At a elementary school in Iserbrook in Northern Germany several right wing and antisemitic graffiti were found.read more
Parents of several pupils found the graffiti, among them a daub at the door to the library that said "nicht für Juden" ('not for Jews').
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Almost half of members in Britain’s Labour party think the organization has no problem with anti-Semitism and believe a recent row on the issue has been confected by the media.
A poll of party members by YouGov for The Times newspaper found that 49 percent agreed with the statement “the Labour party does not have a problem with anti-Semitism and it has been created by the press and [party leader] Jeremy Corbyn’s opponents to attack him.”
It also found that, while 59 percent of members thought Corbyn was right to suspend the former London Mayor Ken Livingstone over controversial comments about Hitler, only 27 percent thought he should be expelled from the party permanently and 54 percent thought his comments were not anti-Semitic.
On Friday night, Fidesz vice president Szilárd Németh debated Viktor Szigetvári, president of the centre-left Együtt (Together) party on ATV, Hungary’s only centre-left cable news channel. Within minutes, the Fidesz politician was demonizing the refugees and migrants arriving in Europe, suggesting that “ordinary” Hungarians cannot co-exist with refugees in Hungary and implied that Hungarian opposition politicians were traitors allied to dark, foreign political and economic interests, because they oppose the upcoming Fidesz-initiated referendum on what the ruling party refers to as the European Union’s “obligatory settlement” of foreigners in Hungary. Mr. Szigetvári eventually suggested what, I suspect, many viewers were thinking: Mr. Németh was engaging in dog whistle antisemitism, coupled with explicit racism. It was at this point that Mr. Németh caused a stir, by getting up from his chair, unplugging his microphone and walking off the set–all on live television.
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As of late, regular, uncharitable references in Fidesz–including by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán himself–to Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros, all serve as a type of dog-whistle antisemitism. Mr. Németh offered an easily recognizable version of this narrative in the ATV debate, and this is what ultimately led to the end of the exchange.
“They are using all means available against the referendum, including their prominent Hungarian politicians,” remarked Mr. Németh.
“Go ahead, and say it: the terrorists, right?”–retored Mr. Szigetvári, as he tried to unpackage the third person and the thinly-veiled insinuations in the Fidesz co-president’s sentence. László Kövér, the Fidesz party Speaker of the Hungarian parliament, had infamously referred to opposition politicians previously as being “pen-wielding terrorists.”
“They are using their prominent financial interests here in Hungary,” continued Mr. Németh, to which Mr. Szigetvári responded:
“And the Jews too, I’m sure. Right?”
At this point, Mr. Németh went silent, and then indicated that he takes great offence.
“Whose economic agent am I?”–continued Mr. Szigetvári. “Whose economic interests do I represent, Mr. Németh?”–added the Együtt co-president.
“Good-bye”–were some of the last words uttered by the Fidesz vice president as he walked out of the studio on live television. “I’m not willing to sit down at the same table with a man like him,” said Mr. Németh, referring to his debate partner.
It is undeniable that the Fidesz vice president engaged in dog whistle antisemitism and overt racism on live television. It should be stressed, that in today’s Hungary explicit antisemitism is not generally acceptable in most quarters, even in Fidesz. This is why coded antisemitism is used so often and quite effectively. While it may not be socially acceptable behaviour to verbally attack Jews, en bloc, in public, racism directed against other demographics is more than permissible. It is possible that Mr. Németh was not consciously intent on engaging in dog whistle antisemitism on air, but perhaps hearing Prime Minister Orbán and other prominent Fidesz leaders use this vocabulary on a daily basis (disparaging references to George Soros and his “nefarious” economic and political might, as well as the idea of a sinister world conspiracy against the Hungarian nation), obviously leaves a mark. I would suggest that dog whistle antisemitism and overt racism now flows as naturally when Fidesz politicians talk, as cold water from the kitchen tap.
Police in London are searching for a man who reportedly approached a Jewish family with a metal bar and stick in his hand, and told them “Jews, move away, move away your children, a bomb is coming.” Shomrim, the Jewish neighbourhood patrol group, said that the man was described as a white male with a shaved head, wearing a dark grey short sleeve t-shirt and blue trousers.
Hackney police responded to reports of anti-Semitic abuse in Stamford Hill, which has a sizeable strictly-Orthodox Jewish community.
They were called to Osbaldeston Road, at 9.24pm on 16 May “following reports of a group of males in a car allegedly shouting anti-Semitic remarks to passers by”.
