Booking.com amends “Jerusalem as Israeli settlement” after inquiry from Joods Actueel

Via Joods Actueel:

Internet travel giant booking.com this week amended its policy of referring to Jerusalem as being an “Israeli settlement” after questions from the Belgian Jewish magazine Joods Actueel. Michael Freilich, editor-in-chief of Joods Actueel, received a complaint from one of his readers about the subject.

“The person was looking for a hotel room in Jerusalem and was shocked to discover that Jerusalem was classified as being an “Israeli settlement”. Honestly, I thought it was a hoax until I checked it out myself and saw it with my own eyes.”

The mention of Jerusalem as a settlement appeared throughout the website in all of it’s different languages: Dutch, French, English, Spanish and so on.

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Germany seems to once again be embracing anti-Semitism

Victor Davis Hanson @ Hoover Institution:

Every 20 to 50 years in Germany, things start unraveling. Germans feel aggrieved. Ideas and movements gyrate wildly between far left and far right extremes. And the Germans finally find consensus in a sense of victimhood paradoxically expressed as national chauvinism. Germany’s neighbors in 1870, 1914, 1939—and increasingly in the present—usually bear the brunt of this national meltdown. […]

Germany has always had a “Jewish Problem.” In the late nineteenth-century, German academics became obsessed with pseudo-research about eugenics and racial purity—which often led to talk of both Aryan purity and crass anti-Semitism that played out in the real world with disastrous results during the Holocaust. After World War II, Germany tried to make amends through introspection, some reparations, and the subsidized sales of military supplies to Israel. Yet Germany seems to once again be embracing anti-Semitism quite aside from its fierce opposition to Israel. Dieter Graumann, the president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, has warned of the present climate: “These are the worst times since the Nazi era. On the streets, you hear things like ‘the Jews should be gassed,’ ‘the Jews should be burned.’ We haven’t had that in Germany for decades. Anyone saying those slogans isn’t criticizing Israeli politics, it’s just pure hatred against Jews: nothing else.”

In response to the growing hatred, Felix Klein, Germany’s newly appointed special envoy entrusted by the Merkel government with addressing the nation’s growing anti-Semitism—much of it the result of the influx of Muslims—recently shrugged it off, simply pointing out that more and more Jews are leaving Germany: “It is quite understandable that those who are scared for the safety of their children would consider leaving.” […]

In a perfect world, Germany would address its frustrations through introspection. After all, no one forced Berlin to take in over a million problematic refugees from the Middle East. No one forced it to export goods on easy credit to leveraged buyers who visibly lived far above their means. No one forced it to renege on its NATO defense promises and responsibilities. No one forced it to have a long and catastrophic history with the Jewish people. And no one forces it to expect perpetual U.S. military protection while continually setting record trade surpluses.

Despite the long postwar history of U.S.-German friendship, and despite Germany’s financial and economic power, the country is becoming psychologically isolated, if not unhinged. While Germans broadcast their anti-Americanism, they seem oblivious that Americans may likewise be tiring of German petulance.  

If we are entering yet another historical period of dangerous German resentment, the ensuing result will bode ill for everyone involved.

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UK: Britain’s “next?” prime minister called terrorist who helped blow up café, “brother”

Via Tom Goss @ Mideast Dispatch:

CORBYN CALLED MEMBER OF TERROR GANG WHICH KILLED ESTEEMED JEWISH DOCTOR AND HIS DAUGHTER, HIS “BROTHER” [Notes by Tom Gross]

The first picture above is of Dr David Applebaum with his 20-year-old daughter Nava on the eve of her wedding. Dr Applebaum, one of Israel’s most distinguished doctors, ran the A&E department at Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem and saved many Palestinian and Jewish lives.

The second photo is of Abdul Aziz Umar, the Palestinian terrorist and Hamas operative who helped organize the murder of Dr Applebaum and his daughter, in conversation with British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in a live interview on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s state-run Press TV, during which Corbyn calls him “brother”.

