Shabbat Shalom!

Shabbat Shalom to all my readers!

 In honor of Jerusalem Day, a clip prepared by Keren Hayesod UIA: My Jerusalem.

Czech president: "I know about an anti-civilization movement that calls for the massive murdering of Jews"

Islamic ideology rather than individual groups of religious fundamentalists is behind violent actions similar to the gun attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels that killed four people, Czech President Miloš Zeman said Monday at the Israeli Embassy in Prague. 

(...) 

Zeman said he would also sharply criticize fanatics who planned to kill the Arabs.
"However, I have heard of no movement calling for the massive murder of Arabs, but I know about an anti-civilization movement that calls for the massive murdering of Jews," he said.

More: Prague Post 

Belgium: Muslim shouts "Death to the Jews"

Via antisemitisme.be, h/t CFCA:

During an event at the CCLJ (Jewish Secular Community Center), a Muslim convert entered a neighboring building and shouted "Allah Akbar" and "Death to the Jews".  He was arrested by the police.

UK: Guardian op-ed claims Israel runs US foreign policy (and responsible for anti-western terrorists)

Via CiF Watch.

An op-ed in The Guardian by Carne Ross tries to answer the question why Obama is so stupid.  Answer?  It must be the Jews.  He can't possibly be acting in America's self-interests, so he must be acting in Israel's self-interests.

Ross says as follows:

As Egypt drifts into a persistent low-level civil war, and thousands of Muslim Brothers are imprisoned with barely the pretense of judicial process, the soil is being fertilized for yet another generation of anti-western terrorists.

There’s a legitimate suspicion that US foreign policy on this front is not being driven by America’s own needs. Even Obama said as much: 

In Egypt, we acknowledge that our relationship is anchored in security interests – from the peace treaty with Israel, to shared efforts against violent extremism. 

Indeed, Israel prefers "stability" in Egypt – just as it resists military intervention in Syria or significant game-changing arms supplies, like MANPADs, to the pro-democracy Syrian opposition.

France: 'Death' graffiti on Jewish school

Graffiti was discovered on a Jewish school in Aubervilliers (northern France). The graffiti says "to death".

More: Le Parisien

Greece:Jewish cemetery vandalized

Via CFCA:

Thessaloniki - Two people penetrated through the fence (photo) and desecrated some of the tombs, breaking stones and marbles and messed around by damaging the surroundings.

Norway: Anti-Israel question in education ministry's exam

Via MIFF:

In a Norwegian-language test administered to over 40,000 high-school students across Norway, one of the questions presented two items: A photo a graffiti drawing by British street artist Banksy and an SMS sent by Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert from Gaza during the war in 2009.  The students were asked to discuss the goal of the texts and the methods used.

For both items, the text is biased against Israel.  There is no explanation of why Israel felt it necessary to build a wall, or why it attacked Gaza.

The explanation of the graffiti states as follows: "This graffiti is painted on the wall that the Israeli authorities built in the West Bank. The wall is 8 meters high and surrounds the city of Bethlehem, among other things."

Gilbert's SMS says as follows: "They bombed the central vegetable market in Gaza city two hours ago. 80 injured, 20 killed. All came here to Shifa. Hades! We wade in death, blood and amputees. Many children. Pregnant woman. I have never experienced anything this horrible. Now we hear tanks. Tell it, pass it on, shout it. Anything. DO SOMETHING! DO MORE! We're living in the history books now, all of us!"

The explanation explained that Gilbert and fellow doctor Erik Fosse were in Gaza during the war and were among the only Western witnesses.

Anti-Zionists claim they're only 'criticizing Israel'.  So let me 'criticize Norway' for a second: Norwegians hate Jews Zionists and they teach their kids to hate Jews Zionists. They might have wiped the Jew hatred from their constitution, but it's still imprinted in their minds and in their genes.

Israel: Pope prays by his graffiti message comparing Israel to the Nazis

Via Tom Gross Mideast Media Analysis: On his visit to Bethlehem, the Pope posed to pray by the security barrier.  Which happens to have a "Bethlehem look like Warsaw Ghetto" graffiti.

The graffiti is not there 'from time immemorial'.  It's part of a message to the Pope.  The entire thing says "Pope we need some one to speak about justice, Bethlehem look like Warsaw Ghetto".

In case anybody thought this was an unplanned stop..

All the news stories I saw decided to cut the graffiti out.  The Arab press didn't.

Israel: Arab attacks Jews in 'knockout game'

A Facebook page for the “Al-Bustan Culture Center in Silwan” features a homemade video that appears to show an Arab man engaging in an east Jerusalem version of the anti-Semitic “knockout game.” 

The four-second clip shows three young men dressed in hareidi garb walking with their backs to the camera, and a large bodied man in shorts and a white undershirt approaching them from behind and hitting one of them in the back of the head. The video does not show what transpired afterward, and it is quite possible that the victim and his friends fought back. 

It was received with much hilarity by the Facebook page's fans, whose reactions usually begin or end with "hahahaha."

More: Artuz 7

Israel: "Death to the Jews" graffiti

At a bus stop in northern Israel: "Death to the Jews" graffiti.

More: 0404 News

Israel: Yad Va'Shem employee compares Israelis to Nazis

Via IzRus:

An employee of Yad Va'Shem, the Israeli Holocaust memorial, regularly published articles on an Israeli-Russian site alleging that Israel uses the Holocaust and antisemitism claims to create a united ideology for Jews, and to prevent criticism.  The same goes for the Eichman trial.  The employee claims Eichmann was a minor figure, but by putting him on trial, Israel made him into the chief architect of the Holocaust.

He also supported leftist artist Natalie Cohen Waxberg, who recently staged a mockery of the Holocaust on Israeli Holocaust Memorial Day.  Wen discussing attitudes towards those who desecrate the memory of the Holocaust, the employee compared Israelis to the Nazis.

Italy: ‘No Jews in Coli’

The Jewish community in Colli Portuensi, Rome, on Tuesday expressed outrage after another anti-Semitic vandalism was reported on a pasta store. 

The incident happened late Monday night, sources told JP. Swastikas and words like ‘Jewish store’ and ‘no Jews in Coli’ were sprayed on the store front.

More: JP Updates, h/t CFCA

Ukraine: Chief Rabbi's home attacked (third time in past month)

A group of armed criminals attacked the residence of Chief Rabbi of Kiev and Ukraine Yaakov Dov Bleich located not far from Kiev in Belgorodka. 

