The New Antisemite

Friday, June 3, 2016

Thirty one countries adopt working definition of antisemitism

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) has adopted a working definition of antisemitism.

The IHRA, which is made up of 31 member countries, and has a unique mandate to focus on education, research and remembrance of the Holocaust, agreed on the non-legally binding definition last month. The definition states: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.

Europe: The EU is such an honest broker

Elder of Ziyon reports:

From Haaretz yesterday:

The European Union sent a very harsh message to Israel a few days ago regarding the demolition of Palestinian structures in Area C of the West Bank, including some that were built with EU funding. In a meeting with the coordinator of activities in the territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai last week, the EU ambassador to Israel, Lars Faaborg Andersen, warned that a continuation of the massive demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank is liable to harm relations between the EU and Israel.
According to international law, Israel has full civil and security control of Area C. In legal terms, this is not under dispute. If you want to build there, there is only a single authority through which you must apply for permits: the IDF. Everything else that is built is illegal, by definition.

The EU is complaining that Israel is upholding the law.

Now, there is nothing wrong with the EU complaining that Israel is applying the law unevenly, or for them to use diplomacy to loosen up the permit program. But Israel is obligated to enforce its laws on building in Area C.

When the EU says that Israel must allow illegal building, they are saying that the Oslo accords and the accords that followed - the only documents in international law that determine who is responsible for the West Bank's day to day affairs - are nul and void. Moreover, they are saying that instead of the final border being determined by negotiations, which is the official position of the Western world, they are saying that much of Area C is already Palestinian territory before the fact.

This goes hand in hand with the French initiative this week. The EU is trying to force a solution on Israel and is more than willing to flout international law to do so.

UK: Corbyn pans Jewish journalist for coverage of anti-Semitism claims

Corbyn repeatedly said he takes antisemitism seriously. Here's the 'behind-the-scenes' look at how seriously he takes it.

Via Times of Israel:

UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn takes aim at top British Jewish journalist Jonathan Freedland in a new fly-on-the-wall documentary aired Wednesday, accusing the veteran Guardian columnist of “subliminal nastiness” in his coverage of the claims of widespread anti-Semitism in the party.

Corbyn said on film that Freedland is “kind of obsessed” with him, basing his claim on a column piece in which the journalist accuses Labour of having an anti-Semitism problem.

In a phone call with his director of strategy Seumas Milne, Corbyn accused Freeland of “utterly disgusting subliminal nastiness” over the March opinion piece entitled “Labour and the left have an anti-Semitism problem.”

“He’s not a good guy at all. He seems kind of obsessed with me,” Corbyn says of Freedland.

UK: Co-operative Group boycotting Israeli produce

The Gatestone Institute reports:

The UK's Co-operative Group is closely linked to -- and a major funder of -- the Co-operative Party, which has an electoral pact with the Labour Party, the UK's official opposition.

This assumes that those advocating the boycott know exactly where the new borders between Israel and a future Palestinian state will be, despite that they are yet to be determined through negotiation. The enterprises boycotted by the Co-op Group employ many local Arab workers, whose livelihoods are endangered by the boycott.

The Co-op Group continues to refer to Israel's "illegal settlements" as if these were the only disputed territories in the world. There is no boycott, of course, of major exporting countries with appalling human rights records, such as China (invasion of Tibet), Russia (invasion of the Ukraine) and other countries whose occupation of other areas is not recognized internationally, such as Nagorno-Karabakh or Northern Cyprus.

As usual, of all the countries in the world, Israel is being singled out. For the boycotters of the Co-op Group, Israel is the usual soft target.

The Co-operative Group is the only major British retailer to boycott Israeli goods. It is the fifth-largest retail grocery chain in the UK, with thousands of Co-op minimarkets throughout the United Kingdom. The Co-operative Group (formerly known as the Co-operative Wholesale Society) is closely linked to -- and a major funder of -- the Co-operative Party, which has an electoral pact with the Labour Party, the UK's official opposition. The Co-operative Party has, like the Labour Party itself, been infiltrated by a strong anti-Israel faction.

The Co-operative Group is the fifth-largest retail grocery chain in the UK, with thousands of Co-op minimarkets throughout the United Kingdom. Right: The Co-operative Group head office in Manchester. (Image source: Co-operative Group/Wikimedia commons)

The "co-operative movement" in England began in 1844 when a group of people in Rochdale, Lancashire decided that local stores were charging too much for food, and decided to set up a co-operative retail outlet. From there, the movement mushroomed until, at one time, it even had a flagship department store in London's premier shopping street, Oxford Street, as well as farms, pharmacies and funeral services, to say nothing of the Co-operative Bank, its most lucrative enterprise.