Anti-Semitism is “deeply embedded” in British culture, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said.
“We’ve seen a very sharp rise over the last year or so in anti-Semitic expression. It is absolutely intolerable,” Welby told a gathering of Jewish, Hindu, Sikh and Muslim leaders at his Lambeth Palace residence in London on Thursday (May 19).
“It’s deeply imbedded in so much of our culture in this country, as is racism,” added the archbishop, who is the spiritual leader of the world’s 75 million Anglicans.
The University of Turin is holding a conference about the Middle East called "From Caliphate to Caliphate: The Middle East from the Sykes-Picot Treaty to violent jihadism."
The third session of the conference was dedicated to Palestinian issues, and the only people who presented were known anti-Israel activists.
Diana Carminati, former professor of European Studies at the University of Turin, spoke on "The Contemporary Israeli project of settler-colonialism and the destruction of the Palestinian economy." She mentioned the tunnels being used to smuggle goods, but not a word about weapons.
Enrico Bartolomei of the University of Macerata spoke. He is also a member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and has written of "Israeli apartheid" and is against any peace process, saying, "Any political solution must aim at decolonization of historic Palestine, rather than a supposed (peace process) or the construction of statehood or national authorities."
Two other known anti-Israel, pro-BDS professors speaking were Marzia Casolari and Michelguglielmo Towers, who has said that Hamas has a "high degree of pragmatism."
Literature at the conference included materials calling Gaza an "open air prison" and describing Operation Protective Edge as a" macabre spectacle of death and destruction on a large scale." Very scientific.
Conference organizer Marzia Casolari, Professor of History at the university, emphasized that the rabid pro-Palestinian positions of the speakers would not affect the "scientific rigor" of the seminar. Rector Gianmaria Ajani defended the conference and said any criticism was "specious", say that a conference is "not a talk show where they offer a seat to any political position."
I am told by someone who attended that there were also accusations of Jews raping Arabs in 1948 mentioned at the conference.
The good news is that only 25 people - including media.
read moreA Muslim girl who took a “defiant” selfie at an anti-Islam protest in Belgium allegedly posted anti-Semitic comments on her Twitter, Facebook, and Ask.fm accounts, according to a Belgian former soldier and a leading Dutch website.
Zakia Belkhiri, 22, was lauded as an “inspiration” by the media as her picture next to Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest) protesters went viral.
But web sleuths have now claimed that Ms. Belkhiri’s “peace sign” in the picture is perhaps out of character for her. They claim she tweeted in 2012: “Hitler didnt kill all the jews, he left some. So we [would] know why he was killing them”.
The tweet, seen in these screengrabs, appears to have been sent on the 29th December 2012, is now circulating social media as people attempt to draw attention to Ms. Belkhiri’s alleged racist views. As Ms. Belkhiri has now deleted her account it is not possible to verify these tweets.
Shortly before she deleted her accounts, Ms. Belkhiri tweeted: “I DON’T HAVE ANYTHING AGAINST JEWS THOSE TWEETS ARE FAKE THEY ARE PHOTOSHOPPED BUT if you don’t believe me that’s your choice people”.
But social media users are also claiming her Ask.fm account allegedly read: “fuck that Jewish language” when she was asked if she wanted to learn Hebrew while critics claim her Facebook account expressed her hatred for Jews.
Immediately after the incident, Ms. Belkhiri deleted her Twitter account and told BBC Trending that “didn’t want to look like a girl who seeks attention”. It is unclear as to whether she told the same thing to the cameramen when she posed for pictures at the protest.
“Fuck that Jewish language”
The initial story was lauded by Buzzfeed, whose writers called Ms. Belkhiri an “inspiration”, and by the BBC, the Telegraph, the Huffington Post, Vox, Mashable, Mic, and hundreds of other websites around the world.
NBC’s Jake Heller was shocked to hear of these past alleged postings by Ms. Belkhiri.
But the Dutch website Geenstijl, which delivered a Dutch referendum on the European Union earlier this year, was less shocked: “Do you remember? The Muslim girl… what a mischievous opposition, when this innocent girl clearly demonstrated of all that white fascism. Unfortunately, she proved no exception, she proved the rule. She is the rule. The rabidly hating Jews rule where the average Muslim is concerned… The Internet does not forget. And screenshots are eternal. Oh yeah Zakia, you want fame? Enjoy it girl. We’ll keep an eye on you.”
Vandals destroyed headstones at a Jewish cemetery in Manchester on Wednesday, in what a senior police officer called “a sickening act of anti-Semitism.”
