UK: BBC blames Israel for antisemitism

Via BBC Watch:

On April 11th and 12th BBC World Service radio aired an edition of ‘Heart and Soul’ titled “Faith and Food: The Jewish Community of Paris“, presented by Hardeep Singh Kohli.

Singh Kohli has decided that antisemitism in Paris is caused by Israel, and as BBC Watch points out, he repeats this point several times:

At 15:14:

I don’t mean to be simplistic about it but the outside world looking in sees people leaving France to go to Israel, so people think well, people are coming to Israel and that increases the occupied territories which then increases antisemitism which then increases more people leaving France.”

And again at 16:14:

I get this sense of a vicious cycle: antisemitism causing Jews to leave and then Israel continuing to expand illegal settlements on the West Bank to accommodate them. It’s one of the factors contributing to more antisemitism.

Towards the end of the programme (24:15 and also in a clip promoted separately by the BBC on Twitter), listeners hear Singh Kohli say:

“I think if the Jews of the world retract – if they all move to Israel – then we will never grow up living next door to a Jewish family and that’s very sad. Why are they being taken away from?… why is my city?… my hometown of Glasgow has less Jews now than ever and my city is worse for it.”

Why indeed.

More at BBC Watch

Russia: Shots fired at new synagogue

CFCA

Via Interfax:

A synagogue currently under construction in the city of Arkhangelsk has been attacked by vandals armed with air guns, who also smashed nine windows and wrote anti-Semitic inscriptions on the building.

The incident occurred in the early hours of April 8 when Jews were celebrating the Passover, a spokesperson for the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FJCR) said on Thursday.

"Shortly after the recent desecration of a monument of the Holocaust victims in Volgograd, with just weeks to go until the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Victory, that very Victory to which the whole country was heading with such torment and torture in the fight against the Nazi, home-grown xenophobes have again shown their faces," FJCR President Alexander Boroda was quoted as saying.

Finland: Electoral posters of Jewish candidate defaced with swastikas

Tundra Taboids reports:

National Coalition MP Ben Zyskowicz deems the swastikas that appeared on electoral advertising in Helsinki  as an anti-Semitic outburst.

Ben Zyskowicz’s election advertisements had swastikas scrawled on them at a Kalliopuisto bus stop and at Pakilatie street.  The ad at Karhupuisto was personal. The one located on Pakilatie street was a poster with a Conservative Party co-candidate.  Zyskowicz is upset by the advertising vandalism.

"I think it is outrageous that the election advertisements were defaced, cut down and or torn. The elections are part of a democratic society. during elections, one should know how to respect other options and the right to campaign", Zyskowicz says.

Zyskowicz who is Jewish takes a really negative stance to the drawing of a swastika.

"The fact that the ads had swastikas drawn on them, I guess is an anti-Semitic outburst of an anti-Semite. It’s really cowardly to disrupt democracy".

UK: Antisemitic graffiti at primary school

Via The Comet (h/t CFCA):

Disgusting anti-Semitic graffiti has been sprayed just metres away from a primary school.

It was reported to the police this morning after people saw the offensive remarks written on a footpath linking Chertsey Rise and Collenswood Road in Stevenage, outside the former Collenswood School and near to Ashtree Primary School and Nursery.

There were three drawings, one of which is cleary anti-Semitic and the Comet has chosen not to publish. It is unclear at this time who wrote them or why.

Germany: Court stops antisemitic ‘Cologne Wailing Wall’ exhibit on Cathedral Square

Update via Twitter: sadly not stopped, only banned from depicting violence - police chief unwilling to enforce because he's a "friend of the exhibition"


This exhibitions has been running for many years. Nobody ever mounts an exhibition showing the murderous acts of Hamas. Hamas atrocities are always played down or not reported.

The cartoon showed a man sporting a Star of David on his bib as he devoured a Palestinian boy with a fork while draped in an American flag and using a knife with the word “Gaza” on it. A glass filled with blood stood next to the dinner plate.

Benjamin Weinthal @ JPost reports:

Wikipedia

A Cologne city court shut down an anti-Israel exhibit on Cathedral Square.

The prosecutor argued on Friday that the exhibit, which shows 15 pictures of dead and injured Gazan children who were allegedly hurt during Israel offensive against Hamas last summer, violates a law designed to protect children.

Andreas Hupke, the mayor of the downtown Cologne City district, from the Green Party, told the Express paper: “The agitation is completely one-sided, anti-Semitic and only disgusting.”

Organizer Walter Hermann, 76, has protested for years against Israel on Cathedral Square with his exhibit.  The official name of his protest is “Peace Demonstration,” but the exhibit has been termed the “Cologne Wailing Wall” to draw attention to Israeli policies.

