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Antisemitic hackers attack Zoom presentation of new Italian Jewish app

Hackers raided a recent Zoom event titled “My Jewish Italy” and chanted support for Al Qaeda and Hitler.

On the evening of 18th November, the creators of the app “My Jewish Italy” held an event to advertise and present the features of the new social networking platform that allows users to discover important cultural sites, locate local kosher products, and so on.

The Turin-based Jewish app, designed by the Ucei and promoted by the Ari Foundation and Jewish Cultural Heritage, was created to raise awareness of the Jewish community and heritage and its positive influence in the country.

During the presentation, however, a series of offensive imagery and swastikas appeared on the screens of the speakers and participants, and the voices of the hackers could be heard shouting fascist and hateful slogans. The hackers managed to break into the platform through the security embankment and warned the guests that they had seized their personal data, including their credit card details.

The event was subsequently terminated.

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Italian demonstrators indicted for racial hatred towards Jews

Four demonstrators who took part in an anti-fascist demonstration in Milan in 2018 have been indicted for racial hatred as a result of abuse and threats allegedly aimed at Jewish demonstrators.

The four were indicted for racial or religious hatred offenses allegedly against members of the Jewish Brigade during April 2018 demonstrations to mark the anniversary of Italy’s Liberation in WWII.

A YouTube video of the demonstration shows police keeping noisy demonstrators apart, with far-left protesters on one side of a barrier and Jews on the other. It became more unpleasant when bottles were thrown at Jewish demonstrators and gestures of throat-slitting and machine-guns fire was directed at Jews.

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Controversy erupts over lectures with inflammatory content by professor at Bulgaria’s Sofia University

A series of lectures by a professor at Sofia University in Bulgaria have been roundly condemned for being “filled with racist, xenophobic and antisemitic content.”

Professor Mihail Mirchev recently uploaded a series of online lectures on Youtube that show him, among other inflammatory remarks, stating in response to his own question as to whether it is possible for Bulgaria to become a “Jewish state”, that it is indeed possible “if they [the Jews], less than one per cent, own the state and the capital, the media and the arts”.

The series of controversial lectures is titled “Social Work with Ethnic Groups”, and it has been taught for three years by the professor.

Numerous organisations and academics have written to the University’s administration calling for his dismissal.

Prof. Mirchev reportedly maintains that he will not resign and refuses to alter any of his teaching materials or online content, describing the allegations as “very exaggerated.”

Hours after students shared the letter on social media, an online petition was organised calling for Prof. Mirchev’s removal.

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Vandals attack German Kristallnacht memorial

A memorial in a German town to the victims of Kristallnacht has been vandalised just days after the anniversary of the Nazi pogrom.

Flowers that had been laid at a memorial in Leer, Lower Saxony, to commemorate victims of Kristallnacht at the site of a synagogue that was burned down on the night of Nazi violence on  9th November 1938, were damaged.

The security authorities in Lower Saxony have launched an investigation into the vandalism.

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New report reveals average of 43 antisemitic attacks each month against Austria’s Jews

There were 257 antisemitic incidents in Austria in the first six months of 2020, according to Austria’s Jewish representative body.

According to new statistics released this week by the Vienna-based Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien (IKG), 257 antisemitic incidents were recorded between January and June 2020, or an average of 43 antisemitic attacks each month.  These included three physical assaults, 26 instances of destruction of property and 131 episodes of verbal abuse or harassment. Perpetrators came from far-right and far-left groups, or were Islamists, according to the IKG.

Austrian politicians expressed concern over the IKG report. Chancellery Minister Karoline Edtstadler stated that the numbers were “a call to action.”

Ms Edtstadler added: “43 antisemitic incidents per month is 43 too many.”

IKG officials noted that the statistics only recorded the reported incidents and that the true picture was likely to be more alarming. They also urged the Austrian police to ensure that antisemitism was registered as a motive. In a radio interview, one official said: “People who are attacked because of their religious beliefs… should feel that they are being taken seriously and protected by all state authorities.”

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Greek daily recently accused by court of contributing to hate against Jews publishes antisemitic slur over Coronavirus vaccine

A Greek daily newspaper, whose publisher was last week found guilty of defamation and whose newspaper was accused by the court of contributing to hate against Jews, has published an antisemitic slur on its front-page, allegedly comparing the Greek-Jewish head of the Pfizer pharmaceutical company with the infamous Nazi Josef Mengele and referring to the vaccine that Pfizer has reportedly produced as “poison.”

