The New Antisemite

Thursday, May 4, 2017

Germany: Jewish community leader calls for anti-Semitism commissioner

Via DW:

A leading figure in Germany's Jewish community, Charlotte Knobloch, said renewed hostility to Jews needs a visible counter-signal. She was speaking on the 72nd anniversary of the freeing of the Dachau concentration camp.

Jews in Germany need a clear signal that their worries and warnings are being taken seriously amid a recent spate of anti-Semitic incidents in the country, a leading Jewish figure said on Sunday, calling for an "anti-Semitism" commissioner in the chancellor's office.

Charlotte Knobloch, the former president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said it had to be made clear that hostility toward Jews was not seen only as a problem of the Jewish community.

She said measures aimed at effectively countering anti-Semitism should be introduced before elections in September and criticized the "half-heartedness" of authorities in dealing with "obviously wrong developments and steps backward."

UK: Graffiti near Brighton declares: “Put Jews in ovens”, “Auschwitz was a good thing!”

Via CAA:

Horrifying antisemitic graffiti has been found on the beachfront at Rottingdean, near Brighton.

The graffiti consists of neo-Nazi slogans including: “Put Jews in ovens”, “Auschwitz was a good thing!”, “Burn the Jews”, “F*** Jews” and “Hail Hitler”.

Sweden, Russia support UNESCO measure condemning "Israeli occupation of Jerusalem"

Russia and Sweden supported the measure. Sweden was the only Western and democratic regime to support it.

The measure passed thanks to all the countries who abstained. In Europe these include: Albania, Spain, Estonia, France and Slovenia

Via UN Watch:

The resolution on Jerusalem, despite a passing mention of “the three monotheistic religions,” ignores Jewish and Christian religious and historical ties to the city, condemning Israel for excavations of the Jewish capital that have revealed the ancient City of David, along with pottery inscriptions, coins and artifacts connected to Jewish life during and before the time of Jesus.

“Once again, the United Nations agency for education, science and culture is being hijacked by genocidal regimes and serial human rights abusers like Sudan, Iran, Algeria, Qatar, and Russia,” said Neuer.

Spain: Man convicted of spraying antisemitic graffiti in a synagogue in Barcelona

Via CFCA:

Barcelona's 29th Magistrate's Court sentenced a 22-year-old man to six months in prison and a fine of 480 euros for his participation in spraying an antisemitic graffiti in the Barcelona synagogue before the sun rose on last December 28th. The convicted man admitted that he had accompanied a woman whose identity is unknown to the interrogators, and while he kept an eye open to make sure she was not surprised, she sprayed a swastika with a red paint spray on the door of the synagogue, and also sprayed the mezuzah on the front door.

Netherlands: Israel refuses to extend visa of critical Dutch journalist

Nothing new here, but it has to be stressed that the majority of Europeans do not trust journalists... So why should we expect European journalists to report accurately on Israel?

Via JTA:

Citing an administrative technicality, Israeli authorities refused to extend the work visa of the Jerusalem-based reporter of a Dutch daily that is highly critical of the Jewish state.Derk Walters, who has been the main correspondent of the NRC Handelsblad daily in Israel and the Palestinian Authorities since 2014, has exhausted the procedure to have his visa extended and must leave the country in July, the daily reported Tuesday.

In explaining the refusal, Israel’s Government Press Office told NRC that it had learned that NRC’s editor-in-chief is also its managing director. This claim, which NRC denies, means that NRC does not meet the Government Press Office’s rules for accreditation, Nitzan Chen, the Government Press Office wrote to NRC in September.

In an article penned by Peter Vandermeersch, editor-in-chief of the daily, and published Tuesday, he claimed the Government Press Office made up a bureaucratic issue to silence Walters’ critical reporting on the Israeli government and security forces. (...)

In January, the paper refused to correct an assertion in one of Walters’ articles that stated that in 1948 “almost all the Arabs were driven out of Haifa.” Jewish fighters fired several mortar rounds into crowded areas in the port city in April 1948 amid fighting between Arab and Jewish militias for control of it. However, then mayor Shabtai Levi asked local Arabs not to leave, vowing to keep them safe. (...)

In 2011, one of NRC Handelsblad’s veteran editors, Hans Mol, who had worked in the paper for 23 years before retiring, published a book titled “How Nuance Disappeared From A Quality Paper: NRC Handelbald Takes Up an Anti-Israeli Position.” In it, he accused NRC of pursuing an editorial line on Israel that “does not live up to basic journalistic standards.”

Rejecting calls to rethink its coverage of Israel following the book’s publication, NRC Handelsblad representatives dismissed the book as coming from a disgruntled former employee.