The court ruled that if Hermann continues to show the photographs, he will be fined €600. The anti-Israel activist intends to appeal the ruling.

In 2010, the city partnerships of Cologne-Tel Aviv and Cologne-Bethlehem issued a joint statement blasting the long-standing anti-Israel exhibit in the bustling Cathedral Square pedestrian-only zone.

According to the resolution, “The anti-Semitic and anti-Israel presentation of the so-called ‘Cologne Wailing Wall’ spreads hatred against humans and feeds anti-Israel resentments.”

Hermann’s display of an anti-Semitic cartoon in January triggered a 2010 legal complaint and a grassroots campaign from theater director Gerd Buurmann in Cologne. The cartoon showed a man sporting a Star of David on his bib as he devoured a Palestinian boy with a fork while draped in an American flag and using a knife with the word “Gaza” on it. A glass filled with blood stood next to the dinner plate.

You will never see this on Cathedral Sqaure in Cologne.  It would not be tolerated.

France: "We are forced to turn our synagogues into virtual fortresses"

Via Channel4 (h/t glykosymoritis):

Liverpudlian Andrew Hussey studied in Lyon in the 1980s and remembers that it seemed to be normal in student circles to hate Jews, black people and Arabs, while there were teachers who propagated Holocaust denial.

(...)

Andrew Hussey says Lyon in particular has never been a good place for Jews, but it has not been so bad for a long time. Last summer, two teenage girls were arrested for allegedly planning, on social media, a suicide bomb attack at a synagogue.  [In September police foiled another terrorist plot against a Jewish event]

Lyon's Chief Rabbi Richard Wertenschlag says he regularly receives death threats, telling Channel 4 News in the video above: "We are forced to turn our synagogues into virtual fortresses."

Rabbi Wertenschlag says Jews are being targeted by the far right, but this is "minor" compared with the threat from radical Islamists.

Austria: 'Many people posted Hitler picture in support of Palestine'

Via ORF:

A Bosnian-Austrian was accused of neo-Nazi activity for posting Nazi-themed posts on Facebook.  On July 15, 2014 he posted a picture of Hitler saying "I could have killed all the Jews, but I left some alive to show you why I killed them".  A week later he commented on a photo showing the Israeli and American flags being burned with the comment "sons of bitches, Heil Hitler, 88".

In his defense, the man said that after the Israeli army started attacking Gaza, many people posted that picture of Hitler in support of Palestine.  He was affected by the war, which killed a few thousand civilians (according to wiki, by 16 July, the death toll within Gaza was around 200), and that the dead reminded him of the Bosnian War.  However, he did not intend to glorify Nazism.

According to the prosecution, his mobile phone contained images of the Muslim volunteers of the Wehrmacht.

The man was sentenced to a one-year probationary sentence, and must visit a concentration camp.

Similar stories from Austria: Antisemitic incitement is now a valid political expression and Man says anger at Israel was reason for "Jews should disappear" post

Russia: "You Jews made the Revolution, and now you’ve started a war in Ukraine, and Russians are dying"

Via ISCA:

I sat down with 47 year-old Mikhail Kaluzhsky – a Russian journalist and playwright, former head of the Sakharov Center theater program, who worked in a significant number of Russian media – who told me about his real life anti-Semitic nightmare. 

(...)

Most of the anti-Semitic abuse I encountered was online. I find my name at various extreme nationalist Russian web sites among names of other people who signed antiwar appeals, and we are all being described there as “Jews who serve America and hate Russia”. But for those who raided Sakharov Centre during the performance of the Moscow Trials, we were mainly “enemies of Christianity”, regardless of our ethnicity and religious views.

Funny enough, I’ve heard several times the expression “people of liberal ethnicity”, used towards Jewish population, which is kind of new development in Russian Antisemitism: a fusion with current political/ideological developments.

Personally, I’ve had an ugly encounter in 2014 during the Moscow Cultural Forum.?I was moderating a round-table called “New formats of professional offerings in theatre”- very narrow, very professional issue, but it was spoiled by a group of people who describe themselves as “oppositioners to Moscow’s cultural management”. These people used this very wording: “people of liberal ethnicity,” pointing at me and at two my neighbors, a director and a producer whose physical appearance look “typically Jewish”.

The month before this round-table, we were on tour in Ryazan with a performance of a documentary play, where several characters speak about their Jewish origin and the role of their Jewish ancestors in the Russian revolution. The show is directed in a special way: spectators may speak too in the very end. In turn, one of the spectators, a woman in her 50s, said: “yes, that’s how it works: you Jews made the Revolution, and now you’ve started a war in Ukraine, and Russians are dying”. Her bottom line was that the new Kiev government is run by Jews.  more

Europe: Jews who can’t decide to stay in Europe or leave - don’t expect the Europeans to stick up for you if you stay. They don’t like you.