The Makeleio newspaper published its front page article under the headline “Jewish veterinarian will stick the needle in us!” in connection with the role of the Pfizer CEO, Dr Albert Bourla, a Greek Jew, in the development of a vaccine for COVID-19.

The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece (KIS) issued a statement condemning the newspaper and claiming that it regularly publishes “incendiary antisemitic articles.”

It claimed that the article, which was illustrated with a photo of Josef Mengele, was “yet another antisemitic story” and “a clear incitement to violence against the Jews.”

The newspaper was also condemned by George Kalantzis, the General Secretary for Religious Affairs, who said that the article and others in the same newspaper “cultivate consciously the most vile antisemitism.”

It brought to mind, said Mr Kalantzis, the medieval period when Jews were blamed for every disaster, illness or defeat. “At that time the road to Auschwitz begun,” he declared.

He added that it was “a great honour and a source of pride” that a Greek “regardless of which God he might believe in” has significantly contributed to “finding a solution for this unprecedented health crisis” in a period when the health of billions of people, as well as the global economy, depended on the existence of a vaccine.

Just days ago, an Athens court found Stefanos Chios, the publisher of Makeleio, guilty of defamation in connection with an article in 2017. Mr Chios was fined £1,660 for a 2017 article defaming a former President of the Jewish Community of Athens.

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Finnish government steps back from circumcision ban following advocacy by coalition of Finnish and British campaigners

The Finnish government’s decision to scrap a measure that would have banned brit milah (religious circumcision) has been welcomed by Finnish and British campaigners.

A bill aimed at banning female genital mutilation originally contained language relating to non-medical circumcision, which could have led to a ban on religious circumcision for boys. Following representations from the Central Council of Finnish Jewish Communities and intervention by the Anglo-Jewish advocacy groups, as well as diplomats and politicians, lawmakers in Finland changed the language in the draft legislation.

The bill, which was passed on Friday, was drafted after some 50,000 Finns signed a petition calling for a specific law against female genital mutilation.

The issue of circumcision of boys will be re-examined and “clarified” in future, it is understood, but for now a ban “has been averted”, according to one campaigner.

There have been various attempts to ban religious circumcision of boys across Europe. Anti-immigration parties often join forces with more liberal groups who view the custom as, among other things, “a violation of children’s rights.” Jews and Muslims campaign against this push.

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Jewish cemetery in Ukraine desecrated by antisemitic vandalism

A number of headstones have been vandalised at a Jewish cemetery in Ukraine.

The vandalism in Malyn, a town located some 60 miles north-west of the capital Kyiv, follows similar desecrations last month at Jewish cemeteries in neighbouring Moldova and Hungary.

According to a Facebook post by a local fundraiser for cemetery renovations in Malyn, the vandalism was discovered last week. It is understood that police currently have no leads in their attempt to identify the culprits.

One of the headstones smashed was a new marble memorial for a Jewish couple who both died more than 50 years ago. Portraits of the couple and a Star of David were also smashed. The perpetrators climbed into fenced burial plots to smash headstones as well.

In 2012, the Council of Europe placed responsibility for the care of Jewish cemeteries on national governments. The non-binding resolution followed a report that pointed out that Jewish cemeteries were more vulnerable than other similar sites. In addition to vandalism – often motivated by antisemitism – the report noted instances of cemeteries in Eastern Europe that had been turned into “public gardens, leisure parks, army grounds and storage sites.”

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Greek publisher found guilty of defamation and his newspaper condemned for contributing deliberately to “rhetoric of hate” against Greek Jews

A court in Greece has found a newspaper publisher of guilty of defamation in connection with an editorial column that used antisemitic tropes.

The Athens court imposed a fine of £1,660 on Stefanos Chios, the publisher of the Makeleio newspaper, for a 2017 article about Minos Moissis, a former President of the Jewish Community of Athens.

The court stated that, in addition to defaming Moissis personally, the paper “contributed deliberately” to the production of “a rhetoric of hate against Greek Jewry.” .

Greece’s central Board of Jewish Communities announced the findings in a statement on Tuesday.

Moissis filed a lawsuit against Mr Chios three years ago.

The 2017 article read:  “A crude Jew who runs a loan-shark firm has bought the debts of poor Greeks. The President of the Jewish Community who pretends to be our friend, is stealing our money through the back door.”

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Albania hosts online forum to combat antisemitism

Albania held an online forum against antisemitism on 28th October, the first time an event directly addressing the issue has been staged in the Balkans.

