Belgium: Far-right party to push for ritual slaughter ban

Belgium’s far-right Vlaams Belang party said it will submit a bill proposing a blanket ban on ritual slaughter.

The Vlaams Belang made the statement Monday in reaction to a Cabinet minister’s announcement on forbidding the slaughter of animals in temporary slaughterhouses as of next year throughout most of the federal monarchy.

More: JTA

France: "I’m not talking about the Jews here. I’m talking about Jews in general"

Later, near the grocery, a tall teenager pedaled his bicycle toward two journalists and shouted at them to leave, saying the media had lied about Sarcelles. The youth, Diakité Ismael, 19, the French-born son of Senegalese immigrants, soon calmed down and, like others, argued that there was no animosity in Sarcelles between local Muslims and Jews.

“Look,” he said, as a bearded Jewish man in a dark suit and skullcap walked by, “there’s one.”

But when asked about Gaza, Mr. Ismael became agitated, rambling and warning that the world was hurtling toward a catastrophe. He said he had seen video of an Israeli bomb hitting a funeral in Gaza. “Somehow, some Jews control politics, information, business and finance,” he said. “I’m not talking about the Jews here. I’m talking about Jews in general.” 

“Jews, in general,” he added, “only let you see what they want you to see.”

More: New York Times

Ukraine: Firebomb thrown at synagogue on Rosh Hashana

Kiev’s oldest synagogue was the target of a firebomb that burst into flames outside the building. 

The firebombing at the Great Choral Synagogue on September 24, the eve of Rosh Hashanah, did not cause damage, according to the news website evreiskiy.kiev.ua, which belongs to the Jewish Kiev watchdog on anti-Semitism. 

Police suspect that an arsonist targeting the actual building hurled the firebomb — a glass bottle filled with a flammable substance.

More: Times of Israel

Turkey: Turkish Airlines urged not to distribute daily over anti-Semitic bias

The Human Rights Association (IHD) has called on Turkish Airlines (THY) to exclude the pro-government daily Yeni Akit, which is highly favored by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, from the range of free newspapers offered on the company's passenger flights, because of the daily's anti-Semitic comments, Turkish media reported on Wednesday.

More: Today's Zaman

UK: Soccer club deletes Rosh Hashan tweet after anti-Semitic replies

Liverpool FC, the prestigious English Premier League soccer team with a worldwide following of supporters that numbers in the millions, deleted a tweet wishing its Jewish fans a happy new year on Thursday after the salutation elicited a torrent of anti-Semitic posts from other Twitter users.

More: Jerusalem Post

Shana Tova!

I wish all my readers a Shana Tova - a happy, joyous and peaceful new year.

I will return to blogging next week.

Belgium: Jewish children insulted during football games

via Philosémitisme Blog (via Brussels Nieuws):

Interviewed by tvbrussel Roger De Lathouwer indicated that in his youth there were a few antisemitic incidents mostly due to the Far right, but in recent years there has been a marked increase in antisemitic acts.  His children play football for a Jewish club (Maccabi) and several times at the end of the matches both spectators and players hurled antisemitic insults.  Some of the incidents were so serious that he was asked to lodge a complaint with the police.

Charlotte Gutman is also aware of many cases of antisemitism.  She told that a few years ago she was at the cinema in Brussels with friend watching "Inglourious Basterds".  During the viewing a man with a strong arabic accent shouted that he was fed up with hearing all the time about the Jews, their victimization and their stories.

Roger De Lathouwer is not planning to leave Belgium but he understands why the younger generation is considering leaving Belgium as they are less willing to put up with growing antisemitism.

UK: "You are a f****** Jewish **** and a f****** Yid"

“A 53-year-old woman was walking along the pavement when a man, described as white between 30 and 40-years-old, drove past in a grey Vauxhall Astra car and aimed abuse at her. Words used are alleged to be: “You are a f****** Jewish **** and a f****** Yid.”

More: Jewish News, h/t CFCA

Israel: "Death to the Jews" etched into picnic table

Via CFCA:

At Ofer forest, next to the Carmel, somebody etched "death to the Jews" and a swastika in to a picnic table.

France: Society seemingly apathetic to anti-Semitism, says chief rabbi

France's government has reacted strongly to a rising tide of anti-Semitic acts this year but French society seems indifferent to the threat they present, the country's newly elected chief rabbi said on Tuesday. 

Haim Korsia, who was elected in June, recalled the huge crowds that demonstrated in Paris in 1990 after a Jewish cemetery was desecrated in the southeastern town of Carpentras.

This summer, he told journalists, there was no similar reaction from civil society following attacks on synagogues and protests against Israel's offensive in Gaza, during which some marchers shouted "death to Jews" and "Jews out".

More: Jerusalem Post

UK: Jews upset at Hipster Hitler comic book

A ‘jokey’ comic strip book called Hipster Hitler which turns the murderous Nazi dictator into a trendy geek has sparked outrage among the Jewish community. 

The widely available book shows the former German Chancellor wearing black-rimmed glasses, eating cashew nuts, playing Pac-Man and riding a bike with a basket on the handlebars. 

A group of Jewish activists has pledged to shred all the copies of the comic strip, which it says is ‘anti-Semitic’ and ‘sick’.

More: Daily Mail

Ukraine: "Uman pilgrims may bring Ebola"

A Ukrainian health official warned that Jewish pilgrims converging in Uman may bring with them the Ebola virus and other epidemics. 

Larissa Kachanova, who heads the local branch of the Ukrainian government’s Sanitary and Epidemiological Management Center, issued the warning Thursday ahead of the arrival of approximately 30,000 Jews expected to spend Rosh Hashana in the central city, near the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, the 18th-century founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement, 

Pilgrims will come from “the United States, New Mexico and Bolivia, where they have Lassa fever; Nigeria, where there is dengue fever; Mexico and India,” Kachanova said, according to a report by the Ukrainian UNN news agency.

More: JTA

Italy: Author of anti-Israel letter in the Lancet promote David Duke antisemitic video

Via NGO Monitor:

Two of the main authors of An Open Letter for the People of Gaza (July 23, 2014), which appeared in The Lancet medical journal in July 2014, promoted a video made by American white supremacist David Duke. The two are Drs. Paola Manduca and Swee Ang Chai. (The other authors are Drs. Mads Gilbert, Iain Chalmers and Derek Summerfield.) The Lancet is a UK-based medical journal. Richard Horton has served as Editor in Chief since 1995. 

(...) 

On August 14, 2014, Dr. Paola Manduca forwarded an email from Dr. Swee Ang with the subject line “CNN Goldman Sachs & the Zio Matrix” to the Italian Google group Sempre Contro la Guerra. The email contains a link to a Duke video of the same title. 

Serbia: Football fans hold antisemitic banner

UEFA are set to launch a formal investigation into the anti-Semitic banner that marred Tottenham's goalless draw against Partizan Belgrade.  

The banner displayed among the Serbian supporters during the Europa League tie which finished 0-0 read: ‘Only Jews and Pussies’ — an allusion to the TV comedy Only Fools and Horses. 

Delegates from European football’s governing body were made aware of the banner before half-time, yet no effort was made to take it down.

More: Daily Mail

Europe: 40% of Jews hide their identity

About forty percent of European Jews hide their identity, the Rabbinical Center of Europe and the European Jewish Association claimed on Monday. 

The organizations, both of which are run by Menachem Margolin, a Chabad rabbi from Brussels, stated that they had gathered their data from over 800 rabbis and RCE members across the continent but did not provide any detailed explanation of how they arrived at the 40% figure or of the study’s methodology.

More: Jerusalem Post