UK: Peter Hitchens calls Yasser Arafat an "awful old antisemite"

Peter Hitchens column @ Mail on Sunday:

Pointless 'peace plans' that fuel violence

Whatever happened to Middle East peace? Some sort of deal between Israel and the local Arabs was, for decades, the vital goal of diplomacy.

US presidents were obliged to try to achieve it. Both sides were repeatedly dragged to summits where they were forced to shake hands and smile at each other while clenching their teeth.

I was once present at one of these horrible staged occasions, on the White House lawn in September 1993, when a smiling Bill Clinton compelled Israel’s Yitzhak Rabin and that awful old antisemite Yasser Arafat (who once said ‘I have no use for Jews. They are and remain Jews’) to pretend to be friends.

That particular episode ended with the murder of Yitzhak Rabin by an ultra-Zionist fanatic and with a renewed wave of organised Arab violence on the West Bank of the Jordan.

In fact, this has been the outcome of almost all such efforts: more division, more violence, more barriers, more checkpoints.

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Europe: EU-Israel Association Council has not met since 2012

Via European Jewish Press (EJP):

Spanish MEP asks EU leadership to re-establish meeting of EU-Israel Association Council which has not convened since 2012.  

"Israel has been a strategic ally of the European Union, even before the signature in 1995 of the association agreement between the two, though unfortunately the association council, which this agreement envisions, has not held a formal meeting since 2012," wrote Antonio López-Istúriz White in his questions to the EU leaders.

He regretted that "some Member States are fixed on blocking the celebration of these meetings, as a way of boycotting Israel due to the country´s policy vis-a-vis to Palestine."

The EU-Israel Association Council, the main ministerial body governing the EU-Israel Association Council, has not met since 2012 due to disagreements over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, despite intense bilateral cooperation in several sectors such as trade, technology, science, security, culture, education… Several European Commissioners have visited Israel.

The Association Council was originally created in the framework of the 2000 EU-Israel Association Council to be convened every year. Generally, it is held at Foreign Minister level.

But no EU-Israel ministerial meeting since eight years while since then the EU has convened Association Councils with Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt almost yearly.

This is why the Chairman of the European Parliament delegation for relations with Israel, Spanish MEP Antonio López-Istúriz White has addressed questions to both the EU Council President Charles Michel and EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell on this issue, urging the re-establishment of the EU-Israel Association Council under the new EU leadership.

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Europe: Islamic University of Gaza has project partnerships with 130 European universities and research centers located in 21 EU countries

Note: For Portugal alone, five universities are associated with the Islamic University of Gaza: Universidade do Minho (coordinator), Universidade do Algarve, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Universidade do Porto and Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro (JAMIES project).

Via Gatestone Institute:

Palestinian musicians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip are facing death threats after a Muslim scholar, Sheikh Mohammed Sliman al-Farra, published a fatwa (a legal opinion or ruling issued by an Islamic scholar) prohibiting a local band from performing.

Farra works for Islamic University of Gaza, a member of four regional and international associations of higher education, and has project partnerships with more than 130 European universities and research centers located in 21 EU countries.

Published on November 23, 2019, the fatwa targets Sol Band, a Palestinian music group established in the Gaza Strip eight years ago:

"The music group Sol Band, which has been roaming the streets of the Gaza Strip, has been violating God's sanctities by promoting tabarruj (women dressing up immodestly in violation of Islamic teachings) and the mixing of the sexes... Their actions weaken the young men and encourage sinners. Indulging it leads to great corruption and evil and results in behavioral and intellectual deviation among young people. It is not permissible to promote or meet with them or listen to their songs, even if they are patriotic."

[…] The campaign of incitement against Sol Band did not surprise many Palestinians, particularly those living in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. The only songs Hamas and its followers want are those that promote hate and violence.

One Hamas song, released in 2017, is titled "Zionist, You Will Perish in Gaza."

Another Hamas song threatens to eat Jews alive. "I will eat you alive, tastes best without salt, Zionist – Yes, yes, you." The lyrics and rhythmic beat are accompanied by animation, in which rockets are being fired from the Gaza Strip towards Israel.

