Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Terrorists aim at Israeli and Jewish targets
The Times of Israel
http://www.timesofisrael.com/terror-groups-aiming-to-hit-israeli-jewish-targets-worldwide-in-coming-weeks/
"Israelis ordered out of Sinai, told to avoid Jordan
In addition, it ordered Israelis not to travel to Sudan, Somalia, Algeria, Djibouti, Mauritania, Libya and Tunisia, and to leave these countries immediately if they were there, because of a similarly “very high” terror threat. Where Tunisia was concerned, it underlined what it said were the “threats to carry out attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets.”
http://www.timesofisrael.com/terror-groups-aiming-to-hit-israeli-jewish-targets-worldwide-in-coming-weeks/
"Israelis ordered out of Sinai, told to avoid Jordan
Terrorists ‘aim to hit Israeli, Jewish targets worldwide’ in coming weeks
Counter-Terror Bureau issues strident warning, citing ‘concrete, very high’ threats in numerous countries
August 19, 2013
Israeli and Jewish targets all over the world are likely to be sought
out by terrorist organizations in the coming weeks, the Israeli
government’s Counter-Terrorism Bureau warned in strikingly strident
tones on Monday, listing dozens of countries where it said it had
“concrete” indications of a terrorist threat.
It cited concerns about terrorist acts
timed to coincide with the forthcoming Rosh Hashana (New Year), Yom
Kippur and Succot festivals, and also said that the anniversary of the
9/11 terrorist attacks in the US was likely to be “a favored period” for
al-Qaeda and other global jihadist groups to attempt to carry out acts
of terrorism.
Iran and Hezbollah, it warned, were continuing their “global terror
campaign” against Israeli and Jewish targets. It noted that Iran
remained bent on avenging alleged Israeli responsibility for the killing
of Hezbollah terror chief Imad Mughniyeh in a Damascus car-bombing in 2008, and the deaths of three Iranian nuclear scientists.
It said its information indicated that Israeli
businessmen and ex-government officials were prime potential targets
for assassination and/or kidnapping.
With all that
in mind, the bureau reconfirmed that Israelis are barred altogether
from travel to Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, where
the “concrete” terror threat was “very high.”
In addition, it ordered Israelis not to travel to Sudan, Somalia, Algeria, Djibouti, Mauritania, Libya and Tunisia, and to leave these countries immediately if they were there, because of a similarly “very high” terror threat. Where Tunisia was concerned, it underlined what it said were the “threats to carry out attacks on Israeli and Jewish targets.”
The unusually shrill and widespread alert
included an order to Israelis not to travel to the Sinai Peninsula,
because of the chaotic situation in Egypt. The Sinai’s Red Sea resorts
are a traditionally popular holiday destination for Israelis, especially
at this time of year. The advisory noted that Sinai was off limits not
only because of the general Egyptian disorder and a series of recent
attacks in the Sinai, however, but also because of “information on the
intention to carry out further attacks.”
Using only slightly less urgent language, the bureau, part of the National
Security Council under the authority of the Prime Minister’s Office,
ordered Israelis to “avoid visiting” the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain,
Jordan, Kuwait, Egypt and Qatar, where it cited what it called a “basic”
terrorist threat. Israel maintains peace agreements with both Jordan
and Egypt, and the warning underlines what the bureau called “the
complex security realities” in nations adjacent to Israel.
The bureau also told Israelis to postpone
nonessential visits to Turkey, Oman and Morocco, because of “ongoing
potential threats.”
Slightly further afield, it cited “very high”
terror threats in Afghanistan, parts of southern Thailand, parts of the
southern Philippines, east Senegal, India’s Kashmir province, northern
Nigeria, parts of Kenya, and Chechnya. Israel were not to travel to any
of those areas, and to leave immediately if they were there, it ordered.
The advisory also specified a “high” terror
threat in Indonesia, Burkina-Faso, Ivory Coast, Togo, Mali, Malaysia and
Pakistan, telling Israelis not to go there and urging them to leave as
soon as possible if they were there now.
The bureau’s
warning also specified concerns about terror threats to Israeli
“business targets” worldwide, and especially in Africa, “in the wake of
the exposure of a terrorist infrastructure in Nigeria over the past
year.”
Generally, it
urged Israelis traveling worldwide to take extra precautions, such as
avoiding unexpected meetings or out of the way places, and to change
regular travel routes.
The full report was made available on the National Security Council website (Hebrew only). [PDF, 6 pages]."
Labels: Anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, Anti-Semitic acts, Anti-Semitism, Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Australian Anti-Semitism Report Reveals anti-Jewish Violence
Spike in number of anti-Jewish incidents
Posted on 01 December 2009
CHANTAL ABITBOL
http://jewishnews.net.au/2009/12/01/spike-in-number-of-anti-jewish-incidents/9990
AUSTRALIA has seen an alarming spike in the number of anti-Jewish incidents during the past year, according to new research released this week.
The 144-page Anti-Semitism Report revealed 962 accounts of anti-Jewish violence, vandalism, harassment and intimidation in the past 12 months.
“That’s more than twice the annual average. [It's] unprecedented,” said Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council’s director of international and community affairs and former ECAJ president, Jeremy Jones, who compiled the report.
He released his findings at the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) annual conference in Sydney on November 29.
“More than in any other 12-month period, Jewish-Australians walking to and from synagogue were abused by passing motorists, Jewish people were confronted with incitement against them in Australian cities, and abusive, offensive and intimidatory emails were received by Jewish-Australians at their homes and workplaces.”
Jones, who has been tracking anti-Semitic incidents in Australia for the past 20 years, also noted that anti-Jewish propaganda in fringe publications and from extremist organisations remains an “ongoing concern”.
The results were backed by testimonies from heads of Jewish security groups in both Sydney and Melbourne, who said they have also noticed a surge of incidents in recent years.
David Rothman, head of Sydney’s Communal Security Group, said: “Since 2001, there has been a yearly increase in anti-Semitic incidents, verbal abuse and assault that we see on the ground, and reports from the community.”
Amit Bar-Giora, head of Melbourne’s Community Security Group, added: “Although most of these incidents are not of a violent nature, the fact that there has been an increase is of a great concern. We ask [the community] to be alert to any suspicious activity and report them accordingly.”
On a more positive note, Jones disclosed a marked decrease in reports of physical violence against Jewish individuals and property — with 27 incidents reported this year, compared with 58 and 46 in the previous two years.
Telephone threats, hate mail and graffiti were also reported at “below average rates”.
“It is important to emphasise that my research over 20 years indicates Australians are fundamentally tolerant and opposed to discrimination, vilification or harassment of Jews and other segments of the population, but that a relatively small number of fanatic and offensive individuals are increasingly active in trying to diminish the quality of life of Jewish-Australians,” he said.
“Internationally, Australia scores very well as a successful multicultural society,” he added.
Posted on 01 December 2009
CHANTAL ABITBOL
http://jewishnews.net.au/2009/12/01/spike-in-number-of-anti-jewish-incidents/9990
AUSTRALIA has seen an alarming spike in the number of anti-Jewish incidents during the past year, according to new research released this week.
The 144-page Anti-Semitism Report revealed 962 accounts of anti-Jewish violence, vandalism, harassment and intimidation in the past 12 months.
“That’s more than twice the annual average. [It's] unprecedented,” said Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council’s director of international and community affairs and former ECAJ president, Jeremy Jones, who compiled the report.
He released his findings at the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) annual conference in Sydney on November 29.
“More than in any other 12-month period, Jewish-Australians walking to and from synagogue were abused by passing motorists, Jewish people were confronted with incitement against them in Australian cities, and abusive, offensive and intimidatory emails were received by Jewish-Australians at their homes and workplaces.”
Jones, who has been tracking anti-Semitic incidents in Australia for the past 20 years, also noted that anti-Jewish propaganda in fringe publications and from extremist organisations remains an “ongoing concern”.
The results were backed by testimonies from heads of Jewish security groups in both Sydney and Melbourne, who said they have also noticed a surge of incidents in recent years.