Footage of Corbyn praising Umar was revealed by the Mail on Sunday newspaper last Sunday. Umar was released from prison in the notorious “Gilad Shalit-for terrorists” prisoner swap.

According to opinion polls Corbyn is a leading candidate to become Britain’s next prime minister.

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Holland: Restaurant owner evicts Dutch Jewish community from synagogue

Via JTA:

The Jewish community of this Dutch city was evicted Monday from its former synagogue in what members said was the first such occurrence in years in the kingdom.  

Members of Beth Shoshanna, a Masorti/Conservative Jewish congregation of approximately 30 people, packed up and loaded into a van their Torah scroll and other scripture, as well as other items used for worship and furniture.  The move followed a legal fight against the building’s new owners, who are seeking to turn it into a restaurant.  

“It’s a very heavy feeling that this thing can happen here in 2018,” said Tom Furstenberg, the community’s chairman.  

His community had been told to move out by the office of Ayhan Sahin, a Dutch-Turkish developer and owner of several eateries, who in January bought the building housing the Great Synagogue of Deventer with a partner. Last week, the city blocked his plan to open an eatery in the 125-year-old synagogue. But as the owners, Sahin and his associate can still determine who has access to the building and have asked the congregation to move out, according to Sanne Terlouw, a member of the congregation.  

The community has found a new home in the nearby municipality of Raalte. “We will continue. But this means the end of centuries of Jewish life in Deventer itself,” Terlouw said.

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Germany: Antisemitic grafitti in Hamburg

Via Watch Anti-Semitism in Europe:

Several anti-semitic graffiti were found in Hamburg such as "Gas the Jews":

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Ukraine: Like the Dreyfus Affair: An innocent Jew released from prison

Via Jerusalem Post:

A tragic story has come to a happy conclusion. Israel Repkin, a Jewish Ukrainian who had been imprisoned for years on false charges of attacking an elderly woman, was released from confinement recently. He won his release because the central witness in his case admitted to lying and framing Repkin after having been badly mistreated by the government.

"The man, whose name is Sartzinsky, was himself a suspect and framed Repkin. Afterwards, he admitted that he lied, but the prosecutors did not pay attention," said the Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Moshe Azman, who was involved in Repkin's release. "Regarding the woman who was attacked, who said she saw Repkin in her house in 2006, there is proof that he was out of the country at the time."


The head of the parliamentary friendship with Israel committee, Georg Logvinskyi, a Jewish Ukrainian, was also a critical figure in Repkin's release. "They caught a Jew from a small city, brought him to a police station and beat him so that he would admit to the crime. For four and a half years there was no judgement. The accused approached me asking for help, because they were holding him in a temporary prison in very harsh conditions. I traveled to the prison and found his health in a critical situation. I was in contact with the prison and posted bail for him, but the judge rejected the request. The chief rabbi of Ukraine also became involved, and the Jewish community rallied to his cause."

"They accused him because he was a Jew," Logvinskyi said. "He didn't do anything wrong."

"In 2012, Israel Repkin was accused of stealing a telephone from a nearly-90-year-old woman," explained Shimon Briman, a journalist and historian who is an expert in Israel-Ukraine relations. "Despite the evidence that he was not in the country at the time, Repkin was sentenced to 14 years in prison. In the Kiev Jewish community I heard the same voices over and over again: 'Such a cruel judgement could only have been given for antisemitic reasons.'"

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Denmark: Imam charged over call to kill Jews

Via Times of Israel:

Danish prosecutors on Tuesday charged an imam with calling for the killing of Jews in the first case of its kind in the Nordic nation and which sparked political outrage.

Imam Mundhir Abdallah, who preaches in the Copenhagen neighborhood of Norrebro at the Masjid Al-Faruq mosque, which media have linked to radical Islam, is accused of citing a hadith or koranic narrative calling for Muslims to rise up against Jews.

