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2011


May Czech Blogger Sentenced
   
Czech blogger “Kubák” was given a four-month suspended sentence with one-year probation by a Prague District Court on May 10, 2011. Kubák was found guilty of disseminating racism and death threats on Roma discussion forums. This is the first time a Czech court has convicted someone of intolerance and threats on an internet discussion board.

Sources: wienerzeitung, 07-April-2011; tt.com, 05-April-2011
May Argentina’s DAIA Wins Injunction against Google
   
The Argentinean Jewish umbrella organization DAIA successfully applied for a court injunction against Google, whose web search engine referred users to antisemitic websites, including those denying the Holocaust. A Buenos Aires judge ruled that Google must remove the “suggested searches,” which guide internet users to websites that incite to violence against people or propagate racist and antisemitic libel, since they were illegal under Argentinean law. The judge also ordered Google not to place advertisements on such websites.

Sources: Prensa Judia, 18-May-2011; Hate Monitor, 18-May-2011
May Study Points to Increasing Influence of Antisemitic Positions within Germany’s Die Linke
   
Although not officially released, excerpts from the study "Antisemiten als Koalitionspartner?" (Antisemites as Coalition Partners?), by political scientists Samuel Salzborn from the University of Giessen and Sebastian Voigt from the University of Leipzig were posted online, with a link to full text, by Frankfurter Rundschau on May 18, 2011. According to the article, antisemitic positions, often manifested in radical anti-Israel activities, have become increasingly influential within the Die Linke (The Left) party. The reasons, the authors claim, lie in the party's origins in the former GDR (German Democratic Republic) where anti-Zionism was part of government doctrine. The findings of the study, which were rejected by the party leadership, triggered a debate, on May 25, in the German parliament, which called on Der Linke to clearly distance itself from all forms of antisemitism.

Sources: TAZ, 21-May-2011; Deutscher Bundestag, 25-May-2011; Jerusalem Post, 27-May-2011; Leipziger Volkszeitung, 25-May-2011; Frankfurter Rundschau, 19-May-2011
May Belgian Survey Finds Direct Link between Muslims and Antisemitic Views
   
On May 11, 2011, the Belgian Morgen published a study titled “Jong in Brussel,” by the Youth Research Platform, according to which 50% of Muslim high school students in Brussels are antisemitic. The chapter on antisemitism was written by sociologist Mark Elchardus, from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). According to the survey, which polled 2,837 students in 32 Dutch-speaking schools, 56.8% of Muslim respondents agreed with the statement: Jews want to dominate everything (non-Muslims: 10.5%); 47.1% concurred that Jews think they're better than others (non-Muslims: 12.9%); 47.5% believed that if you do business with Jews you should be extra careful (non-Muslims: 12.9%); and 53.7% agreed that Jews incite to war and blame others (non-Muslims: 7.7%). The results were alarming and, unlike in the case of racist Belgians, unrelated to low educational level or social disadvantage, said Elchardus, who pointed to a direct link between Muslims and antisemitic attitudes.

Sources: rightsidenews.com, 17-May-2011; demorgen.be, 12-May-2011; islamineurope.blogspot.com, 15-May-2011
May Former Hamas Minister Delivers Antisemitic Harangue
   
Jews are the most despicable and contemptible people on earth, declared former Hamas minister of culture `Atallah Abu al-Subh, in a Friday sermon aired on Hamas' al-Aqsa TV on April 8, 2011. Since they killed the prophets, he argued, they would be killed by Allah. In previous TV interviews from 2008, al-Subh presented excerpts from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and referred to former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice as a black cobra and to George Bush as Dracula who served Zionism and drank Palestinian blood for pleasure.

Sources: Memri, 19-May-2011
May Article Explains Jobbik’s Popularity
   
An article by Peter Kreko, published on May 15, 2011 in the Budapest Times, claims that antisemitism is central to the ideology of Hungary’s right-wing extremist Jobbik party. In “Jobbik Needs Jews to Run the World,” Krekó states that Jobbik’s popularity can be understood by the people's need for an explanation for the social injustices and economic situation in the Hungary. "Social fears and emotional unrest are fertile ground for the manufacturing of conspiracy theories” and the shaping of nationalist identity, he said, “with Jews frequently becoming the targets of collective scapegoating.”

Sources: Juedische Allgemeine, 18-May-2011; Budapest Times, 15-May-2011; TAZ, 13-Apr-2010
May Scottish Council Expands Cultural Boycott of Israel
   
On May 24, 2011, several districts in southwestern Scotland announced they would expand their cultural boycott of Israel by banning Israeli books in stores. Shortly after Israel’s Cast Lead operation (late December 2008-January 2009), the West Dunbartonshire Regional Council approved a bill calling to boycott goods produced in Israel. Following the Gaza flotilla incident in May 2010, the council expanded the boycott to include a ban on the purchase of English translations of Israeli books and their distribution in public libraries throughout its jurisdiction. When Dundee joined the embargo, the mayor was advised to refrain from enforcing it legally in order to avoid future lawsuits, since the EU cannot implement boycotts that haven’t been agreed on by members of the Union. Instead, the municipality plans to distribute posters throughout the city, calling on its 150,000 residents to abstain from buying Israeli goods, and to mark Israeli products in order to make them easily identifiable. "A place that boycotts books is not far from a place that burns them," said Israel's ambassador to the UK Ron Prosor in response.

Sources: Ynet, 26-May-2011; EJPress, 25-May-2011; European Jewish Congress, 25-May-2011; Free Republic, 21-May-2011; Modernity Blog, 23-May-2011
May Report Warns against Rising Xenophobia and Racism in Europe
   
Turkish Foreign Minister Davutoglu warned against rising xenophobia and racism in Europe during the inauguration of the 121st meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the 47-nation Council of Europe in Istanbul. Davutoglu was referring to the report “Living Together: Combining Diversity and Freedom in 21st-Century Europe,” released on May 10 by the “Group of Eminent Persons.” Chaired by former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, the Group draws attention to “rising intolerance toward immigrants and Muslims throughout Europe.” The document, which analyzes the challenges arising from increasing intolerance and discrimination, highlights growing hostility toward religious and ethnic minorities. Among its guidelines for dealing with these problems it recommends embracing diversity and multiple identities: “If one can be an African- or Italian-American, why not a ‘hyphenated European’ — a Turkish-German, a North African-Frenchwoman or an Asian-Briton?” it asks.

Sources: humanrightseurope, 11-May-2011; Dunya Times, 11-May-2011; Hürriyet Daily News, 11-May-2011
May Arson Attack on Greek Mosque
   
After smashing the building's windows and spray-painting swastikas on its walls, on May 8, 2011 arsonists set fire to a makeshift mosque in Kallithea neighborhood, Athens, Greece. The attack caused significant damage to the premises but no injuries were reported, since the place was empty at the time.

Sources: skynet.be, 8-May-2011; europe1.fr, 8-May-2011; europenews.dk, 16-May-2011
April Antisemitic Attack in Austria
   
A 19-year-old man was reportedly attacked in early April in Innsbruck, Austria, by two men, who he claimed were of Turkish immigrant origin. The perpetrators apparently saw his Star of David chain and falsely identified him as a Jew. They hit him twice in the face and shouted antisemitic insults such as, "Hitler should have finished off all the Jews" and "Israelis are child murderers."

Sources: wienerzeitung, 07-April-2011; tt.com, 05-April-2011
April Jewish Community Demands Action against Italian Teacher for Alleged Antisemitism
   
An article published in the daily La Repubblica on April 14, 2011 describing Milan high school teacher Barbara Albertoni as a Holocaust denier and an antisemite aroused a furor in the Jewish community. The article's findings were based on the teacher's posts on her anarchist and pro-Palestinian internet blog, which makes "repeated attacks on the Jews and Israel," and includes pictures and cartoons showing the Israeli flag equated with the swastika. It quoted one post in which she called the Holocaust "the founding myth of Zionism." Italian Jewish leaders have called on the country’s education minister to take action against the teacher. Albertoni has rejected the accusations, but added that the "Zionist lobby" was behind efforts "to cut off the voices of dissent, above all on the Palestinian question."

Sources: milano.rebubblica.il, 17-Apr-2011; jta.org, 14-Apr-2011
April Antisemitic Neo-Nazi Group Meets in Colombia
   
On April 24, 2011, 122 Colombian neo-Nazis, members of a group called Tercera Fuerza, reportedly met in a Bogota hotel to commemorate Adolf Hitler's 122nd birthday. The group, led by a man called Diego, known as "El Comandante" by his followers, meets twice a week, for lectures and video discussions; they also participate in military-style training. According to "Cuchito," one of the members, the group is guided by the concept of "racialism," according to which all races must confront the Jewish race. They deny the Holocaust, referring to it as a "Holotale." The Confederation of Jewish Communities of Colombia (CCJC) published a communiqué stating that they were drafting a law that would penalize incitement to hatred.

Sources: Semana, 24-Apr-2011; Centro Israelita de Bogota, 27-Apr-2011
April Neo-Nazis March in Moscow
   
On April 23, 2011, about 300 people marched in the streets of Moscow "calling for the forceful expulsion of non-Slavic migrants from Russia." Some of the participants held red and white flags with Nazi eagles and shouted "Hail Russia! Stop feeding the Caucasus!" According to the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights, about 70,000 neo-Nazis are active in Russia.

Sources: Haaretz, 23-Apr-2011; romea.cz, 25-Apr-2011
April Greek Synagogue Target of Arson Attack
   
During the night of April 19, 2011, the synagogue on the Greek island of Corfu was set alight, damaging prayer books. The door was also damaged and two empty gas cans were found on the premises. This was the third such attack in Greece in less than two years, police said. Staged just as the Passover festival was beginning, the attack alarmed the country’s Jewish community. There are some 8,000 Jews in Greece, and about 150 on Corfu. Two days later, Greek police announced that they had arrested two suspects for the attack. Greek security forces are examining the connection between the two suspects and terror groups.

Sources: Alert Net, 21-Apr-2011; Keep Talking Greece, 19-Apr-2011; Haaretz, 20-Apr-2011
April Populist Right-Wing Party Wins Almost One-Fifth of Finnish Votes
   
On April 17, 2011 the right-wing populist True Finns party gained nearly 19 percent of the vote in the elections to the Finnish Parliament (Eduskunta), compared to 4 percent in the previous 2007 election. The party platform calls for restrictions on immigration and withdrawal from the EU agreement, as well as a prohibition on abortion and of same-sex union. The party was criticized repeatedly during the campaign for racist and islamophobic slurs, such as allegations of a “genetic affinity” of Somali immigrants to “thievery and parasitism” and calling the Prophet Muhammad a pedophile.

Sources: Katholische Nachrichten, 21-Apr-2011; BBC News Europe, 18-Apr-2011; Der Standard, 21-Apr-2011; Guardian, 17-Apr-2011
March Jewish Radio Station Cancels Interview with French FN Leader
   
Following an uproar in the Jewish community over an invitation to France’s far right Front National (FN) leader Marine Le Pen to be interviewed on the French Jewish radio station "Radio J," the latter cancelled the event. The French Jewish students union UEJF declared that the FN remained a “structurally antisemitic, racist [party]… outside the republican camp,” while the BNCVA, the national bureau for monitoring antisemitism, and CRIF, the representative council for Jewish organizations in France, protested that the interview would give Le Pen a “stamp of respectability.” The FN said that it would file a libel suit against two of the organizations that opposed the broadcast.

Sources: lemonde.fr, 9-Mar-2011; english.rfi.fr, 9-Mar-2011; thejc.com, 17-Mar-2011; ynetnews.com, 22-Mar-2011
March Pope’s Book Exonerates Jews
   
Excerpts from Pope Benedict XVI's new book Jesus of Nazareth - Part II, which exonerates the Jewish people for the death of Jesus Christ, were released on March 2, 2011. They explain why, biblically and theologically, there is no basis in the Scriptures for accusing the Jewish people for Jesus' death. The Vatican had already rejected this accusation in general terms in 1965 with the landmark Nostra Aetate document issued by the Vatican II Conference. Jewish organizations, such as the ADL and American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants, praised the pope's declaration, calling it “an important and historic moment” in Catholic-Jewish relations.

Sources: national post, 11-Mar-2011; news.yahoo.com, 2-Mar-2011; guardian.co.uk, 2-Mar-2011; haaretz.co.il, 11-Mar-2011
March Jewish-Muslim Committee Pledges to Resist Far Right Parties
   
Members of the Coordinating Committee of European Muslim and Jewish Leaders met in Paris on March 7, 2011, and pledged to stand together against the rise of far right xenophobic and racist parties. These parties, they said, were a threat to ethnic and religious minorities across Europe, including Jews and Muslims. They also planned a series of public events in European capitals, on May 9 (Europe Day).

Sources: WJC, 7-Mar-2011; Jerusalem Post, 7-Mar-2011
March Europe-Wide Survey Shows High Intolerance to “Others”
   
On March 11, 2011, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Berlin published a report on tolerance and discrimination in Europe (UK, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Poland and Hungary). The study showed that animosity to groups of people perceived as "other," "different" and deviating from the norm is high in Europe. The level is not equally distributed, and was lower in the Netherlands but higher in Poland and Hungary with regard to homophobia, sexism and antisemitism. Islamophobia, racism and xenophobia were more equally spread over the continent. About half of all Europeans think there are too many immigrants in Europe and that Islam is a religion of intolerance. Seventeen percent of Dutch and more than 70 percent of Poles think the Jews exploit the Holocaust to their advantage; 17 percent of Dutch, and 88 percent of Poles think that gays should not have equal rights.

Sources: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 11-Mar-2011; Telepolis, 13-Mar-2011
March More Anti-Arab Attacks in Safed
   
The cars of two Arab students in Safed, Israel, were set alight on March 16, 2011. Heated arguments broke out between Jews and Arabs following a college event meant to promote dialogue between the two groups. In addition, slogans such as "Arabs get out" and "Death to Arabs" were spray painted on the walls of the event's sponsor, Safed Academic College.

Sources: Mako, 16-Mar-2011; Haaretz, 16-Mar-2011; Haaretz, 11-Mar-2011
March Holocaust Invented by Global Zionism, Says Tunisian
   
During an interview aired on March 2, 2011 on Iran’s al-Alam TV, Tunisian “Mujahid” Husayn Triki, former Arab League representative in Argentina, claimed that the Holocaust was invented by global Zionism, citing the controversy over the number of victims as solid proof. In addition, he alleged that Israel had prior knowledge of the 9/11 events and betrayed the US by not warning it about them.

Sources: Memri, 14-Mar-2011; CICAD, 21-Mar-2011
March Neo-Nazis March in Lithuania
   
An annual march of neo-Nazis was held in the center of Vilnius on March 11, 2011, to mark Lithuania's Independence Day. The march, which was authorized, was attended by about 1,000 people, who shouted "Lithuania for the Lithuanians" and "Lithuania is better without Russians." Although the public display of swastikas is illegal in Lithuania, flags carried by some participants and SS insignia and badges worn by many bore the swastika emblem. Following speeches at the Museum of Genocide Victims, some of the participants gave the Nazi salute. In an open letter signed by many antifascist NGOs and personalities to leading members of government, the DEMOS Institute of Critical Thought harshly condemned the march.

Sources: DefendingHistory.com, 11-Mar-2011; DEMOS, 14-Mar-2011; regnum.ru, 11-Mar-2011; jewish.ru, 15-Mar-2011.; delfi.lt, 11-Mar-2011
March Anti-Roma March in Hungary
   
On March 6, 2011, some 2,500 members of the Civil Guard Association for a Better Future marched in black military uniforms to the Roma neighborhood in the Hungarian town of Gyöngyöspata. The march was seen as an attempt to put psychological pressure on the residents to incite against the Roma. Members of the group, which is said to be directly related to the extreme right Jobbik party and the racist organization Magyar Garda, claim that they are trying to stop "Gypsy crime."

Sources: Cingeneyiz, 18-Mar-2011; Vimeo, 17-Mar-2011
Feb. Tunisian Synagogue Burned during Anti-government Riots
   
During the anti-government riots and demonstrations in Tunisia in late January-February 2011, the great synagogue in Qabas, southern Tunisia, was set alight on February 2, and the Torah scrolls burned. Jewish community leader Trabelsi Perez denounced the incident. However, the president of the Jewish community in Tunisia, Roger Bismuth, told the Jerusalem Post that the fire was probably an act of vandalism and not of antisemitism or "an attack on the Jewish community."

Sources: al-Mustaqbal, 02-Feb-2011; al-Quds al-`Arabi, 02-Feb-2011; Ilaf, 01-Feb-2011
Feb. European Parliament Holds Memorial Day for Roma Victims of the Nazis
   
For the first time the European Parliament held a ceremony, on February 2, 2011, to commemorate the genocide of hundreds of thousands of Roma (between 220,000 and 500,000) exterminated by the Nazis during World War II. Stating that "one-third of the people held at Auschwitz were Roma, but most Europeans do not know this," parliamentary speaker Jerzy Buzek said that the time had come for European states to officially recognize the Roma genocide. Green Euro MP Catherine Greze who, along with Hungarian, Romanian and German colleagues, had pushed for the remembrance day, described the tragedy common to Roma and Jews perpetrated by the Nazis in an article in Le Monde. She also deplored the current sufferings of ten million Roma across Europe and condemned ongoing racism against Roma, as well as France's aggressive policy toward its Roma population.

Sources: eubusiness.com, 2-Feb-2011; lemonde.fr, 2-Feb-2011
Feb. Israeli Police Issue Warrant for Arrest of Kiryat Arba Rabbi
   
A warrant was issued by the Israeli police on February 7, 2011, for the arrest of Dov Lior, chief rabbi of the Kiryat Arba settlement, for his support for the book Torat Hamelekh, which explores the possibilities of killing non-Jews in religious law. Lior refused to cooperate with the police. Rabbis and political figures on the Israeli right, such as former MK (Shas) rabbi Yaakov Yosef and MK (from Habayit Hayehudi) Michael Ben-Ari expressed outrage, claiming the warrant exposed hypocrisy since, they alleged, leftists who urge attacks on Israeli soldiers are not investigated.

Sources: Haaretz, 07-Feb-2011; Maariv, 07-Feb-2011; Ynet, 07-Feb-2011
Feb. British University’s Invitation to Controversial German Banker Cancelled
   
A row broke out in London over an invitation to Thilo Sarrazin, former board member of the German Central Bank and a former Social Democratic Party politician, to speak at the London School of Economics (LSE) on February 14, 2011. Sarrazin had caused a scandal when he claimed that Arab and Turkish immigrants were bad for Germany, and that all Jews shared a special gene. British anti-fascist groups protested the invitation. Sarrazin was invited to the LSE by its German Society to speak on the future of Germany during a discussion on the “Integration Debate: Decline of the West?” LSE officials defended the invitation on the grounds of freedom of speech. In the end, Sarrazin’s lecture was cancelled because LSE could not provide sufficient protection for the event.

Sources: Independent, 14-Feb-2011; Jerusalem Post, 15-Feb-2011; Euro-Islam, 14-Feb-2011; Pravda.ru; 15-Feb-2011
Feb. Hungarian to Stand Trial for Nazi War Crimes
   
On February 14, 2011, Sandor Kepiro (97) was charged in Budapest for ordering the shooting of more than 1,200 Jews, Serbs and Roma in Novi Sad (Serbia) in 1942. Efraim Zuroff, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Israel office, who helped collect documentation against Kepiro, said that "this will be the first trial of an accused Hungarian Nazi war criminal" since 1989. Kepiro claims he is innocent.

Sources: jta.org, 14-Feb-2011; foxnews.com, 14-Feb-2011; World Jewish Congress, 15-Feb-2011; Vos Iz Neias, 14-Feb-2011. Sofia Echo, 24-Feb-2011
Feb. Anti-racist Demonstration in Jerusalem
   
On February 26, 2011, some 1,500 demonstrators gathered in Zion Square, central Jerusalem, to protest what they described as a "wave of racism" that was permeating Israeli society. Waving placards with slogans such as "Fight racism – protect Zionism," they directed their protests at the government, and especially at foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, leader of the extreme right-wing Israel Beiteinu party. Among the speakers was Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz. Counter-demonstrators tried to disrupt the rally.

Sources: Ynet, 26-Feb-2011; Walla, 27-Feb-2011; Jerusalem Post, 02-March-2011
Feb. Antisemitic Assault in Switzerland
   
An assistant rabbi was beaten by three adolescents when he was leaving the Lausanne synagogue in the late evening of February 23, 2011. The assailants shouted antisemitic insults during the attack. The victim escaped from serious injury after passersby intervened. Two attackers were apprehended by the police.

Sources: Tribune de Geneve, 28-Feb-2011; Blick, 28-Feb-2011; tagesschau sf; 01-March-2011
Feb. Steep Decrease in Antisemitic Attitudes in Poland
   
A poll carried out in Poland by sociology professor Anatoly Solek shows a steep decrease in antisemitic attitudes in Poland. While in 2003, 43 percent of Poles thought Jews wielded too much power in the world, in 2011 the figure had fallen to 22 percent. The poll shows that Poles are increasingly attributing power to politicians, the finance sector and the Catholic Church. Solek sees the trend as demonstrating that Poles are becoming more comfortable with the capitalist system and a sign of increased Holocaust awareness.

Sources: Haaretz, 08-Feb-2011
Feb. Dior’s Chief Designer Suspended after Antisemitic and Racist Rants
   
Following antisemitic and racist remarks made to a couple in a bar in Paris' Marais district, charges were pressed, on February 24, 2011, against Christian Dior's chief designer John Galliano for "public insults based on… origin, religious affiliation, race or ethnicity." Four days later, the British tabloid The Sun, posted a video from October 2010 showing Galliano, announcing to his fellow diners at the same bar: "I love Hitler… People like you would be dead today. Your mothers, your forefathers would be f**ing gassed and dead.” His attorney Stephane Zerbib has denied the accusations. Dior president Sidney Toledano announced Galliano's suspension stating: "The House of Dior declares with the greatest firmness its policy of zero-tolerance regarding any antisemitic or racist statement or attitude." Following his arrest, Galliano apologized “unreservedly” for his behavior.

Sources: haaretz.com, 26-Feb-2011 and 1-Mar-2011; thesun.co.uk, 28-Feb-2011; dailymail.co.uk, 1-Mar-2011; guardian.uk.com, 2-Mar-2011
Jan. France Decides Not to Mark Anniversary of Ferdinand Celine
   
On January 21, 2011, French culture minister Frederic Mitterrand announced his decision not to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Louis-Ferdinand Celine, one of France’s most famous 20th century writers and a well-known antisemite. Welcoming Mitterrand’s announcement, Richard Prasquier, president of the French Jewish umbrella group CRIF, called it courageous, while FFDJF (Sons and Daughters of the Deported Jews of France) president Serge Klarsfeld said, "Celine’s talent must not allow us to forget the man who called for the killing of Jews during the occupation." In his writings Celine stated: "We will finish off the Jews or we will die because of the Jews," claiming that "the Jews and only the Jews are pushing us to arms." However, a number of French academics called on him not to mix "Celine the literary genius" with "Celine the antisemitic bastard."

Sources: haaretz.com, 21-Jan-2011; lemonde.fr, 21-Jan-2011
Jan. Turkish Film about Gaza Flotilla Classified for Showing in Germany
   
Reversing an earlier decision, Germany's film rating agency FSK (Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle der Filmwirtschaft) gave the Turkish movie Valley of the Wolves: Palestine an “age 18” rating on January 27, 2011. Earlier the FSK had decided not to classify the film at all due to its allegedly antisemitic and anti-Israel content. In Germany, SPIO, the head organization of the movie industry, is committed to releasing only productions passed by the FSK. The movie, which deals with the flotilla incident of May 30, 2010, and a fictional revenge operation by a Turkish commando team, was criticized by leading German parties the CDU, SPD, FDP and the Green Party, for what they considered antisemitic, anti-Israel and anti-American overtones. The original intended release date of the movie, January 27, 2011, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, also caused controversy.

Sources: Hurriyet, 27-Jan-2011; Die Welt, 29-Jan-2011; Der Spiegel, 25-Jan-2011; Maerkische Allgemeine, 29-Jan-2011
Jan. Assessment Shows Rise of Hamas' Genocidal Intent against Jews
   
An assessment of Hamas leaders’ attitudes toward Israel and the peace process in the Middle East was published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs on January 3, 2011. The report, by senior researcher Jonathan D. Halevi, finds no evidence of a new pragmatism by the Hamas leadership but rather indications of an increase of expressions of genocidal intent against Jews. To support his claim, Halevi cites several genocidal themes in statements of senior Hamas leaders.

Sources: Jerusalem Issue Brief, 03-Jan-2011
Jan. “Genocide Day” in the UK Marks Israel’s War in Gaza
   
The UK Holocaust Educational Trust (HET) criticized the decision of the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) to hold a "Genocide Day" on January 16, 2011, marking the anniversary of what they called Israel’s "genocidal acts in Gaza" during Operation Cast Lead. IHRC promotional material for the event compared Operation Cast Lead with the Holocaust. The organization invited Neturei Karta member Ahron Cohen to speak at the event. Cohen has previously questioned the number of victims of the Holocaust and also attended Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust denial conference in Tehran in 2006. Karen Pollock, chief executive of HET, said the event was "nothing more than an attempt to pervert the message of Holocaust Memorial Day and to gravely insult both victims and survivors of the Holocaust."

Sources: Islamic Human Rights Commission, 30-Dec-2010; Jewish Chronicle, 13-Jan-2011; Independent, 29-April-2009; http://www.youtube.com/user/IHRCtv#p/a/u/0/wCVwbynlmTE
Jan. Five Jewish Institutions Attacked in Montreal
   
Five Jewish institutions - four synagogues and a school - in Montreal, Canada, were vandalized during the night of January 16-17, 2011. The perpetrators smashed windows and daubed the buildings with Nazi symbols. Rabbi Reuven Poupko, chairman of the Jewish Community Security Coordination Committee, called the crimes "an organized and systematic attack on Jewish institutional life."

Sources: Montreal Gazette, 17-Jan-2011; Sympatico, 17-Jan-2011; CBC, 23-Mar-2010
Jan. Neo-Nazi Blacklist of Italian Jews Condemned by Italy’s Leaders
   
On January 12, 2011, Italian leaders expressed solidarity with the Jewish community after the neo-Nazi Internet website Stormfront published a blacklist of "influential" Italian Jews. The list included journalists, businesspeople, politicians, artists and others. Conveying his "shame and anger," Rome mayor Gianni Alemanno branded those who posted the list "ignorant and racist cowards." Nicola Zingaretti, president of the Province of Rome, also strongly condemned the Stormfront list. Italian lawmaker Enrico Gasbarra called for urgent action by the European Union to implement legislation that would end the use of the internet "as a tool of violence and persecution."

Sources: jta.org, 12-Jan-2011; repubblica.it, 12-Jan-2011; fiammanirenstein.com, 17-Jan-2011; cronaca.liquida.it, 12-Jan-2011
Jan. German Jewish Community Leader Receives Death Threat
   
The Jewish community leader of the German city of Pinneberg, Wolfgang Seibert, was threatened with death on the Islamist website islamic-hacker-union.net in January 2011. Seibert had called on the local authorities to close As-Sunnah Mosque in Pinneberg which, he claimed, had become a meeting place for radical Islamists in recent years. The now closed website showed a picture of Seibert crossed out with red paint and a text reading, "Dirty Jew. Be careful so Allah doesn’t punish you in this life with death. Allah´s punishment can reach you anywhere!" The administrator of the German website was Islamic convert Harry M., also known as Isa al Khattab. Seibert filed a criminal complaint and is now protected by the police.

Sources: pinneberger-tageblatt.de, 19-Jan-2011.; bild.de, 21-Jan-2010; taz.de, 22-Jan-2011; ojihad.wordpress.com, 22-Jan-2011; Welt Online, 22-Jan-2011
Jan. France Decides Not to Mark Anniversary of Writer Ferdinand Celine
   
On January 21, 2011, French culture minister Frederic Mitterrand announced his decision not to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Louis-Ferdinand Celine, one of France’s most famous 20th century writers and a well-known antisemite. Welcoming Mitterrand’s announcement, Richard Prasquier, president of the French Jewish umbrella group CRIF, called it courageous, while FFDJF (Sons and Daughters of the Deported Jews of France) president Serge Klarsfeld said, "Celine’s talent must not allow us to forget the man who called for the killing of Jews during the occupation." In his writings Celine said, "We will finish off the Jews or we will die because of the Jews," claiming that "the Jews and only the Jews are pushing us to arms." Disagreeing with Mitterrand’s decision, a number of French academics called on him not to mix "Celine the literary genius" with "Celine the antisemitic bastard."

Sources: haaretz.com, 21-Jan-2011; lemonde.fr, 21-Jan-2011
Jan. Hungary Passes Controversial Media Law
   
On January 1, 2011, Hungary passed a law setting up a “National Media and Communications Authority,” with the power to impose a 750,000 euro fine for content deemed "unbalanced" or "offensive to human dignity." The European Newspaper Publishers’ Association (ENPA) and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) expressed concern, and Human Rights Watch, OSCE and Freedom House condemned the law, stating that it endangered freedom of the press in Hungary. Critics also pointed out that the definition of violations was so wide that the politically appointed authority could impose fines on almost anything. Luxemburg’s foreign minister Jean Asselborn said the law "violates the spirit and the letter of the EU treaties," and the German government called it "a danger to democracy." Some members of the European Parliament have even demanded that Hungary be stripped of the EU presidency which the country holds during the first half of 2011. Conservative Hungarian politicians who defend the law, such as prime minister Viktor Orban and foreign minister Janos Martonyi, denied that it was an attempt to bring back censorship and claimed that the law was aimed, among others, at curbing racism, antisemitism, Holocaust denial, denial of crimes committed by the Communist regime, excessive violence, and foul language. Nonetheless, the government has said it might revise the law, possibly by making the authority nonpartisan.

Sources: European Newspaper Publishers’ Association, 13-Dec-2010; sueddeutsche.de, 26-Jan-2011; BBC, 21-Dec-2010; Jungle World, 13-Jan-2011; Telegraph, 23-Dec-2010; Spiegel, 22-Dec-2010

2010


Dec. Dutch Politician Urges Jews to Emigrate
   
Urging practicing Jews to emigrate to the United States or to Israel, senior Dutch conservative politician Frits Bolkestein (VVD), a former cabinet minister and European commissioner, stated in early December 2010 that there was no future for them in the Netherlands because of antisemitism among Moroccan immigrants: the latter's numbers were rising, he said, and the authorities’ were unable to deal with the antisemitism problem. Bolkestein made similar statements in an interview published in the book Het Verval (The decay), by Manfred Gerstenfeld, on Judaism in the Netherlands. In response, Geert Wilders, leader of the Party for Freedom (PW), urged Moroccan antisemites to emigrate instead of the Jews. The Dutch Moroccan Information Center (CIDM) rejected the remarks as "scaremongering.” Chairman of the Rabbinical Council for the Netherlands rabbi Binyomin Jacobs criticized Bolkestein’s statements as being too pessimistic. While admitting that there is a grave problem, Jacobs still believes in a Jewish future in the Netherlands.

Sources: Radio Nederland Wereldomroep, 06-Dec-2010; Haaretz, 07-Dec-2010; Yediot Aharonot, 07-Dec-2010; Haaretz, 17-Dec-2010
Dec. Right-Wing Politicans Speak Out against Islam in Sweden
   
Following the suicide attack by an Islamist extremist in Stockholm on December 11, 2010, right-wing politicians spoke out against Islam, immigration and multiculturalism in Sweden. MP Kent Ekeroth, from the Sweden Democrats (SD), for example, wrote on his homepage that the attack didn’t surprise him, since it was in the nature of Islam. Calling for a special parliamentary debate about Islamist extremism in Sweden, Ekeroth urged a stop to Muslim immigration, the closure of Muslim schools, and a ban on construction of mosques. In addition, the National Democrats organized a demonstration against terror and multiculturalism on December 19, and other extreme nationalists and neo-Nazis also expressed anti-Muslim sentiments.

Sources: EXPO, 20-Dec-2010; Nationell.Nu, 13-Dec-2010; Nationell.Nu, 19-Dec-2010; Info-14, 12-Dec-2010; Politiskt Inkorrekt, 17-Dec-2010
Dec. Italian Parliament Approves Resolution against Web Antisemitism
   
On December 14, 2010, Italy’s foreign affairs committee unanimously approved a resolution aimed at counteracting the dissemination of antisemitism through the internet. The resolution "sees the government committed to signing an Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, which regards as crimes acts of a racist and xenophobic nature committed through computerized systems,” said committee vice president Fiamma Nirenstein.

Sources: jpost.com, 19-Dec-2010; notizie.virgilio.it, 14-Dec-2010; Jerusalem Post, 19-Dec-2010; fiammanierenstein.com, 15-Dec-2010
Dec. Islamic Center in Berlin Attacked
   
On December 9, 2010, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at an Islamic culture center in Berlin. No one was hurt and the fire died out before the fire brigade arrived. The police believe the incident was the continuation of a series of ten similar attacks on Islamic institutions and mosques in Berlin.

Sources: berlin.de/polizei’ 09-Dec-2010; :rbb.online, 09-Dec-2010; tagesspiegel, 09-Dec-2010
Dec. Far Right Politicians Court Israeli Approval
   
A delegation of 35 Euro MPs representing extreme right-wing, among other parties, paid a controversial visit to settlements on the West Bank (Samaria) on December 6, 2010. The delegation toured Samaria’s Jewish communities as guests of the Samaria Liaison Office. The group included Heinz-Christian Strache, head of the Freedom Party of Austria, Filip Dewinter of Belgium’s Vlaams Belang party, MP Frank Creyelman, head of the Belgian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, and René Stadtkewitz, chairman of Germany’s Freedom Party (Die Freiheit). The delegation was welcomed by a spokesman for the Samaria local authority as supporters of Israel who renounce antisemitism and see the Islamic takeover of Europe as a danger. Criticizing the visit, Austrian journalist Karl Pfeifer hoped the far-right parliamentarians would not receive the “stamp of approval” (teudat kashrut) they were seeking.

Sources: Juedische Allgemeine, 16-Dec-2010; Israelnationalnews.com, 06-Dec-2010; israelmatzav.blogspot.com; hurryupharry.org, 7-Dec-2010l; DiePresse.com, 06-Dec-2010
Dec. Israeli Rabbis' Petition Condemned
   
In December 2010, following the letter signed on October 20, by 18 rabbis from Safed, urging Jews not to rent or sell apartments to non-Jews (see October Bulletin), and subsequently supported by rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual head of the ultra-religious religious Shas party, a large group of rabbis from other cities published a similar petition. They declared that in order to prevent Arabs from strengthening their foothold in the country Jews were forbidden to rent or sell houses to Arabs throughout the country. The call met with fierce criticism from many secular circles and politicians, as well as from abroad. Critics pointed out that the petition was racist and some 750 other rabbis from all over the world signed a letter on December 14, stating that it was erroneous and contravened Jewish law. Prime Minister Netanyahu said such calls were unacceptable in a democratic country. A poll published by the daily Yediot Aharonot showed that 55 percent of the Israeli public agreed with it.

Sources: Haaretz, 24- Nov-2010; Electronic Intifada, 09-Dec-2010; Jerusalem Post, 05-Nov-2010; Haaretz, 14-Nov-2010; Ynet, 24-Oct-2010
Nov. Arab Journalist Visits Concentration Camps
   
In an attempt to answer the question why Arabs deny the Holocaust and lack sympathy with what happened to the Jews during the Nazi regime, journalist Mustafa al-Rifa‘i decided to visit concentration camps and write about them. In an article posted on the Iraqi liberal news portal al-Hiwar al-Mutamaddin on November 25, 2010, he explained that everyone should emphasize with the Jews for the horrors that befell them, regardless of their disagreements with them.

Sources: al-Hiwar al-Mutamaddin, 25-Nov-2010
Nov. Kuwaiti Columnist Continues Anti-Jewish Defamation
   
Columnist Ahmad Yusuf al-Da`ij, of the Kuwaiti daily al-Watan, who was mentioned in the 2009 Contemporary Global Antisemitism Report released by the U.S. State Department as one of several Arab writers who engage in Holocaust denial and antisemitism, published another article in a similar vein on November 5, 2010. Al-Da`ij wrote that despite the corruptive and deceitful nature of Jews, one could not ignore their innate intelligence and skills, a result of over three thousand years of persecution in every country they lived in, and which had helped them gain control over the global economy, media and press.

