UK: Catholic bishop criticizes HarperCollins for omitting Israel in school atlas for schools in the Middle East

It is nice to see that Catholics do not condone this type of caving in to demands of the Arab world.

The map was produced specifically for distribution in the United Arab Emirates and neighboring countries  

The Daily Telegraph reports:

HarperCollins, one of the world's largest publishing houses, sells English-language atlases to schools in the Middle East that omit Israel. Collins Middle East Atlases show Jordan and Syria extending to the Mediterranean but do mark the position of the West Bank. “The publication of this atlas will confirm Israel’s belief that there exists a hostility towards their country from parts of the Arab world.  It will not help to build up a spirit of trust leading to peaceful co-existence,” said Bishop Declan Lang, the chairman of the Bishops' Conference Department of International Affairs, to The Tablet.

“Maps can be a very powerful tool in terms of de-legitimising 'the other' and can lead to confusion rather than clarity. We would be keen to see relevant bodies ensure that all atlases anywhere reflect the official United Nations position on nations, boundaries and all political features," added Dr Jane Clements, director of the Council of Christians and Jews.

However, Collins Bartholomew, the subsidiary of HarperCollins [based in Scotland] that specialises in maps, said that including Israel would have been “unacceptable” to their customers in the Gulf and the amendment incorporated “local preferences”.

The Tablet said it had discovered the customs officers in one unnamed Gulf country only permitting the import of school atlases once Israel had been deleted by hand.

Ireland: Irish Times Turns Hamas Into Innocent Victims of Israeli Aggression

Via Honest Reporting:

Writing in the Irish Times, Lara Marlowe continues her one-sided assault on Israel following a series of anti-Israel articles in September, including one accusing Israel of employing “secret weapons” against Gaza as well as a “review” of the most virulently anti-Israel books in publication today.

This time we are treated to a full-on attack over Israel’s treatment of Gaza. Marlowe’s main source for comment from the Israeli side is the revisionist historian Avi Shlaim a longtime critic of Israel. Hence statements such as “It [the Gaza conflict] was a one-sided massacre” and “All these wars were instigated by Israel… All were directed against civilians, and all involved war crimes. They are a direct product of Israeli colonialism, of the most prolonged and brutal military occupation of modern times.”

It's just full of hate, hate, hate.  I can't even put my finger on one sentence that does not blame Israel for all evils.

As for the point of the article, that the Gaza War is the reason why European countries are now recognizing Palestine?  Has a kind of Holocaust-tinge to it, doesn't it?

Turkey: Anti-Semitism leads in media hate speech

The Jewish demographic was targeted 130 times in Turkish newspapers between May and August 2014, according to the “Monitoring Hate Speech in the Media” report released on Monday by the Hrant Dink Foundation.

The report found that 32 national, religious and ethnic identities were victims of hate speech in articles written by the Turkish press; the report also found that Jews and Armenians made up 50.4 percent of the targets of hate speech. In addition to the Jewish and Armenian peoples, Greeks, Kurds and Syrian refugees also made up a large part of those who were attacked by the Turkish press. 

The report recorded 130 incidents of hate speech against Jews, 60 against Armenians, 25 against Christians, 21 against Greeks, and 18 counts of hate speech against Kurds.

(...) 

Several articles did not differentiate the specific differences between Zionists, the State of Israel, Israelis and Jews, and instead used the broad, over-arching term “Jews” to refer to all the groups mentioned. 

Furthermore, the report noted that some of the columnists that criticized the State of Israel's attacks against the Palestinians compared its actions to those of Hitler and the Holocaust. 

More: Today's Zaman

Belarus: Synagogue vandalized with swastikas

Via CFCA:

The synagogue in Gomel was vandalized, for the second time in the past couple of months.

Croatia: Hundreds attend mass for of ‘one of Europe's biggest mass murderers’

Pavelic (left) and Mussolini (1941)

Hundreds of Croatians attended a memorial mass in Zagreb on Sunday for World War II-era dictator Ante Pavelić, local media reported.

Pavelić’s fascist regime was allied with Nazi Germany and was responsible for the murder of tens of thousands of Jews. Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Serbs were also murdered under his rule. [...]

The founder of the extreme nationalist Ustaše movement, Pavelić advocated armed rebellion against the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and engaged in acts of terror in furtherance of this goal. After the Germans conquered Yugoslavia in 1941, he was installed as head of the new puppet state, described by Yad Vashem as a “fiercely cruel regime” in which “hundreds of thousands of Serbs and tens of thousands of Jews were murdered in death camps and in other awful ways, such as being thrown off cliffs or burned alive in their homes.” Following the war, Pavelić made his way to Argentina, where he was wounded in an assassination attempt. He died in 1957. [...]

“It is hard to believe that in the center of the capital of a member of the European Union, very close to Zagreb’s Jewish community, hundreds of people gathered yesterday to commemorate the memory of one of Europe’s biggest mass murderers,” Efraim Zuroff, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Jerusalem office, said in a prepared statement. “Such a ceremony is an insult to the memory of Pavelić’s hundreds of thousands of innocent victims,” Zuroff said. “It is also a badge of shame for the Catholic Church, which allowed such a ceremony to take place in the Basilica of the Heart of Christ – who, had he been alive during World War II, would have been targeted for annihilation as well.”

More: Jerusalem Post

Day 37: Counting the Days till EU Condemns PA Incitement to Kill Jews

Following the murders in Jerusalem enabled by the constant Palestinian incitement to kill Jews, this blog will wait until one European country will step forward and condemn the PA for its incitement.

It is not enough to ask the PA to stop inciting.

It is not enough to condemn the terror attacks caused by such incitement.

European leaders must make it clear to the PA that incitement to kill Jews is unacceptable. That such incitement will mean no support for Palestinian aspirations for statehood. 

Until then, European leaders are encouraging Palestinians to kill Jews.

France: "Burn the Jews, slit their throats" graffiti

Via Alliancefr:

Graffiti on a Paris RER commuter train this morning: "Burn the Jews", "Slit the Jews' throats", "I love Hitler" and swastikas.

Finland: Newspaper sends a worm to Bethlehem for Xmas, a rotten report ensues

Finnish journalist Jukka Huusko ‘reports’ from Bethlehem: Da Jooos did dis, and da Jooos did dat, and da poor Palestians did nothing but be wictims. End of da report.