The incident took place at night on May 23. The criminals tried to attack military security guards, located near the fence of the house, executive director of the country's Jewish Confederation Inna Ioffe told 112 Ukraine TV channel. 

"They were attacked by people who came up to the house in a jeep. They wore camouflage uniform, masks and had automates 

(...) 

"But when they laid our security guards to the ground, when they threatened them, they also cried that they would burn the house, kill the people, and they voiced direct threats," the Jewish organization director said. 

According to her, it is the third attack to the residence for less than a month. She considers it an attempt to intimidate the Jewish community on the eve of elections.

More: Interfax

Germany: Deputy mayor called 'Jewish pig'

Klaus Stötzel, deputy mayor of Hilchenbach (eastern Germany), received a postcard where he was called a 'Jewish pig'.

Recently, stumbling stones in memory of Jewish Holocaust victims were vandalized with Nazi graffiti.

More: Siegener Zeitung, h/t JFDA

Norway: Synagogue being watched, photographed

Ervin Kohn, head of the Jewish community in Oslo, says that in the past few months the community has noticed people surveilling the synagogue, and the community fears possible terror attacks.

Kohn says that some looked less like tourists than others.  For example, a car with three men stopped outside the synagogue to take pictures.

The community now also fears the Belgian attack will lead to similar copy-cat attacks elsewhere.

More: Dagbladet, via Norway, Israel and the Jews

Belgium: "Anti-Semitism has grown. We see it on TV, in the media and in our newspapers"

"Anti-Semitism has grown. We see it on TV, in the media and in our newspapers," Betty Dan, director of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in Belgium, told Walla! News Sunday.

"It is always against Israel and Jews," she lamented. "All the articles we see about what is happening in this country [to us] are always negative."

"All the politicians now say this is a tragedy, but we are not naive," she continued, stating that politicians "have not done anything" to stop anti-Semitism.

"We feel that our children have no future in Europe," she said. "It's not like 20 years ago. There is always security around us. You cannot go out with a yarmulke or a Star of David freely. All these things were in the past."

More: Arutz 7

International Conference on Antisemitism in Jerusalem

I will be attending the International Conference "Antisemitism, Anti-Judaism, Delegitimizing Israel" at the  Vidal Sasson Center for the Study of Antisemitism in Jerusalem.

I intend to post reports on some of the lectures, and hope to meet any of you who are active on this issue.

Israel: Bedouin lynch mob attacks Jews, torches their car with dog inside

Three ultra-religious men were attacked by dozens of young men shouting "Allah Akbar! in the Arab village of Tuba-Zangaria.

The men had come to the village for a dental appointment.  Outside, the rumor spread that they were there for a 'price tag' attack (ie, vandalism).  When they came out of the dentist's house, dozens of young men were waiting for them, blocking their exit.   The Arabs started throwing stones and shouting "Allah Akbar".  The Jewish men panicked, and fled.  According to the men, they were also shots fired at them.

One of the Jews was caught and beaten up, the other two managed to escape but were lightly injured in the process.  At one point he heard someone saying "let's finish with him already, throw a boulder on his head."  Luckily, one of his friends had managed to call the police, who arrived and stopped the lynch.

The car of the men was torched, along with the dog of one of the men, who was inside.

More: Walla,

France: Two brothers attacked outside synagogue

Two Jewish men were assaulted Saturday night outside a synagogue in Créteil, a Paris suburb. 

According to Paris police, the two men, who are brothers, were attacked by two other men, one of whom fled on foot and the other on a bicycle.

The two men suffered multiple contusions and were hospitalized and listed in serious but not life-threatening condition, AFP reported.

More: Times of Israel

Sweden: Anti-Zionist Jewish politician harassed by anti-Semites

Swedish-Jewish European Parliament candidate Dror Feiler awoke on Friday to find a swastika spray painted on the front door of his Stockholm apartment, he told his Facebook followers. 

(...) 

Friday’s incident is not the first time Feiler has faced anti-Semitic threats. Late at night on May 2, a group of men in a car shouted anti-Semitic slurs at him as he left a meeting in Malmö. 

“Several people went in a car alongside me. They screamed ‘Jew bastard’ and ‘communist pig’ to me,” he told the paper.

More: Algemeiner

UK: Muslim charity investigated for promoting anti-Semitism

A leading Islamic charity is being investigated by the official watchdog amid allegations that its leaders promote anti-Semitism and have called for homosexuals and female adulterers to be stoned to death. 

The Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA), which claims it works with two major British charities, lists among its advisers two preachers banned from the UK for extremist views. 

(...) 

IERA was founded by Abdurraheem Green, a Muslim convert, who is the charity’s chairman. He has been caught on camera preaching at Hyde Park Corner, calling for a Jewish man to be removed from his sight. “Why don’t you take the Yahoudi [Jew] over there, far away so his stench doesn’t disturb us?” he can be heard to say.

In a 2006 internet posting, according to the CEMB report, he described gay people as “vile” and “evil”. The report also says he suggested in a blog that women who commit adultery should be subjected to a “slow and painful death by stoning”. Two of the charity’s advisers are Bilal Philips and Dr Zakir Naik, who have both been banned from entering the UK by Theresa May, the Home Secretary.

More: The Telegraph

Belgium: Four murdered in attack on Jewish Museum in Brussels

Hours after the attack, Flemish media was still careful to inform viewers that this might, just might, be an actual attack (but we still can't be sure).

Please note: Belgian media published pictures which in Israel would be considered insensitive towards the victims.  Assume links might contain photos.  Additionally, news-reports from Belgium, even this morning, are quite confused.  I collected the last-minute reports from various sources.

Update: Belgian news sources had reported four people were killed, but Belgian authorities say only three were killed, and one was in critical condition.

Update 2: I'll be adding more info as I find it.

VTM report: "Attack" on Brussels Jewish Museum

The victims:
- An Israeli couple in their 50s, who were touring in Belgium
- A Jewish French citizen in her 60s, volunteer at the museum
- A Jewish Belgian citizen, born in Israel, a 23-year old employee of the museum, was critically injured in the attack. He died from his wounds two weeks later.

The shooter shot the victims in the head and neck without saying a word, then fled.

Belgian police quickly arrested a man seen driving away from the scene, but later established he was not connected to the shootings.  All Jewish institutions in Belgium and the Netherlands are on high alert.