The Balkans Forum Against Antisemitism, originally set to be an in-person conference, was organised by Albania’s Parliament in conjunction with the Jewish Agency and the New York-based Combat Antisemitism Movement. Participants and panelists were comprised of Speakers of Parliament from Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia and officials from the United States, United Nations, United Kingdom and Israel.

Organisers of the online event stated that it was aimed at the establishment of “a united front among the Balkans” that acts against antisemitism by removing hatred and prejudice from political discourse and establishing a “more tolerant” Europe. In the webinar, Albania’s Prime Minister, Edi Rama, called rising rates of antisemitism “a threat to our own civilisation…upon which our common future is being built.”

In the week prior to the forum, Albania’s Parliament unanimously approved the adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism, becoming the first Muslim-majority country to do so.

The Speaker of Albania’s Parliament said: “All nations that throughout history have protected Jews from extermination and support them today against stigma have a right to be proud.”

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Albania becomes the first Muslim-majority country to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism

Albania has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

The country’s Parliament adopted the Definition last Thursday ahead of the upcoming Balkans Forum Against Antisemitism conference, which the Parliament is organising in conjunction with Jewish groups.

Albania thereby becomes the first Muslim-majority to adopt the Definition.

Campaign Against Antisemitism applauds this decision at a time of rising antisemitism in Europe.

“It is good news that we, the Albanians and the peoples of the Western Balkans, a region that has suffered more than any other part of the world, the consequences of ethno-centrist and religious-centrist views and attitudes, join this emancipatory action of contemporary civilization: the fight against antisemitism,” said Gramoz Ruci, the Speaker of Albania’s parliament.

“All nations that throughout history have protected Jews from extermination and support them today against stigma have a right to be proud,” he said, adding: “But we Albanians have more reasons to be proud, because Albania is the only country in Europe where all Jews were taken under protection and rescued during World War II. Our homeland, Albania, in difficult times has served as a substitute soil for Jews.”

Britain was the first country in the world to adopt the International Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism and Lord Pickles worked hard over many meetings with officials at Downing Street. Serbia joins a growing list of national governments and public bodies to use the Definition.

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“Dangerous” Islamist with history of antisemitism taken into custody by French police after Paris teacher beheaded, while Hamas-inspired organisation dissolved by French Government

A “dangerous” Islamist, who is alleged to have played a prominent role in organising protests against the Paris high school teacher who was beheaded last week, has been taken into police custody.

Abdelhakim Sefrioui, 61, is alleged to have helped to organise protests against Samuel Paty, the teacher from the school in a north-western suburb of Paris who was decapitated after showing his students images of the prophet Muhammad during a discussion on freedom of speech.

Further raids on the homes of suspected Islamists by French police were reported on Monday as the French Government announced an investigation into 51 Muslim organisations. One of them, the Cheikh Yassine Collective, which is named after a former leader of the genocidal antisemitic terrorist group, Hamas, was dissolved by the French Cabinet today. The Government said that the Cheikh Yassine Collective was ‘implicated’ in Mr Paty’s murder.

Eye-witnesses said that Abdoullakh Anzonov, the eighteen-year-old refugee from Chechnya shouted “Allahu akbar” (“God is great”) as he slaughtered Mr Paty, 47. Mr Anzonov was later shot dead by police.

In the days leading up to his murder, Mr Paty had been the target of protests from some Muslim parents in connection with his display of the images. One parent had sought the backing of Mr Sefrioui, a Moroccan-born Islamist described by a prominent French Muslim leader as “dangerous.”

On the day before the murder, after filming an interview with a female Muslim pupil, Mr Sefrioui had a meeting with members of the school management and issued a statement asserting that Muslim children “had been attacked and humiliated in front of their classmates.” He demanded the immediate suspension of Mr Paty, whom he referred to as “this thug.”

In an interview with the news outlet Marianne, Bernard Godard, an expert on Islam and former adviser to France’s Interior Ministry, said that Mr Sefrioui had been well-known to French intelligence for nearly twenty years. In 2011, Hassen Chalghoumi, an Imam in the Parisian suburb of Drancy, was placed under police protection after Mr Sefrioui denounced him as a “pawn of the Zionists.”

Also speaking to Marianne, Imam Chalghoumi said Mr Sefrioui was “dangerous because he seduces the youth.”

Mr Sefrioui’s activism has repeatedly involved antisemitism. In 2006, for example, he campaigned on behalf of the comedian, presidential candidate and convicted antisemite Dieudonné M’Bala M’Bala, who was recently banned from several social media platforms for Holocaust denial and antisemitism.

