greece 2008/9

 

A total of 13 antisemitic incidents of vandalism and graffiti were recorded during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead (late December 2008−mid-January 2009), compared to only 3 such incidents throughout the year 2008. Politicians, popular Greek figures, senior clerics and local officials, as well as the mass media, resorted to antisemitic references in their harsh criticism of Israel during this period. MEP George Karatzaferis, leader of the far right LAOS party, published a virulently antisemitic article in the official party weekly Alpha Ena.

 

 

the jewish community

The Jewish population of Greece is estimated at 5,000 out of a total population of 10 million. There are eight active communities, the main ones being Athens, Thessaloniki and Larissa, which have synagogues, Jewish primary schools, cultural centers, museums and homes for the aged. The Kentriko Israilitiko Symvoulio (Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece – KIS; hereafter, the Board) is the governing body of Jewish communities. Jewish periodicals and books are published by the Board, the Athens and Thessaloniki communities and the Jewish Museum of Greece.

 

political parties and groups

The far right, nationalist and xenophobic LAOS (Popular Orthodox Rally) party, led by founder George Karatzaferis, has been represented in the Greek parliament since 2007 and has 10 seats (see ASW 2007). Karatzaferis was also elected to the European Parliament in 2004. Since then, Karatzaferis has attempted to project a new political profile devoid of antisemitic statements; however, during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead, he published a virulently antisemitic attack (see below). Karatzaferis disassociated himself from antisemite and Holocaust denier Kostas Plevris, who gained the majority of votes for the LAOS ticket in the 2004 general election (although the party did not win any seats then) and who left the party that year. He was replaced by his son Athanasios Plevris, who was elected to parliament on the LAOS ticket in 2007. Athanasios was also his father’s defense lawyer during the trial concerning the publication of his antisemitic book Jews − the Whole Truth (see ASW 2007 and below). Another LAOS MP is former party spokesman Adonis Georgiades, who was one of the defense witnesses for Kostas Plevris in the trial. On his show, broadcast on Teleasty, the TV station owned by Karatzaferis, he advertised Plevris’ book.

In 2005, the extreme right nationalist and xenophobic Elliniko Metopo (Greek Front), founded in 1994, merged with LAOS. Its president Makis Voridis was elected to parliament in 2007. Despite his ties to the French Front National and its leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, Voridis has no record of antisemitic statements.

Chrissi Avghi, the principal neo-Nazi organization in Greece, has been behind many incidents of antisemitic vandalism and graffiti over the years. Operating in ten major cities, it publishes a weekly newspaper, Chrissi Avghi, as well as the magazine Antepithessi (Counter-Attack), which contains a supplement in English.

 

Antisemitic activity

A total of 13 antisemitic incidents of vandalism and graffiti were recorded during Israel’s Operation Cast Lead (December 27−January 18) compared to only 3 throughout the year (8 in 2007). In February 2009, the number of incidents declined to one, reported in Ioannina, where swastikas appeared on the gate of the Jewish cemetery.

 

The Year 2008

In May, a gravestone was broken and glass fragments were spread in the alleys and around the graves of the Athens Jewish cemetery. In August, a video showing a young man urinating on the Holocaust memorial on the island of Rhodes, against a background of rock music with violent antisemitic lyrics, was aired on YouTube. The recorded act was committed by the self-proclaimed “Antisemitic Group of Venetokleio Senior High School of Rhodes.” The Board sent protest letters to the ministers of interiors and education. It also filed a complaint with the District Attorney’s office and notified the Authority against Electronic Crimes. In September, the general secretary of the Education Ministry visited the school where he lectured on tolerance. The school’s students denied any connection to the incident.

            In November, graffiti reading “Juden Raus,” signed by the neo-Nazi Chrissi Avghi, appeared on an underpass of one of Athen’s major thoroughfares.

The Metropolitan Bishop of Piraeus wrote an encyclical letter on the occasion of the Christian festivity of the Dormition of the Madonna (on August 15) accusing “the directorates of Zionism, the contemporary illuminati, alias the followers of Lucifer” for the adoption of a recent law allowing cremation of the dead.

The mainstream daily Avriani published an antisemitic article on its front page on November 4. “The anticipated victory of Obama in the US elections signals the end of Jewish domination,” it said. Everything is changing in the US and we hope that it will be more democratic and humane.” The allusion is to the link between American Jewish organizations, the so-called Jewish lobby, and the US government. The American Jewish Committee, in cooperation with the Board, issued a press release condemning the article.