David Rothman, head of Sydney’s Communal Security Group, said: “Since 2001, there has been a yearly increase in anti-Semitic incidents, verbal abuse and assault that we see on the ground, and reports from the community.”
Amit Bar-Giora, head of Melbourne’s Community Security Group, added: “Although most of these incidents are not of a violent nature, the fact that there has been an increase is of a great concern. We ask [the community] to be alert to any suspicious activity and report them accordingly.”
On a more positive note, Jones disclosed a marked decrease in reports of physical violence against Jewish individuals and property — with 27 incidents reported this year, compared with 58 and 46 in the previous two years.
Telephone threats, hate mail and graffiti were also reported at “below average rates”.
“It is important to emphasise that my research over 20 years indicates Australians are fundamentally tolerant and opposed to discrimination, vilification or harassment of Jews and other segments of the population, but that a relatively small number of fanatic and offensive individuals are increasingly active in trying to diminish the quality of life of Jewish-Australians,” he said.
“Internationally, Australia scores very well as a successful multicultural society,” he added.
Labels: Antisemitism, Antisemitism in Australia, Australia, Australian Antisemitism, Australian Jews
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Venezuela's Anti-Semite in chief spews Anti-Israel hatred in public
Chavez calls Israel "murderous" U.S. arm
Wed Nov 25, 2009 8:48pm EST
By Frank Jack Daniel and Andrew Cawthorne
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-Iran/idUSTRE5AO03520091126
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez used a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday to brand Israel as a murderous agent of Washington.
Chavez and Ahmadinejad, on the last leg of a tour of three left-leaning South American nations, hugged, held hands, and praised each other as fellow revolutionaries.
The Venezuelan singled out a comment by Israeli President Shimon Peres during a visit this month to South America that his and Ahmadinejad's days in power may be numbered.
"We know what the state of Israel stands for -- a murderous arm of the Yankee empire," Chavez told joint news conference. "What the president of Israel said, we take as a threat."
Chavez broke relations with Israel this year. He won praise in the Muslim world after branding an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip as genocide.
His fierce speeches against Israel are taken by some supporters as a green light for anti-Semitism and walls in Caracas are often daubed with anti-Jewish slogans.
Ahmadinejad denies the Holocaust and has called for Israel to be wiped off the map.
OPEC members Venezuela and Iran have grown much closer in recent years. Chavez supports Ahmadinejad's controversial nuclear program, while Iran is helping Venezuela map uranium deposits.
The two leaders signed a raft of business and industrial agreements relating to 129 joint projects that Chavez said ranged from assembling bikes and producing car-parts, to processing milk and building houses.
Ahmadinejad clinched a second term after a disputed June election brought the worst unrest in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution and a heavy-handed clampdown on opponents.
His trips to left-leaning Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela this week have helped cement ties with countries that back Iran's right to develop atomic power for peaceful purposes.
Iran is under pressure to accept a U.N. plan aimed at checking nuclear ambitions which it says are peaceful but the West fears could be intended to create atomic weapons.
"What do the imperialists say? That Ahmadinejad is here because we are making the atomic bomb here too," Chavez said.
"They're the ones with the atomic bombs, and remember the Yankee imperialists dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki," he added, referring to the bombings of Japanese cities that ended World War II.
A leading Chavez critic and newspaper director, Teodoro Petkoff, mocked Ahmadinejad's visit, saying past cooperation deals had led to little of substance, not even the planned production of bicycles.
Karen Hooper, Latin America analyst for Stratfor consultancy, agreed that the worst fears in Washington about Venezuela and Iran's ties may be overblown.
"There is little danger of Venezuela being able to help Iran proliferate," she said.
"Although Iran is short on uranium and Venezuela might have some, even if Venezuela were to deliver sufficient quantities, the real problem for Iran is the enrichment process, which requires technology that Venezuela could not possibly wield."
(Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Alan Elsner and Walker Simon)"
[Note how Ms. Karen Hooper can't help herself from acting as an apologist for evil even when it's smacking her between the eyes!]
Wed Nov 25, 2009 8:48pm EST
By Frank Jack Daniel and Andrew Cawthorne
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-Iran/idUSTRE5AO03520091126
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez used a visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday to brand Israel as a murderous agent of Washington.
Chavez and Ahmadinejad, on the last leg of a tour of three left-leaning South American nations, hugged, held hands, and praised each other as fellow revolutionaries.
The Venezuelan singled out a comment by Israeli President Shimon Peres during a visit this month to South America that his and Ahmadinejad's days in power may be numbered.
"We know what the state of Israel stands for -- a murderous arm of the Yankee empire," Chavez told joint news conference. "What the president of Israel said, we take as a threat."
Chavez broke relations with Israel this year. He won praise in the Muslim world after branding an Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip as genocide.
His fierce speeches against Israel are taken by some supporters as a green light for anti-Semitism and walls in Caracas are often daubed with anti-Jewish slogans.
Ahmadinejad denies the Holocaust and has called for Israel to be wiped off the map.
OPEC members Venezuela and Iran have grown much closer in recent years. Chavez supports Ahmadinejad's controversial nuclear program, while Iran is helping Venezuela map uranium deposits.
The two leaders signed a raft of business and industrial agreements relating to 129 joint projects that Chavez said ranged from assembling bikes and producing car-parts, to processing milk and building houses.
Ahmadinejad clinched a second term after a disputed June election brought the worst unrest in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution and a heavy-handed clampdown on opponents.
His trips to left-leaning Brazil, Bolivia and Venezuela this week have helped cement ties with countries that back Iran's right to develop atomic power for peaceful purposes.
Iran is under pressure to accept a U.N. plan aimed at checking nuclear ambitions which it says are peaceful but the West fears could be intended to create atomic weapons.
"What do the imperialists say? That Ahmadinejad is here because we are making the atomic bomb here too," Chavez said.
"They're the ones with the atomic bombs, and remember the Yankee imperialists dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki," he added, referring to the bombings of Japanese cities that ended World War II.
A leading Chavez critic and newspaper director, Teodoro Petkoff, mocked Ahmadinejad's visit, saying past cooperation deals had led to little of substance, not even the planned production of bicycles.
Karen Hooper, Latin America analyst for Stratfor consultancy, agreed that the worst fears in Washington about Venezuela and Iran's ties may be overblown.
"There is little danger of Venezuela being able to help Iran proliferate," she said.
"Although Iran is short on uranium and Venezuela might have some, even if Venezuela were to deliver sufficient quantities, the real problem for Iran is the enrichment process, which requires technology that Venezuela could not possibly wield."
(Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Alan Elsner and Walker Simon)"
[Note how Ms. Karen Hooper can't help herself from acting as an apologist for evil even when it's smacking her between the eyes!]
Labels: Anti-Israel, Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism, Antisemitism in Venezuela, Chavez, Hugo Chavez, Jew-hate, South America, Venezuela, Venezuelan Anti-Semitism, Venezuelan Jews
Monday, September 15, 2008
Muslims attack Jews in France
Muslim immigrants attack three Jewish teens in Paris
By Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and DPA
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1018853.html
08/09/2008
Three Jewish teens were attacked by a group of Muslim African immigrants in Paris on Saturday evening, a French police spokeswoman said Sunday.
The Jewish teens, ages 17 and 18, who have been identified as Dan Nebet, Kevin Bitan and David Boaziz, are leaders of the Bnei Akiva youth group in Paris' 19th District.
Thiery Nebet, Dan's father, told Haaretz over the phone that according to what his son had said, as they were walking down the street, "Four or five Arabs of African origin started to throw walnuts at Kevin. When he went up to them to ask them why they did it, they surrounded him and knocked him down. Kevin and David moved in and very quickly more Arabs joined in and started to beat the three with their fists and with chains."
The Jewish teens were hospitalized, one with a broken nose and jaw and all three with bruises, and filed a police report after their release. Police opened an investigation and are looking for the Muslim teenagers allegedly responsible for the attacks.
According to the chairman of the Jewish Students Union in France, Raphael Haddad, barrages of stones were thrown at the three teens during the attack. Haddad also said the incident occured on Petit Street in the 19th District, not far from where a 17-yea-ar-old Jewish youth was attacked and seriously injured by immigrants on June 21.
