Norway: Gov't drops Israeli companies from pension fund over East Jerusalem construction

The Norwegian Ministry of Finance announced Thursday that it has decided to exclude Israeli firms Africa Israel Investments and Danya Cebus from its Government Pension Fund Global.

According to the announcement, the Ministry of Finance received a recommendation on November 1 from the Council of Ethics to exclude the two companies from the fund "due to contribution to serious violations of individual rights in war or conflict through the construction of settlements in East Jerusalem,"

More: Haaretz

France: Memorial plaque for Jewish children defaced with swastika

In Annency (Rhône-Alpes), a plaque commemorating the Nazi roundup of Jewish children was defaced with a swastika this past Tuesday.

More: France Bleu, via LDJ

Updated: small fix.

Poland: Jew attacked

Michal Piróg, a Jewish dancer and choreographer, was attacked in a bar.  Piróg argued against the statement "only Poles can drink, Jews can't" and in return, he was attacked.

Piróg posted a picture of himself on his instagram with the tags: Polish - jewish frienship #love #friendship #gay #jew #poland #cool

More: CFCA

Turkey: Hackers attack European Jewish Press website

A screen capture of the European Jewish Press website
after a cyber attack by Turkish hackers.
 (photo credit: courtesy/Tal Rabina Integrated Communications Ltd)

Turkish hackers breached the European Jewish Press’s news website Wednesday night, paralyzing the site and replacing the homepage with a picture of a Turkish flag shaped like a mushroom cloud, according to the EJP

More: Times of Israel

CoE Human Rights Commissioner: Europe still haunted by antisemitism

 Nils Muižnieks, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights:

More than 70 years after the Holocaust, antisemitism is growing in Europe. While official statistics are missing in many countries, research shows that deeply ingrained hostility continues to threaten Jewish people’s security and human dignity across Europe. 

Today’s antisemitism finds its way into “traditional” as well as modern venues

More: Human Rights Commissioner

France: Court fines pro-Palestinian group for SodaStream boycott campaign

A Paris court fined a pro-Palestinian group for its campaign to boycott the products of the Israeli SodaStream company.

Last week, the Tribunal for Grand Instances fined the France Palestine Solidarity Association about $9,000. The court, which was ruling on a lawsuit brought by SodaStream’s representative in France, also ordered the group to remove boycott calls from its website against the home soda maker and its agents.

The campaign violated French law, the court ruled, because it falsely claimed the company was deceiving customers and was guilty of fraud, read the 10-page ruling, which was obtained by JTA.

More: JTA

Poland: Jewish leader accuses Catholics of perpetuating local blood libel

The leader of a Jewish community in Poland accused Catholic clergymen of perpetuating a local blood libel. 

Alicja Kobus, chairwoman of the Jewish community in Poznan, made the accusation on Jan. 26 in an interview with the Gazeta Wyborcza daily about a fresco that depicts an anti-Semitic blood libel and adorns the western city’s Sacred Blood of Christ cathedral.

More: JTA

France: 'Hitler' graffiti in Nazi camp

Graffiti saying "A. Hitler" was discovered in the Récébédou Nazi internment camp in Portet-sur-Garonne.  Today the camp is a memorial museum.

More: metronews, via LDJ

Italy: Swastika by Jewish school

On Holocaust Remembrance Day, a swastika was spray-painted in front of a Jewish school in Milan.

On the DMV in the city somebody spray-painted "6 million Holocaust victims, cit.  Pinocchio."


More: Corriere Della Sera, via CFCA

Op-Ed: From soccer to ballots, Jew-hatred is again Europe’s problem

Bernie Farber in the The Globe and Mail:

In virtually every generation anti-semitism somehow finds new and unique ways to grab the imagination of people’s base prejudices. Witness the resurgence of neo-Nazi activity in parts of Eastern Europe. Here are countries where anti-semitism grew to maniacal proportions that led to the wholesale genocide of six million Jew

More: The Globe and Mail

Ukraine: Third attack on Jew in Kiev

The 'Jewish Kiev' site reports of a third attack against a religious Jew in Kiev, this past Saturday.  A yeshiva student walking with a non-Jewish friend was attacked. The two managed to repel their attackers, nobody was injured.

More: Kiev Evreiskiy

Previous attacks: Jew attacked walking home after evening prayers, Jew stabbed on way home from synagogue

France: Cartoonist arrested in Quenelle probe

Authorities arrested Noël Gérard, a cartoonist going by the name Joe le Corbeau, for distributing photos of a man doing the antisemitic Quenelle gesture in front of the Ozar Hatorah school in Toulouse and the home of the terrorist Mohamed Merah.

Gérard runs an antisemitic Facebook page, where he declares that the 'Western world has been infiltrated by Zionism' and that 'the mass media follows Israel's orders'.

His site features cartoons by various antisemitic cartoonists.  He also sells a booklet with his collection of cartoons, which he named 'Shoah Hebdo' (Holocaust Weekly)

More: Tendance Ouest

UK: BNP blames Jewish worldwide conspiracy for Golden Dawn arrests

Via The CST blog:

The British National Party has long suffered from image problems. Now, they have another image problem. It is on their website (see here), subtitled “arrested on the orders of international Zionists” and looks like this: 

(...) 

The anti-racism group Hope not Hate suggest that the BNP took this image from a dreadful antisemitic website called endzog that thinks Jews run the world. In its skinhead (pre-Internet) marching days, the BNP was not too shy about this kind of thing. More recently, with elections to be fought, the BNP has aped ”anti-Zionism“, tending to avoid hook-nosed Jewish blood-suckers imagery.

Italy: Two neo-Nazi activists charged for anti-Jewish graffiti

Graffiti against Ricardo Pacifici, head of the
Jewish community in Rome

Two men have been charged after spray-painting anti-Jewish slurs, including “Holocaust lies”, in northern Rome's Clodio Square. 

(...) 

The police said one of the men was part of Militia, the extreme right-wing group, while the other was questioned as part of a probe into the neo-Nazi website, Stormfront. One of the two was also wearing a t-shirt with Olodogma.com, a Holocaust-denial website, printed on it.