Mr Sefrioui is a member of the Council of French Imams and claims to speak in its name. However, Daw Meskine, Secretary-General of the organisation, vigorously disputed his right to do so in interviews with French media over the weekend. When asked about the harassment of Mr Paty, Mr Meskine said: “Sefrioui does not have the right to speak on our behalf. It was a personal initiative.”

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Antisemitic note targeting Holocaust survivor found in the town of Schio, Northern Italy

An antisemitic note was discovered hanging on a municipal bulletin board at the Schio city council in Italy.

The sign, with several grammatical and spelling errors, read: “The Jewish senator [Liliana Segre] who asks herself where G-d was he was – where you put him, the Jew has a short memory, unlike G-d.”

The intended victim of the hateful rhetoric was Liliana Segre, an Auschwitz survivor who received honorary citizenship in the city of Trieste and several other cities across Italy in 2019 to show solidarity with her in her fight against antisemitism. In January 2018, Ms Segre was made an Italian senator by President Sergio Mattarella.

Senator Segre has been a target for online abuse, including death threats, since she first called for the establishment of a Parliamentary committee to combat racism and online hate speech in the country. She said at the time: “I appealed to the conscience of everyone and thought that a commission against hatred as a principle would be accepted by all.” Senator Segre has reported receiving in excess of 200 hate messages a day.

With such an influx of potential threats to her life, it was agreed that Senator Segre would receive police protection, and she is now accompanied in public by two paramilitary carabinieri officers.

The recent antisemitic sign on the council building in Schio has been condemned by city councilman Carlo Cunegato, who published an image of the note, and stated that acts of antisemitism in 2020 “stink of gross regression” which he hopes is simply “the madness” of an individual. He also pointed to the possibility that this is not an isolated incident. On 27th January a letter was found in Torrebelvicino, supposedly signed by the SS, that said: “Let us remember to reopen the ovens: Jews, Roma, sinti, fags, negri, communists. Free entry”.

The Major of Schio, Walter Orsi, outlined his disappointment at the note in a public statement, and reassured the community that the persons responsible would be found and held accountable. The sheet was promptly removed and investigations into the incident are ongoing.

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“Heil Hitler” chanted at Dutch protest over coronavirus restrictions

A group protesting about Corona virus restrictions reportedly shouted “Heil Hitler” in the streets of Den Bosch, the capital of the Netherlands province of North Brabant on Saturday.

Local radio station Omroep Brabant reported that video posted to Twitter appeared to show the demonstrators at the 17th October march shouting the antisemitic slogan.

Police are reportedly examining footage for possible criminal acts. Two arrests were made.

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Police in Germany accused of calling a fast food proprietor “Jew” for years

Local police in Saxony-Anhalt in Germany have been accused of calling a fast food proprietor “Jew” for years.

The claim was reportedly made in an anonymous email, which claimed that the entire police department was aware that the takeaway manager was being referred to in this way since the 1990s but nobody had taken any action.

It is understood that the nickname arose because of the owner’s business-mindedness. As a result, police officers would use phrases such as “We’ll go out to eat at the Jew’s”.

The Minister of the Interior of Saxony-Anhalt has apparently confirmed the allegations and condemned the practice, pledging to launch a special commission on antisemitism, racism and xenophobia in the state’s police force.

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German town forms human chain in solidarity with Jews in Hesse

Officials, clergy and residents of a German town formed a human chain around the local synagogue on Friday night in an act of solidarity with the local Jewish community.

Around 80 people from Bad Nauheim in Wetterau, Hesse, participated in the event.

The chain circled the synagogue as Jews worshiping inside marked the Sabbath and the final days of the Jewish festival of Sukkot. It was initiated by the region’s Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation. Local politicians and church representatives were among those present.

They were addressed by Karl Kress, the Mayor of Bad Neuheim, a town of 30,000 people north of Frankfurt. Mayor Kress said: “We stand together against antisemitism and discrimination. Above all we stand together for our values ​​of tolerance and openness, freedom of opinion and belief.”

Volkhard Guth, dean of the Protestant Church in Bad Neuheim, referred to the attack on a synagogue in the city of Halle by a neo-Nazi gunman in which two people were killed just over a year ago. “As Christians we have to say ‘Antisemitism is a sin against God!’” Guth told the crowd. “The Halle victims remind us that antisemitism is always a crime against humanity.”

Manfred De Vries of the Bad Neuheim Jewish community also addressed crowd and praised the turnout: “What would have happened in 1938 if a similar action had taken place in front of the synagogues? These are different times. Today’s Germany is a democratic country and that is worth fighting for.”