Sources: Al-Watan (Kuwait), 05-Nov-2010
Nov. Iran Reopens Pro-Nazi, Anti-Arab Forum
   
Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance approved the reopening of the forum irannazi.ir in November 2010. Operated by the Iranian Center for Nazi Studies, the forum had earlier been banned by the government. Pro-Nazi, anti-Jewish and anti-Arab, Irannazi was launched in Hitler’s spirit and its supporters see themselves as successors of Nazi soldiers. Among the topics raised by the forum’s discussion groups are the necessity of affirming the authenticity of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and of refuting "the lies of the Holocaust." According to Israeli researcher Liora Hendelman-Baavur, the racism and antisemitic content of the forum is not an isolated case. Other websites, such as nazismsite.blogfa.com, greathitler.blogfa.com and sumka.blogfa.com, which identify with Nazism, openly proclaim to be anti-Jewish, anti-Sunni and anti-Arab, and express admiration for the German leadership and promote its ideology continue to find expression in the Iranian blogosphere. The reformist bloc in Iran strongly condemned the reopening of the forum and accused Muhammad ‘Ali Ramin, deputy culture minister, of being responsible. Following extensive web coverage and attention the site was temporarily blocked.

Sources: News-Israel.com, 22-Nov-2010; Liora Hendelman-Baavur , "Recent Nazi Inclinations in the Virtual Domain of Iran," Iran Pulse, no. 40, Dec. 6, 2010
Nov. Nobel Prize Winners Condemn Attempts to Boycott Israeli Academia
   
Thirty-eight Nobel prize winners signed a declaration in November 2010 condemning international attempts to sanction or boycott Israeli academic institutions and research centers. The highly regarded figures, including 1986 peace prize winner Elie Wiesel, oppose the increasing trend of boycotts against Israel and appeal to universities to defeat and denounce such calls and campaigns: According to the declaration, "academic and cultural boycotts, divestments and sanctions in the academy are against principles of academic and scientific freedom, principles of freedom of expression and inquiry, and may well constitute discrimination by virtue of national origin. Instead of fostering peace, [they] are likely to be counterproductive to the dynamics of reconciliation that lead to peace.”

Sources: y-netnews, 28-Sept-2010; The Jerusalem Post, 27-Sept-2010
Nov. Romani Report Points to Rising Racism
   
On November 12, 2010, the Romani site cingeneyiz.org issued a report on increasing racism in Europe, and especially violent attacks on Romani people as a sign of rising antiziganism. According to the report, one reason for the latter development lies in the economic crisis and the need for what it calls "a sacrificial lamb.” It also points to the success of parties with a "racist" agenda.

Sources: cingeneyiz.org, 12-Nov-2010
Nov. Harassment in Australia Increases despite Overall Decline in Antisemitic Numbers
   
According to the "Report on Antisemitism in Australia,” compiled in November 2010 by Jeremy Jones, director of International and Community Affairs of Australian Jewry, and covering the period October 1, 2009-September 20, 2010, there was a decrease in antisemitic activities in that country during that period. A total of 394 incidents of anti-Jewish violence, vandalism, harassment and intimidation were reported, the lowest number for ten years. However, for the third year in a row reports of verbal abuse and harassment of Jewish Australians going to and from, or outside, synagogues, reached a record high of 150 incidents throughout the country.

Sources: JTA, 22-Nov-2010; aijac, 23-Nov-2010
Nov. Holocaust Memorial in Ukraine Desecrated
   
A large swastika, and slogans such as "Shame on the Yids” and "Death to the Jews," were painted on a Holocaust memorial in Kirovograd, Ukraine. A complaint was filed by the city’s rabbi, Dani Zakuta, who said that this was "an attempt to incite inter-ethnic hatred" and "we are sure that the inaction of the law enforcement agencies convinced the criminals of their safety and they will continue acts of vandalism until they are punished.”

Sources: jewish.kiev.ua, 16-Nov-2010; eajc.org, 16-Nov-2010; AEN (Jewish News Agency), 16-Nov-2010
Nov. Muslims Attacked in Greece
   
On November 16, 2010, several hundred Muslims celebrating Id al-Adha in the Greek capital Athens were attacked by dozens of far-right activists. The incident reflects mounting tensions with the local population which has witnessed large numbers of Muslim immigrants in recent years. The fact that no mosque has been permitted to be built reveals Greek attitudes toward the immigrants.

Sources: Ekathimerini, 20-Nov-2010; Kathimerini, 20-Nov-2010; Reuters, 16-Nov-2010; Haaretz, 02-Dec-2010
Nov. Inter-parliamentary Coalition Issues Declaration on Antisemitism
   
An international declaration, the Ottawa Protocol, was released on November 9, 2010, following a two-day meeting in Canada of the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism (ICCA), which brings together parliamentarians and experts from about four dozen countries. Focusing on defining antisemitism, the declaration highlights the importance of making a distinction between legitimate criticism of Israel and what it calls the "most enduring of all hatreds." It lists several commitments, such as working with universities to promote the struggle against antisemitism, and working with the police to ensure a system is in place to record antisemitic incidents. In an op ed posted on November 15, 2010 www.aljazeerah.info claimed that, "Israeli Nazism, not antisemitism, is the real Issue" and that the ICCA is driven by "a few Zionist tycoons" who are trying to take Canada away from its humane principles and make it "embrace Israeli fascism."

Sources: canada.news.com, 09-Nov-2010; The Jerusalem Post, 10-Nov-2010; cbc.ca, 10-Nov-2010; Al-Jazeerah, 15-Nov-2010
Oct. Italian University Offers Holocaust Denial Course
   
An article published in the Italian newspaper La Republica, on October 7, 2010, reported on a course offered by the University of Teramo, entitled "The So-called Holocaust: The Lie of Auschwitz and the False Accounts of Holocaust Survivors." The course is taught by Holocaust denier Claudio Moffa, a professor of political science, who claims in his lectures that the gas chambers and crematorium at the concentration camps never existed. He also argues that six million - the number of Jewish victims murdered by the Nazis - is a kabbalistic number invented by the Jews and that, "No document signed by Hitler and calling for the extermination of the Jews was found." Education minister Maria Stella Gelmini called for dismissal of the professor. The university senate was to meet to decide what action to take.

Sources: repubblica.it, 7-Oct-2010; mako.co.il, 7-Oct-2010
Oct. Antisemitic Caricatures in Jordanian Newspaper
   
On October 9, 2010, the Jordanian daily al-Dustur published caricatures of Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman and prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu as diabolical creatures, half human and half pig. Previously, on September 22, the paper published a caricature of Lieberman as an Israeli soldier with the same diabolical pig face and a big swastika on his head.

Sources: al-Dustur, 09-Oct-2010, al-Dustur, 22-Sep-2010, al-Dustur, 19-Jul-2010
Oct. Survey Finds Rise in Extreme Right Opinions in Germany
   
"The Center in Crisis," a report on extreme right-wing opinions in Germany, compiled by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (affiliated with the Social Democratic Party), was released on October 13, 2010, in Berlin. The findings show a rise of extreme right, antisemitic, anti-democratic and xenophobic opinions among the German population, regardless of age, gender, education, social group or income level. A total of 2,411 persons were interviewed. Thirty percent would agree to return migrants to their home countries in the event of unemployment; 10 percent would favor a fuehrer who ruled with an iron fist; and 55 percent said that Arabs were unpleasant people (2009: 44 percent).

Sources: New York Times, 13-Oct-2010; Spiegel Online, 13-Oct-2010l
Oct. Jewish and Hindu Figures Condemn Hungarian Anti-Roma Policies
   
On the eve of the Hungarian elections held on October 2, 2010, Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, and rabbi Jonathan Freirich from Nevada, US, issued a joint statement condemning anti-Roma policies and attitudes in Hungary. They referred especially to a racist election advert in Hungary portraying the Roma as criminals. Hungarian State Radio and Television declined to air the ad, claiming that it violated broadcasting policy, but a Supreme Court decision of September 30, forced them to do so. In the election, the far-right Jobbik won nearly 17 percent of the vote – thanks partly to a campaign identifying what it called "gypsy crime" as one of the country's main problems.

Sources: EU Youth Speak, 01-Oct-2010; Yahoo, 30-Sep-2010; WTOP, 30-Sep-2010; Daily Babel, 11-Oct-2010
Oct. Iranian President Reiterates Anti-Zionist and Holocaust Denial Views
   
On October 17, 2010, Iran’s Khabar satellite TV aired an address delivered by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He stressed that the Zionist entity would collapse ("go to hell") in the near future together with its supporters. He then reiterated that Israel should be transferred to Europe or to North America and raised doubts about the dimensions of the Holocaust.

Sources: al-Watan Kuwait, 17-Oct-2010
Oct. Jewish Girls Attacked in Cologne
   
Three Jewish girls were attacked by a group of four young boys aged 11 to 15, on the eve of October 13, in Pesch, a district of Cologne. According to a Cologne police spokesman, the girls (between 17 and 18) were kicked, spat at and abused with antisemitic comments during the bus ride. Police president Klaus Steffenhagen sharply criticized the incident.

Sources: eip-news, 14-Oct-2010; Express.de, 14-Oct-2010; Polizei Koeln, 14-Oct-2010
Oct. Antisemitic Program on Palestinian TV
   
On October 10 and 17, 2010, Fatah PA TV broadcast the history program, "Witnesses and Testimonies," featuring two Jordanian academics, 'Arafat Hijazi and Muhammad Dawhal. They explained that the behavior of the Jews had been "harmful" to Europeans and that they were persecuted in every society they lived in because of their "great love for money." The two cited Shakespeare's Shylock to prove their claims.

Sources: Palestinian Media Watch, 28-Oct-2010
Oct. Study Reveals Role of German Foreign Ministry in Holocaust
   
A study by a panel of German historians (Eckart Conze and Norbert Frei, Germany; Peter Hayes, Northwestern University; and Moshe Zimmerman, Israel), published in October 2010, disclosed that the German Foreign Ministry took a much more active role in the Holocaust than was previously known. Officials actively cooperated in mass murder and helped perpetrators flee after the war. The study - commissioned by former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer in 2005 - further demonstrated that diplomats continued covering up the past for decades.

Sources: Junge Welt, 25-Oct-2010; Spiegel Online, 23-Oct-2010; Deutsche Welle, 24-Oct-2010; Haaretz, 25-Oct-2010; Spiegel Online, 25-Oct-2010; Mail Online, 26-Oct-2010
Oct. Antisemitic Graffiti on Armenian Memorial
   
A swastika and a call to kill Jews in the Armenian language were painted, on the night of October 19-20, 2010, on a memorial in Yerevan dedicated to victims of the Holocaust and the Armenian genocide. The police launched an investigation. The Armenian Church and the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress condemned the incident.

Sources: armenialive.com, 20-Oct-2010; vestnikkavkaza.net, 20-Oct-2010; jewish.ru, 20-Oct-2010; eajc.org, 21-Oct-2010
Oct. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish-Arab Tensions in Safed
   
A group of 18 rabbis from Safed, including the Israeli city's chief rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, signed a petition on October 20, 2010, urging Jews not to let or sell apartments to non-Jews. The appeal reflects rising ethnic tensions in the town, illustrated, for example, by the harassment of an elderly Holocaust survivor for letting an apartment to Bedouin students from the local college. The petition sparked riots between ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arabs in the city. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) condemned it as racist; however, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef from Shas (ultra-Orthodox political party in Israel) supported it.

Sources: Jerusalem Post, 05-Nov-2010; Haaretz, 02-Oct-2010; Haaretz, 29-Oct-2010; Haaretz, 25-Oct-2010; Haaretz, 24-Oct-2010
Sept. Prominent German Banker Resigns Post after Racist Statements
   
Thilo Sarrazin, a member of the SPD (Social Democratic Party) and a board member of the German national bank (Bundesbank) resigned his post on September 10, 2010, following a controversy over his statement that most Arab and Turkish immigrants in Germany were unwilling or unable to integrate, and that Jews had a genetic makeup ("all Jews share the same gene") that made them much more suited to living in Germany than recent Muslim immigrants. In his best-selling book Deutschland schafft sich ab (Germany does away with itself, August 2010), Sarrazin claims that Germany’s failure to integrate its immigrants endangered its culture and identity. The Centralrat of the Jewish Communities in Germany sharply criticized Sarrazin for his racist theories.

Sources: : Daily Mail, 11-Sep-2010; Mittelbayerische Zeitung, 02-Sep-2010; RP Online, 25-Aug-2010
Sept. Most Members of al-Qa`ida Yemenite Jews, Claims Swedish Islamist
   
Swedish Islamist Mohamed Omar published an interview on September 4, 2010 with Mousa Almallahi, editor of the news site Arabnyheter. Almallahi claimed that Hitler was no worse than Bush and Obama, that the Holocaust never happened and that Israel was carrying out a holocaust in Palestine. Relating to accusations of Islamist terrorism, he maintained that most members of al-Qa`ida were Yemenite Jews.

Sources: Alazerius, 04-Sep-2010
Sept. Iranian TV Debate on Holocaust Denial
   
On August 8, 2010, Iranian al-`Alam TV broadcast a debate on Holocaust denial with Syrian author Muhammad Nimr al-Madani. Al-Madani praised the statements made by Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad denying the Holocaust and argued that people need to fight this lie; the state of Israel must be wiped out of existence, he said. He further claimed that Jews in many countries kill people and mix their blood with matzoth of Zion.

Sources: Memri, 08-Sep-2010
Sept. Holocaust Denier’s Tours of Death Camps Condemned
   
In September 2010 British Holocaust denier David Irving's attempts to raise money by taking tour groups to death camps and other sites in Poland connected to the Nazi regime met with fierce criticism in Poland and the UK. On September 10, Irving attacked his critics, saying that the attempts of the Polish authorities to make money out of Holocaust tourism were more sickening.

Sources: Daily Mail, 10-Sep-2010
Sept. Antisemitic Leftist Stands in Swedish Local Elections
   
In the Swedish elections held in September 2010, Sara Granberg, who has repeatedly posted antisemitic comments on the blog Jinge, run by a member of the Left Party, stood as a representative of this party for the local council in Simrishamn. Among her accusations: the Jews control the media, both in the US and in Sweden; a strong Zionist lobby controls the Internet; the Zionists have learnt from Hitler and act like he did; and instead of teaching about the Holocaust, the Forum for Living History in Stockholm should educate about the crimes of Zionism and of the tsar’s regime in pre-revolutionary Russia. She has also denied the existence of antisemitism.

Sources: Riktig Vänster, 15-Sep-2010
Aug. Holocaust Denial Website Launched in Iran
   
In August 2010, the Khakriz Cultural Institute in Iran launched a website based on a book of cartoons about the Holocaust. The book, published by Borzo Bitaraf in 2008, contains satirical and antisemitic cartoons by Maziar Bijani. The launch of the website was dedicated to denying the Holocaust through antisemitic caricatures and texts that seek to show that "the killing of 6 million Jews in World War II known as the Holocaust was a sheer lie."

Sources: Jerusalem Post, 09-Aug-2010; New York Times, 04-Aug-2010; Haaretz, 06-Aug-2010; www.holocartoons.com, 08-Aug-2010
Aug. Danish Historian Indicted for Anti-Muslim Racism
   
On August 3, 2010, the Danish historian and former editor of the paper Information, Lars Hedegaard, was indicted for racism. He is to be charged following a video interview with him on the webpage Snaphanen, where he warned that increased Muslim immigration would threaten western civilization. He also claimed that Muslims might lie to non-Muslims to further the cause of Islam, that women had no value in Muslim society except as mothers and that rape within the extended family was commonplace.

Sources: Politiken, 03-Aug-2010; Spanhanen, 03-Jun-2010
Aug. Antisemitic WWII Notice Posted in Hungary
   
In August 2010 a poster with the inscription "Be ashamed. You have bought from Jews again" was posted on the wall of a Kaufland Supermarket in Transylvania. A similar inscription was used in Hungary during World War II. Three youths, members of the extreme nationalist Hungarian Guard (Wass Albert Battalion) were arrested.

Sources: Hate Monitor Net, 06-Aug-2010
Aug. Chilean Journalist Dismissed after Antisemitic Article
   
On August 22, the Chilean weekly La Nacion Domingo published an article by author and journalist Antonio Gil accusing Mammon, the "Jewish demon of avarice and greed" of being responsible for all the country's misfortunes. Following complaints, the writer of the article, the editor and the illustrator were dismissed and the paper published an apology to the Jewish community.

Sources: luisramirez.cl.blog, 20-Aug-2010; El Ciudadano, 27-Aug-2010
Aug. Hizballah and Iranian TV Broadcast Antisemitic Series during Ramadan
   
During Ramadan, August 2010, Hizballah's satellite channel al-Manar, NBN TV, in Lebanon, and the Iranian Arabic-language channel al-Kawthar TV, aired the series al-Sayid al-Masih (The Christ), which presented an antisemitic pseudo-historical survey of the history of the Jewish people and Zionism, including the blood libel. In the first two episodes the Jews are depicted as conspirators, liars and traitors, and as evil, greedy and satanic. The Lebanese channels stopped broadcasting the series following protests from Lebanese Christians.

Sources: Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, 26-Aug-2010; Memri, 14-Aug-2010
July Switzerland Decides against Banning Nazi Salute and Swastika
   
At the end of June 2010, the Federal Government of Switzerland decided against criminalizing the Nazi salute and the use of the swastika. Protesting the Federal Government’s decision, the Federal Commission against Racism FCR and the GRA Foundation against Racism and Anti-Semitism, stated it could have serious consequences since Switzerland might become "a European refuge for right-wing extremist material."

Sources: admin.ch, 07-Jul-2010; swissinfo.ch, 07-Jul-2010
July Neo-Nazi Hackers Bring Down Concentration Camp Websites
   
The official websites of Buchenwald and other concentration camp memorials were partly destroyed by neo-Nazis in July 2010. Hackers deleted the home page and uploaded right-wing extremist symbols and slogans, including "Brown is beautiful" and "We will be back." In addition, they deleted the register of inmates who died in Buchenwald and the website of the nearby Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. Other websites, too, were linked to internet addresses denying the Holocaust. In response, Volhard Knigge, director of the memorial foundation, stated that the actions were aimed at eradicating "the memory of the victims of National-Socialist crimes." President of the state of Thueringen Christine Lieberknecht called them "an act of dehumanization." The foundation has filed charges and the Federal Criminal Agency (BKA) was investigating the incident.

Sources:
July Rise in Antisemitic Activity in Turkey
   
Pipe Line News published an assessment on July 19, 2010, by Dutch investigative reporter Emerson Vermaaton on the rise of antisemitism in Turkey. Vermaaton points especially to extreme nationalist circles (like the "Grey Wolves") and Islamist circles, but also claims that anti-Jewish prejudice is common in Turkey. The antisemitic discourse includes conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial. The article demonstrates the close connection between Islamist circles and the current political leadership in Turkey.

Sources: PipeLineNews, 19-Jul-2010
July Russian Public Figures Accuse Zionists of Genocide
   
On July 10, 2010, a round table initiated by the LDPR (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia), "On the Question of Recognizing the Genocide of the Russian People" was held in the building of the lower house of the Russian Parliament (Duma). It was attended by retired generals, leaders of extreme-right groups and Viktor Iliukhin (Communist Party - KPRF), who is known for his antisemitic views. The resolution adopted at the end of the event accused "the international Zionist financial mafia of genocide against the Russian people."

Sources: UCSJ, 28-Jul-2010
July Jewish Sites in France Vandalized
   
On July 20, 2010, the Jewish cemetery of Wolfisheim near Strasbourg was found desecrated, with 27 gravestones overturned. Two days later, the synagogue of Melun was discovered vandalized with Nazi symbols painted on the walls. The police were investigating.

Sources: Crif editorial, 22-July-2010
July Saudi Imam Criticizes Arab Sympathy for Hitler
   
On July 7, 2010, the Saudi daily al-Watan published an article by Iman al-Qawifli, who criticized the sympathy for Adolf Hitler and Nazism that prevails in the Arab world. Since the Arab people "were ignorant of Nazi philosophy and its implications," he pointed out, their admiration for Hitler during World War II was understandable. However, contemporary sympathy for Hitler took two forms: popular admiration for him as a strong leader, and sympathy disguised in intellectual terms. According to al-Qawifli, this glorification of Nazism and Hitler led to a disregard of reality that contradicted the historic truth and to an ideology of hostility towards the West.

Sources: al-Watan (Saudi Arabia), 08-Jul-2010; Memri, 04-Aug-2010
July Egyptian Cleric Praises Hitler’s Treatment of Jews
   
During a religious program aired on July 11, 2010 on Egyptian al-Nas TV, the host, Egyptian cleric Hussam Fawzi Jabar, stated that Hitler was right to say what he did and to do what he did to the Jews, who "by nature, love treachery, betrayal, deception, killing and blood."

Sources: Memri, 27-Jul-2010
July Wartime Antisemitic Romanian Patriarch Honored
   
In July 2010 the National Bank of Romania released a silver coin in honor of patriarch Miron Cristea, head of the Orthodox Church in Romania, 1925-1939 and prime minister, 1938-1939. During this period he stripped 37 percent of Romanian Jews of their citizenship, branding them "foreign elements that must be removed because they damage and weaken our Romania's ethnic and national character." Demanding that the coin be withdrawn from circulation, the Romanian Jewish Community and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum claimed it contradicted the law against incitement of racism and xenophobia. Bank spokesman, Mugur Stet, said that it was "part of a set commemorating the five patriarchs who have led the Romanian church since 1925" and had nothing to do with antisemitism. A special commission, however, was set up to review the matter.

Sources: worldjewishcongress.org, 10-Aug-2010; jta.org, 04-Aug-2010. bbc.co.uk, 06-Aug-2010; ejpress.org, 08-Aug-2010
July Rabbi Arrested in Israel for Inciting against Non-Jews
   
Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, head of the prominent Or Yosef Hai Yeshiva on the West Bank, was arrested on July 26, 2010 on suspicion of inciting to murder non-Jews in his book The King's Torah. The police confiscated 30 copies of the book. Shapira had earlier been arrested in January 2010 as a suspect in the torching of a mosque in the village of Yasuf, but was released.

Sources: Haaretz, 26-Jul-2010; The Electronic Intifada, 02-Aug-2010
July SS Veterans March in Estonia
   
On July 31, 2010 the annual meeting of veterans of the 20th Estonian SS division (20 Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS) took place in Sinimae. It was attended by about 400 people, including members of the Union of Fighters for the Liberation of Estonia and Society of Friends of the Estonian Legion, as well as representatives of the ruling party. A well-known Latvian nationalist, Igors Siskins, came to the meeting with a swastika on his sleeve. The participants demanded that SS veterans be recognized as fighters for the freedom of Estonia. About 150 anti-fascists, some of them dressed as concentration camp inmates, held a counterdemonstration close by. The veterans' meeting was condemned by the NCSJ (National Conference on Soviet Jewry) in the U.S., the ADL, the World Without Nazism movement, the Union of Former Youth Inmates of Fascism, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, among others.

Sources: lenta.ru, 31-Jul-2010.; ru.delfi.lt, 31-Jul-2010; NCSJ, 03-Aug-2010; jta.org, 21-Jul-2010.; wcrj.org, 22-Jul-2010; historyfoundation.ru, 27-Jul-2010; IzRus, 29-Jul-2010
May/June ECRI Releases Report on Poland
   
On June 15, 2010, ECRI (European Commission Against Racism and Antisemitism) released its fourth report on Poland. According to the organization's chairman Nils Muiznieks, "the persistence of racist and antisemitic discourse, the lack of comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation and the vulnerable situation of the Roma remain sources of concern." On the positive side, special prosecutors were assigned to deal with racist crimes and there is a Program for the Benefit of the Roma Community in Poland. However, "antisemitism is tolerated in part of the political world and influential media." ECRI recommended that comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation be submitted to parliament; that a "body for combating racism and racial discrimination" be established; and that the Polish Football Association "develop a code of conduct to address fans' racism."

Sources: Council of Europe, 15-Jun-2010.; expatica.com, 15-Jun-2010
May/June Dutch Authorities Consider Using Decoy Jews to Expose Antisemites
   
Following a video aired on June 20, 2010, by the Dutch Jewish broadcasting company Joodse Omroep on the rise of antisemitism in the Netherlands, the Dutch authorities were considering using "decoy Jews" - undercover police agents disguised as religious Jews - to expose and arrest active antisemites. The video showed young Moroccan immigrants shouting insults and making Nazi salutes at a rabbi and two schoolchildren in Amsterdam. The decoy strategy was suggested by Ahmed Marcouch, a Moroccan-born member of parliament. According to local reports, Jews in at least six Amsterdam neighborhoods often cannot cross the street wearing a skullcap without being insulted, spat at or even assaulted.

Sources: telegraph.co.uk, 22-Jun-2010; news.yahoo.com, 25-Jun-2010; religionnewsblog.com, 22-Jun-2010
May/June Bomb Attack on Russian Synagogue
   
On the night of June 20/21, 2010 (two days before the anniversary of the German attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941), a homemade bomb exploded near the entrance to a synagogue in the Russian city of Tver. One passer-by was slightly injured and the synagogue and nearby buildings were damaged. Classifying the case as "malicious hooliganism," the police opened an investigation and the municipality announced that it would allocate the necessary funds in order to repair the damage. The Jewish Religious Community of Russia (headed by one of Russia's chief rabbis, Adolf Sayevich) issued a statement saying that the explosion was "not only an offense to the Jewish population but a terrible reminder of World War II victims."

Sources: Interfax, 21-Jun-2010.; uvd.tver.ru, 21-Jun-2010; jta.org, 21-Jun-2010.; IzRus, 21-Jun-2010; Canada Free Press, 21-Jun-2010; European Jewish Press, 22-Jun-2010
May/June Holocaust Memorial Unveiled in Estonia
   
On June 2, 2010, a memorial dedicated to Jews executed during World War II in a prison in Tallinn, Estonia, was unveiled in the presence of Tallinn mayor Edgar Savisaar. The latter admitted during the ceremony that about 8,000 Jews from various European countries were murdered in Estonia during the Holocaust and "it would be hypocrisy to claim that the Estonians have no connection to this and that the executioners were only Germans… These are very painful memories."

Source: historyfoundation.ru, 02-Jun-2010
May/June Historian Uncovers Norway's Avoidance of WWII Past
   
On May 12, 2010, the Norwegian paper Aftenposten published an article on the work of historian Synne Corell from Oslo University. She shows in her doctoral dissertation that until now Norwegian historians have used euphemisms and other linguistic tricks to hide touchy subjects concerning World War II, such as Norwegian involvement in the deportation of its Jews to Auschwitz.

Sources: Aftenposten, 12-May-2010
May/June Swedish Academic Calls on Jews to Distance Themselves from Israel
   
On May 31, 2010, professor of practical ethics at Stockholm University Torbjorn Tannsjo, who is linked to the Left Party and is known for his extremely utilitarian views on medical ethics, wrote an article on the Swedish debate site Newsmill. Tannsjo demanded that Jews all over the world distance themselves from Israel if they wanted to avoid harassment and antisemitism. He was criticized in early June by Swedish historian Fredrik Meiton and author Ramona Fransson, who pointed out how Tannsjo's line of reasoning accepted and fostered antisemitic attitudes instead of fighting them.

Sources: Newsmill, 31-May-2010; Newsmill, 04-June-2010
May/June Some Responses to the "Gaza Aid Flotilla"
   
The confrontation between Israeli soldiers and participants of the so-called Gaza aid flotilla on May 31, 2010 triggered a barrage of attacks against Israel in the Arab and Iranian media, calling for jihad and aggressive action against the Jewish state. Memri (Middle East Research Institute) and PMW (Palestinian Media Watch) published reports based on statements, interviews and wills written by Flotilla participants, according to which Islamist activists onboard were anticipating conflict and wished to die as martyrs. Similarly, al-Jazeera TV aired an interview with Yemen-based Egyptian cleric Wagdi Ghoneim, who declared that Muslims would never recognize Israel and that Allah would pursue Jews who respected nothing but force. A Syrian TV program hosted Syrian historian Soheil Zakkar, who branded Israel "a malignant disease" and called for suicide operations within its borders. Iraqi publicist Nuri Jasim al-Miyahi contended on the Kurdish liberal website al-Hiwar al-Mutamaddin on June 4 that Israel would soon be wiped off the map as a consequence of its aggression.

Sources: Memri, 02-June-2010; Memri, 07-June-2010; Memri, 01-June-2010; AJC, 03-June-2010; PMW, 03-June-2010; Ikhwanonline, 04 June 2010

One of the motifs frequently used in Arab responses to the Gaza flotilla events was Israel's equation to Nazism. On June 1, 'Abd al-Khaliq Husayn claimed, in al-Hiwar al-Mutamaddin, that since its establishment, Israel had followed the Nazi Hitler model and exploited the Holocaust in order to justify the usurpation of Palestine. On the official Muslim Brotherhood site (June 2), Majida Shahhata thanked the so-called "Nazi entity" for showing its real face when it committed a holocaust against Palestinians. Mazin Himad in the Jordanian daily al-Dustur (June 6), accused Israel of being worse than the Nazi state, but said it would take a long time to convince the world.


Sources: Memri, 03-June-2010; www.ahewar.org, 04-June-2010; al-Hiwar al-Mutamaddin, 04 June 2010

On May 31, al-Falluja jihadist web forum posted an essay by Shaykh Husayn Bin Mahmud, a pseudonym of a Salafi cleric popular among the online global jihadist community. He accused the Jews of betraying Moses, killing many of the prophets and conspiring to kill Muhammad, and defined them as "a people of deception and deceit, wickedness, unbelief, heresy, and polytheism… Everyone who has had contact with them … has spurned them, loathed them, and detested them." He claimed to be citing Hitler when he said that the latter had decided to leave some of them alive so that the entire world would know why he killed the rest. In conclusion, he stressed that Gaza would not stop fighting until it drank "the blood of the sons of apes and pigs."


Sources: Al-Dustur, 06 June 2010, ikhwanonline, 02 June 2010, al-Sabil, 03 June 2010, al-Hiwar al-Mutamaddin, 01 June 2010

An editorial in the Iranian daily Kayhan from June 1 evoked Judgment Day, claiming that the life of Zionists was not safe anywhere anymore and that Israel was doomed to annihilation. In addition, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the Iranian daily Fars on May 31 that Israel was a "cancerous tumor" whose end had begun.


Source: Memri, 03 June 2010
May/June Jews in France Assaulted
   
A 78-year-old Jewish man was attacked outside a synagogue in Nimes, France, on May 1, 2010, by three men who sprayed teargas in his face. The attack occurred a few minutes after explicit antisemitic graffiti reading "Nike Le Juif" (F--k the Jews) was sprayed on one of the synagogue doors. Nimes police were investigating the two possibly related incidents.

A month later, on June 7, 2010, a 45-year-old Jewish man was assaulted at the Argenteuil train station in the Ile-de-France region (northern France). The attacker, who the victim claimed was of North African origin, passed through the carriages asking the passengers: "Are you a Jew? Are you a Jew?" When he came across the victim he shouted: "I don't like the Jews… I am going to beat you up. Did you see what your cousins are doing in Gaza?" He then hit him and pushed him to the floor. The victim received medical attention and the perpetrator was arrested and brought before a judge in Pontoise.


Sources: crif.org, 3-May-2010; telegraph.co.uk, 3-May-2010; sosantisemitisme.org, 7-Jun-2010
May/June Arson Attack on Synagogue in Germany
   
An arson attack on the old synagogue in Worms, Germany, was reported on May 17, 2010. The building was set alight and flyers dispersed threatening, "As long as you do not give peace to the Palestinians we will not stop!" The police were investigating.

Sources: swr.de, 24-May-2010; evangelische.de, 18-May-2010
May/June Desecration in Israel
   
In early May 2010 swastikas and slogans such as "Death to niggers," "Death to Ethiopians" and "Heil Hitler" in both Hebrew and Russian were discovered on the gravestone of an Ethiopian woman in Beersheba, Israel. A complaint was filed.

Sources: Ynet News, 09-May-2010; eajc.org, 10-May-2010
May/June Website Countering Holocaust Denial Launched
   
In May 2010, a Second World War website (WW2History.com) was launched by British historian Laurence Rees, former creative director of BBC Television History, to counter Holocaust denial. Among the main features will be timelines for four theaters of war: the Western Front, the Eastern Front, the Pacific Front and the Holocaust.

Source: JC.com, 29 April 2010
May/June Desecrations in Poland
   
In early May 2010 a memorial to Holocaust victims at the Jewish cemetery of Minsk Mazowiecki, Poland, was smashed. It had been renovated a few months earlier and contained a plaque in both Hebrew and Polish. Another desecration took place at the Jewish cemetery in Sosnowic on 16/17 May when about 60 gravestones were shattered. A complaint was filed by the Jewish community.

Sources: sztetl.org.pl, 21-May-2010; CFCA, 03-May-2010; jewish.org.pl, May-2010
May/June Veteran White House Reporter Retires after Antisemitic Remarks
   
At a Jewish heritage event held at the White House on May 27, 2010, veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas, 89, was video-taped answering a question on what she thought about Israel. She said: "The Jews should get the hell out of Palestine" and return to "Poland, Germany, and America and everywhere else." On June 4, she posted a statement on her website apologizing for her comments. However, criticism of Thomas continued to pour in. The White House Correspondents Association called the remarks "indefensible," and on June 7 Thomas retired from her position at Hearst newspapers. A day later, President Obama stated that her remarks about Israel were "offensive" and called her decision to retire "the right decision."

Sources: timesonline.co.uk, 07-06-2010; washingtonontimes.com, 07-06-2010; nytimes.com, 07-06-2010; jpost.com, 15-06-2010; newsbusters.org, 14-06-2010; foxnews.com, 04-06-2010
April Neo-Nazi and Antisemitic Graffiti in Israeli City
   
On April 9, 2010, swastikas and antisemitic graffiti reading "Every Jew has his day," "Jews get out," "Hitler rules and all Jews must die" and "Work sets you free [Arbeit macht frei]" were discovered on electricity poles and in other places in Ashdod, Israel. The police opened an investigation.

Sources: Ynet News, 9 April 2010; Mako, 9 April 2010. newsru.co.il, 9 April 2010
April Antisemitic Manifestations Observed during Kyrgyzstan Coup
   
A series of antisemitic events took place during the period of the coup d'etat in Kyrgyzstan in early April 2010. In an interview he gave to the Russian news website gazeta.ru, a leader of a group of youths that took control over the area in front of the government building in Bishkek, said, after he questioned the reporter about his nationality: "We respect Russians, but Jews should be all killed." On April 8, demonstrators in Bishkek bore antisemitic signs such as "Dirty Jews and those like Maxim do not have a place in Kyrgyzstan," referring to the son of president Kurmanbek Bakiev. Bakiev was accused by the opposition (which initiated the coup) of taking over the country's vital resources upon the advice of Russian Jews in the US. Also on April 8, there was an attempt to set the local synagogue alight with bottles of explosive liquid after the perpetrators had disabled the surveillance cameras. No one was injured since the building was empty. Jewish community leaders sent a letter of complaint to the interim leader of the country Roza Otunbayeva and asked for protection. The security of the building was subsequently reinforced. The US State Department condemned the antisemitic incidents on April 12.

Sources: IzRus, 08 April 2010; JTA (Jewish Telegraphic Agency), 12 April 2010; newsru.co.il, 9 April 2010; IzRus, 12 April 2010
April Antisemitic and Nazi Slogans on Jewish School in Kiev
   
On April 19, 2010 (the eve of Israel's Independence Day and of the anniversary of Adolf Hitler's birthday), antisemitic and Nazi slogans, such as "Jew go home," "A Yid won't pass on white soil," "Trample the Yid," "Sieg Heil," "Waffen SS," "NS/WP," RaHoWa (Racial Holy War) and "Happy Holocaust" were painted on the walls of a Chabad school in Kiev. The head of the school believed that neo-Nazis were behind the incident and expressed his hope that the authorities would investigate the case.

Sources: col.org.il, 20 April 2010; IzRus, 21 April 2010; inn.co.il, 20 April 2010. jta.org, 21 April 2010. jewish.ru, 21 April 2010, Ynet News, 22 April 2010
April Racist Jobbik Party Comes in Third in Hungarian Elections
   
On April 11, 2010, the far right Hungarian Jobbik party, known for its antisemitic and anti-Gypsy (Roma) rhetoric, entered parliament for the first time in Hungarian elections. It won 16.71% of the vote, more than any other far right party in Hungary since the fall of communism in 1989, and was third, behind the governing Socialists (19.3 %) and the opposition center-right Fidesz party, which won a majority of more than 52% of the vote. Jobbik has blamed Jews and Gypsies for Hungary's deep economic crisis and said that "foreign speculators," including Israel, want to control the country. Jobbik's rise has been aided by the popularity of the extremist Magyar Garda, (Hungarian Guard), linked to Hungary's wartime Nazi party. A recent edition of the party magazine showed a statue of St. Gellert - an 11th-century martyred bishop - holding a menorah instead of a cross. "Is this what you want?" it asked.

A few days before the elections, on April 6, about 1000 Jews wearing yarmulkes held a march, organized by the Hungarian Jewish Community, through the Old Ghetto district in Budapest, protesting against a series of antisemitic incidents (antisemitic graffiti in Budapest, desecration of the Holocaust memorial in Zalaegerszeg and an antisemitic rally by neo-Nazis in Tiszaeszlar) and "the polarized political climate in the run-up to Hungary's elections." The march was secured by the police.