"First anti- Jewish attack in Brussels since World War II"

Maurice Sosnowski , President of CCOJB, the umbrella group of Jewish organizations in Belgium, said that this was the "first anti- Jewish attack in Brussels since World War II", a factoid quickly reported by any journalist who did not bother to check the facts.

The truth is that the Brussels Jewish community (and in fact, the CCOJB) have been the target of several terrorist attacks:
* In 1972, an Israeli diplomat was lured to a cafe and shot to death
* In 1982, four people were injured in an attack on the synagogue in Brussels
* In 1989, Dr. Joseph Wybran, recently elected chairman of the CCOJB, was assassinated

In addition, a child was killed and 16 injured in an attack against Jewish children in Antwerp in 1980.  A year later three were killed in an attack on a synagogue.  Then there were several attempted attacks: In Brussels in 2002 and in Charleroi, in 2003 and 2008.

And that was the result of five minutes of Googling.  All, or at least most, of those attacks were committed by "anti-Zionist" Muslims.

Israel: Result of antisemitic and anti-Israel incitement

Israeli officials placed the blame on antisemitic and anti-Israel incitement.  Incidentally, I reported two such cases just this Friday, by both politicians and anti-Israel activists.

"This act of murder is the result of constant incitement against Jews and their state. Slander and lies against the State of Israel continue to be heard on European soil even as the crimes against humanity and acts of murder being perpetrated in our region are systematically ignored. Our response to this hypocrisy is to constantly state the truth, continue a relentless fight against terrorism and build up our strength," the Prime Minister said. 

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman blamed anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli incitement for inspiring the attack. Those who call for a boycott against Israel and those who act against Israel in international forums have contributed to this incitement, Liberman said.  

“Recent anti-Semitic incidents in Kansas, Toulouse, and this evening in Brussels, should be a flashing warning signal to all those who cooperate with such incitement by rushing rushing to condemn Israel and by comparing building a home for a Jewish family in the land of Israel with the cruel and murderous terrorist activity of anti-Semites,” Liberman said

Haaretz jumps to conclusions, blames local Muslims

Israeli left-wing paper Haaretz hurried to speculate that this was a 'lone shooter' attack by the local Muslim community, and not an international operation (which apparently scares left-wingers).  

Haaretz pointed out that there was some planning involved, as the museum is the only Jewish-linked target in the city which does not have security. Written before the identity of the victims was publicized, they also wrote that the fact that the attack occurred on a Saturday, when fewer Jews will visit the place, shows the attackers didn't completely think it through.

"We didn't want to create an atmosphere of fear"

The museum's spokesperson says that security is minimal. "Most of the visitors are not-Jewish and we didn't want to create an atmosphere of fear".

More:

• HLN
• IBA

Belgium: "When a Jewish politician is not identified as anti-Israel he is soon considered to be 'Zionist scum'"

Via Philosémitisme Blog:

Viviane Teitelbaum, Jewish MP (Reformist Movement) in the Brussels Region parliament for the past decade said the following in an interview:

The few Jews in parliament have a universal approach towards fighting racism and discrimination, but that attitude is not reciprocated by the Moroccan or Muslim MPs.  War crimes in the Congo, a country with strong links to Belgium, are ignored, while any death in Gaza immediately leads to Parliamentary motions against Israel, accompanied by hate speech against the Jewish community.

Whenever the situation deteriorates between Israel and Palestine, it reflects back on her, as a Jewish MP.  Teitelbaum singles out the Socialists and Greens in particular for their violent parliamentary speeches.  When she dared say in parliament that Israel was a democracy, she was whistled down from the extreme right to the extreme left, she couldn't even finish a sentence.  

When she says she is a Jew with links to Israel, she gets hostile reactions: insults and threats.  On the internet her election poster was photoshopped with the head of a pig and the words "Zionism no!".  

Whenever a Jewish politician doesn't identify as anti-Israel, he is immediately seen as 'Zionist scum'.

The Brussels Region has suspended the cooperation agreements between Israel and the Brussels Region, and the parliamentary majority (Socialists, Christian-Democrats and Greens) has rejected all of Teitelbaum's efforts to reinstate it. But in the meantime, the Brussels Region has signed cooperation agreements with Algeria, Moscow, Saudi-Arabia, China and Morocco.  Not one MP has denounced those agreements.  Since the annexation of Crimea, nobody has dared file a motion to suspend the agreements with Moscow.  In practice, the Socialists, Christian-Democrats and Greens are boycotting Israel.

Belgium: BDS movements pressure company to boycott Israel

Belgian company Jan De Nul Group is currently bidding to build port facilities in Haifa and Ashdod.

Anti-Israel groups from Belgium and Luxembourg joined in with human rights groups in Kuwait and Morocco (known for their pristine human rights record) to pressure the company to boycott the port project.

The groups include: Algemene Centrale van het ABVV, Intal, Vredesactie, Palestina Solidariteit, Nordine Saïdi pour le Mouvement Citoyen Palestine, Le Comité Verviers Palestine, Association Belgo-Palestinienne, G3W – Geneeskunde voor de Derde Wereld , Plate-forme Charleroi-Palestine and Comité pour une Paix Juste au Proche Orient.

Though BDS movements claim they only boycott settlements, their letter clearly explains why settlements are only part of the problem.  Israel manufactures weapons, and therefore Israel is a target too.

The ports you are considering constructing are likely to become a key conduit for deadly weapons used to violate human rights in Palestine/Israel and across the world. 

By constructing and operating ports that facilitate the movement of produce from illegal Israeli settlements and weaponry used in Israeli massacres, the Jan De Nul Group would be be making a political decision to become deeply complicit with Israel’s violations of international law and Israel’s oppression of Palestinian rights. 

As such, the Jan De Nul Group would become a legitimate target for popular boycotts, protests and campaigns aimed at persuading governments and private sector bodies not to award your business lucrative contracts.

Israel: Antisemitic 'Evolution of Jews' in Arab Technion student work

Via CFCA:

A Jewish female student at the Technion in Haifa was shocked and pained, a few days ago, when her class visited an architecture class, in order to view submissions for an “architectural intervention” project intended for a neighborhood in Haifa. 

The project contained an image that appears to show the four-stage evolution of a Jew in hareidi garb, from an ape.

Artuz 7 reports that the project was created by a female Arab student.

Bulgaria: "It's still not a crime to say this here, but we hate Jews"

Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet checked out the situation of the right-wing in Bulgaria:

At the end of the article, the journalists asks the people at the HQ of the neo-Nazi National Resistance: "Is there anything we forgot to ask?"

