German university suspends pro--BDS professor with strong antisemitic views

Via The Jerusalem Post (Benjamin Weinthal):

Mendívil on an anti-Israel rap video

The Free University in Berlin has cancelled academic assignments for a pro-BDS professor who allegedly engaged in antisemitic activities. 

In a tweet from the Free University sent to The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday, the university stated: “The professor will not receive teaching assignments at the Otto Suhr Institute until the accusations are clarified.”The Otto Suhr Institute (OSI) at the FU said it takes the accusations very seriously. The FU’s Twitter handle has 6,776 followers. The OSI, where the anti-Israel academic Eleonora Roldán Mendívil teaches at the FU, is a well-respected political science department. 

Roldán Mendívil wrote on her blog titled "cosas que no se rompen" that it “only makes sense that different groups meet and BDS-affiliated or BDS activists fight against repression, occupation and arbitrary exploitation.” BDS is the acronym for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting the Jewish state. 

She has written that “Israel is a colonial state… Period.” 

Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s office in Jerusalem and the organization’s chief Nazi hunter, told the Post on Tuesday that “obviously, this is a person who is an antisemite.” He added that “it is very unfortunate that someone who has strong antisemitic views is allowed to promote those views in the German education system.” 

The monthly German Jewish paper Jüdische Rundschau reported Friday that Roldán Mendívil appeared in a a rap video called “Long Live Palestine” and sung “No peace with the occupation regime.” 

Alex Feuerherdt, a German journalist with an expertise in contemporary European antisemitism, wrote on the mena-watch website on Tuesday that Roldán Mendívil “played down the antisemitic terror of Palestinian organizations and held the Jewish state responsible for this terror.” 

The academic wrote that she supports the “Palestinian struggle” and argued that “one can clarify why Hamas has gained support.” 

Roldán Mendívil apparently blamed the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 for the current conditions of Palestinians in Lebanon and for the EU and US designated terrorist organization Hamas, according to her critics. 

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Europe: Pro-Israel Christian group organizes anti-BDS event at the European Parliament

A growing number of Europeans are very uncomfortable with the appalling levels of hostility towards Israel and Jews and are voicing their opposition.

Info via Thomas Sandell founding member of the European Coalition for Israel:

The European Coalition for Israel has the pleasure of inviting you to the 23rd of January 2017 anti-BDS event at the European Parliament in Brussels with title "Israel: Include. Invest. Involve". 

The conference is organised by EIPA- Europe Israel Public Affairs and hosted by MEP Lars Adaktusson (EPP, Sweden), in cooperation with the European Coalition for Israel (ECI) and the European Center for Jewish Students (ECJS). 

Speakers, among others: Former Foreign and Justice Minister, MK Tzipi Livni, Likud MK Yoav Kisch, Times of Israel Editor David Horowitz. 

REGISTER TODAY: http://eipa.eu.com/publicaffairs/public-conference-no-1/ 

Please note that although we as ECI will co-host this important event, this is not our annual conference. The ECI Annual Policy Conference will take place on March 30th 2017, followed by the European Prayer Summit on March 31st – April 2nd 2017. More information coming soon.

UK: An "obsessively unhinged view" of Israel

Via Jewish News: 

Spiked Online editor Brendan O’Neill on why Al-Jazeera’s potentially libellous sting against the Israeli embassy taps into an obsessively unhinged view of the country.

When does the boasting of a political adviser over cheap plonk become a sinister foreign plot to overthrow democracy?

The response to Al-Jazeera’s months-long campaign to ensnare an Israeli official saying something off about British MPs has been extraordinary, and more than a little hysterical.

Al-Jazeera has made a four-part TV series called ‘The Lobby’ (they might as well have called it ‘You Know Who’), which apparently reveals the sinister reach and dastardly behaviour of pro-Israel lobbyists in Britain.

In a clip released to a suitably titillated and outraged British media, Al-Jazeera footage shows Shai Masot, an adviser at the Israeli Embassy, talking down British MPs, and wondering out loud if some of them might actually be taken down.

He says he’s worried about British politicians who are critical of Israeli settlements. He specifically mentions Alan Duncan, the deputy foreign minister, as one of “the MPs I want to take down”.

Cue spittle and fury across the media. The Guardian referred to it as an “Israeli plot”. This is a real and scary “plot against UK politicians”, said Al-Jazeera. (...)

Stop the press! That kind of thing happens all the time. It’s the stuff of foreign relations. And lobbying is a central part of modern politics; everyone does it, not just Israel. That both Masot and Strizzolo have now left their positions suggests their chat enjoyed no official sanction whatsoever.

