Portugal: Synagogues are hiding religious services times for fear of terrorist attacks

Lisbon synagogue which can not be seen from the street

Correio da Manhã reports that timetable for religious services in Portuguese synagogues are not being disclosed for fear of terrorist attacks.  Visiting tourists have to make contact in advance to be able to attend.  There are around 1,000 Jews in Portugal.

On Friday, a car parked in front of the Lisbon synagogue led the police to search for explosives.

Belgium: Socialist party marginalising Jewish members

Belgian magazine Vif-L'Express interviewed Freddy Thielemans, the former Socialist mayor of Brussels.

Mr. Thielemans was asked whether the Socialist party was tackling antisemitism.  He replied:

"I do not think that there is any ambiguity in the total rejection of antisemitism by the PS. But where is the debate? The lack of debate could be the real question. Dare we invite representatives of secular Jew to the party branches? I think we should do it more often."

Like many parties in Belgium, the Socialist Party is keen to attract the Muslim vote.  There are around 800,000 Muslims in Belgian compared to less than 40,000 Jews.  Muslims often refer to Jews as Zionists
 and Jewish buildings are protected, schools are becoming Jew-free,. According to the Pew Research the Muslim population is expected to climb to 1,1490,000 in Belgium by 2030 for a total population of 13 million.  Most likely there will even fewer Jews - as many are leaving.

It is not surprising that a Belgian Jew wrote to Jeffrrey Goldberg: "I read your article, and the experience of the Jews of Belgium is similar, or maybe worse, than the experience in France, because our government is quiet on the subject and there are not so many of us here. However, I don't want to leave. This is my country. You probably feel that way about your country. If you were a Belgian Jew, what do you think you would do?"

Indeed.  Very quiet on the subjet.  Isn't that what the former Brussels mayor had in mind?

Norway: Labour Party politician compares Israel to Nazis, Islamic State

h/t the SAW group.

The following are some of the posts made by Ole Ingvald Hansen, a member of the Hammerfest council representing the Labour Party (Ap).  He is also one of the 'Palestine ambassadors' for the Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees.  Because no Norwegian trade union is complete without its very own Palestine ambassador corps.

As you can see below, his posts freely compare Israel to Nazis and the Islamic State, and show support for terrorist groups like Hamas.

For the Norwegian Labour Party, this is apparently not shocking or outstanding.  

1.  A cross integrating a Nazi swastika into the name of Israel, US

2. Many Israelis have shown in this year's election that war-crimes and breaking UN conventions are just fine.  Just like they also did in Germany a while back...

3. Hamas are extreme in many areas, but overall it's unclear if they're more extreme than MIFF [Norway's pro-Israel group].  The difference is that Hamas defend freedom-fighting, while MIFF defend attacks, occupation and murder by an occupier against the local population.

4. In response to an article about an Israeli Muslim calling to destroy Hamas and Fatah: Propaganda, in Norway this kind of people got a name: quislings.

4. Comparative chart of Israel vs. Islamic State, portraying Israel as European-colonialists using Judaism as an excuse to terrorize the indigenous inhabitants.

Austria: Hamas organizations protest for destruction of Israel

Last week there was a lot of focus on a group of Bosnian fans who joined a pro-Palestinian street event in Vienna and started shouting "kill the Jews".

The pro-Palestinian event itself did not make any headlines at all.  Because in 2015 Austria it's apparently quite acceptable to hold anti-Semitic events calling for the destruction of Israel.

The event, which commemorated "Land Day", was organized by the following groups:

• Koordinationsforum zur Unterstützung Palästinas (KFUP, Coordination Forum for the support of Palestine)
• Dar al-Janub  - a pro-Hamas NGO, which also is part of the BDS-movement
• Palästinensische Jugend Österreich (PJÖ, Palestinian Youth of Austria) - unofficial youth wing of KFUP
• Frauen in Schwarz (Women in black)
• Palästinensische Frauen in Österreich (Palestinian Women in Austria)

KFUP is a Hamas-Front organisation in Austria. Its leader is Adel Abdallah Doghman. It is the successor organisation of the Palästinensische Vereinigung in Österreich (PVÖ – Palestinian Association in Austria), which was designated by the US in 2003 as terrorist organisation. Doghman serves also as General-secretary of the Konferenz der Palästinenser in in Europa (Conference of the Palestinians in Europe), a major Hamas-Front organisation in Europe, with is tied to the Palestinian Return Center in Great Britain and organizes international Hamas-events in Europe. KFUP in engaged in organizing Anti-Israel rallies in Austria, collecting money for “Palestinians”, indoctrination of youth and international Hamas-events in Austria. 