More: The Local


Last Thursday Militia issued a 'call to arms against international Jewry' on its Facebook page.

More: Il Gazzettino

EU: Catherine Ashton’s Official Statement on Holocaust Memorial Day Doesn’t Mention Jews

A statement issued by Baroness Catherine Ashton,  High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the Commission, in honor of Holocaust Memorial Day on Monday neglected to mention Jews, leading to criticism and confusion online.

More: Algemeiner

Poland: The Jews are coming.. time to clean up

Twenty neighborhoods in Krakow turned to the mayor several days ago, asking to remove the many antisemitic graffiti in town before the arrival of the Israeli Knesset delegation.

The neighborhood councils wrote the mayor saying that they don't want the visitors to see such slogans as "Jews to the gas" or a Jewish star on a noose, which were put up by sports fans.  The councils wrote that the Israelis, unaware of the context, might get the impression that the residents of Krakow are antisemitic.

Not all neighborhood councils joined the initiative.  Some said it was 'kowtowing to the Jews'.

More: NRG

UK: Holocaust Memorial Speaker Expresses Admiration for Hitler and Hatred of Jews

Via Stand For Peace and Elder of Ziyon:

Hassan Farooq is a a “senior member” of the Newham Dawah Team, an East London-based organisation which attempts to spread the message of Islam. Newham Dawah Team is part of the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA) Network, and its officials regularly liaise with iERA officials such as Abdurraheem Green. The iERA is an extremist Salafi group, some of whose officials have been banned from the UK. Abdurraheem Green talks of a Jewish “stench” and advocates the killing of homosexuals. 

Hassan Farooq was chosen to speak at the 2013 Holocaust Memorial Day event in City Hall, in front of politicians and London officials, including Jennette Arnold AM, Mayor of London Boris Johnson and the former Chief Rabbi  Jonathan Sacks.

More: Stand For Peace

France: High Court vandalized with Jewish stars

Two yellow Jewish stars were painted on the doors of the High Court in Reims ( Champagne-Ardenne).

More: L'union, via LDJ

France: 'Day of Anger' turns against Jews

"Europe, pedophile, criminal, Zionist, Satanic" (Lauren Provost@Twitter)

According to Israel Radio, demonstrators soon departed from shouting anti-Hollande slogans in favor of anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli chats, such as "Jews go home," and "Jews, France is not your country."  (clip here)

Some used the "quenelle" anti-Semitic gesture, which was invented by controversial comic Dieudonné M'bala M'bala.

More: Israel Hayom

Poland: Right campaigns against Knesset session in Krakow

After Polish nationalists failed in their efforts to prevent a ceremonial session of the Knesset in the Polish city of Krakow on Monday, right-wing groups have launched a campaign aimed at convincing Poles that the event would infringe on Poland’s constitutional framework and even compromise its sovereignty.

The hostile campaign is being waged primarily on youth-oriented websites, after serious newspapers in the country turned down requests to support the effort. The Knesset session coincides with International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“The [Knesset session] is aimed solely to serve historic Jewish policy to which Polish authorities are conferring their stamp of credibility,” a message posted by campaigners on a website said.

More: Haaretz

Sweden, Denmark: Medical groups call for brit milah ban

Large medical associations in Sweden and Denmark recommended banning non-medical circumcision of boys.

In Sweden, the recommendation came in a resolution that was unanimously adopted last week by the ethics council of the Sweden Medical Association – a union whose members constitute 85 percent of the country’s physicians, the Svenska Dagbladet daily reported on Saturday.
(...)

In Denmark, the Danish College of General Practitioners – a group with 3,000 members – said in statement that non-medical circumcision of boys amounted to abuse and mutilation, the Danish BT tabloid reported Sunday.

More: JTA

Russia: Anti-Semitism on the rise

The number of attacks and acts of vandalism against synagogues, Jewish cemeteries and community centers grew in Russia in 2013, Russian Jewish Congress press secretary Mikhail Savin told the news agency 'Interfax' on Thursday. "A steady downward anti-Semitism trend has reversed for the first time in the past four years," Savin said with reference to a report the Russian Jewish Congress issued together with the Sova human rights organization.

The document indicates that ten attacks and acts of vandalism on Jewish sites were recorded from January to December 2013, compared to eight such incidents the previous year. "The incident that caused the most serious concerns was the attempt on the life of Derbent Rabbi Ovadia Isakov committed by radical Islamists," Savin said.

More: World Jewish Congress

Italy: Antisemitic graffiti in Rome

"Hanna [sic] Frank is a big liar"

This story was practically swallowed up by the more 'media attractive' story of the pigs heads sent to Jewish and Israeli targets in Rome. I thought it deserved its own post.

Local media reported Saturday that anti-Semitic graffiti also appeared outside a municipal building in a Rome neighborhood. One graffito read “the Holocaust is a lie” and the second showed a swastika with the words “Hanna [sic] Frank is a big liar,” Corriere Della Sera reported.

More: Times of Israel

UK: Palestinian Society posts link to anti-Semitic site, accuses pro-Israel group of trying to 'discredit it'

According to The Oxford Student newspaper, the controversy began with the Palestinian Society's Facebook posting of a link to jewwatch.com, a crudely anti-Semitic site. The president of the university's Israel Society, CharlesBlack, posted that he would “not allow them to stoke such an atmosphere on campus. Not on my watch. It's payback time.”

The Palestinian Society removed the post, noting, "The previous post was deleted because it was racist and anti-Semitic [...] such views are not welcome in PalSoc." It also  accused the Israel Society of seeking to "discredit" it by casting anti-Israel views as anti-Semitic.

More: Haaretz

Poland: Anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic posters in Lublin

'Zionists Leave Lublin' poster, Gazeta Lublin

Poster targeting Tomasz Pietrasiewicz, Lubelski Kurier
Notice the Israeli flag on top of the 'Ministry of Truth'

An employee of the museum at a former Nazi German death camp in Poland has been charged with anti-Semitism along with five other men, local media and police said Saturday.

Officers detained the Poles in the eastern city of Lublin on Thursday and charged them with incitement to hatred, after three of them were caught putting up posters at bus stops reading "Zionists Leave Lublin", police said in a statement.