Here’s what Vasara Hammer has to say about this punk reporter:

The article is a textbook example of how the journalists twist the truth to suit their agenda.

1. In the beginning, state the comfortable facts, omit the uncomfortable ones. Don’t go overboard yet. 

2. In the end, introduce the big lie. Don’t say it yourself, quote a local professional propagandist. Make him (or her in this case) look like a perfect representative of a persecuted minority (though she happens to be the mayor of Bethlehem and has Arafat and Abbas pictures hanging on the wall). 

3. Don’t introduce any background, let the readers believe the big lie. It’s the Jews’ fault. 

One of the central themes in the tawdry piece was insistence that the depletion of the Christian population in Bethlehem was solely due to Israel’s defensive security fence/wall (and other security measure) that snakes through the many areas of Bethlehem. Hey, they even got an Arab Lutheran pastor to state it, so it’s got to be true!

More: Tundra Tabloids

Poland: Real Jews are scarce in Warsaw, but ‘lucky Jew’ figurines are everywhere

Poles can’t get enough of the statuettes — little musicians, rabbis, merchants and bankers, with crooked noses and forked beards; some scholars fear they’re reinforcing the most dangerous of stereotypes.

Several dozen gray-bearded men wearing black skullcaps stand rigid in the shop beneath the Nozyk Synagogue, the sole Jewish house of worship to survive Nazi Germany’s annihilation of this city. Their unblinking eyes gaze mournfully ahead, but they haven’t gathered for prayers. They are on sale for $5 apiece.  Wooden and clay statuettes, known to Poles as “Zydki,” little Jews, populate homes and shops across the country, and far outnumber the remnants of a once populous Jewish community.

Photo credit

In the past decade, half a century after three million Polish Jews were exterminated, their popularity in Poland has grown significantly. The little Jews come in a variety of shapes and styles and hark back to the days when most cities in Poland were home to a centuries-old Jewish population. They are miniature musicians, rabbis, merchants and bankers, all sporting the distinctive beard and sidelocks of Orthodox Jews and wearing black frock coats. They are invariably elderly males fashioned in the likeness of anti-Semitic caricatures — crooked noses, forked beards and piercing eyes. Are they anti-Semitic creations? Some experts hesitate to say so. But they’re certainly stereotypical, the scholars say, and the popularity of a subset of the genre — little Jews holding a symbolic one grosz coin or a bag of money — is seen as a particularly disturbing trend. [...]

A recent study by a University of Warsaw psychologist found widespread Polish belief in a Jewish conspiracy to “control the international financial institutions” as well as the Polish economy and business sphere. “Today, with a range of different kinds of figurines, as well as new generations of consumers including tourists, it’s hard to know which ideas, which memories, which myths the figurines represent for their makers and their buyers,” [Dr. Erica] Lehrer said. “It’s a phenomenon that shows how deeply rooted Jews are in the Polish consciousness,” she said. But she admitted she finds the growing trend of Jews holding and counting coins “disturbing.” 

Dr. Stanislaw Krajewski, a Jewish-Polish professor of philosophy, wrote in the catalog accompanying Lehrer’s exhibition that he “resent[s] how the negative statement made by these figures is smuggled under the veil of something positive. It is said to be a sign of reverence for Jewish merits, abilities and magical powers. “But this superficial approval cloaks a sinister view of Jewish influence over money and the market, creating a sense of distance and difference. It also conjures links with supernatural powers, instilling fear. It is only a small step between this allegedly positive image and suspicion, resentment, and finally hatred,” he wrote.

More: Times of Israel

Day 36: Counting the Days till EU Condemns PA Incitement to Kill Jews

Following the murders in Jerusalem enabled by the constant Palestinian incitement to kill Jews, this blog will wait until one European country will step forward and condemn the PA for its incitement.

It is not enough to ask the PA to stop inciting.

It is not enough to condemn the terror attacks caused by such incitement.

European leaders must make it clear to the PA that incitement to kill Jews is unacceptable. That such incitement will mean no support for Palestinian aspirations for statehood. 

Until then, European leaders are encouraging Palestinians to kill Jews.

UK: More than 20 cars and houses vandalized in London

Via Shomrim N.E. London:

More than 20 vehicles and houses were vandalized in London with swastikas, vulgar images and "sionist out" slogans.

Top 5 Posts - Antisemitism in Europe 2014

Most popular posts of 2014.

1. Belgium: Hospital employee hopes Jews will die  (July)

2. Netherlands: Holocaust monument defaced, 'Free Gaza' graffiti  (August)

3. Norway: Anti-racism group demands Jews be excluded from Kristallnacht memorial event  (November)

4. Spain: Israeli flags not allowed in Real Madrid stadium  (December)

5. Sweden: Antisemitic storm after politician suggests Hamas should stop firing at Israel  (July)

The latest anti-Israel sentiment from Europe to be viewed with skepticism or disdain

Mal Sockol:

The growing criticism of Israel by so many in Europe may be considered in light of the following question: What is the difference between occupation of the West Bank and, say, that of India, Algeria, Congo, Angola? The latter examples were by European powers while the former has a Jewish nation in control. Further, the latter was for national wealth while the former is for defense against annihilation. 

The government of Israel vividly recalls how the majority of European countries, (fortunately not all), responded to the Nazi Holocaust during the first half of the 20th century. It is doubtful that the Jewish state will now view this latest anti-Israel sentiment from that continent with anything more than skepticism at best or disdain at worst.

Metro West via Tundra Tabloids which adds this comment:

Europe looks through its fingers at Turkey’s highly illegal occupation of Cyprus and the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara, but it’s the Jewish state (which is fighting for its survival) that they fixate on, it’s the Jewish state that they obsess over, it’s the Jewish state that they (dubiously/erroneously) demand to be more ”Christian-like” than they themselves would ever be.

France: Billboard company censors Star of David but promotes anti-Israel campaign

The following was reported in January 2014: 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 - 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.

JSS now reports that the advertiser is running a country-wide viciously anti-Israel billboard campaign on behalf of the Islamic Relief organisation.  It features the head of a Palestinian child head made up of ruins.  JSS asks: is it meant to stoke anti-Semitic sentiment in France?  Or is it meant to promote the idea of a Palestinian State? 

Europe-Israel points out that Decaux operates in Israel and is running an advertisement campaign against child obesity in Tel Aviv...