The attack is one of a long series of racial attacks in Europe in general and in France in particular. France has Western Europe's largest population of both Jews and Muslims.
The assault was condemned by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and was described by Jewish organizations as an act of anti-Semitism. The Jewish Agency's envoy in Paris, Rafi Zaush, told Army Radio that attacks in the 19th District are common but most incidents are less violent and therefore not reported by the media.
The French ministerial committee to fight racism and anti-Semitism showed concern over the incidents in the 19th District and turned to the mayor, requesting he beef up police presence ahead of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The French Ministry of the Interior confirmed that the attack was motivated by anti-Semitism, saying the incident ended with relatively little damage.
According to Thiery Nebet a large number of Jews live in the 19th District and, "The atmosphere here is difficult. Now I need to protect our sons so they will not talk a great deal, because that is what we were told by the community's security people. This time it was my son; it can be anyone. The Jews want to live in peace but it's impossible with the Arabs here. We go around with a skullcap and that bothers them, but we don't care. If we have to take off our skullcaps to live better, it's better to leave now."
Benjamin Touati, head of the French desk of World Bnei Akiva, said Sunday: "The situation is very worrisome. One hundred meters from the place of the attack is a Chabad school with 1800 female students."
----
Jewish teen brutally beaten in apparent anti-Semitic attack in Paris
By Reuters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/995088.html
22/06/2008
A 17-year-old French Jew was attacked on Saturday night in Paris, an assault condemned by President Nicolas Sarkozy and said by Jewish organizations to be an act of anti-Semitism.
The young man, identified as Rudy Haddad by one Jewish organization, was attacked by youths of African origin, a police source said, and the National Agency of Vigilance Against Anti-emitism said he had been attacked with iron bars.
Police said five youths had been held for questioning, and one police source told Reuters the victim was suffering "serious neurological problems."
The Union of French Jewish Students said Haddad had been identified as Jewish because he was wearing a kippa (skullcap), and had suffered several broken ribs and a fractured skull and was in intensive care at a hospital in central Paris.
"The victim was wearing a kippa and was on his way back home when his attackers, after identifying him as Jewish, started to beat him," the union said.
The number of attackers was not known, varying from 6 or 7 to 30, depending on sources. Haddad's father told French radio RTL there were around 15 attackers.
Two police sources said the attack took place right after a skirmish between two groups of youths, one Jewish and the other of North African origin. They said it was unclear whether Haddad had taken part in the confrontation.
They said such skirmishes were a regular feature in the multi-confessional Buttes Chaumont neighbourhood in the 19th arrondissement of Paris.
The assault was immediately condemned by French President Nicola Sarkozy, who began a three-day visit to Israel on Sunday aimed at reinforcing his
image as an ally of the state.
"[Sarkozy] assures the victim and his family of his support and renews his total determination to fight all forms of racism and anti-Semitism," said a statement from Sarkozy's office.
Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie expressed her "profound emotion" and announced in a statement the opening of an investigation to determine the circumstances of the attack.
A 23-year-old French Jew, Ilan Halimi, was found naked, tortured and covered in burns near Paris on February 13, 2006, after being held captive for three weeks. He died on the way to the hospital.
The crime shocked France and raised fears of surging anti-Semitism among French Muslims.
In February of this year, another Jewish teenager was tortured in the same town in which Halimi was killed, in yet another anti-Semitic attack.
By Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and DPA
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1018853.html
08/09/2008
Three Jewish teens were attacked by a group of Muslim African immigrants in Paris on Saturday evening, a French police spokeswoman said Sunday.
The Jewish teens, ages 17 and 18, who have been identified as Dan Nebet, Kevin Bitan and David Boaziz, are leaders of the Bnei Akiva youth group in Paris' 19th District.
Thiery Nebet, Dan's father, told Haaretz over the phone that according to what his son had said, as they were walking down the street, "Four or five Arabs of African origin started to throw walnuts at Kevin. When he went up to them to ask them why they did it, they surrounded him and knocked him down. Kevin and David moved in and very quickly more Arabs joined in and started to beat the three with their fists and with chains."
The Jewish teens were hospitalized, one with a broken nose and jaw and all three with bruises, and filed a police report after their release. Police opened an investigation and are looking for the Muslim teenagers allegedly responsible for the attacks.
According to the chairman of the Jewish Students Union in France, Raphael Haddad, barrages of stones were thrown at the three teens during the attack. Haddad also said the incident occured on Petit Street in the 19th District, not far from where a 17-yea-ar-old Jewish youth was attacked and seriously injured by immigrants on June 21.
The attack is one of a long series of racial attacks in Europe in general and in France in particular. France has Western Europe's largest population of both Jews and Muslims.
The assault was condemned by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and was described by Jewish organizations as an act of anti-Semitism. The Jewish Agency's envoy in Paris, Rafi Zaush, told Army Radio that attacks in the 19th District are common but most incidents are less violent and therefore not reported by the media.
The French ministerial committee to fight racism and anti-Semitism showed concern over the incidents in the 19th District and turned to the mayor, requesting he beef up police presence ahead of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The French Ministry of the Interior confirmed that the attack was motivated by anti-Semitism, saying the incident ended with relatively little damage.
According to Thiery Nebet a large number of Jews live in the 19th District and, "The atmosphere here is difficult. Now I need to protect our sons so they will not talk a great deal, because that is what we were told by the community's security people. This time it was my son; it can be anyone. The Jews want to live in peace but it's impossible with the Arabs here. We go around with a skullcap and that bothers them, but we don't care. If we have to take off our skullcaps to live better, it's better to leave now."
Benjamin Touati, head of the French desk of World Bnei Akiva, said Sunday: "The situation is very worrisome. One hundred meters from the place of the attack is a Chabad school with 1800 female students."
----
Jewish teen brutally beaten in apparent anti-Semitic attack in Paris
By Reuters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/995088.html
22/06/2008
A 17-year-old French Jew was attacked on Saturday night in Paris, an assault condemned by President Nicolas Sarkozy and said by Jewish organizations to be an act of anti-Semitism.
The young man, identified as Rudy Haddad by one Jewish organization, was attacked by youths of African origin, a police source said, and the National Agency of Vigilance Against Anti-emitism said he had been attacked with iron bars.
Police said five youths had been held for questioning, and one police source told Reuters the victim was suffering "serious neurological problems."
The Union of French Jewish Students said Haddad had been identified as Jewish because he was wearing a kippa (skullcap), and had suffered several broken ribs and a fractured skull and was in intensive care at a hospital in central Paris.
"The victim was wearing a kippa and was on his way back home when his attackers, after identifying him as Jewish, started to beat him," the union said.
The number of attackers was not known, varying from 6 or 7 to 30, depending on sources. Haddad's father told French radio RTL there were around 15 attackers.
Two police sources said the attack took place right after a skirmish between two groups of youths, one Jewish and the other of North African origin. They said it was unclear whether Haddad had taken part in the confrontation.
They said such skirmishes were a regular feature in the multi-confessional Buttes Chaumont neighbourhood in the 19th arrondissement of Paris.
The assault was immediately condemned by French President Nicola Sarkozy, who began a three-day visit to Israel on Sunday aimed at reinforcing his
image as an ally of the state.
"[Sarkozy] assures the victim and his family of his support and renews his total determination to fight all forms of racism and anti-Semitism," said a statement from Sarkozy's office.
Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie expressed her "profound emotion" and announced in a statement the opening of an investigation to determine the circumstances of the attack.
A 23-year-old French Jew, Ilan Halimi, was found naked, tortured and covered in burns near Paris on February 13, 2006, after being held captive for three weeks. He died on the way to the hospital.
The crime shocked France and raised fears of surging anti-Semitism among French Muslims.
In February of this year, another Jewish teenager was tortured in the same town in which Halimi was killed, in yet another anti-Semitic attack.
Labels: Anti-Semitism, Antisemitism, French antisemitism, French Jews, Islamic antisemitism, Islamofascism
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Palestinians depicting Jews as enemies
Cartoon film on Nakba describes Jews as 'enemies of homeland'
By Reuters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/982336.html
Tue., May 13, 2008 Iyyar 8, 5768
Jewish fighters are shown shooting Palestinians and bombing their villages in an animated film by Gaza-based women marking 60 years since Israel was founded and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced.