Sources: World Jewish Congress, 7 April 2010; haaretz.com, 12 April 2010; nytimes.com, 11 April 2010; timesonline.co.uk, 12 April 2010; telegraph.co.uk, 11 April 2010; JTA 26 April 2010
April Norwegian Journalist Offers Antisemitic Explanation for Jewish Passover
   
On the Thursday of Holy Week, April 1, 2010, Norwegian State Radio (NRK) broadcast a show during which well-known journalist Terje Nordby claimed that whereas the Christian Easter was connected to the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Jewish Passover celebrated "the slaughter of Egyptian children."

Sources: Dokument.no, 1 April 2010
April. Sexual Abuse Claims in Church a Jewish Conspiracy, says Italian Bishop
   
On April 9, 2010 a retired Italian bishop, Giacomo Babini, suggested in an interview posted on the Catholic website Pontifex that claims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church were a Jewish conspiracy. Babini allegedly claimed that a "Zionist attack" was behind criticism of the Church, since it was so "powerful and refined." He also said: "They do not want the church, they are its natural enemies. Deep down, historically speaking, the Jews are God killers [deicide]." The American Jewish Committee (AJC), which spotted the interview, said the bishop also asserted that "the Holocaust took place due to Jews 'strangling Germany economically' through 'usury'." Italy's Bishops' Conference (CEI) rushed out a statement in which Babini denied having given the interview in the first place. The AJC urged the CEI to condemn the comments, which followed a series of statements made by Catholic churchmen alleging the existence of plots to weaken the church and Pope Benedict XVI. Babini has previously been quoted on the Pontifex website accusing Jews of exploiting the Holocaust.

Sources: Haaretz.com, 12 April 2010; jpost.com, 13 April 2010; guardian.co.uk, 11 April 2010
Feb. Morocco Conference on the Holocaust Draws Criticism
   
In response to a conference on the Holocaust organized by Project Aladdin, the French foreign ministry and the Moroccan National Library, and held on February 1, 2010 in Rabat, Morocco, several Arab scholars and commentators, as well as Moroccan Jewish intellectuals who participated, attacked the initiative as serving Zionist political and ideological goals, and as a further indication of the alleged continuing instrumentalization of the Holocaust. Project Aladdin, which is supported by the Fondation de la Memoire de la Shoah and UNESCO, seeks to disseminate knowledge about the Holocaust in the Arab and Muslim worlds with the aim of bringing about a better understanding between Muslims and Jews. Most vocal in his criticism was Jewish Moroccan author Edmond `Amran al-Malih, who conditioned a discussion of the Jewish Holocaust on recognition of the "Zionist holocaust" in Gaza, emphasizing that Muslims and Jews could never reach coexistence without it. Senior Jewish adviser to the king of Morocco, Andre Azoulay, called, on the other hand, for participants to avoid discussion of Gaza and insisted that there was no connection between the Holocaust and the State of Israel.

Sources: Al-Tajdid, February 3, al-Sabil, February 19, 26, 2010.
Feb. Attempted Bombing at Cairo Synagogue
   
The largest synagogue in Egypt, Sha'ar Shamayim, was the target of an attempted bombing. At 03:00 on February 21, 2010, Jamal Husayn Husayn hurled a suitcase with explosives from his fourth floor room in the Panorama Hotel next door. The synagogue was not damaged and no one was injured. Husayn, 49, who has previous convictions for drug trafficking, was arrested the next day. He reportedly did not belong to any extremist organization and acted alone. He admitted that he was outraged by the events in Palestine and by the assassination of Hamas leader Mahmud al-Mabhuh in Dubai few days previously.

Sources: Haaretz, 22 Feb.; al-'Arabiya net 23 Feb.; al-Yawm al-Sabi', al-Ahram, 23 Feb. 2010
Feb. Holocaust Denier Released from German Prison
   
On March 1, 2010, Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel was released from prison in Mannheim, Germany, after serving a five-year sentence. Zundel was found guilty on 14 counts of inciting antisemitic hatred for years, mainly through his Holocaust denying website. Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany. Supporters outside the prison hailed Zundel as "a brave man" and "a victim of justice," while some claimed there was still no evidence that anyone was gassed to death at Nazi concentration camps.

Sources: jpost.com, 2 March 2010; torontosun.com, 1 March 2010; jta.org, 1 March 2010
Feb. Russian Editor Sentenced for Incitement of Ethnic Hatred
   
On February 3, 2010 the Federal Court of St. Petersburg sentenced Konstantin Dushenov, chief editor of the newspaper Rus' Pravoslavnaia, to 3 years in a prison colony for incitement of ethnic hatred. Dushenov was convicted of publishing and distributing antisemitic materials all over Russia, including the film Russia with a Knife in Its Back - Jewish Fascism and the Genocide of the Russian Nation, which is on the list of banned extremist materials in Russia. Two other staff members of the newspaper were given suspended sentences.

Sources: UCSJ, 12 Feb. 2010; regnum.ru, 3 Feb. 2010; AEN (Jewish News Agency), 4 Feb. 2010
Feb. Italy's Lazio Football Fans Post Antisemitic Expressions in Facebook
   
In early February 2010, supporters of Italy's Lazio football team opened a page on the Facebook social network inciting against the Israeli football player Eyal Golasa who was slated to join their team. In one post on the site, a fan wrote: "It is enough that he [Golasa] is a Jew not to accept him, but he is also about to join their military forces in their army within a year and this is something we cannot accept." Other fans also wrote antisemitic and anti-Israel posts, such as: "We don't want people stained with blood" and "We don't want people who belong to a nation of criminals and murderers."

Sources: ynet.co.il, 2 Feb. 2010; www.facebook.com, Feb 2010
Feb. Books on Holocaust Being Translated into Arabic and Farsi
   
In a statement made on February 11, 2010, the French ambassador to Israel, Christophe Bigot revealed the existence of a French project for translating famous books about the Holocaust, such as Primo Levi's writings and the diary of Anne Frank, into Arabic and Farsi and distributing them in the Muslim world. The Fondation de la Memoire de la Shoah (FMS) and Project Aladdin (which is supported by the FMS), as well as UNESCO, are behind the endeavor. The ambassador's statement followed a report of the Service de Protection de la Communaute Juive (SPCJ) showing that antisemitic incidents in France nearly doubled in 2009, following Operation Cast Lead (832 incidents in 2009 compared to 474 in 2008). The ambassador refused to link the rise of antisemitism in France to its Muslim community; however, he said, antisemitism served as an outlet for several sectors of society to express political or economic frustrations and that Israel's military campaigns "are often used by extremists as a pretext for violence."

Sources: ynetnews.com, 12 Feb. 2010; Jyllands-Posten, 26 Feb. 2010
Feb. Hungary Passes Draft Law against Holocaust Denial
   
On February 22, 2010, the Hungarian parliament passed a draft law outlawing Holocaust denial. The initiator of the bill, which makes denying the Holocaust a criminal offense punishable by up to 3 years in prison, was Attila Mesterhazy, the governing Socialist Party's candidate for prime minister in the upcoming elections (April 2010). The new law may not be ratified since it can be deemed unconstitutional on the grounds of limiting freedom of speech. Previous attempts to ban Holocaust denial have been thwarted on such grounds. Hate speech and incitement to violence against minorities are already criminal acts in Hungary. A motion by the center-right opposition party Fidesz to extend the law to cover denial of other crimes committed under the Communist regime was rejected by 178 votes to 146, with seven abstentions.

Sources: Jerusalem Post, 23 Feb. 2010; Jurist, 24 Feb. 2010; Haaretz, 22 Feb. 2010; EJC, 24 Feb. 2010; PEW.forum, 22 Feb. 2010
Jan. Iranian Cleric Accuses Jews and Zionists of Corruption
   
Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi, a member of the Assembly of Experts and the chairman of the Supreme Council of Ahl-e Bait (dedicated to Shi'i Muslim links), known also as Ahamdinejad's spiritual mentor, repeated in a speech to a forum of the Revolutionary Guards in Qom on January 5, 2010, the allegation that Jewish/Zionist hands were behind the demonstrations against the regime. He called the Jews "the most corrupt race" that has endeavored to corrupt the world in order to rule it. They were the enemies of Islam and "their crimes throughout history are testimony to that truth."

Sources: Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Bulletin, 4, 25 Jan. 2010
Jan. Israeli Aid Mission to Haiti Accused of Organ Trafficking
   
The Hizballah portal al-Intiqad, as well as a program on Syrian TV, claimed that the Haiti catastrophe provided further proof of Zionism's evil intentions. Reiterating a new version of the blood libel, they charged that the real reason for Israel's aid mission was to exploit the tragedy and suffering of the Haitians, and engage in organ stealing and trafficking. Prof. of International Relations Jasim Zakariya said in the program that Shakespeare's Shylock's came to mind while watching the scenes. "The Jew has not changed - especially the Zionist Jews - who are now gathered in so-called Israel, which is the largest concentration in history of war criminals."

Sources: www.al-intiqad.com/essaydetails.php?eid=26158&cid=10, 27 Jan. 2010; Memri, clip 2370, 27 Jan. 2010
Jan. Arab Israeli MK Participates in Official Visit to Auschwitz
   
Arab Israeli MK Muhammad Baraka took part in the official Israeli delegation to Auschwitz, Poland, on January 30, 2010, to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day. His decision to join the delegation was received with mixed reactions among Israeli Arabs. Whereas MK Ahamd Tibi commended him, and Musa Hasadiya, director of al-Bustani advertising and communications company, and poet Samih al-Qasim welcomed his decision, encouraging Arabs to sympathize with the Holocaust victims and share Jewish pain without endorsing Israeli misdeeds against the Palestinians, others were critical of the move. Zuhayr Andraos, in Ynet News, and Wasil Taha on Panet and Panorama online, considered it a needless act, albeit human and with great symbolic significance. Why should he take part in an official delegation while the 1948 Nakba is denied, they asked. Baraka himself caused a commotion when he stormed out of a Yad Vashem lecture on contemporary antisemitism when the lecturer claimed that Arabs belittled the Holocaust. However, upon his return from Poland, he published an article in Maariv, stating that the visit had deeply moved him and strengthened his resolve to continue his struggle against racism.

Sources: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3833922,00.html, 13 Jan. 2010; www.panet.co.il/online/articles/63/68/S-260741,63,68.html, 14 Jan. 2010; www.panet.co.il/online/articles/1/2/S-260690,1,2.html, 14 Jan.; al-'Arab, 16 Jan. 2010 http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3836047,00.html, 20 Jan. 2010; www.balady.co.il/politics/5507-tibi, Jan.21; Haaretz, 25, 27, 28 Jan.; Maariv, Jan. 28, 2010
Jan. "The Jews Are the Enemies of Allah"
   
A Friday sermon delivered at a Nablus mosque and broadcast on PA television on January 29, 2010, was virulently antisemitic. The preacher, whose name was not mentioned, described the Jews as the enemies of Allah, and the Nazis of the 20th century. He repeated the oft-cited accusation that they are a people who laid traps for the prophets, and deceived and killed them. Jews, he continued, will always be Jews and will not cease to be hostile to Muslims. Citing the infamous Islamic oral tradition (hadith) on Judgment Day according to which the stones urge Muslims to come and kill the Jew hiding behind a tree, he concluded that the mutual enmity, "is a matter of faith" and the only way to liberate Palestine is by jihad.

Sources: Memri Special Dispatch, No. 2784, 2 Feb. 2010; PMW Bulletin, 1 Feb. 2010
Jan. Holocaust Denial Graffiti Reported in Moldova
   
The text, "Do not fool people with the Holocaust. Get out of the country," appeared on a fence in the center of Chisinau, Moldova, in mid-January 2010. The graffiti was reported close to the memorial complex to Holocaust victims of the local ghetto.

Sources: nm.md, 22 Jan. 2010; AEN (Jewish News agency); 25 Jan. 2010; enews.md, 25 Jan. 2010
Jan. Retired Polish Bishop Accused of Making Antisemitic Remarks
   
On January 25, 2010, retired Polish Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek was quoted as saying on the Rome-based Catholic website Pontifex.Roma that the "Holocaust as such is a Jewish invention (invenzione ebraica) used to obtain advantages." He accused Jews of "intolerable arrogance" and of "enjoy[ing] good press" because they have the unconditional backing of the US. He also accused Israel of treating Palestinians "like animals." The remarks were made two days before International Holocaust Memorial Day commemorating the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp in Poland in 1945. In response to criticism, Pieronek said his remarks had been "taken out of context."

Sources: Jerusalem Post,25 Jan. 25, 2010; AFP and Ynetnews, 25 Jan. 2010; Europetimes, 29 Jan. 2010
Jan. Molotov Cocktail Thrown at Antwerp Synagogue
   
On January 15, 2010, a Molotov cocktail was thrown at the main door of the Bouwmeester synagogue in Antwerp, Belgium. A wall near the entrance was burned and broken glass found on the ground. The police were investigating.

Sources: antisemitisme.be, 15 Jan. 2010
Jan. Cretan Synagogue Desecrated Twice
   
The medieval Etz Hayyim Synagogue, situated in the old city of Hania (Chania), Crete, was twice the target of an arson attack in January 2010. This follows the desecration of other synagogues and Jewish cemeteries across Greece in recent months, in Athens, Larissa, Volos, Thessaloniki and Ioannina. On January 5, the synagogue was broken into and an outdoor wooden staircase leading to the library set alight. The fire was extinguished quickly. Police found a bottle with flammable liquid still burning. A bar of soap was also thrown against the walls of the synagogue, an act expressing the common antisemitic Greek slogan, "I'll turn you into a bar of soap." Another arson attack took place on January 15, causing damage estimated at US$43,000, especially to the library. Some 2,500 holy books, some of them rare editions, were destroyed. In recent months, a fascist-inspired militia has allegedly been at work in the town, which has long been home to many immigrants. Police arrested two Britons and a Greek, and later an American English teacher, in connection with the attacks. Other Jewish sites were defaced in Hania during December-January.

Sources: worldjewishcongress.org, 11 Jan. 2010; ana-mpa.gr, 10 Jan. 2010; phantis.org, 05 Jan. 2010; phantis.org, 09 Jan. 2010; Haaretz.co.il, 16 Jan. 2010; nrchandelsblad, 22 Jan. 2010; samgrubersjewishartmonuments.blogspot.com, 07 Jan. 2010

2009


Dec. Arabs Invoke Jews Following Swiss Referendum on Minarets
   
Following the Swiss referendum held on 29 November 2009, in which 57.7 percent voted for a ban on the construction of minarets, a few Arab commentators claimed that neither Switzerland nor any other country would dare hold a referendum on Jewish places of worship and risk the accusation of antisemitism. On the Hizballah al-'Ahd al-Intiqad, Mishal Sab' contended that the Zionist-Israeli lobby was "the winner" in this affair, which was probably part of the strategy of "international Zionism" against Islam. Similarly, the Libyan daily al-Sharq published a cartoon entitled "The Conspiracy," depicting a figure with a cross, symbolizing the Christian world, and a long arm with a Star of David sawing a minaret. In a debate on al-Jazeera TV held on 8 December, Islamist Azzam Tamimi accused Swiss MP Oskar Freysinge of belonging to a Christian-Zionist movement that sought to support Israel "just like Hitler collaborated with Zionism until 1939." On the other hand, Turkish journalist Enis Berberoglu, in the center-right paper Hurriyet, said while the minarets of Islam disturbed the comfort of the Swiss people, they "[sat] on the fortunes of the Jews who were burned by the Nazis."

Sources: Hurriyet, 1 Dec. 2009; Memri, Clip no. 2297, 8 Dec. 2009; al-Intiqad, 10 Dec. 2009; al-Hewar al-Mutamaddin, 15 Dec. 2009; al-Sharq, 30 Dec. 2009
Dec. Sudan Representative Compares Climate Change Accord to Holocaust
   
Sudan Representative Lumumba Stanislas Dia-ping, who chaired the Group 77 of poor nations at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, 7-18 December 2009, caused an outrage when he compared the conference's draft accord to the Holocaust. On 19 December, Dia-ping criticized the pact agreed by the United States, China, India, Brazil and South Africa, claiming it was a "solution based on values that funneled six million people in Europe into furnaces." His remarks were condemned by both the UK climate secretary Ed Miliband and Sweden's chief negotiator Anders Turesson. Although such expressions are not necessarily antisemitic, they illustrate the increasing use made of relativization of the Holocaust.

Sources: AFP, Guardian, Daily Mail, December 19, 2009; http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8421910.stm
Dec. Antisemitic Attack in Moscow Metro
   
On the night of 30 November/1 December 2009, a 25-year-old Jewish man was attacked in the Moscow metro. The attacker gave the Nazi salute, shouted "Heil" and asked the man whether he was a Jew. After receiving a positive reply, the attacker asked him, "Would you like me to strangle you?" When the man did not answer, the attacker began strangling him. He was detained by the metro police who classified the case as "minor hooliganism" and released him. The victim filed a complaint with the police.

Sources: UCSJ, 4 Dec. 2009; SOVA Center, 3 Dec. 2009
Dec. Bosnian Constitution Discriminatory, Says European Court
   
On 22 December 2009 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Bosnian constitution discriminates against Jews and Roma since it does not allow people of those origins to run for the presidency or for a seat in parliament (only Bosnians, Serbs and Croats are permitted). The judgment was the outcome of a joint complaint by two prominent public figures in Bosnia, the Jewish activist Jakob Finci and Roma activist Dervo Sejdic. Finci provided as evidence a letter he received from the Bosnian election committee stating that he was ineligible to run for the presidency or for parliament because he is Jewish.

Sources: seattlepi.com, 22 Dec. 2009; ynet.co.il, 22 Dec. 2009; Radio Free Europe, 29 Dec. 2009; Turkish Weekly 23 Dec. 2009; CBSnews, 22 Dec. 2009
Dec. Neo-Nazis Suspected of Involvement in Theft of Auschwitz Sign
   
The sign reading Arbeit Macht Frei above the gateway to Auschwitz, and which symbolized the horror of the concentration camp, was stolen in December 2009. A few days later the 16-foot sign, cut into three pieces, was found in northern Poland. Five Polish citizens were arrested, and Polish police also suspect two Swedish men of involvement in the theft. They claim that one of them, Anders Hoegstroem, was the middle man who had asked the Poles to steal the sign, which he planned to sell to a neo-Nazi in Britain. The money from the sale - according to estimates, several hundreds of thousands of euros - would be used to finance attacks on the Swedish government and parliament. In the 1990s, Hoegstroem was the leader and founder (in 1994) of the neo-Nazi group Nationalsocialistisk Front (NF), which he claimed he left after five years in order to work for an anti-Nazi organization. In 2001, he received a reward for his anti-Nazi work. Denying he has committed any crime, Hoegstroem claims that it was he who alerted police as to the whereabouts of the sign. The Polish minister of culture announced the allocation of $137,000 to reinforce security at the Auschwitz site.

Sources: eurojewcong, 8 Jan. 2010; Expressen, 8 Jan. 2009; Canada.com, 7 Jan. 2010; Haaretz, 6 Jan. 2010
Dec. Extreme Right-Wing Crimes in Germany Continue to Rise
   
On 17 December 2009, Joerg Ziercke, president of the German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA), announced that the number of politically motivated criminal acts committed in the country by right-wing extremists was continuing to rise, reaching the highest number since the introduction of the new data collecting system in 2001. Ziercke warned of increasing violence of neo-Nazis. Initial figures show more than 20,000 violent incidents committed in 2009. On average, nearly three acts of violence take place in Germany each day and "about three antisemitically motivated assaults take place" per month. The extreme right-wing scene is estimated to involve some 30,000 persons, one-third of whom are considered violence-prone. A "rising self-confidence" of participants, which often turns into violence against supposed political or ideological enemies, has been detected especially during extreme right demonstrations.

Sources: merkur-online.de, 17 Dec. 2009; freitag.de, 18 12 Dec. 2009
Nov. Teaching of Anne Frank Diary Arouses Controversy in Lebanon
   
A reporter of Hizballah's al-Manar television station aroused controversy in Lebanon when he discovered in early November 2009 that a private English-language school in western Beirut was teaching a textbook that included chapters from Anne Frank's Diary. As a result, Hizballah MP Husayn Hajj Hasan criticized the school for teaching the "so-called tragedy" of this girl instead of the tragedy of the Palestinian people. Teaching such a book, said chairman of the Authority for Banning Zionist Products, is a criminal offense and tantamount to a process of normalization. Lebanese Parliamentary Deputy Sami Jumayyil, as well as journalists Hazim Saghiya and Muhammad Ali al-Atasi, strongly condemned Hizballah's call to censor the diary.

Sources:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5itf1-VAct-8J9HM60sa5sFwpqWBg
www.nowlebanon.com/Print.aspx?ID=127151
www.nowlebanon.com/Print.aspx?ID=126312
http://www.projetaladin.org/en/newsletters/lebanese-mp-all-schools-in-lebanon-should-have-the-right-to-teach-anne-franks-diary.html
Nov. Iranian Holocaust Denier Appointed Deputy Minister
   
Iranian Holocaust denier Muhammad `Ali Ramin was appointed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as deputy minister of culture in early November 2009. Ramin, who organized the denial conference in Tehran in December 2006 and became secretary general of the Iranian World Foundation for Holocaust Studies, is considered the driving force behind Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial notions.

Sources:
http://www.khorasannews.com/news.aspx?12_17404_15_2500.XML
http://www.rferl.org/articleprintview/1867427.html
Nov. Yemeni Assassination Attempt Foiled
   
An assassination attempt on Yahiya Ben-Yousef, leader of the tiny Jewish community in San'a, was foiled by Yemeni security forces on November 20, 2009. They arrested three armed Shi'i rebels, reportedly belonging to Islamic extremist organizations, who had entered the Jewish area.

Sources:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1258705147565&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter
Nov. EasyJet Withdraws In-flight Magazine due to Controversial Pictures
   
The budget airline easyJet withdrew almost 300,000 copies of the November 2009 edition of its in-flight magazine due to protests over its use of the Central Holocaust Memorial site in Berlin, Germany, as a backdrop for a fashion feature.

Sources:
http://www.wadinet.de/blog/?p=2323
http://www.newstatesman.com/2009/11/holocuast-memorial-easyjet-magazine
Nov. German Anti-Israel Activists Try to Disrupt Movie on Israel
   
On October 25, 2009, a group of extreme left-wing activists tried to disrupt screening of the movie Pourquoi Israel? (Why Israel?), directed by French Jewish filmmaker Claude Lanzmann, in St. Pauli, Hamburg. By imitating an Israeli checkpoint, the boycotters tried to prevent the visitors from entering the theater and insulted them with antisemitic abuse such as Judenschweine (Jewish pigs). Branding this "an unacceptable action," the left-wing party Die Linke said the movie was not about "justifying Israeli politics" but about "the existence of Israel." Lanzmann commented, "they call it anti-Zionism, but it's antisemitism."

Sources:
http://blog.zeit.de/stoerungsmelder/2009/11/04/antisemiten-verhindern-lanzmann-film-auf-st-pauli_1776
http://info.interactivist.net/node/13362
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1258705154390&pagename=JPArticle/ShowFull
http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/gesellschaft/0,1518,661980,00.html
Nov. Norwegian Attempt to Boycott Israeli Universities Fails
   
On November 12, 2009, following a resolution presented by Rector Torbjorn Digernes, the board of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway's second-largest university, voted unanimously not to support an academic boycott of Israel. The boycott had been initiated by 34 lecturers at NTNU and the University College of Sor-Trondelag, in Trondheim. Approval of the proposal would have meant the first formal boycott of Israeli academic institutions by a European university. NTNU professor Bjorn Alsberg led the fight against the proposed boycott.

Sources:
http://www.itk.ntnu.no/ansatte/Andresen_Trond/dwnl3/brev-fra-israel.html
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1257770035024&pagename=JPArticle/ShowFull
http://www.ntnu.no/news/NTNU-says-no-to-Israel-boycott
http://tundratabloid.blogspot.com/2009/09/academic-friends-of-israel-call-on-ntnu.html
http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/newsroom/Highlights/ntnuboycott.htm
Nov. Canadian Parliamentary Coalition Begins Hearings on Antisemitism
   
In light of the rise of antisemitism both domestically and internationally, the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Antisemitism (CPCCA) began a series of domestic hearings on November 2, 2009, in Ottawa, with two inquiry panels of international parliamentarians and experts. Some Canadian left-wing circles claimed the CPCCA was funded by Jewish and pro-Israel organizations whose purpose was to equate criticism of Israeli policy with antisemitism.

Sources:
http://www.cnw.ca/en/releases/archive/October2009/29/c4149.html
http://www.cpcca.ca/inquiry.htm
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2009/11/19/Antisemitism/
http://www.ajc.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=ijITI2PHKoG&b=1531915&ct=7685805
Sept/Oct Jewish Graves Desecrated in Russia
   
On the night of September 23-24, 2009 about 60 gravestones were broken at the Jewish section of the Dmitrovo-Cherkasskoe cemetery in the Tver region. The cemetery was also desecrated in April and July. The police opened an investigation.

Sources: jta.org, 27 Sept. 2009; etver.ru, 24 Sept. 2009; tvernews.ru, 21 Sept. 2009
Sept/Oct British Trade Union Congress Calls for Consumer Boycott of Israeli Businesses
   
On September 17, 2009 Britain's labor federation (6.5 million members), the Trade Union Congress (TUC), adopted a policy calling for a consumer-led boycott and sanctions campaign against Israel. The sanctions, which are directed at businesses based in "illegal settlements," it is believed will "increase the pressure for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories and the removal of the separation wall and illegal settlements." The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council (JLC) condemned the move.

Sources: jpost, 17 Sept. 2009; Guardian, 17. Sept. 2009; workersliberty, 21 Sept. 2009
Sept/Oct Harvard Paper Publishes Holocaust Denial Ad
   
In early September 2009, an ad questioning the Holocaust was published in the Harvard Crimson of Harvard University. Crimson president Maxwell L. Child said that the ad, which was paid for by Holocaust denier Bradley R. Smith and his Committee for Open Debate on the Holocaust, was run in error and claimed, "We do not endorse the views put forth in any advertisement." According to the Anti-Defamation League of New England, Bradley Smith placed ads in about 15 US college newspapers this year.

Sources: ynet.co.il, 10 Sept.2009
Sept/Oct Attempt to Boycott Toronto Film Festival
   
In early September 2009, Naomi Klein, a prominent figure on the radical left, helped organize a boycott of the Toronto International Film Festival for showing Israeli films. Prior to the start of the festival, a group of 50 intellectuals, artists and filmmakers had issued a proclamation stating the festival had become "complicit in the Israeli propaganda machine." Celebrities who signed it included Harry Belafonte, Viggo Mortensen and Julie Christie. Jane Fonda, an original signatory, later withdrew her name. However, Jerry Seinfeld, Natalie Portman, Sacha Baron Cohen and others countered with an ad supporting inclusion of Israeli films and opposing blacklists. The Toronto festival showed all ten Israeli films in the "City to City" program which marked the centenary of Tel Aviv. Canadian and American filmmakers lashed out at what they described an "outrageous" boycott.

Sources: haaretz.com, 16 Sept. 2009; UN Watch, 15 Sept. 2009; Washington Times, 5 Sept. 2009
Sept/Oct Irish Comic Performs Antisemitic Skit
   
At the Electric Picnic Arts Festival held in Ireland on 5 September 2009, Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan performed an antisemitic skit during which he called Jews "f…ing Christ-killing bastards" and said that he would have killed twice as many in the Holocaust as the Nazis did. Speaking from the pulpit, the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin said that Tiernan's rant was "offensive to all who feel revulsion concerning the Holocaust."

Sources: jta, 23 Sept. 2009; irishcentral.com, 24 Sept. 2009; antisemitism.org, 20 Sept. 2009
Sept/Oct Algerian Newspaper Claims International Organ-Trading Gang with Jewish/Israeli Links Arrested
   
The Algerian daily al-Khabar reported on September 6, 2009 that Interpol had arrested another international gang trading in human organs, and which, the paper claimed, had abducted Algerian children, smuggled them into Morocco and sold them to Israeli and American Jews for harvesting their organs. The gang was allegedly connected with that led by Israeli Rabbi Levi Yitzhaq Rosenbaum, whose members were arrested earlier in New Jersey for organ trading. ADL national director Abraham Foxman stated that "this is a new variation of the ancient blood libel."

Sources: JTA, 17 Sept. 2009; Al-Khabar, 6 Sept. 2009; Jerusalem Post, 14 Sept. 2009
Sept/Oct Turkish Series Arouses Fears among Local Jewish Community
   
On October 14, 2009, the Turkish state-controlled television station TRT 1 broadcast the first episode of a series titled Separation (Ayrilik), which depicted Israeli soldiers as murderers of innocent Palestinian children. Purporting to tell the story of the Palestinian people through a love and war story, it implied that Israelis saw themselves as a superior race and presented Israeli agents as scheming to establish a "Greater Israel." The Jewish community in Istanbul warned of a potentially dangerous future for Turkey's Jews, and Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman summoned the Turkish attache in Israel to protest the series.

Sources: Jerusalem Post, 16 Oct. 2009; Ha'aretz, 15 Oct. 2009; Ynet, 14 Oct. 2009
Sept/Oct Jewish School in Marseille Target of Incendiary Attack
   
Aerosol cans soaked with an inflammable liquid (Molotov cocktails) were thrown at the Jewish ORT Bramson High School in Marseille, on September 8, 2009. Nearly 400 students were present but no one was injured. Damage was caused to the fence and nearby cars.

Sources: CRIF, 8 Sept. 2009; ADL, 8 Sept. 2009; TF1 News, 8 Sept. 2009; leparisien.fr, 8 Sept. 2009
Sept/Oct French Intellectual Denies Problem of Antisemitism in France
   
French Jewish intellectual and economist and former advisor of President Francois Mitterand Jacques Attali, who took part in the Israeli Presidential Conference "Facing Tomorrow" held in October 2009 in Jerusalem, denied there is problem of antisemitism in France. According to Attali, while antisemitism exists in France, France is not an antisemitic country. Moreover, he does not believe there is a problem of antisemitism among the Muslim community. In response, Richard Prasquier, head of the CRIF (Conseil repr?sentatif des institutions juives de France), said that despite the government's attempts to fight antisemitism, in some places a climate of hatred and physical aggression against Jews was increasing. On October 21, CRIF published data on antisemitic acts carried out in France from 1998 to 2008, which completely negated Attali's declaration. In 2008, for example, 397 antisemitic acts were reported. On October 24, I-tele published the findings of the SPCJ (Jewish Community Protection Service) report for the first half of 2009, showing a total of 631 acts for that period. In January 2009 alone, during Operation Cast Lead, 360 antisemitic acts took place in France.

Sources: crif.org, 2 Oct., 21 Oct. 2009; ejpress.org, 20 Oct. 2009; Le Monde, 20 Oct. 2009; Ha'aretz, 16 Oct. 2009
August Ukrainian Jews Call for Investigation of Antisemitic Organization
   
In a letter addressed to the regional prosecutor on August 3, 2009, leaders of the Jewish community of Odessa requested an investigation of ZUBR (For Ukraine, Belarus and Russia) which publishes antisemitic articles on its website and in its other publications. It blames the Jews, inter alia, for plotting the Chernobyl disaster and using Christian or Muslim blood during the Jewish holidays of Purim and Passover.

Sources: jta.org, 5 Aug. 2009; AEN (Jewish News Agency), 3 Aug. 2009
August Dutch Journalist Links Jews to Bird Flu Outbreak
   
On August 8, 2009, De Telegraaf, the largest daily in the Netherlands, published an interview with Desiree Rover, a 61-year-old journalist, who linked the Jews to the H5N1 virus (bird flu), claiming that it was a conspiracy to reduce the world's population. She added that the conspiracy dated back to descendants of the Khazars, who converted to Judaism 1200 years ago. CIDI, the local antisemitism monitoring agency, was considering filing a complaint against the journalist.

Sources: Haaretz, 10 Aug. 2009; telegraaf.nl, 8 Aug. 2009
August Film Project Educates against Right-Wing Extremism
   
A film project against right-wing extremism organized by the Konrad Wolf University in Potsdam, the Landeszentrale fuer politische Bildung, and the "Tolerantes Brandenburg" project was presented to the public on August 4, 2009 in Potsdam. The five short scenes, especially directed at young adults, are intended to raise awareness of xenophobic, ultra-nationalist and other intolerant attitudes. The overall aim is to reduce the increasingly large number of votes received by right-wing parties such as the DVU or NPD in the state of Brandenburg, particularly among first-time voters.

Sources: shortnews.de, 5 Aug. 2009; hff-potsdam.de, 4 Aug. 2009
August Antisemitic Graffiti in Moldova
   
Antisemitic graffiti in Russian, such as "Death to the Jews" and "Jews=bitches," accompanied by swastikas, were painted on buildings and fences in Beltsy (Balti), Moldova, in early August 2009 for the first time in several years. The police opened an investigation. The Jewish community of Beltsy is the second largest in Moldova.

Sources: deca.md, 5 Aug. 2009; Hate Monitor Net, 8 Aug. 2009; CFCA, 9 Aug. 2009; AEN (Jewish News Agency), 6 Aug. 2009
August German Jewish Leader Supports Publication of Annotated Edition of Mein Kampf
   
The secretary general of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Stephan J. Kramer, has lent his support to the publication of an annotated scholarly edition of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf. In an interview with the German 3Sat's TV program "Kulturzeit" on August 5, 2009, Kramer stated the importance of publishing such an edition on the Internet and said that the Zentralrat was willing to cooperate. Seventy years after Hitler's death, the rights to Mein Kampf, held by the Bavarian Finance Ministry, are due to expire on December 31, 2015. In Kramer's view, "a historically critical edition needs to be prepared today in order to prevent neo-Nazis profiting from the situation." Leading historians like Sir Ian Kershaw, of the University of Sheffield, also support the project. The state of Bavaria has prohibited the publication of Mein Kampf and is still refusing to lift the ban out of respect for Holocaust survivors and concern that right-wingers could exploit the work legally. Antisemitic commentaries on neo-Nazi Internet sites such as Stormfront accuse the Jews of wanting to become "the sole profiteers of a reworked, revised, and totally Jewish annotated perversion - excuse me, approved 'version' - of Mein Kampf. The disgustingness and chutzpah of the Jew knows no bounds."

Sources: maerkischeallgemeine.de, 29 July 2009; jta.org, 10 Aug. 2009; ejpress.org, 6 Aug. 2009; dradio.de, 24 April 2008; Haaretz, 17 Aug. 2009
August Australian Holocaust Denier Sentenced
   
On August 13, 2009, Australian Holocaust denier Fredrick Toben was sentenced to 3 months imprisonment by an Australian court due to his failure to comply with a previous court judgment in relation to antisemitic pamphlets published on the Adelaide Institute website. In the earlier judgment, former president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry Jeremy Jones had attained a prohibition of the publication of antisemitic content by Toben. The sentence was thus not based on his denial of the Holocaust or incitement to hatred, but on his non-compliance with a preceding court order.

Sources: Jerusalem Post, 14 Aug. 2009; telegraph.co.uk, 14 Aug. 2009.; news.com.au, 13 Aug. 2009
August Accusation against Israel in Swedish Newspaper Arouses Furor
   
An op-ed published on August 17, 2009 in Sweden's largest daily Aftonbladet accused Israel of killing Palestinians in order to traffic in human organs. Alongside a gruesome photograph, the author, freelance journalist Donald Bostroem (Bostrom), quotes Palestinians as saying "They plunder the organs of our sons." To support his claims, Bostreom links them to an affair publicized in the US, whereby religious Jews, both in the US and Israel, were accused of trafficking in human organs. The Swedish daily Sydsvenskan accused Aftonbladet of concocting antisemitic conspiracy theories, while a spokesman of the Israel Foreign Ministry denounced the allegation as "racist hysteria at its worst." In response, the editor of Aftonbladet, Jan Helin, rejected all charges of antisemitism; Bostroem himself stressed that he has no proof that Israeli soldiers were stealing organs, and that the purpose of his article was to call for an investigation into the claims. Sweden's ambassador to Israel Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier condemned the article in a press release of August 19. A debate over the relevance of the refusal of the Swedish government to apologize for an article published in a newspaper, followed, largely on the Internet. On August 31, leaders of the US Helsinki Commission urged European foreign ministers to unequivocally denounce the article.

Sources: Haaretz, 19 Aug. 2000; Jerusalem Post, 19 Aug. 2009; Ynet News, 18 Aug. 2009; Aftonbladet, 17 Aug, 2009; Telegraph, 20 Aug. 2009; CNN.com Europe, 19 Aug. 2009; Jerusalem Post, 24 Aug. 2009
July Prestigious German Award Conferred on Anti-Zionist Israeli
   
On July 16, 2009, German President Horst Koehler awarded controversial Israeli human right lawyer Felicia Langer the prestigious Federal Cross of Merit, first class, for her "humanitarian work." Langer (79), who was born in Poland and moved to Israel in 1950, lives with her family in Tuebingen, Germany. The award to Langer - an anti-Zionist activist, who labels Israel an apartheid state, praises Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadenejad's anti-Israel attacks and suggested that Israeli leaders should be tried for war crimes in The Hague - has been applauded by anti-Zionists and sharply criticized by others. Dieter Graumann, vice president of the Central Council of German Jews in Germany (CCJG), said that honoring Langer would send "a fatal message, legitimizing her one-sided agitation against Israel." The American Jewish Committee asked President Koehler, in a letter of July 20, 2009, to reconsider the decision. Two prominent German Jewish intellectuals, Arno Lustiger and Ralf Giordano, are prepared to return their Federal Crosses of Merit, if Koehler decides not to strip Langer of the award.