A: "Yes. You forgot to ask what we think of the Jews."

Q: "Okay.  What do you think of them?"

A: "It's still not a crime to say this in Bulgaria, but we hate Jews."

Italy: MEP says Jewish control of the economy prevents EU action against Israel

Gianni Vattimo, MEP for Italy, is a politician for various Leftist parties (Socialists and Communists).  In January he made headlines when he said that the creation of the state of Israel was the beginning of ruin. In his defense, he said he was only anti-Zinoist, not anti-Semite.  (though he did also say that "the Federal Reserve is owned by Rothschild and Rockefeller").

In an interview to Israeli newspaper The Marker Vattimo said as follows:

"Without believing anything in the Protocols [of Zion], I feel there's Jewish hegemony in the financial system, at least in the West.  Look at the weight of the Rothschilds and other Jewish families in the Federal Reserve. This hegemony is the result of a long history - even due to the ban on Jews owning land, which led them to financial activity.  This control exists in many ways: For example, once I took a stand against the bombing of Gaza, the Italian newspapers where I was writing stopped publishing my articles. In the financial strength of the international Jewish community I see the reason for the Israeli suppression of Palestinian freedom."

Asked about the power of the EU in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he replied: "Of course the EU should pressure Israel much more.  But it's unlikely because of the Jewish control of the economy."

"I define myself as an anti-Zionist, like many Jews around the world."  He continues, explaining that Zionism started off okay, but now it's a "racist, undemocratic doctrine that made a pact with reactionary forces around the world."

He's not anti-Semitic, of course.  "It's a typical trick of Israeli propaganda that identifies anti-Zionism with antisemitism and therefore with Nazism.

Later in the article he explains why the  EU should fight America and all its allies (Israel!), and why he supports Ahmadinejad.

UK: "The Jewish community, they have their anti-Semitism, they have this Holocaust"

An Islamic cleric who believes gays, Jews and even animals have greater rights than Muslims is standing as a Conservative Party candidate in Newham, east London. 

Mufti Shah Sadruddin delivered a sermon at the London Muslim Centre in 2012 where he suggested that you couldn’t offend “homosexuals”, “lesbians”, “Jews”, and even animals but that society felt it was permissible to offend the Prophet Mohamad. 

(...) 

The Express reports in a YouTube video Mr Sadruddin refers to “the gays” and says that because Jews “have this Holocaust”, Muslims should fight for “rights”. 

He adds: “We have to create a revolution for our rights. The gays can get their rights…but when Islam is being abused we can’t even save it. 

“We have 50 million Muslims in Europe, we are good for nothing. 

“The Jewish community, they have their anti-Semitism, they have this Holocaust.

More: PinkNews

Italy: Neo-Nazi politicians arrested for promoting racist and anti-Semitic propaganda

Four young men who belong to the Italy's National-Socialist party were investigated by Milan's MEDIGUS (Department of General Investigations and Special Operations) division Monday, Kikar HaShabbat reports, for promoting racist and anti-Semitic propaganda.

Three of them were running for political office in Terranova dei Passerini, a town 36 miles south of Milan.

Authorities in Milan recently ordered several searches at the suspects' homes in relation to the political propaganda, according to the report. Police found and confiscated racist and anti-Semitic material at the scene.

More: Arutz 7

Turkey: Paper finds Jewish/Zionist connection to Soma mine disaster!

Turkish paper Yeni Akit, which is both pro-government and deeply antisemitic, has managed to find the real culprit behind the mine disaster.

Turns out the son-in-law of the owner of the Soma mine is Jewish.  That explains why the Turkish and international media came out against Erdogan, and why Erdogan called one of the disaster protesters "Israeli spawn".  It's all part of the Zionist-Jewish plot against Turkey.

Via CFCA: In another article, the paper said there were "signs of sabotage" in the mine and that only recently it has been discovered that the mine holding company had 'secret partners', other companies owned by Jews.

At least now we know who's to blame.

Poland: MP says Hitler did not know about Holocaust

Via CFCA:

The controversial Politician, Janusz Korwin Mikke, during an interview, expressed again his belief, that Hitler didn't know anything about Jews' extermination. This was his electoral interview, he is a candidate to the EU Parliament. 

(...)

He brazenly asked reporter Monika Olejnik, can she show him a proof that Hitler knew about Holocaust.

France: 74% of Jews considering leaving, 57% think "Jews have no future in France"

Nearly 75 percent of thousands of French Jews who participated in a recent survey said they are considering emigrating.

The survey results released Monday by the Paris-based Siona organization of Sephardic French Jews, encompassed 3,833 respondents from the Jewish community of France, Siona said.

Of the 74.2 percent of respondents who said they are considering leaving, 29.9 percent cited anti-Semitism. 

Another 24.4 cited their desire to “preserve their Judaism,” while 12.4 percent said they were attracted by other countries. “Economic considerations” was cited by 7.5 percent of the respondents.

(...)

In total, 95.2 percent of all respondents to the online survey conducted by Siona from April 17 to May 16 said they viewed anti-Semitism as “very worrisome” or “worrisome.”

Slightly more than half, or 57.5 percent, of respondents, said “Jews have no future in France,” while 30.6 percent said there is a future for Jews there.

More: Jerusalem Post

Spanish: "F**king Jew" hashtag trends with Israeli Euroleague win over Real Madrid

The Twitter hashtag "putosjudio" (f**king Jew) trended in Spain after Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Real Madrid to win the Euroleague.  Some 17,500 Twitter users used the tags.  Jewish organizations in Spain have so far managed to identify five and lodge complaints against them.  (More: El Mundo)

Some other examples (see above, and more via CFCA): "Now I understand Hitler and his hatred of Jews", "Jews to the gas", "No congratulations to Maccabi because those f**king Jews stink". etc.

Poland: MP says restitution to Jews is "fourth partition of Poland"

Polish MP Slawomir Kopycinski called for the shuttering of the Regulatory Commission for Jewish Communities, a Polish body that restores property owned by Holocaust victims to its legal heirs. 

Kopycinski called the commission ”the fourth partition of Poland” in a Thursday press conference, alluding to previous partitions of the country in the 1700s and again in 1939. 

Slawomir Kopycinski is running with the Europa Plus party in elections for the European Parliament.