Al-Jazeera’s revelation, painstakingly set up over months, is tapping into a rather unhinged view of Israel.

The language used about Israel is striking. If one Israeli adviser says mean things about MPs, it’s a “plot”; when Israel takes military action, it is “bloodletting”; if Israel’s war moves kill children, as war tragically does, it is a “child-killer” or a “child-killing machine” — things very rarely said about the British or American military.

There’s a striking double standard at play here — and a conspiracy-theory mindset too. Some have come to see Israel as an awesomely powerful force, seeking to puppeteer our political class, plot the overthrow of our democracy, and bend Britain and America to its allegedly craven cause. To control the world, in essence.

I can’t be the only person who hears in this the worrying echo of old prejudices.

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France: Supermarket apologizes for ‘made in Israeli settlements’ labels

Via Times of Israel:

Following complaints, a French supermarket store apologized for applying labels reading “made in Israeli settlements” to some of its products.

The labels that appeared last month on pomegranates and tangerines at the store belonging to the Auchan supermarket chain in the Paris suburb of Kremlin-Bicêtre were the result of a “an error” by an employee, a spokesperson for the chain told the National Bureau for Vigilance Against Anti-Semitism.

The bureau, a nonprofit known by its acronym of BNVCA, queried the store along with Bernard Musicant, an activist for the pro-Israel Urgency Collective group, regarding the labels, according to the Actualite Juive newspaper.

In November, the French Economy Ministry’s General Directorate for Competition, Consumption and Fraud Prevention published an advisory circular requiring retailers use the word “colonies,” French for “settlements,” to specify goods originating in Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights, the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967.

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Iran targets pro-Israel activists in Europe

Via Times of Israel:

A Pakistani man accused of spying on a German government official on behalf of Iran was reportedly part of a wider plot to assassinate pro-Israel activists in Europe.

German prosecutors on Monday indicted 31-year-old Pakistani student Syed Mustafa H. on espionage-related charges for allegedly spying on Reinhold Robbe, a former lawmaker and ex-head of the German-Israeli Society in 2015, a pro-Israel advocacy group.

The indictment accused Mustafa of spying for an unnamed Iranian intelligence agency from mid-2015 to his arrest in July 2016.

German security agencies believe Robbe was being eyed by Tehran as a possible assassination target in retaliation for an Israeli operation against Iran’s nuclear facilities, German media reported over the weekend.

According to the indictment, Mustafa in 2015 was recruited by the Iranian intelligence to follow Robbe, and complied a thorough “movement profile” of the former German-Israeli Society chairman.

Mustafa gathered information detailing Robbe’s day-to-day activities, paying particular attention to his commute to work at the Berlin offices of the German-Israeli Society.

Authorities said the detailed portfolio of Robbe’s travel habits was a clear indication of an assassination plot, public broadcasters NDR and WDR reported.

According to federal prosecutors, Mustafa’s intelligence gathering was part of a wider Iranian effort to identify possible targets with friendly ties to Israel, the reports said.

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Belgium: Anti-racism activist incites for more terrorist attacks against Israeli soldiers in 'occupied Jerusalem'

We have written extensively about Dyab Abou Jahjah on this blog. A Hezbollah fighter who emigrated to Belgium, founded the antisemitic European Arab League, and led riots against Belgian Jews. A decade ago he returned to Lebanon to pick up a gun and fight once more against Israel.

When he returned to Belgium, he was received with open arms and offered a weekly column in the prestigious De Standaard. Because Belgians are interested in what he has to say.

He's now considered an anti-racism activist and has spoken at various such events organized by municipalities and human rights groups.  Anybody who complains is told that they're mixing up 'anti-Zionism' and antisemitism.

Following yesterday's truck ramming attack in Jerusalem against Israeli soldiers on a trip, Abou Jahjah expressed his support (h/t R)

"By any means necessary! #FreePalestine" source

An attack on occupation SOLDIERS in occupied territory is not terrorism! It is an act of Resistance. It is a recognised right under intetnational law. #FreePalestine (source)

Among the people who 'liked' this was Kris Merckx, a local politician for the far-left PVDA (screenshot here).

Abou Jahjah also wrote an article to help his supporters explain why it's okay to commit terror attacks in Jerusalem.   There he writes: "There is no argument whatsoever, ethically nor legally, to claim that it is illegitimate."

He then goes on to compare Israeli soldiers to Nazis, and the Palestinians to the brave uprisers of the Warsaw Ghetto.

