Pages

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

UK: 'A Taste of Segregation'


Though much has been written about Israel’s security fence and the mock wall currently on display in London, attempts to impute Israeli racism, segregation or even “apartheid” to such a non-lethal response to murderous attacks against its citizens is standard fare within radical anti-Israel circles - all of which brings us to the following photo published on page 8 of the Dec. 30 print edition of the Guardian, under the heading, ‘A taste of segregation‘:

More: CiF Watch

Belarus: Calendar features antisemitic quote for International Holocaust Remembrance Day



A youth calendar published by the Pobeda Publishing House features a quote from a 2009 speech by Ahmadinejad in which he said that "The pretext (Holocaust) for the creation of the Zionist regime (Israel) is false ... It is a lie based on an unprovable and mythical claim."  The quote appears for the page of January 27 - International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Pobeda says the quote is a mistake and that they'll republish the page.

More: TUT, via CFCA

Updated: Typos

US: French basketball star under fire for 'quenelle'



French basketball star Tony Parker has come under fire over pictures and video of him performing the “quenelle,” which is considered a neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic gesture derived from the Nazi salute. Criticism of Parker’s use of the gesture came a day after top French soccer player Nicolas Anelka flashed the “quenelle” to celebrate a goal in the English Premier League on Saturday.

More: Times of Israel

France: “Their conviction is that there is a world order dominated by Washington and Tel Aviv”



French academic and far-right expert Jean-Yves Camus, in an interview in left-leaning daily newspaper Libération in September, called the quenelle a “badge of identity, especially among the young, although it is difficult to say whether they really understand its meaning”.

Camus added that Dieudonné has become the focus of a “broad movement that is anti-system and prone to conspiracy theories, but which has anti-Semitism as its backbone”.

“Their conviction is that there is a world order dominated by Washington and Tel Aviv,” he said. “Behind speeches that are critical of NATO and global finance, and supportive of [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad and [late Venezuelan president] Hugo Chavez, there is the underlying conviction that it is the Jews who are pulling all the strings.”

More: France24

Monday, December 30, 2013

France: Quenelle at Toulouse Jewish school


The prosecutor in Toulouse is investigating a picture in which a man is making the antisemitic 'Quenelle' gesture next to the Ohr Torah school.  This is where Mohamed Merah murdered a teacher and three Jewish children.  The man is wearing an Arafat T-shirt.

The school had lodged a complaint about the picture.

More: JSS News

Liberman: Anelka Represents a Bigger Problem



Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman (Likud-Beytenu) wrote Sunday on his Facebook page that the “neo-Nazi” salute by soccer player Nicolas Anelka is “the essence of the entire problem that exists in Europe today, toward the Jews and toward Israel.” 
"Anelka is a Muslim since 2004,” the seasoned politician explained. “The atmosphere created by the radical Muslims in Europe, whose number keeps on growing, combines with anti-Semitic sentiments and de-legitimization of the state of Israel. 
"Even if the majority in Europe and the political leadership in Europe is not anti-Semitic and is not anti-Israeli, the growing percentage of Muslim voters makes it necessary for them to radicalize their positions as far as the situation between Israel and the Palestinians,” Liberman added.

More: Israel National News

Portugal: "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in Communist Party paper


"Protocols of the Elders of Zion" quote, Dec 30, 2013


Via Philosémitisme Blog:

In 2011, an article in "Avante!", the official newspaper of the Portuguese Communist Party, featured an op-ed by Jorge Messiah claiming that the world is dominated by three shadowy groups: the Zionists, Vatican and Masons.

To support his thesis, Messiah quotes "Protocol" 1 from the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion".

At the time, Jerónimo de Sousa, head of the party, refused to condemn the article.  Drawing a distinction between the "people of Israel" and the "Zionists", he said the former, together with the Communists, had been persecuted by the Nazis, while the latter are practicing state terrorism against the Palestinians.

The Portuguese Communist Party is a major left-wing political party in Portugal.  The article is still online.

Israel: "Death to the Jews" graffiti


Houses in Beersheba were vandalized with swastikas and "Death to the Jews" graffiti.

More: Nana10

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Netherlands: BDS group uses 'Palestinian' Anne Frank avatar




A Twitter account using the @BDSAmsterdam name uses Anne Frank for its Avatar, dressed in an Arab Keffiyeh and apparently has been doing so for quite some time. 
The use of the Anne Frank in keffiyeh image is part of a deliberate strategy to usurp her story and image. It apparently was spread, at least in part, on the now defunct BDS Amsterdam Facebook page.
 
More: Legal Insurrection
 

UK: French football player faces ban after giving an 'anti-semitic' gesture




The Football Association have opened an investigation into a gesture made by Nicolas Anelka at Upton Park today which is widely viewed in France as being anti-semitic. 
Anelka has insisted he was not making an anti-semitic statement when he celebrated a goal with the gesture, known as 'La Quenelle', but it is deeply controversial in France. 
Anelka greeted his first goal in West Bromwich Albion's 3-3 draw with West Ham United today with the salute. 
Defended as an anti-establishment gesture by those who have used it but associated with anti-semitism by many others in France, it was invented by Anelka's friend and French comedian Dieudonne.
More: Daily Telegraph


Via Philosémitisme Blog - Anelka posted an image on his Twitter account, showing Obama, Beyoncé and Jay-Z doing the Quenelle too.

Of course, they wouldn't know what it means.  This gesture has a very specific antisemitic meaning only in France and the surrounding French-speaking countries.



France: Comic’s show may be banned for ‘anti-Semitism’


Philosémitisme Blog points out that Dieudonné is not a side-show for the extreme right.  He's one of the most popular comedians in France.  Tickets to his shows are sold through FNAC, the largest entertainment retail chain in France.  Thousands attend his performances.

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls announced on Friday that he would try to legally ban performances by French comic and actor Dieudonné, who has frequently been accused of anti-Semitism. 
Dieudonné is best known for televised sketch comedy and a one-man show in Paris, in which he professes staunch anti-Israel views that many say amount to hate speech. He has also downplayed the significance of the Holocaust, calling commemorations “memorial pornography”. 
“Despite a conviction for public defamation, hate speech and racial discrimination, Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala no longer seems to recognise any limits,” a statement released by Valls read. “Consequently, the interior minister has decided to thoroughly examine all legal options that would allow a ban on Dieudonné’s public gatherings, which no longer belong to the artistic domain, but rather amount to a public safety risk.”