The co-operative movement is also linked to the Co-operative Party, a political party with close links to the British Labour Party, a relationship that dates back to the Co-operative Congress held in 1917, which eventually led to an agreement between the Co-operative Party and the Labour Party to elect joint "Labour Co-operative" candidates. At the last general election in 2015, 21 members of parliament were elected on the Labour and Co-operative ticket.

In 2013, a scandal hit the Co-operative Bank, when it was discovered that there was a massive shortfall in funds due to corruption and mismanagement at the top. The Co-operative Group suffered a terrible financial blow, losing many millions of pounds. This resulted in an entire re-organization of the Co-operative Group, including the sale of the pharmacies and most of the Co-operative Bank (the Co-operative Group still has a 20% share but the bank has demutualized, meaning it is now mainly owned by a hedge fund and is no longer a mutual fund owned by the members).

Greece: Golden Dawn lawmaker says Israel ‘eternal enemy’ of Greeks, Christians

Via JTA (h/t CFCA):

Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos called on the Justice Ministry to take action against a neo-Nazi lawmaker after he made anti-Israel comments in parliament.

Speaking during a debate in parliament on Monday, Christos Pappas, from the Golden Dawn party, called Israel an “eternal enemy of Greece and Orthodoxy.”

Pappas was speaking during a debate on the ratification of Greece’s international agreements with other countries.

“The state of Israel implements genocidal methods and is a regional troublemaker,” he said, according to the Kathemirini newspaper, asking how “a state like Israel could possibly have relations with Greece, which is the cradle of civilization and humanism.”

Via bhol, h/t CFCA:

An Italian man stood at the entrance to a synagogue in the Jewish district of Once in Buenos Aires and threatened passers-by, telling them there's a reason Jews are persecuted all over the world and that he intends to bomb Jewish community centers.

The man was arrested but then released without interrogation. The local Jewish security organization therefore published his picture and asks Jews to be alert.

UK: Palestinian Ambassador Afif Safieh: "Without antisemitism, Zionism would have failed"

Every day, every month, every year there are, in Europe, lots of discussions like this one - anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, pro-Palestine. European's obsession with Jews and Israel never wavers.

Harry's Place reports:

Afif Safieh is generally considered to be the top ranking Palestinian diplomat and is based in the United Kingdom at the moment. He has previously been based in Washington DC and Moscow. Recently he gave a speech in SOAS [University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies] during the launch of a book by Salman Abu Sitta. He spoke at some length about the Holocaust and about Palestinian suffering.

Here’s what he started off saying:

“I’m happy and proud that Germany apologised and re-apologised to Jews for the atrocities of WWII. I’m happy as a Roman Catholic that the King of Spain has apologised for Spanish Catholic inquisition, I’m glad that the Queen of England some years ago apologised for the treatment of aborigines and Ilan Pappe I think would agree that Israelis and those who identified with them it’s high time for them to apologise to the Palestinians for the historical devastating damage that was irreparably done 100 years ago.”
And then a couple of minutes later proceeds to speak about antisemitism:

“Now now let me tell you ladies and gentlemen today we are living and we will continue in the coming weeks we are living a great controversy over antisemitism, I would like to tell you, I as a Palestinian am against any racial discrimination against any out of principle out of principle…but also out of selfish egoistical, egotistical self-interest because I believe that antisemitism has been extremely detrimental to our people. Without antisemitism, Zionism would have failed. Until the 1930s Zionism was a minor tendency within Jewish communities, it’s Hitler and his atrocities that drove Jews into the hands of Zionism and it is his atrocities that gave them what they thought was immunity from criticism from now until eternity.

Europe: Khomeini was an enthusiastic “connoisseur” of European anti-Semitism

Ben Cohen @ The Tower:

Bernard Bouton, France

JNS.org – A haredi Jew looks into a mirror and sees the face of Adolf Hitler gazing back at him. The walls and guard towers of Auschwitz are squeezed into a snow shaker, with flying dollar bills replacing the fake snowflakes. Another haredi Jew waves a swastika-shaped fan at an Israeli flag, which blows furiously atop a corpse draped in a Palestinian flag.
Not enough? There’s more. The gates of Auschwitz, adorned with the deadly motto “Arbeit Macht Frei,” swing open to reveal the Al-Aqsa mosque, which sits on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, devils’ horns jutting from his forehead, gives a Nazi salute; instead of his usual business suit, he wears a bloodstained brown uniform, with a Star of David rendered as a swastika decorating the sleeve.