A recent Hamas song includes many images of violence and actual terror attacks. Among the scenes showed during the rendition are stabbings, car-ramming attacks and explosions. The lyrics include the following statements:

"Where are you, O rebel; wrap the explosive belt around [your waist]; blow up the Zionists, don't fear; scatter the enemies' body parts, make the skulls fly in the sky."

The members of Sol Band did not call for "scattering the body parts" of Jews, and that is probably the main reason why they are being targeted by Hamas and its allies in the Gaza Strip. The musicians would have been welcomed by Hamas had they called on Palestinians to "make the skulls of (Jews) fly in the sky." This is the only type of song that the Muslim extremists are willing to tolerate.

What is disturbing, however, is the silence of the international community, specifically the EU partners of Islamic University in Gaza, where Farra serves as a lecturer. Do the Europeans working with the university condone threats against musicians?

Or are the Europeans ignoring Farra's fatwa because it was issued by a Muslim against Muslims? The EU countries and educational institutions are most likely ignoring such threats because they were not made by Israel.

Had Sol Band been threatened by Israel, the Europeans and other international human rights organizations would have issued immediate statements condemning Israel.

The silence of the international community emboldens Hamas and scholars such as Farra, and allows them to continue their repressive measures against Palestinians. It also allows Hamas and terror groups to continue calling for blowing up the skulls of Jews and eating them alive.

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Europe: 55% of Israelis see the EU as Israel’s "enemy"

Via The Jerusalem Post:

Last October, the EU Delegation to Israel published an unusual tender, worth €285,000, soliciting the assistance of local public relations companies in order to “change the negative image” of Europe in Israel.

The proposal cites an EU-commissioned survey which demonstrates the extent of Israeli public mistrust of Europe. According to the survey, 55% see the EU as Israel’s “enemy,” while only 18% identify it as a “friend.” According to the Israeli news outlet ICE, the results of the survey reaffirm negative perceptions toward EU member states on a number of fronts, including their funding to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), claims that the EU supports the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign directly or indirectly, and even accusations that it “supports terror entities indirectly.”

These attitudes, apparently held by many Israelis, did not emerge suddenly. The EU is completely out of sync with Israelis on the issues that strike the deepest emotional chords, and is seen as tone deaf, at best, in appreciating the Israeli perspective.

Even if the public learns about the EU’s investment in cutting-edge scientific research at Israeli universities, they will not soon forget about how Europe flirts with BDS with product labeling or treating the anti-Israel movement as merely free speech.

Israelis see that the EU engages selectively with a narrow ideological group of civil society, such as B’Tselem and Breaking the Silence. They hear the repeated condemnations of Israeli policy concerning Area C of the West Bank, as if this is the major issue on the EU’s agenda.

Then there is EU and European funding for organizations that delegitimize Israel, including those that have ties to groups which the EU itself designates as terrorist entities. Two months after the European tender proposal, the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) announced it had uncovered a 50-person terrorist network operated in the West Bank by one of these groups, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The statement named several leading PFLP figures, several who currently or previously worked for European-funded NGOs in financial roles.

Samer Arbid, suspected of having commanded a PFLP terrorist cell that murdered a 17-year old Israeli girl in August 2019, worked as the accountant of the PFLP-affiliated NGO Union of Agricultural Work Committees (UAWC) at the time of his arrest. UAWC is funded directly and indirectly by the Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, Spain and Norway. Arbid previously worked as an accountant for the PFLP-tied NGO Addameer, funded by Norway, Ireland, Spain, Switzerland and the German Heinrich Böll Foundation. 

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Ireland: Will Sinn Féin’s ascent hurt Israel-Ireland relations?

Via The Jerusalem Post:

With Sinn Féin, the political arm of the former Irish Republican Army, surging in exit polls in Saturday’s election, there is a real possibility that the next government of Ireland could take anti-Israel steps in the near future.

Sinn Féin, which has long held anti-Israel positions, reached 22.3% of the vote for the Daíl, Ireland’s lower house of parliament, the highest share of the national vote it has ever received, according to exit polls. […]

“Fine Gael, which has been in power since 2011, has been friendlier to Israel than Fianna Fáil or, for that matter, Sinn Féin, of course, which has been known to be extremely anti-Israel and very close to the Palestinian delegation in Ireland,” said Daniela Traub, Israel’s former deputy ambassador to Ireland. […]

Still, Irish journalist Michael Fitzgerald said: “You never lose votes for being anti-Israel here. Just about every party supports anti-Israel measures.”