Vic Rosenthal @ Elder of Ziyon:

I Sleep in Hitler's Room:
An American Jew Visits Germany

I just listened to an interview with Tuvia Tenenbom, author of Catch a Jew and I Sleep in Hitler’s Room.[...]

Among the truths that Tenenbom discovered in his travels in Europe and Israel in the guise of a non-Jewish German journalist were a) many Europeans are really anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist, b) so are some Jewish Israelis, and c) they are getting together to work towards the replacement of Israel by some kind of non-Zionist state in which Jews will be a minority.

This isn’t news — NGO Monitor has been documenting the massive flow of Euros to anti-Zionist organizations run by left-wing Israeli Jews or Arabs for years — but Tenenbom emphasizes how pervasive the influence is, extending from large organizations like the Red Cross to small operations like the tour guide (a self-described ‘ex-Jew’) who brings groups of Europeans to Yad Vashem, where he explains that this is what the Jews are doing to the Palestinian Arabs.

It’s hard to see how a tiny country, which doesn’t threaten anyone and only wants to be left in peace deserves this. [...]

Tenenbom uses the expression “self-hating Jews” to describe Jews like Gideon Levy, but I think that’s misleading. They don’t hate themselves — they see themselves as better than the others, the ones that have all the ‘Jewish’ characteristics that they hate (religious belief, for one). They identify with their enemies that want to kill them, even to the point of adopting their anti-Jewish beliefs, because they subconsciously think it will protect them. [...]

At any given time there are numerous wars, rebellions, insurgencies, occupations, massacres, etc. throughout the world which receive far less attention in the media and academia despite hundreds, thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of casualties (the Boko Haram uprising killed almost 11,000 in 2014 and almost 5,000 already this year). Did you know that the Second Congo War (1998-2003) caused more than 350,000 violent deaths, and 2.7-5.4 million excess deaths, with low-level violence still continuing to this day? The Israeli-Arab conflict is comparatively very small potatoes. [...]

But I’m afraid that Tenenbom’s experiences in Europe and among Israel’s academic and media elite are the most important indicator. I said the hatred is ‘irrational’, and an irrational attitude has an irrational cause: in this case, pathological Jew-hatred, deeply implanted in so many Europeans, and paradoxically also in the best-educated Israelis.

This could be a lesson for those Jews who can’t decide to stay in Europe or leave. Don’t expect the Europeans to stick up for you if you stay. They don’t like you.

Spain: Neo-Nazi/Islamic State cell targeted Jewish bookshop and synagogues in Barcelona

The Local reports:

Judges in Madrid questioned the 11 suspects, including a woman and a 17-year-old, who were arrested on Wednesday in Spain's northeastern Catalonia region.[...]

"They were considering abducting a person in Spain, dressing them in an orange overall in the style of the group known as Islamic State, interrogating them and cutting their throat in order to broadcast it" by video, a source in the investigation told AFP.  [...]  Gang members had also discussed "abducting the director of a bank branch" for ransom, the source added. [...]

Officials said on Wednesday that five of the suspects were Moroccans, five Spanish and one Paraguayan. [...]

Police investigations revealed that the suspected cell founder, Antonio Saez Martinez -- dubbed "Ali the Hairdresser" -- told other members he came close to launching an attack on a Jewish bookshop in Barcelona, Judge Pedraz wrote.

He allegedly proposed attacks with guns and grenades against synagogues, security forces and the Catalan regional parliament.  Police found on his mobile phone photographs of potential targets for attacks in Barcelona such as a hotel, a police station and a shopping centre, the ruling said.

The judge said another of the suspects was a "neo-Nazi" [Diego José Frías Álvarez] who was caught with a hand grenade, knives, guns and ammunition, while another had material that could be used to make bombs.  More.

Denmark: Jewish deli vandalized in Copenhagen

The Jerusalem Post reports:

A Jewish deli in Copenhagen was vandalized on Wednesday night – its walls spray-painted with anti-Semitic remarks, the store's front window smashed, nearly shattered to pieces.

Police discovered the damage in the early hours of Thursday morning, local newspapers reported. The words "Jewish pigs" could be seen in big white letters on one of the kosher supermarket's walls, beside a window bearing the name of the shop – 'Slagter & Delikatesse' – alongside its logo, a white dove fluttering its wings against a blue background.

Law enforcement officials were searching the affluent Østerbro neighborhood for the perpetrators.  The deli was regularly guarded by an armed security officer during business hours, after a spate of attacks two months ago rattled the country's capital.