More: Global Post

The group has been active for the past 4 years, posting anti-Zionist and anti-Semetic posters.  Previous posters targeted Tomasz Pietrasiewicz, the director of "Grodzka Gate - NN Theater" Center - a Jewish culture theater in Lublin, who has been the target of a hate campaign.

Sweden: Schoolbook asks students to justify Arab suicide bomber

The following is a question which appears in a 9th grade Swedish religion-class schoolbook in the 'Judaism' chapter.  Under the title "Who has a right to the land", the student is asked:
"Imagine that you ask a Jew and an Arab who has a right to the land that is now called Israel.  Write what you think they'll answer and what motivates their view.  What does the girl that's about to blow herself and others up think?"

The question is accompanied by two images.  On the left, "Jewish man".  On the right, "Arab girl".  The image actually shows a group of people getting on a bus.  

To make it clear: the topic is Judaism.  Not the Jewish-Arab conflict, not the history of the State of Israel.  The student is asked to empathize with the Jewish connection to their homeland.  Then the student is asked to empathize with the Arab link to "Israel".  And then, to top it off, the student is asked to empathize with and justify a suicide bomber.  There's no mention of Islam, no mention that the suicide bomber in question aims to kill Jews.  The image in the book is completely unrelated, and the girl is not dressed like an Arab or Muslim at all.

Let's repeat this again: The student is asked to empathize with a young girl, about his age, in Western dress, who has decided to murder Jews.

And now comes the second part of this weird story.  The book hit the news (GT here and here), because a Palestinian complained that it's racist and Islamophobic.  It sets Jews and Arabs against each other, but even worse: the book implies that all Arabs are terrorists.  Not only that, they chose a young girl, which teaches that the Arabs are so dangerous, even their kids are dangerous and satanic.  The girl isn't even given a good reason for committing a suicide bombing.  The context is completely neutral. 

The author, Leif Östhammar was, of course, shocked at the accusations.  He says that he wrote the book a decade ago, when there were many bombings, and therefore he was thinking of this girl.

He was not thinking of the Jews.  It did not occur to him to ask what the Jewish terror victims were thinking when there were 'many bombings'.  The only question he could come up on this subject, for the chapter dedicated to Judaism was: what does a suicide bomber think.

What leftists don't understand is that justification of Arab terrorism is actually racism.  Leftists 'understand' why Arabs murder Jews.  They see nothing wrong with it.  They don't even think Arabs need a 'good reason'.  That is real racism, and that is real "Islamophobia".  It's also antisemitism, but that doesn't seem to bother anybody nowadays.

The opposite of Islamophobia would be to have the same expectations from Arabs and Muslims as you would from any other Swede.  It's no wonder that a Palestinian living in Sweden was shocked at this question.

UK: UAF forget Holocaust had anything to do with Jews, antisemitism

The Edinburgh branch UAF (United Against Fascism), an anti-fascist group in the UK, is having a special event for International Holocaust Memorial Day.

Their poster speaks for itself: No to fascism, No to racism, no to Islamophobia.  Did we forget anything?

Italy: Pig heads sent to Israeli embassy, synagogue in Rome

Boxes containing pigs' heads have been sent to the Israeli embassy in Rome and the city's synagogue, Italian media reported Saturday.

The package mailed to the embassy in the wealthy Parioli area of the Italian capital was intercepted by police after other similar parcels were sent to the synagogue and the Jewish Museum of Rome.

More: AFP

France: "Islam against Jews" graffiti

Via JForum, with thanks to Philosémitisme Blog: Antisemitic (and anti-Christian) graffiti in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles.  The graffiti says: "Islam against Jews. Catholic = Jews".

JForum reports that the graffiti has been up for several weeks and has yet to be removed.

Update: Typos.

Austria: Swastikas on tombstones, Church says symbols on Jewish graves are just as offensive

Some comments by Graz city and church representatives responsible for managing the dispute suggest they see nothing wrong with graveyard Nazi displays. 

While acknowledging the mayor's office was uncomfortable with the swastika, the city's spokesman, Thomas Rajakovics, called it an old "symbol in the English world that stands for the sun." 

Christian Leibnitz, provost of Graz' Roman Catholic church, said "a lot" of tombstones in the city still displayed the swastika and suggested it had a right to remain in cemeteries as a "political and societal symbol" of the era, even "if I totally oppose this era." 

Asked if the church was ready to put up a sign next to the grave explaining how the swastika is associated with Nazi horrors, he demurred, saying symbols displayed on other tombstones might be just as offensive to some people. 

Pressed for specifics, he spoke of "anti-religious" symbols on some graves, adding without elaboration that the church was "not necessarily happy" with some of the emblems displayed on the cemetery's Jewish graves.

More: The Australian

Norway: Anti-Islam terrorist loves Israel.. because that's where he'll send all the disloyal Jews

Swedish magazine Expo Idag reports that Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik wrote a letter to the international media in which he says that he loves Israel since in the future that will be the place where "disloyal Jews" will be deported.

More: Expo Idag

After Breivik's murder spree, Time Magazine published an article: "Why Norway Terror Accused Breivik Says he Loves Israel":

There was a time when a blond, blue-eyed nationalist looking to violently rid Europe of its “alien” immigrant population could be reliably assumed to hate Jews. It’s no longer quite that simple.

 (...)

his manifesto hails Zionist Jews as a crucial ally in his battle between Christendom and Islam, proclaiming Israel as the frontline citadel in that war. Breivik’s Crusade would have Jews on board for an existential fight against Islam; the mirror image of the “Crusader-Jewish” alliance that Osama bin Laden vowed to drive out of what he defined as Muslim lands.


“Never target a jew because he is a Jew,” Breivik writes, “but rather because he is a … traitor.”

 Breivik calculates that about 75% of European Jews are multiculturalists and therefore 'disloyal'.

According to Time Magazine, wanting to rid Europe of at least 75% of its Jewish population, does not count as being "reliably assumed to hate Jews".  I guess they think that if you are willing to let 25% of Jews live, you're a Jew-lover.

More to the point, the assumption is that if you love Israel, you love the Jews.  But while it is true that Israel-haters hate Jews, the opposite is not always true at all.