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Outrage as antisemitism is not among the charges faced by suspected Paris swastika vandal

The Parisian prosecutor’s office has failed to include a hate charge in the upcoming trial of the suspect who spray-painted twenty large red swastikas across the Plate de la Concorde and Rue de Rivoli on 11th October.

The 31 year-old male, from the Republic of Georgia, was arrested near to the scene following the incident and is currently remanded in police custody until the trial commences.

The prosecutor’s office stated that the defendant faces charges of damage to property, however there was no legal basis for a crime aggravated by religious or racial hatred and prejudice. The vandalism was daubed on the columns and walls of the Parisian buildings with no cultural or historical Jewish associations.

France’s Jewish student union (UEFJ) reacted with outrage to the decision and expressed concerns that such impunity undermines any possible sanctions against future antisemitic acts. In a Twitter post on 14th October, the UEFJ said: “As is often the case, there were many words of indignation and no real acts of condemnation”, despite Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo pledging to combat rising antisemitism in the city.

This is not the first case in which French prosecutors or courts have refused to charge or find hate crime motivations, contrary to the expectations of the Jewish community.

French authorities last year reported a 27 percent increase in antisemitic acts across the country, including growing rates of hateful vandalism and threats of physical violence.

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Slovakia’s far-right leader sentenced to four years in prison

The leader of the far-right People’s Party Our Slovakia, has been convicted of using neo-Nazi symbols, which is illegal in the country. He has been sentenced to four years and four months in prison.

Marian Kotleba stood trial after presenting three disadvantaged families with cheques for €1,488 on 14th March 2017. The number is numerically symbolic for neo-Nazis and white supremacists, and the date is the anniversary of the wartime puppet state established in 1939.

The People’s Party Our Slovakia is the fourth most popular party in Slovakia, with 8% support in February’s parliamentary elections. It currently has seventeen seats in the 150-seat Slovak Parliament and two seats in the European Parliament. The Party’s members, including Mr Kotleba, openly advocate the legacy of the historical Nazi presence in Slovakia and commonly greet one another with Nazi salutes.

In 2016 the party celebrated the 129th anniversary of the birth of Jozef Tiso, who served as Slovakia’s President during the War. During his presidency, approximately 60,000 Slovak Jews were transported to Nazi death camps. His involvement led to his sentence for death and hanging in 1947.

Many rights activists and members of the country’s Jewish community have signed petitions for the banning of the Party.

Last year, the country’s Supreme Court dismissed a request made by Slovakia’s Prosecutor-General, to ban the far-right Party. He argued that the Party’s activities violate Slovakia’s constitution and seek to destroy the existing democratic system, however the court ruled there was insufficient evidence to impose a ban.

The far-right leader pleaded not guilty to the 2017 offence and therefore may appeal the verdict, which was handed down by the Specialised Criminal Court in Pezinok. If an appeal is submitted, the case would move to Slovakia’s Supreme Court.

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Spanish politician holds Jews accountable for Israeli policy

A city councillor in Spain has told an international aid meeting in Mallorca that Jews should be held accountable for supporting Israel.

Sonia Vivas, a member of the far-left Podemos party, which sits in the country’s governing coalition, criticised Israel and, when challenged, replied: “I haven’t spoken to all the Jews, but their government is elected and they’re voting for a government that constantly violates fundamental rights of Palestinians.”

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the State of Israel” is an example of antisemitism.

Podemos became a member of Spain’s new coalition government after forming an alliance with the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party.

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Vienna municipality protects statue of antisemitic mayor said to have inspired Hitler

The Vienna municipality has moved to protect the statue of a former mayor who made virulently antisemitic statements and may have inspired Hitler.

The statue of Karl Lueger, located in the heart of the Austrian capital on Ringstrasse Boulevard, was recently fenced in a bid to prevent protesters from spraying graffiti calling for its removal. They also stated that the municipality plans to clean the statue.

Mr Lueger served as mayor of Vienna for thirteen years until his death in 1910 at the age of 65. He was known for antisemitic rhetoric that is claimed to have inspired the young Hitler, who lived in the Austrian capital and spoke in Mein Kampf of his “undisguised admiration” for The Viennese mayor.

For example, in one speech, delivered to members of the Christian-Social Workers’ Association in Vienna in July 1899, Mr Leuger invoked the kind of antisemitic rhetoric that would later be employed by the Nazis, saying: “The influence on the masses is in the hands of the Jews…the largest part of the press is in their hands; the vast majority of capital and especially big business is in the hands of the Jews,” adding “above all, this is about the liberation of the Christian people from the domination of Judaism.”