Ukraine: After years of discrimination, it's not fair that Jews have such special privileges

“Since I was small, my grandmother always told me to hide the fact I was Jewish,” said Kostiantyn, 33, who asked that his family’s surname be withheld out of concern for relatives he left behind in the conflict zone. “Now I don’t care what people say about me being Jewish. The only people who have helped here have been the Jews.”

(...)

Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident from Donetsk who moved to Israel in the 1980s, recalled a recent conversation with non-Jews who also fled eastern Ukraine. 

“They told me it was not fair that Jews had such special privileges,” said Sharansky, who has visited Ukraine several times in recent months. “They said, ‘We, too, lost our properties and are refugees, but they have help and can go to Israel.’ It was weird for me to hear, because when I grew up in Donetsk, being Jewish was like having a mortal disease.”

More: Washington Post

Day 35: Counting the Days till EU Condemns PA Incitement to Kill Jews

Following the murders in Jerusalem enabled by the constant Palestinian incitement to kill Jews, this blog will wait until one European country will step forward and condemn the PA for its incitement.

It is not enough to ask the PA to stop inciting.

It is not enough to condemn the terror attacks caused by such incitement.

European leaders must make it clear to the PA that incitement to kill Jews is unacceptable. That such incitement will mean no support for Palestinian aspirations for statehood. 

Until then, European leaders are encouraging Palestinians to kill Jews.

Turkey: Number of Jewish youths wanting to leave has doubled since 2012

According to statistics of a community high school we were asked not to name, compared with previous years, the number of Jewish youths wanting to leave Turkey has doubled. According to numbers provided to Al-Monitor, in 2012 of 99 students at the community school, 23 wanted to go abroad; in 2013, 18 out of 96; and in 2014, 40 out of 108. The school officials don’t know how many of those going abroad will return after finishing their education.

More: al-Monitor

Israel: Technion University 'Ignores' Swastika Scrawled on Campus

The Zionist student group Im Tirtzu has complained to Technion University after a swastika was found on a sign at the Haifa-based university this Sunday, demanding that the university's president condemn the incident and take steps against those behind it.

In the letter to university president Prof. Peretz Lavie, the group wrote "there aren't enough words to describe our deep shock as students of the Technion and citizens of the state of Israel."

(...)

Technion issued a response to the incident early in the week, saying "we express disgust from the act and denounce it unanimously. We emphasize that the Technion is a leading apolitical academic institution, which is an example of coexistence and accepting the other."

"The Technion campus is open and accessible to the public and thousands of people pass through every day. The vandalism was immediately removed," concluded the Technion statement.

However, Matan Peleg, CEO of the Im Tirtzu movement, said "the Technion for many months is trying to ignore at any price the rising phenomena of hatred by Arab students towards Jewish students and the state of Israel."

"This kind of ignoring doesn't just make the problem worse and strengthen it, but leaves the coexistence in Haifa as an empty term," continued Peleg.

More: Arutz 7

Greece: Antiracist website posts antisemitic article

Via GrassrootReuter and Against Antisemitism (with much thanks to glykosymoritis for translation help):

"Expel Racism" is a Greek anti-fascist website, dedicated to fighting racism.  But, as GrassrootReuter points out, they don't recognize antisemitism when they see it, and even worse - seem to agree with it.

The site recently posted an article about the father of former Golden Dawn MP Chrysovalantis Alexopoulos.   Alexopoulos left Greek Dawn less than a year ago, after close to twenty years as a member, claiming he was shocked by allegations of violence against the party.

"Expel Racism" posted an expose, claiming his father was a Nazi collaborator who assisted the Nazis in their crimes against the Greek patriots in Larissa.  Further, that the 'system' and definitely Larissa's large Jewish community (at the time) must have known about it, but they backed him and therefore remained silent, because it didn't "fit their plans".

The expose originally appeared in the neo-Nazi newspaper "Stoxos" and was posted as-is by the so-called anti-Fascist website.

After GrassrootReuter called them out on it, they updated the article to remove the offending passages.  But this is not the first time they post antisemitic material.

Updated: Details of original article.

Europe: Increasing Muslim influence will have adverse consequences for Israel

Guy Bechor believes that increasing Muslim influence in Europe will have adverse consequences for Israel:

Just like the Arab world did all in its power to harm the young Israel, the same trend is taking shape in the European Union as well. While in the past we talked about the Westernization of the Arab world, we are now talking about the Arabization of Europe. The Arab League boycotted Israel from its very first day, and the “European Union” may now follow in its footsteps.

Sources: Ynet News via Honest Reporting

Norway: Jesus' Manger will soon be empty, because of Israel

Jan-Erik Smilden, Norwegian journalist reporting from the Middle East, bemoans the sad state of Christians in the Middle East.

His op-ed piece is titled "The Manger will soon be empty".  Sub-heading: "The Christians in the Middle East are experiencing one of history's worst Christmas seasons, and it will probably get worse."

So, he probably starts off  by talking about the Christians of Iraq, or Egypt, right?

No... wait.  He bemoans the sad state of Palestinians Christians in Bethlehem.

What is the main reason Bethlehem is now empty of Christians?   (it isn't, but Smilden thinks it is, so we'll go with it for now)

It's not the inter-Christians battles over the Church of the Nativity.

It's not the problems with the Muslims.

It's not even the fact that Hamas is now in political control of the city.

What could it possibly be?

Of course.  Israel.

The Israeli occupation is the main reason for the fact that there are now less than 20% Christians in Bethlehem.

[Apparently, the fact that the Palestinian Authority changed the borders of the city in order to include more Muslims is a negligible reason.  Because luckily we have Israel to blame.]

Why?  The wall, the wall, have we mentioned the wall?

Israeli takeover of lands, which, Smilden points out, affects Christians and Muslims equally.  But he somehow uses it to explain why there are less Christians specifically.

The war in Gaza, which is apparently all Israel's fault.

Religious tensions in Jerusalem  (that's newspeak for "Muslims trying to kill Jews") - which is also apparently all Israel's fault.

The last two affect tourism in Bethlehem, which is the lifeblood of the city.

Israeli tour guides who don't let their charges stay overnight in Bethlehem.   Same goes for Christian-Zionist tour guides, who don't care about the Palestinians and think they're all terrorists (his words, not mine).

Anyway, after discussing Bethlehem for three paragraphs, he finally starts his article about Christians in the Middle East.  A short summary about the fact that there's barely any left, one paragraph about Syria and Iraq ("they've got it the worst") and another about the Egyptian Copts.

