Holland: Holocaust, aliyah made Dutch Jewry too small to sustain its institutions, community boss says

From JTA:

The effects of the Holocaust in the Netherlands and Jewish emigration have made Dutch Jewry’s communal institutions unsustainable, a key figure of that community said.

Michel Waterman, the director of the Crescas institute for Jewish culture, made the unusual statement during an interview published Tuesday in Het Parool daily ahead of his retirement this year from Crescas, which is the country’s main organization of its kind.

“We used to have Jewish schools, Jewish hospitals, old age homes, shops. Today’s Jewish community is too small to sustain its own infrastructure,” Waterman said.

The Netherlands used to have 140,000 Jews but the Nazis killed more than 75 percent olf them — the highest death rate in Nazi-occupied Western Europe. Thousands of Dutch Jewish families immigrated to Israel, or made aliyah.

The Jewish tradition, added Waterman, is not being transmitted from generation to generation in the Netherlands like it used to. “It’s happening much less than previously. Many families left. The Nazis almost succeeded in rooting out the Jewish People [in the Netherlands. [...]

But Waterman remained pessimistic in the interview. “We are experience a lack of cultural infrastructure. How will we create one? Where will we get Jewish educators from?” he demanded. Some Dutch Jewish institutions and frameworks, he said, “are severely damaged and reduced” in capacity.

In 2014, amid a spate of anti-Semitic attacks, Dutch Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs shocked many Dutchmen when he told local media that if not for his obligations to the communities he serves, he would leave, in part because of the anti-Semitism problem.

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UK: 'I was the campus anti-Semite'

Via Jerusalem Post:

Kasim Hafeez's pro-Israel activism on university and college campuses today, is a far cry from when he was a student himself. "I was the campus anti-Semite," he confessed, looking back to his days as a Politics student at Nottingham Trent, UK.

Hafeez, 32, is a British Muslim of Pakistani origin whose full time job now, is working as the Outreach Coordinator for Christians United for Israel. But some ten years ago, he was busy making noise on his own campus, in the opposite direction: "If Israel even sneezed in the wrong direction we were protesting. We held events with speakers who were blatantly anti-Semitic, but we couched it by saying they were anti-Zionist. I was generally obnoxious, loud and threatening," he admits.

(...)

"I think people are intrigued by fact that I'm not a Jew," he reflected. "There's almost a mindset that if you’re Jewish then you’re pro-Israel so a lot of Jewish voices get dismissed. I think it’s good when you have diverse voices speaking out in support of Israel because it also reflects the ground reality of Israeli society." Hafeez has visited Israel about a dozen times and the West Bank three times.

Of course, he has also experienced a lot of backlash, and learned to entirely avoid certain areas in Nottingham, where he used to live. He’s received hate mail to the point where he sounds almost blasé about death threats. “Yes, sometimes I get very poorly spelt and grammatically incorrect death threats on the Internet,” he laughed.

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Ukraine: Synagogue, cemetery vandalized in Kolomia

Via Jewish Press (h/t CFCA):

The front doorway of a synagogue in Kolomia in western Ukraine was sprayed with a swastika and anti-Semitic slogans Thursday night, an official of the local Jewish community has told TPS. The official, Jacob Zlishiker, said the identity of the perpetrator is not known, and added that these things are routine in this city, and police are treating them very seriously.

The local Jewish cemetery also sustained some damage overnight.

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France: Jewish man wounded in stabbing attack in Strasbourg

Via i24News:

A 55-year-old Jewish man was moderately wounded in a stabbing attack in the French city of Strasbourg Friday.

According to a report by the Daily Express, the perpetrator was a Muslim man who is said to have shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) during the attack.

The suspect has been taken into police custody, according to local media reports.

France's BFM-TV cited a source close to the investigation as saying that police have ruled out terrorism, but the motivation for the attack is still unclear.

Some initial reports said that the assailant suffered from a history of mental illness.

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UK: Holocaust denial ‘artist’ planning Edinburgh Fringe Festival performances

From #everydayantisemitism

Alison Chabloz, a self-styled singer-songwriter who was exposed by Campaign Against Antisemitism last year, has been attempting to find venues to perform in during the Edinburgh Festival. She was reported to have performed a quenelle, a neo-Nazi gesture targeted exclusively at Jews, and for antisemitic content she had performed which denied the Holocaust.

 In an article on her blog, Chabloz announced that she had approached several venues with a view to performing her Holocaust denial show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Her show, named “Tell Me More Lies”, claims to express “frustrations caused by smear campaigns waged against ‘Holocaust’ revisionists”, described by Chabloz to be “groundbreaking musical comedy interspersed with socio-political satire”.