More: France24

Russia: Chief rabbi asks to provide security to religious figures


Russia's chief rabbi Berel Lazar believes the state should protect religious figures. 
"We are asking law enforcement agencies to do everything to ensure that religious figures feel confident and to ensure their safety," Lazar told a press conference in Moscow on Monday, commenting on the recent assassination attack against Ovadya Isakov, the rabbi of the Dagestani city of Derbent, and the numerous attacks and killings of Islamic figures. 
(...) 
Lazar also said anti-Semitism is declining in Russia, while at the same time expressing concerns about ethnic relations. He called for opening tolerance centers similar to centers already functioning in Moscow in other Russian cities.
More: Interfax

New York Times surveying Hungarian Jews


The Times will be taking a deep look at anti-Semitism in Hungary this coming year. As we report on this issue, we are hoping to hear from Hungarian Jews on their experiences. If you are Jewish and living in Hungary or are from Hungary, we invite you to answer the following questions. Your responses will not be published without your permission. A reporter may follow up with you.

Friday, December 27, 2013

Sweden: "Bethlehem is a prison, Israel kills children"


One more Christmas article bashing Israel.

In an article which appeared in Swedish newspaper Upsala Nya Tidning, a group of Swedish women who spent Christmas in Bethlehem claimed that Bethlehem is a prison.  "Israel has closed off Bethlehem behind a high wall.  Today, on Christmas Eve, we think of those residents."

The women write that getting into the city is easy, but that Palestinians and residents of Bethlehem have a hard time getting out.

Describing the checkpoints, the women accuse Israel of treating the Palestinians like animals: "When you see them patiently standing there, in the grid-paths that resemble cattle pens, waiting for the young Israeli conscripts to check their certificates, you wonder if it's really happening."

Gunfire is often heard by the Wall in Bethlehem, teargas stings the eyes.  "Palestinians can be imprisoned for the slightest transgression.  Children are abducted and imprisoned, sometimes killed  Shortly before we arrived in Bethlehem, a 12-year-old boy was shot dead, his crime was throwing stones."

Christians and Muslims work together for peace, they say.  Everybody they met in Bethlehem spoke of peace.  There are some Jews who also want peace, like 'Breaking the Silence', "But every minute Israel violates international law and UN human rights regulations."  The women are careful to deny any motive of antisemitism.  "We are not talking about the Jewish people, but of abuses committed by the State of Israel's current government".

Lithuania: "Jews do not want to pay and are just looking for what they can take from Lithuania"


Earlier on Monday, Bradauskas, the chairman of the parliamentary Budget and Finance Committee, stated that state pensions to the Lithuanians who rescued the Jews during World War II should get state pensions from Israel, not Lithuania.

“I do not see why the Lithuanian state should be paying. It would be logical for us to turn to Israel so that it could pay. But no, Jews do not want to pay and are just looking for what they can take from Lithuania,” Bradauskas told BNS.

More: Lithuania Tribune, via CFCA

France: Notre-Dame celebrates Christmas by bashing Israel


French blog extrême-centre reports (via Philosémitisme Blog) that during Christmas mass in the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, the priest lashed out at the 'ugly wall running through Bethlehem'.   No mention of Christian persecution.

Outside, activists were handing out leaflets against Israel.

Norway: Man loses Nazi weapons after threatening antisemitic attack


The weapons of a man from Ålesund (Møre og Romsdal) were confiscated after he made various threats.  One such threat said "Just wait you little Jew (...) the voices in my head say I must kill you (...)".  Other threats were not specifically antisemitic.

The weapons included various swords and knives, all embossed with swastikas.

The man claimed that he had become threatening only when he did not take his medication, but the court decided it was too dangerous to let him keep the weapons.

More: SMP

Op-Ed: Anti-Semitism and the Jewish Future in Europe


Brian Klug of St Benet’s Hall, University of Oxford:
All surveys have limitations. A limitation is not a defect, but it is necessary to keep the limitations of a survey in mind in order to assess its findings. The FRA report holds up a mirror to the EU Jewish population, giving us a glimpse of how European Jews perceive and experience antisemitism today. In this way, it contributes to our understanding. It does what it does, no more, no less. It does not license sweeping statements about the rise of antisemitism, nor does it warrant gloomy prognostications about Jews leaving Europe in droves.

France: Jewish Defense League members arrested for attacking anti-Semites


French police arrested six Jews they believe staged vigilante attacks against suspected anti-Semites.

The attacks occurred on Dec. 21 in Lyon and Dec. 22 in nearby Villeurbanne and are believed to have been perpetrated by members of France’s Jewish Defense League, or Ligue de Defense Juive (LDJ), the local branch of the militant group associated with the late Rabbi Meir Kahane.

The victims were targeted on social networks and tracked down for performing the “quenelle,” a gesture conceived by the anti-Semitic comedian and Holocaust denier Dieudonne M’bala M’bala,the Le Progres daily reported.

More: Times of Israel

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Russia: RT accuses Israel of 'killing a thousand Palestinians'


Russian broadcaster RT loves to propagate anti-US and anti-Zionist views.

Following a sniper attack in Gaza which killed one Israeli, Israel retaliated by attacking Hamas installations.   The Palestinians claimed one child was killed in the attack.

RT's take on it?   An interview with Moeen Raoof, an 'expert' based in the UK.  RT's headline: "Expert: Israel kills a thousand Palestinians in response to the death of one of its citizens".

On their English language site, RT dropped the anti-Israel rhetoric a notch, and gave a more moderate quote from Raoof's interview:
“There are political or diplomatic means that they can use to deescalate the situation rather than use disproportionate force on people who have no effective army and cannot fight,” he told RT.
More: IzRus

Hungary: Jewish pianist says ‘they’ll cut off my hands’ if he returns to Hungary


Concert pianist Andras Schiff said that he has been threatened with having his hands cut off if he returns to Hungary. 
Schiff, an outspoken critic of the right-wing government of Viktor Orban and its relationship with the nationalist Jobbik Party, told the BBC in an interview Monday that “things in Hungary are not very good, to put it mildly.”

Norway: Staples capitulates to Israel boycott campaign


Original Staples notice, as reported on the
site of Norwegian People's Aid

Norwegian site MIFF reports that Staples Norway has capitulated to an Israel boycott campaign.