There are two issues on the agenda when it comes to Israel and Ireland: the “Occupied Territories Bill” and possible recognition of a Palestinian state.

Both Sinn Féin and Fianna Fáil said ahead of the election they support the bill to criminalize doing business with Israelis from the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. They also said they would recognize a Palestinian state. Both are popular positions shared by almost every party running.

If the “Occupied Territories Bill” becomes law, it could fine merchants in Ireland that sell products from the West Bank, Golan Heights or east Jerusalem for up to €250,000 or sentence them to up to five years in jail.

Sinn Féin’s election platform said it will “ban goods from Israel’s illegal colonial settlements in Palestine from entering the Irish market by implementing the Occupied Territories Bill.”

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France: Muslim anti-Semitism, Islamism, terror and "internal alyah"

Via Harry's Place - Cross-posted from Karl Pfeifer at hagalil.com.  The German version was published @ Jüdische Allgemeiner (Frankreich "Die Täter sind tabu")

Georges Bensoussan’s Moroccan-Jewish family was forced to emigrate to France. As a historian, he has specialized in the Jewish history of Europe. He has also studied anti-Semitism among Muslim immigrant children for more than 20 years. He documented France’s "lost areas" [territoires perdus de la République] – the suburbs, the migrant social centers and the aggressive Islamism that exists there. Many politicians and the media remain in denial about these subjects…

Mr. Bensoussan, for some time now, when reading and listening to French media, there is a feeling that a new postmodern language is in vogue. How has this happened?

There is a new language aimed at obscuring reality behind words that mean the exact opposite of what they are saying. The new language wants the listener to doubt his own opinions and so be persuaded that the perceptions of the party, the organization, the elite – that this new „public opinion“ – is really just common sense. […]

There is also the new term "racisé". What does it mean?

Anti-racists propagate the idea of "racized" or to racialize so reviving and reshaping the old concepts of race and new life. As a result, racism has been energized in new ways. As far as anti-Semitism is concerned, people believe that it is now tolerant and compassionate to reject Jews in the cause of anti-racism. This leads to the paradox of ostracizing the State of Israel, as a "lesson from the Shoah" (can one speak of a lesson in relation to this catastrophe?). This really means that the Jews should be expelled from humanity again. […]

Could the next upheaval be more violent than the last two?

Politicians are aware that the next upheaval could turn into an uprising. You would no longer be dealing just with Molotov cocktails, but with weapons of war. The widespread illegal trade in weapons is well known, it takes place alongside the drug business. The political class and the security services are aware of this-the resulting uncertainty does not encourage openness, but instead, denial. […]

How do the Jews who live in the suburbs, react to anti-social Muslim neighbors?

With what is called the "inner alyah".

Does that mean they leave the problematic neighborhoods and move away to other parts of the city or regions?

Yes, they are safer there. For example, 80 percent of Jews have left the Department with the most problems – Seine-Saint-Denis in the north of Paris – during the past ten years.

So their first reaction is moving away – not necessarily abroad, but to quieter areas?

For example, in Paris, in recent years, the 17th arrondissement in the northwest of the city has become France’s most important Jewish quarter with 40,000 inhabitants, with a variety of kosher grocery stores, butchers and restaurants.

Would the next step be emigration to another country?

Between 2000 and 2018, 52,000 Jews departed for Israel, and we do not know how many emigrated to Québec in French-speaking Canada. Nobody denies the cause, which is anti-Semitism. However, the anti-Semites themselves are untouchable. The dead Jews are honored so that the living can be better forgotten. It is a pathetic display of defeat, combining denial and cowardice.

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Related:

-   France: Leading Jewish scholar Georges Bensoussan prosecuted for speaking out against Muslim antisemitism 
-   France: A double whammy for the Jews of France 
-   France: 67% of French people indifferent to Jews leaving France

Europe: Our European enemy

Via Victor Rosenthal @ Abu Yehuda:

Our state is tiny, in size and population. The Nations didn’t want it to exist at all, and when they couldn’t stop it they did their best to keep it small. There aren’t so many Jews in the world, anyway; millennia of oppression and murder have kept our numbers down, and today there are millions who are “Jewish by extraction” but are assimilated enough to other cultures to be lost forever to the Jewish people.