Sources: achgut.com, 22 July 2009; honestlyconcerned.info, 20 July 2009; presstv.ir, 20 July 2009; monsterandcritics.com, 20 July 2009; jta.org, 20 July 2009; jpost.ocm, 22 July 2009; clemensheni.wordpress.com, 26 July 2009; jpost.com, 17 July 2009
July NGOs Urge Germany to Implement Resolution to Combat Antisemitism
   
On July 9, 2009, NGOs such as the Anne Frank Center, the Amadeu Antonio Foundation and the American Jewish Committee published a joint statement addressed to the government of Germany calling for the implementation of the November 2008 parliamentary resolution to combat antisemitism. They suggest setting up a 12-member committee of experts to oversee its implementation, including the promotion of Jewish life in Germany, pilot schemes to monitor and combat antisemitism, and pedagogic measures for enlightening society about antisemitism in the media and contemporary antisemitism in general.

Sources: annefrank.de, 9 July 2009; taz.de, 10 July 2009; jta.org, 10 July 2009
July Teaching Kit for Combating Antisemitism in Lithuania Launched
   
On July 2, 2009, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), together with the Lithuanian Ministry of Education and Science, launched a kit of teaching materials on combating antisemitism to be used in Lithuanian secondary schools. The Lithuanian materials were developed by ODIHR, the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, and experts from the Yiddish Institute at the Faculty of History at the Vilnius University. Teachers will attend a two-day seminar as part of the program. Similar kits were adopted previously in Germany and Poland.

Sources: osce.org, 2 July 2009
July Increased Surveillance of Neo-Nazis in Britain
   
According to a report in the British media on July 8, 2009, Commander Shaun Sawyer, from Scotland Yard's specialist operations wing, told the Muslim Safety Forum that senior officers had increased surveillance of neo-Nazis whom they suspected of planning to carry out "spectacular" attacks aimed at sparking a race war in the UK. British police have arrested more neo-Nazis than usual over the past few months. However, while neo-Nazis were emerging as a serious threat, al-Qa`ida remained the top priority of the security agencies, he said, adding that Islamist terrorism served as a role model for neo-Nazis.

Sources: haaretz.com, 10 July 2009; Daily Express, 8 July 2009
July Gravestones Desecrated in Czech Republic
   
Ten gravestones were broken at a historical Jewish cemetery near the village of Loucim, in the Czech Republic, in early July 2009.

Sources: CFCA, 5 July 2009
July Hungarian Guard Holds Illegal Demonstration
   
Two days after a court decision from July 2 ordering its dissolution, the neo-Nazi Hungarian Guard held an unauthorized demonstration with some 1000 participants near the old Jewish ghetto in Budapest. About 200 uniformed guardsmen formed the core of the demonstration. When the police used tear gas to disperse the crowd, the Guard responded by throwing projectiles and calling the police "filthy Jews." A total of 216 people were detained and 20 injured. The chairman of the extreme right-wing Jobbik party, Gabor Vona, was among those arrested.

Sources: jta.org, 5 July 2009; wonderland.cafebabel.com, 4 July 2009; romea.cz, 7 July 2009; ICare, 5 July 2009
July Australian Holocaust Denier Banned from Exhibition
   
Australian Federal Court Judge Anthony Besanco ruled on July 17, 2009 that it was not "appropriate" for Holocaust denier Frederick Toben to attend the Courage to Care exhibition in Horsham, Victoria, about those who risked their lives to save others during the Holocaust. The motion to restrict Toben was brought by Jeremy Jones, former president of the Executive Council of Australian Jews.

Sources: theaustralian, 18 July 2009; Australian Jewish news, 22 July 2009
July German Minister Urges Internet Providers to Remove Neo-Nazi Propaganda
   
On July 2, 2009, Germany's Minister of Justice Brigitte Zypries opened the Conference against the Distribution of Hate on the Internet in Berlin. She emphasized the urgency of curbing the distribution of neo-Nazi propaganda over the internet, quoting experts who stated that there were over 1600 German-language websites with xenophobic and racist content. Zypries also called on foreign internet providers to remove neo-Nazi content and symbols from websites, even though they were not illegal in their countries, and to adopt terms that would discourage hate on websites. Heinz Fromm, president of the Federal Office for the Defense of the Constitution, warned of the increasing effectiveness of the use of the internet to contact, recruit, influence and manipulate masses of people worldwide quickly and without major investment. The term "cyber mobilization" was used in this context to denote the building of networks that overcome geographical, as well as political frontiers and legal obstacles.

Sources: migazin.de, 10 July 2009; tagesschau.de, 21 July 2009; bmj.de, 9 July 2009; salon.com, 9 July 2009; verfassungsschutz.de, 9 July 2009
June Rise of Extreme Right in EU Parliamentary Elections
   
Out of a total of 375 million Europeans (in the 27 member states) with voting rights, only 43.01% cast their ballot for the EU parliamentary elections on June 4 and 7, 2009. The low turnout, combined with the economic recession, accounted to a large extent for the extreme right's gain of 8 seats from 2004. Some 10% of MEPs are now representatives of extreme right and anti-EU parties in the new European Parliament, as follows:

Finland: the Perussuomalaiset (True Finns) led by Timo Soini was the most successful among the northern EU member states (2 seats).
Denmark: the Danish People's Party (DPP), with candidate Morten Messerschmidt, more than doubled its vote to 15.9%.
UK: the British National Party (BNP) won two seats.
Netherlands: Geert Wilder's Freedom Party received 17%, obtaining 4 seats.
Greece: the Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS), led by right-wing journalist Georgios Karatzaferis, doubled its representation to 2.
Italy: the anti-immigration Northern League doubled its representation from 4 to 8.
Austria: the Austrian Freedom Party (FPO) doubled its vote to 13.1%.
Hungary: the antisemitic, anti-Roma Jobbik received 14.8% of the vote; the right-wing conservative FIDESZ-MSPZ obtained 56.7%.
Romania: the Greater Romania Party (PRM) received 8.6%.
Slovakia: the Slovakian National Party, headed by Jan Slota, got one seat.

On the other hand, Belgium, France, Bulgaria and Poland experienced significant far right losses: none of Poland's former 16 extreme right MEPs were re-elected; support for the anti-minority National Union Attack decreased in Bulgaria; and in France, the extreme right-wing Front National (FN) lost four seats.


Sources: timesonline.co.uk, 18 June 2009; worthynews.com, 06 June 2009; politics.hu, 16 Feb. 2009
June Antisemitic Attack at US Holocaust Memorial Museum
   
James W. von Brunn, an 88-year-old white supremacist and Holocaust denier, entered the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, on June 10, 2009 and opened fire on museum visitors and security guards. Security guard Stephen T. Johns, 39, died of his injuries. Von Brunn, who served more than four years in prison in 1983 for kidnapping and assault, reportedly advocates various conspiracy theories involving Jews, blacks and other minority groups. On his website, HolyWesternEmpire.org, von Brunn describes the attack with pride. He is said to have acted on his own, but his attack should be considered a sign of radical hate drive violence, said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, serving as "a painful reminder that antisemites and racists are still out there and are more then prone to act out on their belief." Following the shooting, von Brunn was lauded in posts to the forums of white supremacist and antisemitic websites, such as Stormfront and the neo-Nazi VNN (Vanguard News Network), as a warrior of the white race.

Sources: Washington Post, 11 June 2009; jpost.com, 20 June 2009; jta.org, 10 June 2009; ynet.co.il, 11 June 2009; ynet.co.il, 10 June 2009; forward.com, 11 June 20
June Jewish Sites Desecrated in Poland
   
The walls of the White Stork Synagogue (Synagoga Pod Bialym Bocianem) of Wroclaw were defiled on the night of June 13-14, 2009 with a swastika and the slogan Jude Raus (Jew out). Similar graffiti was found at the nearby Jewish Information Center, which had already been defaced earlier in the year with the catchphrase "Free Palestine." On June 16, an antisemitic inscription in Polish was found on the entrance sign of the Gdansk-Chelm Jewish cemetery. The inscription translates to "Jews to the oven, for this is your place." The recently restored Chelm cemetery is one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in central Europe, dating back to 1694.

Sources: EJP, 1 June 2009; fodz.pl, 19 June 2009
June Obama Visits Buchenwald Concentration Camp Site
   
On 5 June, 2009, US President Barack Obama visited the site of the former Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald in Germany. There he stated that the atrocities committed in the camp should serve as a reminder of the existence of evil in today's society and of humanity's responsibility to combat injustice and oppression. He also spoke of the need to fight against those who still deny the Holocaust, stressing that Buchenwald was "the ultimate rebuke to such thoughts."

Sources: nytimes.com, 06-June-2009; Huffington Post, 5 June 2009
June Holocaust Memorial in Budapest Desecrated
   
The Hungarian news agency MTI reported on June 16, 2009 that the 40m-long Holocaust memorial composed of 60 pairs of iron shoes along the Danube River bank in Budapest had been violated. Pigs trotters had been placed in some of the shoes, which symbolize the 40,000 Jews stripped, shot and thrown into the icy river to drown in 1944-45 by members of the Nazi-collaborating Arrow Cross. The Budapest police removed the offending objects and launched an investigation. The desecration follows the electoral success of the far right Jobbik party in the European Union parliamentary elections on June 7. Tamas Suchman, a prominent Socialist politician, called for a joint protest demonstration at the memorial by all major Hungarian political parties and democratic civil organizations to condemn the revival of antisemitism in Hungary.

Sources: ikg, 17 June 2009; http://www.vosizneias.com, 16 June 2009
June Brazil to Investigate Neo-Nazi Activity
   
On 2 June 2009, the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies established a special commission to investigate neo-Nazi activities. The decision follows the seizure by police of Nazi literature, knives and three homemade explosive devices on May 18, during an operation in five cities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. According to a police inspector, the bombs were to be used to attack at least two synagogues in the city of Porto Alegre. The commission will be headed by Jewish Congressman Marcelo Itagiba, who authored Bill 987 making Holocaust denial and other crimes against humanity racism offenses. The decision was praised by the Brazil Israelite Confederation.

Sources: jta.org, 7 June 2009; Jerusalem Post, 22. May 2009; Israel National News, 7 June 2009
June Growth of Prejudice in Northern Ireland
   
On June 17, 2009, the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland published a survey showing that the population of Northern Ireland was "becoming more prejudiced against people of different races and sexual orientations," especially Roma, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, migrant workers and the mentally ill. The survey was based on a representative sample of 1,071 adults. Nearly half the people questioned (51%) would mind a little or a lot having a "traveler" as a neighbor (10% increase from 2005), and over 23% would mind a gay, lesbian or bisexual person living next door, compared to 14% in 2005.

Sources: Equality Commission, 24 June 2009; Reuters, 24 June 2009
May Neo-Nazis Harass Holocaust Survivors at Mauthausen, Austria
   
On May 12, 2009, a gang of neo-Nazis shouted "Heil Hitler" and "This way to the gas" at 10 Italians during a memorial ceremony marking the anniversary of liberation at the former concentration camp of Mauthausen in Austria. They also fired plastic bullets at a group of French camp survivors, injuring some of them. Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger strongly condemned these "unacceptable acts of provocation, which must not be tolerated." The leader of a gang who fired plastic bullets and verbally harassed Nazi camp survivors near Ebensee three days previously may be one of the suspects arrested. The police revealed that the perpetrators met regularly in the stone pits of Mauthausen for paramilitary training. If convicted, the perpetrators face up to 10 years in prison for public incitement and assault under the provisions of the Austrian Criminal Code.

Sources: austriantimes.at, 13 May 2009; dailymail.co.uk, 12 May 2009; vosizneias.com, 12 May 2009
May Iranian Paper Criticizes Holocaust Denial
   
In an article published on May 12, 2009, the reformist Iranian paper E`temad-e Melli, criticized the Iranian regime for denying the Holocaust in its struggle against the Zionist regime. It claimed that Israel alone benefited from Iran's blunders, since international pressure on its government was eased while its atrocities continued.

Sources: E`temadat-e Melli, 12 May 2009
May Pope Visits Israel: Condemns Antisemitism and Honors Holocaust Victims
   
As part of his Middle East pilgrimage, Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Israel on May 11, 2009. He began by strongly denouncing antisemitism and declaring that humanity must make every effort to avoid a crime like the Holocaust. "Sadly," he said, "antisemitism continues to rear its ugly head in many parts of the world. This is totally unacceptable." He also urged that every effort be made "to combat antisemitism wherever it is found, and to promote respect and esteem for members of every people, tribe, language and nation across the globe." In his speech at Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, the Pope said: "I have come to stand in silence before this monument, erected to honor the memory of the millions of Jews killed in the horrific tragedy of the Shoah." Although the overall reception of the Pope in Israel was positive, his speech in Yad Vashem was criticized not because of what he said but because of what he did not say, namely, mention the murder of 6 million Jews.

Sources: Ha'aretz, 11 May 2009; Jerusalem Post, 11 May 2009 - (text of Pope's speech; Hagalil, 19 May 2009; Ha'aretz, 15 May 2009
May Rise in Holocaust Denial among Israeli Arabs
   
On May 17, 2009 Professor Sami Smooha of Haifa University released a poll on the attitude of Israeli Arabs toward the Holocaust and Israel; 700 Israeli Arabs took part. Accordingly, 40.5% of the respondents thought the Holocaust never took place, an increase from 28% in 2006. Smooha also found that 41% recognized the country's right to exist as a Jewish state (2005: 65.6%). According to Smooha, the increase in denial of the Holocaust signals a rising frustration among Arabs, who believe that recognizing the Holocaust provides justification for Israeli policies.

Sources: Haaretz, 17 May 2009; xinhuanet.com, 18 May 2009; New York Times, 18 May 2009; Globes, 18 May 2009
May Report Notes Rise in Antisemitism in Latin America during Gaza Operation
   
In May 2009, a joint forum of the Israeli Prime Minister's Office and the Jewish Agency published a report on the struggle against antisemitism in Latin America. According to the report, a considerable increase in antisemitic activities was reported from most Latin American states - mainly Venezuela, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Nicaragua and Mexico - during Israel's Cast Lead Operation in Gaza, December 2008-January 2009. Most antisemitic anti-Israel demonstrations were orchestrated by Muslim and Palestinian organizations together with local left-wing groups. The report predicts that radical Muslim communities and local left-wing organizations will continue to be the main centers of antisemitic and anti-Israeli incitement in years to come. The close relations of some countries in the region - especially Venezuela - with Iran might cause a deterioration in attitudes towards Israel and an increase in antisemitic manifestations. Similar findings noting a rise in antisemitic manifestations in all Latin American countries during the Gaza operation appeared in a report published by the Latin American Jewish Congress (CJL) in March 2009.

Sources: Jewish Agency for Israel, May 2009; CJL, March 2009
May ECRI Reports on Belgium, Germany and Slovakia Published
   
In the framework of its country-by-country monitoring work, on May 26, 2009 the ECRI (European Commission against Racism and Intolerance) published reports on racism and intolerance in Belgium, Germany and Slovakia. In Belgium the report found an improvement in the implementation of legislation against racial discrimination and racism, but noted that cases of discrimination still occur in employment, education and housing. In Germany, following the adoption of the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG), there has been an improvement in attitudes toward Muslims, but "racist, xenophobic and antisemitic attacks continue and support for parties expressing racist, antisemitic or revisionist views has increased." In Slovakia, discrimination against the Roma community in education, housing, employment and health continues. Despite some positive developments, Eva Smith, chair of the ECRI, declared there were "still grounds for concern."

Sources: Press Release of the COE, 26 May 2009
April Aladdin Project to Curb Holocaust Denial Launched
   
On March 27, 2009, under the auspices of the French government and UNESCO, the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah (Fondation pour la Memoire de la Shoah) held a conference in Paris to launch the Aladdin project - a new website to stem the spread of Holocaust denial in the Muslim world. The site will provide speakers of Arabic, Farsi, and Turkish with an accurate account of the history of the Holocaust, as well as information on Jewish religion, history, and culture. The Aladdin initiative, which seeks to promote an "intercultural dialogue based on rejection of Holocaust denial and racism," will include translations of books on the Holocaust and Jewish history, such as Primo Levi's If This Is a Man and Anne Frank's Diary. In addition to high-level representatives and dignitaries from Europe and the Arab and Muslim world, such as Senegalese President and Head of the Islamic Conference Organization Abdulaye Wade, former French President Jacques Chirac, King Muhammad VI's representative Ahmed Tawfiq, and Egyptian Minister of Culture Faruq Husni (a leading candidate to replace the current UNESCO director general), the conference was attended by well-known Arab intellectuals, such as Algeria's Muhammad Arkun and Tunisia's al-`Afif al-Akhdar. The Aladdin Project board includes former French, Indonesian, and Mauritanian Presidents Jacques Chirac, Abdurrahman Wahid, and Ely Ould Mohammed Vall, as well as Jordan's Prince Hassan Bin Talal and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Sources: projetaladin, 27 March 2009; AP, 27.March 2009; AFP, 28. March 2009; eurojewcong.org, 30-Mar-2009; Maghreb Arabe Presse, 28 March 2009; Le Matin (Maroc), 28. March 2009; release of Mohammad VI, King of Morocco, 18 March 2009
April US Holocaust Denier Deported from Czech Republic
   
On April 24, 2004, Prague police arrested former US Ku Klux Klan leader and Holocaust denier David Duke for "promotion of movements seeking suppression of human rights." He was questioned and ordered to leave the country. Duke was invited by the local neo-Nazi National Resistance to lecture and promote his book "My Awakening." One of his lectures had been scheduled to take place at Charles University in Prague. The lecture can be downloaded on Duke's Internet site. Two other lectures were to have taken place in central Prague and in Brno. Duke's visit to the Czech Republic was condemned by Interior Minister Ivan Langer and Human Rights and Minorities Minister Michael Kocab. Denying or approving the Holocaust is a crime punishable by up to three years in prison in the Czech Republic.

Sources: ceskenoviny.cz, 24 April 2009; http://www.davidduke.com/, 2 May 2009; The Huffington Post, 4 May 2009; The Prague Post, 30 April 2009
April Germany's NDP Re-elects Party Chairman Voigt
   
On April 4-5, 2009, Germany's National Democratic Party (NPD) held its extraordinary federal party convention in the city hall of Reinickendorf, Berlin. Udo Voigt was re-elected chairman of the party by 62.5 percent (136 votes out of the 218 delegates present), winning the power struggle against Udo Pastoers, party chief of the Landtag in Mecklenburg Western-Pomerania, (72 votes). Voigt, who has been chairman of the NPD since 1996, thus retains his position. The Hamburg-based lawyer and Holocaust denier Juergen Rieger became vice chairman. Together with the Deutsche Volksunion (DVU), the NPD elected the balladeer Frank Rennicke, an icon of the extreme right-wing music scene, as their candidate for federal president. Some 700 people demonstrated against the convention during its sitting.

Sources: taz, 6 April 2009; Times of Malta, 6 April 2009; Juedisches Forum fuer Demokratie und gegen Antisemitismus, 6 April 2009; tagesspiegel.de, 6 April 2009; redok.de, 4 April 2009; berlinonline.de, 6 April 2009; sueddeutsche.de, 4 April 2009; images.zeit.de, 5 April 2009
April Synagogues in Virginia Defaced on Hitler's Birthday
   
During the weekend of April 18-19, 2009, several Jewish synagogues and other sites in Norfolk, VA, were defaced with antisemitic and racial messages. Police were investigating incidents in at least five locations. They believe the vandalism was connected to the 120th birthday of Adolf Hitler on April 20. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) strongly condemned the incidents.

Sources: upi.com, 19 April 2009 ; VIN News, 18 April 2009; virgina pilot, 24 April, 2009; ADL press release, 20 April 2009; dailypress.com; 19 April 2009
April Antisemitic Leaflet Posted on Ukraine Synagogue
   
On April 6, 2009 (two days before the Jewish holiday of Passover) an antisemitic leaflet was glued to the entrance door of a synagogue in Cherkassy, Ukraine, as well as on nearby buildings. The leaflet, entitled "Wierwolf" [Werwolf], called for the extermination of the Jews. The Jewish community filed a complaint and after the holiday the police informed them that a suspect had been detained.

Sources: jewish.ru, 22 April 2009, jewish.kiev.ua, 23 April 2009
April Antisemitism Findings for 2008/Early 2009
   
As in previous years, the Stephen Roth Institute held its annual press conference on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, April 20, 2009 (concurrent with the opening of Durban II in Geneva). Click for the following files:

Press release - English, Hebrew

General Analysis and Graphs


March Annual "Israel Apartheid Week" Held
   
Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) took place during the week of March 1-8 on college campuses in 27 cities worldwide. The aim of IAW is "to educate people about the nature of Israel as an apartheid system and to build Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns as part of a growing global BDS movement." Begun in Toronto in 2005, campuses in South Africa, the West Bank, Mexico, Scotland, Norway, Abu Dis, Berkeley, Bir Zeit, Edinburgh, Edmonton, Johannesburg, Oxford, Kalkilya, San Francisco, Soweto, Tulkarm and Washington DC have joined the movement. According to the IAW website, the focus of the 2009 week was Israel's "barbaric" assault on the people of Gaza, which only served to further confirm the "true nature of Israeli apartheid." The events were also aimed at expanding the BDS movement globally. Orna Hollander, head of the Canadian Center for Israel Activism, said that the events of the anti-Israel movement were intended to inspire opposition to the State of Israel by "applying the labels of Apartheid and Holocaust to the treatment of Palestinians by Israel."

Sources: jpost.com, 29 Jan. 2009; apartheidweek.org, 1 March 2009; jpost.com, 29 Jan. 2009
March Sudanese President Links International Court to "Zionist Plot"
   
Following its issuing of a warrant for his arrest on March 4, Omar al-Bashir, president of Sudan, branded the International Court of Justice in the Hague part of a "Zionist plot." Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Khartoum the next day, shouting insults against the US, the UK, the Jews and the supreme judge of the International Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo. Bashir is accused of war crimes in Darfur.

Sources: IKG Portal, 6 March 2009
March EU Agency Issues Report on Antisemitism
   
In March, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) issued its report "Antisemitism - Summary Overview of the Situation in the European Union 2001 - 2008," the 5th update of the 2004 report "Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU." Also included is data on antisemitic incidents that occurred in early 2009 during Israel's Cast Lead Operation in Gaza. According to FRA director, Morton Kjaerum, while the number of antisemitic incidents in the EU declined during 2007 and most of 2008, it rose again with the outbreak of the war in December 2008. While it was too early to draw conclusions, he said, there were indications that the global financial crisis was also responsible for the increase.

Sources: fra.europa.eu, 2 March 2009
March Jewish Community Center in California Vandalized
   
The Chabad Jewish Community Center on Arlington Avenue in Riverside, California, was vandalized late Thursday March 26. Antisemitic graffiti reading "Achtuing Juden" (Warning, Jews!) accompanied by swastikas was smeared in purple on the windows. The center and the Anti-Defamation League were offering a $1,000 reward for information.

Sources: Riverside County, 27 March 2009
Feb. Bomb in Ukrainian Synagogue
   
On February 2, 2009 a time bomb was found and neutralized in the basement window of a synagogue belonging to the Progressive Jewish Community in Lutsk, Ukraine. The timer was set to an hour when many people would have been in the synagogue. It was "no less than a terrorist act directed against all citizens of Ukraine," said a spokesperson of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee the following day.

Sources: jta.org, 3 Feb. 2009; UCSJ, 3 Feb. 2009; AEN (Jewish News Agency), 03 Feb. 2009.; Shturem, 4 Feb. 2009; jta.org, 5 Feb. 2009
Feb. British Civil Servant Arrested for Antisemitic Outburst
   
Rowan Laxton (46), head of the South-East Asia department of the British Foreign Office, was arrested following an antisemitic tirade in a London gym on January 27, 2009. He reportedly shouted "F---g Jews, f---g Israelis!" while watching a television report on the Israeli attack on Gaza, and continued ranting even after he was asked to stop. Laxton was arrested for the offense of inciting religious hatred, which can carry a seven-year prison term. He was released on bail and scheduled to appear at a central London police station at the end of March 2009. Foreign Office Minister Gillian Merron told members of Parliament on February 27 that Laxton had been suspended from his job at the Foreign Office and would face disciplinary proceedings.

Sources: ha'aretz.com, 27 Feb. 2009; worldjewishcongress.org, 10 Feb. 2009; timesonline.co.uk, 09 Feb. 2009
Feb. France Recognizes Vichy Regime's Responsibility for Deportations in WWII
   
On February 16, 2009, France's highest judicial body, the Council of State, formally recognized the responsibility of the Vichy Regime for having collaborated with Nazi Germany and aided in the deportation of about 76,000 Jews from German-occupied northern France to concentration camps. Only 2,566 survived. The legal proceedings were initiated by a woman who requested compensation for the death of her mother in Auschwitz and her own suffering during the occupation. The Council found that the government of Nazi-occupied France at the time held responsibility for the deportations. "The actions and deeds of the Vichy regime were faults for which it was responsible," it pronounced. Compensation for deportees or their families was ruled out, however, since it had been given since 1945.

Sources: worldjewishcongress.org, 17 Feb. 2009; france24.com, 17 Feb. 2009; dailymail.co.uk, 16 Feb. 2009; Ha'aretz, 17 Feb. 2009
Feb. German Die Linke Candidate Calls for Boycott of Israeli Goods
   
Hermann Dierkes, candidate of the Left (Die Linke) for the mayoral office of Duisburg, called on February 18, 2009 for a boycott of Israeli products. In response, Guenter Reichwein, president of the German-Israel Society asked Die Linke to investigate the boycott call and to clarify whether Dierkes was still acceptable as a candidate. Werner Jurga, vice president of the German-Israel Society, charged Dierkes with antisemitism, stating that the appeal to boycott Israeli merchandise was reminiscent of the Nazi slogan, "Germans, do not buy from Jews." Dierkes explained that as a leftist he would always fight against antisemitic manifestations (from the right) and that his appeal to boycott Israeli goods, stemmed from the guidelines issued by the World Social Forum on boycotts. On February 26, Dierkes withdrew his candidacy and repeated, in an open letter to friends and comrades, his accusations against Israel, labeling its politics undemocratic and murderous.

Sources: Jerusalem Post, 27 Feb. 2009; ksta.de, 24 Feb. 2009; rp-online.de, 25 Feb. 2009; israelnetz.com, 24 Feb. 2009; derwesten.de, 26 Feb. 2009; jungewelt.de, 27 Feb. 2009; presseportal.de, 26 Feb. 2009
Jan. Venezuelan Synagogue Ransacked
   
On the night of Friday January 30, 2009, the Tiferet synagogue in Mariperez, Caracas, was attacked, its security guards tied up, and its property desecrated. Antisemitic slogans such as "Jews out of here" and "Damn the Jews" were scrawled on the walls of the office, Torah scrolls thrown on the floor, safety boxes broken into, and computers and documents stolen. The attackers numbered around 15 and appeared well-organized. They disabled security cameras and reportedly spent five hours ransacking the premises. A week earlier the building was sprayed with graffiti linking the swastika to the Star of David.

"This is an attack of an antisemitic nature," said Elias Farache of the Venezuelan Israelite Association. "The climate is very tense. We feel threatened, intimidated, attacked." The government issued a statement saying those responsible would be brought to justice and calling on all Venezuelans to condemn the attack. Jews had no reason to feel insecure, it said. A pro-government website that ran an article urging a boycott of Venezuelan Jewish businesses and verbal confrontations with Jewish people was removed after protests. Leaders of the 15,000 member Jewish community have complained that denunciations of Israel by President Hugo Chavez may have encouraged the incident. Chavez condemned it and suggested that his adversaries who portray his regime as antisemitic might be behind the violence. The Jewish leadership called the attack the worst ever on their community in Venezuela and the ADL described it as "a modern day Kristallnacht."


Sources: El Nacional, 31 Jan. 2009; Ha'aretz, 1 Feb. 2009; CNN.com, 1 Feb. 2009; Guardian, 3 Feb. 2009; Associated Press, 3 Feb. 2009
Jan. Antisemitic Manifestations in Holland
   
At least four Dutch synagogues were targeted during Israel's three-week Operation Cast Lead against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. In Amsterdam a house was torched, and antisemitic slogans and the word "Jood" were daubed in yellow paint on the windows. A Molotov cocktail was thrown at a building housing a synagogue in Amsterdam during the weekend of January 16-17, 2009. The week before, the windows of the synagogue in Haaksbergen were smashed and the synagogue in Arnhem was set alight, reported Ronnie Naftaniel of the Israel Information and Documentation Center (CIDI). In addition, demonstrators at anti-Israel protests shouted slogans of "Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas." During an anti-Israel demonstration in The Hague, ten people wearing clothes adorned with swastikas and chanting antisemitic slogans were arrested. On January 23, following the request of the Jewish community for more protection, Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende admitted that their "feelings of unease" required attention.

Sources: nisnews.nl, 20 Jan. 2009; cidi.nl, 23 Jan, 2009; ikg, 27 Jan. 2009; De Telegraaf, 18 Feb. 2009
Jan. Norwegian Diplomat Compares Israel's Gaza Operation to Holocaust
   
In an e-mail with the subject "Holocaust Survivors," circulated from the account of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, on January 19, 2009, Trine Lilleng, first secretary at the Norwegian embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, equated Israel's offensive against Hamas in Gaza with the systematic mass murder of six million Jews by the Nazis. Consisting of black-and-white pictures from the Holocaust placed next to color images of Operation Cast Lead, Lilleng's accompanying message read: "I always wondered why they [Holocaust survivors] didn't learn anything from the horror during WWII. Now I see what they learnt." The Oslo-based Center against Anti-Semitism in Norway filed an official complaint with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr St?re, stating that it was appalled by the distribution of "clearly antisemitic propaganda" by a ministry official and claiming that Norway's Foreign Affairs Ministry was "contributing to the intensification of antisemitic tendencies, which lately have been quite visible in the Norwegian media, and which have been reproved by both us and by international experts." "That a Norwegian Foreign Ministry official is disseminating such distortions is appalling and smacks of antisemitism," added a Yad Vashem spokesperson.

The Norwegian Foreign Ministry expressed regret for the "misunderstanding," stating that Lilleng had violated ministry policy. "The content of the e-mail in question does not represent the opinion of the Foreign Ministry in terms of the conflict in the Middle East," Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokesman Haakon Fvane said in a telephone statement from Oslo. "The responsibility for the e-mail lies solely with the sender."


Sources: Jerusalem Post, 21 Jan. 2009; The American Apologist, 22 Jan. 2009; The Gazette, 31 Jan. 2009
Jan. South African Deputy Minister's Jewish Conspiracy Theory
   
On January 14, 2009, during Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, South Africa's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Fatima Hajaig of the ruling ANC, who is known for her anti-Israel views, told a pro-Palestinian rally in Johannesburg that Jews controlled America "no matter which government comes into power, whether Republican or Democratic, whether Barack Obama or George Bush… The control of America, just like the control of most Western countries, is in the hands of Jewish money… If the Jewish money controls their country, then you cannot expect anything else." Channel Islam International aired Hajaig's antisemitic comments as part of its rally coverage. David Saks, of the South Africa Jewish Board of Deputies, said that this was the worst Jew-baiting from a senior government representative in 50 years. The Board has lodged a complaint of hate speech against Hajaig with the country's Human Rights Commission.

Responding to concerns about threats to Jews in South Africa during Israel's military operation, President Kgalema Motlanthe met with Jewish community leaders in order to assure them that everything would be done to ensure their safety.

In a release issued on February 3, Hajaig said: "To the extent that my statement may have caused hurt and pain, I offer an unequivocal apology for the pain it may have caused to the people of our country, and the Jewish community in particular."


Sources: jta.org, 26 Jan. 2009; Jerusalem Post, 29 Jan. 2009; forecasthighs.com, 29 Jan. 2009; Dispatch Online, 30 Jan. 2009; zionism-israel.com, 2 Feb. 2009; thetimes.co.za, 3 Feb. 2009
Jan. Anger at Pope`s Revocation of Excommunication Order
   
At a ceremony held on January 24, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI revoked the 1988 excommunication of four schismatic bishops, all members of the Society of St. Pius X, founded by French Archbishop Marcel Lefebre in 1970 in protest against the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1965). One of the bishops is Richard Williamson, known for his Holocaust denying views. Only three days earlier, Williamson had said during an interview with Swedish television that "there were no gas chambers" and "only" up to 300,000 Jews were killed in Nazi camps. Monseigneur Bernard Fellay, the Superior of the Society, issued a release on January 27, asking the pope and "all men of good will" to pardon Williamson's Holocaust denying statements. Two days later, in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Tribuna di Treviso, Fr. Floriano Abrahamowicz, another leader of the Society, questioned whether the Nazis used gas chambers for anything other than "disinfection," and claimed that people who held revisionist views on the Holocaust were not antisemites. Abrahamowicz, also referred to Jews as "a people of deicide."

Jewish leaders around the world condemned the revocation decree. In response, Pope Benedict XVI pledged his "full and indisputable solidarity" with the Jewish people and recalled the deaths of "millions of Jews" in Nazi concentration camps.

State prosecutors in Regensburg, Germany, have opened a preliminary investigation into whether Williamson violated German laws against Holocaust denial since he spoke to Swedish state TV while in Germany. Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, the Catholic bishop of Regensburg, which is also the pope's home city, declared Williamson persona-non-grata in his diocese.

Two days after German Chancellor Angela Merkel, too, questioned the pope's decision, the Vatican, which is facing the greatest controversy since the accession of Benedict XVI, called on Williamson to recant his views. In a statement issued on February 5, the Vatican also said that the pope was unaware of Williamson's opinions and that in order for the Society of St. Pius X to be fully reconciled with the Vatican, it must accept the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, which include the Church's renunciation of antisemitism.


Sources: News Blaze, 24 Jan. 2009; jta.org, 25 Jan. 2009; New York Times, 25 Jan. 2009; Times Online, 26 Jan. 2009; newsmax.com, 26 Jan. 2009; La Tribuna di Treviso, 29 Jan. 2009; National Catholic Reporter, 29 Jan. 2009; Spiegel Online, 24 Jan. 2009; Boston Globe, 6 Feb. 2009

2008


Dec. Antisemitic Manifestations in Arab and Muslim World in Wake of Israel's Gaza Operation
   
Official reactions to Israel's Cast Lead Operation in Gaza, launched on December 27, 2008, were mixed in the Arab and Muslim world, reflecting the rift between moderate regimes critical of Hamas and radical ones identifying with it. The former lent muted support to the Israeli action, while the latter called for a third intifada and jihad against Israel, as well as an uprising against "treacherous" Arab regimes. Popular demonstrations and rallies of support with the Palestinian people swept most Arab and Muslim countries, with participants denouncing the Israeli operation and burning the Israeli flag. In Turkey fans carrying banners urging "Death to the Jews" threatened to attack an Israeli basketball team, causing cancellation of the match, while in Jordan parliamentarians called for severing ties with Israel. Arab and Muslim newspapers and websites expressed similar outrage. Although they also reflected the approach of their respective regimes, most articles perceived the Israeli operation as "a mark of disgrace on humanity's forehead" (al-Quds al-'Arabi, Dec. 29, 2008) and many verged on blatant antisemitism, using Holocaust terminology to describe the Israeli attack. For example, Jordan's al-Dustur and the Hamas' mouthpiece Palestine Times defined the operation as "Zionist Nazi aggression" and an "Israeli Holocaust," while Syria's al-Thawra and Tishrin described it as "ethnic cleansing" and a "war of annihilation," and accused Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Sources: www.electronicintifada.net; Tishrin, 28, 29 Dec. 2008; al-Islam al-Yawm, 28 Dec. 2008; al-Ahram, al-Quds al-'Arabi, 29 Dec. 2008; al-Thawra, 28, 29 Dec. 2008, 1 Jan. 2009; al-Dustur, 29, 30 Dec. 2008, 1 Jan. 2009; al-Jumhuriyya, 1 Jan. 2009; MEMRI, Special Dispatch, no. 2167, 31 Dec. 2008, no. 2171, 1 Jan. 2009; www.hizballah.tv/essaydetails.php?eid=12325&cid=207; Pakistan Daily, 4 Jan.; Ha'aretz, 7 Jan. 2009
Dec. Antisemitic Manifestations in Europe in Wake of Israel`s Gaza Operation
   
Europe has witnessed an upsurge in antisemitic manifestations since the launching of Israel's Cast Lead Operation in Gaza on January 27, 2008. Violent antisemitic attacks, including armed assault on individuals and arson attempts on synagogues, have been reported in France, Belgium, Sweden, Britain and Denmark, among others. Dr. Desire Amsellem, a prominent member of the Jewish community in Valenton, a suburb of Paris, died after being shot in the chest, on January 2. Three days later, a car packed with explosives rammed the gates of a synagogue in Toulouse, causing a fire, but no injuries. No suspects have been arrested to date in either incident. Synagogues in Belgium, Britain and Sweden suffered similar attacks. In the largely Jewish suburb of Golders Green, London, a gang walked the streets shouting "Jews" and "Free Palestine," while Jewish sites throughout Europe were defaced with graffiti reading "Murders/Assassins" and other such slogans. Islamic extremists in the UK, among other countries, published "hit lists" targeting prominent Jewish personalities. At anti-Israel demonstrations all over Europe Israel - and often Jews - was frequently equated with blood-thirsty Nazis. Many newspapers and Internet sites, including mainstream ones, carried a similar message, often through cartoons. In response, Jews in many countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, Austria and Italy, have held, or plan to hold demonstrations in support of Israel.