UK: David Ward juxtaposes Holocaust with Palestinian rights

So little wonder that today, Ward took a stand once again, in great offence to the memory of those millions killed during the Holocaust, to somehow juxtapose the political point of the Palestinian right of return, with Holocaust Memorial Day, officially observed in Britain on Monday 27th January this year.

Ward, in the video below, states, “On Monday many of us will be attending Holocaust Memorial Day events where the theme will be journeys, including journeys of return. Does the Secretary of State agree with me that our thoughts should include, amongst many others, the millions of displaced Palestinians, still denied their right, to return to their homes.”

More: Trending Central 

Poland: Nationalist group protests against Auschwitz Knesset delegation

An antisemitic Polish group calling itself "Defenders of the Cross" (Obrona Krzyza) has announced that it will demonstrate opposite a delegation of Knesset members when they visit the Auschwitz concentration camp, next week, in conjunction with the international Holocaust remembrance day, according to a Tuesday-morning report by Ma'ariv.

In a video clip posted on the Internet, members of the group said they are protesting what they called "violation of Polish sovereignty and holy Polish land", as well as attempts by the Knesset members "to rewrite history and distort reality." They claim that the Auschwitz death camp was mainly used for the murder of Polish prisoners, while the Jews were taken to nearby Birkenau.

The group also say that because of the Knesset delegation visit to Auschwitz, they had to take down a large cross they had installed there.  One of them said: "The Jews don't want a cross in Auschwitz, but when I was in Israel in the past, I was sold jewerly shaped like a a cross, covered with diamonds, in Netanya.  When they want to make money, the cross doesn't bother the Jews."

More: CFCA, NRG

Belgium: MP goes on antisemitic rant in Parliament

Laurent Louis, doing the Quenelle, JSS News

Belgian MP Laurent Louis (independent MP) gave a speech in Parliament on January 16, in which he used almost every antisemitic canard in the book.  Louis, who is known for his antisemitic and anti-Israeli views, accused Judaism of encouraging the rape of children, theft, usury, world control etc.  He also denied the Holocaust was as extensive as reported, while at the same time he accused the Jews of financing the Holocaust and carrying it out.

To top it all off, he showed off the Quenelle.  Which its proponents say has nothing to do with antisemitism.

The president of the Parliament, André Flahaut (Socialists), did not stop Louis at any point.

More: Joods Actueel

Update: typos.

UK: Police Charge Soccer Fans Chanting 'Yid'

British police announced three men were charged on Tuesday for chanting "Yid" during several matches last October and November of the soccer team Tottenham Hotspur. The three were charged with using threatening, abusive or insulting words.

More: Israel National News

France: JDate ad removed due to vandalism

The city of Nanterre, a Paris suburb, removed 18 billboard ads put up by Jewish dating site JDate.

Apparently because the Jewish Star poses a threat to public order, given the recent media coverage of antisemitic comedian Dieudonné.

More: JSS News, based on JDate release

Update: headline updated.

Tribune Juive updates that some billboards were removed by the advertising firm Decaux because they were vandalized (swastikas, broken glass).  The city had nothing to do with it.

Turkey: NATO reassures gov't that missile shield not designed for Israel

Turkey has accepted assurances a planned NATO missile defence system in which it is playing a part is not designed to protect Israel as well, the alliance's deputy secretary-general said on Wednesday.

More: Vision

France: Synagogue vandalized with swastikas

The Chabad House in Boulogne, a suburb of Paris, was vandalized with three swastikas on the building's facade and letter box.

More: Le Parisien

Belgium: New 'national poet' is rabid antisemite

Via Philosémitisme Blog:

Charles Ducal is Belgium's new 'national poet'.  In this position, he will be expected to write poems which concern Belgium.  Which might be new to him.  Ducal has not written one poem on the atrocities committed by Belgians in their former colonies.  However, he had time to dwell on the crimes of the Jews.

Together with Lucas Catherine, Ducal co-authored "Gaza - The History of the Palestinian tragedy".  The book includes his poetry titled "After Auschwitz", a group of poems with names like "Tel Aviv 1948–2008", "Nakba" and "A Poet in Sderot".  Lest you think he might actually be sympathizing with the Jews who are constantly being bombed by their Gazan neighbors, rest assured: the song has a little note that Sderot was "formerly Najd", and is all about how 'we' kicked out the rightful owners.

The poems do not mention Jews, Israel, Nazis or Holocaust, and yet they're full of accusations against the Jewish people.  Not only that, Ducal writes his poems as if he's speaking on behalf of the Jews.

For example, in "Let Us Talk" Ducal says:

first, we will count our dead
from the past two thousand years
and justify the beating,  

and wipe the spit from our hands
and declare – it's clear as day;
you want no peace in this land. 

Because, really, it's the Jews' fault that there's no peace.  We Jews oppressed the Arabs so much, that everybody can understand why they want to kill us.  QED.

In "After Auschwitz 1" Ducal writes:

On memorial days, called to remembrance
my fellow downtrodden roamed in my head.
Beneath the ash, the issue smoldered, unsaid.
But the owner never came. It slowly went dead. 

He's not talking about the Belgians who confiscated Jewish property.  The downtrodden, the owners of the land, are the Arabs.  "We", the oppressors, are the Jews, who 'After Auschwitz' have nothing better to do than recreate the Nazi crimes.

This is the man that the powers that be in Belgium decided to appoint as their National Poet.

Italy: MP responds to journalist's criticism by saying he wouldn't take lessons from “that Jew”

As if painting his face black and delivering an astonishing racist diatribe in Italy’s lower chamber were not enough, Gianluca Buonanno of the right-wing Northern League has added anti-Semitism to his repertoire.

(...)

Well-known Italian journalist Gad Lerner criticised “the campaign orchestrated against Cécile Kyenge by the League” and also accused the party of “cowardice” for publishing the minister’s daily agenda in its party paper. On Friday, Buonanno retorted that he would not take lessons from “that Jew”, a “rich skinflint who plays the communist.”