Pablo Utiel, France

These are just a selection of the entries submitted to Iran’s latest Holocaust cartoon contest, currently on display in Tehran at the none-too-subtly named Islamic Propaganda Organization. By and large, the cartoons are crudely drawn, in keeping with the themes that they promote. [...]

This is not a recent development, nor is it related to Israeli policy or anything Israel actually does. Anti-Semitism among Iran’s Islamists in fact precedes the creation of the State of Israel. In his excellent book “Germany and Iran: From the Aryan Axis to the Nuclear Threshold,” German historian Matthias Kuentzel described the massive audience in Iran for Radio Zeesen, a Nazi propaganda outlet that

Zeon, France, won first prize

broadcasted programming in Farsi. Among the listeners was the figurehead of Iranian Islamism, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. According to Kuentzel, Khomeini was an enthusiastic “connoisseur” of European anti-Semitism. “They are liars and determined,” Khomeini wrote in a tract entitled “The Islamic State.” There was also the following claim, based on the same wretched fantasies that lead to Holocaust denial: “We see today that the Jews (may God curse them) have meddled with the text of the Qur’an and have made certain changes in the Qur’ans they have printed in the occupied territories.”

These same views prevail among Iran’s leaders today, no matter what [Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad] Zarif says. Indeed, to disavow Khomeini would be unthinkable in the current context, as demonstrated by the recent election of Ayatollah Ahmed Jannati as head of the “Assembly of Experts,” a key ruling body that chooses the supreme leader.

Luc Descheemaeker Belgium, won
honorable mention

Jannati is a boilerplate fanatic who leads chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” at Friday prayers. It was Jannati who, in 2009, backed then president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s blood-drenched crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators. The regime that existed in 2009 still exists today, with the same mechanisms of fearsome repression at its disposal. It cannot be reformed, and certainly not from within. But—heretical as it is to say this—it can, and should, be overthrown.

read more

Steffen Jahsnowski, Germany

Santiagu, Portugal

Luca Ionel, Switzerland

Thomas Losfeld, France

Cartoons: Second International Holocaust Cartoon Contest

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Ukraine honors nationalists whose troops butchered Jews

Via JTA:

Amid a divisive debate in Ukraine on state honors for nationalists viewed as responsible for anti-Semitic pogroms, the country for the first time observed a minute of silence in memory of Symon Petliura, a 1920s statesman blamed for the murder of 50,000 Jewish compatriots.

The minute was observed on May 25, the 90th anniversary of Petliura’s assassination in Paris. National television channels interrupted their programs and broadcast the image of a burning candle for 60 seconds, Ukraine’s Federal News Agency reported.

A French court acquitted Sholom Schwartzbard, a Russia-born Jew, of the murder even though he admitted to it after the court found that Petliura had been involved in or knew of pogroms by members of his militia fighting for Ukrainian independence from Russia in the years 1917-1921. Fifteen of Schwartzbard’s relatives perished in the pogroms.

Separately, the director of Ukraine’s Institute of National Remembrance, Vladimir Vyatrovich, said in a statement on Monday that Kiev will soon name a street for two other Ukrainian nationalists — Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych — who are widely believed to be responsible for lethal violence against Jews. Another street is to be named for Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit, a Polish Jewish teacher who was murdered in Auschwitz.

Poland: Teen arrested for smashing Holocaust memorial

Via Times of Israel:

A teenager in Poland was arrested for allegedly smashing a Holocaust monument and scrawling anti-Semitic slogans and a neo-Nazi symbol on it.

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The 16-year-old had escaped from a state juvenile care center, the PAP news agency reported Tuesday, quoting a police spokeswoman. The teenager did not say why he smashed the Star of David on the monument in Rajgrod, in northeast Poland, the spokeswoman said.

Police said the boy last week spray-painted offensive slogans and Odin’s cross, a neo-Nazi and white supremacist symbol, on the monument. The slogans were “Send you the gas” and “F— the whores,” according to police.

The monument in Rajgord, 130 miles from Warsaw, was previously vandalized in 2015, some six months after its unveiling.

France: Jews fleeing antisemitism become internal refugees

The Times of Israel reports:

Some abandon France for Israel, but many more escape violence, harassment at the hands of Muslim neighbors by moving to Jewish population centers.