More: Jewish Daily Forward

Israel: Haaretz newspaper blames antisemitism polls for antisemitism

In an op-ed in Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the editorial team writes that the ADL is encouraging antisemitism (h/t GidonShaviv@Twitter).  How?  Well, when you do a survey you give people a list of statements and ask them how much they agree with them.  In making this survey, the ADL presented more than 50,000 people worldwide with stereotypical statements against Jews.  People who, Haaretz assumes, would have never thought of such things on their own.  The result: such polls strengthen antisemitism in the world.

In other news, Haaretz journalist Amira Hass justified Palestinian antisemitism.  If you were under Jewish occupation, you would think they had global world control too.  Hass thinks it makes sense for Palestinians to think that Jews control the US, the media, the banks, cause wars etc.  After all, they conquered Gaza and the West Bank.

Hungary: "They said he's a rich, bad Jew who makes them proud to belong to an antisemitic party"

Writing about an antisemitic incident is easy.  Writing about an antisemitic atmosphere is extremely difficult.

This is why the recent ADL survey is important, but it does not give the whole picture.

"Hungary for Hungarians"
A car in the Jewish quarter of Budapest

Johanna Frändén writes in Aftenposten of her visit to Budapest.

She met three young people in the Jewish Lauder Javne school: Bálint (who is Christian), Daniella and Oliver.  The three travel around the country in order to teach children about the history of Jews in Hungary.  They see themselves as a Resistance against the rewriting of history.

When they first meet, Bálint tells that on the way, the air-conditioning on the bus had broken down.  He heard the elderly men sitting behind him blaming it all on the head of the Budapest public transport system.  "They said he's a rich, bad Jew who makes them proud to belong to an antisemitic party".

Do they hear denigrating comments?  Of course.  Bálint says such things happen every week.

Daniella says she's usually spared insults, but when she was twelve she met a group of skinheads.  "They shouted after me that I was a dirty Jew. I know I look very Jewish, I'm proud of it."

Frändén spoke to dozens of Jews in Budapest.  As much as they told her, there was a lot that went unsaid.  "I really don't think we'll end up there again, but...", "Even if it's only 1% risk that...", "So far it's okay, but if the situation becomes more difficult in the future then..."

In Hungary, she sums up, Hungarians feel unsafe in their own country, because they are Jewish.

Germany: Swastika on synagogue

Via CFCA: A swastika was painted on the synagogue of Gelsenkirchen (western Germany).

Turkey: Media claims press freedom report is part of Jewish/Israeli plot

Freedom House has said it notes with concern that some Turkish media outlets resorted to anti-Semitism in criticizing its recently released report. 

"Freedom House calls on the government of Turkey to join us in condemning the use of hate speech," a statement the Washington-based advocacy group said on Monday. 

Turkish pro-government daily Star said in its front page top story on Sunday that Freedom House received huge grants from businessman George Soros and Israeli lobby groups. It also emphasized that Freedom House President David Kramer is a Jew and a prominent neo-con. Other pro-government dailies, such as Yeni Akit, also tried to linked Freedom House to Israel in a bid to discredit the report.

More: Today's Zaman

Israel: Vandalism against Jewish, Israeli targets

Recently there's been a wave of anti-Arab vandalism in Israel, which is generally reported by the world media.  Less reported is the anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli vandalism.

Below is a roundup of various attacks over the past month.  Though I have to confess - in a couple of cases it's hard to say whether the perpetrator is Jew or Arab.

Jerusalem

Swastika = Star of David

Swastikas on Israeli flags

Beer Sheva

Memorial for fallen Israeli soldiers at high-school vandalized before Remembrance Day.
The memorial was vandalized a year ago as well.

Lod

Swastikas on Jewish car 

In January the tiers of Jewish cars were slashed. In other cases, windshields were smashed.

Jaffa

Swastikas, "crime", "Jaffa"

Recently Israeli flags (hung up for Israeli independence day) were vandalized. Earlier they were replaced with Palestinian flags.

Last October somebody spray-painted "Death to the Jews" and Death to Israel".

Tel Aviv

Altalena memorial vandalized.
The words "invading Arab armies" were wiped out.

North

Picture of Jew and swastika in a cemetery next to Hadera

Another swastika was spray-painted on a bus-station next to Harish.

"Hitler was right", swastika in the Arab town of Taibe

Hungary: "I don't give a shit what happened to you in 1944!"

Danish TV reports from Budapest:

Many Jews they spoke to were not willing to discuss their situation on-camera.  An employee of the Jewish Cultural Center told them that the situation is becoming increasingly uncomfortable for Jews.

Gabriel Kovacs (31), did not mind speaking to the Danish reporters.  They met Kovacs at a protest aginat the government planned Holocaust memorial. The Jewish community says the memorial portrays the Hungarians as victims of the Nazis, and whitewashes the government’s role in the mass murder of Jews.

Accorindg to Kovacs, one of the police officers at the protest hissed at an elderly Jewish man: "I don't give a shit what happened to you in 1944!".

Kovacs says: Increasingly the authorities and ordinary Hungarians disparage us and Romas. We're accused of sitting on the country's currency reserves while the Roma get beaten up by the Jobbik guard and forced to flee the cities. We're turning back to a dark time.

Asked why he wasn't afraid to speak, he answered that he now lives in Canada.

Europe: Median of 18% have unfavorable opinion of Jews

Compared with Roma and Muslims, Jews receive relatively higher ratings. Still, 47% of Greeks say they have an unfavorable opinion of Jews in their country, and notable minorities in Poland (26%), Italy (24%) and Spain (18%) say the same. In France, the UK and Germany, 10% or fewer hold a negative view. In Germany, since 1991, unfavorable views of Jews have fallen from 24% to 5%. And in Poland they have declined from 34% to 26%. 

In Poland, Italy and Greece – the three countries where unfavorable ratings are most common – anti-Jewish sentiments are more pervasive among those on the right of the political spectrum than on the left.

More: Pew Global

UK: Guardian article excuses Palestinian antisemitism

The recent ADL Global 100 survey, found that Muslim countries are the most antisemitic.  The MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) had an average score of 74%.  The next "most antisemitic" region was Eastern Europe, with a paltry 34%.  Of those, Palestinians got the highest score - 93%.

Instead of wondering why that is, the Guardian published an article trying to explain it away (Anti-Semitism should not be waved around like a propaganda tool).  The article was written by Marilyn Kleinberg Neimark, a long time activist in the Palestine/Israel peace movement, and Donna Nevel, an anti-Islamophobia activist.

The article accuses the ADL of intentionally coming up with questions to make the Palestinians look bad.