"The Tale of a Key" describes the Jews as "enemies of the religion and enemies of the homeland" and is meant to highlight what the illustrators called the "holy" right of dispossessed Palestinians to return to land that is now part of Israel.
The women behind the film, who run a production company in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, say they are not politically aligned but want to teach Palestinian children and adults about the events that drove them from their homeland.
"It tells of the suffering, the killing and displacement," said Moamena Abu Hamda, director of the JohaToon company in Gaza City. "It shows that the Palestinian people did not leave their land by their own will but they were forced to do it."
Hamas's Al-Aqsa Television drew Israeli and international censure last year for using cartoons and puppet-shows featuring Mickey Mouse and Lion King lookalikes to illustrate the Islamist movement's battle against Israel, which it does not recognise.
JohaToon plans to screen the 32-minute film, which it says is for adults as well as children, in Gaza this month and hopes to market it in other Arab countries and further afield.
Some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes in the war that led to the founding of Israel in 1948.
About 4.5 million refugees and their descendents now live in squalid camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Most of the Gaza Strip's 1.5 million residents are either refugees or their descendants and live in eight densely populated camps and four cities.
Refugees cling to a "right of return" and their fate is one of the thorniest issues facing negotiators who are trying to reach a deal this year to create a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank -- land Israel occupied in 1967 Middle East war.
While Israel celebrates its 60th birthday with fireworks, parties and military display this month, Palestinians hold rallies to mourn the "Nakba", or "catastrophe" of displacement and to highlight the refugee problem.
Abu Hamda insisted "The Tale of the Key" - which refers to the keys many Palestinians carry as symbols of their lost homes - was not meant to incite violence against Israelis but to recount stories passed down from previous generations.
"We have laid down facts as we heard them from our grandfathers and grandmothers," Abu Hamda told Reuters. "We told the tale as we heard and as people saw it."
By Reuters
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/982336.html
Tue., May 13, 2008 Iyyar 8, 5768
Jewish fighters are shown shooting Palestinians and bombing their villages in an animated film by Gaza-based women marking 60 years since Israel was founded and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced.
"The Tale of a Key" describes the Jews as "enemies of the religion and enemies of the homeland" and is meant to highlight what the illustrators called the "holy" right of dispossessed Palestinians to return to land that is now part of Israel.
The women behind the film, who run a production company in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, say they are not politically aligned but want to teach Palestinian children and adults about the events that drove them from their homeland.
"It tells of the suffering, the killing and displacement," said Moamena Abu Hamda, director of the JohaToon company in Gaza City. "It shows that the Palestinian people did not leave their land by their own will but they were forced to do it."
Hamas's Al-Aqsa Television drew Israeli and international censure last year for using cartoons and puppet-shows featuring Mickey Mouse and Lion King lookalikes to illustrate the Islamist movement's battle against Israel, which it does not recognise.
JohaToon plans to screen the 32-minute film, which it says is for adults as well as children, in Gaza this month and hopes to market it in other Arab countries and further afield.
Some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled from their homes in the war that led to the founding of Israel in 1948.
About 4.5 million refugees and their descendents now live in squalid camps in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Most of the Gaza Strip's 1.5 million residents are either refugees or their descendants and live in eight densely populated camps and four cities.
Refugees cling to a "right of return" and their fate is one of the thorniest issues facing negotiators who are trying to reach a deal this year to create a Palestinian state in Gaza and the West Bank -- land Israel occupied in 1967 Middle East war.
While Israel celebrates its 60th birthday with fireworks, parties and military display this month, Palestinians hold rallies to mourn the "Nakba", or "catastrophe" of displacement and to highlight the refugee problem.
Abu Hamda insisted "The Tale of the Key" - which refers to the keys many Palestinians carry as symbols of their lost homes - was not meant to incite violence against Israelis but to recount stories passed down from previous generations.
"We have laid down facts as we heard them from our grandfathers and grandmothers," Abu Hamda told Reuters. "We told the tale as we heard and as people saw it."
Labels: Anti-Israel, anti-Jewish, Antisemitism, Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Palestinian antisemitism
Friday, February 22, 2008
Confonting anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism on Facebook, YouTube, Google and the web
Anti-Semitism 2.0 Going Largely Unchallenged
Old-guard groups seen slow in recognizing viral threat from Facebook, YouTube.
by Tamar Snyder
Staff Writer
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c37_a4553/News/National.html
02/20/2008
More than 35,000 people have joined the Facebook group “Israel is not a country! ... Delist it from Facebook as a country!”
Type “Jew” into the search function on YouTube, and you’ll discover a host of anti-Semitic videos, including “911 Jew Spy Scandal 3” and a video clip in which National Polish Party’s Leszek Bubel declares himself a “proud anti-Semite.”
And Google Earth, the satellite-mapping program, recently came under fire when officials from Kiryat Yam filed a lawsuit against Google after the Internet giant refused to take down a note posted by user Thameen Darby claiming that the northern Israeli town was founded on the remains of the Arab village of Ghawarina.
This is the new face of anti-Semitism: Anti-Semitism 2.0. And it’s potentially more hazardous than the relatively straightforward smear campaigns and petitions of yesteryear.
Web 2.0 applications such as Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia and Google Earth thrive on communities in which users generate and share information in the form of videos, photos and blog posts, which are subject to vague terms of service and seemingly arbitrary censorship.
This leaves the door open for anti-Semites across the globe to co-opt these applications to spread messages of hate, often failing to distinguish between Jews and Israel when comparing Jews to Nazis and Israel to apartheid South Africa, observers say.
“This phenomena is spreading anti-Semitism and acceptability of anti-Semitism in new and increasingly effective ways,” says Andre Oboler, a Legacy Heritage Fellow who runs ZionismOnTheWeb.org and is a post-doctoral fellow studying online public diplomacy at Bar-Ilan University.
“Now in the Web 2.0 world, the social acceptability of anti-Semitism can be spread, public resistance lowered and hate networks rapidly established,” Oboler said.
What’s worse, Oboler contends, Jewish organizations are behind the times and are not devoting the resources necessary to stop the hate virus from spreading.
Many at the helm of these large organizations have yet to sign up for a Facebook account, don’t spend much time on YouTube and aren’t all that sure what Google Earth is.
“Community leaders tend to be the sort of people who are too busy to spend time looking at YouTube videos,” Oboler says. “They are very, very focused on old media, which is a bit strange, since a lot of people their age are online.”
The average American YouTube viewer is 39, and 33.5 percent of Facebook users are between 35 and 54 years old.
The more tech-savvy among community leaders realize just how grave the situation is — but have all but shaken their heads at the impossibility of making a dent in the large volume of hate messages being spread. As Myrna Shinbaum, spokeswoman for the Anti-Defamation League retorted, “We can’t sit here all day monitoring YouTube and Facebook.” (The organization does report objectionable material to service providers. “But the minute they do the right thing and pull something down, another pops up,” says Deborah Lauter, ADL’s national civil rights director. “It takes constant vigilance and policing.”)
Yet we live in a world in which “truth” often belongs to the Web site with the highest Google ranking and the most hits, regardless of its credibility. Therefore, anti-Semitism 2.0 is arguably far more serious than its previous Web incarnations. And when it comes to social networking sites, the stakes are higher since the reach is that much greater, Oboler contends.
On Facebook, for example, information spreads in a viral fashion. When users join a group or sign up to promote a cause, their friends are automatically notified in their “news feeds.” They then have the option of joining, too, spreading the message even further. “The message thus spreads not only across geographic boundaries, but also across social groups,” explains Oboler.
The “Israel is not a country!” group, for example, attracted 35,000 members as of press time. Assuming each member has approximately 150 friends (a lowball estimate), then the group — which decries Israel as an apartheid regime and claims that Israel has no right to exist — will have been advertised to more than 5.25 million people.