Germany: Police search attacker who attempted to set ablaze a pro-Israel activist

Via The Jerusalem Post (Benjamin Weinthal):

Berlin police forces are currently searching after a man who attempted to set an Israel flag ablaze on Monday during a Memorial Day event commemorating Israel's fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism. The woman who was holding the flag and very nearly escaped the attack is a German-Israeli pro-Israel activist.

The latter, who wishes not reveal her identity because she wants to continue freely with her pro-Israel activism, contacted the Jerusalem Post on Tuesday and said that she filed a criminal complaint. She asserted that the assailant sought to cause her "dangerous bodily harm."

The alleged assault took place at a German-Israeli friendship youth event on Paris Square in the heart of Berlin. According to the official complaint, the woman carried an Israeli flag on her shoulder and the perpetrator attempted to use a lighter to set the flag on fire. A 22-year-old witness stopped the attack and the assailant fled.

The alleged attack comes on the heels of last week's independent German report commissioned by the Federal government that shows that 40% of Germans hold modern antisemitic views (the loathing of the Jewish state).

There has been a series of attacks on Israelis over the years in Berlin, including the murder of Dalia Elyakim, who was killed by an Islamic State terrorist attack at a Christmas market in December.

In 2015, German Muslims attacked Shahak Shapira, an Israeli living in Berlin, because he told the men to stop chanting anti-Jewish songs.

Six Palestinians attacked Israelis in Berlin in 2014.

Across Germany in 2014 during Israel's Protective Edge Operation which aimed to stop Hamas rocket fire, a wave of anti-Israel antisemitism unfolded.

In the cities of Dortmund and Frankfurt chants proclaiming “Hamas Hamas Juden ins gas!” (“Hamas Hamas Jews to the gas!”) were heard and in Essen demonstrators chanted “Scheiss Juden!” (“Jewish sh...t”).

Anti-Israeli activists, most of whom are German Muslims and hard-leftists , have sought to destroy Israeli flags at demonstrations over the years.

France: Anti-West, anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish diatribes at annual meeting of "Muslims of France"

Via Gatestone Institute (Guy Millière):

(...) A climate of fear has overtaken the country. Attendance at theaters has declined. The particularly targeted Jewish community -- two-thirds of the attacks in France in the last five years targeted Jews -- feels abandoned. When a Jewish cemetery was vandalized on March 30 in Waldwisse, eastern France, neither the media nor the political leaders reacted. A week later, in Paris, a Jewish woman, Sarah Halimi, was tortured and then thrown out of a window by a non-radicalized Muslim, simply because she was Jewish: the French media and political leaders, with the exception of the courageous MP Meyer Habib, also did not react. A silent gathering below the window was organized by some leaders of the Jewish community. Only Jews came; they were greeted by anti-Semitic insults by Arab Muslims in the neighborhood. The implantation of radical Islam in the country is intensifying. The annual meeting of "Muslims of France" (the new name of the French branch of the Muslim Brotherhood), took place on April 14-17 in Le Bourget, ten miles north of Paris. Anti-West, anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish diatribes were delivered to enthusiastic crowds of bearded men and veiled women. One hundred and fifty thousand people attended. (...)

The second round of the French presidential election will take place on May 7. Emmanuel Macron will face the only remaining candidate, populist Marine Le Pen.

During the entire campaign, she was almost the only one to speak clearly about the Islamic terrorist threat (François Fillon did, too, but more discreetly) and to offer credible solutions to fight it. She was the only one to speak of the rise of radical Islam in France and to denounce the Muslim Brotherhood gathering at Le Bourget. She was the only one to stress the increasing perils resulting from uncontrolled immigration, and the risk of French culture disappearing. She was also the only one to mention the demographic change that occurs in France and in Europe because of the new migrants. She was the only one to denounce the Islamic anti-Semitism that relentlessly kills Jews in France. Unfortunately, she has a nearly Marxist economic program, close to that of Jean Luc Melenchon. She is the leader of the National Front, a party founded by her father, an anti-Semite, Jean-Marie Le Pen; although she has excluded her father and virtually all her father's anti-Semitic friends from the National Front, she is nonetheless the party leader and is regarded as her father's daughter.

Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Italy: Plaque honoring late PM Itzhak Rabin destroyed by vandals

Via The Jerusalem Post:

A plaque dedicated to the memory of late Israeli Prime Minister and statesman Itzhak Rabin and stationed at Milan's Tripoli Square Gardens (Piazza Tripoli) was destroyed on Saturday night by vandalists.

Milan's Provinicial President Roberto Cenati was quick to condemn the hateful and antisemitic attack on the monument. According to Italian daily news publication La Repubblica, Cenati spoke on behalf of the northern city's Jewish community, indignantly speaking against the violent act and saying that "at the Jewish community of Milan we express our affectionate solidarity and closeness."