More important the KFUP is deeply embedded in the Islamische Glaubensgemeinschaft in Österreich (IGGiÖ - Islamic Denomination in Austria), the legal body of Islamic organisations in Austria, which is dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, AKP and Turkish extremist organisations. All major Anti-Israel events in Austria are organized by the IGGiÖ.

In summer 2014 the same groups held a flash-mob in Vienna where activists were posing as IDF soldiers, with David Magen armbands executing civilians and children on purpose.

KFUP has also strong ties to the Gesellschaft für Österreichisch-Arabische Beziehungen (Society for Austrian-Arab relations), which has strong ties to Austrian politicians.

Israel: Swastikas on fallen soldiers' memorial

Via NRG:

Anti-Semitic graffiti on memorial for fallen soldiers in Omer, next to Beersheba.  The Arabic graffiti included: "Palestine", "Gaza" and swastikas.  A nearby forest was set on fire twice in the past week, and the locals suspect the two attacks are related.

France: French publisher of Greek finance minister is a conspiracy theorist

Against antisemitism blog reports:

The French weekly newspaper «Le Canard Enchaîné» revealed that Jean-François Goulon, the French publisher of the Greek Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, is a conspiracy theorist whose books and theories are praised by the notorious antisemite Alain Soral. Le Canard reveals that Mr Goulon is the translator of American antisemite and Holocaust denier Eustace Mullins.  He wrote a book about Israel which was praised by conspiracy theorists.

Contacted by Le Canard, Mr Varoufakis' entourage claimed that the minister was not aware of his publisher's writings and theories. Looks like a lame excuse.  More (in German)

More:
Greece: New finance minister empathizes with Palestinian suicide bombers.

Greece: Right-wing politician claims Jews don’t pay taxes - Panos Kammenos is now Greece's Minister of National Defence.

Turkey: "No one in Turkey is anti-Semitic," says Deputy PM

The first step in dealing with antisemitism is.... denying that it exists, of course.

Turks are not anti-Semites. They're anti-Zionists.  Problem solved.

Via Daily Sabah:

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arinç, in an interview on Israeli channel TV2, said that anti-Semitism has never taken root in Turkey, there is only outrage over Israeli government policies.

Defending Turkey's reactions to Israeli policies, Arinç said: "No one in Turkey is anti-Semitic. Most of the Turkish people strongly react against the Israeli government.

Italy: Holocaust memorial group drops from Liberation Day parade due to harassment

Via Moked  (translation Jason, h/t Eitan Yao)

April 25 is Liberation Day in Italy, the celebration of the Allied victory over Fascists in Italy.

ANED - a Holocaust remembrance organization of people deported to Nazi camps - has announced they will not participate in this year's parade.  The rationale behind this is the discrimination against commemorating the Jewish Brigade. The Jewish Brigade was a group of soldiers from British Palestine who fought in Europe during World War II.

See last year's report: Jewish Brigade march attacked by pro-Palestinians

Slovenia: Philosopher Slavoj Zizek tells an obscene Jewish joke in an interview with Spiegel

German newspaper Spiegel interviewed Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek. The newspaper believes that the man is a genius and claims that he "is one of Europe's boldest intellectuals", "one of the most famous contemporary thinkers and cultural theorists in the world" and "a globally influential intellectual" who in a new work "argues Europe shouldn't be overly tolerant towards Islamism".  So we should reverentially heed what this intellectual super hero has to say.

In fact he doesn't say much about islamism or Islam.  Unsurprisingly Zizek had more to say about Jews than Islamism.  And the genius tells an allegdly supposedly Jewish joke - aren't Jews marvellously adept at self-derision?  But, unsurprisingly again, no joke about Muslims.  He admits that the joke is obscene, but it's always such a pleasure in Europe to poke fun at the Jews - and their Jew-obsession carries absolutely no risk:

Or take the Jewish joke -- they can be wonderful in their self-derision. Do you know this one? A Jewish woman of Polish origin -- they're considered to be particularly serious in nature -- stoops as she cleans a tile floor. When her husband gets home and sees her stretched backside, he pulls up her skirt in excitement and takes her from behind. When he is finished, he asks his wife if she has also been brought to climax. No, she says, I still have three more tiles to go. Without obscene exchanges like that, we don't have any real contact with each other -- just a cold respect.