In all the world there are fewer than 15 million Jews, in Israel fewer than 7 million. But there are forces arrayed against us that are unique in their scope and viciousness. […]

What’s true for Jews goes triple for their state. I won’t repeat the depressing statistics about the number of UN resolutions condemning Israel that pass every year, and the fact that it is consistently attacked there for crimes that it did not commit while countries that do engage in murder, aggression, and oppression are never mentioned. […]

After the war there was a general revulsion in what was left of the countries that had participated in the biggest pogrom in history, as well as an understanding on the part of the Jewish remnant that our state had to be established regardless of the cost, which prevailed against the resistance – imagine, after all that! – the resistance from Britain and the Arabs.

But the antisemitism of Europe didn’t go away, although it was pushed under cover by the embarrassment of its involvement in the pogrom of pogroms.  […] And while there is still enough revulsion left to prevent them from repeating their attempt to liquidate our people, it hasn’t stopped them from paying to create the conditions for others to do it for them.

So we have European powers, particularly Germany (of all nations) and the hyper-civilized Scandinavian countries, the ones who abhor physical violence and have made the expression of racist sentiments illegal, spending millions of Euros of their citizens’ taxes on enterprises designed to weaken the Jewish state and set the stage for its destruction by Arabs or Iranians who aren’t squeamish about direct action with guns and bombs to accomplish the goal desired – but never said out loud in public – in Brussels, Berlin, and Stockholm.

European money keeps numerous international and Israeli organizations afloat, usually ostensibly in defense of human rights, but practically focusing on the rights and national aspirations of one particular group, the Palestinian Arabs. If you ask an honest Palestinian, he will tell you that he aspires, above all else, to violently kick the Jews out of all of the Land of Israel, in which he believes they have no right to live (except as a dhimmi minority), and certainly no right to have a sovereign state.

The Europeans, realizing that this aspiration smells uncomfortably like the 1940s, insist that what they want is only to divide Israel along the 1949 armistice line and set up a Palestinian Arab state in the eastern part. Then this state will live happily alongside Israel, with its 9-mile wide waist, and the “Middle Eastern Conflict” will be over. This is called the “two-state solution,” but of course won’t solve anything except the difficulties the Arabs have today in hitting Tel Aviv and Ben-Gurion Airport from their territory with the cheapest and simplest of mortars. […]

For example – and this is just one of countless similar examples – the European Union has granted more than half a million dollars (500,000 Euros) to an Israeli NGO whose objective is to change the attitude of Russian-speaking Israelis, who have always leaned politically right – for obvious reasons – and who have opposed the creation of a Palestinian state. The EU says that the grant is intended to

… promote conditions for a negotiated settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and potential shifts in public opinion among the Russian-speaking community by building confidence and trust in the two-state solution among a population that has traditionally rejected and been omitted from the process, as well as to deconstruct a negative view of the Palestinian narrative.

It should be obvious that the political attitudes of Russian-speaking Israelis are nobody’s business but Israel’s. But this item provides a window into the overall program of the EU and individual European countries, which work on numerous levels to bring about the partition of the Land of Israel and the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state.

This and other manipulative programs, including financial support for international and Israeli NGOs that propagandize, support BDS, and engage in lawfare against Israel, complement the EU’s investment in building infrastructure for Palestinians in Area C, the part of Judea and Samaria that according to the Oslo accords is under Israeli civil control. These building projects, done without permits or permission, are intended to create facts on the ground that will make it more difficult for Israel to retain control of these areas in any future deal. At the same time, international pressure on Israel to not build in the territories, even inside existing settlements that will certainly end up as part of Israel, has been effective. Despite news reports that “1000 new homes have been approved” and so forth, very few buildings have actually been constructed. And illegal Palestinian settlements have not been removed.

Make no mistake – the Palestinian leadership has no interest in a state in the territories except as a stepping stone to the replacement of Israel by an Arab state, and the death or dispersal of about half of the Jewish people. They say it themselves over and over.

Are officials in the EU and individual countries that support this project so stupid or blind and deaf as to fail to understand that? Do they not know that the funds that they provide to the Palestinian Authority are used to pay terrorists? Do they not see that UNRWA, of which they are now the prime funder, educates Palestinian children to hate?