Staples Norway announced via Twitter that they plan to stop selling SodaStream products in their stores.  SodaStream, an Israeli company, has been the target of a global boycott campaign.

In their announcement, Staples implied they were removing the product due to the boycott campaign. The notice (translated): "Staples has chosen for various reasons to phase out SodaStream from our selection.  We thank @fagforbundet and @norskfolkehjelp for a good dialogue."

Fagforbundet is the Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees, which recently decided to boycott Israeli products.  Norskfolkehjelp is Norwegian People’s Aid, a humanitarian relief NGO.  Both organizations were heavily involved in the SodaStream boycott campaign.

After receiving queries on the issue, Staples claimed they were removing the product due to poor sales.  They also deleted the original Twitter notice.

Norwegian People’s Aid announced a victory:
–Norwegian People’s Aid and Fagforbundet have had a good dialogue with Staples about the production of SodaStream on occupied Palestinian territory. The decision to stop selling SodaStream products is one we applaud! Says Liv Tørres, Secretary General at Norwegian People’s Aid.

Why is this occupation different from all other occupations?


The EU maintains that Israel’s presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is unique, legally speaking, but consistently refuses to explain exactly how it differs from, say, Turkey’s occupation of Northern Cyprus or that Moroccan presence in Western Sahara; while Rabat asserts ownership of the territory, not a single other country recognizes the claim.
More: Times of Israel

Moldova: Jewish school vandalized with Nazi graffiti




The Herzl Ort school in Chisinau (Kishinev) was vandalized with swastikas and graffiti saying "Hitler".

More: CFCA

Op-Ed: British Jews must resist the victim-bully image


Simon Schama in the Jewish Chronicle:
Historian Simon Schama has restated his Zionist beliefs and called for a shift in the public view of Jews as “either victims or bullies”. 
Despite the shock expressed in some circles over his statement that he was a Zionist in his recent BBC series The Story of the Jews, Professor Schama said he had meant to be bold and was “completely unapologetic”. 
(...)  
“The distinction is between what the Israeli government does, and what Israel is. You can be a critic of what the government does, but not, I think, a critic of what Israel is. That’s why I did that.”

More: Jewish Chronicle

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Russia: Conspiracy theories against Israel




Russian TV is filled with antisemitic and anti-Zionist conspiracy theories.  In a recent program on the RT, special investigator for the UN Richard Falk accused Israel of 'genocidal' intentions against the Palestinians.

But Falk wasn't talking in a regular news show.  He was interviewed to a show which was dedicated to proving that Israel is a genocidal madman country.

Belgium: Christmas, Behind a Wall



Belgian newspaper La Libre Belgique headlined its story 'Christmas, Behind a Wall, in Bethlehem'.

The article is a mishmash of all the regular facts: Tourists are thronging to Bethlehem, but the economic situation is difficult.  Muslims are taking over the city. Relationships between Christians and Muslims are tense.  The city is under Palestinian rule since 1995, things were so much better before the Intifada (1980s), and even better in the distant past.  It's not easy to commute between Bethlehem and Israel.

But the editor couldn't give up the opportunity to link Christmas and the Security Wall ('The Separation Barrier' in media parlance, because it's only there for Apartheid reasons).

More: La Libre

Update: La Libre is a Belgian newspaper.

Belgium: Christmas Israel bashing from Nazareth to Bethelehm

In honor of Christmas, Belgian newspaper Het Belang van Limburg sent reporter Roel Damiaans and photographer Tom Palmaers 'in the footsteps of Joseph and Mary', from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

Despite the fact that Nazareth is an Israeli town and despite the fact that Joseph and Mary were Jewish, Damiaans and Palmaers did not manage to meet even one Israeli or Jew.  The Jewish angle of their trip to the Jewish homeland: Their first report from Nazareth starts off with "Hava Nagila".

They did however meet many Palestinians who told of their suffering under Israeli rule (just like Joseph and Mary, so many years ago).  They also met with Palestina Solidariteit, a Flemish pro-Palestine group.

Jospeh and Mary made their way on a donkey, so Damiaans and Palmaers interviewed a family whose donkey suffers from Israeli army tear-gas attacks.  No mention at all of why the Israeli army would attack a defenseless donkey, and his poor owners.

defenseless donkey, attacked by Israelis

Of course, no visit to Bethlehem is complete without mentioning the Security Wall.  Headlined "Art on an Ugly Wall", Damiaans and Palmaers say as follows in their post on the topic: "For years Israel has been building the Separation Wall.  By far the ugliest edifice we've ever seen.  A trap to control people like animals, a concrete mesh around the open-air prison that is Palestine."

They do not show us their own visit of the wall.  Instead they posted a clip of Banksy art.


Norway: Labour Party posts anti-Israel Christmas card

The irony: Israeli Jews are the only people today who can't access Bethlehem.    



The Workers' Youth League, the Norwegian Labour Party's youth movement, posted a Christmas card reminding readers that if Jesus were born in Israel, the three kings would have never been able to get to Bethlehem.

More: SMA

UK: Church celebrates Christmas by building life size replica of Israel's security wall

More Christmas time love, this time in the UK.


St James’s Church in London installed a life size replica of Israel’s security wall, as part of an anti-Israel Christmas time campaign.

More: RichardMillet's Blog

Also check out BBC Watch's explanation on how big the 'Security Wall' around Bethlehem actually is.

Norway: Palestinian women's plight linked to Mary, Jesus

Christmas time is always a good time to bash Israel and the Jews by putting the Palestinians in the role of Jesus.  The Christian audience doesn't need to be reminded that 'the Jews killed Jesus'.

Under Israeli rule, Bethlehem was a Christian city.  Now, under Palestinian rule, it's a Muslim city.  But that will not prevent the media from comparing the Palestinians of today to Mary and Jesus, and implicitly accuse Israel of being just as bad as the Jews back then, who did not recognize the Messiah among them, and turned away a pregnant woman to give birth in the manger.



Norwegian newspaper VG published an article in its latest weekend supplement titled "A Child is Born in Bethlehem".  The headline refers to a well-known Christmas hymn and is all about the difficulties Israel causes pregnant Palestinian women.

More: MIFF

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Italy: Holocaust denying teacher acquitted in court


Roberto Valvo, a high-school history teacher who claimed there was no proof of the Holocaust, was acquitted in court.  Judge Maria Cristina Muccari ruled that he had expressed a personal opinion, which is not a crime.