Sources: Ha`aretz online, 1 Jan. 2009; Times online, 6 Jan. 2009; Jerusalem Post online, 7 Jan. 2009; Z-Word Blog, 7 Jan. 2009; The Sun online, 7 Jan. 2009; foxnews.com, 8 Jan. 2009, and many others
Dec. Controversy in German Academia over Equation of Antisemitism with Islamophobia
   
On December 8, 2008, the conference "Enemy Concept: Muslim - Enemy Concept: Jew" was held at the Center for Research of Antisemitism (ZfA) at the Technical University of Berlin. Prior to the opening, the director, Prof. Wolfgang Benz, was criticized for allegedly equating antisemitism with so-called islamophobia. According to Matthias Kuentzel, a Hamburg-based political scientist who specializes in Islamic antisemitism, creating a link between enemies of Jews and enemies of Islam involves thought patterns well known "from the history of antisemitism," thus undermining the fight against Islamic antisemitism. The one-day conference, which focused on comparing the ways in which German society marginalizes Muslims and Jews, triggered debates over the differences between antisemitism and islamophobia and the reality of the Iranian threat to the existence of Israel and how it should be treated by researchers of antisemitism. The Center's 2008 yearbook was also criticized for similar reasons. Prof. Benz rejected the accusations as ridiculous and unfounded and strongly repudiated claims of trivialization of the Holocaust.

Sources: Wall Street Journal, Dec. 7, 2008; tagesspiegel, 6 Dec. 2008; achgut.com, 4, 9 Dec. 2008; eussner.net, 9 Dec. 2008; engageonline, 8 Dec. 2008; Jerusalem Post, 10 Dec. 2008
Dec. Egyptian Liberals Accused of Antisemitism
   
In an article published in the Wall Street Journal on December 1, 2008, Amr Bargisi, a Cairo-based writer, claimed that there were few places like the Egyptian media where Jews were blamed for so many of the world ills; moreover, the most distressing aspect was that much of the pointing was being done by Egypt's self-proclaimed liberals. According to Bargisi, on October 3, the new liberal Egyptian weekly al-Yawm al-Sabi' re-printed an Anti-Defamation League press release from the previous day entitled "Surge in Antisemitic Messages on Online Finance Sites," under the title "Jews Are the Principal Suspect in the Financial Crisis." Bargisi also mentioned a column purporting to demonstrate that "Jews were merely manipulating the stock market as they had the price of gold in the late 1970's," published by the chief editor of al-Wafd, the mouthpiece of Egypt's leading liberal party. Two weeks later, Bargisi said, al-Misri al-Yawm, Egypt's largest independent newspaper, ran a column entitled "The Jewish Conspiracy," in which Khayri Ramadan claimed that the collapse of Lehman Brothers brokerage house could be compared to the events of September 11 when thousands of Jews allegedly did not go to work at the World Trade Center. These examples, concludes Bargisi, expose the falsehood that hatred of Jews is not one of the great motivating factors in the Arab world's overall objection to Israel.

Sources: al-Wafd, 11 Oct. 2008; al-Masry al-Yawm, 26 Oct. 2008; al-Yawm al-Sabi', 2 Dec. 2008; al-Yawm al-Sabi', 3 Oct. 2008
Dec. Muslim and Jewish Graves Desecrated in France
   
On December 7, 2008, the eve of the Islamic Eid al-Adha feast, about 500 Muslim and 20 Jewish gravestones, some of war veterans, at the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette cemetery in Arras were defaced with swastikas and anti-Islam slogans. The police opened an investigation. President Sarkozy and the European Jewish Congress condemned the incident.

Sources: ejpress.org, 8 Dec. 2008; eurojewcong.org, 9 Dec. 2008
Dec. South African President Criticized for Signing Anti-Israel Petition
   
The South African Zionist Federation strongly criticized President Kgalema Motlanthe, in early December 2008, for signing a petition equating Israeli policy with apartheid. The petition, entitled "We fought against apartheid; we see no reason to celebrate it in Israel now," appeared in the Mail & Guardian of November 21, 2008 and carried over 120 signatures of public figures.

Sources: eurojewcong.org, 4 Dec. 2008; Jerusalem Post, 26 Nov. 2008; supernatural blog 23, 3 Dec. 2008
Nov. Jewish Film Boycotted in Tunis
   
The Secret, a recent film of Jewish French filmmaker Claude Miller, about the shattered life of a Jewish family in occupied France, opened the Tunis European Film Festival on November 20, 2008. Screening of the film aroused controversy in the Arab media, mainly because it deals with the period of the Holocaust. According to al-Jazeera, many locals boycotted the film, considering it an "exaggerated expression of solidarity with the Jews." One interviewee even accused the festival's European sponsors of being under Jewish control. Others wondered why a film about the torture of Jews during the Holocaust was being screened while Gaza was under siege. Nonetheless, some like film critic Khamis al-Khayyati opposed the attack on the film, claiming that the Holocaust was a real historic event that had nothing to do with the situation in Gaza.

Sources: Filastin, 22 Nov.; www.aljazeera.net, 23 Nov.; www.alarabiya.net, 28 Nov. 2008.
Nov. Anti-Nazi Exhibit in Berlin Destroyed
   
On November 12, 2008, approximately 1000 school pupils and left-wing activists destroyed an anti-Nazi exhibition called "Betrayed and Sold", about the plundering of Jewish businesses under the Nazis, held in the lobby of Humboldt University (HV) in Berlin. The demonstrators entered the university to protest against the politics of education in Germany. In a press release issued on November 14, the BAK Shalom left-wing youth initiative against antisemitism and anti-Zionism sharply criticized the passivity of other demonstrators who did not intervene to stop the culprits. Police are investigating an antisemitic motive or the possibility that the exhibition was destroyed accidentally. Peter-Michael Haeberer, head of the State Office of Criminal Investigation, told the Berliner Morgenpost that he believed the pupils had probably intended to attack the exhibit. Humboldt University President Christoph Markschies also reported that he heard some of them shout anti-Israel slogans. The president charged a group of hardcore leftists called the "Black Block" with concealing their hatred toward Jews (antisemitism) behind anti-Zionism.

An open letter written by the students' alliance, Bildungsblockaden einreissen ("Tear down educational blockades"), regretted the incident, offered help with reconstruction of the exhibit, and at the same time repudiated accusations of antisemitism. Lee Hielscher of the alliance explained to the press: "Of course, everything can get damaged if such a big crowd storms a building. This wasn't antisemitic. Some people just gave free rein to their frustration about the education system."


Sources: worldjewishcongress.org, 14 Nov. 2008; bild.de, 15 Nov. 2008; BAK Shalom, 14 Nov. 2008; jta.org, 13 Nov. 2008
Nov. Hungarian Right-Wing Extremist Sets Up Headquarters in UK
   
The British daily The Sun of November 10, 2008 reported that Zoltan Fuzessy, vice-president of the extreme right-wing Hungarian Jobbik movement, has secretly set up the headquarters of the organization at his home in Gravesend, Kent, from where he operates a website, jobbik.com, which is filled with antisemitic and Holocaust denial comments. Zoltan responded that his party is "radical but patriotic, not nationalist. Millions in Hungary support us. Those who call us Nazi are just Communists." Jobbik, labeled by Hungary's Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany "the shame of Hungary" has a paramilitary unit, whose members wear black uniforms like Hitler's SS troops, and has close ties to the British National Party.

Sources: The Sun, 10 Nov. 2008; Telegraph, 10 Nov. 2008
Nov. Antisemitic Headline in Greek Daily
   
A headline in the Greek mainstream daily Avriani of November 4, 2008, read: "The Anticipated Victory of Obama in the US Elections Signals the End of Jewish Domination. Everything is changing in the US and we hope that it will be more democratic and humane." The paper was criticized by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and American Jewish Committee (AJC), Director David Harris accused it of drawing on "classic antisemitic canards."

Sources: ADL, 6 Nov. 2008; European Jewish Congress, 7 Nov. 2008; AJC, 4 Nov. 2008
Nov. Belgian Right-Wing Extremist Leader under Investigation for Violating Holocaust Denial Law
   
Belgian national television screened a video, on November 5, 2008, showing extreme right-wing senator Michel Delacroix, head of the National Front, singing a song about a Jewish girl being killed in Dachau concentration camp. Delacroix was forced to resign his chairmanship of the party and the prosecutor's office is investigating whether there are grounds for removing Delacroix' parliamentary immunity under Belgium's law against denying the Holocaust. The blind leader of the National Front said that he could not remember having sung the song. On November 14, it was reported that le Mouvement contre le racisme, l'antisemitisme et la xenophobie (MRAX) had decided to press charges against Delacroix.

Sources: haaretz.com, 8 Nov. 2008, ap.google.com, 8. Nov. 2008; euronews.net, 6. Nov. 2008; 7sur7.be, 14 Nov. 2008
Nov. Australian Holocaust Denier Detained in London
   
On October 1, 2008, Gerald Fredrick Toben, a 64 year old Australian citizen and Holocaust denier, was arrested upon his arrival at Heathrow airport in London under an EU warrant issued by Germany. Toben is wanted by the district court in Mannheim for publishing and distributing antisemitic and Holocaust denial material on the Internet, a punishable crime in Germany. Toben already served 7 months in a German prison after being convicted of inciting to racism and Holocaust denial in 1999. In 2006 Toben attended the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust in Tehran, where he stated that those who believed in the gas chambers displayed "an appalling state of ignorance of natural and chemical processes." The arrest in Britain initiated a debate between those who think Toben should be extradited to Germany and those who say that this would conflict with Britain's tradition of free speech. Liberal Democratic MP Chris Huhne asked for the case to be dropped as Toben had not violated British law. In November 2008 a London court ruled that the warrant used to arrest Toben while he was in transit from the US to Dubai was invalid because it did not provide enough detail. He was granted bail following that ruling, but had to remain in Britain until the case was heard in the High Court. He was released from custody at Wandsworth Prison on November 20.

Sources: deutschewelle, 2 Oct. 2008; ynetnews, 1 Oct. 2008; telegraph.co.uk, 05 Oct. 2008; The Australian, 21 Nov. 2008; Times online, 20 Nov. 2008
Oct. Wall Street Collapse Reportedly Sparks Wave of Antisemitism
   
The Wall Street meltdown has triggered an upsurge of antisemitism, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). The organization stated that references such as "Jew World Order" appeared not only on neo-Nazi or white supremacist websites but also on Yahoo blogs. Among the canards were "Jews have infiltrated Wall Street and government and have ruined our country."

One widely circulated conspiracy theory suggested that "$400 billion in funds was secretly transferred to Israeli banks" just prior to the collapse of Lehman Brothers and other major investment banks.


Sources: nydailynews, 2 October 2008; ADL, October 2, 16, 2008
Oct. Look to "Protocols" to Explain World Economic Crisis, Says Jordanian Columnist
   
The world economic crisis has triggered a wave of antisemitic articles in the Arab world. In a piece published in the Jordanian daily al-`Arab al-Yawm on October 14, 2008, Mufiq Muhadin, who is known for his antisemitic statements, claimed that even if some doubt exists regarding the veracity of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, it should be read nowadays in light of the worldwide economic crisis. Muhadin points to specific protocols dealing with financial and economic affairs, such as the third protocol entitled "Global economic crisis and the (Jewish) clandestine organization." He also emphasized that "global Judaism was the first to gain control over the cash and banking global movement," since the Jews used to lend money with interest. The first to discuss this, he said, was Karl Marx.

Sources: al-`Arab al-Yawm, 14, 25, 26, 29 October 2008; Filastin, 7 October 2008; al-Watan, 22 October 2008; al-Bayan, 22 October, 2008
Oct. Antisemitic Cartoon in Saudi Newspaper
   
On October 11, 2008, the Saudi daily al-Watan published an antisemitic cartoon by Jihad 'Awartani, in which a stereotypical Orthodox Jew (bulging eyes, prominent nose and ears), with a Star of David pinned to his hat holds two dolls, one in each hand, representing the candidates for the United States election - Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama. The message conveyed is that no matter who wins the elections, Jews are the ones behind the scenes controlling the United States.

Sources: al-Watan, 11 October 2008
Oct. Antisemitic Incident during US School Event
   
In mid-October 2008 the Parkway West Middle School in Chesterfield, St. Louis, Missouri held a "Hug a Friend Day" among sixth graders. The event degenerated from friendly to silly, such as "Hit a Tall Person Day," and finally descended to "Hit a Jew Day." At least four students face punishment for allegedly hitting Jewish classmates. In one case, a Jewish student was slapped in the face. District officials said that the students involved could face suspension and required counseling.

Sources: Ha'aretz, 23 October 2008; FoxNews.Com, 25 October 2008
Oct. Extreme Right Militia Holds Ceremony in Central Budapest
   
Some 500 supporters watched an oath-taking ceremony of about 400 uniformed new members of the extreme right wing paramilitary militia Hungarian Guard, on October 25, 2008, at Heroes Square in Budapest. Legal proceedings to dissolve the Hungarian Guard were initiated on March 12, 2008 by the chief prosecutor, on the instructions of the justice minister. The purpose of the judicial investigation is to determine whether the group is violating the law on political organization prohibiting infringement of the rights or freedoms of others. Much of the controversy centers on the Guard's campaign against what it calls "gypsy crime." If the court finds the group guilty of violating the law, it could be disbanded.

Sources: politics.hu, romea.cz, 12 March 2008; Hagalil.com, 26 October 2008; Z-Word Blog, 27 October 2008
Sept. Holocaust Monument in Moldova Desecrated
   
On the night of September 6, 2008 swastikas, slogans such as "Death to the Yids," "The Holocaust is a Myth" and "Why have Jews more rights than Russians?" were painted on the Holocaust memorial in Bendery, Moldova. The monument was erected in 2002 in memory of local Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust.

Sources: jewish.ru, 09 Sept. 2008; jewish.kiev.ua, 12 Sept. 2008; newsmoldova.ru, 12 Sept. 2008
Sept. Ex-Beatle McCartney Threatened over Planned Visit to Israel
   
According to a report published on September 14. 2008 in the London Daily Express, Muslim Sheikh Omar Baqri Muhammad threatened to target ex-Beatle Paul McCartney with a suicide bombing if he carried out his plan to perform in Israel later in the month. Bakri, preaching in a weekly Internet broadcast from Lebanon where he lives in exile from Britain, also warned that "if you [McCartney] speak about the Holocaust and its authenticity never being proved historically in the way the Jewish community portrays it, people will arrest you."

Sources: NRG, 15 Sept. 2008; Daily Express, 14 Sept. 2008; Ha'aretz, 14 Sept. 2008
Sept. Jews Beaten in Ukraine
   
Chief Rabbi of Vinnitsa (Ukraine) Shaul Horovitz, his 3-year-old son and a guest from Canada were attacked by a gang in the center of the city on September 11, 2008. After the Jews did not react to their antisemitic insults, such as "We will kill all Yids," "We will bury you in the ground," and "Heil Hitler," the youths began beating them, including the child. A driver of a passing car helped the victims and reported to the police, who arrived and arrested some of the attackers.

Sources: Ynet, 12 Sept. 2008; shturem.net, 12 Sept. 2008; jta.org, 14 Sept. 2008; AEN (Jewish News Agency), 14 Sept. 2008
Sept. Rise in Negative Attitudes toward Jews and Muslims in Europe
   
On September 17, 2008, the Pew Global Attitudes Project released the findings of a survey conducted among 25,000 people in 24 countries in Europe and the US. The report, entitled "Unfavorable View of Jews and Muslims on the Increase in Europe," revealed a rise in ethnocentric attitudes throughout Europe. While the percentage of negative views on Jews in the US and the UK remained relatively low (7 percent in the US and 9 percent in the UK), in Spain unfavorable rating of Jews more than doubled in three years (from 21 to 46 percent). In Poland and Russia one out of every three people polled had a negative opinion of Jews. A clear increase in antisemitic attitudes was also seen in France and Germany, from 12 to 20 percent in the former and from 21 to 25 percent in the latter. There was a similar tendency in attitudes toward Muslims.

Sources: pewglobal.org, 17 Sept. 2008; guardian.co.uk, 18 Sept. 2008
Sept. Antisemitic Books Banned in Russia
   
On September 12, 2008, a regional court in Stavropol banned three antisemitic books on the grounds that they were "extremist." The publications in question are Who Rules Us - The Psychology of Management, The Psychological Management of People and The Secret Mechanisms of People Management, all authored by Mikhail Sherstnev, a doctor of medical sciences. They contain statements such as "The way for the Russian people is only in one thing - antisemitism." Distribution, publication or storage of the books on the territory of the Russian Federation is forbidden.

Sources: SOVA Center, 12 Sept. 2008; proksk.ru, 12 Sept. 2008
August Extreme Right Music CDs Banned in East Germany
   
German Interior Minister Joerg Schoenbohm announced in early August that the LKA, the State Office of Criminal Investigation of Massen-Niederlausitz in Brandenburg, East Germany, has been successful in its struggle against the dissemination of extreme right-wing music, which is considered to pose a threat to German youth. Nine CDs with xenophobic and antisemitic lyrics inciting to violence and glorifying the NS regime were banned. Schoenbohm added that the fight against the extreme right must continue on all fronts, including music directed at young people.

Sources: niederlausitz-aktuell.de, 6 August 2008
August Antisemitic Graffiti in Lithuania
   
During the weekend of August 9-10, 2008 (9 Av fast), swastikas, Stars of David on gallows and "Juden Raus" slogans were painted on Jewish community buildings in Vilnius and Panevezys. The police opened an investigation. The incident was condemned by Lithuanian Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas and President Valdas Adamkus, as well as by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the American Jewish Congress.

Sources: AEN (Jewish News Agency), 11 August 2008; Ynet, 10 August 2008; jewish.ru, 12 August 2008; Simon Wiesenthal Center, 11 August 2008; Trend News, 11 August 2008
August New Neo-Nazi Site Reported in Switzerland
   
In August 2008 the AKDH (Aktion Kinder des Holocaust) reported to the Swiss monitoring organization CICAD (Coordination Intercommunautaire Contre l'Antisemitisme et la Diffamation) that a new neo-Nazi group, Nationaux-Socialistes Suisses (Swiss National Socialists - NSS), had launched a website, hosted by wordpress.com. Describing themselves as "a gathering of young Swiss National Socialists, nostalgic for the Great Europe that had fallen into the forked hands of the Goldsteins and Levys in 1945," the group claimed they were at war with "the hordes of alien Arab-Muslim merde" and "international Jewry." Referring to the Holocaust, they spoke of the "so-called elimination of the yids at the time of the Third Reich" ("pretendue elimination des youpins sous le IIIeme Reich"). wordpress.com closed the website following the announcement of legal proceedings against the operators, initiated by CICAD.

Sources: Le Courrier, 21 August 2008; Stormfront.org, 20 August 2008; eurojewcong.org, 20 August 2008; CICAD, 20 August 2008
July British Academic Resigns from Union due to "Discrimination against Jews"
   
Eve Gerrard, senior lecturer in the Center for Professional Ethics at Keele University, tendered a letter of resignation, on July 1, 2008, to Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU). She stated that she could no longer remain in a body which was involved in discrimination against Jewish academics and Jewish members of the union. Earlier, during a debate in the House of Lords in June 2008, Baroness Ruth Deech had said that the UCU was ''an unprofessional union" and that "universities would do well to cease to recognize it" and seek alternatives.

Sources: evegerrard, 01 July 2008; timeshighereducation, 10 July 2008
July Former German Judge: Holocaust Denial Law Does Not Protect Human Dignity
   
A former judge of Germany's Federal Constitutional Court delivered a lecture in Berlin, on July 9, 2008, entitled "Freedom of Assembly for Right-Wing Extremists - Capitulation of the Constitutional State?" Wolfgang Hoffmann-Riem maintained, inter alia, that if he were a lawmaker he would not make denial of the Holocaust a punishable offense, since punishment did not protect human dignity. In response, Stephan Kramer, secretary general of the Central Council of German Jews, stated that while he, too, opposed repression of freedom of speech he feared the political danger. Warning against the rise of right extremists in Germany, Kramer said that softening the law would be a dangerous signal.

Sources: jungefeiheit.de, 14 July 2008; tagesspiegel.de, 10 July 2008
July Nazi Propaganda Film Shown in Budapest
   
A public screening in Budapest of the Nazi propaganda movie Jud Suess, allegedly organized by the wife of Hungarian right-wing extremist Lorant Hegedus jr. and the extreme right-wing publishing house Gede Testverek (which sells the Hungarian translation of Hitler's Mein Kampf), aroused a series of condemnations. A local lawyer said he would initiate legal proceedings against the organization, and the local branch of the Hungarian Free Democratic Party announced it would file a complaint since the organization did not receive permission from the German Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation, which holds the screening rights. The German adaptation of the film was made in 1940 under the supervision of Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany's propaganda chief, and is considered one of the most hateful depictions of Jews on film.

Sources: World Jewish Congress, 22 July 2008; politics.hu, 18 July 2008
July Russian President Vows to Combat Racism and Antisemitism
   
During a meeting held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Moscow, with heads of diplomatic missions and the country's representatives abroad, on July 15, 2008, Russian President Dmitrii Medvedev promised to counter any manifestations of neo-fascism, racial discrimination, nationalism, antisemitism and xenophobia, as well as "attempts to rewrite history" and use them to provoke confrontations and revanchism in world politics and revise the settlements made at the end of World War II.

Sources: SOVA Center, 17 July 2008
June Lithuania Passes Law Prohibiting Nazi and Soviet Symbols
   
Soviet symbolism is equated with Nazi symbolism in Lithuania, a former country of the USSR. On June 18, 2008, the Lithuanian parliament approved a law prohibiting the public display of Nazi and Soviet symbols, including portraits of Nazi and Soviet leaders, flags, hammer and sickle, swastikas, military symbols, uniforms, and playing the Nazi or Soviet anthems. According to the new law, the symbolism can be perceived as the propaganda of both Nazi and Communist occupation regimes. Russia described Lithuania's decision to put the swastika and hammer and sickle on an equally prohibited footing as "blasphemous," and an attempt to rewrite history, said BBC Russian affairs analyst Steven Eke.

Sources: haaretz.co.il, 19 June 2008; jewish.ru, 17 June 2008; BBC news, 17 June 2008
June Neo-Nazi Murders in Russia
   
In mid-June 2008, the Investigative Committee of Russia's General Prosecutor's Office determined that a video showing the murder of two males of Tajik and Dagestani origin, with a Nazi flag in the background, was genuine. When the video was first distributed on the Internet in August 2007, the Ministry of Interior believed it to be faked. Victor Milkov who posted the video, claiming he received it from an anonymous source, was sentenced in February 2008 to one year of forced labor for inciting hatred. In January, the Dagestani victim was recognized by his brother on the video and the case was re-opened. As a result, four suspects were arrested. According to one version, the murder was committed by members of a group named the National-Socialist Society from Obninsk, Kaluga region. The bodies were never found.

Sources: SOVA Center, 16 June 2008; Haaretz, 16 June 2008; FSU Monitor, 18 June 2008; jta.org, 14 Aug. 2007; Haaretz, 16 June 2007
June Suspected Antisemitic Attack in Paris
   
On June 21, 2008, Rudy Haddad, 17, was attacked in Paris with iron bars and beaten unconscious. He was hospitalized with a fractured skull and broken ribs. The attack apparently occurred after a fight broke out between young Jews and youths of African origin in the multi-ethnic 19th district of north-east Paris and, according to the Union of French Jewish Students, Haddad was identified as a Jew before being beaten. Prosecutors in the French capital opened an investigation on June 24. "The antisemitic circumstances are unquestionable," Paris prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin told reporters, adding that insults such as "dirty Jew" were used.

Sources: News Daily, 24 June 2008; thejc, 26 June 2008; themercury, 29 June 2008; CICAD, 29 June 2008
May Russian Antisemites Arrested
   
In May 2008, Victor Rogozhin, member of the regional municipal committee, Vladimir Naydanov, engineer, Valerii Salnikov, senior lecturer at an aviation university, and Sergeii Pospelov, a civilian army worker, were arrested in Akhtubinsk, Astrakhan region. They were accused of running an antisemitic organization since 2002 and of calling in public (at their places of work, among others) for the deportation or annihilation of the Jews.

Sources: izrus.co.il, 2 May 2008. AEN (Jewish News Agency), 04 May 2008
May Polish Football Player Investigated for Antisemitic Incident
   
A judicial investigation was launched on May 2, 2008 against Arkadiusz Mysona, a premier league player of LKS Lodz football team, for wearing a shirt bearing an antisemitic inscription. After the incident occurred on April 11, 2008, Mysona was fined 8,670 euros by his club. Mysona claimed that he received the shirt from a fan and wore it without reading the inscription, "Jewish whore," allegedly directed at the Widzew club. After a fellow member of his team drew his attention to the inscription, he removed the shirt. During the same match played on April 11, antisemitic banners were displayed in the stands of the LKS Lodz stadium, which was consequently closed for one month. The club was ordered by the Polish football federation to pay a fine of 50,000 zlotys (14,600 euros) for this incident.

Sources: ZNAK Forum, 6 May 2008; European Jewish Press, 05 May 2008; Ynet, 30 April 2008
May Hamas Minister: Palestinians Don`t Deny Holocaust
   
On May 15, 2008, the London Guardian published an article by Basim Na'aim, minister in the Hamas administration, stressing that Palestinians in general do not deny the Nazi Holocaust. According to Na'aim, one approach to isolate Hamas is to portray it as motivated by anti-Jewish sentiment rather than hostility to Zionist occupation. Na'aim claimed that Palestinians "reject the exploitation of the Holocaust by the Zionists to justify their crimes... against us"; although they had nothing to do with the Holocaust, he said, Palestinians find themselves punished for the crimes of others. Europeans thus bore a direct responsibility for what is befalling them today. The article was published in response to antisemitic messages broadcast by Hamas' al-Aqsa television, including denial of the Holocaust.

Source: Guardian, 15 May 2008
May Motion to Boycott Israeli Academic Institutions
   
On May 30, 2008 delegates of the British University and College Union (UCU) voted in favor of a controversial motion calling for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions. This was in spite of legal advice stating that an academic boycott of Israel would be unlawful and could not be implemented. Philosophy Prof. Tom Hickey, who headed the initiative, said that British lecturers must re-evaluate their ties with Israeli institutions, in light of the latter's illegal settlements and the situation in Gaza. Sally Hunt, the union's general secretary, explained that "we have passed a motion to provide solidarity with the Palestinians, not to boycott Israel or any other country's academic institutions. I made clear to delegates that the union will defend their right to debate this and other issues. Implementation of the motion will now fall to the national executive committee." According to sociologist David Hirsch, "an academic boycott.... would impact disproportionately against Jews and so would be institutionally antisemitic. It is based on and encourages a world-view which puts Israel and Zionism at the centre of all that is threatening to the oppressed and to the left." Israeli Ambassador to the UK Ron Prosor stated: "The recurring calls for an academic boycott of Israel over the past few years are another attempt to delegitimize Israel both in academia and in British professional associations.

Sources: Times Higher Education (THE), 29 May 2008; UCU declaration, 30 May 2008; democratiya.com, May 2008; Haaretz, 31 May 2008
April Antisemitic Graffiti Reported in Israel
   
Antisemitic graffiti was found painted on the walls of a swimming pool in Kibbutz Hatzor, Israel, on April 30, 2008. The text, in Russian, read: "It's a pity Hitler didn't liquidate all of you," and "If there's no water in the tap, it means that the Yids drank it all." The police opened an investigation.

Sources: Maariv, 1 May 2008
April Homes of Yemeni Jews Destroyed
   
In the latest attack targeting Yemen's few remaining Jews, rebel Shiite Houthi militiamen destroyed several homes belonging to the now absent Jewish community (67 members) in the northwestern Saada province. "The Houthis destroyed part of my house and looted it," Rabbi Yehia (Yihya) Youssuf told Reuters. Today, fewer than 400 Jews live in Yemen.

Sources: The World Jewish Congress, 7 April 2008; Jerusalem, 7 April 2008; Haaretz, 6 April 2008
April Holocaust Memorial in Belarus Desecrated
   
On April 20, 2008 (the anniversary of Hitler's birthday), the Holocaust Memorial in Slutsk, Belarus, was desecrated with dozens of swastikas and the number 88, signifying "Heil Hitler" in numerology. A complaint was filed. The city services helped clean the memorial, which marks the place where the Nazis shot and burned to death 3,000 Jews in 1941.

Sources: kurjer.info, 21 April 2008; jewish.ru, 22 April 2008; Jerusalem Post, 23 April 2008; mignews.com, 23 April 2008; jta.org, 23 April 2008; Haaretz, 22 April 2008
April Jewish Cemetery Desecrated in Berlin
   
Thirty gravestones in Weissensee, Berlin, one of Europe's largest and most historically significant Jewish cemeteries, were desecrated on April 29, 2008. Mayor of Berlin Social Democrat Klaus Wowereit sharply condemned the incident, declaring that it was clearly antisemitic. One day later (April 30), another 20 graves were found desecrated. The police were investigating the incident. Petra Pau, of the left-wing Die Linke party, criticized the fact that the desecration of Jewish cemeteries, an almost weekly phenomenon in Germany, is investigated not as an antisemitic offense but as "disturbance of the peace of the dead" and/or as "damage to property."

Sources: news.walla.co, 29 April 2008; Petra Pau, 29 April 2008, press release; Helmut Schroeder, 29 April 2008; http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/0,5538,31115,00.html, 1 May 2008; Der Spiegel, 29 April 2008
March Posters in Russian City Evoke Jewish Blood Ritual
   
On 19 March 2008 (the eve of Purim), dozens of antisemitic posters appeared on buildings in Novosibirsk, the third largest city in Russia. The posters called on parents to protect their children during the Jewish holiday of Passover because "these disgusting people still engage in ritual practice to their gods. They kidnap small children and remove some of their blood and use it to prepare their holy food - matza - which they eat during their Passover and throw the bodies onto garbage dumps." The chief rabbi of Novosibirsk, Zalman Zaklas, filed a complaint. He also asserted that this was not the first time antisemitic posters had appeared and that an antisemitic group of about 50 people was active in Novosibirsk. It is headed by Boris Mironov, former Russian minister of the press, who was convicted in February 2008 for incitement of ethnic hatred in several antisemitic articles he published in election leaflets. The US Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union (UCSJ) condemned the posters.

Sources: Y Net, 19 March 2008; European Jewish Congress, 20 March 2008; Interfax-Religion, 20 March 2008; World Jewish Congress, 20 March 2008; Ha'aretz, 20 March 2008; AEN (Jewish News Agency), 20 March 2008; FSU Monitor (27 March 2008)
March Antisemitic and Racist Demonstration on Lithuanian Independence Day
   
On 11 March 2008, Lithuanian Independence Day, about 200 skinheads held an unauthorized demonstration in the center of Vilnius. They shouted antisemitic and racist slogans, such as "One, Two, Three, Lithuania is beautiful without Russians," "Juden Raus," "Kill this Jew" and "Lithuania to the Lithuanians." The participants held banners with swastikas and skulls, as well as Lithuanian and Latvian flags. Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus condemned the parade, stating, "Such incidents shame the whole of Lithuania. Inciting racial hatred can carry a two-year prison sentence under Lithuanian law." The police were investigating.

Sources: regnum.ru, 12 March 2008; rus.delfi.lv, 12 March 2008. jjew.ru, 18 March 2008
March Arab Reactions to Vilnai's Use of the Term "Shoah"
   
In response to the escalation that took place in the Gaza Strip between 27 February and 3 March 2008, the Arab media made extensive use of the term "Holocaust" and related expressions such as "massacre" and "annihilation." Deputy Israeli Defense Minister Matan Vilnai's threat, made on 29 February, that a catastrophe would befall the Palestinians if they continued their rocket strikes on Israel triggered the employment of such terminology. Vilnai used the Hebrew word "Shoah" to denote catastrophe, inadvertently legitimizing, in the eyes of the Arabs, a comparison between the Holocaust and Palestinian suffering and between Nazi and Israeli conduct, and providing the Arab media with a pretext to minimize and relativize the Holocaust.

On 1 March, Palestinian Authority Chairman, Mahmud 'Abbas stated that Israel's reaction to the launching of rockets was "even worse than the Holocaust," while Khalid Mash'al, head of Hamas political bureau, noted that what Israel was doing in Gaza was "the real Holocaust," part of its ongoing sixty year holocaust against the Palestinians. He added that Israel was exaggerating the Jewish Holocaust in order to blackmail the world.

Saudi Arabia declared on 3 March that Israel's acts in Gaza were "an imitation of Nazi war crimes" and called on the international community to intervene to stop them. Ghazi al-'Uraydhi, writing in the UAE daily al-Ittihad (8 March), claimed that Israel was celebrating its 60th anniversary with acts which confirmed that the Palestinian people had to pay the price for the "Holocaust" of the Jews of Europe.


Sources: Ha'aretz, 1 March; Filastin, Tishrin, 2 March; al-Watan, 2, 3 March; al-Riaydh, 3 March; al-Ittihad, al-Jumhuriyya, 8 March 2008. Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, 12 March 2008
March Bin Ladin's Deputy Calls to Take Revenge on the Jews
   
On 22 March 2008, Usama Bin Ladin's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is considered the "brain" behind al-Qa`ida activities, urged Muslims to take revenge on the Jews worldwide and attack Jewish as well as American targets. His call came in response to the Israeli attack on Gaza at the beginning of March, and followed Bin Ladin's call a week earlier to launch a holy war to liberate the Palestinian territories. The call to target Jews wherever they are appeared for the first time in February 1998 in al-Qa`ida's declaration of "Jihad against the Jews and the Crusaders," which included a fatwa (religious edict) by Bin Ladin, stipulating that it was the individual duty of every Muslim to kill the Americans and their allies, in order to liberate al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and the Holy Mosque in Mecca.

Sources: Ha`aretz, 25 March 2008
Feb. Israel Approves Law Outlawing Nazi Ideology
   
On 25 February 2008 Israel's parliament, the Knesset, approved a law outlawing the promotion of Nazi ideology or incitement of racism against any group. The bill was initiated by MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism ?UTJ) following the arrest of a neo-Nazi group in central Israel in 2007. "The State of Israel never used legislation to deal with Nazi organizations, because in our darkest dreams none of us ever considered that this phenomenon would happen here," Gafni said. MK David Rotem (Israel Beiteinu) opposed the bill, claiming that Nazism should be addressed separately from racism.

Sources: y-net, 25 Feb. 2008; Haaretz 17 Feb. 2008; Jerusalem Post, 25 Feb. 2008
Feb. Global Forum on Antisemitism Held in Jerusalem
   
On 24-25 February 2008 the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Diaspora Affairs Ministry hosted the annual Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism in Jerusalem. A record number of over 300 high-ranking delegates from over 45 countries, among them parliamentarians, judges and legal experts, ambassadors and diplomats, academics, heads of NGOs, and leaders of Jewish organizations and communities, pledged meaningful cooperation with Israel to combat the world's oldest hatred.

Sources: Jerusalem Post, 23 Feb. 2008; Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release, 24-25 Feb. 2008
Feb. Study Finds Russian Textbooks Ignore Holocaust
   
A joint study of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Russian Jewish Congress, directed by Aleksandr Lokshin and released in early February 2008, found that many Russian history school textbooks completely ignore the subject of the Holocaust. In addition, no textbook mentions the pogroms against the Jews during the Russian Civil War (1918-20) or the Doctors' Plot (1952-3), concocted by Stalin as a pretext for repressions against the Jews.

Sources: FSU Monitor, 14 Feb. 2008; newsru.com, 13 Feb. 2008, jta, 14 Feb. 2008; arutz sheva, 2 March 2008
Feb. French Policemen Suspended Following Antisemitic Provocation
   
Three French policemen, who admitted to membership in the extreme right White Power movement, were suspended after provoking an antisemitic incident in the Irish pub My Goodness in Aniens, northern France. According to the National Office for Vigilance against Anti-Semitism (BNVCA), the men allegedly burst into the pub on 8 February 2008, shouting slogans such as "Heil Hitler," "Death to the Jews" and "We need to open the gas chambers." The international League against Racism and Antisemitism (LICRA) condemned the event, as did Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie. A disciplinary investigation has begun. The owner of the bar filed a writ against the officers, claiming he was threatened with "reprisals," including the forced closure of his bar, if he revealed what they had done.