Has the  humanist, bold philosopher anything to say about the massacre of Christians in Africa, in the Middle East? About the way the Roma are treated in Europe?  Nothing at all. The journalist doesn't bother either.  But he obviously had to bring up the Palestinians as a great universal cause. How so?

Spiegel: So how can we develop an emancipatory solidarity between groups that are culturally different?

Žižek: [..]  Everything is dependent on this: the battle for the Palestinians and against anti-Semitism, WikiLeaks and Pussy Riot -- all are part of the same struggle. If not, then we can all just kill ourselves.

France: Paris supermarket hostages sue media over live coverage

The disregard for the safety of the hostages by signallling their location beggars belief.

The Daily Telegraph/AFP report:

Six people who hid in a supermarket refrigerator during January's Islamist attacks in Paris have sued French media for broadcasting their location live during the siege.

Images broadcast from the scene on January 9, when gunman Amedy Coulibaly stormed into the Hyper Cacher Jewish supermarket, killing four and taking others hostage, "lacked the most basic precautions" and endangered those still alive inside, said a lawyer representing the group, Patrick Klugman. Mr Klugman singled out French 24-hour news channel BFMTV, which revealed live on air that the group - including a three-year-old child and a one-month-old baby - was hiding from Coulibaly in the cold room, where they were taken by one of the supermarket's employees.
 

"The working methods of media in real time in this type of situation were tantamount to goading someone to commit a crime," Mr Klugman told AFP Thursday, roundly criticising coverage by other outlets of security forces movements during the standoff.

The lives of those hiding "could have been at risk if Coulibaly had been aware in real time what BFMTV was broadcasting," Mr Klugman said, adding that the jihadist was following the coverage of his raid on different channels and had been in contact with BFMTV journalists. More.

Shabbat Shalom and Pesach Same'ach!

To all our readers, I wish a very happy, kosher and peaceful Pesach!

Belgium: Jew asks Jeffrey Goldberg whether he should leave Belgium

Hitler in bed with Anne Frank:
"Write this in your diary Anne."

Jeffrey Goldberg @ the Atlantic has written an article following "the discussion surrounding my cover story for the April edition of The Atlantic, about the future—or non-future—of Europe's Jews."  He pays particular attention to a letter from a Belgian Jew.  The letter reflects the terrible uncertainty and anxiety experienced by Jews in Belgium.  Sadly, it also shows that Belgian Jewish leaders aren't capable of offering guidance or to give a clear picture of the situation.  Indeed, with a few exceptions, they are notorious for their infighting.  They are also divided along linguistic lines Flemish Jews (mostly in Antwerp) and French-speaking Jews (mostly in Brussels).  It is worthwhile reminding our readers what  Christopher Caldwell pointed out on the Financial

Abou Jahjah, respected Belgian op-ed writer
(via Joost Niemöller)

Times in 2006:"A Belgian Arab group released a cartoon showing Adolf Hitler in bed with Anne Frank. “Europe, too, has its sacred cows,” said the group’s leader, Dyab Abou Jahjah, “even if they are not religious sacred cows.”"  That leader, Dyab Abou Jahjah, as this blog has reported, has become a columnist for the Standaard, is highly regarded by the media and the establishment.  Le Soir praises him to the skies and has hailed him as an "opinion leader" (26/03/2015). 

Jeffrey Goldberg:

[...] I wanted to try to answer a particular question sent to me by a reader in Belgium. [...] a Jewish person in Belgium who asked to remain anonymous: "I read your article, and the experience of the Jews of Belgium is similar, or maybe worse, than the experience in France, because our government is quiet on the subject and there are not so many of us here. However, I don't want to leave. This is my country. You probably feel that way about your country. If you were a Belgian Jew, what do you think you would do?"

The answer is very difficult, of course. As I wrote in the article, I do not sense a great future for Jews across much of Europe. The trends are not moving in positive directions, even putting aside the most obvious negative trend of all: In 1939 there were nine million Jews in Europe, and today there are roughly 1.4 million.

