Tag Archives: Anti-Semetism

France shaken by outbreak of anti-Semitic violence and abuse

French President Emmanuel Macron looks at a grave vandalised with a swastika during a visit at the Jewish cemetery in Quatzenheim, France February 19, 2019. Frederick Florin/Pool via REUTERS

By Luke Baker

PARIS (Reuters) – A series of attacks across France in recent days has alarmed politicians and prompted calls for action against what some commentators describe as a new form of anti-Semitism among the far-left and Islamist preachers.

The problem was starkly underlined on Tuesday with the discovery of more than 90 graves in a Jewish cemetery in eastern France desecrated with swastikas and other abuse. It remains unclear who carried out the attack.

Graves desecrated with swastikas are seen in the Jewish cemetery in Quatzenheim, near Strasbourg, France, February 19, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

Graves desecrated with swastikas are seen in the Jewish cemetery in Quatzenheim, near Strasbourg, France, February 19, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

“Whoever did this is not worthy of the French Republic and will be punished,” declared President Emmanuel Macron as he paid homage at the site. “We’ll take action, we’ll apply the law and we’ll punish them.”

Politicians from across the spectrum will join marches against anti-Semitism across France on Tuesday evening, including in Paris. Macron will visit the Holocaust memorial in the city, together with the heads of parliament.

France is home to the largest Jewish community in Europe, around 550,000 people, a population that has grown by about half since World War Two. But anti-Semitic attacks remain common, with more than 500 alone in 2018, a 74 percent increase on 2017, according to figures released last week.

Almost every day over the past two weeks there has been new evidence of anti-Semitism.

A tree in memory of Ilan Halimi, a young Jewish man kidnapped, tortured and murdered in 2006, was cut in two. A bagel shop in Paris was spray-painted with the word “Juden”, German for Jews, in yellow letters. Portraits of Simone Veil, a Holocaust survivor and magistrate, were defaced with swastikas.

Then last Saturday, a group of around 30 ‘yellow vest’ protesters were filmed harassing Alain Finkielkraut, a well-known writer and son of a Holocaust survivor, as he walked through a Paris neighborhood, calling him a “dirty Zionist shit” and telling him to “go back to Tel Aviv”.

A French gendarme conducts their investigation as he photographs graves that were desecrated with swastikas in the Jewish cemetery in Quatzenheim, near Strasbourg, France, February 19, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

A French gendarme conducts their investigation as he photographs graves that were desecrated with swastikas in the Jewish cemetery in Quatzenheim, near Strasbourg, France, February 19, 2019. REUTERS/Vincent Kessler

UNCHECKED INCITEMENT

Some commentators have blamed the resurgence on unchecked incitement by fringe Islamist preachers, calling it a new form of anti-Semitism, as opposed to that most commonly associated with Nazi ideology and the far-right.

Others point to the increasingly virulent criticism of Israel coming from the far-left and the rise of anti-Zionism – opposition to the existence of Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people – which has morphed into hatred of the Jews.

Among those filmed hurling abuse at Finkielkraut was a Muslim on a watchlist, according to French officials.

Francis Kalifat, the head of Crif, an umbrella organization representing France’s Jewish community, said anti-Zionism needed to be regarded as akin to anti-Semitism.

“If you want to have an effective fight against anti-Semitism, you need to be able to fight against all forms of it,” he said. “It’s not enough to fight against the (anti-Semitism) of the extreme right, or that of the extreme left or the Islamists. We need to fight against all forms, and that’s what we’re waiting for from political leaders.”

The leader of France’s far-left, Jean-Luc Melenchon, defended the ‘yellow vest’ movement against accusations of anti-Semitism on Tuesday, following the video targeting Finkielkraut.

Melenchon, whose La France Insoumise party draws support from the ‘yellow vests’, criticized the “politicization” of anti-Semitism, saying people from across the political spectrum needed to stand against all forms of racism and hatred.

“No, the ‘yellow vest’ movement does not deserve to be tarred by these despicable acts,” he said.

“No, the ‘yellow vest’ movement is not a racist movement, no the ‘yellow vest’ movement is not an anti-Semitic movement.”

France’s parliament on Tuesday debated whether anti-Zionism should be classified as a form of anti-Semitism, a position President Emmanuel Macron said he was opposed to.

“Those who today want the disappearance of Israel are those who want to attack the Jews,” he said. “But nevertheless, I think that when you delve into the detail, a penal condemnation of anti-Zionism creates other problems.”

Amid the rash of attacks, Israel’s immigration minister sent a tweet calling on French Jews to leave France and move to Israel, where around 200,000 French Jews already live.