More: The View From Rome

Europe: Seminar for Jews on security challenges

With a growing number of anti-Semitic incidents in Europe, including physical attacks, as reported recently in a study of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency, European Jews are facing increased security challenges. As a result of these challenges, the European Jewish Association, an umbrella group of Jewish organizations active on European level, led by by Rabbi Menachem Margolin, organized this week a seminar and training aimed at giving professionals tools for security and protection as well as for emergency management The seminar was attended by participants from Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

More: EJP

UK: Jewish lobby and money greatest obstacle to Iran deal, says Jack Straw

Finally, Straw cites the greatest obstacle to the normalisation of relations and peace in the region:

Whether a comprehensive deal on Iran can be reached will crucially depend on how far Mr Obama is able to resist the intense lobbying (and financial support) Mr Netanyahu is able to muster in the US Congress.

Beyond Straw’s repugnant suggestion that pro-Israel elements in the US Congress take their marching orders from Jerusalem, and his failure to acknowledge that pro-Israel (and anti-Iran) sentiment is embraced by the overwhelming majority of Americans, it’s important to recall that his recent charges leveled at Jewish groups and Israel seem to reflect a broader narrative of Zionist root causes.  

More: CiF Watch

Liberman: "We are concerned about the increase of antisemitism in Europe and hope that Austria will be a leader in the fight against antisemitism."

Minister of Foreign Affairs Avdigdor Lieberman met today (16 January 2013) with Foreign Minister of Austria Sebastian Kurz to discuss bilateral and international issues.

After the meeting Minister Lieberman said: "We were pleased that bilateral ties between Israel and Austria are stronger than ever. We hope to increase the cooperation with Austria in the international arena. We are concerned about the increase of antisemitism in Europe. I am grateful for the efforts of Minister Kurz as Secretary for Integration against racism and for peaceful coexistence in Austria. We hope that Austria will be a leader in the fight against antisemitism.”

More: MFA

Sweden: Jewish woman in Malmö subjected to hate campaign

For over a year a Jewish woman in Malmö has been subjected to a hate campaign.  Her front door is constantly being vandalized with graffiti, a Star of David is repeatedly painted on it.  The police say they cannot do much else besides keep track of the complaints.

A similar story made it to the media last year after the perpetrators got tired with simple vandalism.

(via report from victim)

Hungary: Jews demand resignation of Shoah revisionist

Hungarian Jewish leaders demanded the resignation of a key government appointee and threatened to boycott government-sponsored events marking the 70th anniversary of the Holocaust in Hungary.

In an unusually strong statement posted Sunday on its website, the leadership of Mazsihisz, the official Hungarian Jewish umbrella organization, said they were “aghast and find incomprehensible” the “relativization of the Holocaust” by a new historical institute called Veritas, which the government established in November.

More: Times of Israel

UK: The Economist on how the Jews control Congress

The Seal of the United States Congress tells an observer a number of salient facts about American politics: the olive branch stands for America’s commitment to peace; the arrows represent its readiness for war; and the Star of David, which The Economist has helpfully added to the original design, symbolises the control of Jews and/or Israel over America’s policies of war and peace.

More: Times of Israel

The Economist later removed the cartoon, saying it had 'inadvertently caused offence to some readers'. (via CiF Watch)

UK: Kick It Out threatens Jewish Chronicle over Anelka

Kick It Out, the organisation charged with tackling racism in football, reacted to concerns over its failure to condemn Nicolas Anelka’s quenelle gesture by threatening to take legal action against the JC.
The newspaper had questioned the group’s commitment to fighting antisemitism in the game in an article published last Thursday.

In response, Kick It Out chairman, Lord Ouseley sent an email demanding that the paper “withdraw all references to Kick It Out, failing which we will take such action as we deem appropriate, including instructing our solicitors.”

More: Jewish Chronicle

UK: MPs play "bash Israel on Twitter"

Several stories about British MPs trying to see who can win the Israel Basher medal.  My picks below.

3rd place: Graham Morris goes with the plain and simple "Jews are Nazis"  

2nd place: David Ward with a slight variation: "Jews are the new-Nazis" - just because we did it to you doesn't mean you can do it to the Palestinians.

1st place: David Ward, again  - gets first place with the new "Palestinians are slaves, Jews are slave drivers" slur.

More: Harry's Place and Elder of Ziyon

Italy: Philosopher politician slammed as antisemite

An interview with an Italian philosopher and politician who expressed ''anti-Zionist'' views on Friday sparked outcry from Italy's Jewish community. Gianni Vattimo told to Corriere della Sera in an interview published Friday that he is ''anti-Zionist, not antisemitic'' and that he does not believe in ''the idea of a Jewish-Masonic plot''.

The two-time European Parliament member said, however, that he believed the creation of "the state of Israel was the beginning of ruin". Vattimo added, "Let's remember that the Federal Reserve is owned by Rothschild and Rockefeller". 

More: CFCA

France: Synagogue desecrated with butchered boar

A butchered boar was left next to a Chabad synagogue in Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt (Île-de-France).  The remains of the animal were found by the Rabbi on Saturday morning.

More: JSS News

UK: Jewish-owned sponsor wants Anlka axed over antisemitic gesture

Shirt sponsor Zoopla has warned West Bromwich Albion it will cancel a three million pounds deal with the club if Nicolas Anelka plays against Everton in the Premier League on Monday, British media reported.

Zoopla, a property website company co-owned by Jewish businessman Alex Chesterman, is unhappy the former France striker has been playing despite making an alleged anti-Semitic 'quenelle' gesture in the game with West Ham United three weeks ago.

More: IOL

Switzerland: Comedian under fire after anti-Semitic jabs

The Zurich prosecutor’s office has opened a criminal investigation against a popular comedian for allegedly inciting anti-Jewish bias on a television show.

The Neue Zürcher Zeitung reported on the matter on Friday.

Massimo Rocchi, a Swiss-Italian dual national, said on the program, “I apologize, but I’ll say that there is a always financial interest with Jewish humor that someone wants to gain. The Jew acts comical to show that he is a Jew and has humor and that he is close to God. The [true] comedian does not. The comedian does not want to win anything. The comedian is a victim.”