The most striking example of a leading question undergirds the ADL's claim that the highest percentage of anti-Semitism is among Palestinians who live in the occupied territories. The ADL asked a group of people for whom the movement of goods, money and labor is controlled by Israel, "Do Jews have too much power in the business world?". Were they really to be expected to answer anything but "yes"?

The answer to this rhetorical question is of course: Yes!

The Palestinians and their supporters constantly compare their situation to the Jews during the Third Reich.  So let's go with the flow.  If you'd have asked a Jew in Germany in 1938 if Germans had too much power in the business world, would you expect them to answer "yes"?  Of course not.  The fact that Jews were oppressed did not mean that they believed Germans had some sort of demonic world control.  The Palestinians, however, are happy to believe that.

Even if that sort of excuses that answer, 93% of Palestinians believed in 5 more of these statements:
- Jews are more loyal to Israel than to [this country/the countries they live in].   -> (n/a because Palestine is Jew-free)
- Jews have too much power in international financial markets.
- Jews don’t care about what happens to anyone but their own kind.
- Jews have too much control over global affairs.
- People hate Jews because of the way Jews behave.
- Jews think they are better than other people.
- Jews have too much control over the United States government.
- Jews have too much control over the global media.
- Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust.
- Jews are responsible for most of the world’s wars.

Which of those can Kleinberg Neimark & Nevel explain away?  I hope the ADL should publish the results among Palestinians for each of those statements.

In fact, the conclusion I got to from these statistics is diametrically opposite those of  Kleinberg Neimark & Nevel.  Anti-Zionists constantly claim that "criticism of Israel" is not antisemitism.  One can understand that the Palestinians are anti-Israel.  It's OK that they're anti-Zionist.  But that doesn't mean they're anti-semitic, does it?

The ADL poll shows that anti-Zionism leads to anti-Semitism.

Shabbat Shalom!

Shabbat Shalom to all my readers!

Ofra Haza sings "Hai" (Alive) in the Munich Eurovision 1983.  Ehud Manor, who wrote the words, felt it was important for an Israeli representative to stand in Germany and sing about the Jews staying alive.

The backup singers were wearing yellow in memory of the yellow badge the Jews were forced to wear.

 

Netherlands: Dutch volunteer in mosque told of Jewish practice to kill Christian newborns

Ron Doherty writes on the blog of Dutch journalist Joost Niemöller that as a student he volunteered in a mosque to work with kids. He realized when talking to the mosque administration and to the parents, that they were extremely antisemitic.

Talking to mosque leader Recep, the conversation quickly turned to the issue of Jews. Recep told Doherty of the Jewish tradition to put newborn Christian babies in nail-filled barrels so they could sip their blood. Deherty put it down to a misunderstanding. Maybe Recep heard a lecture on human sacrifices in early Judaism.

But the more he spoke with people in the mosque, that more he realized it was simple antisemitism.  From a deep sympathy for Hitler to denying the Holocaust. He heard every stereotype there is: Jews were lazy, greedy, stingy, like a virus or non-human.

When asked "why?", they automatically referred to the Palestinian conflict. But Doherty realized that there was nothing the Jews could do to make things right.  Because a long, long time ago, a Jew laughed at Mohammed.  Not everybody there was antisemitic, but Doherty estimates that about 80% were.

One day Ali, one of the kids, told him that there was a rumor his brother was going to marry a Jew.  When he asked Ali was it was so reprehensible the answer was: Jews are dirty. Ali finally called his brother and was relieved to discover the rumor was untrue.  Furkan, another kid, showed him pictures of Hamas attacks, given to him by his uncle who had contacts with the group. Furkan thought it was cool.

Doherty is very critical of the Leftists who ignore Muslim antisemitism and constantly claim that there's no link between Islam and Jew-hatred, and that every such 'incident' is coincidental.

Hungary: Jobbik politician posts on Jewish plot to cause cancer

Via CFCA and TED:

Turóczi Lajos, head of the Jobbik party in Jászalsószentgyörgy (northern central Hungary) posted antisemitic conspiracy theories on his Facebook page.

Turóczi shared posts from the antisemitic Magyar Pálos Trend page.

For May 1, he posted that Israel is chemically poisoning Hungarians. The post claimed there's a Jewish obligation to cause cancer and that "only idiots can't believe that the God-murdering Jews are capable of something like this".

On May 4, Turóczi shared a post that repeated a claim made by other far-right sites: that a tender put out by Mazsök (the Jewish Heritage of Hungary Public Endowment) to develop Jewish schools was racist because they did not offer to develop the schools of the host nation.  The post claimed that the Hungarians were racially excluded from the tender and that all the money goes to the Jews.

Turkey: Erdogan uses "Israeli" as curseword

Turkey’s embattled Islamist Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan screamed an anti-Israel slur at a Turkish citizen, local media reported on Thursday. 

“Why are you running away from me Israeli sperm,” Erdogan reportedly said, using a Turkish word that is used as a curse.

More: Algemeiner (+video)

France: "Hitler burned 6 million Jews and forgot half" graffiti

Antisemitic graffiti in Toulouse. A dozen inscriptions were found including: "SS", "Hitler burned 6 million Jews and forgot half" and "Long live Palestine".

More: France Bleu

ADL Survey: Antisemitism by country

The ADL Global 100 is a survey of antisemitic attitudes in 100 countries.

Respondents who said at least 6 out of 11 statements are “probably true” were considered to harbor anti-Semitic attitudes:
1) Jews are more loyal to Israel than to [this country/the countries they live in].
2) Jews have too much power in the business world.
3) Jews have too much power in international financial markets.
4) Jews don’t care about what happens to anyone but their own kind.
5) Jews have too much control over global affairs.
6) People hate Jews because of the way Jews behave.
7) Jews think they are better than other people.
8) Jews have too much control over the United States government.
9) Jews have too much control over the global media.
10) Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust.
11) Jews are responsible for most of the world’s wars.

Eastern  Europe

Average index: 34%
20% among Muslims, 35% among Christians and those with no religion

59% overestimated the number of Jews worldwide (26% thought it was more than 10%)

22% of those who've heard about the Holocaust think the number of Jews killed has been exaggerated.

The top stereotypes:
53% believe that Jews have too much power in the business world.
48% believe that Jews have too much power in international financial markets.

Western Europe

Average index:  24%
29% among Muslims 25% among Christians, and 22% among those with no religion

61% overestimated the number of Jews worldwide (27% thought it was more than 10%)

10% of those who've heard about the Holocaust think the number of Jews killed has been exaggerated.