Too bad Smilden hates Israel more than he actually cares about his chosen topic.  Even his editor (who, I assume, wrote the headline), didn't think it was about Christians in the Middle East.

Because, really - how can you compare whining about Islamic State beheadings when Palestinian Christians have Israeli tour guides to deal with?

Day 34: Counting the Days till EU Condemns PA Incitement to Kill Jews

Following the murders in Jerusalem enabled by the constant Palestinian incitement to kill Jews, this blog will wait until one European country will step forward and condemn the PA for its incitement.

It is not enough to ask the PA to stop inciting.

It is not enough to condemn the terror attacks caused by such incitement.

European leaders must make it clear to the PA that incitement to kill Jews is unacceptable. That such incitement will mean no support for Palestinian aspirations for statehood. 

Until then, European leaders are encouraging Palestinians to kill Jews.

Day 33: Counting the Days till EU Condemns PA Incitement to Kill Jews

Following the murders in Jerusalem enabled by the constant Palestinian incitement to kill Jews, this blog will wait until one European country will step forward and condemn the PA for its incitement.

It is not enough to ask the PA to stop inciting.

It is not enough to condemn the terror attacks caused by such incitement.

European leaders must make it clear to the PA that incitement to kill Jews is unacceptable. That such incitement will mean no support for Palestinian aspirations for statehood. 

Until then, European leaders are encouraging Palestinians to kill Jews.  

France: For 3rd time this week, shots fired at Paris Jewish target

Bullet holes discovered at entrance to publishing house, days after restaurant, synagogue attacked.

Days after similar attacks against Jewish targets, shots were fired at a Paris publishing house owned by Jews on Thursday night. Bullets holes were discovered at the entrance to the building on Friday morning. Investigators believe the shooter used a high-powered air gun, the same type of weapon used in the two previous attacks this week.

On Wednesday, bullet holes were discovered in the window of the Al Haeche kosher restaurant located in the 19th district of northeastern Paris. The attack occurred Tuesday night, the JSSNews website reported.

More: Times of Israel and AnachInfo

France: Aubervilliers names Marwan Barghouti honorary citizen

Via CRIF:

The city of Aubervilliers (next to Paris) decided to make Marwan Barghouti an honorary citizen for being a man of 'peace and dialogue'.

Barghouti is currently in jail for three attacks that killed a total of five people: a June 2001 attack in Ma'ale Adumim that killed a Greek monk, a January 2002 attack on a Givat Ze'ev gas station, the March 2002 Seafood market attack in Tel Aviv, and a car bombing in Jerusalem.

Thank you, Aubervilliers, for encouraging Jew murderers.

France: "Today, Jesus would be born at a checkpoint" writes flagship magazine

France's flagship left-of-center magazine, L'Express, has an article titled "Today, Jesus would be born at a checkpoint". There is no mention in the article of Palestnian terrorism.

In August 2014, Christophe Barbier, the publisher and leading editorialist of L'Express wrote these words:

"How will Jews who fear an antisemitic upsurge in France and opt to leave behind them those other Jews who cannot or do not want to go away clean themselves from an accusation of cowardice?"

Michel Gurfinkiel comments:

French Jews have been subjected to unprecedented violence and intimidation for weeks. Many of them are losing heart and considering emigrating, or are actually emigrating — by the thousands — to Israel or other places, including North America and Australia. Still, in the eyes and under the pen of the country's leading journalist, they should be reviled as "deserters." 

In fact, Barbier goes even further. He blames French Jews for many more sins beyond emigration: indulging in self-defense, "bunkerization," support for the Benjamin Netanyahu government in Israel, and, last but not least, an alleged growing sympathy for Marine Le Pen and the far Right. French Jews, as he sees it, are becoming a threat to France as a nation and as a republic. He warns them: "If they think that it is problematic to be Jewish while French, they vindicate those who say that it is problematic to be French while Jewish."

More: Meforum

Netherlands: Grave of Jew targeted for vandalism

The tomb of Joseph van Raalte in Vlissingen was vandalized, along with another grave.

Police suspect the grave was targeted.  Van Raalte, who passed away in 1926, was the first manager of the Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding company.

More: PZC, h/t CFCA

France: Gas balloon placed next to Jewish cemetery

A 15kg gas balloon was found next to the entrance of the Jewish cemetery in Cagnes-sur-Mer (next to Nice).  The balloon turned out to be empty.

More: CFCA

France: Jews warned they might be target of next 'isolated non-terrorist incident'

Twice this past week Muslims in France drove cars into crowds.  Authorities said both events were isolated incidents and not terror attacks, committed by crazy people and not by people holding an extremist Muslim ideology.

But, it now turns out that authorities also turned to Jewish institutions and warned them that Jewish worshipers leaving synagogues or community events might be the target of the next 'isolated incident', even if they're committed by nuts and not by Muslim terrorists.

The Jewish community is expected to shoulder the cost for the extra security measures.
 
 More: Maariv

Day 32: Counting the Days till EU Condemns PA Incitement to Kill Jews

Following the murders in Jerusalem enabled by the constant Palestinian incitement to kill Jews, this blog will wait until one European country will step forward and condemn the PA for its incitement.

It is not enough to ask the PA to stop inciting.

It is not enough to condemn the terror attacks caused by such incitement.

European leaders must make it clear to the PA that incitement to kill Jews is unacceptable. That such incitement will mean no support for Palestinian aspirations for statehood. 

Until then, European leaders are encouraging Palestinians to kill Jews.  

France: Assailants open fire at Jewish restaurant in Paris days after synagogue attack

The Algemeiner

Unknown assailants opened fire at a Kosher restaurant in Paris’ 19th Arrondissement Wednesday night, apparently using an air gun as in a similar attack on a synagogue in the neighborhood earlier in the week, the French website JSS News reported.

Impact seen from the outside

The owner of the Al Haeche restaurant arrived at 7 am, and discovered a small impact crater on the front window. There were no injuries or other damage in the attack. The damage, possibly caused by a pellet gun, resembled that of a shooting Monday night at a window of the David Ben Ichay Synagogue, about a kilometer away.

Norway: Mads Gilbert accuses Israel of beheading Gazan children

When I saw this, I seriously assumed this was old news.  I mean, Mads Gilbert is so well-known for 'speaking the truth' from Gaza.  Surely he would have spoken about this to every available outlet if it was true.

