UK/Spain: Penguin rebuts charge of antisemitism against author Pedro Baños

Via Guardian:

Penguin has undertaken a “thorough” review of one of its books, Spanish colonel Pedro Baños’s How They Rule the World, after allegations of antisemitism were made against its author. The publisher concluded that while Baños’s views are “robust”, they are not antisemitic.

How They Rule the World, which promises to reveal “the 22 secret strategies of global power”, was published by Penguin Random House imprint Ebury Press in April. Author Jeremy Duns began drawing attention to the book after he spotted links between the title and the cover, which bears an image of octopus tentacles. The octopus has long been associated with antisemitism; Hitler refers in Mein Kampf to the octopus of the supposed Jewish conspiracy for world conquest, and it was a frequently used symbol in Nazi-era propaganda.

Comparing the Spanish language edition of How They Rule the World with the English text, Duns found a section about the Rothschild family, a banking dynasty subject to many antisemitic conspiracy theories, which does not appear in the English translation. The Spanish edition contains three references to the Rothschilds, none of which appear in the English, including a section that compares their wealth with other rich families, and concludes: “It is clear that [the Rothschilds’] economic power is gigantic. As is their ability to influence in all senses, an aspect that, when considering their traditional distance from the media spotlight, has led to multiple speculations about their capacity to intervene in key global decisions.”

Baños is described by Ebury Press as “one of Europe’s top specialists in geopolitics, terrorism and intelligence”. A colonel in the Spanish army, he was previously the chief of counter-intelligence and security for the European Army Corps. In interviews with Spanish media, Baños has called the Rothschilds dominant and likened them to the Illuminati. On Spanish TV, he also once accused Israel of being behind the assassination of John F Kennedy.

Duns accused Penguin of having knowingly published “a Spanish antisemitic conspiracy theorist … because to cover it up they’ve removed passages about the Rothschilds. I think you’ll agree this is a pretty serious problem we’re facing. As usual, it’s about fact-checking, research, due diligence, and not doing them.”

Penguin said it was aware of the “serious concerns” raised about How They Rule the World, telling the Guardian that they had prompted it to take a close look at both the book and the author.

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Germany accused of mislabeling anti-Semitic attacks by Muslims as 'far right'

Via JTA:

The annual al-Quds Day march in Berlin is often cited as a prime example of the rise of so-called new anti-Semitism in Europe: hatred of Jews in connection with Israel, often by people from Muslim societies.

Despite attempts by organizers in recent years to suppress some expressions of anti-Semitism, the march by hundreds of participants features frequent calls about killing Israelis, Zionist conspiracies and chants of “free Palestine from the river to the sea.” Flags of terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah are on display, and imams regularly preach anti-Semitic verses from the Quran to the crowd in Farsi and Arabic.

“Under the guise of ‘Israel criticism,’ they use classic anti-Semitic stereotypes, identifying Israel as having ‘Jewish characteristics’: ‘domineering,’ ‘greedy’ or a ‘child killer,'” sociologist Imke Kummer observed about the marchers.

(Iran launched al-Quds Day in 1979 to express support for the Palestinians and oppose Zionism and Israel, and international events of support have followed. Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem.)

Such agitation is seen worldwide. To many, it’s especially troubling on streets where the persecution of Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators was so brutal that it moved whole societies in Europe to vow “Never again.”

Curiously, however, some of the incidents documented at the Quds Day march in Berlin have been classified by authorities as forms of far-right anti-Semitism, independent watchdog groups have discovered.

Critics say the march example and other mislabeled incidents are facilitating attempts to politicize anti-Semitism and complicating the apparently losing battle to solve it.

“It means we can’t really use the official statistics on anti-Semitism in Germany,” Daniel Poensgen, a researcher at the Department for Research and Information on Anti-Semitism, or RIAS, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Germany’s Interior Ministry did not respond to JTA’s request for comment.

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France: Anti-Semitic graffiti found at home of Muslim victim of Toulouse Jewish school killer

Via JTA:

The home of the Muslim mother of a victim of the jihadist killer Mohammed Merah from Toulouse was sprayed with anti-Semitic threats.

Latifa Ibn Ziaten, whose son, Imad, was murdered in 2012, discovered the graffiti Monday, she wrote on Twitter. One graffiti, written in misspelled French, read: “Jew, soon dead.” Another said: “Your time is coming soon, dirty Jew.” Ibn Ziaten, who has traveled to Israel in the framework of her activism against anti-Semitism and hatred, spoke at a convention of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jews of her indignation when she hears young Muslims speak of Merah as a martyr.A third read: “Long live Merah.”

Latrfa Ibn Ziaten has campaigned with French Jews against anti-Semitism.

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pics @ https://twitter.com/LatifaIbnZ/status/1138012568579182593

Belgium: Iraqi man with kippah and knives stopped at entrance to Antwerp synagogue

Via Times of Israel:

A non-Jewish Arab man wearing a kippah and carrying several concealed knives was intercepted by guards as he attempted to enter an Antwerp synagogue.

The 34-year-old Iraqi citizen was questioned by guards when he tried to enter the Romi Goldmuntz Synagoge in the Belgian city on Monday, during the holiday of Shavuot, the Joodse Actueel newspaper reported Tuesday. The man said he spoke neither Hebrew nor Yiddish but insisted he was a member of the city’s Jewish community, the report said, citing police sources.

The guards — members of the community’s Shmira security service — had approached the man with some suspicion because they saw him arrive on a bicycle, a means of transportation that few observant Jews in Antwerp use on Jewish holidays.

The man did speak good Flemish, the report said. The guards called police, who detained the man for questioning.

“He came in wearing a hat and a kippah and pretended to be Jewish, but it was immediately clear to us he did not belong to the Jewish community,” one guard, who was not named, told Joods Actueel.

Attempts to gain access to synagogues, which are restricted to worshipers for security reasons, are common in Antwerp. But such attempts by men carrying knives are extremely rare.

Still, the incident may not have been an attempted attack, Joods Actueel wrote. The knives he carried were small, not much larger than the blade of a pocket knife, and the man seemed not entirely focused, the report said.

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