However, much of Chabloz’s material simply mocks or outright denies the Holocaust. In one of her songs she describes Elie Wiesel’s books as “full of nonsense tales”, says of Irene Zissblat “I cannot speak Hungarian but oh boy can I lie”, and mocks Anne Frank. She employs antisemitic tropes singing “Bank notes, let’s print some more. We love to see you poor. Let’s start a war”, which play on baseless accusations that have been used to victimise Jews.  In another she sings “the Holohoax is plain to see” and claims there are attempts to “privilege one race” by stifling “freedom of speech” regarding the Holocaust. In such examples she seeks to persuade the public that the Holocaust was not a genocide perpetrated against Jews, but rather that it is a hoax perpetrated by greedy, conniving Jews against mankind. She preaches to all who will listen to her that the Holocaust was fabricated, that Jews were not massacred in their millions, and that it is in fact a ploy used by Jewish people to earn money.

She also sings “the shekel is his God”, referencing an antisemitic canard that Jews are preoccupied with money, and describes Auschwitz as a “holy temple” and “a theme park just for fools”.

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Poland: Antisemitic hate speech by a well known priest

From CJCA:

Polish priest, Jacek Miedlar, member of the Priests' Missionaries Association, unofficially the priest of Polish nationalists and far-right-wing soccer fans, tried to frighten his flock during a mass, telling that:

"Passive Jewish mob will try to throw you on your knees, then crawling, will try to grind faces of you, Jews want to swallow you, to digest you - for only reason - to spit you out because of your further uselessness." Any Polish bishop did not react for this hate speech.

When MP Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus informed Bielsko-Biala's Prosecutors Office about possible crime of hate-speech and incitement committed by the priest,  he answered her by Twitter threatening, that "in the days of the past for such persons as the MP only the razor was left for use."

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UK: Hitler salutes and abuse greet Israel festival-goers

Background: Israeli Fringe performers concerned at ‘growing UK anti-Semitism


From the Jewish Chronicle:

"I made it," gasped a smiling Lisa Epstein as she walked into the lobby of Edinburgh's Central Hall on Wednesday.

She and around 800 other visitors to the International Shalom Festival, a day-long celebration of Israel at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, had to run a gauntlet of jeers, heckles and abuse from pro-Palestinian activists as they arrived at the prestigious venue.

Shouts from the 150-strong baying crowd included "racist scum" and "shame on you". 

The protesters, most of them members of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, also chanted "your tickets are covered in Palestinian blood" and held banners which read "boycott and isolate Israel".  The sound of bombs exploding could be heard from a PA system. At one point, a group within the crowd taunted the visitors with Nazi salutes.

Nigel Goodrich, founder of Confederation of Friends of Israel Scotland which jointly organised the event with StandWithUs, said: "It started at 8am and got noisier as the day progressed. I have had complaints from many visitors, but especially from women who say their children have been called racist."
 
Edinburgh resident Susie Kelpie. added: "It's vile, intimidating and quite normal for any Israeli-flavoured event in this city." 

I brought my African friend here," said Koren Muscovich, "and the protesters screamed 'traitor' at him when he walked past. Luckily, he wasn't scared - he just thought they were ridiculous."

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Germany’s state-run station peddles anti-Israel water libel as news

From Honest Reporting:

Germany’s state-run broadcaster peddles anti-Israel water libel as news. Vijeta Uniyal fact-checked ARD’s report and found it woefully wanting.

A video report titled “Dry Faucets in West Bank” was broadcasted on Germany’s most watched news show. The video clip accused Israel of ‘rationing the water supply’ of the Palestinian and diverting water resources to the neighbouring ‘Israeli settlements’.

Related reading: “Water Apartheid” Was Really Just a Burst Pipe, But the Media Don’t Care

Sweden: The silence of the Jews

Ingrid Carlqvist @ Gatestone Institute:

One of the most visible effects of Muslim mass immigration into Sweden is that anti-Semitism is very much on the rise in the country. Swedish Jews are being harassed and threatened, mainly in the Muslim-dense city of Malmö, where in January 2009, the friction deepened during a peaceful pro-Israel demonstration. Demonstrators were attacked by pro-Palestinian counter demonstrators, who threw eggs and bottles at the supporters of Israel. The mayor of Malmö at the time, Ilmar Reepalu, failed to take a clear stance against the violence, and was accused of preferring the approval of the city's large Muslim population to protecting Jews. He remarked, among other things, that "of course the conflict in Gaza has spilled over into Malmö."