But, no.  It seems that only now he found the strength within himself to come out with a new blood libel against the Jews.  h/t Norway, Israel and the Jews

Mads Gilbert, antisemitic Norwegian doctor, and the guy that Norwegians recently voted 'person of the year'. was interviewed by al-Jazeera about his experiences in Gaza:

MG: I have children myself, I have grandchildren, and you don’t want to see this in the world today. Now everybody is talking about Boko Haram and ISIL beheading people. I saw beheaded children in Gaza, I have pictures. 

I don’t show them because they are simply too inhumane, but nobody is accusing Israel of a massacre of children. It is always directed to somebody else who is called under the general term of terrorists.

Nobody else saw it, nobody else recorded it, nobody else reported it, only Mads Gilbert, famous doctor and speaker of truth to power.  And he can't show us the pictures, because they're too inhumane.

Well, Norwegian newspaper Dagen checked with Gilbert, what did he mean by 'beheaded'?

Gilbert (translation mine): 'By the verb 'beheaded' I meant I saw dead Palestinian children wholly or partially without heads, after Israeli attacks on Gaza this summer.  I specifically didn't use the verb 'decapitated'  [talks about Norwegian translation].  I obviously never meant or claimed that Israeli soldiers physically and directly beheaded children with their own hands."

Gilbert tries to differentiate between 'beheading' and 'decapitation'.  As if the first is not-intentional and the second is.  But English begs to differ.  

This is Wikiepdia's explanation:

Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, either as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine.

Maybe he simply doesn't speak English well?  We can't fault him for that.

So let's take him in context, shall we?  Gilbert says: "Now everybody is talking about Boko Haram and ISIL beheading people."  Does anybody know if Boko Haram and Islamic State, two vicious terror groups, actively behead people with their own hands?

Gilbert seems to imply that he isn't sure about that.

Also, Gilbert says Israel should 'stop the bombing'.  He truly lives in an alternate reality.

France: The number of French Jews making aliyah could top 7,000 this year

Alyah from France

EJP: Despite a rise of 7 % of the immigration to Israel from North America, aliyah from France to Israel this year will be more than double that from the United States, according to figures from the Jewish Agency for Israel in Jerusalem.

Based on the current pace, the number of French Jews making aliyah could top 7,000 this year. 6,655 Jews arrived from France to Israel in the first 11 months of 2014, an all-time record, compared with only 3,225 from North America (US and Canada). The previous record from France was set in 2013, with 3,293 French newcomers. Immigration in the first 11 months of 2014 from France, which has a Jewish community of 500,000-600,000 was more than double the 3,191 people who came to Israel during the whole of 2013 from North America, where over 6 million Jews live. The figure from North America for this year so far is 3,225. Immigration from France also surpassed by a large margin the 5,105 migrants who came to Israel from Ukraine, a country with an ailing economy due to ongoing and deadly fighting between government troops and pro-Russian rebels.

Immigration to Israel from France is driven by growing anti-Semitism in the country and economic considerations, but also by French Jewry’s deep attachment to Israel, Zionism and Judaism. Increase in Aliyah also was observed in Britain, where the first 11 months of 2014 yielded 573 immigrants compared to 523 during the whole of 2013. Immigration from Italy, which totaled 151 last year, doubled this year. Aliyah from South Africa and Australia, which this year totaled 158 and 171 respectively, dropped by 23% and 36% from the 2013 totals.

Greece: Jewish cemetery of Larissa vandalized

On December 23rd, 2014, the Jewish Cemetery of Larissa was vandalized with antisemitic graffitis signed by “Larissa Skins”: Swastikas, 'Juden', 'six milliion more'

h/t Against Antisemitism, Glykosymoritis

A third of European Jews contemplate emigration

Even before the latest explosion of anti-Jewish violence and hatred, Jews all over Europe were neither comfortable nor secure.

A poll taken in 2013 showed that “Fear of rising anti-Semitism in Europe has prompted nearly a third of European Jews to consider emigration because they do not feel safe in their home country.” To avoid distorting the data, the poll “focused on eight countries that account for more than 90 percent of Europe’s Jewish population.” The reasons for these sentiments were amply on display when a series of anti-Israel demonstrations across Europe promptly degenerated into open anti-Semitism.

More: European Jewish Press

Belgium: Hamas are terrorists? Look what Israel did in Gaza

This is how Flemish TV VRT decided to introduce viewers to the story that Hamas has been removed from the EU's terrorist list.  With a picture of a destroyed Gaza.

The announcer spent less than 30 seconds talking about Hamas being removed from the terror list.  And I'm really being generous. Three more minutes were dedicated to a discussion of Gaza's terrible situation following the war with Israel.

Zero time was spent on discussing Hamas terror.  Zero time spent on discussing Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians. Zero time spent on discussing Hamas dictatorship in Gaza.

But, don't worry.  Removing from Hamas from the EU terror list was just a technical issue.  The EU certainly think Hamas are terrorists.  Why is Israel even whining about it?

It's so obvious that it doesn't even warrant talking about it.

Day 31: Counting the Days till EU Condemns PA Incitement to Kill Jews

Following the murders in Jerusalem enabled by the constant Palestinian incitement to kill Jews, this blog will wait until one European country will step forward and condemn the PA for its incitement.

It is not enough to ask the PA to stop inciting.

It is not enough to condemn the terror attacks caused by such incitement.

European leaders must make it clear to the PA that incitement to kill Jews is unacceptable. That such incitement will mean no support for Palestinian aspirations for statehood. 

Until then, European leaders are encouraging Palestinians to kill Jews.  

UK: "If Mary and Joseph Tried to Reach Bethlehem Today..."

Mehdi Hasan, political director of the Huffington Post, UK, has a post up entitled, “If Mary and Joseph Tried to Reach Bethlehem Today, They Would Get Stuck at an Israeli Checkpoint.”

(...)

Seriously, this sort of historical revisionism, treating ancient Jewish Judeans as if they were Palestinian Arabs, and then analogizing modern Israel to the oppressors of Jesus and his family, a common trope in the UK, would be laughable if it were not  so pernicious. Pernicious not simply because it’s a ridiculous distortion of history, and not simply because it’s often accompanied by a large dose of anti-Semitism, with Palestinians playing the role of Jesus and the Israelis being the foreign oppressors crucifying him.  But pernicious because it goes to the true heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict–the failure of the Arab side to recognize that the “Zionists” are not the “European settler-colonialists” of Third Worldist imagination, but a people with a three thousand year plus tie to the Land of Israel, whose religion was born there, who ruled two separate kingdoms there, who have prayed toward Jerusalem for two thousand years in their ancient Hebrew language, and so on.