The owner, an Israeli native who moved to Denmark 22 years ago, said he felt imprisoned by the current security situation: "When I go to work, there's police outside. And when someone wants to enter the shop, the door can only be opened from the inside," he told the Copenhagen-based Berlingske Tidende on Thursday.

As for the act of violence directed at his shop, the Jewish butcher said that while he "cannot say I'm surprised – it's a pity this happens in a free country like Denmark."  More.

Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach

To all our readers, Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach!

Norway: Antisemitic event to be held at Oslo's "House of Literature"

Antisemitic Jews such as Atzmon, Shlomo Sand or Max Blumenthal are quite popular speakers in Europe.   Incitement against any other minority would be frowned at, but antisemitic speakers are regularly invited to speak in top venues.

Via Dagen, h/t Norway, Israel and the Jews

Author John Færseth is warning of an antisemitic event in Oslo.

Gilad Atzmon, who believes Jewish power is a global threat and that Israel is worse than Nazi Germany, will be holding a concert and talk in Oslo at the House of Literature.  The event is organized by "Friends of Jerusalem" headed by Trond Ali Linstad.  Linstad, a Muslim doctor and Palestine activist, will MC the event.

In 2012, Linstad was nominated for the King's Medal of Merit.  However the award was rescinded after public pressure, due to Linstad's antisemitic and homophobic statements.

Listad made the Simon Wiesenthal's Center Top Ten Antisemites of 2012:

Trond Ali Linstad’s website warns readers to “beware the Jews” and the “influence they have in newspaper, in other media, and in many political organs.” 

Linstad depicts violence against Israel as a “great success” and supports use of the slogan -”Kharibat Khybarj” a jihadist term for terrorism against Jews. He also alleges “every president in the US must adapt to the Jewish lobby,“ which he says undermines US policy.

Andreas Wiese, of the House of Literature, says that they are just providing the venue, and that they believe in freedom of speech.  Besides, Norwegian paper Aftenposten has printed material from Gilad Atzmon  (his response to Færseth's call to cancel his lecture),  Does Færseth think they shouldn't have done that?


To answer Wiese's stupid question - yes, I expect Aftenposten not to provide a stage for antisemites to spew their vile invective against Jews.   Why is that too much to ask for?    Why is the Norwegian media so happy to give antisemites a stage?  The problem is not the antisemites, it's the fact that the gatekeepers of democracy are letting them in the front door with full honors.

Europe: Sharp decline of Jewish population in Europe expected by 2050

The Times of Israel reports:

By 2050, 51 percent of Jews are expected to live in the Middle East — almost all in Israel — and 37 percent in North America. The number of Jews in Europe is expected to decline more precipitously and outpace general European population shrinkage, according to the [Pew] report. [...]

In Europe, Muslims are expected to grow to 10 percent of the population in 2050, from 6 percent in 2010.
More.

France: Bernard Bouton, antisemitic cartoonist

French cartoonist Bernard Bouton was upset at me when I said that the cartoonists who signed up for Iran's Holocaust Cartoon contest are antisemites.

I mean, really, what's the connection between Iran and antisemitism?

Let me bring President Obama's words on the topic:

So there's still going to be a whole host of differences between us and Iran, and one of the most profound ones is the vile, anti-Semitic statements that have often come out of the highest levels of the Iranian regime. 

Got that, Bernard?   The highest levels of the Iranian regime often make vile, anti-Semitic statements.

Well, Bernard might argue that he hates the extreme right.  He hates racism.  He hates war.  Look at his cartoons.

Indeed he does.  But he also hates Jews.  Here are a few of his cartoons focusing on Israel.  Judge for yourselves.  Is Bernard Bouton really an antisemite?

On December 7, 2014, Israel (supposedly) attacked weapon depots at two military facilities.  Bernard Bouton doesn't like it when Jews try to destroy weapons before they're fired at them.

Bernard Bouton thinks Israeli love for Iran is like a warplane bombing.   Jews can never do anything good.  They're evil.

Last but not least.  "Captive Gaza", caught in the web of a 7-branched golden menorah spider.

Bernard Bouton thinks this is not antisemitic.

That is why he signed up for Iran's antisemitic hate-fest against Israel and the Jews.  I'm sure he'll continue to tell himself that he's been misunderstood.  He's not an antisemite at all!   Just because he uses Nazi imagery for Jews, those Jews think he's antisemitic.  Stupid Jews.

On my blog Bernard Bouton said he "hopes people could live together in peace".

Bernard Bouton lives in a country where Jews are scared to walk the streets.  And instead of helping them, he stabs them in the back, using his cartoonist pen.

Bernard Bouton supports one of the most antisemitic regimes in the world today.

Bernard Bouton encourages hatred and terrorism against Jews.

If that's not antisemitism, I don't know what is.