More: Jerusalem Post

Poland: 63% See Jewish Conspiracies and Back Old Canards

A majority of respondents in a recent Polish national survey believe that there’s a Jewish conspiracy to control international banking and the media. And 90% of these Poles say they’ve never met a Jew.

The national study, conducted by the Center for Research on Prejudice at Warsaw University, found that in Poland, the belief in a Jewish conspiracy remains high – 63% in 2013 – and relatively unchanged from 2009 when 65% of respondents held this belief.

The study also found an 8 percent increase in more traditional forms of anti-Semitism, including blaming Jews for the murder of Jesus Christ and the belief that Christian blood is used in Jewish rituals. Some 23% were found to hold such traditional, religious-based beliefs about Jews.

More: Jewish Daily Forward

Op-Ed: Europe's New Crowd-Pleasing Jew-Hate

Guy Millière writing for the Gatestone Institute:

Dieudonné's popularity is intact and will not vanish. It is likely even to increase. Nicolas Anelka is a hero in French and British Muslim suburbs, and he will stay a hero. He has said that when he will stop playing soccer, he will become an actor and work with his friend, Dieudonné. Dieudonné's shows and sketches, available on-line, have attracted over a million views. He has created a network of sympathizers and a website called "Dieudosphere," where they can share and exchange information. Everything he posts goes viral.

Sociologist Michel Wieworka wrote in Le Monde on December 31st, that Dieudonné is a "symptom," and he is right: Dieudonné became the symptom -- and the symbol -- of the new anti-Semitism that is gaining ground in France and throughout Europe.

It is an anti-Semitism that seems to come mostly from people affiliated with the French radical "left": members and sympathizers of Trotskyist movements, of the neo-communist French "Left Front", and of "pro-Palestinian" organizations such as Europalestine. Its followers accuse the Jews of having "monopolized" human sufferings, of having "rapaciousness" behind the "Holocaust industry" and of being complicit in the "imperialist crimes" committed by Israel against the "Palestinians". Unsurprisingly, a growing number of young Muslims identify with these arguments.

More: Gatestone Institute

Ireland: Op-Ed claims Sharon tried cleansing Palestinians due to ‘chosen people’ belief

McCann further contextualizes the passage from Genesis, thus: 

Sharon’s ruthless determination to cleanse the land of Israel of Palestinians was not rooted in analysis of contemporary reality – he didn’t see it primarily as a necessary response to anti-Semitism in the wider world, or to the Holocaust – but in the first instance as a duty conferred on the Jewish people by Yahweh.

More: CiF Watch

Ukraine: Jew stabbed on way home from synagogue

A yeshiva student was stabbed in Kiev on Friday evening, marking the second physical attack against a Jewish target in the Ukrainian capital in under a week. The victim was jumped by three youths on his way home from services at a local synagogue in the neighborhood of Podil, according to Hatzalah Ukraine, a local Jewish organization.

The men beat their victim -identified as Dov Ber Glickman, 28, by local Chabad emissary Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman- before stabbing him three times in the feet and fleeing. Glickman subsequently made his way back to the synagogue where he collapsed. He was taken to the hospital where he underwent emergency surgery on his foot.

More: Jerusalem Post

Poland: Antisemitic graffiti against director of Jewish theater

A Jewish star was painted on the home of Tomasz Pietrasiewicz, director of "Grodzka Gate - NN Theater" Center - a Jewish culture theater in Lublin.

More: CFCA

France: UNESCO delays exhibit on Jewish ties to Israel

The UN doesn't say it's trying to be neutral.  It claims it doesn't want to harm the "Peace Process".  The UN declared 2014 the "Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian People" and marks the "International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People" every year.  Because siding with the Palestinians against the Jews is in no way harmful to the Peace Process.

Less than a week before the planned opening of an exhibit chronicling 3,500 years of Jewish ties to the Land of Israel, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has postponed the event, slated to open at its Paris headquarters Monday, out of concern that it could be harmful to the peace process.

More: Jerusalem Post

France: 'Yid is in the oven' graffiti on Jewish school

Antisemitic graffiti, "the Yid is in the oven" (les youpin au four) was spray-painted in front of ORT Jewish school in Marseille 13010.

More: CFCA

UK: MP tweets picture supporting the destruction of Israel

Grahame Morris, UK MP for Easington, tweeted a picture calling for one state of Palestine in what is today Israel.

More: IsraellyCool

Italy: Delegation to Hebron supports Intifada

On January 2, 2014, an Italian delegation visited Hebron and presented Kamel Hameid, the governor of the Hebron district, with an award proclaiming him the district's "man of the year for 2013." The award was from the International Solidarity Movement (ISM)[1] and a Palestinian organization called "Youth Against Settlements," given for his support of what it called "the peaceful popular resistance" in the Hebron region. The award ceremony was attended by pro-Palestinian Europeans, among them an Italian delegation headed by Luisa Morgantini, an anti-Israel member of the European Parliament who often participates in anti-Israeli activities in Judea and Samaria.

More: Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center

Estonia: Nazi veteran buried with full honors

Urmas Freedman / Pärnu Postimees

Estonia granted a burial with full military honors Friday to a decorated Nazi SS veteran who distinguished himself in combat against Soviet troops during World War II. 

Harald Nugiseks, the last surviving Estonian recipient of Nazi Germany’s Knight’s Cross, died on January 2 at the age of 93. 

The history of Estonian collaboration with the Nazis is subject of widespread revulsion in neighboring Russia, but is viewed by many in the Baltic nation as having been a necessity for achieving national independence.

More: Baltic Review

Austria: Rapping duo convicted for antisemitic incitement

Last week "Yasser & OZman", a rapping duo, were convicted for antisemitic incitement.   They were given conditional prison sentences, and fined.

Their clips, which are available on YouTube, include lyrics about wanting to die in Jihad, earning money through drugs and a world ruled by Zionists.  On Facebook they wrote that Jews are a godless race.

In their closing statement, one said that they are not anti-Semites, since they're Semites themselves (they're of Egyptian and Turkish extraction).  The other apologized if anybody misunderstood the lyrics, and said that he was not an enemy of the Jews.

More: Kurier

Below are the lyrics (Google translated) for their song  "An alle Brüder" (To All Brothers).