In response, several Facebook users established counter-groups, such as the “Palestine is not a country” and even “causes” such as “Facebook needs to delete the group ‘Israel is a terrorist country we all hate Israel!’” which more than 19,000 people have joined. Although “Israel is not a country!” no longer shows up in search results, “Israel: Terrorist State,” “I Hate Israel,” and some 75 groups like it still exist.
With larger Jewish organizations largely failing to combat anti-Semitism 2.0, much of the legwork has been left to individuals (many of them under 40) who lack both financial backing and the time to devote themselves fully to tracking and wiping out anti-Semitism in this new medium for spreading hate. “They see something, get annoyed and have to do something about it,” Oboler says. “But there’s no greater strategy behind it.”
Dovid, an Orthodox businessman in his late 30s, is one of the lone rangers on YouTube, the video-sharing Web site that — according to Alexa, a company that measures Web traffic — is the second-most visited site on the Web. He has posted more than 150 pro-Israel videos on YouTube, generating more than 1.3 million video views — and thousands of hateful and insidious comments (which is why he requested that The Jewish Week not print his last name).
“A little over a year ago, I was searching YouTube and there was so much really, really vile stuff out there,” he says. So he posted trailers from the 2005 movie “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West.”
“I wanted to get the message out there,” he says.
Using the name “CheckItOutNowNYC,” he continued to spend hours each week searching for videos that highlighted a positive image of Israel and the Jews, including one featuring Bob Dylan performing “Hava Nagilah.” More than 50,000 people have viewed his video, “See the Humane Treatment of a Palestinian Woman by Israel,” a three-minute NBC News clip about a female suicide bomber who entered Israel using a special medical permit but was caught with 20 pounds of explosives.
Dovid labels each video with background information and resources for those interested in learning more. The number of page views is staggering, as are the more than 100 comments he receives a day. But it’s very time-consuming, he says.
“I wish there were 50 guys like me downloading videos and reposting them,” Dovid said.
He’s since posted videos promoting Jewish organizations including Nefesh B’Nefesh and Efrat C.R.I.B. (Committee for the Rescue of Israel’s Babies). Yet he wonders why these organizations aren’t creating their own YouTube channel and posting their videos themselves.
“Super-large Jewish organizations are really slow,” he says. “But the goal is to get the videos out there. We need Jews to take a proactive stance to educate the public.”
A few Jewish organizations are warming up to Facebook. The Consulate General of Israel in New York and the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C., both have Facebook pages, but they’ve each garnered less than 1,000 “fans.” The ADL has a Facebook page, too, but it’s a rather dormant unofficial page created by a high school student.
Among the handful of organizations that are first beginning to explore social networking as a possible avenue for promotion, most lack a comprehensive understanding of how Web 2.0 works.
“Various organizations have a policy that they won’t link to other sites,” Oboler says. “This is counterproductive. Web 2.0 is about sharing. The way a Web site gets popular is partly related to the number of links and how high up they are on Google.”
“Organizations — especially the younger ones — are now realizing that Facebook, YouTube and other such Web sites are an important medium for reaching out to Jewish and non-Jewish students alike to talk about Israel,” said Dani Klein, campus director of the pro-Israel activism group StandWithUs. StandWithUs often records on-campus events and lectures and posts them on the Web.
“There will be 50 to 100 people in the room hearing the lecture, but the number of people who can watch it on the Web grows exponentially,” Klein said.
Since 2005, StandWithUs has been actively using Web 2.0 to connect with Jewish and pro-Israel students on campus. It created a Facebook page, posts events and uploaded videos to the Web site, including the protest against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadenijad’s speech at Columbia University. In addition to the StandWithUs Facebook page, the organization created a Facebook page for Israel, where Klein posts YouTube videos highlighting Israel’s technological innovations and humanitarian efforts, as well as important links and resources.
In what may be viewed as a hopeful sign, the organization is in the process of creating a multinational online task force to monitor Facebook, YouTube and other Web 2.0 applications and find problematic videos and groups that need responses. The task force would then work on posting educated, rational comments on these pages, hoping to sway those who joined anti-Israel groups out of peer pressure.
“The people who started these groups are most likely in the top 10 percent who are staunchly anti-Israel,” Klein said, adding that they are probably not easily swayed. Instead, StandWithUs will reach out to the majority of the group, who he calls “casual Palestinian supporters” who joined because their friends invited them or because “it’s hip to be anti-Israel.”
“We’ve always known it was a problem,” said Klein. “As individuals, we try to combat it. But we need to do more.”
Old-guard groups seen slow in recognizing viral threat from Facebook, YouTube.
by Tamar Snyder
Staff Writer
http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c37_a4553/News/National.html
02/20/2008
More than 35,000 people have joined the Facebook group “Israel is not a country! ... Delist it from Facebook as a country!”
Type “Jew” into the search function on YouTube, and you’ll discover a host of anti-Semitic videos, including “911 Jew Spy Scandal 3” and a video clip in which National Polish Party’s Leszek Bubel declares himself a “proud anti-Semite.”
And Google Earth, the satellite-mapping program, recently came under fire when officials from Kiryat Yam filed a lawsuit against Google after the Internet giant refused to take down a note posted by user Thameen Darby claiming that the northern Israeli town was founded on the remains of the Arab village of Ghawarina.
This is the new face of anti-Semitism: Anti-Semitism 2.0. And it’s potentially more hazardous than the relatively straightforward smear campaigns and petitions of yesteryear.
Web 2.0 applications such as Facebook, YouTube, Wikipedia and Google Earth thrive on communities in which users generate and share information in the form of videos, photos and blog posts, which are subject to vague terms of service and seemingly arbitrary censorship.
This leaves the door open for anti-Semites across the globe to co-opt these applications to spread messages of hate, often failing to distinguish between Jews and Israel when comparing Jews to Nazis and Israel to apartheid South Africa, observers say.
“This phenomena is spreading anti-Semitism and acceptability of anti-Semitism in new and increasingly effective ways,” says Andre Oboler, a Legacy Heritage Fellow who runs ZionismOnTheWeb.org and is a post-doctoral fellow studying online public diplomacy at Bar-Ilan University.
“Now in the Web 2.0 world, the social acceptability of anti-Semitism can be spread, public resistance lowered and hate networks rapidly established,” Oboler said.
What’s worse, Oboler contends, Jewish organizations are behind the times and are not devoting the resources necessary to stop the hate virus from spreading.
Many at the helm of these large organizations have yet to sign up for a Facebook account, don’t spend much time on YouTube and aren’t all that sure what Google Earth is.
“Community leaders tend to be the sort of people who are too busy to spend time looking at YouTube videos,” Oboler says. “They are very, very focused on old media, which is a bit strange, since a lot of people their age are online.”
The average American YouTube viewer is 39, and 33.5 percent of Facebook users are between 35 and 54 years old.
The more tech-savvy among community leaders realize just how grave the situation is — but have all but shaken their heads at the impossibility of making a dent in the large volume of hate messages being spread. As Myrna Shinbaum, spokeswoman for the Anti-Defamation League retorted, “We can’t sit here all day monitoring YouTube and Facebook.” (The organization does report objectionable material to service providers. “But the minute they do the right thing and pull something down, another pops up,” says Deborah Lauter, ADL’s national civil rights director. “It takes constant vigilance and policing.”)
Yet we live in a world in which “truth” often belongs to the Web site with the highest Google ranking and the most hits, regardless of its credibility. Therefore, anti-Semitism 2.0 is arguably far more serious than its previous Web incarnations. And when it comes to social networking sites, the stakes are higher since the reach is that much greater, Oboler contends.
On Facebook, for example, information spreads in a viral fashion. When users join a group or sign up to promote a cause, their friends are automatically notified in their “news feeds.” They then have the option of joining, too, spreading the message even further. “The message thus spreads not only across geographic boundaries, but also across social groups,” explains Oboler.
The “Israel is not a country!” group, for example, attracted 35,000 members as of press time. Assuming each member has approximately 150 friends (a lowball estimate), then the group — which decries Israel as an apartheid regime and claims that Israel has no right to exist — will have been advertised to more than 5.25 million people.