Germany: Up to half of Germans view Israel as the moral equivalent of Nazi Germany

Via PJ Media (David Goldberg aka Spengler):

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rightly canceled a meeting with visiting German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel after the Gabriel met with Breaking the Silence, an organization that accuses the Israeli government of war crimes. As the Times of Israel explained, "Few organizations are more despised on the Israeli right — and by many who are not on the right — than Breaking the Silence, which publishes anonymous testimonies documenting alleged human rights abuses by Israeli soldiers."

That's the equivalent of meeting Wikileaks--denounced by CIA Director Mike Pompeo as a "hostile intelligence service"--right before a scheduled meeting with the US President. Or the equivalent of a senior American official meeting with German ultra-rightists before a scheduled meeting with Chancellor Merkel. Visiting diplomats simply do not raise the profile and credibility of fringe groups that question the legitimacy of their host government.

Gabriel's action was obnoxious in the extreme, and Israel's Prime Minister had no choice but to snub him. More egregious than the sin of commission, though, was his sin of omission: Germany could explain the reality of their circumstances to the Palestinians more credibly than any other country, by reference to its own sad history.

Why the German foreign minister felt compelled to violate basic rules of diplomacy is another question. Germans dislike President Trump by a 3 to 1 margin, and showing disrespect to Israel is an indirect snub at the US. As a leader of the Social-Democratic Party, moreover, Gabriel speaks to a left-wing constituency many of whom equate Israelis with Nazis. As Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick observes, "As polls taken between 2011 and 2015 showed, between a third and half of Germans view Israel as the moral equivalent of Nazi Germany."

That is of minor consequence in the great scheme of things. The Germans will never forgive us for Auschwitz, as an Israeli psychiatrist quipped, and the memory of Nazi crimes is made easier to bear by believing that the Jews are just as bad. (I run into Germans who believe this from time to time, and tell them that the so-called Palestinians they see on television are actors--we exterminated all the real Palestinians, just like the Nazis).

Sigmar Gabriel should have explained to the Palestinians that they are beaten, and what it means to be beaten. The conflict continues because the Arab side--after losing the 1947 War of Independence, the 1956 Sinai War, the 1967 Six Day War, the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and two pointless Intifadas--refuses to accept that it is beaten. That is a common occurrence in history. Most casualties in war occur well after hope of victory has vanished; that, as I wrote in a study for Asia Times last year, explains why many wars continue until there aren't enough men left to fight.

Ukraine opens criminal probe against 94-year-old Jewish WWII hero for killing Nazi collaborator

Via Ynet News:

Ukrainian authorities have decided to open a criminal investigation into a 94-year-old Jewish WWII hero who is being accused of killing a Nazi collaborator.

Col. Boris Steckler was warned that he is expected to stand trial for killing a Ukrainian nationalist in 1952.

Steckler was a senior officer in the Soviet Army and after the war was appointed as an officer in the KGB and was responsible for capturing Nazis and collaborators in western Ukraine.

During a battle in the Rivne Oblast in western Ukraine, Steckler was involved in a confrontation with nationalists who cooperated with the Nazis. During the confrontation, a man by the name of Neil Hasiewicz, who was a propagandist and district judge during the war, was shot and killed.

Local nationalist groups recently filed a complaint against Steckler, accusing him of responsibility for the assassination of Hasiewicz—a fact that Steckler does not deny.

UK: Scottish Jewish community leaders allegedly branded “ideological terrorists” during antisemitism meeting at Scottish Parliament

Via CAA:

Micheline Brannan, the Chair of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (SCoJeC), has lodged a complaint with the Scottish Parliament’s Presiding Officer following a debate about the definition of antisemitism in which she and two colleagues were allegedly branded “ideological terrorists” at the Cross Party Group on Palestine meeting in the Scottish Parliament on 25th April. There was also an attempt to have them excluded from the meeting.

According to a SCoJeC statement, “Philip Chetwynd, Treasurer of the Cross Party Group, referred to the three observers as ‘representatives of Zionist organisations’, called them ‘ideological terrorists’ and he said he felt intimidated by their presence. He had been intending to lead a discussion in the Group about the definition of antisemitism in Scotland — although this was not on the published agenda — but said he would not give his presentation because of the presence of the three observers.”

Czech Republic: Tombstone of famed rabbi damaged in Prostejov

Via KSL (h/t CFCA):

A tombstone of a well-known rabbi at a former Jewish cemetery in the Czech town of Prostejov has been damaged.

A Jewish foundation said Friday it discovered earlier this week that the tombstone of Prostejov Rabbi Zvi Horowitz, who died in 1816, was broken into two pieces.