The situation in Malmö has twice been deemed so alarming that U.S. President Barack Obama sent Special Representatives to the city: Hanna Rosenthal visited in 2012, and Ira Forman came in 2015. "We are keeping an eye on Malmö," Forman told the media.

The harassment of Malmö's Jews was, for a long time, a mystery to the general public; Were neo-Nazis really walking the streets of Sweden's third largest city? Many believed that to be the case, until the local daily paper Skånska Dagbladet published a series of articles, in which the Jewish community finally pointed out the elephant in the room: Malmö's growing Muslim population.

Fredrik Sieradzki of Malmö's Jewish community explained that when he grew up, Jews could still wear a kippa (skullcap) without anyone bothering them: "Nobody dares do that now," he said.

Malmö Rabbi Shneur Kesselman, one of very few Orthodox Jews in Sweden who wears a traditional Hassidic black hat and frock-coat, has, in the last few years, filed more than 50 complaints with the police about various kinds of harassment. On May 31, 2016, an 18-year-old Muslim by the name of Amir Ali Mohammed was finally convicted of shouting "Jewish bastard" at Kesselman. The media, however, chose not to publish any information about Mohammed's name or religion. [...]

In February 2016, for example, the Danish-Jewish actor, Kim Bodnia, said in an interview with Israeli television, that the real reason he left the international hit television show, The Bridge (Bron), was the rampant anti-Semitism in Malmö, where much of the show is filmed.

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Belgium: Famous "pie thrower" vows to target French Jewish philosopher Alain Finkielkraut

Noël Godin is a Belgian author and "entarteur" who gained fame not for his writings but for throwing cream pies at famous people's faces.

Fearing the consequences, he obviously will never throw cream pies at the faces of Islamic hate preachers, but only at famous people who, he and his team, know full well will not hit back in a nasty way - their attacks are well planned and they operate in groups against the unsuspecting victim they are set to humiliate in public [see the list here]. 

Bill Gates was a target and "a regular target is French Jewish philosopher, socialite and writer Bernard-Henri Levy. After one attack, in 1985, an enraged Levy was filmed standing over Godin snarling "Get up, or I'll kick your head in"."  He has attacked him eight times and is prepared for a ninth.  One of the attacks against Levy took place in a church in Namur.  Obviously the Godin crowd would never dare to perform pie attacks in a mosque...

He has now set his sights on another French Jewish philosopher, Alain Finkielkraut.  He told a Belgian newspaper that when cartoonist Siné died, Alain Finkielkraut had slandered him by calling him an antisemite.  The newspapers readers reacted angrily at Godin's pronouncements and one pointed out that he had never targeted someone like Tarik Ramadan... a darling with the Belgian francophone establishment.

So what did Siné say and write about Jews? 

In 1982, shortly after a terrorist attack had taken place on Jews in Paris, Siné gave an interview on the radio during which he stated: "Yes, I am anti-Semitic and I am not scared to admit it [...] I want all Jews to live in fear, unless they are pro-Palestinian. Let them die." He later apologised for his comments.

 In July 2008, Siné's column in the magazine Charlie Hebdo contained this comment on Jean Sarkozy's rumoured impending conversion to Judaism so he could marry Jewish heiress Jessica Sebaoun-Darty: "He'll go a long way in life, this lad!" (Wikipedia)

Italian journalist suspended for ties to Hezbollah

Background: Did an Italian journalist collude with Hezbollah for a propaganda broadcast?


From Honest Reporting:

Following up on Michela Moni — the Italian journalist who duped Israeli political leaders and soldiers into interviews which subsequently appeared on a Hezbollah TV station — YNet columnist Smadar Perry reports that Moni was suspended from his job at Italy’s ANSA News Agency.

I assume that expressions of contrition will not help Moni in his disciplinary hearing. He acted dishonestly. When he requested the interviews (with the aid of an Israeli official with ties to the media), he made two promises: The first was that the interviews would be shown on the BBC and Al-Jazeera. The second was that it would be broadcast on “international media” outlets. It just so happened that politicians, experts, and one IDF major general casually fell into the trap. Who would give up an opportunity to speak to the “international media,” after all?

This embarrassing episode is an important lesson in media. I assume the politicians’ spokespeople fell for this trick because Moni used the respected ANSA name. Had they made even a single phone call to the Rome-based news agency’s Jerusalem offices, this fiasco could have been prevented. Nothing would happen to a spokesperson if they insist on finding out whether this interview really was on the up and up (again, it could be done in as little as one phone call). And to be honest, professional spokespeople should have been suspicious when they heard about an alleged cooperation between Al-Jazeera and the BBC.