In response, several Facebook users established counter-groups, such as the “Palestine is not a country” and even “causes” such as “Facebook needs to delete the group ‘Israel is a terrorist country we all hate Israel!’” which more than 19,000 people have joined. Although “Israel is not a country!” no longer shows up in search results, “Israel: Terrorist State,” “I Hate Israel,” and some 75 groups like it still exist.
With larger Jewish organizations largely failing to combat anti-Semitism 2.0, much of the legwork has been left to individuals (many of them under 40) who lack both financial backing and the time to devote themselves fully to tracking and wiping out anti-Semitism in this new medium for spreading hate. “They see something, get annoyed and have to do something about it,” Oboler says. “But there’s no greater strategy behind it.”
Dovid, an Orthodox businessman in his late 30s, is one of the lone rangers on YouTube, the video-sharing Web site that — according to Alexa, a company that measures Web traffic — is the second-most visited site on the Web. He has posted more than 150 pro-Israel videos on YouTube, generating more than 1.3 million video views — and thousands of hateful and insidious comments (which is why he requested that The Jewish Week not print his last name).
“A little over a year ago, I was searching YouTube and there was so much really, really vile stuff out there,” he says. So he posted trailers from the 2005 movie “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West.”
“I wanted to get the message out there,” he says.
Using the name “CheckItOutNowNYC,” he continued to spend hours each week searching for videos that highlighted a positive image of Israel and the Jews, including one featuring Bob Dylan performing “Hava Nagilah.” More than 50,000 people have viewed his video, “See the Humane Treatment of a Palestinian Woman by Israel,” a three-minute NBC News clip about a female suicide bomber who entered Israel using a special medical permit but was caught with 20 pounds of explosives.
Dovid labels each video with background information and resources for those interested in learning more. The number of page views is staggering, as are the more than 100 comments he receives a day. But it’s very time-consuming, he says.
“I wish there were 50 guys like me downloading videos and reposting them,” Dovid said.
He’s since posted videos promoting Jewish organizations including Nefesh B’Nefesh and Efrat C.R.I.B. (Committee for the Rescue of Israel’s Babies). Yet he wonders why these organizations aren’t creating their own YouTube channel and posting their videos themselves.
“Super-large Jewish organizations are really slow,” he says. “But the goal is to get the videos out there. We need Jews to take a proactive stance to educate the public.”
A few Jewish organizations are warming up to Facebook. The Consulate General of Israel in New York and the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C., both have Facebook pages, but they’ve each garnered less than 1,000 “fans.” The ADL has a Facebook page, too, but it’s a rather dormant unofficial page created by a high school student.
Among the handful of organizations that are first beginning to explore social networking as a possible avenue for promotion, most lack a comprehensive understanding of how Web 2.0 works.
“Various organizations have a policy that they won’t link to other sites,” Oboler says. “This is counterproductive. Web 2.0 is about sharing. The way a Web site gets popular is partly related to the number of links and how high up they are on Google.”
“Organizations — especially the younger ones — are now realizing that Facebook, YouTube and other such Web sites are an important medium for reaching out to Jewish and non-Jewish students alike to talk about Israel,” said Dani Klein, campus director of the pro-Israel activism group StandWithUs. StandWithUs often records on-campus events and lectures and posts them on the Web.
“There will be 50 to 100 people in the room hearing the lecture, but the number of people who can watch it on the Web grows exponentially,” Klein said.
Since 2005, StandWithUs has been actively using Web 2.0 to connect with Jewish and pro-Israel students on campus. It created a Facebook page, posts events and uploaded videos to the Web site, including the protest against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadenijad’s speech at Columbia University. In addition to the StandWithUs Facebook page, the organization created a Facebook page for Israel, where Klein posts YouTube videos highlighting Israel’s technological innovations and humanitarian efforts, as well as important links and resources.
In what may be viewed as a hopeful sign, the organization is in the process of creating a multinational online task force to monitor Facebook, YouTube and other Web 2.0 applications and find problematic videos and groups that need responses. The task force would then work on posting educated, rational comments on these pages, hoping to sway those who joined anti-Israel groups out of peer pressure.
“The people who started these groups are most likely in the top 10 percent who are staunchly anti-Israel,” Klein said, adding that they are probably not easily swayed. Instead, StandWithUs will reach out to the majority of the group, who he calls “casual Palestinian supporters” who joined because their friends invited them or because “it’s hip to be anti-Israel.”
“We’ve always known it was a problem,” said Klein. “As individuals, we try to combat it. But we need to do more.”
Labels: Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism, cyber-hate, Facebook, Google, Internet, YouTube
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Antisemitism in Sweden
Sweden accused of persecuting civil servant for pro-Israel views
By Cnaan Liphshiz
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/956205.html
Wed., February 20, 2008 Adar1 14, 5768
An employee of the Swedish Migration Board sued the organization last month for what he considers unlawful demotion for his support of Israel and the U.S., which he expressed in his personal Web site. The parties met last week at the Goteborg District Court for a first hearing on the case.
Lennart Eriksson, 51, told Haaretz by phone that his boss, Eugene Palmer, had demoted him last September from the position of manager of an asylum assessment unit - which he had held for six years - to manager of one of the board's shelters. Eriksson maintains that in effect, the demotion constitutes dismissal.
The board - the government body handling immigrants - disagrees with this.
Eriksson, who is not Jewish, also said he viewed his demotion as a form of political persecution.
According to Eriksson, Palmer told him he had seen Eriksson's Web site and that Eriksson's views were both "unusual and controversial." According to Eriksson, Palmer told him he was being demoted because of the Web site, and that running such a site was inappropriate for a senior official of the migration board.
He said his site "does not and has never contained hateful or acrimonious ideas."
The board's press officer, Marie Andersson, said the board "strongly denies that it persecutes any of its employees." She added: "Under the Swedish Secrecy Act [Sekretesslagen], the board is not at liberty - and we do not find it appropriate either - to discuss one of our employees and the specifics of this particular case."
The board had confirmed in previous queries by the Swedish media that Eriksson had been "transferred" as a result of the opinions he expressed on his Web site. Andersson said the board finds it "crucial to preserve people's confidence in the organization."
This, she says, makes it essential "for employees to not show that they are in favor of one side in a conflict which leads people to seek refuge in Sweden." It is particularly important for staff in leading positions to "show impartiality," she said.
But Eriksson says that at least one of his former colleagues, Arne Malmgren, is a veteran pro-Palestinian activist working against human rights violations in the West Bank and Lebanon. Malmgren and his wife, Birgitta Elfstrom - who also worked at the board until retiring recently - are quoted in the international media in this context.
The board never approached Malmgren on this issue and has even recently promoted him, says Eriksson. Press officer Andersson would only say on this issue that "Mr. Malmgren has not been promoted to a position as head of any unit."
Israel's former ambassador to Sweden, Zvi Mazel, said he was not surprised by the incident.
"The people who fired Eriksson took the lead from a prevalent anti-Israel atmosphere in Sweden's corridors of power," he said. Dr. Mikael Tossavainen, a Swedish-born researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, said he considered the incident a danger to free speech.
Upon hearing about the case, the vice chair of the Sweden-Israel Friendship Society, Ilya Meyer, launched a public campaign to raise awareness about what he calls political persecution apparent in Eriksson's case.
"If someone from another country had suffered the treatment to which Eriksson has been subjected, the victim would be granted political asylum in Sweden on the grounds of political persecution," Meyer said.
By Cnaan Liphshiz
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/956205.html
Wed., February 20, 2008 Adar1 14, 5768
An employee of the Swedish Migration Board sued the organization last month for what he considers unlawful demotion for his support of Israel and the U.S., which he expressed in his personal Web site. The parties met last week at the Goteborg District Court for a first hearing on the case.
Lennart Eriksson, 51, told Haaretz by phone that his boss, Eugene Palmer, had demoted him last September from the position of manager of an asylum assessment unit - which he had held for six years - to manager of one of the board's shelters. Eriksson maintains that in effect, the demotion constitutes dismissal.
The board - the government body handling immigrants - disagrees with this.
Eriksson, who is not Jewish, also said he viewed his demotion as a form of political persecution.