 

The Period of Operation Cast Lead

There was a revival of anti-Israelism in Greece with the onset of Israel’s Gaza operation in late December after a period of relatively little anti-Israel foment, and the level of antisemitic activity escalated. Greek public opinion is overwhelmingly pro-Palestinian. Politicians, popular Greek figures, senior clerics, public administrators and mayors, as well as the mass media, made harsh anti-Israel statements that were often tainted with antisemitism (such as drawing parallels between Israelis and Nazis and Gaza and Auschwitz).

 

Incidents against Jewish Targets

Between December 31, 2008 and January 21, 2009, Jewish sites, such as synagogues, Holocaust monuments and cemeteries, were desecrated with antisemitic graffiti and slogans in Athens, Larissa, Volos, Corfu, Veroia, Drama, Komotini and Ioannina. Catchphrases such as “Jews = murderers” and “Jews=Nazis” were common in all cases. In Veroia there was an arson attempt on the synagogue door while in Larissa, someone tried to tear the Magen David from the door of the synagogue and force entry into it. Several tombstones were damaged in the Jewish cemetery of Ioannina.

 

Political and Public Reaction

At the official New Year’s Eve reception on January 1, President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias stated: “Aren’t they [the Israelis] ashamed of killing children?” The Greek press also reported that Papoulias asked Former Primer Minister Konstantinos Mitsotakis (1990−93, who recognized Israel in 1990 and upgraded Greek-Israeli diplomatic relations): “What are our friends, the Israelis, doing? Are they flying airplanes and killing in cold blood?” On the other hand, Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis did not mention the Gaza issue, while Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis made some careful, balanced statements.

The main opposition party PASOK adopted a clearly pro-Palestinian position. Neither the leader of the opposition, George Papandreou, who is also president of the Socialist International, nor any MP from PASOK referred to Israeli victims of Hamas. In an interview with the mainstream weekly Real News, the political spokesman of PASOK, MP Andreas Loverdos (January 4, 2009), stated: “One cannot keep an equal distance from unequal subjects... We have harassment from one side and hundreds of deaths on the other. …I believe that today Greeks could say that ‘we all feel like Palestinians’!” In a letter to the Israeli ambassador that was leaked to the press, Theodoros Pangalos, parliamentary spokesman of PASOK, explained to the former that he could not accept a New Year’s gift of wines produced in the Golan “which Israel illegally occupies,” and compared Gaza to the Warsaw Ghetto.

Some representatives of left-wing parties crossed the line to antisemitism. Alexis Tsipras, leader of the Synaspismos coalition spoke of “genocide against the Palestinian people,” and claimed that the Israelis had “turned Gaza into an immense concentration camp, exterminating civilians, women and small children.” Asking the government to recall the Greek ambassador from Israel, Alekos Alavanos, chairman of the Parliamentary Group of Synaspismos, defined the Israeli attacks as a “crime against humanity” and said “the EU should condemn, instead of encouraging, Israeli pogroms against the Palestinian people.” Synaspismos MEP Dimitris Papadimoulis submitted an interpellation to the EU Council demanding that Israel be tried for war crimes by The Hague International Court.

On the far right, LAOS leader and MEP George Karatzaferis published a virulently antisemitic article in the official party weekly Alpha Ena (January 3−4, 2009), stating that “the Jews have turned themselves into murderers as equally heinous as the Nazis,” that “the Jew smells of blood,” and that one would not expect any better from the “race that crucified God. Would the murderers of God care about a few hundred innocent children being murdered?”

There was no reaction from any Greek political figure. The Board addressed a letter of protest to the president of the Greek Parliament, Dimitris Sioufas, pointing out that Karatzaferis’ attack was “unique in Greek records, as well as being an open expression of antisemitism, coming from a member of the Greek Parliament and even a leader of a political party.”

After the Special Secretary of the Greek Parliament communicated the Board’s protest to the LAOS parliamentary group, Karatzaferis responded through him to the Board, also publishing the letter in Alpha Ena (January 24−25, 2009). Though conciliatory toward Greek Jews, his tone remained ironic and antisemitic: “They are certainly right. It is not the JEWS but the ISRAELITES who are reeking with blood. They are the ones who claim that among all nations on Earth they are the Chosen People of the Lord whose Son they crucified and carried out the bloodiest invasion in recent years in the Gaza Strip.”