Valvo had made the comments, as well as other antisemitic insults, to an 16-year old Jewish student.  Valvo later repeated his comments in a more public forum, and said that the camps were made up, but the judge still ruled that this was a private talk where Valvo expressed his opinions, and not propaganda.

Op-Ed: Traditional Jew Hatred fruitful and is flourishing


Micah D. Halpern in the Huffington Post:
There are many people who believe that the Western world has entered a post anti-Semitic era. I am often told that anti-Semitism in the West is a thing of the past and that in the today's new world anti-Semitism, especially in its traditional form, has dissipated. And then come these lyrics. 
Conventional wisdom is wrong. Romania is a Western country and Traditional Jew Hatred, the ideas about the Jew that permeated the Middle Ages, is fruitful and is flourishing. Traditional Jew Hatred is a hatred that depicts the Jew as the murderer of Jesus. It is the attitude that justifies hating the Jew on theological grounds. It is the belief that one defends Jesus by hating his murderers.

More: Huffington Post

Ukraine: Holocaust memorial vandalized with anti-Jew slogans


A memorial for Jewish holocaust victims was desecrated in Nikolayev (Mykolaiv).  The memorial was spray painted with anti-Jewish slogans.

More: Kikar Hashabat

Russia: Court orders Jewish teacher’s early release after trial tainted by anti-Semitism



A Russian court ordered the early release of a Jewish teacher whose bribery trial was marred by anti-Semitic statements and whose lengthy prison sentence was criticized by Russian President Vladimir Putin. 
(...)
The prosecution petitioned the court to reduce Farber’s sentence in September, days after Putin told a television network that the sentence was “egregious.” 
Putin made the statement as the Kremlin’s human rights council was looking into the case because of irregularities in the trial and claims that it had been tainted by anti-Semitism.
More: JTA

Poland: Anti-Semitic chants at football game


From FARE's November incident report:
02 November 2013 – Polish League II (Western Group): Blekitni Stargard v Odra Opole 
Anti-Semitic chants from a group of Odra Opole fans targeted the former Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, who died on 28 October 2013
More: FARE

Op-Ed: Is singling out Israel for boycotts anti-Semitic?


Alan Dershowitz in the Jerusalem Post:
A paradigmatic characteristic of all bigotry is to take a fault that is widespread among all cultures, races, religions and nationalities and to attribute it singularly to one group.

For example: “Blacks are violent.” “Jews are cheap.” “Asians are sly.” “Gays are pedophiles.” “Women are irrational.” “Romanies (gypsies) cheat.”

The truth, of course, is that all groups have some among them with these negative characteristics.

The bigots who make these claims correctly point to the fact that some members of these groups display the negative characteristics attributed to the groups as a whole.

But the bigotry consists of singling out any such group for unique condemnation on the basis of these widespread faults without acknowledging that members of other groups have them as well, sometimes in greater proportion than the group that is singled out.

Monday, December 23, 2013

Belgium: Journalist falls for Hamas 'dam plot' story





Werner Trio, a journalist for Belgian broadcaster VRT, posted a "evil Israel plot" story on Facebook in which Hamas claimed that Israel deliberately opened dams in order to flood Gaza.   See more about the dam story here.

If Trio gets his information from an impartial pro-Palestinian news site like Middle East Monitor and believes every conspiracy plot they propagate, what does that say about his personal beliefs and about his reporting?

Middle East Monitor, btw, purports to quote an Israeli newspaper to prove its point.  But all Israeli news sites I checked reported the Hamas claims for what they were: trying to blame the Jews for the weather.

Russia: Jewish center vandalized with graffiti, pig's head




The Jewish center in Krasnodar (Krasnodar Krai) was vandalized this past Friday.  A pig's head was hung on one wall. There were also various antisemitic graffiti, including one which said "Happy Tu Be'Shevat Jewish Pigs!".  Tu Be'Shevat is an upcoming Jewish holiday.

 More: Kikar Hashabat

France: Soldier in CAR caught wearing Nazi slogan




The French army has launched an inquiry after a soldier serving in the Central African Republic is photographed wearing what appears to be a Nazi slogan. 
The photo showed a soldier with a rifle in his hands wearing a patch on the right arm carrying the French flag, number 32 and the insignia “Meine Ehre heißt Treue” (My honour is loyalty), the motto used by SS soldiers during the Nazi regime. 
It is unclear what the number 32 refers to, although it may refer simply to the soldier's military unit.

More: RFI, via JSS News


Op-Ed: Exploiting the Koran to Target the Jews?


Lawrence A. Franklin at Gatestone Institute:
The Koran's prejudicial passages against Jews seem to have found an appreciative audience among some neo-Nazis as well as extremist elements on the left of the political spectrum. This is particularly the case in Western Europe.[14] However, some American Jewish students perceive that this affliction has found its way onto the college campus as well.[15] 
Moreover, as early as the turn of the century, there were reports of contacts between al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremist networks with neo-Nazi groups. This seemingly incongruent phenomenon was denounced by former German Minister of Interior, Otto Schily, when he publicly described the relationship between his country's neo-Nazi National Democratic Party and the now outlawed Muslim extremist organization, Hizb-ut-Tahir (Party of Liberation)[16]. This alliance seems to have gained more traction in today's Europe, where many of the continent's citizens, even when secular, seem to have trouble separating their opposition to Israel's policies from their feelings for the surviving remnant of Jews among them.

Netherlands: 'Jew' becoming more common insult


A report by the Verwey-Jonker Institute shows a strong link between racist - mostly antisemitic - expressions and football.  'Jew' is used as an insult, especially in South Holland province, where there is a strong anti-Ajax sentiment.  However, 'Jew' and coarser variants is now becoming a more common insult in the province in non-football contexts, such as schools and bars.

More: Omroep West

UK: Badger cull supporters face intimidation 'akin to Kristallnacht'


Now, a senior official from the National Farmers’ Union has sparked complaints by claiming that cull supporters have experienced intimidation similar to that suffered by Jews in Nazi Germany. 
Andy Foot, the chairman of the NFU’s beef cattle group, told the Western Daily Press that, as result of action by anti-cull protesters: “The brave farmers, cull companies, local communities and National Farmers’ Union staff involved in the culls have faced a degree of fascist intimidation and propaganda akin to Kristallnacht.”