Police found 14 headstones knocked over and smashed at the Blackley cemetery, in northeast Manchester, the Guardian reported.Police are treating the vandalism as a hate crime, although no suspects have yet been apprehended, Superintendent Wasim Chaudhry, head of Greater Manchester Police’s North Manchester Division, said in a statement.
A concert by a controversial rock band has divided Israel’s Russian-speaking community, pitting fans against those who argue the band should be banned from Israel over allegations of anti-Semitism.read more
Konstantin Kinchev, the lead singer of ‘Alisa’ rejects charges that the band is anti-Semitic.
Describing himself as an “enlightened Russian nationalist”, Kinchev has long fought accusations of Nazi sympathies, suing a Russian newspaper for defamation in 1987.
But Alisa makes no secret of its use of Fascist and Nazi imagery in its music and performances.
Swastikas, the Hitler salute, and other symbols are regular parts of Alisa’s live shows. Lyrics of the band’s songs, critics argue, are also loaded with thinly veiled references to Jews and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
Despite this, however, the band has acquired a following in Israel, particularly among Russian-speakers. A concert scheduled for May 14th has already sold out. Nor is this month’s show the band’s first appearance in Israel.
I went to visit what was left of the 11 Kaufering concentration camps, along with the equally numerous mass graves containing camp victims. To my disbelief, even with maps, exact GPS coordinates, and a reasonable sense of my whereabouts, lots of time was often needed in order to find these sites. Directions are sometimes non-existent, and once a camp site is reached, there are often no indications at all that it was part of the worst crime in history.read more
On one camp ground, Kaufering VI, family villas have been built — with a McDonald’s conveniently nearby. Other camp grounds now have houses, small garden allotments, forests or agricultural fields. Having food grown on the place of a concentration camp seems, well, awkward.
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But then again, what should be done with these camp grounds? Using the grounds for more pragmatic purposes is clearly an option to many city planners. Furthermore, some — quite many, actually — argue that it is time to get over the war and think of more practical things in life. The perpetrators are mostly gone, and it was a long time ago.
Anti-Semitism has skyrocketed on social media, according to a study released Tuesday by the Shem Olam Institute and social media monitoring and analysis company Buzzilla.read more
The study revealed that anti-Semitism online was four times higher after September 2015, when the recent spate of terror attacks began in Israel, than it was before Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
“From October 2015 to March 2016 there was a significant increase in the average number of conversations showing anti-Semitic expressions,” the report said, according to Arutz Sheva. “For the purpose of the present research, anti-Semitism is defined as any deliberate verbal attack towards Jews and the Jewish people (including its history).”
According to the report, half of online anti-Semitic comments include rhetoric such as “Hitler was right.” At the same time, 22% include comments such as “I hate the Jews”; 11%, contain statements like”Burn the Jews” and “I hate the Jewish people”; and 6% contain epithets such as “Bloody Jews.” The study found that the Facebook pages with the most anti-Semitic comments are the pro-Hamas Middle East Monitor, with 710,000 followers, followed by Americans Against Genocide in Gaza, Images of Palestine, Israel Lies and Deceits, and the International Solidarity Movement.
Anti-Israel boycott campaign, the so-called BDS movement, and other anti-Israel groups are carrying out a coordinated campaign to hijack the May Day demonstrations in Germany with an aim of spreading their anti-Semitic and anti-Israel message. The blatant anti-Semitism and the hatred of Israel these groups propagates is getting so repugnant that it is unnerving even the old left-wingers who otherwise never missed a chance of criticising the Jewish State.
The attempts by some moderate groups to keep anti-Israel agitators from taking over the Labour Day events have failed. A resolution tabled by a prominent left-wing activist Jutta Ditfurth seeking to expel openly anti-Semitic groups from the event was rejected overwhelmingly by the organising committee, forcing Ditfurth and her environmentalist group groups to leave the alliance.
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Jutta Ditfurth is well acquainted with the German radical left. “Never before did we witness this sort of hate filled anti-Semitic discussion in a supposedly left wing alliance,” says the Frankfurt-based journalist who is active within the “Ecological Left” and has an office in Frankfurt’s old Town Hall.
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[…] Ditfurth maintains that there was always anti-Semitism [at the demonstrations] but “[organisers] always succeeded in making it clear that May Day in Berlin was not about Israel, but this time “things are substantially different.” Now the groups like BDS and F.O.R. that are primarily concerned with fighting Israel have joined the alliance [organising body] in a “raid-like” manner. [Author’s translation]