According to Eriksson, Palmer told him he had seen Eriksson's Web site and that Eriksson's views were both "unusual and controversial." According to Eriksson, Palmer told him he was being demoted because of the Web site, and that running such a site was inappropriate for a senior official of the migration board.
He said his site "does not and has never contained hateful or acrimonious ideas."
The board's press officer, Marie Andersson, said the board "strongly denies that it persecutes any of its employees." She added: "Under the Swedish Secrecy Act [Sekretesslagen], the board is not at liberty - and we do not find it appropriate either - to discuss one of our employees and the specifics of this particular case."
The board had confirmed in previous queries by the Swedish media that Eriksson had been "transferred" as a result of the opinions he expressed on his Web site. Andersson said the board finds it "crucial to preserve people's confidence in the organization."
This, she says, makes it essential "for employees to not show that they are in favor of one side in a conflict which leads people to seek refuge in Sweden." It is particularly important for staff in leading positions to "show impartiality," she said.
But Eriksson says that at least one of his former colleagues, Arne Malmgren, is a veteran pro-Palestinian activist working against human rights violations in the West Bank and Lebanon. Malmgren and his wife, Birgitta Elfstrom - who also worked at the board until retiring recently - are quoted in the international media in this context.
The board never approached Malmgren on this issue and has even recently promoted him, says Eriksson. Press officer Andersson would only say on this issue that "Mr. Malmgren has not been promoted to a position as head of any unit."
Israel's former ambassador to Sweden, Zvi Mazel, said he was not surprised by the incident.
"The people who fired Eriksson took the lead from a prevalent anti-Israel atmosphere in Sweden's corridors of power," he said. Dr. Mikael Tossavainen, a Swedish-born researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, said he considered the incident a danger to free speech.
Upon hearing about the case, the vice chair of the Sweden-Israel Friendship Society, Ilya Meyer, launched a public campaign to raise awareness about what he calls political persecution apparent in Eriksson's case.
"If someone from another country had suffered the treatment to which Eriksson has been subjected, the victim would be granted political asylum in Sweden on the grounds of political persecution," Meyer said.
Labels: Anti-Israel, Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism, Sweden, Swedish society
Saturday, January 26, 2008
More Antisemitism in: United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, United States
Anti-Semitic incidents rise in Germany, Australia, U.S. in 2007
By Anshel Pfeffer and Asaf Uni, Haaretz Correspondent
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/948267.html
Sun., January 27, 2008 Shvat 20, 5768
The annual global report on anti-Semitism being presented to the cabinet Sunday morning points to a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Germany, Australia, the United States and Ukraine together with an overall decrease in Western Europe. The largest number of incidents were recorded in Britain, followed by France.
Under pressure from Diaspora Jewish community leaders, particularly the Board of Deputies of British Jews, it was decided this year not to cite numbers of incidents but only to report general trends. In previous years there were discrepancies between the numbers in the Israeli report and data published by other countries.
The report, a joint government and Jewish Agency project, indicates a decline in anti-Semitic incidents in 2007 after the steep jump registered for 2006 in the wake of the Second Lebanon War. In countries where an increase did occur, such as Germany and Australia, this was tied to the strengthening of the radical right, along with aggression by local Muslim communities.
Rising anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S., including a 30-percent increase in New York, is also associated with racist activity by right-wing extremist groups.
In Ukraine, last year saw a move from spontaneous anti-Semitic acts to more organized activity within parties with anti-Semitic platforms and the distribution of anti-Semitic propaganda at universities and colleges. Contrary to President Victor Yushchenko's declarations during his visit to Israel two months ago, the government only recently began countering such activity.
Similar trends can be seen in other Eastern European countries. Anti-Semitism is rife in Russia, alongside general racism and xenophobia, but the central government has cracked down on the phenomenon over the past year.
The security director for the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Michael Whine, declined to comment on Britain's topping the list of anti-Semitic incidents in the Israeli report, saying only, "we are still going over our data."
In related news, the Muslim Council of Britain will participate for the first time in today's National Holocaust Memorial Day, chosen for the date that Auschwitz was liberated. The large umbrella organization decided two months ago to end its six-year boycott of the memorial day, a decision that followed accusations in recent years by the British government and Jewish organizations that its positions were anti-Semitic.
The city of Liverpool will host the main event, where speakers will include Britain's Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams.
By Anshel Pfeffer and Asaf Uni, Haaretz Correspondent
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/948267.html
Sun., January 27, 2008 Shvat 20, 5768
The annual global report on anti-Semitism being presented to the cabinet Sunday morning points to a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Germany, Australia, the United States and Ukraine together with an overall decrease in Western Europe. The largest number of incidents were recorded in Britain, followed by France.
Under pressure from Diaspora Jewish community leaders, particularly the Board of Deputies of British Jews, it was decided this year not to cite numbers of incidents but only to report general trends. In previous years there were discrepancies between the numbers in the Israeli report and data published by other countries.
The report, a joint government and Jewish Agency project, indicates a decline in anti-Semitic incidents in 2007 after the steep jump registered for 2006 in the wake of the Second Lebanon War. In countries where an increase did occur, such as Germany and Australia, this was tied to the strengthening of the radical right, along with aggression by local Muslim communities.
Rising anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S., including a 30-percent increase in New York, is also associated with racist activity by right-wing extremist groups.
In Ukraine, last year saw a move from spontaneous anti-Semitic acts to more organized activity within parties with anti-Semitic platforms and the distribution of anti-Semitic propaganda at universities and colleges. Contrary to President Victor Yushchenko's declarations during his visit to Israel two months ago, the government only recently began countering such activity.
Similar trends can be seen in other Eastern European countries. Anti-Semitism is rife in Russia, alongside general racism and xenophobia, but the central government has cracked down on the phenomenon over the past year.
The security director for the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Michael Whine, declined to comment on Britain's topping the list of anti-Semitic incidents in the Israeli report, saying only, "we are still going over our data."
In related news, the Muslim Council of Britain will participate for the first time in today's National Holocaust Memorial Day, chosen for the date that Auschwitz was liberated. The large umbrella organization decided two months ago to end its six-year boycott of the memorial day, a decision that followed accusations in recent years by the British government and Jewish organizations that its positions were anti-Semitic.
The city of Liverpool will host the main event, where speakers will include Britain's Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams.
Labels: Anti-Semitism, Antisemitism, Australia, France, Germany, United Kingdom, United States
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Debating Antisemitism in Sweden
Anti-Semitism, in Sweden? Depends who you're asking
By Cnaan Liphshiz
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/922248.html
Fri., November 09, 2007 Cheshvan 28, 5768
The Swedes are not anti-Semitic, the Rabbi of Stockholm's Orthodox Jewish community, Meir Horden, told AngloFile on a visit here this week. According to Horden, Swedish Jews have only hostility from local Muslims to fear.
But Zvi Mazel, a controversial figure in Sweden ever since he served there as Israel's ambassador in 2004, strongly disagrees.
"It's not true to say that the Swedes are anti-Semitic. Some of them are hostile to Israel because they support the weak side, which they perceive the Palestinians to be," Horden said. The capital's Orthodox community numbers 4,500.
In an interview on one of his frequent trips here, Horden went on to say that "generally speaking," Swedish support for the Palestinians comes from the same place that led the Swedes to help Holocaust survivors.
"Of course you can't compare the two things, but that's their way of thinking," Horden explained at his Modi'in home after delivering a lecture on Swedish Jewry at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. "It's frustrating because the Swedes don't look too much into historical facts."
Mazel, however, speaks of a deep-rooted anti-Semitic sentiment that he says is inherent to Swedish culture. "If it weren't for this lingering anti-Semitism, the incident would arguably never have happened," Mazel said in reference to his interference with a work of art at a Stockholm museum in early 2004, during his term as ambassador.
Believing that an art exhibit celebrated Palestinian suicide bombers, Mazel caused the installation to short-circuit, and was forcibly removed from the museum as a result.
Blind hatred
Some days later, Mazel told a Swedish newspaper that "Sweden is among the most severely anti-Semitic places" with "daily agitations in the media to kill Jews."
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon supported Mazel's actions. Mazel retired several weeks later.