Artist Simon Nagy, who helped start a vigil in protest at the continued city-centre presence of the statue and at the municipality’s plan to clean it, declared that it belonged “on the manure heap of history” or “in a museum.”

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30% of online posts about Jews are antisemitic, recent Swedish report finds

A group of researchers in Sweden have published a report showing that 30 percent of comments and posts about Jews on social media included antisemitic rhetoric and tropes.

The Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) analysed postings specifically about Jews across four different social media platforms over a six month period in 2019 and came to its conclusion after reviewing approximately 2.5 million posts about Jews or Judaism on the digital sites 4chan/pol, Gab, Reddit and Twitter.

The research is a contribution in the Swedish-government funded project to investigate increasing antisemitism online.

A study of the researchers’ results showed almost 25 percent of the social media posts contained popular antisemitic stereotypes, with a further nine percent containing no explicit stereotype but expressing an active hatred towards Jews and the Jewish community.

A researcher at FOI stated that the most common stereotypes, centring on Jewish world domination, could be seen “in several of the conspiracy theories circulating on the internet and in social media pages.” The majority of these were found on the networking pages of Gab and 4chan/pol. It is suspected that limited regulation and policy on hate speech in the United States, where most major platforms are based, contributes to increasing antisemitism on social media, as these sites provide total user anonymity.

According to the report, users who are suspended from Twitter turn to Gab as an alternative platform on which to spread antisemitic propaganda and messages.

Following the publication of the research, Sweden’s Jewish Central Council has demanded that internet giants now seek swiftly to remove all discriminatory content from their platforms in the fight against antisemitism.

Recently, Campaign Against Antisemitism reported on concerns over the antisemitism in Sweden, in Malmö in particular.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist us with this project.

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Greek court finds that Golden Dawn Party is a “criminal organisation”

At the end of one of the most high-profile trials in modern-Greek history, Greek judges ruled that an extreme right-wing neo-Nazi political party operated as a criminal gang.

In an Athens court, a five-year trial ended with seven former parliamentarians from the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn Party, including Party leader Nikos Michaloliakos, being found guilty of “running a criminal organisation.”

Over the course of the trial, the court heard evidence that the political party operated “as a paramilitary group.” It was alleged that leaders “handed down orders to small clans in neighbourhoods” instructing them to “assault groups and businesses.” The court heard claims of how the group targeted migrants and refugees along with political opponents.

The extremist group was founded in 1985 and was registered as a political party in 1993. In the 2012 elections, against a backdrop of financial chaos that led to stringent austerity measures, the Golden Dawn Party became the third largest in the Greek parliament.

Two years into the trial, the prosecutor was forced to recommend acquittals for numerous party members who were not active in the violence.

During the run-up to elections, Party members were alleged to have set alight Athens bars and cafés owned by migrants and the Party’s political opponents.

Golden Dawn members denied the charges, calling the verdict an “unprecedented conspiracy”.

Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that the ruling brought an end to “a traumatic cycle in the country’s public life.”

Mr Michaloliakos and the other former Parliamentary members face at least ten years in prison for their crimes. However, the verdict does not mean the immediate end of the party, as members promised to remain active.

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“It was eerie to see swastikas back”: Suspect arrested following antisemitic graffiti in Paris

Police in Paris have arrested a suspect in connection with the vandalisation of the walls and columns of the Place de la Concorde and Rue de Rivoli with fascist imagery.

The 31 year-old male, who was arrested near to the scene, is suspected of having spray-painted twenty large red swastikas across the Parisian buildings on 11th October.

The Wiesenthal Centre issued a statement saying that “it was eerie to see swastikas back” and praising the French authorities for the swift arrest and expressed parallels between the recent incident and the German occupation in the 1940s which saw the incorporation of Nazi flags along the Rue de Rivoli.

The recent incident occurred just over a week after a kosher restaurant in Paris was vandalised and destroyed with spray-painted swastikas and antisemitic statements.

In 2019, French police registered a 27 percent increase in antisemitic acts last year, including vandalism and threats of physical attacks.

Anne Hidalgo, The Mayor of Paris, stated that the prevention of such acts is part of the city’s mission to combat antisemitism and assured the public that cleaning teams would intervene rapidly to remove all signs of these hateful messages. However, many members of the wider community have taken to social media to suggest that removing the graffiti does not make the threat to their lives and identities disappear.