I don’t believe it.

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Belgium is outraged by Israel’s criticism of Belgium’s invitation of terror-linked NGO official at the UN Security Council

Background:
Belgium's outrageous systematic campaign to demonize Israel at the United Nations


Via European Jewish Press (EJP):

[…] Israel’s ambassador to Belgium, Emmanuel Nahshon, was summoned to the Belgian foreign ministry Friday morning following "harsh" comments made on social media about the invitation addressed by Belgium to an NGO official suspected of links to a terror group to speak at a session of the United Nations Security Council.

"We are very surprised, astonished and even outraged by the comments made in articles but mainly on social media on this issue," a Belgian foreign ministry spokesperson told the European Jewish Press (EJP). "We have summoned the Ambassador of Israel this morning to express this astonishment because he retweeted certain tweets while he has as Ambassador the official capacity of representing the State of Israel in Belgium." 

"We expressed our very clear disagreement with that both on substance and form," the spoksperson, Arnaud Gaspart, said.

On Thursday, the Belgian chargé d’affaires in Israel Pascal Buffin was summoned to the Israeli foreign ministry for a reprimand over moves the country has made as a member of the UN Security Council, in particular the fact that Belgium, which is presiding over the United Nations Security Council since February, has invited Brad Parker, a senior official of the NGO Defense for Children – Palestine (DCI-P) to brief the council’s members.

DCI-P, which calls itself an organization defending the human rights of Palestinian children and alleges Israel is committing war crimes, supports the anti-Israel BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement. […]

"Belgium is continuing to adopt an anti-Israel line in the UN, but must know that it will have a price. Israel’s denigrators will enter a battle they weren’t looking for," he added.

"Belgium has positioned itself as one of the Security Council member states most hostile toward Israel," the Israeli foreign minuistry spokesperson Lior Hayat said.

In a tweet, the Israeli ambassador to Belgium wrote "unfortunately Belgium has chosen to invite terror supporters to a Security Council debate. This is extremely disappointing and we will express our outrage in the strongest terms."

Contacted by European Jewish Press, the Belgian Foreign Ministry spokesperson explained that the reason behind the invitation made to Parker to speak at the Security Council was the fact that Belgium currently chairs the New York task force on children in armed conflicts, which is a subsidiary body of the United Nations Security Council.

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Belgium's outrageous systematic campaign to demonize Israel at the United Nations

Via The Times of Israel:

Israel is angry at Belgium for what Jerusalem says is a systematic campaign to demonize the Jewish state at the United Nations, including by hosting a “radical” pro-Palestinian activist next week at the Security Council.

In February, Belgium holds the rotating presidency of the council and is using this privilege to invite speakers who, according to fuming Jerusalem officials, hold an extreme anti-Israel bias. They were especially outraged about Brussels inviting Brad Parker, a senior official for a nonprofit called Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P), to speak at the council’s session.

“Belgium has positioned itself as one of the Security Council member states most hostile toward Israel,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat told The Times of Israel on Thursday. “Inviting a one-sided radical activist such as Mr. Parker to brief the Security Council is yet another negative record.”

Israel’s Ambassador to Belgium Emmanuel Nahshon on Thursday took to Twitter to express regret at Brussels inviting “terror supporters” to the Security Council. “This is extremely disappointing and we will express our outrage in the strongest possible terms.” 

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Belgium: Despite condemnations, carnival is expected to display again antisemitic puppets

Via European Jewish Press (EJP):

The city of Aalst in Belgium is located only 51 km from the Kaserne Dossin in Mechelen, the transit camp from where more than 25,000 Jews and Roma were deported from 1942 to 1944 on 28 transports to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. Only 1,219 Jews survived. A Holocaust Museum in Mechelen recounts these tragic events.

Aalst is famous for its infamous annual traditional carnival which almost every year displays antisemitic floats. Last year, Jewish groups, but also the European Commission, condemned the carnival’s racist and antisemitic caricatures on display, including a float featuring two giant puppets of Orthodox Jews with hooked noses and rats sitting on money bags.

Caricatures which shocked the Jewish community as they were reminiscent of Nazi period propaganda.