ADL: European antisemitism among 'ten issues of 2013'


Neo-Nazi parties were participants in the parliaments of four European nations. The political platforms of Jobbik in Hungary, Ataka in Bulgaria, Golden Dawn in Greece, and Svoboda in Ukraine were anti-democratic manifestos of racism and anti-Semitism. Two of the parties, Jobbik and Golden Dawn, have associated militias that assault minorities. Xenophobic parties were active in other European countries as well.  
And, in a clear threat to religious freedom, the Polish parliament voted in July against a proposal to explicitly allow kosher and halal slaughter. The vote put in doubt the legal status of kosher and halal slaughter, striking a blow to the future of Jews living in Poland and giving rise to questions of whether anti-Semitic prejudice played a role in the decision.

More: ADL

Sunday, December 22, 2013

France: Public radio takes legal action against the latest new anti-Semitic remarks by comedian Dieudonné


French public radio has decided to take legal action following anti-Semitic remarks made by controversial humorist against one of the radio’s Jewish journalist. 
" Following the openly anti-Semitic remark by Dieudonné aganst Patrick Cohen, the management of Radio France decided to take legal action to the court. The prosecutor will decide whether or not to open criminal proceedings against Dieudonné,'' Radio France said in a statement. 
A report by France2 television last Thursday showed Dieudonné joking with the Holocaust during a show at a Paris theater. ‘’When I hear Patrick Cohen , I think, you know, the gas chambers ... Too bad ," he said, triggering laughter among his fans.

Germany: Jewish cemetery vandalized


Tombstones were knocked over in the Jewish cemetery in Krakow am See (Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania).  It is unclear when the cemetery was vandalized.

More: SVZ

Sweden: County eyeing ban on circumcision


A county in Sweden is moving ahead with plans to ban the nonmedical circumcision of boys, its leading elected official said.
More: JTA

Germany: Memorial monument desecrated


a memorial monument for Max and Herta Naujocks was desecrated and a swastika was painted on it. The Naujocks couple hid a Jewish family in their home during the Second World War. 
 More: CFCA

Friday, December 20, 2013

France: Jewish leader laments ‘climate of anti-Semitism’


 In a series of interviews, Cukierman lamented a “climate of anti-Semitism” in France and singled out both extreme-right and extreme-left parties for contributing in different ways to increase resentment against Jews.  

More: World Zionist Congress

Italy: "The big bankers, capital owners, international Zionists who are trying to overturn Italy"


during the TV program Virus di Porro, with the host Nicola Porro, that was broadcast on Rai2 on Wednesday, December 11, the reporter interviewed in the square of Torino a man named Luciano, who said these words (In the clips it occurs after 1 hour, 25 minutes and 52 seconds):

“There was a caption which read: ‘Who maintains the Letta government in power? This is very easy. All Italians know it. First it was Prodi, then Monti and afterwards Letta. All of them were maintained by the Bildenberg group,’ (applause from the audience). Meaning - the big bankers, capital owners, international Zionists who are trying to overturn Italy… to take all the good that is in Italy. This is very simple. Everyone knows it. Therefore all the Letta people get their salaries from the Bildenberg group, period.”

More: CFCA

Germany: Bavarian town rejects anti-Hitler vote (then changes mind)


On Tuesday the town of Dietramszell in Bavaria was supposed to distance itself from Hitler and other leading Nazis in a motion put forward by mayor Leni Gröbmaier. 
The move came after archivist Agnes Wagner found Hitler had been made an honorary citizen in March 1933, the Münchener Merkur newspaper reported. 
(...) 
“It would be a distortion of history, the whole debate is laughable,” said council member Traudi Fröstl. Another member Josef Hauser said: "Honourary citizenship goes with death. It is all a very long time ago."

More: The Local

After the story hit the news, the town had another vote:
And the failure of the motion attracted widespread criticism and international media attention.

But in a special meeting on Wednesday the council finally passed a motion which confirmed that Hitler lost his honorary citizenship with his death and recognized that the town had been associated with Hitler.

“It was never our intention to trivialize the crimes of Adolf Hitler. We underestimated that our voting behavior could be understood in such a way,” the council said, according to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. 

More: The Local


Sweden: Experts warn attempts to denazify Sweden are failing


More than half of the 26 people arrested in Sunday's neo-Nazi riot in Stockholm are younger than 20. Experts warn attempts to denazify Sweden are failing, as a new generation of "social outcasts" emerges. 
There were sweeping arrests following the incident that marred an anti-Nazi demonstration by local residents, including families with children, in the Kärrtorp neighbourhood of the capital. Members of the far-right Swedish Resistance Movement (Svenska motståndsrörelsen) attacked the peaceful protest, which left three people hospitalized. 

More: The Local

France: “I grew up in a civilized country. Nowadays, I take off my kippah on my way to synagogue.”


Looming in the background is what many Jews here refer to simply as “Toulouse,” the 2012 slaying of three children and a rabbi by an Islamist at a Jewish school in the southeastern city. Many of France’s estimated 600,000 Jews, the third-largest Jewish community in the world, live in the shadow of the attack. 
“Since Toulouse, my family and I worry every day that my grandchildren go to school,” says Menache Manet, a 64-year-old Parisian who will be leaving for Israel in several weeks with his son and four grandchildren. 
“I grew up in a civilized country,” he adds, his voice trembling with anger. “Nowadays, I take off my kippah on my way to synagogue.”

More: JTA

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Op-Ed: ‘Anti-Semitism is like cancer, if we don’t fight it, it will spread’


‘’Anti-Semitism is like cancer. There are two things that are certain about this cancer of hate. We know that it is deadly and we know that if we don’t fight it it will spread,’’ said Michal Kaminski, Polish Member of the European Parliament, in an address to the  General Assembly of the European Jewish Parliament (EJP) Monday in Brussels. 
He urged to stay vigilant.  ‘’Vigilance is key because  like cancer anti-Semitism often stays hidden for a long time until it strikes suddenly. But although it may hide from us, that does not make it any less dangerous.’’

More: EJP

Italy: Antisemitic graffiti


Dozens of antisemitic graffiti were found in Borgo Val di Taro (Parma).  The graffiti included swastikas and the Jewish Star.

(The news report talks of a 'five-pointed star', but as the picture shows, this is obviously a six-point Star of David)

More: Gazzetta Di Parma

Romania: Top court candidate withdraws in anti-Semitism row


A former top official of a right-wing party in Romania withdrew his application to be a judge at the country's top court Monday after being accused of anti-Semitism. 
The Centre for the Fight against Anti-Semitism (MCA) in Romania had urged the ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD) to reconsider its nomination of Lucian Bolcas, citing what they said were "racist and anti-Semitic ideas".