“Judgement Day will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them,” Abdallah said in a Facebook and YouTube video post in March, according to a translation of the original Arabic provided by the US organization the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

“These are serious statements and I think it’s right for the court to now have an opportunity to assess the case,” public prosecutor Eva Ronne said in a statement.

This is the first time the prosecution has raised such charges under a criminal code introduced January 1, 2017 on religious preaching.

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Bosnia: Jewish Community, Sarajevo Mayor Urge Action over Anti-Semitic Graffiti

Via Inside Sarajevo:

Bosnian Jewish Community denounced two recent anti-Semitic incidents and urged the authorities to act.

A prominent member of the Bosnian Jewish Community posted on Facebook photos of anti-Semitic graffiti in two residential buildings in Sarajevo and Tuzla, featuring Nazi swastika and word “Juden”. According to the post, members of the Bosnian Jewish community live in those buildings.

“We have received the news with deep indignation and disappointment, aware that those incidents will not threaten the good neighborly relations that the Jews of Bosnia and Herzegovina have built and are building with their fellow citizens of other ethnic and religious groups. We appeal to the authorities to identify and sanction the perpetrators in accordance with the law,” said the Jewish Community.

The Jewish Community said that they have always attached great importance to the absence of anti-Semitic incidents in Bosnia.

Sarajevo mayor also issued a statement, condemning the incidents.

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UK: JVL chair sparks fury by comparing IHRA definition of antisemitism to homophobic Section 28

Via TheJC:

The chair of Jewish Voice For Labour has sparked fury by comparing the internationally recognised definition of antisemitism to controversial 1980s legislation that banned promoting homosexuality in schools.

Speaking at Wednesday's meeting of Finchley and Golders Green Labour Party, Jenny Manson claimed the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition prevented support for Palestinians, in the same way Section 28 prevented support for gay pupils.

The comments infuriated many in the room.

Jack Lubner, 17, was said to have been left "upset and intimidated" after Ms Mason strode towards him after he said he objected to her remarks.

He tweeted: "Jenny should be ashamed of herself. How dare she."

Local Labour member Luisa Attfield, tweeted: "As a Jewish lesbian I am offended and as person with a brain its a baseless comparison."

(...)

JVL, a pro-Jeremy Corbyn group founded in September 2017, has backed a campaign to support the new antisemitism guidelines Labour's national body approved, which omit key examples from the IHRA Jew-hate definition about how criticising Israel can be antisemitic.

The issue has caused huge outrage among the Jewish community.

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Europe: US Vice President Mike Pence cited attacks on Jews in Europe

Via JTA:

Wrapping up a rollout of a major Trump administration effort to fight for religious freedom, Pence made the remarks Thursday on the final day of the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom in Washington, D.C., after singling out Iran for its persecution of religious minorities.

“While religious freedom is always in danger in authoritarian regimes, threats to religious minorities are not confined to autocracies or dictatorships,” he told government officials from from 80 countries, including Israel. “They can, and do, arise in free societies, as well — not from government persecution but from prejudice and hatred.”

The vice president noted a rise in religious intolerance in Europe.

“Just 70 years after the Holocaust, attacks on Jews, even on aging Holocaust survivors, are growing at an alarming rate,” he said. Pence cited what he said was a record high last year in attacks on British Jews, and warnings of Jewish leaders in France and Germany not to wear kippahs.

“It is remarkable to think that within the very lifetimes of some French Jews — the same French Jews that were forced by the Nazis to wear identifiable Jewish clothing — that some of those same people are now being warned by their democratic leaders not to wear identifiable Jewish clothing,” he said.

“These acts of violence and hatred and anti-Semitism must end,” Pence said to applause.

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Germany: Antisemitic insults and knife attack against a woman in Hamburg

Via Watch Antisemitism in Europe:

On Tuesday a drunk 61 year old man yelled antisemitic slurs towards a 63 year old lady in a public bus in the city of Hamburg. He also attacked her with a knife and left her injured.