Palestinian TV producer Ahmad Barghouti – who solicited Moni’s services to get the interviews, paid , and started this whole mess – cannot be found. He’s not responding to cell phone calls and has disappeared.

UK: Israeli Fringe performers concerned at ‘growing UK anti-Semitism

From Jewish News:

Israeli performers have raised concerns about “growing anti-Semitism in the UK” as they returned to the Edinburgh Festival following an absence sparked by targeted protests. 

The International Shalom Festival will bring Israeli performers to Edinburgh on Wednesday for the first time since 2014. 

Organisers say Israeli arts companies were deterred from visiting Edinburgh last year “following targeted protests and demonstrations in 2012, and threats of disruption in 2014 to Israeli performers”.

They say the event has received no funding from the State of Israel, and the festival has received cross-party political support in Scotland.  [...]

SNP MSP John Mason said: “For too long people have jumped to support either Palestine or Israel with little concern for the other side. We need more events like this so we all have a better understanding of all sides in that region.”

Conservative MSP Jackson Carlaw said: “The Edinburgh Festival is an opportunity for all to show their talents. It should not be a place for discrimination of one type of performer, Israeli.

“Too often in the past there have been problems with artists who may have received sponsorship from the Israeli Embassy being targeted.

“The Shalom Festival is a positive fightback.”

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UK: Labour meeting dissolves into "an open argument about whether randomly blaming Jews for things is antisemitic"

Via Jewish Chronicle:

According to multiple sources, one Corbyn supporter told the meeting “it's very difficult to get elected in this country without the support of Rupert Murdoch and the Israeli ambassador".

Padraig Reidy, a journalist who was at the meeting, wrote that: “The speaker contended that anyone who stood up for Palestinians was 'smeared' as an antisemite.”

According to tweets from people who were present, a woman who criticised the comment was shouted down by some members of the audience, while others supported her.

Steve Akehurst, a Labour Party member who was at the meeting, tweeted at that point, saying: “Meeting now dissolving into an open argument about whether randomly blaming Jews for things is antisemitic.”

Robbie Young, the LGBT officer of the National Union of Students, who was also present,tweeted that a speaker supporting Corbyn said “that antisemitism in the party is a factional lie.”

Another tweet, from Ana Oppenheim, a Corbyn supporter, said: “It was an awful meeting though and I hate voting the same way as people who defend antisemites and shout over women."

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Lithuania: City defends recreational events at former Nazi concentration camp

Via JTA:

The city of Kaunas in Lithuania defended the operator of a former concentration camp where recreational events are held near the graves of thousands of Jews killed by Nazis and local collaborators.

Deputy Mayor Povilas Maciulis made his defense of the Seventh Fort this week following an article published last month by JTA about summer camps, barbecue parties, treasure hunts and camping activities there. In 2009 the city privatized the site, which is run by a nongovernmental organization, the Military Heritage Center, headed by 37-year-old amateur historian, Vladimir Orlov.

“Yes, there are activities carried out in the museum, however, they are exclusively educational and pertaining to the museum’s purpose,” Maciulis wrote in a statement that he sent to several people a few days after the Israel director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Efraim Zuroff, asked the mayor to intervene to have festivities banned from the Seventh Fort – a former military complex that was turned into a camp in 1941.

During a July 12 visit to the Seventh Fort, JTA documented children playing and dancing near the barbecue corner at the entrance to the camp. Asked whether one could have a wedding reception at the site, Orlov told a JTA reporter: “This is not a problem, it sometimes happens here,” and said he would send a price quote in an email, which never arrived.

(...)

Zuroff told JTA he hoped the city would follow through but that the official reaction so far “is a cop-out.”

The failure to reply to his letter, he said, is indicative of a larger lack of motivation on the part of authorities in Lithuania to commemorate Holocaust victims seriously.

“Instead of treating the problem,” Zuroff said, “the municipality denies its existence.”

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UK: Corbyn supporters suggest Jewish judge’s decision can’t be trusted

Via Everyday Antisemitism:

Supporters of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn have taken to twitter to condemn Lord Justice Jack Beatson after the judge ruled in the Court of Appeal that the National Executive Committee has the right to block new members from voting in the leadership election.

The decision affects approximately 130,000 new Labour members, most of whom are expected to support Corbyn’s leadership.

Twitter users suggested that Lord Justice Beatson’s decision was due to the fact that he was “born in Israel”, a “Zionist” and referred to him as a “Zio”, an abusive term often used against Jewish students.

Another tweet referred to “cuckoos in the nest Israel lobby”.

One user noted that Lord Justice Beatson “went to a Jewish boarding school”.

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