More: GlobalPost

UK: Report on Antisemitic Discourse in Britain in 2012


CST’s final annual report of the year, Antisemitic Discourse in Britain in 2012 is now available in pdf format. Read it here on CST’s website. 
The report contains introductory sections (pages 4-13) on Jewish life, antisemitism and anti-Zionism. It then (pages 14-36) features developments in antisemitic discourse during the year. 
The report cites numerous mainstream publications, groups and individuals who are not necessarily antisemitic, but whose behaviour may well impact upon attitudes concerning Jews and antisemitism.

More: CST

Op Ed: "Worrying about the rise of anti-Semitism is not much different from fretting over a coming storm"

Mati Wagner writing in the Jerusalem Post:
I cannot help but think, however, that the rise and fall of anti-Semitism is as inevitable as changes in the weather. Attempts to combat anti-Semitism, while admirable, often seem futile. Worrying about the rise of anti-Semitism is not much different from fretting and wringing one’s hands over a coming storm.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Poland: Antisemitic graffiti




Antisemitic graffiti in Gdansk and Krakow.

More: CFCA via Hejt Stop (here and here)


France: Paris suburb honors killer of U.S., Israeli diplomats


A suburb of Paris honored a man imprisoned for helping to murder diplomats from Israel and the United States. 
A majority of aldermen from the City Council of Bagnolet east of the French capital voted on Wednesday to make the Lebanese citizen, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, an honorary resident, calling him a “communist activist” and “political prisoner” who “belongs to the resistance movement of Lebanon, his country,” French media reported Friday.

More: JTA

France: Jewish journalist harassed for having the nerve to be good at his job


Luc Rosenzweig, a Jewish French journalist writes that while working for Le Monde he got more than fifty antisemitic letters.  He kept the letters for any future research on antisemitism in France in the last quarter of the 20th century.  The letters did not take a stand on the Jews of France and elsewhere in the world.  Instead they were upset at the nerve of this Jew who came from nowhere and dared show knowledge of German policy, the EU and NATO.

More: Causeur, via Philosémitisme Blog

Op-Ed: When ‘Israel First’ Means Condoning Old-School Anti-Semitism


Anna Momigliano at The Daily Beast:
The problem with the “Israel first” and “new anti-Semitism” approach is not so much that it makes of the State of Israel a priority and of the criticism of Israel an offense. The real danger lies in the implication that the freedom and dignity of Jews in the diaspora is somewhat of an expendable asset. That if anti-Semitism is taking new forms, then its old forms should be accepted, to a certain extent. 
Seriously, I worry. 
Maybe, when Jewish leaders start telling you shouldn't worry about anti-Semitism, you should start worrying, too. 

More: The Daily Beast

Netherlands: Divesting Dutch water firm called ‘hypocritical’ over Gaza projects


Several Dutch politicians accused the Vitens water company of hypocrisy in its decision to abandon projects with an Israeli firm because of West Bank settlements while pursuing projects in Hamas-led Gaza.
More: JTA

France: Quenelle salute at David Ben-Gurion promenade


Oguzhan Kalli,a member of the RATP transport police, making the antisemitic Quenelle salute by a Paris riverside promenade named after David Ben-Gurion.

More anti-Semites making the Quenelle at JSS News.

Previous story on this topic: France: Quenelle a Jew game

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Hungary: Protest against "Holocaust Industry"


Guards of the Carpathian Homeland (Kárpát Haza Orei)

The Hungarian Dawn Movement  (Magyar Hajnal Mozgalom) protested against the "Holocaust Industry" at the Jozsefvarosi train station.  The station has a memorial set up for the Holocaust deportation of Jews.

More: MEASZ

Italy: Protest leader Justifies Hitler With Jewish Conspiracy


Last Friday the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a condemnation of remarks made by a spokesman for the Italian populist "Pitchfork Movement," remarks which the organization says show a "deep-seated anti-Semitic hatred." 
Andrea Zunino, the protest leader of the Pitchfork Movement which is leading current anti-government protests in Italy, gave an interview to the Italian La Repubblica. 
In his interview, Zunino espoused classic tropes of Jewish global domination. He remarked "we want the government to resign. We want the sovereignty of Italy, which is the slave of bankers like the Rothschilds. It's curious that five or six of the richest people in the world are Jewish."

More: Israel National News

Greece: “Unfortunately, such messages have become quite popular in Greek society.”


The president of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, Benjamin Albalas, called Golden Dawn an “extremely dangerous Neo-Nazi criminal party” and said anti-Semitism had recently “infected” Greek society. 
They have not stopped denying the Holocaust and to use on purpose the fake ‘Protocols of [the Elders of] Zion’ to accuse Jews, to scream loudly that for the [financial] crisis in Greece the Jewish bankers worldwide are to blame” and that Jews are responsible for “all tragedies and wars,” Albalas said. “Unfortunately, such messages have become quite popular in Greek society.”

France: Comedian on trial for anti-Semitic video


French prosecutors on Friday called for comedian Dieudonné M'bala M'bala to pay 20,000 euros for failing to pay an earlier fine for anti-Semitic remarks in a video posted online or face prison.
More: RFI

UK: Three soccer fans arrested over anti-Semitic tweets


Three men have been arrested for posting anti-Semitic comments on Twitter following Tottenham Hotspur's Premier League match against West Ham United in October, police said on Friday. 
Two men, aged 22 and 24, were arrested on Thursday in London and in Wiltshire, while a 48-year-old man was arrested at his home in Canning Town in London last week on suspicion of inciting racial hatred.

More: Haaretz

Monday, December 16, 2013

Ukraine: Chabad accuse pro-Russian organizations and media of 'Nazi propoganda'


The council of the Jewish religious Chabad community in Sevastopol made an official statement in which it accuses a number of political parties, organizations, and the media of “Nazi propaganda.”

The statement was released in response to a rally that was held by pro-Russian organizations near the synagogue that is under construction. The protesters say that Chabad is a sect, so the construction of their religious building should be stopped.

More: RISU

France: Kosher pizzeria vandalized with swastikas


Swastikas were painted on the B’Paradise kosher pizzeria in Sarcelles (Paris suburb), opposite the city's synagogue.  The Union of Jewish Students in France condemned the attack and the proliferation of antisemitic acts in Sarcelles.