Read more in German @ Focus

Bosnia: Anti-Semitic graffiti found on homes of Jewish community members

Via European Jewish Press:

Jewish community leaders in Bosnia have expressed concern after anti-Semitic graffiti were discovered this week in the country’s capital Sarajevo and in Tuzla on homes of community members.

“We received this news with regret and bitterness, aware that these incidents will not violate the good neighbourhood relations that Bosnian Jews have built with their fellow citizens from other ethnic and religious groups,’’ the Jewish community said in a statement issued on Friday.

“We appeal to the competent authorities to identify and punish the perpetrators,” it said, stressing that the country has no recent history of anti-Semitic incidents.

Jews have been equal citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina for more than 450 years and they did not deserve something like this, said the community President Jakob Finci. […]

About 1,000 Jews live in the country, half of them in Sarajevo and the rest in Mostar, Zenica, Tuzla, Doboj and Banja Luka.

Two-thirds of the community left after the outbreak of conflict in the former Yugoslavia (1992-1995), but the tendency toward emigration has slackened. Some 90% of the community is Sephardi. However, only older people still speak Ladino.

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UK: The Labour Party has officially become institutionally antisemitic

Via Archbishop Cranmer blog:

It has long been suspected that Jeremy Corbyn has a problem with Jews (if not known that he is antipathetic to Judaism, defends antisemitic conspiracy theorists, and accommodates Jew-hatred), but to learn that the Labour Party itself now inclines to its leader’s worldview is somewhat disturbing.

Yesterday Labour’s NEC approved its organisational sub-committee decision not to endorse the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism. So Labour does not accept:

Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.

The concern is that such a definition embraces the Jewish people’s right to self-determination, and would, for example, inhibit the expression or belief that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour. Labour doesn’t want to muddy the water between Jew-hatred (which is antisemitic and racist) and Israel-hatred (which is enlightened and progressive), so the IHRA definition has been rejected. Instead, Labour is going to consult on developing its own definition. […] 

You can’t imagine Labour adopting a definition of ‘Islamophobia‘ which Muslims could not accept, or a definition of ‘homophobia‘ which LGBT people could not accept. Jeremy Corbyn would be immensely concerned if Muslims and gays suddenly starting deserting his party of such an issue, and no doubt Labour MPs would act swiftly to stem the flow. So why single out the Jews for special treatment?

Unless…

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Greece: Turkey’s rise sparks new friendship between Israel and Greece

Via The Wall Street Journal:

It’s hard to find a better example of how geopolitical realities trump ideology than the blossoming friendship between Israel and Greece.

As the leader of Greece’s leftist Syriza party before gaining office in 2015, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called to expel Israel’s ambassador and close Greek ports to U.S. arms shipments heading to Israel.

Syriza’s leftist allies in Europe still demonize Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government. Many of them back the boycott, sanctions and disinvestment campaign against Israel.  

Not Mr. Tsipras—who intensified cooperation with Israel instead. The leaders of Israel, Greece and Cyprus are holding regular trilateral summits—the fourth was in May—and the Israeli air force uses Greek airspace for training. The three countries, plus Egypt, are jointly developing the eastern Mediterranean’s natural-gas reserves.

The key reason for all this: Turkey. 

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Holland: Ministers say Israel’s deduction of money paid to terrorists by Palestinians is unwise

Via Bad News from the Netherlands blog:

Israel has decided to withhold from tax transfers to the Palestinian Authority payments to terrorists and their families by the PA. In answer to parliamentary questions, ministers Blok and Kaag reply that the Dutch government considers this Israeli decision unwise.  

(Suggested Dutch parliamentary question: If someone kills Dutch ministers, will the Dutch government pay him or her for that?)

read more in Dutch @ CIDI.NL