While Ieronymos II, archbishop of Athens and All Greece, issued a balanced statement, a few local bishops made anti-Israel and antisemitic comments. Bishop Ambrosios of Kalavryta, for example, stated that “Israeli attacks spread death among civilians. The powerful people of the earth, through their silence and guilty tolerance cover Israel’s aggression! A genocide is going on in Gaza and nobody protests.” The Bishop of Piraeus Seraphim spoke of “the claws of the Zionist monster” and referred to a “global Zionist attack”.

Many municipalities, prefectures, public entities and labor unions around Greece issued resolutions and organized rallies of solidarity with the Palestinian people. During a demonstration in Athens, organized by the Greek–Palestinian Friendship Association, with the participation of members of the Arab community, held on December 29, for instance, protesters burned Israeli and American flags in front of the Israeli embassy. Another demonstration, organized by left-wing parties, was held in front of the Israeli embassy on the same day. The Greek Consumer Institute urged consumers to boycott Israeli products. The Municipal Council of Athens passed a resolution condemning “the Israeli military attack in Gaza which has assumed the characteristics of a genocide against the Palestinian people.” During the New Year festivities in Nikea, south-west of Athens, the municipal authorities placed a Palestinian flag on the town hall, while the mayor, Stelios Benetatos, spoke of “mass murders” committed by the Israelis.

            Many organizations, such as the Union of Journalists of Athens, the Coordination Committee of Lawyers Associations and the Workers Struggling Front (PAME - labor Union affiliated to the Communist Party), issued statements condemning Israel.

 

Mass Media and Internet

The Greek press, including TV channels and mainstream newspapers such as Eleftherotypia, maintained a pro-Palestinian line, stressing Palestinian losses and condemning Israel’s military operation. Articles and cartoons comparing Israel and Israelis with the Nazis and the Holocaust were common during this period throughout the media. Among front page headlines, the following were characteristic: “They’ve begun practicing for World War III” (mainstream Avriani, December 28); “Auschwitz – the Gaza Strip, with the Jew as Baker This Time” (far right, pro-junta Eleftheri Ora, December 29); and “Holocaust” (conservative, mainstream Apogevmatini, January 5, 2009).

The site of the daily Rizospastis, official mouthpiece of the Communist Party showed a flash animation on its home page of the Israeli flag disintegrating and the Star of David becoming one of the stars on the US flag. The stars on the US flag then evolved into swastikas, followed by the slogan: “Imperialism has dropped its mask and pulled out its Zionist knife.”

 

Attitudes toward the holocaust

January 27 was instituted by law in 2004 as the Memorial Day for Greek Jewish Martyrs and Heroes of the Holocaust. On January 27, 2008, a ceremony was held at the Athens Concert Hall, organized by the Board and the Athens prefecture. The event was well attended by government officials and foreign dignitaries. Holocaust remembrance events were also held under the auspices of the local prefectures in a number of Greek cities.

Sponsored by the General Secretariat for Youth, of the Ministry of Education, the book Young People in the Maelstrom of Occupied Greece – the Persecution and the Holocaust of the Jewish People (1943–1944) was circulated in high schools and university libraries in January 2008, on the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day. The book, edited and published by the Board, contains personal testimonies of Greek−Jewish camp survivors, resistance fighters and children who were kept hidden.

 

responses to antisemitism

Following their conviction on charges of antisemitism, the editor of the far right Greek weekly Eleftheros Kosmos, Dimitris Zafeiropoulos and journalist Theodoros Hatzigogos appeared on September 18 before an Athens appeals court, whose three member panel unanimously handed down a suspended 5 months prison sentence (under Law 927/1979 against racism). The charge related to an article published in the newspaper’s March 12, 2006 issue, which stated, “Thank God, fewer than 1,500 Jews are left in Thessaloniki.”

The appeal of well-known Greek antisemite and Holocaust denier Kostas Plevris, who was convicted in 2007 for his 1,400 page racist and virulently antisemitic book Jews – The Whole Truth and given a suspended sentence (see ASW 2007), was postponed 14 times between April 2008 and March 2009, when he was finally acquitted.