A year ago a Jewish supermarket on the same street was firebombed and one person injured.

More: metronews via World Zionist Organization

Update: Fixed typos.  I did not notice when first posting, but story is a year old.

Ukraine: Christians protest against public Hanukkah ceremony


A group of Orthodox Christians protested against the public Hanukkah Menorah lighting ceremony in Odessa on December 1st.  The group, who held up banners and swastikas, tried to destroy the Menorah.  They yelled that "Satanists are allowed to put a sovereign symbol of Israel".  Policemen who were present were told: 'They ritually kill your children and you stand and guard them'.

More: IzRus

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Belgium: Roman-Catholic charity worker accuses Israel of helping the Philippines for the cameras


Jan Weuts of Caritas Internationalis accused Israel in a recent interview on Belgian TV (Terzake, Nov. 13th) of helping the Philippines only for propaganda's sake.

Weuts said that he had read in the Official Gazette of the Philippines, a government site, that the Israelis had stolen their site from the Belgian B-FAST team, because all the journalists were there.

Weuts provided Jewish news site Joods Actueel with a link to the article, but that assertion is not there.  According to Weuts, the Filipino government had removed this information from the article.  When Joods Actueel could find no such previous article, Weuts replied that he had seen it somewhere but he has no idea where.

Lierenaar Geert Gijs, who had coordinated relief efforts for many disasters worldwide, and had been the coordinator in the Philippines this time as well, rejects Weuts' claims.  He says teams are sent by the UN coordinators based on need.

Netherlands: Artist upset about 'punitive Jewish' insult

This is a double story.  Mart Smeets, a Dutch TV personality, is accused of insulting Joop Rubens, a Jewish artist.  But in response he says that he's often insulted with antisemitic slurs.

Mart Smeets appeared on a reality show last week called 'Sterren op het Doek'  (Stars on Canvas).  In the show artists draw a famous personality, after which they're interviewed.  Smeets was unhappy with the way he was portrayed by Joop Rubens and commented that "It's a punitive Amselvennse Jewish way of looking at someone".

Rubens says he had hoped the statement will be deleted from the aired version of the show, but it wasn't.

After being roundly criticized by Jewish organizations, Smeets replied that he was sorry he had referred to Rubens' Jewish origins.  Smeets said that Rubens had tried to get into his head, and he had seen that as confrontational.  "I made that statement during shooting in September. In June I told Rubens that I was often called 'f*cking Jew', though I'm not Jewish."  Rubens had replied that he's a Jewish artist from Amstelveen.  "You should see my offending text in this context."

More: Metro

Netherlands: Journalist says she enjoys making Holocaust jokes


Sylvia Witteman, a Dutch journalist, was recently interviewed by Volkskrant Magazine.  In that interview she said she likes to make callous jokes, though she doesn't put such jokes in her columns.  She enjoys saying vulgar things about Anne Frank, and And when the conversation with her best friend gets too serious, they sometimes make concentration camp jokes.

Spain: Antisemitic sticker in Madrid



The sticker shows a Palestinian killed on a Jewish Star (as part of the Israeli flag) and says "Truth before Justice".

More: CFCA

Op-Ed: Detecting a nasty side to Maigret


Norman Lebrecht writes in the Jewish Chronicle:
Early this summer, at a colleague’s suggestion, I returned to an author I last read in my teens. Georges Simenon churned out some 200 crime novels in 40 years, of which 75 featured his imposing creation, Inspector Jules Maigret. 
(...)

Apologists have long argued that Simenon’s racism was a product of his time, no different or worse than the attitudes of such crime writers as Arthur Conan Doyle, G K Chesterton and Agatha Christie. It should, writes one analyst, “be seen as a symptom of intellectual and moral laziness rather than a deliberate expression of a social or political agenda.” Perhaps. But Simenon’s antisemitism persists longer than the rest; his last slur appears in Maigret’s Patience, as late as 1965. He is, in a word, unregenerate. 
Now no one would expect a publisher to suppress books that have sold half-a-billion copies and remain gloriously readable. Nor would a professional translator agree to modify an original text in tune with current sensibilities. What is required, however, is an expression of detachment. Penguin need to issue a cover warning of racism in all Maigret novels where Jews are mentioned. Nothing less will do.

More: Jewish Chronicle

Friday, December 13, 2013

Russia: Antisemitic leaflets against public Hanukkah celebrations


Antisemtic leaflets were distriubted to passer-bys in Vladimir in November.  The leaflets complained about the public Hanukka ceremony in Moscow and suggested that it was allowed since more than 80% of the current government officials are Jewish.  The writer also claimed that Russian national holidays are not celebrated on such a grand scale.  Additionally, the leaflets said that Jews were exterminated during WWII by Jews.

More: JEWISH.Ru

Germany: Swastika and "Jew" graffiti


A swastika and the word "Jew" were painted next to the lake in Bad Waldsee (Baden-Württemberg).

More: schwäbische.de  via JFDA

Germany: Anne Frank tree cutting cut down and stolen


A sapling that came from the tree that stood outside the hiding place of Anne Frank in Amsterdam was cut down and stolen in Frankfurt, German police said. 
(...) 
Unidentified parties cut down the 8-foot tree that grew from the cutting some time between last week and Monday, according to a report Tuesday by the Dutch public broadcaster NOS. Police have no information or leads on the identity of the thieves or their motives, the report said.

More: Times of Israel

Ireland: Pro-Palestinian activists protest against Israeli Film Festival

When it comes to Israel - it's like dealing with Apartheid South Africa or Nazi Germany.

When it comes to Nazi-saluting Palestinians - breaking off contact "violates the principle of maintaining dialogue even with those with whom we disagree.”




Robert Wistrich: "Anti-Semitism is by no means the sole province of the ignorant and uneducated"


Robert Wistrich, rector of Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism:
“The intellectual demonization of Jews continues until the present despite sweeping changes which have taken place intellectually, socially and politically in European history. Anti-Semitism is by no means the sole province of the ignorant and uneducated. Many writers, artists, prominent journalists and academics are in the forefront of making odious comparisons of Zionism to Nazism and Israel to Hitler’s Germany. Portuguese Nobel Prize-winner Jose Saramago was just one of many. Yet they all fit into a lengthy tradition of intellectual Jew-hatred.”  