The top stereotypes:
45% believe the Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the countries they live in.
39% believe that Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust.

Index per country

Red - Top 6 in Western  Europe

Blue - Top 6 in Eastern Europe

Greece (69%)
Poland (45%)
Bulgaria (44%)
Serbia (42%)
Hungary (41%)
Ukraine (38%)
Belarus (38%)
France (37%)  
Lithuania (36%)
Romania (35%)
Croatia (33%)
Bosnia and Herzegovina (32%)
Moldova (30%)
Russia (30%)
Montenegro (29%)
Spain (29%)
Latvia (28%)
Austria (28%)
Slovenia (27%)
Germany (27%)
Belgium (27%)
Switzerland (26%)
Estonia (22%)
Portugal (21%)
Ireland (20%)
Italy (20%)
Iceland (16%)
Finland (15%)
Norway (15%)
Czech Republic (13%)
Denmark (9%)
UK (8%)
Netherlands (5%)
Sweden (4%)

Italy: Synagogue desecrated with "Jews out" graffiti

On April 25th, Italian Liberation Day, a synagogue in the town of Pesaro was vandalized with antisemitic graffiti. This included a hanging Star of David, "Juden Rauss" (Jews out, with an added 'SS') and a swastika.

The synagogue is up-kept today by the city as an historical site.

More: il Resto del Carlino

France: Mother with baby harassed since "Jews have too many children"

Via BNVCA:

A Jewish woman and her baby were harassed in Paris. The woman (27) reported that a European man who identified her as a Jew by her dress, made the sign of the cross at her, shook the baby's carriage and yelled "Dirty Jew!" and the Jews have too many children. Passers-by did not intervene.

Germany: Two Jewish brothers target of antisemitic harassment at school for years

Two Jewish twin brothers suffered for years from antisemitic abuse from a classmate at a business-studies high-school near Munich. The perpetrator called them 'dirty Jew' and 'Jew to the gas' and harassed them with SMS and email messages. He once made the Nazi salute at them, with no response from the teacher or other classmates. One of the brothers was physically attacked in the schoolyard, and only then did the parents discover the abuse their kids had been subjected too.

The case is now being dealt with in court.

More: Jüdische Allgemeine

UK: Anti-semitic chanting by Leeds United fans

Police are investigating claims a group of Leeds United fans sang anti-semitic songs on a train back from a game. 

British Transport Police say complaints were made following United’s 3-1 win at Birmingham City on April 26. 

Investigating officer PC Gareth Swiffen said: “Upon arrival at Leeds a number of passengers on the service made complaints to rail staff with regards to some of the fans engaging in anti-social behaviour on the train and chanting anti-Semitic songs. 

“As you can understand, this was an intimidating and upsetting experience for people on board the train who were extremely offended by some of the fans’ actions.

More: Yorkshire Evening Post

Andorra: Jew seriously injured in neo-Nazi attack

Last month (April 18) a 21-year old Jewish man was beaten up in La Massana by five people who identified themselves as neo-Nazis.  The Jew came out of a disco with two of his friends. The friends were held back by two of the neo-Nazis, while the others proceeded to bash his face in.  The attackers shouted antisemitic insults saying that "Hitler did not kill enough Jews" and the they should all be killed.  They called their victim "Jewish shit".

Due to the extent of his injuries, the victim was transferred to hospital in Barcelona, where he went through reconstructive surgery.  He suffers from trauma, is unable to chew his food, and is currently waiting further operations.

This attack took place a few days before Hitler's 125th birthday, which was celebrated by neo-Nazis across the continent.

More: Alliance, h/t Philosémitisme Blog

France: Communist youth say they're victims of antisemitic attack

A group from the Communist Youth movement say they were attacked by another group of youth in Blois. The Communist group included one Jew and say the fight was instigated for antisemitic reasons.

More: La Nouvelle République, h/t LDJ

Sweden: Jewish professor target of antisemitic sites

In an article in Swedish paper SvD, Professor Jerzy Sarnecki writes that his family fled to Sweden because they suffered from antisemitism.  And now he's targeted by antisemtiic sites.  The first picture that shows up on Google search is the one above.

Belgium: Workers' Party says antisemitic posts are part of campaign against party

The Workers' Party of Belgium (PVDA+) say they're the victims of a campaign portraying them as antisemitic. Somebody claiming to be party member posted antisemitic statements on her Facebook profile, using party logos and symbols. The party says the woman is not a member of the party.

More: HLN

Italy: Jewish Brigade march attacked by pro-Palestinians

A Liberation Day parade in Rome, meanwhile, was marred by tension between a group of supporters of the Palestinian cause and representatives of Jewish fighters who were part of the Italian Resistance during World War II. Fabio Perugia, the spokesman of Rome's Jewish Community, said the friction was caused by the presence of the flag of the Jewish Brigade of the Resistance, which features the Star of David. "We had a meeting at 9:15 to march with the flag of the Jewish Brigade, which is similar to the Israeli flag, but not the same," said Perugia. "Suddenly around 50 people with Palestinian flags came out of the Colosseo metro station and started to attack us verbally. 

"If the police had not been there, they would have attacked us physically". Perugia said that the police removed the Palestinian flags. 

Loretta Mussi, a member of a pro-Palestian organisation, said her group had authorization to carry Palestinian flags and said that it was attacked by the Jewish group. 

Representatives of the Jewish Brigade and Palestinian supporters also exchanged insults at an event in Milan.

More: AnsaMED

Germany: Party officials say they're persecuted like Jews during WWII

The  Euroskeptic party AfD ("Alternative for Germany") apologized to the Jewish community after two of its officials (one of whom is Jewish) compared the situation of party members to the persecution of Jews under the Third Reich.

More: Die Welt

Greece: Zionists and Jews behind "Islamist invasion"

Via SKMA:

Swedish journalist Tomas Lundin reports in SvD (not online) on the Golden Dawn party. At an election rally,one of the party representatives said that Europe is flood with fanatical Islamists who want to wipe out European civilization. Who's behind it? The American Zionists, the Jews and their friends, who cannot accept an independent Greece. The audience applauded wildly.

This isn't the first time that Golden Dawn mixes up the "Jews" and "Zionists". Apparently the Greeks didn't get the memo: If you want to be acceptably anti-Semitic, remember that you're only against "Zionists".