Sources: dpa/baz, 08 Feb. 2008; BNVCA press release, 6 Feb. 2008; ejp, 10 Feb. 200
Jan. Book Relating to Holocaust Era Arouses Controversy in Algeria
   
A novel in French, by Algerian author Boualem Sansal, The Village of the German, or the Journal of the Schiller Brothers (Le Village de l'Allemand ou le journal des Fréres Schiller), which invokes the Holocaust and the Algerian attitude toward the Nazis during WWII, was published in January 2008. The story evolves around two Algerian brothers, Malrich and Rachel Schiller. Born to a German father and an Algerian mother, they were sent to study in France, where they stayed. While inquiring into the murder of their parents by an Islamist group, Rachel discovers that their father was a German SS officer who found refuge in Algeria after the war. Following this revelation, he traces his father's footsteps from Hamburg to Auschwitz and keeps a diary. Shocked by his father's past, he eventually commits suicide. Malrich, however, becomes fascinated with the SS and joins a force combating Islamists in his neighborhood. Boualem criticizes Algerian denial of the Holocaust, considering it a reflection of Algerian narrow-mindedness. The Algerian daily al-Bilad (13 Jan. 2008) questioned Boualem's motives for adopting this approach toward the Holocaust, which implicitly accuses his countrymen of antisemitism, and claimed he was seeking the support of the Jewish lobby and the French intelligentsia in order to win the Nobel prize.

Sources: al-Bilad, 13 Jan. 2008; Ha'aretz, 18 Jan. 2008; Le Monde, 17 Jan. 2008; La Croix, 16 Jan. 2008
Jan. Poland Considers Prosecuting Historian for Book on Postwar Polish Antisemitism
   
In January 2008, the Polish prosecutor's office announced that it would consider charging former Princeton professor and historian Jan Tomasz Gross, with slandering the Polish nation in his book Fear - Anti-Semitism in Poland after Auschwitz (USA, 2006), on antisemitism and pogroms in Poland after World War II. The law in question, which was adopted in 2006, provides for a three year prison term for anyone "publicly accusing the Polish nation of participating in, organizing or being responsible for Nazi or Communist crimes."

The Polish edition of the book, which went on sale on 11 January 2008, caused a heated debate on antisemitism in Poland. The book focuses on the pogrom in Kielce on 4 July 1946, when 42 Jews were killed and 80 injured. Gross argues, inter alia, that the pogrom was motivated by antisemitism and the wish to rid the country of Jews.

Another book that stirred a public debate in Poland was Marek Jan Chodakiewicz's After the Holocaust: Polish-Jewish Conflict in the Wake of World War II. Chodakiewicz, a Polish historian and dean of the Institute of World Politics in Washington, DC, traces the roots of the Polish-Jewish conflict after the war. He argues that violence developed after the Soviet takeover of Poland amid postwar retribution and counter-retribution, and was exacerbated by the breakdown of law and order and a raging Polish anti-Communist insurgency. Chodakiewicz stresses that Polish-Jewish relations in the 1940s should be examined in the context of the Soviet-imposed Communist dictatorship and not as part of antisemitism.


Sources: Spiegel Online, 18 Jan. 2008; Polskie Radio, 14 Jan. 2008; Clerical Whispers, 16 Jan. 2008; Polskie Radio, 07 Jan 2008; eejh, 22 Jan. 2008; znak, 18 Jan. 2008; Washington Post, 18 Jan. 2008; Associated Press, 24 Jan. 2008; Columbia University Press, 27 Nov. 2006; network Europe, 18 Jan. 2008
Jan. Jewish Students Attacked in Berlin
   
Five pupils, aged 15-17, from the non-religious Jewish high-school (Juedische Oberschule) in Berlin, were attacked on Oranienburg Street, in the city center, on the afternoon of 16 January 2008. After insulting them with antisemitic slogans, the four punks set their dog on them. Passers-by immediately called the police who arrested the perpetrators. Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit (SPD) and Frank Henkel (CDU) condemned the attack. Wowereit, who labeled the incident "antisemitic," said he was glad that passers-by had reacted well. Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Jewish Council in Germany, said the event showed that violence had reached a high level. The students were not injured.

e110, 18 Jan. 2008; ejpress.org, 17 Jan. 2008; haaretz.com, 17 Jan. 2008; worldjewishcongress.org, 18 Jan 2008
Jan. Pope to Amend Controversial Prayer
   
On 18 January 2008, the Italian newspaper Il Giornale reported that Pope Benedict XVI has decided to change the controversial prayer "Tridentine" for the conversion of Jews, referring to the Jews' refusal to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. The prayer, which speaks of the Jews' "blindness," is part of the Good Friday liturgy for non-Christians and is not used in most churches. The change to the 1962 missal, which the Pope brought back into use in 2007, follows protests by the chief rabbis of Israel. A Vatican source said he expected the amendments, which were not detailed, to be announced before Good Friday on March 21 this year. Good Friday is the day Christians commemorate Christ's death. The Vatican had no official comment on the report.

jta.org, 20 Jan. 2008. New York Times, 19 Jan. 2008; Washington Post, 18 Jan. 2008; Catholic News Service, 18 Jan. 2008.

2007


Dec. Complaint Filed against German-Language Edition of Wikipedia
   
On 6 December, Katina Schubert, deputy chairperson of the German Left Party, filed charges against the German language edition of the online Wikipedia for featuring Nazi symbols, which are illegal in Germany. "My complaints relate to content on Wikipedia, such as an article about the Hitler Youth movement," Schubert explained, in an interview to Welt Online. "Wikipedia lends itself to abuse by right-wing extremists," she said, pointing to their repeated attempts to use the World Wide Web as a platform for distributing propaganda.

Schubert intended to initiate a public debate on the extent to which Internet platforms should be allowed to provide a forum for extremist, antisemitic and racist ideologies. She was not supported by her party, however, and had to withdraw her complaint against Wikipedia a day later.


Sources: Deutsche Welle, 7 Dec. 2007; The Register, 7 Dec. 2007; theinquirer.net, 7 Dec. 2007; diepresse.com, 7 Dec. 2007
Dec. Draft Bill in Ukraine Outlaws Holocaust Denial
   
In December, President Victor Iushchenko submitted a draft bill to the Ukrainian parliament outlawing Holocaust denial and denial of the Holodomor (the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine). According to the draft, denying the Holocaust or Holodomor in public will carry a sentence of 2-3 years imprisonment or a fine of 9,000-27,000 US dollars (100-300 times the Ukrainian monthly minimum wage).

Sources: rferl.org, 11 Dec. 2007; mignews.com, 6 Nov. 2007; jta.org, 24 Oct. 2007
Dec. Jews Beaten on NY Subway
   
On 7 December (Chanukah festival period), four Jews on the Q train between Manhattan and Brooklyn, New York, were beaten by a group of 10 youths shouting antisemitic insults. Hassan Askari, a Muslim Bangladeshi college student, was beaten while trying to help the Jewish group. He was later honored by the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding for his bravery. The attackers (19-20-year-olds) were detained for questioning; one has been charged previously with hate crimes.

Sources: BBC News 18 Dec. 2007; New York Post, 12 Dec. 2007; Jerusalem Post, 11 Dec. 2007; jta.org, 11 Dec. 2007; Vos Iz Neias, 11 Dec. 2007; YNet News, 14 Dec. 2007
Dec. Teachers' Guide Addresses Antisemitism
   
On 19 December, a teachers' guide on antisemitism, entitled "Addressing Antisemitism: Why and How - A Guide for Educators," was presented in Jerusalem. The guide is the product of cooperation between the ODIHR (Warsaw-based OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights) and Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, Israel). The guide aims to provide educators with practical suggestions, materials and background information on dealing with contemporary antisemitism, ranging from Holocaust denial to expressions of anti-Zionism, and including the use of antisemitic stereotypes and symbols. Many of the educational resources and lessons are available in 13 languages.

Sources: The guide: http://www1.yadvashem.org/education/department/english/specproj.html; European Jewish Press, 20 Dec .2007; Yad Vashem and ODIHR press release, 19 Dec. 2007.
Dec. Holocaust Memorial in Armenia Defaced
   
In December, unknown perpetrators defaced a memorial to Jewish victims of the Holocaust in the Armenian capital Yerevan. They daubed a swastika on the stone structure and splattered black paint on the Hebrew inscription. A senior advisor to President Robert Kocherian condemned the incident. Armenia's Jewish population is estimated at between 300 and 500, most of whom live in the capital. The police launched an investigation.

Sources: Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia, 24 Dec. 2007; AEN, 23 Dec. 2007; Jerusalem Post, 23 Dec. 2007; Voz Is Neias, 23 Dec. 2007
Nov. Neo-Nazi Rally Held in Prague despite Ban
   
On 4 October 2007, Prague City Hall announced it had banned a rally planned for 10 November (a day after the 69th anniversary of Kristallnacht), by the Young National Democrats, a group linked to the neo-Nazi National Resistance. The organizers claimed they wanted to protest against the deployment of Czech troops in Iraq. However, the Tolerance and Civil Society group warned that the rally, which was scheduled to pass through Prague's Jewish quarter, was actually a neo-Nazi event. Despite the ban, hundreds of neo-Nazis held a march in Prague on 10 November. The police sealed the city's Jewish quarter to prevent demonstrators from entering. At the same time, about 2000 anti-fascists held their own demonstration. Jews conducted prayers in front of the Old-New Synagogue where Archbishop Miroslav Vlk and Deputy Prime Minister Cyril Svoboda also spoke out against extremism. The police detained 396 extremists, 96 of them foreigners. Six were to face charges. Several complaints were lodged against the police, Prague Mayor Pavel Bem and his deputy for banning the rally.

Sources: Prague Daily, 23. Nov. 2007; Ceske Noviny, 9 Nov. 2007; Nova, 10 Nov. 2007; Prague Monitor, 12 Nov. 2007; Haaretz, 11 Nov. 2007; Rotter Net, 11. Nov. 2007
Nov. Austrian Jewish Journalist Acquitted of Causing Suicide of German Professor
   
On 15 November 2007 the European Court of Human Rights in Salzburg acquitted Karl Pfeifer, an Austrian Jewish journalist, of "causing the suicide" of a German professor and ordered the Austrian government to pay him 5000 euros in damages and 10,000 euros in court costs. In 1995 Professor Werner Pfeifenberger published an article claiming, among other things, that the Jews had declared war on Germany in 1933. In response, Pfeifer, editor of the Austrian Jewish community newspaper, wrote an article accusing the professor of "underrating the crimes of the Nazi regime." Pfeifenberger sued Pfeifer twice for libel, in 1997 and 1998, but lost. In 2000, after the Austrian prosecutor general charged Pfeifenberger with violating the law against Nazi activity, Pfeifenberger committed suicide. In June 2000 the right-wing weekly Zur Zeit accused Pfeifer of causing the suicide. Pfeifer sued the newspaper for libel in 2001 and 2002 and a Viennese court ruled in his favor. However, the weekly appealed and the Austrian highest appeals court ruled that Pfeifer had "moral responsibility for the suicide". In 2003 Pfeifer appealed to the European court against the Austrian courts and the government and was finally acquitted in November 2007, since there was no "indication that Pfeifer had acted as a member of a 'hunting' association" that had targeted Pfeifenberger.

Sources: Haaretz, 16 Nov. 2007; Wien Aktuell, 15 Nov. 2007; European Court of Human Rights, 15 Nov 2007
Nov. Jewish Grave Desecrated in Poland
   
A swastika was discovered on a gravestone in the Jewish cemetery of Suwalki, Poland, in November. A complaint was filed. This was the third incident of desecration of a Jewish cemetery in Poland in 2007.

Source: jta.org, 19 Nov. 2007
Nov. German YouTube Rife with Neo-Nazi Content
   
The German edition of YouTube, which went online on 8 November 2007, was full of neo-Nazi videos and rumors of Jewish conspiracies. The Central Council of Jews in Germany has asked YouTube to filter racist and antisemitic videos as it does with child pornography. One clip has lyrics describing the torching of a home for asylum seekers, followed by a comic-style balloon saying "Kill them all!". A video glorifying war accompanying a song by the right-wing music group Landser (Soldier) was downloaded over 400,000 times.

The video, considered by many to be the most offensive, is the World War II Nazi film Jud Suess (The Jew Suess), produced under Joseph Goebbels' propaganda machine.


Sources: Yideoz, 30 Aug. 2007; Jerusalem Post, 12 Nov. 2007
Oct. UNESCO Passes Resolution to Promote Holocaust Education
   
On 23 October 2007, UNESCO passed a resolution to promote Holocaust education worldwide. The resolution, which was adopted unanimously, calls for UNESCO to enhance the memory of the Holocaust through education and combating Holocaust denial. Seventy-two states had co-sponsored the resolution. Egypt, along with some other Arab states, and Iran had sought to change the draft so that it would define the Holocaust as one of many crimes against humanity.

Sources: Yediot Aharonot, 19 October 2007; Jerusalem Post, 16 October 2007; Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 23 October 2007
Oct. Belarus President Refers to Former "Jewish" City as a "Pigsty"
   
During a press conference on 12 October 2007 for Russian journalists, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko referred to the city of Bobruisk - where prior to World War II about 80% (70,000) of the city's inhabitants were Jewish - as having been transformed by the Jewish population into a "pigsty." He added: "You know how Jews treat the place where they live. Look at Israel." Lukashenko explained that the inhabitants and the city authorities had rehabilitated the city after the Jews had left. Nevertheless, the Belarusian president showed interest in "Jewish investment" in his country, when, during the same press conference, he called on "wealthy Jews" to return to Bobruisk.

Lukashenko's statement was condemned by Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Israel's ambassador to Belarus Zeev Ben Arie, who said that Lukahenko's words were reminiscent of "the antisemitic myth depicting Jews as untidy, dirty, smelly people." Belarus' ambassador to Israel, who was summoned to the Israeli Foreign Ministry to explain the president's comment, described it as "an unsuccessful joke."


Sources: charter97, 17 October 2007; jewish.re, 18 October 2007; walla, 18 October 2007; Haaretz, 19 October 2007; Radio Free Europe, 18 October 2007; Jerusalem Post, 20 October 2007; Yedioth Ahronot, 19 October 2007
Oct. Antisemitic Book Series Published in Turkey
   
Mustafa Aykol, deputy editor of the Turkish Daily News, published an article in the Internet edition of the Washington Post, on 7 October 2007, exposing antisemitic manifestations in Turkey. He referred to the publication of a series of four books based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The most popular book in the series, The Children of Moses, by Ergun Poyraz, accuses "global Zionism" of conspiring with the Islamist ruling party in Turkey to turn Turkey into a "moderate Islamic republic." The cover of the book depicts Islamist Prime Minister Recep Erdogan in the center of a six-pointed Star of David. Aykol also points out the existence of a staunchly nationalist and racist group called the Union of Patriotic Forces, headed by Fikri Karadag, whose secret oath includes the words: "I am of pure Turkish stock, and there is no Jewish convert in my blood."

Sources: Washington Post, 7 October 2007; Omedia.co.il, 7 October 2007
Oct. Czech TV Threatens to Boycott Popular Soccer Team
   
On 10 October 2007, Czech Television,a public broacasting station, announced that they would stop showing games featuring the popular Sparta Prague soccer team if its fans continued to chant antisemitic slogans. Two days before Sparta Prague fans had chanted antisemitic slogans ("Jude, Jude") during a match against the Slavia team.

Sources: JTA, 11 October 2007
Oct. One in Four Germans Sees Positive Aspects to Nazi Regime
   
According to a survey published on 17 October 2007, one out of four Germans sees at least some positive aspects to Nazi rule. The survey, carried out by the Forsa Institute, was commissioned by the German weekly Stern magazine after talk show host Eva Herman was fired, following a statement in favor of some of the Third Reich's family policies. The construction of the Autobahn (high way), the elimination of unemployment, the perceived low rate of criminality, and the encouragement of family values, were mentioned by 25% of those polled as positive aspects of National Socialism.

Database system no. 195181; Herald Tribune, 17 October 2007; WJC, 19 October 2007; N24.de, 17 October 2007; Die Welt, 17 October 2007.
Sept. Antisemitic Discourse in Egyptian Weekly
   
The topics of Israel as the cause of the Middle East conflict and the power of the Jewish lobby in America preoccupy the Arab media. American Scholar of Palestinian origin Issa Khalaf triggered a discussion with his article, "The Closing of the Jewish mind," published in Egypt's al-Ahram Weekly on 26 July 2007. Khalaf who criticized the West, especially the US, for its unqualified support of Israel and for ignoring the situation in Palestine, accused Israel and Zionist Jews of displaying unmitigated inhumanity toward Palestinians and other Arabs, and wondered how the millions who died in the Nazi camps would perceive the "new, defiant, death insensate Israeli Jew." Jews, he contended, had become intoxicated and corrupted with power and were as capable as other people of the basest transgressions against others, justified by a modern militant ideology, "thus subverting the ethical meaning of the Holocaust." The only way to achieve authentic Jewish redemption, he concluded, was to acknowledge their sins against the Palestinians. Following this article, two responses dealing with Muslims and Jews were published by Eric Walberg and Youssef Rakha on 9 August, reiterating the equation of Zionism with Nazism and racism and the allegation that Jews and Zionists exploited the accusation of antisemitism to mute criticism.

Sources: Al-Ahram Weekly, 26 July 2007; Al-Ahram Weekly, 9 Aug. 2007
Sept. Neo-Nazis Arrested in Israel
   
On 9 September, police arrested 8 Israeli neo-Nazis (17-19 years old) from the former Soviet Union, in Petah Tikva (near Tel Aviv), for attacking dozens of homosexuals, foreign workers, drug addicts and religious Jews. The investigation began a year earlier when swastikas were painted on a local synagogue in Petah Tikva. Computers confiscated from the suspects revealed that they would go to the Tel Aviv central bus station where they brutally assaulted their victims while videoing the event. Superintendent Revital Almog said that the perpetrators - all of whom came to Israel via the Law of Return and have only distant connections to Judaism - believed in the Nazi ideology and deliberately "selected victims whom they deemed too weak to complain." Weapons were found in the home of one of the suspects. The youths also planned to celebrate Adolf Hitler's birthday inside Yad Vashem. Police suspect that their leader is 20-year-old Eli Boniatov, a non-Jew, nicknamed "Eli the Nazi".

Sources: Ha'aretz, 9 Sept. 2007; Walla-news, 9 Sept. 2007; in-brief.aen.ru, 9 Sept. 2007; Ha'aretz, 1 March 2007
Sept. Ultra-Right-Wing Party Wins Seats in Greek Parliament
   
The right-wing Popular Orthodox Alarm (LAOS) Party, known for its antisemitic and xenophobic views, gained 3.7 percent of the votes (10 seats out of 300) in the Greek parliament in the general elections held on 16 September. According to a 2005 report on antisemitism by the US State Department, party leader Giorgos Karatzaferis regularly attributed "negative events involving Greece to international Jewish plots." This was the first time in 33 years that a nationalist right-wing party entered the Greek parliament. Electoral analysts ascribe LAOS' success to a backlash against the weakened ruling party, the conservative New Democratic Party, following devastating fires in August that swept the country, killing 67 people.

Sources: JTA, 17 Sept. 2007; Ha'aretz, 18 Sept. 2007; phantis.com, 17 Sept. 2007; mwtro.us, 8 Sept, 2007
Sept. German Talk Show Host Fired for Pro-Nazi Comments
   
Eva Herman (48), talk show host of the German NDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk) public television, was sacked for praising Adolf Hitler's family policy. During the launching of her book, Das Prinzip Arche Noah - warum wir die Familie retten muessen (Noah's Ark Principle - Why We Must Save the Family), she stated that the turmoil of the late 1960s had brought about the discarding of family values nurtured in the Nazi era. NDR Director Volker Herres announced that Herman had been fired on 9 September, with immediate effect, as her comments "were deemed to be incompatible with her role as a television presenter and talk show host. In 2006 Herman published the anti-feminist Eva Principle, declaring that the survival of Germany was at stake -- Germans would "die out" if women did not change their behavior. Herman's views have been publicly endorsed by the far right National Democratic Party (NPD). The Ring Deutscher Frauen, (Uninion of German Women), part of the NPD, published a press release entitled "Bravo Eva," congratulating Herman on her initiative and "courage."

Sources: Frankfurter Allgemeine, 10 Sept. 2007; Haaeretz, 9 Sept. 2007; Der Spiegel, 15 March 2007; NPD.de; 10 Sept. 2007
Sept. Article Reveals Nazi Roots of 9/11 Attacks
   
The US Weekly Standard published on 17 September an article by Hamburg-based political scientist Matthias Kuntzel on "Jew-Hatred and Jihad," revealing what he terms the Nazi roots of the September 11 attacks. Kuntzel contends that the idea to use suicide pilots to obliterate the American skyscrapers originated in 1940s' Berlin. He traces the impact of Nazism on the Muslim Brotherhood, the first Islamic movement, which emerged in Egypt and remains the "ideological reference point and organizational core for all later Islamist groups." Surprised at the failure of the 9/11 Commission Report published in July 2004 to mention Bin Ladin's hatred of Jews, and pointing instead to recent American and Western policies as the major cause of Islamist grievances, Kuntzel shows how historically "the death cult that became a hallmark of modern jihadism was laced with Jew-hatred." Moreover, he claims, blindness toward Islamist ideology not only weakens the West's struggle against Islamism, but is especially hazardous in the case of Iran's nuclear program. Kuntzel's article is based on his book, Jihad and Jew-Hatred. Islamism, Nazism and the Roots of 9/11, to be published in November 2007.

Sources: Weekly Standard, 17 Sept. 2007
Aug. Jewish Cemetery Desecrated in Germany
   
Seventy gravestones were desecrated, many of them seriously damaged, in the historic Jewish cemetery of Ihringen, Germany, during the night of 11/12 August 2007. One week after the incident the police arrested four suspects known to belong to the extreme right. The incident was described as a "commando action" carried out by antisemites, similar to that perpetrated by extreme rightists who desecrated the cemetery in 1990-91. In a press release issued on 15 August, citizens of the region demanded that Dr. S. von Ungern-Sternberg, president of the regional council of South Baden, take legal action against the perpetrators and launch an investigation into the 1990-91 events.

Sources: JPberlin.de, 15 Aug.; World Jewish Congress, 21 Aug.; fudder.de, 14 Aug.
Aug. Jewish Student Attacked in Australia
   
On 18 August 2007 Alon Tam (17), a yeshiva student, was beaten by two men with baseball bats on his way home from a kosher restaurant in Balaclava, a suburb of Melbourne, home of a large Jewish population. Tam said that his attackers shouted antisemitic insults such as "Jew, you deserve to die." In a joint statement, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria and the B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission condemned the attack. "We are outraged at this violent anti-Semitic attack which was perpetrated in the heart of the Jewish community," it said. "Members of the Jewish community should not be subjected to these sorts of attacks under any circumstances."

Sources: JTP, 19 Aug.; Australian News, 20 Aug.; ABC Melbourne, 19 Aug.
Aug. Ultra-right Hungarian Party Plans to Form Militia
   
Jobbik, a Hungarian radical right-wing party, is reportedly intending to create a Magyar Garda (Hungarian guard) at a ceremony in Buda Castle on 25 August 2007. Its members plan to wear the controversial Arpad stripes, associated with the Nazi-allied Arrow Cross party during World War II. Jobbik president Gabor Vona said on 2 August 2007 that about 200 people had applied to join the guard. Expressing its concern at the news, the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities hopes that the government will ban Jobbik and similar groups.

Sources: caboodle.hu, 3 August 2007; Stormfront, 7 August, 2007; IKG, 7 August 2007; JTA, 10 August 2007; Haaretz, 9 August 2007; Israelinsider, 9 August 2007
Aug. Antisemitic Attack in France
   
A 23-year-old Jewish woman was attacked in Noisy-le-Grand near Paris, on 9 August 2007, by two youths of 'African origin'. The perpetrators shouted "dirty Jew," stole her mobile phone and beat her up. She needed medical care.

Sources: CRIF, 10 August 2007; Walla, 13 August 2007; EJP, 13 August 2007; ynet, 13 August 2007
Aug. Pope Meets with Antisemitic Priest
   
On 5 August 2007 Pope Benedict XVI met in Rome with Polish Roman Catholic priest Rev. Tadeusz Rydzyk, owner of the Catholic nationalist Radio Maryja (1.5 million listeners daily), which has repeatedly been accused of disseminating antisemitic messages and inciting antisemitic manifestations in Poland. Tadeusz Rydzyk, who is known for his antisemitic views, allegedly called Jewish Holocaust restitution efforts greedy and condemned Polish President Lech Kaczynski for supporting the establishment of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. The Pope's meeting was criticized by Rabbi Marvin Hier (Los Angeles-based Wiesenthal Center), the European Jewish Congress and Israel's ambassador to Poland. Branding the meeting "outrageous and appalling," vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany Dieter Graumann, said that "one would expect the Vatican to clearly distance itself from Rydzyk and 'Radio Race Hate'." On 9 August the Vatican reassured Jewish organizations that the meeting "did not imply any change in the Holy See's well-known position regarding relations between Catholics and Jews."

Sources: Tagesspiegel, 9 August 2007; IKG, 11 August 2007; JTA, 8 August 2007; Jerusalem Post, 9 August 2007; WJC, 10 August 2007
July Arab Writers Claim Hamas Takeover in Gaza a US-Israeli Plot
   
Several Arab writers portrayed the Hamas takeover (June 2007) in Gaza as an American-Israeli plot. In an article published in the daily al-Thawra, 18 June, Syrian columnist Muhammad Khayr al-Jamali wrote that the civil war in Palestine was part of a Zionist-American scheme aimed at generating "creative chaos" and paving the way for the implementation of the new Middle East plan. In the Qatari daily al-Sharq, 19 June, Muhyi al-Din Titawi accused Fatah of acting in the service of the Crusader-Jewish war on Islam, and Ahmad Amurabi claimed in the Qatari daily al-Watan, 16 June, that Hamas was merely defending itself against an Israeli-American front. In contrast, Jordanian columnist Fahd al-Fanik rejected the notion of a joint Israeli-American conspiracy against the Palestinian people in the daily al-Ra'y, 28 July.

Source: MEMRI, 3 July 2007
July American Rabbi's Lecture Arouses Uproar in Egypt
   
A paper delivered by an American rabbi, Professor Robin Firestone, at Egypt's Ain Shams University on the "The Problematics of the Chosen in Monotheistic Religions" in July 2007, caused an uproar among academics and parliament members. Firestone was accused of not dealing equally with the idea of choseness in Islam as with the same concept in Judaism, and of contending that God ordered Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and not Ismail as Muslims believe. Independent MP Jamal Zahran declared that "we are not going to allow Jews to desecrate our universities, spread their Zionist views and brainwash our students."

Source: Al-Ahram Weekly, 12 July 2007
July Man Attacked in Berlin While Helping Victim of Antisemitic Insults
   
On 22 June 2007, a 24 year old man of Turkish origin was attacked and slightly injured in Berlin Schoeneberg when he tried to help a woman who targeted with antisemitic insults. The perpetrator threatened him with a knife and then tried to run him over with his car. The attacker fled and police were investigating.

Sources: Berliner Zeitung, 25 June 2007; e110, 24 June 2007; Tagesspiegel, 24 June 2007
July Hamas Replaces Anti-Israel/Anti-Jewish Children's TV Character
   
After removing Farfur, the Mickey Mouse-like character who spouted anti-Israel and anti-Jewish homilies, from the children TV program "The Pioneers of Tomorrow" in late June, Hamas network replaced it on 13 July with a bee named Nahul. Introducing itself to children as Farfur's cousin, the bee vowed to continue in the path of "Islam, heroism, martyrdom and jihad."

Sources: Memri, 16 July 2007; Palestinian Media Watch Bulletin, 16 July 2007; New York Times, 17 July 2007
July Czech Jewish Cemetery Desecrated
   
On the weekend of 14-15 July 2007, 25 tombstones were overturned and two others broken in the 19th century Jewish cemetery in Bohumin. The cemetery had been rehabilitated and reopened only two weeks previously.

Sources: Prague Daily, 17 July 2007; Jerusalem Newswire, 17 July 2007; EJP, 27 July 2007
June Nobel Prize Laureate Cancels Lecture
   
In mid-May 2007, American Nobel Prize laureate in physics Prof. Steven Weinberg of the University of Texas canceled his speaking engagement honoring Pakistani physicist Abdus Salam at London University. Weinberg said that his decision was due to the National Union of Journalists' (NUJ) boycott of Israeli products, which "indicated a moral blindness for which it is hard to find any explanation other than antisemitism."

Sources: Guardian, 24 May 2007; Jerusalem Post, 25 May 2007; Haaretz, 24 May 2007
June Kiev Mayor Calls for Stopping State Support of MAUP
   
On 31 May 2007, Kiev mayor Leonid Chernovetskii asked Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Ianukovich to stop state financial support of MAUP, a private educational institution, since it distributes antisemitic publications. Chernovetskii promised to close all MAUP kiosks in Kiev selling antisemitic literature and newspapers.

AEN (Jewish News Agency), 01-Jun-2007
June Hamas Members Compared to Jews
   
In the war of fatwas (religious edits) resulting from the struggle between Hamas and Fatah within Gaza, the Palestine Press Agency site posted a ruling by Shaykh Shakir al-Hiran, on 18 May 2007, sanctifying the killing of Hamas members. In justification, he compared them to Jews, using Qur'anic verses reflecting prevalent antisemitic beliefs about sectarianism, hypocrisy, violation of agreements, greed and lying.

Sources: www.fateh.ps/Print_doc.asp?nid=3564, 18 May 2007; Al-Watan, 22 May 2007; MEMRI, 23 May 2007
June Activities of US-based Arabic Language Channel to Be Reviewed
   
In June 2007, Larry Hart, spokesman for the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees the Arabic-language US-based satellite TV television network Al-Hurra, sponsored by the US government, said the Board would seek an outside panel to review the network after broadcasts included inflammatory language referring to Israel or Jews. In one program Palestinian PM Isma`il Haniyya appeared to support the assertion that the Holocaust was a myth. In addition, coverage of the conference on Holocaust denial held in Tehran in December 2006 was considered insufficiently critical. Hart said the review would be conducted by an academic institution with experience in the Middle East and journalism.

Sources: New York Times, 4, 6 Jun 2007
June Japanese Party Founded by Antisemite
   
In June 2007 Japanese Holocaust denier Richard Koshimizu founded the Independence Party of Japan. The homepage of the party propagates antisemitic and Holocaust denial propaganda, such as: "9-11 was generated by secret Jewdom", "9/11 was a hoax", "the American Jewish government killed its own people" and "not even one Jew was killed in the gas chambers of Auschwitz" (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8249834850366562921). Koshimizu intends to present his arguments in a public debate on the Campus Plaza in Kyoto; however, the ADL has requested that the mayor prevent his appearance, as inflammatory speeches are forbidden on the city-run Plaza.

Sources: JTA, 5 June 2007; Guysen Israel News, 4 June 2007; y-net 7 June 2007; Koshimizu' homepage: http://www15.ocn.ne.jp/~oyakodon/newversion/hb1.htm
May 21 Hamas Mickey Mouse Character Sanctions Annihilation of the Jews
   
In April, Hamas al-Aqsa satellite TV in Gaza aired a children's show, "Tomorrow's Pioneers," in which a Mickey Mouse character is used to encourage Islamic supremacy and sacrifice for the sake of Palestine. When the girl host asks another little girl, "What will you do for the sake of al-Aqsa Mosque?" she replies that she will annihilate the Jews, "defending al-Aqsa with our souls and our blood." The reports triggered a massive international media campaign against the Palestinians' use of the American icon, and Palestinian Information Minister Mustafa al-Barghuti instructed Hamas TV to shelve the show. However, it refused to do so.

Sources: MEMRI, special dispatch-jihad, 9, 14 May 2007; Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), 6, 10, 11 May 2007; Times, 10 May 2007 ABC News, 11 May 2007.
May 21 Holocaust Denial Seminar Held at Italian University
   
A three-day seminar on the legitimacy of denying the Holocaust, held at the University of Teramo in central Italy on 17-19 April 2007, was harshly criticized by the Union of Italian Jewish Communities (UCEI). UCEI president Renzo Gattegna, said, "We believe that academic institutions in our country cannot ignore such an event, which should not have been granted legitimacy by being held in a university and, which, once again, invites us to keep an eye on rising antisemitism and racism in Italy." Speakers at the seminar, entitled "The Gagged History," included anti-Zionists from the extreme right and extreme left such as Israel Shamir and well-known Holocaust deniers such as Robert Faurisson. The latter delivered his speech via video conference. Professor Claudio Moffa, professor of Asian and African history at the University of Teramo and head of the program "Master Mattei per il Media Oriente," (who had argued that 9/11 served Israeli interests and that "there is evidence, shaky though it may be, of operational convergence between Mossad and bin Laden"), claimed that "the Jewish lobby in Italy" was preventing questioning of the Holocaust.

One month later, on 18 May, the administration of the university decided to close part of the campus ("out of security reasons") in order to prevent the possible appearance of Robert Faurisson, who was again invited to lecture in Prof. Moffa's program, "Master Mattei per il Media Oriente." Eight hundred historians and other academics signed a petition to protest this controversial series.

The university had asked Moffa to cancel the invitation to Faurisson as his qualifications were "completely inadequate and don't deserve academic legitimation."


Sources: ejpress, 26 April 2007; Emanuele Ottolenghi, Israel Shamir, lecture,18 April 2007;AXT, Nov. 2005; Petition, Lettera-Appello, 19 May 2007; NYT, 19 May 2007; y-net, 18, May 2007; JTA, 20 May 2007
May 21 Extermination of the Jews Fulfills Allah's Wishes, Say Hamas
   
On 23 April 2007, Hamas' mouthpiece al-Risala published an article by Kana`an `Ubayd on suicide operations. `Ubayd stated that Hamas was fulfilling Allah's wishes by carrying out suicide bombings because "the extermination of the Jews is good for the inhabitants of the world." Justifying extermination of the Jews, both as God's will and for the benefit of humanity, echoes Hitler's words in Mein Kampf, asserted Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook from Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), in their bulletin summarizing the article.

Source: Palestinian Media Watch, 3 May 2007;
May 9 EU States Agree on Sanctions against Racism and Xenophobia
   
For the first time in EU history and after six years of negotiations, all member states decided, on 27 April 2007, to apply sanctions, including penalties, against racism and xenophobia. Furthermore, the EU resolved to forbid denial of all genocide, including the Holocaust, which will be punished if the person or group incites to hatred or disturbs the public order. EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini declared that Europe would not be a safe haven for racists and antisemites. The proposed laws still have to be ratified by the national parliaments. While welcoming the adoption of the Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia by EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers, the European Jewish Congress (EJC) expressed concern that the text made no explicit reference to antisemitism. The European Network against Racism (ENAR) criticized the text of the sanctions as being too vague. According to German Minister of Justice Brigitte Zypries (SPD), the EU had not yet begun discussions on banning the dissemination of Nazi symbols such as swastikas. The Framework Decision on Racism and Xenophobia was first proposed by the European Commission in 2001, but was rejected in 2003, as some states were concerned that it would impede freedom of speech.

Sources: EJC, 19 April 2007; epd, 29 April 2007; ynet-news, 19 April 2007; Press Release of the Council of Europe, 19-20 April 2007
May 8 More Graves in France Desecrated
   
On 21 April 2007, 180 graves were desecrated in the Sainte-Marie cemetery in Le Havre, northern France; one-quarter of them were Jewish. Swastikas were painted on the gravestones. Five youths were arrested. The mayor of the town, Antoine Rufenacht, and the president of the Jewish community of Le Havre, Victor Elgressy, visited the cemetery and condemned the vandalism. Two days previously, 52 Muslim tombs in the military cemetery at Notre-Dame-de Lorette, Arras, were defiled, and on the night of 31 March, 51 Jewish graves were violated in Lille.

Sources: Liberation, 22 April 2007; Le Figaro, 22 April 2007; CRIF, 23 April 2007.
April 16 Jewish Graves in France Desecrated
   
During the night of 31 March 2007, the day before the beginning of the Passover holiday, 53 graves in the Jewish part of the Lille cemetery were desecrated. The CRIF called for strict, exemplary punishment of the perpetrators (who have not yet been caught).

Sources: CRIF, 2 April 2007; Walla News, 1 April 2007; Net Tribune, 2 April 2007
April 12 Antisemitism: A Threat to Hungarian Jews?
   