It was installed at the site in 2013 by New York philanthropist Louis Kestenbaum.

The cemetery was destroyed during the Nazi occupation and is currently a public park. It has been controversial due to recent efforts to rehabilitate the site after some of the original tombstones were discovered in Prostejov and nearby villages.

Many locals, including town officials, oppose any changes.

The controversy has been accompanied by an unusual outburst of anti-Semitism.

Germany: Don't trust Germany to stay democratic if economy takes a downturn, warns Nazi governor's son

Via The Independent

Hans Frank

"There's still something in the German people which makes me fear them"

The son of a Nazi governor has spoken of his fears over the possible break-up of the European Union and warned that Germany could return to authoritarianism if its economy hit the skids.

Niklas Frank, whose father was Hans Frank, the governor of Nazi-occupied Poland during the Second World War, pointed to the recent hardening in attitudes toward refugees in Germany when he warned: “Don’t trust us”.

“As long as our economy is great and we make money, everything is very democratic, but if we have five to ten years of heavy economic problems, the swamp is a lake, and is a sea, and will swallow again, everything,” he said. (...)

Mr Frank made his comments in an interview with the BBC, saying he “despises” his father, who he describes as a “coward” for the atrocities he committed as governor-general of Poland from 1939 to 1945.

He was directly appointed by Hitler and was involved in the murder of millions of people. He was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg trials and executed in 1946. (...)

He said because of his background, he has always been interested in what turns a society into a dictatorship. And he explained he had “a growing wish” to talk about this because of what he called “the silence in Germany, the families of my friends, everybody was silent and they didn’t talk about the past… “I always wanted to know how a society behaves if it changes to a dictatorship, and always [had] a feeling that Germany is still prepared to do this. “And I found out that still there’s something in the German people which makes me fear them.”

Netherlands: Far-right website lists ‘Dutch Jews’ and ‘enemies of the people’

Via Dutch News:

The Jewish information centre CIDI is demanding a list of Jewish Dutch people be taken off an extreme right-wing website immediately.

The website Altrechts.com includes a list of ‘Jews and part-Jews’ and a page which ‘attempts to quantify the influence of Jews in the Netherlands and Belgium.

CIDI says the website is extremely worrying. ‘We don’t have to explain what violent anti-semites can dowith such a list,’ the organisation says on its website.

It is unclear who is behind the website which is registered via a Panama server with identity protection. The website, which was offline on Friday afternoon because of a system overload, describes Jews as ‘alien organisms’.

France: Le Pen's choice of PM is a noted critic of Israel

Dupont-Aignan's comments are in line with the long-standing "Arab policy of France". He is not the only Presidential candidate to show hostility towards Israel. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who got around 19% of the vote in the first round of the election, has a record of statements deemed anti-Semitic. Benoît Hamon, the Socialist primary winner had the backing of prominent anti-Semites. Richard Ferrand, a socialist MP who is general secretary of Emmanuel Macron's political party, En Marche!, has donated 2,000 euros from his parliamentary funds to the rabid anti-Israel NGO France-Palestine. And the list could go on and on...

Via Ynet News:

French far-right Presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen announced Saturday that should she win the election, she will appoint fellow right-wing politician Nicolas Dupont-Aignan as prime minister.

Dupont-Aignan was criticized by Jewish officials in France for his harsh criticism of Israel at the onset of ground operations during Operation Protective Edge. At the time, Dupont-Aignan's comments were contrary to the position of French President Francois Hollande, who gave Israel some breathing room during the operation in Gaza.

In comments sharply attacking the Israeli government and Western nations for giving Israel the green light to conduct the operation, Dupont-Aignan said, "After the bombings and enormous damage in the killing of hundreds of innocent civilians, men, woman and children, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has entered a new phase with the Israeli army's invasion of the Gaza Strip, while the UN, West and France remain silent."

At the time, Dupont-Aignan stressed the "lack of proportionality" between the combined forces involved in fighting in the Gaza Strip.

"Whatever responsibility Hamas leaders have in the break out of this conflict, the path Israel has chosen will only lead to a dead end. The tension and hatred in the region against Netanyahu will not be reduced by piles of rubble and corpses. France's attitude towards it is absolutely scandalous," said Dupont-Aignan.

In a statement to French President Francois Hollande during the operation, Dupont-Aignan said, "We expect our government to take the initiative for international action that will force Israel to respect UN resolutions, meaning, to withdraw from the territories and dismantle the illegal settlements.

"Only in this way will it be possible to avoid importing this conflict into our country and to stop the new massacre being waged. Only thus will it be possible to restore lasting peace to the Middle East. If we allow this intolerable situation to worsen and worsen, it will be an act that is not only stupid, but also criminal."

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