Part1) Yasser
Every second will now be tough, be strong! Fuck the United States and Israel , I'm public enemy !
Baltagi sound in your ass because you think you're tough, 150 kilos of muscles but your heart is not strong! Bin for Phalastine , Intifada own state! Plo brother , Allah Yerham (may have in seelig ) Arafat , wearing a black beard , always against Uncle Sam , am a proud Muslim is shit I do not care what you say here ! No one can tell me what am surrounded by problems that me and especially my dear old father quälen.Ich am grateful , but there are too many things that we lack ! Look around - I am disappointed with this fucking life! Brothers kill brothers , nothing is as before, children throw stones and Israel shut down cold about it ! They think they are smarter ! What media , all liars ! Everyone is silent because the stories of the German leader!

chorus:

To all the brothers out of the Ghaza
To all Masreyin ( Egyptians ) , Syrians , Lebanese, Iraqer !
To all Algeries , Marrocs , and Afghana
To all whites, all Africans !

To all Kosovo Albanians ,
To the Turks, Kurds, Bosnians , Tunsis , Iranians !
To all Noxchis to all Dagestani !
Cohesion then we fuck the shit Amrikaner !

Part2) Ozman

I befind me in nem Jungle different from millions of opinions about God and the world, and false prophecies . We see how they connect Islam with terror " Ya rab " these people are in their right mind . I'm trying to understand what drives people to shock but on a path of a dead-end balances , surrounded by liars and hypocrites of severely mentally ill Jehovah have testified . , the world in which we live is ruled by Zionists planned but because of the troop withdrawal was fucking confident and just a cheap media history because they have to report to interfere with what media.
Only Palastine Afghanistan and then Iraq ha! The them is not enough , now they want Iran, the Saudis to behold because they have no Iman . The traitors are allied with Allah's greatest enemies , because they do not know that HE knows what they are doing while they earn by their brethren suffer , tanks before the children are throwing the stones ! what people cry like this no tears . Mosques are blown up civilians hanged is Obama's comment about "Yes we Can" . 's Why . Freemasons for all at the end , I'll get the eye in the crosshairs pull the trigger


Part3 ) Yasser

I speak of it , what no one dares here . I 'm going to die in Jihad , brother , it was my dream. So it shall be, believe me you will still see. El UMMAH EL ARABEYA ( the Arab nation ) is now finally stand up ( AJUAA ) . Struggles as Shahid die, against the corrupt system . Come visit us once brother , believe me you'll see. Many people come , but many go here . Chaos , hunger , corruption, power many by drehn now . SEE how the children stand on the street corner , sniffing grass powder and son fucking shit , take in , while other men , all who take life . Weaknesses you may never be , only the strong survive in this poor life , where many companies and not giving. You help your friends who simply steal from you. Your honor a bill , you dog ! I stand against anyone Lionheart ! Never Get on your knees Sahbi (my friend) except when praying !

Poland: Church to display blood libel painting as part of international Day of Judaism

A controversial 18-century painting depicting the ritual murder of Christian children by Jews, will be available to viewers in the cathedral of Sandomierz, Poland.

The painting, “Mord Rytualny” or “Ritual Murder,” was painted by Charles de Prevot,

A plaque will be mounted next to the painting, which will inform viewers that the Jews did not actually commit ritual murder, because their faith prohibits it.

(...)

The painting will go on display again on Thursday, as the Catholic Church marks its international Day of Judaism.

More: JTA

UK: Independent journalist focuses on plight of Christians in Israel

In late December, The Independent published an article about the bleak situation of the Christians in the Middle East. It had the right idea. The Christians in the Middle East are in trouble. They’re being slaughtered in dozens of different places and millions have become refugees or been forced to flee. Amazingly enough, however, the article was devoted almost entirely to their sad situation in Israel, of all places. “Will Prince Charles, the ‘Defender of Faiths,’ stand up for Christians in Israel?” read the astonishing headline.

More: Times of Israel, Elder of Zion

See also: UK: Antisemitic reporter Mira Bar-Hillel pens op-ed (on antisemitism!) for The Independent

Sweden: Tabloid compares Sharon to Hitler and Stalin

Lisa Abramowicz, secretary-general of the Swedish-Israel Information Center, told The Jerusalem Post Monday the “Swedish media here has been a mixed lot.” 

She said the large news organizations’ editorial line had not crossed into demonization. However, she cited an opinion article in the tabloid Expressen by Per Jönsson, who compares Sharon to Hitler and Stalin. He wrote: Sharon’s “military methods against Palestinians and Jordanians can be likened to Hitler and Stalin. Ben-Gurion gave him carte blanche to do whatever he wanted.”

More: Jerusalem Post

Latvia, Lithuania: People beaten up because they look Jewish

British pop-culture monthly Uncut excited music fans this month with its review of what may be the world’s first Finnish-Jewish blues trio. Trouble was, the magazine got it wrong. Talmud Beach may have a Jewish name, but none of its players are members of the tribe. The band’s moniker, though, bears a Semitic connection. Bearded, hat-wearing guitarist Aleksi Lukander nearly got beaten for his “Jewish” looks, “and the experience led to the phrase Talmud Beach,” says their label’s website. 

(...) 

I didn’t think too much of it before in Riga and Kaunas some drunken men were quite offensive towards me and only because of how I looked. We also had to face one truly violent accident and our Esthonian friends got beaten up very badly by some Russian guys — it was also so clearly reminiscent of the complicated history of Russia and Esthonia.

More: Jewish Daily Forward

France: Quenelle becoming new insult directed at Jews

Via Philosémitisme Blog:

Anti-Semites often do the Quenelle next to sites of Jewish character or next to unsuspecting Jews.  But it is now also becoming an insulting gesture directed at Jews.

Last week C dans l'air, broadcast on France5, interviewed two young Jewish men, David and Abraham.  The men said that they increasingly encounter people who do the Quenelle as an insult directed at them.

As for the claim that Dieudonné is anti-Zionst and not anti-Semite, they pointed out that his joke about Jewish journalist Patrick Cohen and the gas chambers was not directed at Cohen as a Zionist, but as a Jew.  His skit includes dozens of examples where Dieudonné doesn't even bother to use Zionist as a euphemism.