On the eve of the anniversary commemorating the 1948 anti-Habsburg revolution, 15 March, and after the government had warned on 9 March that radical anti-government groups planned to disturb the ceremonies, Jewish residents of Hungary were advised by their leaders to leave the country ahead of the national holiday. The appeal was originally meant as a Purim spiel published in a special edition of the Hungarian Jewish newspaper Ujelet: Peter Feldmejer, head of Mazsihisz (one of the Hungary's largest Jewish organizations) was quoted as saying that Hungarian Jews should flee the country before that date out of fear of antisemitic violence. As Feldmejer told the Jerusalem Post in a phone interview from Budapest his warning was "a joke" intended to focus attention on the problem of antisemitic and right-wing violence in Hungary. However, he had warned Hungarian Jews to avoid the March 15 celebrations, suggesting that if they wanted to celebrate in public, "they should go to the countryside and not stay in Budapest." The US, UK and Australian embassies also issued warnings to their citizens in Budapest to avoid areas in which gatherings and demonstrations were scheduled to take place on that date. In an interview with the Times (1 March), Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said that there had been an escalation in antisemitism in Hungary. As an example, he related that his wife (who is of Jewish descent), a university lecturer, was handed an "unambiguous antisemitic pamphlet."

Sources: The Budapest Sun, 22-29 March 2007; Times, 1 March 2007; EJP, 4, 9 March, 2007
March 15 Neo-Nazi Group Reported in Taiwan
   
Since 2005 a neo-Nazi movement, the National Socialism Association, has reportedly been operating in Taiwan. The group, comprising some 1000 members, mostly students, was founded by 23-year-old Yue Shu-ya, who adores Adolf Hitler and believes that all Taiwan's problems of 'social unrest' should be blamed on democracy. He considers that Hitler's welfare state ideology had some positive aspects worth studying. The co-founder of the movement, Chao Lahn, denies being racist. His goal is the restoration of traditional Chinese values such as Confucianism. The movement's symbol contains the letters 'SS', and is based on the Nazi party's flag. Their website, http://www.twnazi.org, is used mainly as a forum.

According to Emile Sheng, a member of the municipal government and former lecturer at Taipei's Soochow University, the establishment of the National Socialism Association reflects ignorance of Western history in Taiwan. On 13 March, the Simon Wiesenthal Center condemned the movement.


Sources: Telegraph (UK), 15 March 2007; Haaretz, 14 March 2007; Walla news, 14 March 2007; National Socialism Association website
March 11 German Bishops Compare Ramallah to Warsaw Ghetto
   
During a collective pilgrimage to the Holy Land, in the first week of February 2007, Germany's 27 bishops, lead by Cardinal Karl Lehmann, head of the German Bishops Conference, visited the Palestinian town of Ramallah shortly after a visit to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority in Jerusalem. Commenting on their impressions, Bishop Gregor Maria Hanke told reporters that during the visit to Yad Vashem, the group had seen, in the morning, "pictures of the inhuman Warsaw Ghetto and in the evening we traveled to Ghetto Ramallah." Speaking of the security fence, Cardinal Joachim Meisner (from east Germany), Archbishop of Cologne, said: "Something like this is done to animals, not to human beings," and "I never in my life thought to see anything like this again," alluding to the Berlin Wall. Bishop Walter Mixa, from Augsburg, referred to Ramallah as a "ghetto-like situation with almost racist characteristics."

"Appalled and surprised," Avner Shalev, director of Yad Vashem stated in a letter to Cardinal Lehmann that "the remarks illustrate a woeful ignorance of history and a distorted sense of perspective. Israel's actions do not bear any resemblance to [those of] the Nazis."

However, Msgr. Walter Brandmueller, German president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences at the Vatican, noted that he had little understanding of the "Jews' frustration," claiming: "One can't be harrowed in Yad Vashem and then go back to normal. while the Warsaw Ghetto unfortunately can't be reversed, Ramallah can still be changed."

Dieter Graumann, deputy president of the German Council of Jews, said: "Anyone who compares the condition of the Palestinians with the suffering of the Jews in the ghettos under the Nazis has learned nothing from history; these remarks were antisemitic in character."


Sources : Al-Jazeerah.Info; March 8, 2007; Independent Catholic News, 8 March 2007; Catholic News Service, 7 March 2007; netzeitung.de, 6 March 2007; Haaretz, 7 March 2007.
March 7 Yemeni President Intervenes to Help Jews Threatened by Islamist Group
   
In response to threats made by a Yemeni Islamist group against local Jews in the city of Sa`da in January 2007, Yemeni president `Ali `Abdallah Salih moved 45 Jewish families from Sa`da to San`a in order to protect them. Sa`da is located in the north of the country which is home to extremist groups that reportedly maintain connections with al-Qa`ida far from the reach of the central government`s control. The Jews were given houses by the government and according to some of their relatives in Israel they also receive an allowance to sustain them.

Sources : Ha'aretz, 27 Feb. 2007
March 7 Israeli Muslim Leader to Be Investigated for Alleged Incitement
   
Following allegedly antisemitic remarks made by Israeli Muslim leader Shaykh Ra`id Salah in a speech protesting Israeli excavations in the area of the Maghrebi Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem, Shai Nitzan, from the Israeli prosecutor's office, called, on 22 February 2007, for a police investigation of the cleric for incitement to violence, racism and rebellion. Salah, head of the northern faction of the radical Islamic movement in Israel and leader of the campaign against the evacuations, reportedly claimed that "they [Israel] want to build their Temple while our blood is on their clothing, on their doorposts, in their food and in their water." MP Israel Katz, Likud, submitted a draft law to the Knesset (parliament) calling for a ban on the northern faction of the Islamic movement.

Sources : Ha'aretz, 23 Feb. 2007
March 7 Arab Nominated as Righteous Gentile
   
Khalid `Abd al-Wahhab, a wealthy Tunisian landowner who died in 1997, was nominated in January 2007 for the title Righteous among the Nations, granted by Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, Jerusalem, by Robert Satloff, an expert on Arab and North African studies. During World War II, when Tunisia was under German occupation,`Abd al-Wahhab saved the lives of two dozen Jews and is the first Arab ever nominated for this title, although some 60 Muslims are among the more than 20,000 Righteous Gentiles already honored. Survivor Anny Boukris, who was 11 at the time, described how al-Wahhab risked his life when he stopped a German officer from raping her mother.

Sources : Ha'aretz, 22 Jan. 07, Jerusalem Post, 24 Jan. 07, JTA, 23 Jan. 07, Al-Sharq al-Awsat, 31 Jan. 07
Feb 27 Antisemitism in Israel
   
On 25 February 2007, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz began a series of articles by Moti Katz on antisemitism in Israel. According to the first article, six under-age newcomers from the CIS were arrested in January 2007 for burning Israeli flags and stealing mezuzahs in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv. During questioning they admitted to having been motivated by hatred of the Jews and Judaism. Katz' investigation revealed that there were five cases of desecration of synagogues in Israel during the previous three months, including antisemitic graffiti.

The Dmir organization, which monitors antisemitic manifestations in Israel by perpetrators of CIS origin, recorded an increase in antisemitic activity in Israel in recent years. In 2003 a neo-Nazi website in Russian, called 'White Union in Israel', operated from an Israeli server by Ilya Zolotov, was discovered and closed by the police. Other websites operating from non-Israeli servers by Israeli (of CIS origin) operators, such as www.rusnatcentre.tk (tk stands for Tokelau, a pacific atoll) of the Russian National Centre in Israel, continue to disseminate antisemitic hate messages. Their main objectives are to spread nationalistic propaganda among non-Jewish Russians in Israel and to encourage them to go back to Russia. On the other hand, they try to prevent Jewish emigration back to Russia.


Sources : Haaretz, 25 February 2007. See also item no. 179518, Stephen Roth Database http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/database.htm
Feb 25 Antisemitic Incidents in Ukraine
   
On 18 February 2007, red swastikas and the slogan "Congratulations on the Holocaust" appeared on a Holocaust memorial near Tolbukhin Square in Odessa, where 25,000 Jews were murdered during World War II. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry denounced the incident, stating that it discredited Ukraine and that there was no place for antisemitism there. That same day 240 (270) graves were desecrated at the Jewish cemetery in Odessa, also with red swastikas. The ADL issued a statement urging the Ukrainian government to take action against antisemitism and Advocates on Behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States and Eurasia (NCSJ), based in the US, condemned the incidents and demanded that the authorities provide adequate protection for Jewish sites.

Sources: Reporter - All News from Odessa 19 February 2007; ADL 21 February 2007; Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS 21 February 2007; Kyiv Post 20-February 2007, Gorodskoii Dozor 19 February 2007, NEWSru 20 February 2007; Migdal Online 20 February 2007; NCSJ 20 February 2007; Live Journal 20 February 2007; Haaretz 20 February 2007; CBN 21 February 2007.
Feb 21 Terrorists Sentenced in Turkey
   
On 16 February 2007, seven Muslim men were sentenced to life imprisonment and 41 defendants given lesser terms for their involvement in the deadly bombings of two Jewish synagogues and a British banking and financing company in Istanbul on November 2003. Twenty-six defendants were acquitted. The seven were accused of being members of an al-Qa`ida network. After the judge read their sentences, some of the convicted shouted, "Long live hell for nonbelievers!"

Source: New York Times, 17 February 2007
Feb 20 Polish MEP Publishes Antisemitic Pamphlet
   
Extreme right-wing, non-aligned member of the European Parliament, former head of the League of Polish Families, Macie Giertych (a 71-year-old biology professor), is the author of an antisemitic booklet published on 15 February 2007 which, according to a report of the French daily Liberation of 16 February, was published with European Parliament funds.

Giertych describes the Jews as belonging to a civilization "of programmed separateness, of programmed differentiation from the surrounding communities... By their own will, they [the Jews] prefer to live a separate life, in apartheid from the surrounding communities... They form the ghettos themselves." It was only Hitler's Germany that created the concept of 'forced separation', he continued. claiming that "Jews are not pioneers" but migrate from poorer communities to settle among other civilizations "preferably among the rich."

The 32-page pamphlet, which bears the European Parliament logo on its front page, is entitled "Civilisations at War in Europe." The author is the father of Roman Giertych, Poland's vice-premier and minister of education, who in August 2006 asserted in Brussels that the notion of Polish antisemitism is "a myth" and that the antisemitic fringe in Poland is changing. When asked during a press conference in Brussels on 16 February to comment on his father's booklet, the education minister declined to distance himself from his father's ideas, claiming quotes published in the media were "out of context."

Strongly condemning the pamphlet, the European Jewish Congress (EJC) declared that it "reserves the right to bring to court the author of this antisemitic text which reeks of medieval hate and 19th century racial stereotyping," and which "contains the same pre-war theories that led to the Holocaust." German leader of the Socialist parliamentary group Martin Schulz called for an investigation into funding of the booklet, while his colleague, French Socialist MEP Martine Roure, said that his group was shocked by the publication which contains declarations contradicting EU values. A spokesman for the European Commission said the EU executive "rejects and condemns any manifestations of anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia"; also condemning the text, Hans-Gert P?ttering, president of the European Parliament, promised to investigate the circumstances of its publication, stating: "I am deeply troubled by... the content of the brochure."

Giertych claims that in Europe the ideas of "integration, middle ground and the 'melting pot'" are not possible and that the continent should adhere to "the Latin civilization," as opposed to Jewish, Islamic or other traditions.

Five Polish MEPs issued a statement opposing Giertych's booklet, "which is based on the aberrant theory of civilizations of Polish historiosopher Feliks Koneczny back in the 1930s." The MEPs, all members of the liberal group, are: Bronislaw Geremek, Jan Kulakowski, Janusz Onyszkiewicz, Grazyna Staniszewska and Pawel Piskorski. They said the text represented the views of neither Poles nor the majority of Polish deputies to the European Parliament.


Sources: Euobserver, 16 February 2007; ejpress, 16, 19 February 2007; jta, 15 February 2007; Deutsche Presse Agentur, 16 February 2007; Freee Republic, 16 February 2007
Feb 19 Canadian German Holocaust Denier Sentenced
   
On 15 February 2007, a Mannheim court sentenced German Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel (convicted of 14 counts of incitement) to five years in prison, the maximum penalty for inciting racial hatred and denying the Holocaust (Auschwitzlüge). Zündel's lawyers announced their intention to appeal. Zündel (b.1939) has been a leading Holocaust denier since the 1970s. He immigrated to Canada in 1958 and moved to Tennessee, USA, in 2001. In 2003 he was deported back to Canada for alleged immigration violations and was arrested and held there until his deportation in March 2005 to Germany (see 'Canada', in ASW 2005 and previous reports), where he has been in jail ever since.

Among other activities, he ran the Samisdat publishing company, a leading distributor of Nazi and Holocaust denial propaganda, based in Canada. Zündel published the Holocaust denial booklet Did Six Million Really Die? by Richard Harwood. His Zundelsite website disseminates hate propaganda worldwide.

In his closing statement, in the spirit of Iranian President Ahmadinejad, Zündel proposed that Germany "set up an international commission of experts to examine the Holocaust." The Simon Wiesenthal Center concluded: "The sentencing today of Ernst Zündel also represents a slap in the face to Iranian President Ahmadinejad's hateful campaign of Holocaust denial that unfortunately has generated too much support in the Arab and Muslim world."


Sources: Zündel-entries at the Database of the Stephen Roth Institute; Die Jüdische, 16 February 2007; lipstadt.blogspot, 15 February 2007; Toronto Star, 15 February 2007; National Post, 16 February 2007
Feb 15 Survey on German/Jewish Attitudes toward Each Other
   

 

A survey carried out by the Bertelsmann Foundation at the end of January 2007 sought to convey mutual perceptions of Germans, Israelis and Jews  in the US "against the background of National Socialism, anti-Semitism and opinions toward current political developments in the Middle East."  The findings (1,004 interviews in Germany, 1,015 in Israel and 500 in the US) indicate that a majority of Israelis and American Jews hold positive views of Germany, a dramatic improvement since 1991 when most Jews polled in Israel and in the US believed that Germans held antisemitic views and doubted  the democratic foundations of Germany. The 1991 survey (shortly after German reunification) was commissioned by Der Spiegel and conducted by the TNS Emnid Institute.

The Bertelsmann study found that 57% of Israelis had a favorable opinion of Germany (an increase of 48% since 1991). As to the Germans, 58% of those polled would like to "put the past behind us" in contrast to 74% of Israelis who did not agree, and almost 4 out of 5 of whom believed that their attitudes toward Germany are influenced by the Holocaust.

Disturbingly, 30% of Germans agreed strongly or partially with the statements: "What the State of Israel is doing to the Palestinians is no different in principle from what the Nazis did to the Jews" and "Israel is waging a war of extermination against the Palestinians." One-third of Germans agreed with the assertion that "Jews have too much influence in the world," a decrease of 3% compared to 1991 when 36% supported this classic antisemitic statement.

Four out of ten interviewees in Germany in the 2007 survey considered that National Socialism had good and bad sides. One in ten Germans agreed totally and one in three partially with the statement that Jews were trying to benefit from the Holocaust.


Sources: Berliner Morgenpost, 12 February 2007; Bertelsmann- Stiftung. de, 11 February 2007; Survey of the Bertelsmann Stiftung January 2007;  Haaretz, 12 February 2007

Jan 31 Russian Ultranationalist Demonstration Turns Antisemitic
   
On 28 January 2007, (the 62nd anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz), about 400 right-wing radicals held a demonstration at Triumfalnaia Square, in downtown Moscow. The meeting was initiated by the Movement against Illegal Immigration and other ultranationalist organizations, allegedly to show support for so-called political prisoners, including several activists who were convicted of inciting ethnic hatred. However, the demonstration turned out to be vehemently antisemitic and anti-Caucasian. Many of the participants made the Nazi salute and shouted slogans such as, "There is nothing more frightening than Jewish fascism." Speakers called to put an end to "the genocide" of the Russian people by Jews and Caucasians. Some of the participants held signs inciting against the Jewish population, such as, "Today the Jewish question is one of the honor or dishonor of Russia − the question of life or death of the Russian people." Two thousand policemen were present. Similar demonstrations were held on the same day throughout Russia.

Sources: newsru.com, 25 January 2007; SOVA Center for Information and Analysis, 29 January 2007; walla.co.il, 28 January 2007; Moscow Times 29 January 2007
Jan 30 Zündel Charged in German Court
   
German prosecutors in Mannheim asked a court on 26 January to sentence Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel (66) to five years in prison. Zündel is charged on 14 counts of incitement for his dissemination of far right and antisemitic propaganda both in a series of pamphlets and via his website (http://www.zundelsite.org).

Denying the Holocaust is a crime in Germany, punishable by three months to five years in prison. In his closing argument, prosecutor Andreas Grossmann called Ernst Zündel a "political con man" from whom the German people must be protected." You might as well argue that the sun rises in the west," Grossmann said. "But you cannot change that the Holocaust has been proven." Zündel was deported from Canada in 2005 (see also database of the Stephen Roth Institute). Since then, he and his supporters have argued that he is a political prisoner, denied his right to free speech. Zündel's main defense lawyer is right-wing extremist Jürgen Rieger.


Sources: de.news.yahoo, 26 January 2007; zundelsite, 26 January 2007; torontosun, 27 January 2007; Haaretz, 26 January 2007; Guardian, 27 January 2007
Jan 29 Holocaust Memorial in Germany Razed
   
A Holocaust memorial in the form of a railway carriage of the Reichsbahn (dating from the Nazi era) was razed completely by fire in the German city of Verden, Lower Saxony. The suspected arson attack occurred on 26 January 2007, the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, when a ceremony was due to take place in Verden, in memory of victims of the Holocaust transported by rail as Nazi slave workers. German Jewish leaders had warned that extreme right-wing militants had been threatening to attack Holocaust memorials.

During a Holocaust memorial ceremony on the 62nd anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, , in Frankfurt a.d. Oder, near the German-Polish border, German Chancellor Angela Merkel promised that Germany would have "zero tolerance" for neo-Nazis and urged all democrats to fight the rise of right-wing extremism and antisemitism.


Sources: Tagesschau.de, 26 January 2007; jta, 26 January 2007; Deutsche Presse Agentur, 26 January 2007; Allheadlinenews, 28 January 2007; ejpress, 26 January 2007.
Jan 23 Yemenite Jews Threatened by Radical Islamists
   
On 10 January 2007 an extremist group, supporters of the radical Shi`i cleric Hussein Badr Eddin al Houti, demanded that Jews leave the Sa'ada region in Northern Yemen by 20 January 2007. The warning came after Jewish residents asked for equality with Yemenite citizens and signed an agreement with the authorities in this respect. The frightened group left their homes for the Paris Tower Hotel in Sa'ada, where they have stayed since 17 January at the expense of the local sheikh, Hassan Manaa. Local officials promised to protect them when they return home.

"We are a total of 45 Jews; we left our houses in the Al Haid area of Sa'ada to seek shelter in a hotel here in the city of Sadaa, after we received warnings to leave our country, Yemen, within 10 days from the date of the threat letter," Dawoud Yousuf Mousa (Yehiw Moussa Merhavi) one of the Jews who arrived in Sanaa, told Gulf News. According to Mousa, four masked people threatened to slaughter him and the other Jews if they did not leave by 19 January.

A letter signed by Yahya Sad al-Kudhir, a leader of the militants, and faxed to Gulf News, said, "After accurate surveillance over the Jews residing in Al Haid, it has become clear to us that they were doing things that serve mainly Zionism, which seeks to corrupt the people and distance them from their principles, their values, their morals, and their religion."

According to Judeoscope, Canada, the militants in question are Islamists inspired by the Hizballah, and suspected of receiving support from Iran.


Sources: gulfnews.com, 22 January 2007; Haaretz, 22 January 2007; Daily India.com, 22 January 2007; Jerusalem Post, 22 January 2007; La Stampa, 22 January 2007;; United Press International, 22 January 2007; ynet.news, 22 January 2007; Judeoscope.ca, 22 January 2007.
Jan 16 Escalation in Antisemitic Activity in Switzerland
   
According to figures published by the Swiss AkdH (Aktion Kinder des Holocaust - association that combats antisemitism, racism and extremism) on 14 January 2007, the number of antisemitic manifestations reported in the German-speaking part of Switzerland doubled in 2006. From September 2005 until December 2006, the AkdH registered 73 cases compared to 32 in 2004. Of these, 42 were directed against Jewish institutions, such as the synagogue desecrations in Biel and Wittigofen. According to Samuel Althof, head of the AkdH, while the trend of a rise in antisemitic manifestations was obvious, the numbers did not necessarily reflect an increase of 100 percent. Perhaps, said Althof, the monitoring body was becoming better known. The AKdH has been monitoring antisemitic incidents since 2004 on behalf of the SIG (Swiss Jewish Community). The SIG and the AkdH have been calling for a national antisemitism monitoring body federation-wide.

A similar phenomenon was observed in the French speaking part of Switzerland where, according to a report of the CIDAD (Intercommunity Coordination Against Antisemitism and Defamation), Geneva, published in April 2006, the number of antisemitic acts doubled in 2005, reaching 75, compared to 34 in 2004 (see Database item 183579).

On 18 July 2006 the Department of Sociology at Geneva University published a report stating that 20 percent of the Swiss population harbored antisemitic sentiments.


Sources: blick, 14 January 2007; akdh, 14 January 2007; Aargauer Zeitung, 14 January 2007; European Jewish Congress, 25 April 2006; CICAD, 18 July 2006.
Jan 14 Ultra-Right-Wing European Parliamentary Group Formed
   
According to the rules of the European Parliament, a minimum of 19 MEPs from at least five countries is required in order to form a political grouping with official status, meaning inter alia, access to special funding of ca. 50,000 Euros.

With the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the EU (bringing the total to 27 member states) on 1 January 2007, the extreme right-wing group Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty (ITS; initially called Enlightened Nationalism) received the necessary quota (20 MEPs from 7 nations) to become an official EU parliamentary group. Parties represented in the ITS are:

French National Front, Bruno Gollnisch
Austrian Freedom Party, Andreas Mölzer
Vlaams Belang (Flemish nationalists), Philip Claeys, Koenraad Dillen, Frank Vanhecke
Greater Romania Party, Daniela Buruiană, Eugen Mihăescu, Viorica Moisuc, Petre Popeangă, Cristian Stănesc
National Union Attack (Bulgaria), Dimitra Stroyanov
Alternativa Sociale, Fiamma Tricolore (Italy), Allessandra Mussolini
Ashley Mote (British Independent)

They signed a political charter on 9 January 2007. According to ITS leader Bruno Gollnisch of the French National Front, besides opposition to Turkish accession to the EU, the ITS seeks to defend Christian values, "the family, and European civilization." It should be noted that Gollnisch is currently awaiting a judicial verdict on charges of Holocaust denial. On 16 January ITS is expected to make its official appearance as a parliamentary group in Strasbourg. The leader of the Socialist group in the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, called to isolate the group within the parliament

In a press release (http://www.adl.org/PresRele/ASInt_13/4959_13.htm) of 10 January, the ADL branded the ITS, which besides Gollnisch includes many xenophobic and antisemitic extremists, "a disturbing show of unity among bigots."


Sources: ZIUA.ro, 4 January 2007; buzzflash.com, 12 January 2007; BBC news, 12 January 2007; ADL press release, 10 January 2007
Jan 9 Germany Wants Holocaust Denial Punishable EU-Wide
   
In light of the escalation of ultra-right-wing crimes in many EU member states, and the cross-border cooperation between extreme right-wingers, German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries (SPD) declared that with Germany's assumption of the EU presidency in the first half of 2007, an effort would be made to pass Europe-wide legislation setting common European standards and strengthening networking between European police and justice authorities in order to fight these phenomena efficiently. Zypries will also seek to make Holocaust denial, as well as the display of Nazi symbols, punishable by law Europe-wide. Zypries is optimistic that such measures will be passed since Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, who in the past opposed them, has withdrawn his objections.

For Germany's EU presidency see:
http://www.eu2007.de/de/The_Council_Presidency/index.html

For interview with German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries, see:
http://www.bild.t-online.de/BTO/news/2007/01/08/zypries-terror-flugzeuge/zypries-terror-flugzeuge.html


Sources: deutsche welle, 8 January 2007; Spiegel online, 8 January 2007; bild-online, 8 January 2007

2006


Dec 14 Iran's Holocaust Conference, 11-12 December 2006
   
"Review of the Holocaust: Global Vision," a conference where "the historical facts of the Holocaust" were purportedly discussed in a "free and open atmosphere," opened on 11 December, in Tehran, with the participation of over 60 so-called experts and six ultra-Jewish orthodox rabbis, known mainly for their strong anti-Zionist convictions. The conference, the first of its kind in the Middle East, was conceived by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad in February, when he announced the holding of an international Holocaust cartoon competition following the publication of the Danish cartoons of Prophet Muhammad and the international criticism voiced in the wake of his branding the Holocaust a myth and his vow to wipe Israel off the face of the map. The sessions of the conference, which was organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Institute for Political and International Studies, included, "Historical Survey," "Holocaust: Concept and Justification/Evidence," and "Aftermath and Exploitation." Among the speakers on the first day were French Holocaust denier Robert Faurisson, American white supremacist and Holocaust denier David Duke, and the director of the Adelaide Institute (the center for Australian Holocaust denial), Frederik T?ben, who spoke of "The Alleged Murder Weapon: Homicidal Gas Chambers." An antisemitic poster depicting a red X, indicating erasure of the word 'Israel', and a boot over the globe was hanging behind the stage.

Israeli Arab lawyer, Khalid Kassab Mahamid, who has a small Holocaust museum in Nazareth and believes Arabs should learn about the Holocaust in order to properly understand Israeli society and thus eventually gain recognition of the Palestinian tragedy, asked to attend but was barred entry to the country. Palestinian Mahmud al-Safadi, who was sentenced to 27 years in jail by Israel for throwing Molotov cocktails during the 1988 intifada, sent an open letter to Ahmadinejad, explaining that his stance toward the Holocaust harmed the Arab cause. Independence would not be gained by "denying the genocide against the Jewish people," he asserted.

Addressing the participants during the closing session, Ahmadinejad said that "just as the Soviet Union was wiped out and today does not exist, so too the Zionist regime will soon be wiped out. This is what God has promised and what all nations want."

Europe, the Vatican, the US, Canada and Israel expressed official outrage and denounced the conference. Franco Frattini, the EU's top justice official said that the conference showed an "utter disregard of historically established facts" and was "an unacceptable affront not only to the victims of that tragedy and their descendants, but also to the whole democratic world".

The English edition of Al Jazeera TV station reported that many ordinary Iranians admitted to embarrassment about the event and that "a former senior government official, who declined to be named, said that "such conferences should not be held."

For the program of the conference, see: http://www.adelaideinstitute.org/2006December/contents_program1.htm
For Frederic T?ben's lecture, see: http://www.adelaideinstitute.org/2006December/FT_talk.htm
For David Duke's speech, see: http://www.davidduke.com/?p=1532
For Rabbi Aharon Cohen's speech, see: http://www.http://www.nkusa.org/activities/Speeches/2006Iran-ACohen.cfm

Participants scheduled to appear at the conference were:
Prof. Patrick McNally (Tokyo, Japan), Fl?vio Consalves (Lisbon, Portugal) Georges Theil (Grenoble, France) , Dr. Robert Faurisson (Vichy, France), Jean Faurisson (Paris, France), Bradley Smith (Rosarito, Mexico), Fredrick T?ben (Adelaide-Norwood, Australia), Richard Krege (Canberra, Australia), Mohammed Hegazi (Melbourne, Australia), George Kadar (Budapest, Hungary), Alessia Lai (Roma, Italia), Dr. Werner Schaller (Irving/Z?ndel lawyer), Wolfgang Fr?hlich and Hans Gamlich (Vienna, Austria), Rabbi Yisroel Weiss / Yeshaye Rosenberg (New York, USA), Matthias Chang (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), Dr. David Duke (New Orleans, USA), Jan Bernhoff (Stockholm, Sweden).


Sources: New York Times, 6, 11 Dec.; Jerusalem Post, 10, 11 Dec.; The Independent, 10 Dec.; IRNA, 11,12 Dec.; Ha'aretz, 11, 12, 13 Dec.; CNN, Ynet, CICAD, 11 December; Washington Post, 12 Dec.; Honestly Concerned, 12 Dec.; Aljazeera.net, 11 Dec.; Catholic World News, 12 Dec. BusinessDay, 13 Dec.; Honestly-Concerned, 12 Dec.; Le Temps, 13 Dec.; 2006; Die J?dische, 13 Dec. 2006.
Nov 27 Over 100 Windows of Vienna School Smashed
   
A man in his thirties was arrested on the premises of the Lauder Chabad School in Vienna in the early morning of 26 November, on suspicion of having caused severe damage to this Jewish institution. He had allegedly used an iron rod to smash more than 100 windows and to cause damage to the school rest rooms. No statement was given by the police as to the perpetrator's motives. However, when arrested, he is said to have introduced himself as 'Adolf Hitler'. The leaders of the Jewish community viewed the incident as the most severe in the last 20 years.

Sources: die j?dische, 26 Nov.2006; Herald Tribune, 27 Nov. 2006; Wallah-news, 27 Nov. 2006; Jerusalem, 26 Nov. 2006.
Nov 21 British Muslim Leader Supported Holocaust Denier
   
According to the Observer of 19 November 2005, Asghar Bukhari, a prominent British Muslim leader and founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPACUK), admitted that he had made donations to Holocaust denier David Irving. Bukhari explained that besides a cash donation he made in 2000 to Irving's legal fund, he had also asked many Muslim websites to create a link to Irving's site in order to help him "expose certain falsehoods perpetrated by the Jews". Bukhari, who says he opposes antisemitism and Holocaust denial, explained that at the time he thought Irving was an anti-Zionist.

Referring to the three-year prison sentence Irving received earlier this year in Austria for Holocaust denial, Bukhari said to it was wrong to jail Irving for his assertions that the scale and planning of the Nazi genocide had been exaggerated. The MPACUK claimed on their site that Bukhari had made a mistake 6 years ago and that "now that it has become clear that Irving does in fact hold such dispicable [sic] views Asghar Bukhari has no hesitation in opposing him".

The report of the UK All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism stated, inter alia, that "MPACUK has been criticized for publishing material on its website promoting the idea of a worldwide Zionist conspiracy, including the reproduction of articles originally published on neo-Nazi and Holocaust Denial websites, and is currently banned from university campuses".


Sources: The Observer, 19 November 2006; JTA, 20 November 2006; The All-Party Parliamentary Report, 2006; MPACUK.Org, 19 November 2006
Nov 20 German Academics Petition against 'Special Relationship' with Israel
   
In a petition published on 15 November 2006, in Frankfurter Rundschau, 25 academics from German universities and academic institutions stated that it was time for Germany to abandon the 'special relationship' with Israel and recognize Palestinian suffering as a result of the Holocaust. "As Germans, Austrians and Europeans we are not only responsible for the existence of Israel.. but also for the living conditions... and future... of the Palestinian people," they said.

Rejecting the petition, the spokesman of the German embassy in Israel declared that it was not in the spirit of the German-Israel relationship. "The position of the German government regarding the special relationship will not change," he said.


Sources: Frankfurter Rundschau, 15 November 2006; Jerusalem Newswire, 16 November 2006; IHC, 16 November 2006; Jerusalem Post, 16 November 2006
Nov 14 Survey Reveals Extreme Right-Wing Views among Germans
   
A study about antisemitic, xenophobic and Nazi attitudes, based on a survey conducted in May-June 2006 by the University of Leipzig for the German Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (SPD) among 5,000 Germans, was published on 8 November 2006. The study showed that extreme right-wing views are firmly established in the mainstream of German society, and across all social classes and ages . Following are some examples:

- 15% of all Germans long for a strong leader (Fuehrer); 26% want a one-party system, representing the Volksgemeinschaft (national community).

- Country-wide, 18% believe that Jews still have too much influence, and almost 14% think that Jews are strange and do not fit in well with the German mentality (sie passen nicht so recht zu uns). Antisemitic tendencies are higher in west Germany than in the east. The highest antisemitic tendencies were found in the richer states like Bavaria.

- 15% believe that Germans are superior "by nature" to other cultures.

- 40% believe that Germany is dangerously swamped by foreigners.

The findings of the survey show that neither education nor affiliation to specific political parties or churches prevent people from holding extreme right-wing ideologies.


Sources: tagesschau.de, 12 November 2006; Spiegel.de, 8 November 2006; de.news.yahoo, 8 November 2006; ejpress, 8 November 2006; ynetnews, 12 November 2006
Oct 22 Jewish Soccer Players Suffer Antisemitic Abuse in Germany
   
On 26 September 2006, players from the Jewish club TuS Maccabi walked off the field in the 78th minute due to a tirade of antisemitic abuse hurled at them during a soccer match against VSG Altglienicke II of Treptow, east Berlin. Fans chanted 'Gas the Jews', 'Synagogues must burn again' and 'Auschwitz is back.' The referee did not intervene. One sign read 'The NPD rules here, not the DFB (German Football Union)'. VSG Altglienicke claimed that Maccabi players had provoked the abuse. On 13 October, the Berlin Soccer Association (BFV) ordered players and coaches of the VSG Altglienicke to attend a seminar against racism. Those who refuse will lose their right to play in any Berlin league.

Sources: Sueddeutsche.de, 11 Oct. 2006; SomethingJewish, 10 Oct. 2006; Anti-Defamation Forum, 5 Oct.2006; Neues Deutschland, 12 Oct. 2006; Yahoo!, 14 Oct. 2006
Oct 19 Nazi-Style Incident in German School
   
On 12 October 2006, a 16-year-old boy was forced by three classmates in the Parey High School, Saxony-Anhalt, during the break, to carry an antisemitic sign around his neck and walk around the schoolyard. The placard read: "I'm the biggest pig in town, only with Jews do I hang around" (Ich bin am Ort das grosste Schwein, ich lass mich nur mit Juden ein!!!)." Branding the incident "disgusting," Saxony -Anhalt Interior Minister Holger Hovelmann said that the NSDAP and the SA had similarly humiliated people in Germany when the Nazis came to power in 1933. The police detained three pupils for questioning. The display of Nazi symbols is illegal in Germany.

Sources: Spiegel online, 13 October 2006; Ha'aretz, 13 October 2006; Walla News, 13 October 2006; Yahoo, 13 October 2006; EJP, 13 October 2006.
Oct 6 French Holocaust Denier Convicted
   
On 3 October 2006, Robert Faurisson (77) was convicted for the sixth time by a Paris court of contesting "the existence of a crime against humanity" - denial of the Holocaust. He was given a three months suspended prison sentence and fined 7,500 euros. The case concerned an interview given by Faurisson in February 2005 to the Iranian satellite TV channel Sahar 1 (banned in France since March 2005 for transmitting antisemitic broadcasts), during which he declared that the Nazis did not try to exterminate the Jews and that there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz.

Sources: boursier.com, 3 October 2006; CICAD, 4 October 2006; EJP, 4 October 2006.

Sept 26 Shots fired at Oslo Synagogue
   
An Oslo synagogue was damaged after persons in a passing vehicle fired at it on the night of 16 September 2006. Three days later, four suspects were arrested.

On 21 September Oslo police announced that the charges against the four suspects had been expanded to include terrorism, and that an investigation was under way to determine whether they had also been involved in planning to blow up the US and Israeli embassies in the Norwegian capital.

"This is the last in a series of incidents this summer whose purpose, it seems, is to scare us," said Anne Sender, leader of the Mosaic Religious Community. The Bishop of Oslo, Ole Christian Kvarme, called for more government support for the Jewish community in Norway (800 active members). Norwegian Justice Minister Knut Storberget, promised immediate security improvements for the synagogue.


Sources: y-news, 17 September 2006; Jerusalem Post, 17 September 2006; Aftenposten, 20 September 2006; Washington Post, 21 September 2006;

Sept 8 Neo-Nazi Network in Belgium
   
On 8 September 2006 Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt announced that police had arrested 17 right-wing extremists, alleged members of a neo-Nazi network - most of them soldiers - in 4 Flemish cities: Dendermonde, Leopoldsburg, Kleine Brogel and Herentals. The ring-leader is a member of the neo-Nazi Blood and Honor group. The prime minister called the infiltration of extreme right-wing activists in the army, intolerable. Those arrested, after an investigation of two years, have also been accused of disseminating racism, xenophobia, Holocaust denial, antisemitism and neo-Nazism.

Sources: EJ Press, 8 September 2006; cbc.ca, 8 September 2006; CICAD, 8 September 2006; de.news.yahoo.com, 8 September 2006

Sept 7 Jewish Families Sue Khatami
   
On Thursday, September 7, 2006, seven Jewish Iranian families, residing in the USA and Israel, used the opportunity of former Iranian President (1997-2005) Mohammad Khatami's presence in the USA, to file a lawsuit against him in the Manhattan Federal Court. The plaintiffs who are suing under the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victim Protection Act, are claiming that their relatives ( 12 male Jews), who were arrested and tortured after they tried to cross into Pakistan during the years 1994 through 1997, are said to be missing since then. The summons was handed to Khatami during a reception hosted by the Council of American-Islamic Relations. They charge Khatami with having singled out the Jewish community by authorizing the secret imprisonment of Jews indefinitely.