UK: Jews increasingly support the Conservatives 'as they got richer'

I wouldn't call this antisemitic per-se, but Livingstone is relying on antisemitic stereotypes.  It's not the policies of Labour against Jews that might cause Jews to shy away from the party.  It's because they're rich (which as it happens, for leftist-leaning politicians also implies 'evil')

Former London mayor Ken Livingstone said that Britain’s Jewish community has increasingly supported Conservative candidates because it has gotten richer.  

“If we were talking 50 years ago, the Roman Catholic community, the Irish community in Britain, the Jewish community was solidly Labor,” Livingstone told BBC’s Newsnight while addressing the role of ethnic minorities in UK politics. “Still the Irish Catholic community is pretty solidly Labor because it is not terribly rich.  

“As the Jewish community got richer, it moved over to voting for Mrs. [Margaret] Thatcher as they did in Finchley,” he said, referring to one of London’s northern districts with a large Jewish community.  

“The defining issue is not your color or your religion,” Livingstone said. “It’s your level of income. People vote according to their income.”

More: European Jewish Press

Ukraine: Graffiti calls to kill Jews

Via CFCA and Jewish Kiev: Graffiti in Khmelnytskyi (western Ukraine) called to kill the "Nazis, Jews - freemasons, for the murders in Odessa".  The graffiti was quickly painted over.

Czech Republic: Euroskeptic party's campaign features Jewish ritual murder

Czech authorities censored a campaign ad for the "No to Brussels-National Democracy" party, as it featured antisemitic content.  Antisemitic sites like Joe Le Corebeau's Croah claim that this proves that Jews really do control the media. After all, the ad also featured some anti-Islam and anti-Roma clips, but this wasn't the reason it was banned.

The party claims it's not antisemitic. It's just anti-Israel.  Which is why their clip features a a painting portraying Jewish ritual murder and a visit by British freemasons at the local British synagogue.  The party claims it opposes homosexuality and freemasons, but for some reason their clip ties both these issues to Jews.

Israeli s and homosexuals, Jews and Freemasons

Blood libel painting

Books such as this one (available on Amazon) use this painting to illustrate how the Jews commit ritual murder.

More on the clip from the Economist:

In the offending ad, a digitally animated snake slithers in front of a variety of images, including a Star of David, smiling rabbis, a vaccination, a €500 note and smoke pouring from New York’s Twin Towers. The serpent is eventually slain by a knight holding a shield that bears a fork-tailed lion crest, the Czech national symbol. Czech Television refused to air the advertisement. Adam Bartoš, the leader and top European Parliament candidate for the “No to Brussels-National Democracy” party, admits the ad is “provocative.” He insists it is anti-Zionist, not anti-Semitic, though this fails to explain why Mr Bartoš has also taken to publishing lists on the internet of Czech elites he claims are Jewish. The snake in the ad, Bartoš said, symbolises Brussels. “Our party is dangerous for the establishment because it defends what other parties do not defend—a family and a nation.” 

(...) 

The Roma minority are a convenient scapegoat for much of the right wing in Central and Eastern Europe, but Mr Bartoš and his party say little of the Roma. They are however against “Zionism, multiculturalism, homosexuality, free masons, banks, the new world order agenda and so on,” says Mr Bartoš.

More: The Economist h/t CFCA

Germany: Tombstones knocked down in old cemetery

Two tombstones were knocked down in the old Jewish cemetery in Lüdinghausen (western Germany).

More: Westfälische Nachrichten, h/t JFDA

Sweden: Research institute invites antisemitic conspiracy-theorist researcher

Johan Galtung is the principal founder of the discipline of peace and conflict studies. He also believes that Jews (apparently) control world media and banking, and that the Mossad (might have) played a role in the 2011 terrorist attacks in Norway.

The Association of Foreign Affairs in Malmö (UF) claims they did not know about his controversial views when they invited him to give a lecture about his life's work. Apparently, they have not yet mastered the art of Googling.  In a Swedish press-release added after the story broke in the local press, they explain that Galtung has distanced himself from any form of racism and antisemitism, and that they'll bring those issues up during the lecture.

Ukraine: Regional governor calls Hitler 'a liberator'

Kherson region governor Yuri Odarchenko caused public resentment at a Victory Day meeting on Friday when he called Hitler "a liberator" and (Soviet leader Joseph) Stalin "a tyrant," Korrespondent.net reported. 

"If you read history, we see that he (Hitler) brought to the forefront the slogan urging to liberate people from Communist yoke, to free people from tyrant Stalin," said the official, a member of the Batkivshchina Party, according to the report. A woman then ran up to Odarchenko, and, calling him "faschist," threw away his microphone towards a group of World War II veterans.

More: ITAR-TASS

Netherlands: Poster for Anne Frank musical vandalized

A bus-stop in Velserbroek advertising the new musical about Anne Frank was vandalized with antisemitic slogans: Star of David, swastikas, "Jews", "Hitler".

More: RTV NH

France: Journalist justifies Toulouse terrorist

Editors of a French television talk show censored a panelist’s comparison between the murder of Jewish children in Toulouse and the actions of the Israeli army. 

Aymeric Caron, a left-wing French journalist, made the comparison on April 26 on France 2’s show “On n’est Pas Couche” (“We’re Not Asleep”) during a discussion on anti-Semitism in France and the 2012 murder of three children and a rabbi in Toulouse by Mohammed Merah, a radicalized Islamist. 

“Merah would say he killed Jewish children because the Israeli army kills Palestinian children,” Caron said, according to a transcript of the censored sequence that appeared last week on the news website causeur.fr. “There are numbers on that too. I have the numbers. How do you respond?”

More: JTA

Netherlands: Wilders says French FN and Austrian FPO are not antisemitic

Geert Wilders on is on a "slippery slope" by forming a European election alliance with Marine Le Pen and an Austrian far-Right party with a "Brownshirt past", a Dutch Jewish group has warned. 

(...) 

In an interview with The Telegraph on Tuesday, Mr Wilders admitted that he was uncomfortable with the idea of being in alliance with Mr Le Pen but insisted the French FN and Austrian FPO had changed. 

"I understand these comments but we are writing history here. I say to people, have a bit of trust, these parties are changing. We are working on a historical project," he said. 

"I am totally not comfortable with Mr Le Pen senior but I have enormous respect for Marine Le Pen. There is nothing racist or anti-Semitic about her. You cannot change a party overnight but the most important thing is the person in charge: is she or he heading in the right direction."

More: The Telegraph