(Additional reporting by Richard Lough and Johnny Cotton in Paris; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

U.S.-Israeli teen arrested in Israel for Jewish center bomb threats

U.S.-Israeli teen (2ndL) arrested in Israel on suspicion of making bomb threats against Jewish community centres in the United States, Australia and New Zealand over the past three months, is seen before the start of a remand hearing at Magistrate's Court in Rishon Lezion, Israel March 23, 2017. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

By Jeffrey Heller and Joseph Ax

JERUSALEM/NEW YORK (Reuters) – A teenager with dual Israeli-U.S. citizenship was arrested in Israel on Thursday on suspicion of making dozens of hoax bomb threats against Jewish community centers in the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

The suspect, whose identity remains sealed pursuant to a court order, is 18, Jewish and a dual U.S.-Israeli national, a police spokesman said.

The teenager’s alleged motives were not immediately clear.

At a court hearing near Tel Aviv, the suspect’s defense attorney, Galit Bash, said the young man has a growth in his head that causes behavioral problems. She later told Reuters he has a brain tumor, which “may affect his behavior, his ability to understand right and wrong,” and said the teen’s father had also been held in connection with the case.

U.S. federal authorities have been investigating a surge of threats against Jewish organizations, including more than 100 bomb threats in separate waves over the past three months targeting Jewish community centers (JCCs) in dozens of states.

The threats prompted criticism of U.S. President Donald Trump for what some Jewish groups saw as an inadequate response from his administration. He condemned the incidents in a major speech to Congress in February.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Thursday said the arrest reflected the government’s determination to prosecute those who perpetrate hate crimes.

“… we will not tolerate the targeting of any community in this country on the basis of their religious beliefs,” Sessions said in a statement.

Israeli police said the teenager is believed to be responsible for most of the threats, though the precise number was not immediately clear.

The suspect, who is accused of targeting centers in Australia and New Zealand as well as the United States, began making the calls in January using advanced masking technologies to hide his identity, police said.

Authorities also said he was responsible for a previous bomb threat against a Delta Airlines flight in January 2015 at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which took part in the probe, confirmed the arrest but declined to offer further details.

The threats forced the evacuation of many JCCs, including some with day care and school facilities for infants and young children. Coupled with other incidents such as the desecration of Jewish cemeteries, they have stoked fears of a resurgence in anti-Semitism in the United States.

In a statement, the president of the JCC Association of North America said JCC leaders were “troubled” the teenager appears to be Jewish.

The Anti-Defamation League, which fights anti-Semitism in the United States, said the alleged perpetrator’s actions mattered more than his background.

“While the details of this crime remain unclear, the impact of this individual’s actions is crystal clear: these were acts of anti-Semitism,” the organization said in a statement.

Bash said her client was home-schooled and incapable of holding down a job. She added he had been found medically unfit for Israel’s compulsory military service.

A judge ruled that he be held for at least eight more days.

U.S. authorities previously made one other arrest in connection with the threats. Juan Thompson, a former journalist from St. Louis, is accused of making several threats to Jewish organizations while posing as an ex-girlfriend as part of a revenge plot against her.

(Reporting by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem and Joseph Ax in New York; Additional reporting by Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem and Baz Ratner and Rami Amichay in Rishon Lezion; Editing by Daniel Wallis and James Dalgleish)

Bomb threats target U.S. Jewish centers for third time in a month

NEW YORK (Reuters) – More than a dozen Jewish community centers around the United States and one in Canada received bomb threats on Tuesday, the third wave of threatened attacks against them this month.

A total of 14 centers across 10 states, along with one in Canada, received the threats, according to David Posner, a director at the JCC Association of North America who advises centers on security.

He said most of the centers had received the all-clear from law enforcement officials and had resumed regular operations, though security was heightened.

“We are concerned about the anti-Semitism behind these threats,” Posner said in an emailed statement. He added that the previous threats phoned in this month were deemed to be hoaxes and that no one has been injured.

Jewish community centers in California, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Utah, Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada received the threats, according to the statement.

Telephoned threats on Jan. 9 were made against 16 Jewish community centers in nine U.S. states, and a second wave on Jan. 18 targeted 27 centers in 17 states.

Some of the calls were made using an automated “robocall” system, while others were made by individuals, security officials have said.

After the second round of threats, the FBI said that it and the Justice Department were investigating possible civil rights violations in connection with threats. No arrests have been made.

(Reporting by David Ingram; additional reporting by Curtis Skinner; Editing by Sandra Maler and Dan Grebler)

Abbas says some Israeli rabbis called for poisoning Palestinian water

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas accuses rabbis of poisoning the water

By Robin Emmott and Dan Williams

BRUSSELS/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday accused Israeli rabbis of calling for the poisoning of Palestinian water, in what appeared to be an invocation of a widely debunked media report that recalled a medieval anti-Semitic libel.

Abbas’s remarks, in a speech to the European parliament, did not appear on the official transcript issued by his office, suggesting he may have spoken off the cuff as he condemned Israeli actions against Palestinians amid stalled peace talks.

“Only a week ago, a number of rabbis in Israel announced, and made a clear announcement, demanding that their government poison the water to kill the Palestinians,” Abbas said.

“Isn’t that clear incitement to commit mass killings against the Palestinian people?”