More: Washington Post

NGOs Use Christian Anti-Semitism to Urge Israel Boycott

The "Christmas spirit" seems to be in the air among all the anti-Israel NGOs - and a new annual report by NGO Monitor released Tuesday reveals how that has found expression in a whole array of religiously motivated slanders of the Jewish state with a distinct undertone of anti-Semitism.

In the report, NGO Monitor analyzed Christmas cards, nativity scenes, and holiday messages released by well-known NGOs, charities and church groups. What it found was groups such as Pax Christi, Sabeel, and a slew of others used religious motifs to attack Israel and advance BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) campaigns.

"The recurring exploitation of religious holidays and theological language to advance discriminatory anti-Israel campaigns shows that nothing is holy for the BDS movement," said Naftali Balanson, managing editor of NGO Monitor. "The church groups that support these NGOs, as well as the governments that fund them, must immediately repudiate the disturbing antisemitism emanating from NGOs that purport to promote human rights." 

More: Arutz 7

Op-Ed: Time to Rethink Holocaust Remembrance Day? (My answer: Definitely!)

Via the Algemeiner and JNS.org, Ben Cohen suggests scrapping non-Jewish Holocaust commemorations.

So if commemorating the Holocaust in the public sphere requires Jews to play down their affiliation with Israel, and to elide the intimate connection between what the Holocaust represents and the significance of a Jewish state in our own time, then I’d say we are better off without Holocaust Remembrance Day.

I think he's being too kind.   The Holocaust is now used as a weapon against Jews.  Jewish organizations are already backing out of "Holocaust commemorations", because they serve as a platform to bash Israel and the Jews.  Europe loves to remember its dead Jews, and then turns on the ones still living and accuses them of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Who needs it?  If that's the lesson Europeans draw from the Holocaust, then I, as a Jew, beg you to stop.  Stop teaching about the Holocaust, stop commemorating it, stop putting up those stepping stones that keep on getting vandalized.  All this while Jews need armed guards in front of their synagogues and schools.  When people can shout "Jews to the gas" and "Death, Death, Israel" in the streets, and the prosecution isn't sure whether it's illegal or whether it's a political protest against another country (in Mainz they decided it's the latter).

Besides which, the anniversary of Kristallnacht and International Holocaust Memorial Day have become special days when Jews are targeted even more than usual.

If there's a good side to it all, I'm really not seeing it.

France: Judge orders communist council to remove plaque honoring Palestinian terrorist

There is a passion among the French elites for Palestinians and even for Palestinian terrorists. This is not an isolated case. Arafat is cult figure in France.

Dominique Leparre, communist
mayor of Bezons 

Algemeiner: A French judge has ordered the communist-dominated municipal authorities in the city of Bezons, to the north-west of Paris, to remove a plaque honoring the Palestinian terrorist who assassinated Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi in Jerusalem in October 2001.

Following a complaint filed by Sammy Ghozlan of the National Bureau for Vigilance against Anti-Semitism (BNCVA,) the judge informed the Bezons Council that its original decision to confer honorary citizenship on the terrorist, Ihrima Majdi Al Rimawi, was invalidated. The council now has to remove the plaque dedicated to Al Rimawi by January 19, one month from the date of the judgement.

Al Rimawi is associated with several terrorist attacks, including the assassination of Ze’evi, which was carried out in the name of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) – the same terrorist organization which claimed responsibility for last month’s atrocity at a synagogue in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem, in which four rabbis and a Druze police officer were brutally murdered. He is currently serving a sentence of life imprisonment plus eighty years in an Israeli jail. In February 2013, the communist-dominated Bezons Council voted to confer honorary citizenship on Al Rimawi a few days after holding a debate on what it described as “Palestinian political prisoners” serving jail time in Israel.

The plaque ceremony was attended by al Rimawi’s wife, Fathia Barghouti, a former mayor of Bani Zeid, a village in the West Bank north of Ramallah where al Rimawi lived until he was jailed. “For us, the family of the prisoner, this award is a great gesture from the French people and shows their support of the issue of Palestinian prisoners in general, and in particular the issue of prisoners sentenced to long prison terms,” Barghouti declared at the ceremony. Dominique Lesparre, the communist mayor of Bezons, accused Israel of waging a “genocide” against the Palestinians, and lauded Al Rimawi as “a participant in the intifada, the struggle for the right to self-defense…and to defend his country against the occupation. For his resistance, he has been in prison since 2002.” After the honor was bestowed on Al Rimawi, Dr. Moshe Kantor, of the European Jewish Congress stated that it was “inconceivable for an elected official to be so ignorant as to call a cold-blooded murderer a victim.” Kantor added that “this type of glorification of murder is sending a very ominous message to the next Merah” – a reference to Muhammed Merah, the French Islamist who carried out a bloody terrorist atrocity at the Ozar HaTorah school in Toulouse on March 19, 2012, during which a rabbi and three small children were murdered.

Hungary: Man threatened for writing book on Holocaust

Via CFCA:

Kiskunfélegyáhz - The prosecution has filed charges against a Budapest resident who sent threats by email to the prosecutor from Kecskemét, who is the author of a book about the holocaust.

According to an announcement of Schmidt Gábor, the book of the Kecskemét prosecutor is a documentary book about the city history in the time of the holocaust.

(...)

The person charged, 40 years old, read about the book on the internet and sent a threatening letter to the author’s private mail. In his letter, he used antisemitic comments and threatened to hurt him in order to force him to stop his activities related to the documentary book.

Day 30: Counting the Days till EU Condemns PA Incitement to Kill Jews

Following the murders in Jerusalem enabled by the constant Palestinian incitement to kill Jews, this blog will wait until one European country will step forward and condemn the PA for its incitement.

It is not enough to ask the PA to stop inciting.

It is not enough to condemn the terror attacks caused by such incitement.

European leaders must make it clear to the PA that incitement to kill Jews is unacceptable. That such incitement will mean no support for Palestinian aspirations for statehood. 

Until then, European leaders are encouraging Palestinians to kill Jews.