In December, UNESCO, the Paris-based United Nations agency for education and culture, decided to remove the carnival from its ”World Cultural Heritage” list.

It said in a statement that it "stands by its founding principles of dignity, equality and mutual respect among peoples and condemns all forms of racism, antisemitism and xenophobia."

Despite this decision and overall condemnation, organisers of the 2020 carnival edition released at the end of last year dozens of ribbons depicting Jews in a stereotypical fashion with a hat, ringlets, a hooked nose and golden teeth. They also made fun of UNESCO.

One month after ceremonies marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, the Aalst carnival procession which will take place on 23 February is expected to display again the puppets dressed as Jews with hooked noses. The Forum of Jewish Organizations said it is submitting a new complaint to the European Commission in advance and is hoping to prevent the procession.

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EU statement against Trump peace plan blocked by several countries

Via European Jewish Press (EJP):

At least six European member states on Tuesday opposed a push by E.U. foreign policy chief Josep Borrell for a joint resolution by the 27 members states of the E.U. Foreign Affairs Council criticizing the Trump peace plan and warning Israel against annexing parts of the West Bank.  

Italy, Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic and at least two other unnamed nations opposed the resolution following intense lobbying efforts by Israel’s Foreign Ministry, according to Israeli media reports. Israel reportedly argued that the proposed resolution was one-sided and encouraged the Palestinians to avoid negotiations.  

Apparently outraged by the failure, Borrell issued his own independent statement on Tuesday, warning that the European Union is committed to a two-state solution featuring “an independent, democratic, contiguous, sovereign and viable state of Palestine,” and that the US deal “departs from these internationally agreed parameters.”  

“Steps towards annexation, if implemented, could not pass unchallenged,” he added.  

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat took to Twitter to criticize the E.U. foreign policy chief’s “threatening language towards Israel.”  

“The fact that the High Rep of the EU, Josep Borrel [sic], chose to use threatening language towards Israel, so shortly after he assumed office & only hours after his meetings in Iran, is regrettable &, to say the least, odd,” said Haiat. “Pursuing such policies & conduct is the best way to ensure that the EU’s role in any process will be minimized.”

Portugal: Antisemitic cartoonist wins, then loses, prize in France

Elder of Ziyon's reader Nara posted this comment about antisemitism in Portugal:

I know the outcome in Portugal. This cartoonist will be hailed as an hero of free speech and everyone here will stand by his side (this was what happened when cartoonist Antonio of the New York Times was condemned). Israel hatred is mainstream in Portugal (dominated for decades by a sociological left wing). If you want to learn something about Israel you have to read foreign press but you need to be previously interested in the issue to do such research. Otherwise, you will only know the hardcore anti-Israeli tale: that in the Middle East there is an oppressed people called "Palestinians" who are being put in ghettos and then randomly killed by Jews by no reason except sadism. When Eurovision was held in Tel Aviv, several well-known Portuguese artists signed a letter asking for a boycott. This letter made very serious accusations against Israel, namely that the Nation State Law established the superiority of the "Jewish race" over other races, and that in Gaza people were being killed by Israeli soldiers with impunity. The letter made no explanation of these killings and no mention of Hamas. I suppose that this letter was more extreme than other BDS letters in other countries. Because here nobody cares. In fact, nobody refuted these claims. Publicly showing support for Israel is rare. The Jewish community is very very tiny [about 600 people]. The Sephardi Jews who applied for Portuguese nationality also do not stay here, they just use the law in order to gain access to Europe.

Via Elder of Zion:

The artist for the grotesque, antisemitic cartoon shown above is Portuguese cartoonist Vasco Gargalo. He has a history of such antisemitic cartoons; he also entered in Holocaust cartoon contests from Iran.

Gargalo received an award entitled "Prix Plumes libres pour la démocratie" from the magazine "Courrier International" and the City of Strasbourg last November.

Gargalo has quite an oeuvre.

Published on 2 December @ Sábado magazine and on Gargalo's twitter account.

Even an Israeli winning Eurovision was too much for him to stomach. Because all Israeli Jews are evil and they must not win international competitions.

Yeah, he's an antisemite.

The president of B'nai Brith France, Phillipe Meyer reacted by calling the award an "aberration, provocation, infamy." As soon as this was publicized last week there were other strong condemnations.