"I'm very surprised by Rabbi Horden's statements," Mazel said. "Anti-Semitism is prevalent in Swedish society as it has always been, and is apparent in cases of blind hatred of all things Israeli."
Mazel denied that his perspective on Sweden is warped because of the museum incident, and points to the first-ever systematic study on anti-Semitic images and attitudes in Sweden, released in 2005.
The poll of 5,000 adults in Sweden on their attitude to Israel and Jews found that over a third had "somewhat ambivalent attitude towards Jews," with 5 percent admitting to strong anti-Semitism.
Horden clearly disagrees with the assessment of the former ambassador. "Mazel does speak of anti-Semitism in Sweden," the rabbi said, but I don't think that's a problem," Horden says.
"Six percent of the population is Muslim and this causes problems, like attacks in graveyards, but you don't feel an anti-Israel situation."
Horden, an Israeli-American who was trained to serve in Sweden by the Rothschild Foundation, says that regardless of anti-Semitism, being a religious Jew in Sweden is tough. "Shabbat starts at noon at summer, and kosher food is hard to get."
Other problems are rooted in Sweden's ultra-liberal atmosphere, Horden says. When he, together with Muslim and Christian leaders, signed a petition in 2004 against same-sex marriage, the Reform Jewish community told the media that Horden's action did not represent the Jewish community as a whole.
"It was just important for the Reform stream to show Swedish society that they were indeed liberal and not extremists or fanatics," Horden claims.
Smiling, he adds: "I was surprised to see gay Jewish couples who wanted to get married in synagogue. In Israel the homosexual community is so anti-religious."
By Cnaan Liphshiz
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/922248.html
Fri., November 09, 2007 Cheshvan 28, 5768
The Swedes are not anti-Semitic, the Rabbi of Stockholm's Orthodox Jewish community, Meir Horden, told AngloFile on a visit here this week. According to Horden, Swedish Jews have only hostility from local Muslims to fear.
But Zvi Mazel, a controversial figure in Sweden ever since he served there as Israel's ambassador in 2004, strongly disagrees.
"It's not true to say that the Swedes are anti-Semitic. Some of them are hostile to Israel because they support the weak side, which they perceive the Palestinians to be," Horden said. The capital's Orthodox community numbers 4,500.
In an interview on one of his frequent trips here, Horden went on to say that "generally speaking," Swedish support for the Palestinians comes from the same place that led the Swedes to help Holocaust survivors.
"Of course you can't compare the two things, but that's their way of thinking," Horden explained at his Modi'in home after delivering a lecture on Swedish Jewry at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. "It's frustrating because the Swedes don't look too much into historical facts."
Mazel, however, speaks of a deep-rooted anti-Semitic sentiment that he says is inherent to Swedish culture. "If it weren't for this lingering anti-Semitism, the incident would arguably never have happened," Mazel said in reference to his interference with a work of art at a Stockholm museum in early 2004, during his term as ambassador.
Believing that an art exhibit celebrated Palestinian suicide bombers, Mazel caused the installation to short-circuit, and was forcibly removed from the museum as a result.
Blind hatred
Some days later, Mazel told a Swedish newspaper that "Sweden is among the most severely anti-Semitic places" with "daily agitations in the media to kill Jews."
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon supported Mazel's actions. Mazel retired several weeks later.
"I'm very surprised by Rabbi Horden's statements," Mazel said. "Anti-Semitism is prevalent in Swedish society as it has always been, and is apparent in cases of blind hatred of all things Israeli."
Mazel denied that his perspective on Sweden is warped because of the museum incident, and points to the first-ever systematic study on anti-Semitic images and attitudes in Sweden, released in 2005.
The poll of 5,000 adults in Sweden on their attitude to Israel and Jews found that over a third had "somewhat ambivalent attitude towards Jews," with 5 percent admitting to strong anti-Semitism.
Horden clearly disagrees with the assessment of the former ambassador. "Mazel does speak of anti-Semitism in Sweden," the rabbi said, but I don't think that's a problem," Horden says.
"Six percent of the population is Muslim and this causes problems, like attacks in graveyards, but you don't feel an anti-Israel situation."
Horden, an Israeli-American who was trained to serve in Sweden by the Rothschild Foundation, says that regardless of anti-Semitism, being a religious Jew in Sweden is tough. "Shabbat starts at noon at summer, and kosher food is hard to get."
Other problems are rooted in Sweden's ultra-liberal atmosphere, Horden says. When he, together with Muslim and Christian leaders, signed a petition in 2004 against same-sex marriage, the Reform Jewish community told the media that Horden's action did not represent the Jewish community as a whole.
"It was just important for the Reform stream to show Swedish society that they were indeed liberal and not extremists or fanatics," Horden claims.
Smiling, he adds: "I was surprised to see gay Jewish couples who wanted to get married in synagogue. In Israel the homosexual community is so anti-religious."
Labels: Antisemitism, Sweden, Swedish society
Monday, November 05, 2007
Anti-semitism in the USA
ADL survey: 15% of Americans 'unquestionably anti-Semitic'
By Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/919518.html
Mon., November 05, 2007 Cheshvan 24, 5768
The Anti-Defamation League on Thursday released recent survey results which it says show 15 percent of American adults hold "unquestionably anti-Semitic" views.
The figures represent an increase of one percent since last time the survey was conducted in 2005, and contradicted a decade-long trend of reduced anti-Semitism.
The ADL, which is an international organization aiming to reduce anti-Semitism through programs and services, conducted the telephone survey of 2,000 Americans registered as voters in October. A similar survey conducted by it in 1998 showed anti-Semitism dropped from 20 percent to 12 percent over the preceding six years.
Presenting the results of the survey at the ADL National Commission's annual meeting, National Director Abraham Foxman expressed his concern at the apparent reversal of previous trends away from anti-Semitism.
"These findings, coupled with the ongoing acts of anti-Semitic incidents and hate crimes, suggest that anti-Semitic beliefs endure and resonate with a substantial segment of the population, nearly 35 million people."
The survey found that 31 percent of participants believe Jews are more loyal to Israel than America, down from 33 percent in 2005, and that 27 percent believe Jews were responsible for the death of Christ, down from 30 percent in 2005.
A further 15 percent believed that Jews have "too much power in the U.S.", which remained unchanged from 2005, while 20 percent and 18 percent respectively believed Jews have too much influence in business and on Wall Street.
"When it comes to Jews, old stereotypes die hard," said Foxman, adding that "Jewish power" has replaced many ethnic stereotypes previously attributed to Jewish Americans.
By Haaretz Service
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/919518.html
Mon., November 05, 2007 Cheshvan 24, 5768
The Anti-Defamation League on Thursday released recent survey results which it says show 15 percent of American adults hold "unquestionably anti-Semitic" views.
The figures represent an increase of one percent since last time the survey was conducted in 2005, and contradicted a decade-long trend of reduced anti-Semitism.
The ADL, which is an international organization aiming to reduce anti-Semitism through programs and services, conducted the telephone survey of 2,000 Americans registered as voters in October. A similar survey conducted by it in 1998 showed anti-Semitism dropped from 20 percent to 12 percent over the preceding six years.
Presenting the results of the survey at the ADL National Commission's annual meeting, National Director Abraham Foxman expressed his concern at the apparent reversal of previous trends away from anti-Semitism.
"These findings, coupled with the ongoing acts of anti-Semitic incidents and hate crimes, suggest that anti-Semitic beliefs endure and resonate with a substantial segment of the population, nearly 35 million people."
The survey found that 31 percent of participants believe Jews are more loyal to Israel than America, down from 33 percent in 2005, and that 27 percent believe Jews were responsible for the death of Christ, down from 30 percent in 2005.
A further 15 percent believed that Jews have "too much power in the U.S.", which remained unchanged from 2005, while 20 percent and 18 percent respectively believed Jews have too much influence in business and on Wall Street.
"When it comes to Jews, old stereotypes die hard," said Foxman, adding that "Jewish power" has replaced many ethnic stereotypes previously attributed to Jewish Americans.
Labels: Antisemitism, Jewish power, stereotypes, surveys, United States