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MEPs urge EU to stop funding Palestinian Authority textbooks that promote antisemitism

A cross-party group of more than twenty MEPs from fifteen countries have requested that the European Union withholds future funding to the Palestinian Authority (PA) until antisemitic incitement is removed from its school textbooks.

Austrian MEP Lukas Mandl sent the letter on Wednesday to the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and Neighbourhood Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi. The recent move by the MEPs follows the publication of a report into the content of PA textbooks by the research body, IMPACT-se.

The report outlined the inclusion of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery, as well as incitement to violence and hate speech, across all subjects and levels of education in the texts and other cultural mediums including school plays and sporting events. The legislators stated that these textbooks are taught by teachers and education sector civil servants who are financed through the EU’s PEGASE system of support. The PA has also attracted controversy for naming around 28 schools after terrorists and at least three schools after Nazi collaborators. This, the MEPs argued in their open letter, is in direct violation of the UNESCO standards for peace and tolerance.

Legislators from four major political parties have made a further call for the discontinuation of the collaboration between the EU Commission and the Georg Eckert Institute. The German organisation was asked in 2019 to analyse PA textbooks, however a subsequent presentation of its interim report has uncovered a series of alleged professional errors. For example, the report had reportedly made multiple Arabic translation errors, demonstrated a miscomprehension of local culture and mistakenly included – and complimented – Israeli textbooks that were wrongly understood by researchers as being PA textbooks. It has been argued by Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s Budget Committee Niclas Herbst that this research blatantly ignored overt antisemitism and justified messages of terror.

The report cost the EU approximately €220,000.

In 2018 and May 2019 the European Parliament condemned the failings of the PA and insisted that it no longer wanted “European taxpayers to finance the teaching of antisemitism.” Earlier this year the Norwegian Government, another major donor to the PA, announced that it would withhold half of its funding to the PA’s education sector.

Despite commitments made by the PA’s Education Minister, a recent IMPACT-se report on the revised 2020-21 PA textbooks discovered that there had been almost no relevant changes made to the curriculum.

MEPs have requested that the Commission put a 5% reserve on funding for the PA until changes to the antisemitic material are evident in all educational texts.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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“She should not be forgotten, since she was just found again”: 78 years after she was murdered by the Nazis, a Jewish artist’s paintings were discovered in a construction site

Plans are currently in progress to find a new home for a collection of paintings by a victim of the Holocaust that were only discovered in 2018 by a construction worker during the demolition of a dilapidated house near Prague.

The paintings by Czech artist Gertrud Kauders (1883-1942), who perished in a Nazi concentration camp, were discovered 78 years after her death.

Initially 30 paintings were recovered, however around 700 more canvases and sketches were subsequently uncovered in the walls and under the floorboards of the building in “near perfect condition”. The artwork is dated between the 1910s and the 1930s.

In 1939, the Nazis invaded the Czech provinces of Bohemia and Moravia, and consequently Ms Kauders asked her classmate, the Russian-born Natalie Jahudkova, to hide her life’s work, which comprised Impressionist portraits and scenes from nature, in her house that was then under construction. Ms Kauders was deported from Prague in 1942 to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, and from there to the Majdanek extermination camp in Poland, where the artist was murdered. Ms Jahudkova passed away in 1977, taking with her the secret of the hidden paintings.

Photojournalist Amos Chapple and his colleague Dana Katharina Vaskova found Jakub Sedlacek, the owner of the house and a descendent of Ms Jahudkova, on behalf of the artist’s relatives living in New Zealand. Mr Sedlacek reportedly agreed that the works would be housed together in the Czech Republic, with family portraits going to the Kauders family currently residing in New Zealand.

Upon first seeing Ms Kauders’ artwork, the chief curator of Prague’s Jewish Museum believed that the discovery was unique given the history of art in the Czech Republic. A spokesperson for the Jewish Museum in Prague reportedly said that she would be updated about the “whole intense process” and provide a “concrete result” as to whether it would be possible for the museum to house some of the paintings.

Ms Vaskova stated: “[Ms Kauders] should not be forgotten, since she was just found again.”

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“Whoever doesn’t jump is a Jew!”: Dutch Fox channel criticised for adding offensive chants to Ajax football match soundtrack

A popular Dutch network has been criticised for including offensive chants in the soundtrack used for the first half of a recent football game.

With COVID-19 prevention measures in place, professional sporting events are being held in empty stadiums in The Netherlands and many television stations are consequently using pre-recorded audience sound when broadcasting games to simulate the usual atmosphere.