More: INN

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Netherlands: Dutch FM says Europe judges Israel by a different standard than other Middle East countries

European countries have 'taken care' of their own native minorities: they killed them off or forcibly assimilated them.  I don't expect Timmermans wants Israel to do the same.
Europe judges Israel by a different standard than other countries in the region because it is seen as a “European country” that should be judged by European standards, Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said Monday. 
More: Jerusalem Post  (via Elder of Ziyon)

Sweden: Jewish women subjected to hate campaign




Two Jewish women in Rosengård (Malmö) say they're being subjected to an antisemitic campaign.  In the decade they have lived in the area they had gotten used to being insulted on the street with "Jewish whore" and "Jewish pig".  But two weeks ago they were subjected to more serious attacks.

One day somebody broke into their apartment and stole a computer and Jewish religious objects - a golden Star of David, prayer book and mezuza and a Hanukkah menorah which belonged to a relative who died in the Nazi concentration camps.

Then somebody drew swastikas on their front door and balcony doors.  The police removed them, but the next day, once again somebody drew swastikas.  Additionally somebody threw garbage at their door.

They said they do not want to move, but if they will, they will leave to Israel.  Moving elsewhere in the city won't help, they say, as a friend of theirs was beaten up in Limhamnsvägen because she's Jewish.

They doubt much can be done but say that all new immigrants should be informed that Jews are people too.

More: Sydsvenskan via World Zionist Organization

Update: I did not notice when first posting, but story is a year old.

France: "Death to the Jews" graffiti


Antisemitic graffiti at a skating playground in Vouziers (Ardennes).

The graffiti includes the slogans: "Death to the Jews" and "France is our country, protect it", as well as swastikas, celtic crosses and a caricature of a Jew with a kippah and big nose.

More: L'Union  via Ligue de Defense Juive

Romania: State TV airs Christmas carol celebrating the Holocaust


A Romanian public broadcaster distanced itself from a Christmas carol celebrating the Holocaust that aired on the new channel. 
TVR3 Verde, a television channel for rural communities, presented the carol on Dec. 5 during its maiden transmission. 
Sung by the Dor Transilvan ensemble, it featured the lyrics: “The kikes, damn kikes, Holy God would not leave the kike alive, neither in heaven nor on earth, only in the chimney as smoke, this is what the kike is good for, to make kike smoke through the chimney on the street.”

More: JTA

Stopping the assaults across Europe on religious freedoms is 'critical to US government'


US State Department Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, Ira Forman, said the US government views with concern the mounting of anti-Semitism around the world, which he said has become “dramatically worse in the last decade” and especially since the financial crisis of 2008-2009. 
Speaking at a meeting of the International Council of Jewish Parliamentarians (ICJP) Steering Committee, Forman cited France, Hungary and Venezuela, among others, as countries the US was watching closely and said that stopping the assaults across Europe on religious freedoms, such as male circumcision, was “critical to the US government.”

More: EJP

Denmark: Muslim terrorist changes name to Jewish-sounding Isaac Meyer


Not your garden variety antisemitism.   Still, the final result is that today we have articles about 'Isaac Meyer' assaulting people who criticize Islam, with a possible note at the end that the 'Jewish' Meyer is actually a Muslim fundamentalist.

The convicted terrorist Isaac Meyer was today found guilty of assaulting the poet Yahya Hassan in Copenhagen Central Station in November. 
(...) 
Meyer changed his name from Abdul Basit Abu-Lifa after completing a jail sentence handed to him as a 17-year-old in 2007 for his involvement in planning terrorist acts in Europe.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Op-Ed: Why anti-Zionism is inherently anti-Semitic

Eylon Aslan-Levy writes in the Times of Israel:
Anti-Zionism is an inherently anti-Semitic doctrine. In calling for the fall of the Jewish state, anti-Zionists are engaged in a racist endeavour. Jews should feel no hesitation whatsoever in calling out those who challenge Israel’s right to exist as anti-Semites, with all the attendant implications. 
None of this should be controversial. “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination” is part of the EU’s working definition of anti-Semitism (or was, until the EU inexplicably dropped it). This article is concerned with articulating the intellectual foundations for this proposition, rather than somehow presenting a new idea.

More: Times of Israel   (Via Elder of Ziyon)

Moldova: Christians protest against Hanukkah celebration




Orthodox Christians protested against a Jewish ceremony marking the end of Hanukkah in Chisinau (Kishinev).  The protesters held signs saying among other things: "Menorah - a symbol of Jewish occupation" and "We don't want Hanukkah, we have Orthodoxy".  Police were present at the scene but did not prevent the protest.

On Moldovan TV the protesters said that Hanukkah and a lit Hanukkah menorah were a provocation in an Orthodox country.  Hanukkah is a symbol of Jewish victory over non-Jews and it should not be celebrated in an Orthodox country.

More: INN, IzRus

UK: Non-Jewish Olympian Rebecca Adlington receives antisemitic tweet


The Algemeiner turned one tweet into an antisemitic campaign.  Adlington is constantly mocked online for her nose, with many pictures of animals with long snouts.  But none of those include death threats.
A non-Jewish British Olympian has been the subject of a vicious online antisemitic attack, her fiance revealed in an interview with the UK’s Daily Mail. 
(...) 
“She got a tweet the other day from someone saying she was a Jewish c*** because of her nose and should die like the rest of her lot in a concentration camp,” Adlington’s fiance, Harry Needs, a fellow swimmer, said. “How can people write that stuff?”

More: Algemeiner

Germany: Well-educated Germans behind 60% of antisemitic hate mail


Many would view the stream of vitriol, sent to German Jewry’s central communal organization between 2002 and 2012, as little more than raw sewage. But Monika Schwarz-Friesel, a professor of linguistics at the Technical University of Berlin, saw it as raw data. Together with Jehuda Reinharz, the American historian and former president of Brandeis University, Schwarz-Friesel has recently published a study of these letters. And their findings reaffirm one of the enduring, if still surprising truths about anti-Semitism in Germany and elsewhere.

More than 60% of the hate mail came from well-educated Germans, including university professors, according to their study, “The Language of Hostility Towards Jews in the 21st Century,” released earlier this year. Only 3% came from right-wing extremists.

(...)

One of the research pair’s other main findings was that hatred for Israel has become the main vehicle for German anti-Semitism. More than 80% of the 14,000 emails focused on Israel as their central theme.