"I personally never rejoice the death of a human being, even if it is an occupation soldier or a murderer. I wouldn’t even rejoice the deaths of Nazi soldiers if I was living in the 1940’s. However if people living in the Warsaw ghetto rejoiced the death of Nazi soldiers back then, who am I to judge?"

Abou Jahjah is probably not aware, but the attack took place on the Tenth of Tevet, a Jewish day of fasting to commemorate the conquest of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, and in more recent times - to serve as a religious day of commemoration for the victims of the Holocaust.

This is a day when Jews commemorate both their eternal bond to Jerusalem and their most recent victims of hatred.

But Abou Jahjah does not have any compassion for the Jews.  He does not think Jews have every right to resist the occupation of their land.  

John Kerry, US Secretary of State, recently explained that the US "could not, in good conscience, stand in the way" of the UN vote declaring Jews a colonial and foreign power in Jerusalem.

The United states and European countries are shocked at this terror attack, but in fact, by declaring Jews a foreign power in Jerusalem, they incited it.

European nationalists to join American Nazi harassment of Montana Jews

Via Jerusalem Post:

A neo-Nazi website said it has filed the paperwork for an armed neo-Nazi march designed to harass the Montana Jewish community of Whitefish.

The march was moved to Jan. 16, a Monday and the national holiday day set aside to observe Martin Luther King Day this year. The march had originally been set for the day before.

Andrew Anglin, who runs the Daily Stormer website, posted a photo of the filed application on Thursday. The Whitefish City Clerk’s Office told the Forward that it had not received an application, and that what was on the website appeared not to be complete.

Anglin wrote in a post published Thursday that nationalist groups from the United Kingdom, Sweden, France and Greece will attend the march. He also confirmed that “a representative of Hamas will be in attendance, and will give a speech about the international threat of the Jews.”

He said that participants will march through the center of Whitefish, and end at Memorial Park, where several people will speak.

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Turks on Twitter blame Jews for Turkey’s unending crises

Via Arutz 7:

Andrei Karlov, the Russian Ambassador to Turkey, was fatally shot on 19 December at an art exhibition in Ankara. The perpetrator was a Turkish special forces police officer.

Many Turkish Twitter users, however, blamed the assassination on the Jews, calling it a “Jewish plot” and claiming that the assassin “had a Jewish look”.

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Poland: Jews attacked by cafe employees for 'offending Christians'

Via CFCA, NaszeMiasto, gburrek:

Two Jewish couples were attacked in a Warsaw cafe on New Year's Eve

Cafe Foksal say that the the Jewish group was denigrating the Virgin Mary and talking about the superiority of Jews over Catholics, and that this was offending the Catholic crowd.

But the Jewish group says they were only speaking about Jewish relatives from Israel, and that this in itself offended the female bartender, who told them "I am Catholic, go talk about Jews elsewhere".   She started yelling insults at them, which soon escalated into a fight in which the Jews were physically attacked.

The Jews called the police, who only showed up half an hour later.  Since the injuries were minor, the police said there was nothing to be done and did not even write down the complaint.

Germany: Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’ is best-seller for 2016

Via JTA:

The annotated edition of Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” sold 85,000 copies in the one year since it was released in print for the first time since World War II.

“Hitler, Mein Kampf: A Critical Edition” is in its eighth printing, according to the Spiegel newspaper, which noted that the book topped its best-seller list in April.

The 70-year copyright in the German state of Bavaria of the anti-Semitic tract, whose title means “My Struggle,” expired on Jan. 1, 2016, allowing it to be published in the country. The publication was controversial: Some Jewish groups endorsed the annotated edition and others opposed it.

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UK: TV Station Fined for ‘slay a Jew’ comment

Via iMediaEthics:

Broadcasting antisemitic content in the UK can be expensive. Mohiuddin Digital Television learned this when its UK television station, Noor TV, aired an Urdu-language program condoning the killing of Jewish people.

The price tag for that hateful comment was £75,000, the amount of the fine levied on the network by UK broadcast regulator OfCom. In a recent ruling, OfCom sanctioned Noor TV for its Nov. 17, 2015 program about a festival in Pakistan called Urs Nehrian. One of the 15 religious scholars said in the program that the Prophet Muhammed told his followers, “Whoever amongst you comes across a Jew, they should slay him immediately.”

According to OfCom, the scholar Allama Mufti Muhammad Saeed Sialvi Sahib “then recounted how one individual immediately killed a Jewish trader with whom he had long standing business relations. The speaker held this out as the highest form of religious obedience.”

OfCom ruled that the comments could “be interpreted as spreading anti-Semitism.” Because the TV station didn’t include or later provide any context to the comments, they were deemed inappropriate.