Finally, the magazine and City of Strasbourg withdrew the reward, calling the Nazi cartoon above "heinous" and saying that had they known about the cartoons, they would never have awarded the prize.

France: Attack against a young Jewish man wearing a kippah (Jews are rich)

Via BNVCA (French National Bureau for Vigilance Against Antisemitism):

 A new antisemitic attack was perpetrated in the Paris metro against a Jew wearing a kippah.

The victim, aged 25, was at the Jaurès underground station on February 2 at midnight.  He was approached by four men described as of North African origin, aged between 30 and 40.

They tried to rob him and then asked for cigarettes. One of the thugs told him that he could buy him cigarettes because the Jews have got money.

One of the attackers pinned the victim against the wall.  Luckily passengers came to his rescue by freeing him and by stopping the perpetrators from boarding the train.

As the BNVCA rightly points out: "Once a again the old cliché of the Jew and money poisons certain minds".

read more (in French)

By way of example, the "elite' Portuguese cartoonist Vasco Gargalo, who works for the Portuguese mainstream media, drew this portrait of the Jew carrying bags of money.

Portugal: Btsalmo demands firing of mainstream magazine cartoonist after antisemitic cartoon

Portuguese magazine Sábado posted this cartoon by Vasco Gargalo representing the crucifixion on a Jewish Magen David (and not on a Christian cross) of a black controversial politician Joacine Katar Moreira (by the way, her party, Livre, removed its political confidence from Katar Moreira).  Is the magazine Sábado implying that Israel treats its black citizens like this - putting them to death in this vile and cruel way ?  Interestingly, there wasn't a single protest in Portugal with regard to Gargalo's antisemitic drawings.  A quick look at his Twitter account shows his utter detestation and disgust of Israel and its Jewish citizens.

Via Judean Rose:

Btsalmo, a human rights organization based in Israel, has written to the editor of Sabado Magazine, demanding the dismissal of cartoonist Vasco Gargalo for his cartoon of a “Palestinian” Holocaust.

The cartoon depicts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shoving a PA flag-draped coffin into an oven bearing the infamous slogan from the gates of Auschwitz, Arbeit Macht Frei, “work will set you free.”

Portugal: Conservative politician called saviour of Jews a 'loan shark' of the Jews and praised Salazar (update)

Update:

Abel Matos Santos resigned from the CDS-PP executive committee

At issue are the statements that Abel Matos Santos made, from 2012 to 2015, in various publications on the social network Facebook, with praise for Salazar and PIDE. Portugal’s consul in Bordeaux, Aristides Sousa Mendes, also called the “loan shark of the Jews”, who helped save thousands of Jews during World War II.

Calling Aristides de Sousa Mendes a corrupt loan shark for the Jews is revolting.  When died in 1954, he was so poor that he was buried in a Franciscan habit because he did not own a proper suit.

Via Time 24 News:

The CDS “cannot be conniving” with the statements of its leader Abel Matos Santos about Aristides Sousa Mendes, writes this Thursday in a statement to the Israeli Community of Lisbon (CIL).  

It is a reaction to the positions of the member of the centrist executive committee and a former candidate for the leadership of the party, who on social media called the “Jewish loan shark” to the Portuguese consul in Bordeaux, which saved 30,000 lives from the Nazi Holocaust. It is with “amazement and surprise” that CIL reacts to the words of Matos Santos, that Expresso reported on Wednesday.  

Its content, considers this Jewish organization in Portugal, is “offensive to the memory of one of the greatest diplomats in Portugal, the consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Justo entre Nações”. The statement is signed by CIL President José Oulman Carp.  

During World War II, Sousa Mendes disobeyed Salazar’s orders to allow 30,000 Jews to pass through Portugal, issuing visas and allowing them to escape the concentration and extermination camps. He claimed to have done it as an “act of conscience”.  

He ended up demoted by the dictator, but he was one of the first people recognized as Just Among Nations by Yad Vashem, an organization that preserves the memory of the victims of the Shoah, based in Jerusalem. Thus considered in 1966, he is one of four Portuguese distinguished with the title, alongside the also diplomat Carlos Sampayo Garrido (2010), Father Joaquim Carreira (2014) and José Brito-Mendes, of Portuguese origin but listed as French for being emigrant.

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