Sources: Shurat Hadin, 11 September 2006; International Harold Tribune, 9 September 2006; Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 9 September 2006

Sept 1 Small Explosive Found at Synagogue in Bastia, Corsica.
   
On September 1st, 2006 a small home made explosive was found outside the Bet-Meir synagogue in Bastia, Corsica. The bomb, made of a gas canister with explosive material, connected to a detonator, failed to explode. The anti-terrorist section of the police is investigating the incident. No group claimed responsibility. The bombs are usually planted overnight in order not to cause casualties,. In a letter to the Jewish community, the prefect of Corsica, Michel Delpuech, wrote that he vigorously condemned the attack.

Sources: Haaretz, 1 September 2006; EJP, 3 September 2006; Deutsche Presse Agentur, 1 September 2006; Reuters, 1 September 2006; The Tocqueville Connection, 1 September 2006.

Aug 27 Jewish Girl Attacked on London Bus
   
While on board a bus in Mill Hill, north London, the victim and her friend were approached by a group of four girls who asked them if they were English or Jewish. Both answered "fully English". When they tried to leave the bus the gang blocked their way and searched them. After having robbed a bracelet from one of the girls, they threw her to the floor of the bus and kicked and stamped on her face. She was seriously injured. The police are said to be investigating the incident as a racially aggravated robbery.

Sources: This Is Local London, 27 August 2006;

Aug 17 Rise in Antisemitic Manifestations in Germany
   
Since the outbreak of the latest hostilities in the Middle East, in July 2006, Jews in Germany have been experiencing increasing manifestations of antisemitism. Hundreds of hate messages have been received daily by Jewish organizations and individuals. Gideon Joffe, head of the Jewish community in Berlin, reports a rising number of antisemitic incidents at schools throughout the capital. According to Joffe, those directing their aggression against Jewish pupils are not only Muslims.

An analysis (by Media Tenor International) of the news coverage of Germany' s public TV stations, ARD and ZDF, regarding events in the Middle East from 21 July until 3 August 2006, and published on 11 August, demonstrated that an anti-Israel perspective prevailed. Following are some of the findings: 1) The Israeli army is primarily shown in the context of violent actions, while Hizballah fighters hardly appear at all. 2) Victims are mostly Lebanese; images of Israeli victims are rare. Israel is usually portrayed as the perpetrator.

According to Prof. Frank Brettschneider, chair of the Faculty of Communication Sciences at the University of Hohenheim who specializes in communication theory: "The Israeli army has not been portrayed as the organization of a lively democracy under democratic control and legitimization, but rather as one that follows the principle 'an eye for an eye'. The question of who is portrayed as the victim/perpetrator, which is relevant for media effects, was clearly answered for German audiences: Israel is primarily the perpetrator, while civilians in Lebanon are the main victims. "


Sources: Media Tenor International, 11 August 2006; Berliner Zeitung, 15 August 2006.

Aug 9 Chavez's Antisemitic References to Lebanon Conflict Criticized by Venezuelan Jewish Organization
   
One day after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recalled his country's diplomatic representative in Israel, the Confederation of Israelite Association of Venezuela, CAIV, which in the past has defended President Chavez against charges of antisemitism (see Updates, Jan. 19), denounced (4 Aug. 2006), "the attempts at transferring the conflict in the Middle East to Venezuela, as well as antisemitic expressions disguised as anti-Zionism, to government and pro-government media that encourage hatred and discrimination." The statement also criticized efforts to "banalize the Holocaust" by comparing it to the current military campaign.

During a recent visit to Iran, Chavez condemned Israel's attacks in Gaza and Lebanon, compared the Beirut bombings to Hitler's actions in World War II, and labeled Israel's treatment of the Palestinians genocidal. "The Israelis are doing exactly what Hitler did to them; they are killing children, innocents and entire families," he told al-Jazeera.

In its 2005 findings, the Stephen Roth Institute noted the fact that politicians and journalists associated with the party of President Hugo Chavez used the Holocaust to attack both Israel and the local Jewish community by comparing the plight of the Palestinians to the Holocaust or denying it altogether (see General Analysis) .


Sources: Venezuelanalysis, 4 Aug. 2006; Jerusalem Post, 4, 6 Aug. 2006; el universal.com, 4 Aug. 2006.

July 27 Norwegian Newspaper Compares Olmert to Nazi Commandant
   
Norway's largest daily, Oslo Dagbladet, published a cartoon on 10 July 2006, by well-known political cartoonist Finn Graf. In it Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is likened to Amon Goeth, the commandant of the Plaszow Nazi death camp near Krakow who murdered Jews by firing at them indiscriminately from his balcony. The scene he invoked is taken from Steven Spielberg's film Schindler's List. The cartoon prompted an outrage among the country's small Jewish community (1,300 members) and the Norwegian Israel Center against Anti-Semitism, an Oslo-based organization, asked the government to speak out against antisemitism. Five days later on Saturday 15 July, 2006, the Norwegian newspaper Vart Land reported that a Jew was assaulted by Arabs in the streets of Oslo. The Jewish community in Oslo has therefore suggested that members not wear a skullcap outside their home, or that they cover it under a cap. They also recommend not speaking Hebrew in public.

Sources: Brussels Journal, 20 July 2006; VL.NO, 26.July 2006 ; dagbladet.no, 25 July 2006; Jerusalem Post, 25 July 2006; pub.tv2.no, 20 July, 2006; Aftenposten.no, 20 July 06.

July 17 Don't Support Zionists, Warns Ahmadinejad
   
In an Iranian television program aired on 11 July 2006, President Ahmadinejad warned western countries not to support Israel because this would incur the rage of the Muslim peoples. He accused Zionists of opposing not only Islam and Muslims but humanity as a whole. Reflecting the spirit of 'The Protocols of the Elders of Zion', he added that these corrupt people wanted to dominate the entire world and would even sacrifice the western regimes to further their own interests.

Sources: MEMRI, 13 July 2006

July 5 60th Anniversary of Kielce Massacre Commemorated
   
The 60th anniversary of Europe's last pogrom, in the Polish city of Kielce, was marked by the sounding of air raid sirens in memory of 40 men, women and children, most of them Holocaust survivors, who were lynched by a mob of several hundred Poles. On 4 July 1946, the atmosphere in Kielce was inflamed by a rumor that a 6-year-old Polish boy had been abducted by Jews, allegedly for a ritual killing. The massacre has never been fully investigated. In 2004 due to lack of convincing evidence, the latest inquiry into the Kielce pogrom was finally discontinued. According to the prosecutor of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) Krysztof Falkiewicz:

Assumptions of Polish and Soviet special service involvement were reviewed. Other interpretations spoke of the incident being provoked through Jewish organizations, or by former underground Home Army members, which was a convenient explanation for the erstwhile communist authorities. None of these hypotheses were sufficiently substantiated in the evidence gathered to be classified as solid proof. That is why the case has ultimately been dropped.

A common assumption is that Christian residents feared they would have to return property they had stolen from the Jews during the Holocaust.

At a ceremony in the city of Kielce, on 4 July 2006, unveiling a monument in memory of those murdered, an aide read a message from President Lech Kaczynski (who was said to be ill):

As the president of Poland, I want to say it loud and clear: what happened in Kielce 60 years ago was a crime. This is a great shame and tragedy for the Poles and the Jews, so few of whom survived Hitler's Holocaust.

The anniversary came at a sensitive time for Poland: two months previously the governing Law and Justice party had formed a coalition with the extreme right League of Polish Families; this fact, according to the European Union, may be responsible for an increase of intolerance in Poland. (see database item 185017).


Sources: The Scotsman, 5 July 2006; Polskie Radio, 5 July 2006; Frankfurter Rundschau, 4 July 2006; Walla News, 5 July 2006; Ha'aretz , 17 May 2006.

June 7 French Black Supremacy Group Manifests Antisemitic Hatred
   
On 28 May 2006, 30-40 members of a black supremacy group marched through the historic Jewish Marais neighborhood, rue des Rosiers, in central Paris, shouting antisemitic slogans. Reportedly, they were dressed in black, wielded sticks and baseball bats and shouted "Death to the Jews" and other antisemitic insults. The French Office of Vigilance against Antisemitism (BNCVA) issued a statement stating the rally was organized by Tribu KA, a black identity group described by police as extremist. On 29 May Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy called for for an investigation of Tribu KA and spoke of the possibility of banning the group. A first step was to close their website. BNCVA claimed that gang members performed Nazi salutes, sought fights with the neighborhood's Jews, and threatened and intimidated them.

Tribu-KA, created in December 2004, opposes all contacts between blacks and non-blacks. Its leader, Kemi Seba, formerly Stellio Gilles Robert, was once a member of Nation of Islam in Paris. Tribu KA members describe themselves as being 'Kemites' (the ancient Egyptians referred to their land as Khemet, or 'the black land'; according to Tribu-KA's mission statement, 'khemite' means 'black' "in the language of slavery"), and the chosen black people who were made to rule the world. In February 2005 a dozen young men and women claiming to be part of Tribu-KA, infiltrated a meeting of the Jewish-Black Friendship Association and warned the Jews to cease all contacts with their Khemite brothers.

Antisemitic hatred as manifested by the Tribu KA is increasing among France's radical black population, which accuses the Jews of being the descendants of slave traders.


Sources: France Echos, 28 May 2006; The Tocqueville Connection, 29 May 2006; AfricaMaat, 24 November 2006; Timesonline, 30 May 2006; Poche-Orient.info; 29 May 2006; EJP, 6 June 2006.; Le Figaro, 30 May 2006; Tribu Ka - Mission Statement (Tribu Ka, cache)

May 31 Poland's Chief Rabbi Attacked
   
On 27 May 2006, one day before the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Auschwitz, Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, was attacked with what appeared to be pepper spray in downtown Warsaw. The perpetrator also punched him and shouted "Poland to Poles" before fleeing the scene. The police are treating the event as an antisemitic attack. According to the chief rabbi, the incident is not connected to the Pope's visit but to the increase of intolerance, linked to the new governing coalition in Poland, which includes the extreme right-wing League of Polish Families (LPR). Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz called Schudrich and assured him that there is "no place for antisemitism in Poland."

Sources: Der Spiegel, 28 May 2006; nana.co.il, 28 May 2006

May 17 Italian Cartoon Compares Israel to Nazi Germany
   
The daily Liberazione, party organ of the Italian Communist Party (Rifondazione Comunista), published a cartoon in the readers' letters section on 12 May showing Israel's security barrier with a gate bearing the sign "Hunger Liberates." This phrase is a play on the motto "Work Liberates," which appeared on the 'welcome' sign of the Auschwitz extermination camp during WWII. A spokesman for the Milan Jewish community called on Liberazione to dismiss the editor while the Israeli ambassador to Italy, Ehud Gol, labeled the comparison between Nazi Germany and Israel "shameful and humiliating."

Sources: Liberazione, 12 May 2006; y-net news 15 May 2006; die J?dische, 16 May 2006

May 17 Tunisian Students in Anti-Jewish Protest
   
During the inauguration of the Paul Sebag Fund at the Arts Faculty of Manouba University in Tunis, on 10 March 2006, a group of students shouted slogans such as "Jews to the sea," "Destroy Israel," "No Jews at the university," and "We shall kill all Jews." Paul Sebag was a Tunisian Jewish sociologist who donated his library to the Tunisian university upon his death in 2004. The students tried to block the entrance to the lecture hall, and struck Claude Nataf, president of the History Society of Jews in Tunisia, while he was trying to protect Sebag's daughter. In response, Roger Cukeirman, president of CRIF, protested to the Tunisian ambassador to France, demanding disciplinary measures against the students involved in the incident

Sources: www.north-of-africa.com 20 March-2006; CRIF, 18 March 2006

May 10 New Plans for Academic Boycott of Israel
   
A motion to boycott Israeli lecturers and universities that do not speak out openly against Israeli policies in the territories was drafted by the southeast region of the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education (NATFHE) in the UK and is due to be discussed on 27-29 May 2006 during their annual conference. In contrast to the April 2005 aborted boycott of the Association of University Teachers (AUT), which specifically targeted the universities of Haifa and Bar-Ilan, the current motion relates to Israel as a whole. Further, instead of the union boycotting Israeli academic institutions, the motion recommends that the decision be up to individual members. Because it would be a 'silent boycott', such individuals would not easily be detected and the union as a whole could not be made responsible, thus avoiding expensive lawsuits.

Sources: Haaretz 9 May 2006; anglicansforisrael, 22 March 2006.

April 27 Holocaust Deniers Sentenced
   
John Gudenus, a former legislator in Austria's upper house of parliament, was sentenced on 26 April 2006 to a suspended one-year prison term for denying aspects of the Holocaust. Gudenus had declared in April 2005, during an Austrian television interview, that the existence of gas chambers in the Third Reich should be "seriously debated." Later he amended his remarks to say that "there were gas chambers, though not in the Third Reich but in Poland." According to Austrian law, Gudenus could have faced up to 10 years in prison for denying the Holocaust had he been found guilty by the eight-member panel of jurors. <

Two weeks earlier, on 11 April 2006 Spanish Holocaust denier Pedro Varela was arrested in his bookstore Libreria Europa in central Barcelona and hundreds of books denying or minimizing the Holocaust were seized. After posting bail, Varela was released. He may be subject to 5 years in prison if convicted. On 16 November 1998 Varela was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment, Spain's first conviction for Holocaust denial.


Sources: Ha'aretz, 26 April 2006; rense.com, 16 April 2006; Journal of Historical Review, 1998

March 30 Perpetrator of Moscow Synagogue Attack Jailed
   
On 27 March 2006, the Moscow City Court sentenced Alexander Koptsev to 13 years imprisonment after finding him guilty of attempted murder motivated by ethnic hatred. Koptsev had entered the synagogue on Bolshaia Bronnaia Street, Moscow, on 11 January 2006, and knifed 8 people (see Stephen Roth Institute Database item). According to the prosecutor, Koptsev had made two previous attempts to attack a synagogue.

Source: RIA Novosti, 27 March 2006; MIG News, 27. March 2006; Grani, 27 March 2006

Feb 27 European Holocaust Deniers Involved in Iranian Holocaust Conference Plans
   
An international Holocaust denial center in Australia, the Adelaide Institute, has been publishing on its site correspondence between the director of the Neda Institute of Political Sciences in Teheran, Dr. Jawad Sharbaf, French Holocaust denier Prof. Robert Faurisson and German Holocaust denier Horst Mahler. The content of the letters shows the involvement of western Holocaust deniers in shaping official Iranian attitudes toward the Holocaust, Israel and the Jews. On 29 December 2005, one month before the Iranian president branded the Holocaust 'a myth' (see Updates), Faurisson was contacted by Sharbaf regarding the organization of an 'international Holocaust [denial] conference'. Faurisson had doubts about the timing of the conference ? since leading Holocaust deniers are "either in prison [Faurisson calls them 'prisoners of conscience'], in exile or in a precarious situation that prevents them from crossing national borders" - but suggested that the Iranian president set up an international center for "revisionist studies [Holocaust denial]. to propagate historical revisionism's attainments in the Arabo-Muslim world." In a letter to Faurisson, Horst Mahler wrote on 30 December 2005 that "the conference should be held under any circumstances, as now it is time to go to jail for the truth."

Sources: Adelaide Institute Newsletter 275, February 2006; Haaretz, 22 February 2006.

Feb 21 European Jewish Congress Files Complaint in Hague against Iranian President
   
Following an extraordinary meeting in Vienna, Austria, on 19 February 2006, the European Jewish Congress (EJC) general assembly decided to file a complaint with the International Criminal Court in The Hague against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the grounds of incitement to genocide. The Iranian president has repeatedly called the Holocaust a myth and said that Israel should be "wiped off the map". The EJC, which comprises 40 leaders of European Jewish communities, is beginning a campaign which calls for the Iranian president to be made 'persona non grata ad personam' within EU territory.

EJPress, 21 February 2006; european jewish congress, 15 February 2006; Haaretz, 19 February 2006; Haaretz (in Hebrew), 19, 21 February.

Feb 13 US Academic's Support for Iranian President Condemned
   
In the wake of the international uproar following the statements of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the Holocaust was a myth, McCormick Prof. Arthur Butz of Northwestern University (NU) (Illinois) gave an interview to the Iranian news agency MEHR on 26 December 2005 branding the Holocaust - the extermination of millions of Jews during World War II - "a hoax with a Zionist provenance." In a statement issued on 6 February 2006, NU president Henry Bienen described Butz's support of the Iranian president "a contemptible insult to all decent people." Leaders of Jewish organizations at NU condemned the statements of Butz, during a forum organized on 7 February after Butz's interview was reprinted by the Chicago Tribune. In an open letter of the Religion Department Faculty, the signatories denounced faked data and called Arthur Butz "a moral and intellectual failure.

Sources: MehrNews, 1 February 2006, Northwestern University press release, 6 February 2006, The Daily Northwestern, 13 February 2006, Science Daily, 6 February 2006.

Feb 12 Iranian Jewish Community Leader Sends Protest Letter to President Ahmadinejad
   
Jewish community, Haroun Yashayaei, sent a letter to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticizing him for denying the Holocaust (see 11 December 2005 and 7 February 2006), and claiming that the president's comments had caused concern and fear among the Jewish community of Iran. The letter was sent at the end of January and faxed to Reuters press agency on 12 February 2006. According to the Middle East Times of 27 January (International Holocaust Remembrance Day), Yashayaei said the Jews in Iran had no restrictions on holding their religious services. "We have our own cemeteries, kosher food, schools and synagogues," he said. 

Sources: Haaretz, 12 February 2006; Jerusalem Post, 12 February 2006; Middle East Times, 27 January 2006.

Feb 7 Iranian Paper Announces Holocaust Cartoon Contest
   
One of Iran's leading newspapers, the popular daily Hamshahri, has reportedly announced the launching of an international Holocaust cartoon contest. The decision to hold the competition is described as "a response to the Danish cartoon scandal," involving the publication of a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad in the Danish Jyllands-Posten in September 2005, and its reappearance recently in several European papers.

Similarly, the virulently anti-Zionist Belgian Arab-European League began its "Freedom of Speech Campaign" on 6 February with cartoons denying the Holocaust and ridiculing Jewish victims of Nazi atrocities. Holocaust deniers have also exploited the 'freedom of artistic expression' momentum. American Holocaust denier Michael Hoffman II, for instance, published antisemitic 'Holohoax' caricatures on his site as an "antidote to the anti-Muhammad cartoon."

Sources: revisionistreview, 6 February 2006; albawaba.com, 7 February 2006; Guardian, 7 February 2006; y-netnews 7 February 2006; arabeuropean.org, 6 February 2006; abcnews.go.com, 7 February 2006.

Feb 2 Italian Football Team Punished for Fans' Racism
   
On 31 January 2006 Italy's Roma team were ordered by the Italian Football League disciplinary committee to play their next League A match behind closed doors at a neutral venue (65 miles from the capital). This punishment, which followed the display by Roma fans of antisemitic banners and Nazi and fascist symbols at a match against the Livorno team on 29 January, reflects efforts initiated in summer 2005 by Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu, to apply the law when slogans or symbols exalting political violence, racism or xenophobia are shown in stadiums.

On 1 February UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) held its second "Unite Against Racism" conference at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona. Participants called to revive the campaign against racism throughout Europe using football as a catalyst to change and educate minds. Many speakers said the popularity of football should be utilized as a uniting force against racism.

Sources: DailyRecord.co.uk, 1 February 2006; Agence France-Presse, 31 January 2006; Le Matin 31 January 2006; AGI online, 31 January 2006; Hindustan Times.com, 31 January 2006; UEFA.com, 1 February 2006.

Jan 22 Lebanese Liberal Criticizes Holocaust Denial Statements
   
Liberal Lebanese intellectual Hazim Saghiya criticized Holocaust denial statements made by Islamist and Iranian leaders. Iranian President Ahmadinejad's remarks in December 2005, referring to the Holocaust as a myth and calling for the transfer of the State of Israel to Europe or North America, were supported by Hamas leader Khalid Mash`al and by Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood General Guide Muhammad Mahdi `Akif. Saghiya, who in the mid-1990s had criticized the Arab approach to the Holocaust, said that once denial had been confined to the fanatic margins of society but now the enthusiastic acceptance of this myth among many Arabs, as well as the myth of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," indicated that "the disease," which reflected anti-modernization attitudes, was spreading throughout Arab societies.

Sources: Al-Hayat, 24-Dec-2005; Ha'aretz, 30-Dec-2005; MEMRI Special Dispatch, No. 1062, 30-Dec-2005

Jan 19 Equivocal Chavez Christmas Speech
   
In a Christmas speech delivered at the Manantial de los Suenos rehabilitation center on 24 December 2005, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, declared: "Some minorities, the descendants of the same ones who crucified Christ, the descendants of the same ones who threw out [South American liberator Simon] Bolivar from here and also crucified him in a way in Santa Marta, over there in Colombia - a minority took possession of all the planet's gold, of the silver, the minerals, the waters, the good land, the oil, the riches, and they have concentrated the riches in a few hands."

Among those who accused Chavez of antisemitism over these remarks was Wall Street Journal columnist Mary O'Grady, who saw in Chavez words an "ugly anti-Semitic swipe." The Wiesenthal Center (SWC) demanded that Chavez apologize due to his negative reference to Jews. However, Venezuelan Jewish community leaders of the CAIV (Confederation of Jewish Associations of Venezuela), as well as the American Jewish Committee and he American Jewish Congress, claimed that Chavez's comments were not antisemitic but were aimed at the white oligarchy. Chavez rejected the SWC's charges on 13 January 2006, alleging they were part of "an imperialist campaign."

Sources: Chavez speech; Wall Street Journal, 13 Jan. 2006; Forward, 13 Jan.; Judeoscope, 30 Dec. 2005; IKG, 11 Jan. 2006; gobiernoenlinea.gob.ve, 24 Dec. 2005; JTA, 1 Jan. 2006; World War 4 Report, 16 Jan, 2006.


2005


Dec 20 Norwegian County Proclaims Boycott of Israeli Goods
   
On 16 December 2005 the provincial board of Norway's Soer-Trondelag county voted to bar products originating in Israel because of "Israel's oppression of the Palestinians." Comparing the government of Israel to the former apartheid regime in South Africa, Torill Skaerseth, representing the far left Red Electoral Alliance on the board, predicted the boycott would spread to other Norwegian provinces. Prominent journalist Kgell Arild Nilsin, of the Norwegian news agency NTB, blamed media bias for this development, attributing it to Norway's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in the early 1990s. Although economically the impact of the boycott is expected to be insignificant, Jewish groups fearing its political implications have issued strong protests.

Sources: Haaretz, 28 Dec. 2005; EJPress, 23 Dec. 2005; UJC, 22 Dec. 2005

Dec 20 Germans Call to Ban Iran from World Soccer Cup Final
   
On 9 December, former West German international midfielder Wolfgang Overath suggested that Iran should be banned from the 2006 World Soccer Cup finals in Germany. His proposal followed the call by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for destruction of the State of Israel. Members of Germany's Green Party joined the demand not to allow Iran to take part in the prestigious event after Ahmadinejad continued his antisemitic and Holocaust denying tirades, alleging that the Holocaust was a myth invented by the Jews who had fabricated a legend under the label 'massacre of the Jews'. However, on 15 December 2005 Sepp Blatter, the head of FIFA, the international soccer federation, rejected the appeal, declaring that politics had no place in sport. One day later, the German Parliament (Bundestag) released a unanimous resolution entitled "Israel's Right to Exist Is a German Obligation," underlining Germany's duty to take steps against anyone who denied the Holocaust or Israel's right to existence. Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust could have got him arrested had he said it in Germany since denial of the Holocaust is a federal crime there.

Sources: Tagesschau, 18. Dec. 2005; Berliner Morgenpost, 17 Dec. 2005; ABC News, 15 Dec. 2005; Haaretz, 15 Dec. 2005.

Dec 11 Transfer Israel to Europe, Says Iranian President
   
In a speech delivered on 10 December to the Islamic Conference Organization, which met in Mecca to discuss terrorism, radically conservative Iranian President Mahmud Ahmedinjad declared that Israel should be transferred to Europe. Some European countries, he declared, claim that Hitler burnt millions of Jews, a fact which Ahmedinjad himself does not accept, and any historian or commentator who dares challenge this assertion is denounced and persecuted. If the Europeans feel such guilt, he continued, they should allocate areas in Germany or Austria for settling the Israelis. Why should the Palestinians suffer, he asked. This statement, which aroused worldwide denunciation, reflects a motif that typified the traditional Arab discourse on the Holocaust. In November, at a conference on Zionism held in Tehran, Ahmedinjad called for the elimination of Israel. Iranian spiritual leader `Ali Khamanei supports Ahmedinjad's statements, maintaining that the Zionist allies who criticized him exposed their fears about the prominence of the Palestinian issue among Muslim nations.

Sources: ABC News, 8 Dec. 2005 ; Ha'aretz, 9, 11 Dec. 2005; The Independent, 9 Dec. 2005; Juden in Deutschland, 9 Dec 2005; Netzeitung.de, 9 Dec. 2005.

Nov 23 Holocaust Deniers Arrested
   
Several leading Holocaust deniers have been arrested in Europe in recent months and are to stand trial. Belgian Holocaust denier Siegfried Verbeke, who headed Europe's main Holocaust denial organization, the so-called Free Historical Research Center (VHO), from 1983, is to face trial in Germany after a court in Amsterdam authorized, on 25 October 2005, his extradition to Germany. Verbeke was detained, on the basis of a European warrant for his arrest, at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport in August 2005.

Three weeks later, on 14 November 2005, leading German Holocaust denier Germar Rudolf (Germar Scheerer), who replaced Verbeke as organizer of the VHO's Internet site and its other activities, was deported from the US, where he had sought refuge to avoid a prison sentence in Germany. On 15 November 2005 he was arrested at Frankfurt airport. He is expected to serve a 14-month prison sentence (dating from 23 June 1995). Rudolf had denied the Nazis' use of Zyklon B gas for mass murder during WWII.

On 11 November the police arrested British Holocaust denier David Irving in Styria, Austria, on a similar charge, based on a warrant for his arrest issued in 1989.

These arrests of leading Holocaust deniers in Europe follow the deportation and detention of another leading Holocaust denier, Ernst Zundel from Canada. Zundel was arrested on 2 March 2005 in Mannheim, on a warrant dating from 2003. German prosecutors accuse Zundel of spreading hate messages through his website, which is accessible in Germany where it is a crime.

See Stephen Roth Database items

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Aug 29 Two Jewish Students Attacked in Kiev
   
On 28 August 2005, ten skinheads, armed with bottles, sticks and knifes, attacked two Jewish yeshiva students in an underground passage in the center of Kiev. One of the students, 28, was critically wounded. According to the head of the local Jewish community, Rabbi Jacob Zilberman, violent antisemitic incidents are frequent occurrences in Kiev and the community has appealed to the authorities for protection.

Sources: Jewish ru, 29 Aug. 2005; Ha'aretz, 29 Aug.; Walla, 29 Aug.

July 4 Bulgarian Party Disseminates Antisemitic List
   
Shortly after the results of the general elections in Bulgaria were published on Saturday 25 June 2005, the nationalist Ataka (Attack) party - which stormed the parliament with almost 8 percent of the vote, becoming the fourth largest party - published a list of 1,500 well-known Bulgarian Jews on their homepage. The list appeared under the headline: "A plague infected, leprous and dangerous race, which has deserved to be eradicated since the day of its creation." After the Bulgarian news agency BGNES reported on the list, the site was banned from the server. "We may think such things, but we may not make them public in this way," explained Anton Sirakov, deputy leader of Ataka.
Sources: IKG, 27 June 2005; Bulgaria online, 27 June 2005; Ataka site

June 28 Russian Jewish Organization To Be Investigated Concerning Jewish Religious Text
   
Anti-Jewish manifestations, which have been reported increasingly from Russia over the last months (see General Analysis 2004), reached yet another peak on 23 June 2005 ' when 'Izvestia' revealed that the Russian state prosecutor had decided to open an investigation into the Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations and Communities of Russia (KEROOR) for distributing the Jewish religious text 'Kitsur Shulkhan Arukh'. The 'Shulkhan Arukh' was first published in the 16th century by Rabbi Josef Karo and an abridged edition, 'Kitsur Shulkhan Arukh', appeared in the 19th century. The text plays a central role in the life of religious Jews. The state prosecutor's office intends to investigate whether the book incites against non-Jews in Russia. Zinovii Kogan, chairman of KEROOR, was questioned about the initiator and distributors of the Russian translation of the book. The affair began after a letter signed by 500 politicians, newspaper editors and other public figures was published on 14 January 2005 in the newspaper 'Rus' Pravoslavnaia', calling for an investigation and for the closure of Jewish organizations in Russia. Jewish organizations have strongly protested the accusation that Jewish religious scriptures incite against non-Jews.
Sources: Izvestia, 23 June 2005; JTA, 23.June 2005; Haaretz, 27 June 2005

May 22 Antisemitic Remarks of Palestinian Cleric Broadcast on PA TV
   
On 13 May 2005 Palestinian TV broadcast the sermon of Shaykh Ibrahim Mudayris from Gaza's al-Nahayan mosque for the 57th anniversary of Nakba (Catastrophe) day. Mudayris, known for previous antisemitic pronouncements, attacked the US and the Jews. He depicted the Jews as cancer and AIDS and as the cause of all human disasters. Referring to their behavior from the advent of Islam to WWII, he stressed the historical continuity of their corrupt and treacherous nature. Hence, he contended, the Holocaust was a just reaction to their betrayal of Germany. Yet, he also accused the Jews of collaborating with Hitler and of exaggerating the Holocaust, exploiting it to instill guilt feelings in the West. PA leader Muhammad Abbas dissociated himself from the speech, and on 18 May Information Minister Nabil Sha`t said he had asked the Religious Affairs Ministry to suspend Mudayris and promised to ensure that such sermons were never broadcast again as they constituted incitement and violated Islamic teachings.
Sources: Israel Resource News Agency, 14 May 2005; MEMRI, Palestinian Media Watch Bulletin, 16 May 2005; NYT, 19 May 2005.

April 13 New Zealand MP 'Sick' of Holocaust
   
During an interview with an editor of 'Investigate', published in the magazine on 9/10 April 2005, New Zealand Labour MP John Tamihere declared: "I'm sick and tired of hearing how many Jews got gassed..." How many times do I have to be told and made guilty of it?" The comment, branded by the Jewish Council of New Zealand as "deeply shocking for all Jews," was widely criticized, and Prime Minister Helen Clark (Labour) declared in a press release of 10 April that Tamihere's comments were "deeply offensive and utterly unacceptable to the New Zealand Labour Party." Tamihere has been given three weeks of "extended leave."
Sources: Investigate magazine, 9/10 April 2004; New Zealand Herald, 13 April 2005; Netzzeitung, 11 April 2005; NewstalkZB, 11 April 2005; Jerusalem Post, 10 April 2005.

Feb 16 Neo-Nazis Commemorate Dresden Bombing in WWII
   
On 13 February 2005, 60 years after the destruction of Dresden - on 13-14 February 1945 by the British and US air forces - about 6,000 right-wing extremists, members of the NPD and neo-Nazis, marched through the streets of Dresden in one of the largest neo-Nazi rallies since the end of WWII. Most of the participants, who demonstrated under the slogan "The Holocaust of bombs," wore black clothes and held black balloons and banners. At the same time, left-wing demonstrators, wearing white roses, protested under the banners "Nazis out" and "No tears for Krauts." All speakers of the extreme right stressed the "singularity of the catastrophe," and portrayed the Germans as victims of the Allies during WWII, in an attempt to draw parallels with the extermination of the Jews. The events are part of a broader debate about the necessity of bombing German cities at the end of WWII. While the Allies claim that the bombings were needed in order to end the war and liberate Europe, the extreme right, which seeks to lessen the guilt of Nazi Germany, describes the bombardment of Dresden as "an act of terror against civilians" comparable to the Holocaust or Hiroshima. It should be noted that several memorial ceremonies, attended by local and foreign dignitaries, as well as citizens of Dresden, were also held on that day.
Sources: Der Spiegel online, 13 Feb. 2005; Washington Post, 14 Feb. 2005; Haaretz, 13 Feb. 2005; Yahoo! News, 14 Feb. 2005.

Feb 1 Antisemitism in Armenia
   
On 25 January 2005 the General Prosecutor's Office in Armenia announced the arrest of the chairman of the small ultra-nationalist Union of Armenian Aryans, Armen Avetisian. Avetisian was charged with inciting ethnic intolerance ("inciting national racial or religious hostility," Article 226 of the Armenian Criminal Code) for making repeated antisemitic statements. Avetisian will face 3-6 years imprisonment if found guilty. His supporters have established a committee in his defense, maintaining that the real reason behind his arrest is his fight against homosexuality. In an interview with the weekly IRAVUNK in January 2005, Avetisian promised to make sure that the Jews were expelled from Armenia.

Members of the small Armenian Jewish community, who until recently had not been confronted with antisemitism, are alarmed over the rise in antisemitic propaganda since 2004, when Tigran Karapetian, owner of the private pro-government TV station ALM, used a talk show to disseminate antisemitic views, portraying Jews as dominating Armenia and the world and blaming them for Armenia's political and socio-economic problems.

Source: Yerevan Press Club, January 2005; Armenian News network, 26 January 2005; Eurosianet, 29 January 2005; Armenialiberty news, 25 January 2005; TruthNews, 26 January 2005.

Jan 25 Call to End Jewish Activity in Russia
   
On 14 January 2005 the fundamentalist newspaper "Rus' Pravoslavnaia" published an appeal entitled "Jewish happiness, Russian tears." Addressed to the prosecutor-general of the Russian Federation, the petitioners call for an investigation into Jewish religious and national organizations in Russia on the grounds that they incite ethnic conflict, as well as an end to all subsidies and assistance to these groups. The appeal describes Judaism as anti-Christian and revives the antisemitic accusation of the blood libel. It also calls for a public investigation of those who provide Jewish organizations with facilities and an end to their financial privileges. The petition was signed by 500 people, including newspaper editors, intellectuals and 19 Duma deputies from the nationalist Rodina bloc, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR - led by Vladimir Zhirinovskii) and the Communist Party (KPRF). The initiator was Aleksander Krutov, a deputy of the Rodina bloc and editor of the newspaper "Russkii Dom." So far there has been no official reaction.
Sources: Echo Moscow, 23 January 2005; Jewish News Agency AEN 24 January 2005; Newsru 24 January 2005; HRO (Human Rights in Russia) 24 January 2005; Ha'aretz, 25 January 2005.

Jan 25 Antisemitic Attacks in Russia
   
On 14 January 2005, Rabbi Alexander Lakshin and Rabbi Reuven Kuravskii were attacked while walking with two children in an underground passage near the Marina Roscha Jewish Center in Moscow. The perpetrators shouted antisemitic insults and injured Lakshin, who was hospitalized with head injuries and a broken bone. Two hours earlier a Jewish couple had been attacked in the same place. Jewish organizations expressed their concern over the frequency of physical assaults on Jews in recent months and called on the police to ensure the safety of Jews at prayer houses and Jewish centers. On 19 January 2005 the police arrested three suspects.
Sources: jewish.ru, 18 January 2005; Novost, 17 January 2005; ADL press release, 18 January 2005; Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union (UCSJ), 17 January 2005; Interfax, 18 January 2005.

Jan 23 German Politicians Call For Ban on Nazi Symbols in Europe
   
Following the storm over Britain's Prince Harry, who was photographed at a party wearing Nazi uniform, including a swastika armband, German politicians from all major parties called for a Europe-wide ban on Nazi symbols. Such a ban already exists in German legislation. European Minister of Justice Franco Frattini declared on 17 January that the issue would be discussed by the European Union.
Sources: die Tageszeitung, 18 Jan. 2005; EUbusiness, 17 Jan. 2005; Ha'aretz, 16 Jan. 2005; BBC News, 1 Jan. 2005.

Jan 18 German Extreme Right Parties Join Forces
   
On 15 January 2005, two of Germany's extreme right-wing political parties, the National Party of Germany (NPD) and the German Peoples' Party (DVU), signed in Munich a 'Deutschland Pakt' to join forces for the German federal elections in 2006. Their aim is to overcome the 5 percent threshold required for a party to win seats in the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament. The pact signed by chairmen Udo Voigt (NPD) and Gerhard Frey (DVU), states that both parties will refrain from campaigning against each other during the next five years. It was decided that only a NPD list would run in the 2006 general elections (but would include 15 candidates of the DVU). Success in the election would be a major triumph for the NPD, which the German government sought in vain to ban in 2003. The third extreme right-wing political party in Germany, the Republikaner, refused to join the union. According to legal experts, such an alliance would be illegal, as "multiple-party polling lists" are not allowed under Germany's electoral law.
Sources: Financial Times Deutschland, 10 Jan. 2005; Netzeitung.de, 15 Jan. 2005; Deutsche Welle, 11 Jan. 2005.

Jan 2 France and US Ban Hizballah TV Transmissions
   
Following a complaint submitted by Roger Cukierman, head of CRIF (Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions) , the French Broadcasting Authority's C