But my answer is this: If I were a completely assimilated Jew, one who, say, has married out of the faith; one who is not raising my children Jewish; and one who does not associate with Jewish people in specifically Jewish places, then I think I would be fairly safe in Belgium. It is possible to be secure in a place like Belgium by avoiding Jewish institutions (synagogues, schools, and so on) and, of course, by not participating in any obviously Jewish activity, or dressing in an obviously Jewish manner. So it comes down to a person's relationship with Judaism.

Obviously, the Nazis are not coming, and so it is not unduly dangerous to have Jewish ancestry. The article I wrote, however, was about normative Jewish life. For those people who want to be actively Jewish, a place like Belgium could, in fact, be dicey. I suppose that if I lived in Belgium, and could afford to be mobile, I would be getting mobile. But these are terribly hard questions. If I had parents, or siblings, who were tied to Belgium, I probably wouldn't be so quick to look for an exit.  More.

UK: Former UN diplomat knocked unconscious in antisemitic attack

Via Ham&High (h/t CFCA):

A Canadian tourist was left unconscious and drenched in his own blood after being headbutted in the face on a Belsize Park street.

Former UN diplomat Zakariah Fellah told how he was attacked by a man who had shouted anti-Semitic abuse at him as he walked his dogs along leafy Lancaster Grove.

Mr Fellah, 49, was visiting Belsize Park to stay with a friend who is a diplomat at the Polish embassy in London.

(...)

He said: “I had taken the dogs out and was walking along when this guy started shouting at me. I had seen him on a previous occasion and he seemed to have a problem with the dogs. He shouted at me ‘you are rich and Jewish and you shouldn’t let your dogs Poo on the street.’ He then came over and grabbed my hat..”

“Then on this occasion from nowhere he suddenly ran towards me and headbutted me on my nose. I was stunned and fell backwards. I was not expecting it at all. The next thing I knew, when I came round after ten or 15 seconds, I am lying on the floor and he is standing over me. My nose is destroyed.”

His attacker then fled.

Israel: "They [European observers] are against Jews too"

Via Ploni Ben Nistar:

Not so long ago me and my friend went to Chevron. While waiting for the bus back to Yerushalayim we started a conversation with an elderly Arab man who lived in Chevron and spoke a few words Yiddish. His father spoke fluently Yiddish as he was often among religious Jews in -back then- the British Mandate of Palestine. Of course we spoke about politics, their unfortunate living conditions and Zionism.

My friend asked him, “if we would walk in that direction” while pointing in a certain direction “what would happen? We could walk there?”

The Arab grandfather shook his head. “No. They’d throw stones at you… or…” He was very clear it wasn’t safe for Jews to walk there.

"But we’re not Zionists" my friend said, “we are against Zionism!”

"It doesn’t matter, they only see this" the man replied while making curling motions down the front of his ears clearly symbolizing the peyos. "They hate Jews. They hate Jews. It doesn’t matter".

Then a car passed by. “That’s Tiff*” the man said. A “Human Rights” organization with volunteers from all over the world -but mostly Europe- who record and picture everything that’s going on. ”They are against Jews too.” 

"Against Jews?" I asked him. Jews, not Zionists? 

"Yes. Against Jews" he replied. 
________________
*He pronounced it as “tiff” but meant Tiph (Temporary International Observer Hebron).

Wikipedia:

Temporary International Presence in Hebron or TIPH is civilian observer mission in the West Bank city of Hebron. Both the Israeli Government and Palestinian Authority called for its creation. Its main task is to "assist in monitoring and reporting the efforts to maintain normal life in the City of Hebron, thus creating a feeling of security among Palestinians in the City of Hebron." It “monitors the situation in Hebron and records breaches of international humanitarian law, the agreements on Hebron between Israel and the Palestinian authority and human rights, in accordance with internationally recognized standards".[1] It also monitors Israeli settlers, and aims to help the Arab Palestinians who currently live there. It is staffed by personnel from Denmark, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.

Hungary: Anti-Jewish graffiti

Via CFCA:

In Budapest, graffiti on a public bathroom next to a synagogue: a Jewish Star with an arrow pointing where Jews belong.

The hearts were added by a Jew in response.