“In OfCom’s opinion there would need to be very strong, if not exceptional, contextual factors to justify the inclusion of such highly offensive and discriminatory anti-Semitic material,” the regulator ruled. OfCom also noted that the comment and program was pre-recorded so Noor TV could have prevented the broadcast.

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Czech Republic: Hitler graffiti near synagogue

Via CFCA:

Prague - A swastika and the words "Adolf Hitler" was spray-painted on ATM in Maiselova Street, which is the main street of Old Jewish Quarter in Prague.

The ATM is situated at the entrance of restaurant near to Maisel Synagogue.

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Dutch rapper: ‘Jews like money’ song is a compliment

Antisemitism is perfectly acceptable among the 'anti-racism' crowd.  

Via Times of Israel:

A Dutch rapper who sang that he “sits on money like a Jew” and “deports” greedy women defended the text as a “compliment,” devoid of any anti-Semitic undertones.

Ali Bouali, a best-selling performer of Moroccan descent, who is also known in the Netherlands as an activist against discrimination, defended these lines from his new single “That Is Money,” in an interview published Tuesday in the Het Parool daily.

Bouali, who is better known as Ali B., was responding to criticism over his single that appeared in an op-ed earlier that day in Jonet, the Dutch Jewish news website.

“Instead of speaking out against the virulent anti-Semitism of Islamist youths, this pet Moroccan clearly chooses to spread a classic anti-Semitic preconception about Jews,” the Jonet op-ed read.

“I’m just calling them good businesspeople,” Ali B. told Het Parool. As for the use of the word “deportation,” he said it is just “wordplay” meant that he “sends gold diggers packing.”

“They want to take every word that a Moroccan ever says and turn it into something anti-Semitic,” he added, citing negative feedback he received on Twitter and on his website.

Since its December 23 release on YouTube, the video clip of “That is Money” has been viewed more than 1 million times.

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France: Jewish presidential candidate compares Nazi persecurion of Jews and current situation of Muslim

Trivializing the Holocaust for electoral purposes...  and in so doing Mr Peillon insulted the French people by suggesting that Muslims are being treated like the Vichy régime treated Jews.  Mr Peillon publicized the fact that he is Jewish when he signed an anti-Israel petition put out by the JCALL group (European Jewish Call for Reason (now more or less moribund)), the European counterpart of the US J Street, together with other Jewish lefties like Bernard Henri Levy and Alain Finkielkraut.

Via EJP:

CRIF, the representative body of French Jews, has denounced a comparison made by a presidential candidate, Vincent Peillon, between the Nazi persecution of Jews and the present situation of Muslims in France. 

Peillon, who is running in the Socialist Party primaries ahead of the May presidential election, made the comparison in an interview with France 2 television channel. 

A former (education) minister and a member of the European Parliament who has Jewish origins, he was commenting on a question about France’s strict separation between state and religion, known in France as “laicite” (secularity). “If some want to use laicite, as has been done in the past, against certain populations … Forty years ago it was the Jews who put on yellow stars. Today, some of our Muslim countrymen are often portrayed as radical Islamists. It is intolerable.” 

In a statement Wednesday, CRIF, the umbrella group of French Jewish communities, accused Peillon of making “statements that only serve those trying to rewrite history,’’ as the group demanded “clarification and immediate correction’’ on his part. “The history concerning the deportation of more than 75,000 Jews from France to concentration camps and death and the looting of their property as well as discriminatory laws such as the one about wearing yellow stars, should not be instrumentalized to create a false equivalence of suffering,” it said. 

Peillon neither retracted his remark nor apologized in a statement published Wednesday on his website, but said he would wanted to elaborate on what he meant in light of the controversy it provoked and to “refine my view, which may have been misrepresented because of brevity.”

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Vincent Peillon's remarks were much criticized, among others, by Régis de Castelnau @ Causeur and Benoît Rayski @ Atlantico.

Germany indicts alleged Iranian spy accused of targeting Israel group

Via The Jerusalem Post (Benjamin Weinthal):

Iran has a vast espionage infrastructure in Germany that coordinates with its embassy in Berlin.

The federal prosecutor in Germany announced on Monday the indictment of a Pakistani man allegedly commissioned by Iran’s regime to spy on the head of the German-Israel friendship society, as well as economic entities.  

The indictment of the 31-year-old citizen of Pakistan, Syed Mustufa H, said he is suspected of intelligence activity from July 2015 to July 2016 on behalf of Iran's regime. The federal prosecutor alleged that Syed Mustufa H spied on "institutions and persons."

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