UK: School vandalized with swastikas (second time in a week)

@ShomrimOfficial

Police are investigating after graffitied swastika symbols have been found daubed on a primary school’s sign in Stamford Hill for the second time in a week.

Volunteers from Shomrim, the Jewish neighbourhood watch group, removed the graffiti symbols outside Jubilee Primary School on Filey Avenue on 18 December but the symbols appeared again this afternoon (22 December).

More: Hackney Citizen h/t CFCA

Europe: Anger simmers as EU Parliament shoots down anti-­Semitism task-force

Background: Europe: MEPs reject taskforce on antisemitism but have 28 'intergroups' for issues such as wine and fishing

The Jerusalem Post reports:

Jewish organizations reacted harshly to last week’s failure by the European Parliament to establish a task force on anti-Semitism despite initial support by a significant number of legislators. [...]

Polish Chief Rabbi Michael Schudrich went even further, telling The Jerusalem Post that the decision not to form a task force “shows a politicization of fighting anti-Semitism to an unprecedented level of cynicism.”

“The decision by the European Parliament to disregard the need for an intergroup task force focused on the growing threat of anti-Semitism in Europe is another failure of European leadership to recognize and understand their responsibility to assure the Jews of Europe a future of safety and dignity.

At the very moment when bold measures are called for to meet the challenges to Jewish life in Europe, the European Parliament has said ‘we really don’t care,’” said Anti-Defamation League chief Abraham Foxman. “Coming just days after the adoption of a resolution urging recognition of a Palestinian state, this decision may well be another example of how the Middle East conflict is used by European leaders as an excuse to do little or nothing about the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe.” 

Eli Ringer, the immediate past president of Belgium’s Forum der Joodse Organisaties, recalled demanding this past summer, as anti-Semitic riots broke out across Europe, that “in the new Commission of Europe a commissioner should be appointed handling the problem of racism and specifically on anti-Semitism.”

“We feel very much disappointed that the new president of the European Commission did not take notice of this demand. We have the feeling that Europe does not have any more interest in real values, but, [rather,] all the importance is put on economic issues. Europe does not understand the danger of anti-Semitism and has a short-term memory.... We do not pretend that we are in the same situation like before the war concerning anti-Semitism, but the danger of spreading exists, and all Europe could become victims – Jews and non-Jews alike,” he told the Post.

More: Jerusalem Post

Norway: Norwegian Church justifies Palestinian terror, denies Israel's Jewish history

It won't all fit in the headline, so I'll try to summarize here:

In honor of Christmas, and in the spirit of the season, the state Church of Norway hereby:
1. Justifies Palestinian terror
2. Denies the Jewish history of Israel and of Jesus and thereby denies Jews the right to their homeland
3. Prays for all those who are afflicted by the Holy Land conflict (though Jews are only mentioned as oppressors and occupiers)
4. Denies that Palestinian Christians incite hatred and murder against Jews

In other words: Lots of peace and love and harmony.

Via MIFF:

A new anti-Israel Facebook page "Tal sant om Betlehem" (Speak the truth about Bethlehem), features a petition by leaders of the Norwegian Church.  The signatories include Bishops Solveig Fiske, Tor B. Jørgensen and Erling Pettersen; Berit Hagen Agøy, General Secretary of the Ecumenical Council; and various priests, as well as leaders of the Palestine Committee.


The petition says as follows (translation and emphasis mine):

It is soon  Christmas.  As Christians we will celebrate the miracle of Jesus' birth in the manger.

We will remember the story of Joseph and Mary who traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem, two towns in Northern Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, respectively.

This petition insists that we have a calling to ask for solidarity with all those who are affected by the conflict in the Holy Land, and to witness the injustice the occupation entails for Christian and Muslim Palestinians.

Churches there have long urged Western churches to stand up against injustice and to share their pain.  We think it's wrong for the Church to deny injustice in today's Palestine when we commemorate the miracle of Palestine of yore, and we will emphasize the following:

* We will speak the truth about the city where Jesus was born, a Palestinian city of Christians and Muslims, where the entire population suffers under the occupation. The city is encircled by walls, fences and checkpoints. A portion of the wall was built within the city streets of Bethlehem. We will preach the gospel of the Prince of Peace, and the message of love and justice for all peoples and all believers.

* We will protest against a political status quo; that Israeli violence, arbitrary arrests particularly of children and adolescents, closed borders, travel restrictions, trade barriers and other humiliations remain the day-to-day life for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. The violence of the Occupation leads to Palestinian violence, and 2014 is a year of increased unrest and more were killed than have been for a long time.  A lasting political solution must be based on a principle of equality between all peoples and ethnic groups, Jews, Christians and Muslims.

• We will pray for the Palestinian Christians who administer the places where Jesus was born and the angels sang to the shepherds. We know that the Palestinian churches preach a message of reconciliation. They carry the hope that peace and justice will one day prevail. We encourage all believers in Norway to support the way of peace and righteousness. This way the occupation can be stopped, both occupier and occupied freed from the yoke of oppression, and dignity given back to all.

France: Shots fired at Paris synagogue

Unidentified gunmen opened fire at the David Ben Ichay Synagogue in Paris’ 19th Arrondissement late Monday night, police confirmed to the French-Jewish JSS News site.


Police said a bullet, apparently fired from an AirSoft gun at about 9:30 PM, went through a closed window of the religious center’s office, but did not hit the synagogue’s Rabbi Lousky or an assistant who were in the room.

More: Algemeiner

Finland: Ex-MEP says Helsinki sold city center property to spies and state terrorists (Chabad Lubavitch)

I’m not anti-Semite, says Esko Seppänen.

Just a couple of years ago Finnish politician Pertti Salonen stated that American Jews
had to a large extent, both media and money in their pockets. 

Esko Seppänen says that the Maritime Customs Barracks should not be sold to Jewish groups.

The former MEP Esko Seppänen criticizes the City of Helsinki’s decision to sell the old Maritime Customs Barracks to the cultural organization of the Chabad Lubavitch. In Seppänen’s view, the Orthodox Jewish organization could spy on Finland, being close to the Israeli secret service Mossad.

More: Tundra Tabloids

Day 29: Counting the Days till EU Condemns PA Incitement to Kill Jews

Following the murders in Jerusalem enabled by the constant Palestinian incitement to kill Jews, this blog will wait until one European country will step forward and condemn the PA for its incitement.