Israeli officials did not immediately respond to the remarks, which were made as Israel’s president, Reuven Rivlin, made a parallel visit to Brussels.

Rivlin’s office said Abbas had turned down a European proposal that the two meet there. A spokesman for Abbas said any such meeting would require more preparation.

Israeli-Palestinian peace talks collapsed in 2014.

Abbas, who received a standing ovation from EU lawmakers after his speech, gave no source for his information — and there has been no evidence over the past week of any call by Israeli rabbis to poison Palestinian water.

MASSACRES

Reports of an alleged rabbinical edict emerged on Sunday, when the Turkish state news agency Anadolu said that a “Rabbi Shlomo Mlma, chairman of the Council of Rabbis in the West Bank settlements”, had issued an advisory to allow Jewish settlers to take such action.

The same day, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, on its website, cited what it said was a water-poisoning call from a “Rabbi Mlmad” and demanded his arrest.

Reuters and other news outlets in Israel could not locate any rabbi named Shlomo Mlma or Mlmad, and there is no listed organization called the Council of Rabbis in the West Bank.

Gulf News, in a report on Sunday, said a number of rabbis had issued the purported advisory. It attributed the allegation to Breaking the Silence, an Israeli organization of veteran soldiers critical of the military’s treatment of Palestinians.

A spokesman for Breaking the Silence told Reuters the group had not provided any such information.

For Jews, allegations of water poisoning strike a bitter chord. In the 14th century, as plague swept across Europe, false accusations that Jews were responsible for the disease by deliberately poisoning wells led to massacres of Jewish communities.

(Additional reporting by Jeffrey Heller, Nidal al-Mughrabi and Ali Sawafta; editing by Ralph Boulton)

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Nearly 75% of Jewish Students at American College Face Anti-Semitic Comments

A new study shows that almost 3 out of every 4 Jewish students on American college campuses face anti-semitic comments or actions. One in four reported being blamed for Israel’s actions during the conflict with Hamas in Gaza in 2014.

Nearly 75% of the students “report having been exposed at one time during the past year to at least one of six anti-Semitic statements, including the claims that Jews have too much power and that Israelis behave ‘like Nazis’ toward the Palestinians”.

The study showed that the students most likely to receive anti-semitic comments or face hostility because of their faith were those who openly supported Israel.

“It is clear that anti-Israelism morphs into anti-Semitism on campus,” Leonard Saxe, principal researcher, told reporters, “but it is also likely that those who are highly connected to Israel become a target of anti-Semitic or anti-Israel sentiment because they make their support for Israel known. It is also likely that those who are more connected to Israel are more sensitive to criticism of Israel, or more likely to perceive such criticism as anti-Semitic. Political conservatives were also more likely to see hostility toward Jews as a problem than moderates or liberals.”

The campuses with the highest rates of anti-Semitism were Canadian campuses, California state sponsored schools and large land-grant universities in the Midwest.

The survey of just over 12,000 American and Canadian undergraduates is entitled “Antisemitism and the College Campus: Perceptions and Realities” and available to the public at the Brandeis University website. The study was conducted in Spring 2015.

Rabbi Victim of Anti-Semitic Vandalism In Dallas

A group of anti-Semitic vandals attacked the car of a Dallas area rabbi.

Rabbi Yaakov Rich leads a group worshiping at his home in Dallas.  The neighborhood’s Homeowners Association (HOA) tried to stop the group from having their times of worship and tried to sue the Rabbi to make him stop.  A court threw out the case last month.

Last week, the city of Dallas sued him to make improvements to the home if he wants to continue to hold services.

Then he came outside Thursday to find s swastika painted on his car.

“As a Jew, the swastika is the most offensive symbol that there is. They didn’t just attack me, they attacked every Jew in the City of Dallas. I am very grateful, however, that the members of Congregation Toras Chaim are banding together to ensure that there is no disruption in our activities,” Rabbi Rich told CBS Dallas.

Justin Butterfield of the Liberty Institute told CBS Dallas that this is not the first time the group has faced vandalism.

“In orthodox Jewish homes, there is a little box on the doorway with a scroll on it with a scripture on it, and in the past, somebody had ripped that off of the doorway.  They’ve also had people drive in front of the home screaming obscenities at them,” said Butterfield.

European Ministers Condemn Anti-Semitism

The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Italy are joining together in an attempt to quell the rampant anti-Semitism raging in their countries.

“Anti-Semitic rhetoric and hostility against Jews, attacks on people of Jewish belief and synagogues have no place in our societies,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, France’s Laurent Fabius and Italy’s Federica Mogherini said in a joint statement.

The group made a point to say their citizens had freedom of speech and freedom to assemble but that those rights do not permit them to harass Jewish citizens or take actions that are clearly hostile to any group of citizens.

Protesters in Germany have been particularly hostile toward Jews, chanting slogans during their protests calling for Jews to be gassed.

Authorities in Berlin are taking steps to crack down on chants like that and other anti-Semitic slogans.  They have threatened groups with arrest should they continue to harass Jewish residents.