When Alain Benhamou walked into his apartment near Paris in July 2015 and saw the words “dirty Jew” scrawled on the wall, he knew it was time to leave.

It was his second such break-in in less than three months and the 71-year-old no longer felt welcome in Bondy, a Parisian suburb he had called home for more than 40 years.

“Until the years 2000-2005, the town was nice and quiet, with 250 to 300 Jewish families and synagogues full on the Sabbath,” Benhamou says. “Now, only about a hundred Jewish families remain.”

Benhamou is part of a growing number of French Jews who have effectively become internal refugees, fleeing insecurity and seeking protection in numbers in an atmosphere they say is increasingly hostile, and often expressed in relation to conflict in the Middle East. He moved a few miles south to Villemomble, where there is a larger and more established Jewish community.

But others have fled France altogether. A record 8,000 or so French Jews moved to Israel in 2015 alone, according to Israeli figures, in the year that a jihadist gunman linked to the Charlie Hebdo newspaper attackers killed four Jews in a kosher supermarket. [...]

In nearby Raincy, Rabbi Moshe Lewin shares Benhamou’s pessimism, fearing he could be one of the last Jewish leaders in Seine-Saint-Denis.

“What upsets me is that in some areas of France, Jews can no longer live peacefully, and that just five minutes from my home, some are forced to hide their kippas (skullcaps) or their Star of David,” he admits.

Even areas with a strong Jewish population, such as Sarcelles to the north, still have major problems.

Francois Pupponi, the Socialist mayor of Sarcelles, says many Jewish residents come to him for help with stories of being assaulted or having swastikas daubed on walls outside their homes. Some have been caught in “extremely violent situations” that in some cases required families to be “urgently rehoused,” says Pupponi.

He become aware of “a phenomenon of internal migration” about five or six years ago, which he says “is getting worse.”

UK: Sinn Féin MEP says Israeli lobbyists are 'like a rash'

Via Ynet News:

Martina Anderson, an Irish member of the European Parliament, said Israeli lobbyists were “all over this place like a rash” during a parliament meeting on Wednesday.

Anderson was moderating a discussion dedicated to health issues and sanitation in Gaza and the West Bank when she compared the lobbying efforts of Israeli and Jewish groups to the efforts by Palestinian groups.

“We know that the Palestinians do not have the same capacity or personnel as the Israelis do,” said Anderson. “The Israelis are all over this place like a rash – they are lobbying to no end.”

Via glykosymoritis:

Nationalist socialist antisemitic graffiti on the side of Samuel Beckett bridge #Dublin2016

UK: Jewish journalist targeted for anti-Semitic abuse after posting about 'gay-inclusive book'

Via Jewish News:

Police have launched an investigation after the Jewish founder of PinkNews received hundreds of anti-Semitic and homophobic messages online.

Benjamin Cohen tweeted that he had read “gay inclusive book” about a prince finding a same sex partner to his two young nieces, but within hours faced a barrage of hate-fuelled abuse. Some of those responsible have also targeted other high-profile Jewish figures.

He said he had wanted to make public a “lovely moment” with his sister and was shocked at the reaction. Although he had previously been targeted online, he told Jewish News it had never been “so vitriolic” or in such numbers, which he estimated to be in excess of 300 in the space of less than a day.

One message said: “If all Jews would go gay and lesbian we’d all be happy. Would save on our gas bill later.” Another said “Can’t survive an AIDS shoah.” He was also accused of “child abuse” and “perversion”.

France: Actress complimented for not looking Jewish, says she often hears antisemitic comments

Via Algemeiner (h/t Honestly Concerned):

Popular French-Israeli actress Julia Levy-Boeken said that people would be shocked at the antisemitic comments people say in front of her, assuming she is not Jewish.

In an interview on Sunday with French magazine Paris Match, Levy-Boeken, who was born in France, was complimented by the interviewer for not having a “Jewish appearance” — and for not even “look[ing] like an Israeli” — and asked whether she had personally encountered antisemitism.

Immediately taking issue with the question, Levy-Boeken said that “Israeli girls are the most beautiful in the world” and that her “European” looks enable her to know what people around her really think.

“It is precisely because of my blond hair and fair skin that many people think I’m not Jewish, and I often hear comments that they wouldn’t dare say if they knew, like, ‘They [Jews] are everywhere’ or, ‘We are no longer the majority here.’ This has shocked me more than anything,” she said.

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