It is not enough to ask the PA to stop inciting.

It is not enough to condemn the terror attacks caused by such incitement.

European leaders must make it clear to the PA that incitement to kill Jews is unacceptable. That such incitement will mean no support for Palestinian aspirations for statehood. 

Until then, European leaders are encouraging Palestinians to kill Jews.

Europe: MEPs reject taskforce on antisemitism but have 28 'intergroups' for issues such as wine and fishing

Campaigners working to combat antisemitism have attacked the European Parliament's decision not to form a special group to tackle Jew-hatred across the continent.

Despite forming groups to deal with issues including wine, fishing and animal conservation, a proposal for a dedicated antisemitism taskforce was rejected by MEPs in Brussels last Thursday.  There are 28 new "intergroups" which contain politicians from all parties and are used for informal discussions and meetings with charities, think-tanks and members of the public. One group will consider "anti-racism and diversity" but there will be no specialist body dealing with antisemitism.

The JC understands more than 100 MEPs had pledged their support for a working group to tackle the rise of Jew-hatred across the continent. All of the European parliament's political groupings had also backed the plan. Jardena Lande, director of the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism (ICCA), said: "We had some amazing support from individual MEPs but when it came to the groups voting, they did not go for it. They accepted one on general racism because it is not exclusive to any one group. But given the climate and the year we have had, it's very disappointing." Ms Lande said the European Parliament had "special responsibility" for combating antisemitism given the continent's history and the current rise in incidents. "It's hugely questionable why they would not let us have a separate group on this issue right now," she said.

More: Jewish Chronicle

UK: BBC chief: Anti-Semitism makes me question Jews’ future in UK

The director of BBC Television said rising anti-Semitism has made him question the long-term future for Jews in the UK.

Speaking at a conference in Jerusalem on Sunday, Danny Cohen said the past year had been the most difficult for him as a Jew living in the United Kingdom. “I’ve never felt so uncomfortable being a Jew in the UK as I’ve felt in the last 12 months. And it’s made me think about, you know, is it our long-term home, actually. Because you feel it. I’ve felt it in a way I’ve never felt before actually,” he said in a conversation with Channel 2’s anchor Yonit Levi.

Cohen went on: “And you’ve seen the number of attacks rise. You’ve seen murders in France. You’ve seen murders in Belgium. It’s been pretty grim actually. And having lived all my life in the UK, I’ve never felt as I do now about anti-Semitism in Europe.”

More: Times of Israel

France: comedian Dany Boon gets insults and threats when he defends Israel (video)

What Dany Boon tells about the ferocity of anti-Israel sentiment in France helps to explain why so few prominent French Jews dare to defend Israel in public.

More: I24news

"In France, I get plenty of insults and threats when I defend Israel," said popular French comedian, director and actor Dany Boon, in an interview with i24news while in Israel on a visit to his wife's family.

He is planning to visit Israel more often and is concerned about the rise of anti-Semitism in France and elsewhere in Europe.

Boon, whose real name is Daniel Hamidou, born of an Algerian Kabyle father and a French Catholic mother, was raised as a Catholic.  He converted to Judaism about twelve years ago and is married to a French Jew.  He said that anti-Semitic stereotypes in France are deeply entrenched. "People make shortcuts, amalgams and often tell me 'now that you're Jewish you have become very rich,'" He replies "I was already rich when I was a Catholic, and I know poor Jews."

Dany Boon refuses to be drawn on his political views, but indicated that he is shaken by the level of violence in the region. His way to engage is to participate in humanitarian actions, such as "Hadassah", a Jewish charity, for which he has given many raise-funding performances.

Ukraine: "No to the Zhid Junta!" graffiti

Via CFCA:

Graffiti in Odessa: "A shame on the volunteers [to the Ukrainian army]. No to the Zhid Junta!"

Day 28: Counting the Days till EU Condemns PA Incitement to Kill Jews

Following the murders in Jerusalem enabled by the constant Palestinian incitement to kill Jews, this blog will wait until one European country will step forward and condemn the PA for its incitement.

It is not enough to ask the PA to stop inciting.

It is not enough to condemn the terror attacks caused by such incitement.

European leaders must make it clear to the PA that incitement to kill Jews is unacceptable. That such incitement will mean no support for Palestinian aspirations for statehood. 

Until then, European leaders are encouraging Palestinians to kill Jews.

Italy: "You are doomed like the blacks, the Jews and the gays"

Via CFCA:

Pontebba - threating letter against the Mayor of Pontebba, Ivano Buzzi:

"Mayor, you will burn alive like all black people that you want to bring to our home, you are doomed like the blacks, the Jews and the gays, you should finish in the stove and burn! You do not deserve to represent us, you who want to mix our race with inferior races. You and the Communists are destroying our country. Shame on you. You are not worthy to exist. We'll wait for you under your house. Long live the Duce ".

Turkey: Minister hints at Israeli links to Turkey’s ‘graft plot’

The so-called “parallel state,” which the Turkish government accuses of organizing a plot in last year’s corruption probe, started illegally gathering information on the government after two major crises with Israel, Interior Minister Efkan Ala has said, saying the “mind of the plot is abroad.”

“The Dec. 17 graft probe is only one phase of a process that started much earlier,” Ala was quoted as saying by Sabah, a daily newspaper close to the government, on the first anniversary of the corruption investigation, which embroiled Cabinet ministers, their relatives and a number of bureaucrats.

“We should considering the process from the ‘one minute’ incident. Everything starts at that point,” he said, referring to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s storming out of a World Economic Forum panel with Israeli President Shimon Peres on Jan. 29, 2009, after angrily protesting against the moderator and repeatedly shouting “one minute” in English.

“The hands of this plot attempt are inside the country while its mind is abroad,” Ala added, also highlighting the Mavi Marmara incident that occurred more than a year after Erdogan stormed out of Davos.

(...) 

In a Dec. 17 speech in the Central Anatolian province of Konya, President Erdogan also slammed “dirty international powers” and the “parallel state.”

“Those who are under protection in Pennsylvania cannot come here,” Erdogan said, referring to Gülen, who lives on a ranch in the U.S. state.

“Let them move together with the enemies of Turkey, with the Turkey-enemy media, with dirty international powers, and with their beloved country in the south,” he added, using a phrase he had previously used in apparent reference to Israel.

More: Hurriyet Daily News