More: France5

France: Synagogue sign vandalized by student organization

A sticker saying "Zionists Leftists out of our faculties" was posted on a sign of the Keren Or synagogue in Lyon by GUD, a far right student organization.

More: Lyon Mag, via @LDJ_France

Poland: 'Jews to Auschwitz’ chant not anti-Semitic

A municipal prosecutor in the Polish city of Poznan has concluded that chants by soccer fans that made reference to Jews going to the gas chambers were not anti-Semitic, and therefore did not provide grounds for the filing of criminal charges. 

The verbal taunts, in which the fans used language such as “Move on, Jews!” “Your home is at Auschwitz!” and “Send you to the gas [chamber]!”, were chanted by fans of local team Lech Poznan against the visiting side, Widzew Lodz.

More: Haaretz

Sweden: Mosque spokesman says Sharon made Palestinian children's blood pudding

The spokesman for Örebro mosque wrote that the late Ariel Sharon used Palestinian children's blood to make pudding. The spokesman wrote the claim on his Facebook page and has now deleted it, reports local newspaper Nerikes Allehanda (NA). 

This story of Israelis killing children and draining their blood is almost identical to the antisemitic "blood libel" myths that some Christians have spread about Jews for most of the past 800 years.

More: Radio Sweden

France: Mayor lodges complaint against 'Hanukkah Quenelle' man

In early December a man  posted a picture of himself doing the Quenelle in front of a Hanukkah menorah which was set up at the municipal hall in the Paris suburb of Clamart.  Philippe Kaltenbach (PS), the mayor of Clamart, now turned to the police to investigate, saying this was clearly done with antisemitic intentions.

More: RTL,  JSS News

Update: typos.

Ukraine: Jew attacked walking home after evening prayers

A teacher in a Jewish school in Kiev was attacked by three youth as he walked home from the synagogue after evening prayers.  The three shouted and cursed Jews as they beat him up.  Security video footage shows the three had tailed him before the attack.

More: Behadrey Haredim

France: Dieudonne's signature song "Shoananas'

CST blog translated Dieudonne's signature song "Shoahnanas':

Shoah pineapple, sho sho sho pineapple, you take me by the shoah, I take you by the pineapple, Shoah pineapple.

We mustn’t forget. There’s a way to make money. Sho sho sho pineapple.

Shoah pineapple, shoah apricot. Shoah anise, shoah maggot, shoah artichoke. Shoah strawberry, shoah ice cream. Shoah chocolate. Shoah.

Shoah pineapple, sho sho sho pineapple. You take me by the shoah, I’ll take you by the pineapple, sho sho sho pineapple.

Darling pineapple I’ll never forget you. You’ve suffered so much. And for everything that you’ve suffered we want to give you reparations. We want you to be given a country in the sun, and millions of dollars for the millions of pineapples that were deported: for the millions of pineapples who lost their families let’s sing forever. Sho sho sho pineapple.

More: CST Blog

Poland: Football fans on anti-semitic list of shame

"2 zloty for 3 throws at a Jew": photo - Lksfans.pl/YouTube

A game played by fans of first division Polish football club LKS Lodz has been cited in a top ten anti-semitic list of shame published by the US-based Simon Wiesenthal Center. 

(...) 

Several sports-related incidents were listed together in tenth position on the list, including the scandal that occurred in February 2013 at the Municipal Sport and Recreation Centre (MOSiR) in Lodz, central Poland. 

During an indoor football tournament organised there by LKS Lodz fans, visitors were invited to take part in a game in which they could throw objects, including ninja stars, at 'a Jew'. 

The Jew was represented by a dummy dressed as a member of rival club Widzew Lodz.

More: Radio Poland

Denmark: Former Shin Bet director forced to leave

Former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) director Karmi Gilon, invited to Copenhagen to attend a screening of the Gatekeepers, left the country prematurely Saturday after a police complaint was filed against him.

Not knowing exactly where this complaint would lead, Gilon decided not to take any chances but to leave the country before the screening of the film.The Israeli embassy in Copenhagen sought clarifications, but it was not clear how the judiciary would deal with the complaint.

In the end, the Danish legal authorities decided to reject it. 

More: Jerusalem Post

France: Jewish store vandalized with antisemitic graffiti

A kosher grocery in the Paris suburb of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti.

More: JSS News

Hungary: Jews Slam Nazi Commemoration for Failing To Address Complicity

Jewish leaders in Budapest criticized the planned commemoration of victims of Germany’s occupation because it ignored Hungarians’ complicity in the Holocaust.

The plan announced Thursday involves erecting a monument in Freedom Square situated in the Hungarian capital’s 5th district. The top official in the district is a member of the ruling Fidesz party.

More: Jewish Daily Forward

Israel: Synagogue Desecrations Plague Central Israel

Desecrated synagogue in Ezer

A number of synagogues located in the center of Israel have been vandalized over the last week, Israeli news outlets reported on Friday.

A synagogue located on the Sirkin army base, near the city of Petah Tikvah, was recently trashed, Israel’s Channel 2 said. IDF soldiers serving on the base were stunned to walk into the house of worship to find ripped up Bibles thrown across the floor and anti-Semitic slurs spray painted on the walls.

More: Algemeiner

France: Dieudonne fans bring down pro-Israel websites

Supporters of the anti-Semitic French comedian Dieudonne hijacked three French pro-Israel websites in a coordinated cyber attack. 

The attack Thursday paralyzed the websites Israel-Flash.com, Europe-Israel.org and liguedefensejuive.com, the website of the French Jewish Defense League, and replaced their content with messages of support for Dieudonne, Le Nouvel Observateur reported.

More: Times of Israel

UK: Journalist blames Israel for death of Palestinian ambassador

This took longer than I thought. But it didn't come from an Arab journalist but from a freelancer who has written for The Guardian and The Telegraph 

(...) 

Colin Randall doesn't say explicitly that the Mossad was behind it. He just says that Jamal died in a weird way and the Mossad kills people in weird ways. The reader can put two and two together without Randall having to worry about pesky lawsuits.

More: Elder of Zion