: Paris bagel shop window vandalized by Yellow Vest protesters

Via Kann News:

A Jewish bagel shop's window was vandalized by Yellow Vest protesters.  The word "Juden" was graffitied on the Bagelstein shop window

Greece: Jewish cemetery memorial in Thessaloniki targeted, again

Via ekathimerini:

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.

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Greece: Holocaust Memorial in Thessaloniki sprayed with Swastika

Via Ekathimerini:

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.

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.

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Italy: Outrage after plaques honoring Rome's deported Jews stolen

Via Ynet News:

Rome’s mayor, Catholic groups and politicians of every stripe joined Italy’s Jewish community this week in denouncing the theft of 20 small bronze plaques honoring a Jewish family deported during the Holocaust.

The plaques, affixed to the cobblestones in front of the Di Consiglio family home in the Monti neighborhood of downtown Rome, were taken overnight. A gaping hole in the cobblestones was all that remained Monday.

The organization responsible for laying the plaques, “Art in Memory,” reported the theft. In July, the same group reported receiving a threatening letter featuring a photo of Adolf Hitler.

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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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Belgium: Vandals damage Holocaust memorial in Ghent

Via JNS:

Vandals damage a Holocaust memorial in the Belgian city of Ghent on the eve of a Kristallnacht commemoration. 

Vandals damaged a Holocaust memorial in the Belgian city of Ghent, some 50 kilometers west of Brussels, on the eve of a Kristallnacht (“Night of the Broken Glass”) commemoration.

The so-called Michaël Lustig monument, in the shape of a dreidel, is located at the confluence of a major canal. It was ripped off its foundation and left on its side.

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France: Jewish mayor’s home covered with anti-Semitic graffiti

Via JTA:

The home of a Jewish mayor in France was covered with anti-Semitic graffiti including swastikas and “Dirty Jew, get out.”

The graffiti were spray-painted Friday on the home of Etienne Wolf, mayor of Brumath, near Strasbourg in France’s east, France3 reported. Police have no suspects in the incident, which occurred on the 80th anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogroms by the Nazis against German and Austrian Jews.

“Mayor Marx = Jude,” a reference to the communist ideologue Karl Marx, followed by the German-language word for “Jew,” also was painted on the house along with several swastikas and the words “Dirty Jew, get out.” Another tag read “Jews want to destroy Whites.”

Wolf discovered the tags early in the morning when he came out to get his newspaper.

“It stunned me. I wondered what I had done to deserve this,” Wolf, whose town has approximately 10,000 residents, told France3.

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Sweden: 'Anti-Semitic' motive suspected in arson attack on politician's home

Via The Local:

A Jewish rights group has said that a fire affecting a politician's house in southern Sweden was likely a deliberate "anti-Semitic attack" and followed threats and harassment of local public figures with a Jewish background.

Police were called to a fire at a private property in Lund, owned by a local politician, shortly after 2am on Tuesday morning. Police later said that several people in the same row of terraced homes had been evacuated but no one had been injured in the fire.

The Jewish Community of Malmö chairman Fredrik Sieradzki told The Local that the property owner had previously received anti-Semitic threats.

"This person has been threatened and harassed earlier this year, and been given messages that were clearly anti-Semitic. We had already been helping her with these threats, and our suspicion is very strong that it's an anti-Semitic attack. Police also see this as an arson," Sieradzki said.

The organization called the fire "an attack on Swedish democracy" and said that it had a "strong suspicion" that there was an anti-Semitic motive in a statement released on Wednesday.

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