In FOX Sports Netherlands’ live broadcast of the 4th October match between Amsterdam team Ajax and a rival team from Groningen, the network used recordings from previous games that included the well-known chant, “Whoever doesn’t jump is a Jew!”.

Supporters of rival teams use the chant to taunt and mock Ajax players and fans. Ajax is a team that many fans label “the Jews” because of Amsterdam’s rich Jewish history and the club’s long association with the Jewish community. However, the designation is used not only against Ajax by also by the team’s own supporters; at many football matches, Ajax fans have been seen waving Israeli flags and shouting support for “the Jews” and Jewish immigrants as a proxy for showing support for the team.

A young Dutch rival supporter told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2017 that: “I have nothing against your people. When I say I hate Jews, I just mean supporters of Ajax.”

In recent years, however, the derogatory chant has also been heard at several Islamist and neo-Nazi rallies and protests in the country.

Following public criticism, FOX Sports Netherlands apologised for the “human error” that led to the inclusion of the chant in its soundtrack for the game and the network says that it has removed the fragment for future events. FOX News Netherlands wrote on Twitter: “We offer our sincere apologies and are looking into how this could have happened and how to make sure it does not recur.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism have expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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Swastikas painted over tributes to mark one year since deadly antisemitic Halle attack, as German’s security agency chief warns of “steep rise” in antisemitism

Swastikas have been painted over tributes to mark one year since the deadly antisemitic attack on a synagogue on Yom Kippur in Halle, Germany.

The tributes were sprayed by a group called Antifa Halle with the names of the two victims of the attack, which took place in October 2019 during the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

But last night – the eve of the anniversary – some of the images, which bore the inscription “Never forget – Kevin and Jana”, were vandalised with red swastikas.

An investigation has been launched.

A neo-Nazi suspect is currently on trial for the original attack. He has reportedly told the court that the attach was “not a mistake”. The assailant had sought to storm the synagogue, but, failing to get through the armed door, he shot a female passer-by and a man at a nearby shop instead. The entire attack was caught on camera.

This latest incident comes a few days after a Jewish man was violently attacked outside a synagogue in Hamburg during the Jewish festival of Sukkot, while a mezuzah scroll at a Berlin synagogue was defaced with a swastika between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Today, noting the one-year anniversary of the Halle attack, Thomas Haldenwang, the head of Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), Germany’s domestic security service, said: “In the past two years, criminal offenses, including acts of violence, against Jews and Jewish institutions in Germany have increased significantly.” Describing the increase also as a “steep rise”, he added: “Germany has a special responsibility for Jewish life.”

Antisemitic crimes have indeed risen steadily in Germany, with over 2,000 offences recorded in 2019, representing an increase of 13 percent on the previous year.

A spokesperson for Campaign Against Antisemitism said: “The vandalism of these tributes to an antisemitic neo-Nazi attack on a synagogue on Yom Kippur one year ago in Halle, along with the recent violent attack on a Jewish man during Sukkot and the defacement of a mezuzah in Berlin following Rosh Hashanah, are examples of what Germany’s own security chief has said today about rising antisemitism in the country. Evidently, Germany has much more to do to address anti-Jewish prejudice and arrest the rise in antisemitism.”

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Greek police hunting vandals responsible for the destruction of Jewish cemetery in Athens

A Jewish cemetery was targeted with antisemitic slogans and graffiti in the district of Nikea, in southwestern Athens.

The authorities in Greece are searching for the perpetrators responsible for the incident, which took place on 5th October, during the Jewish festival of Sukkot, and saw hateful rhetoric and slogans spray-painted across the walls of the cemetery.

The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece condemned the incident by suspected neo-Nazis in the area and stated that the language used was worryingly similar to that of the Nazi regime.

Athens Mayor Kostas Bakoyannis has been praised by communal groups for his swift arranging for the walls to be cleaned and any destruction repaired. The Jewish community expressed confidence that the Greek state will take “all necessary measures” to promptly bring the vandals to justice.

Earlier this year, a Jewish school in Athens was graffitied with antisemitic slurs, and the monument commemorating the Jews of Thessaloniki, at the University of Athens, was defaced.

Government spokesman, Stelios Petsas, announced that fascism, antisemitism and their followers have no place in the country and there will be zero tolerance towards such hatred. Investigations into the destruction of the Jewish cemetery are ongoing.

The vandalism came ahead of a verdict from a Greek court on 7th October in the case of the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party’s leaders and several members charged with running a criminal gang. The group has denied these accusations.

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Antisemitic dual loyalty trope levelled at Gibraltar MP and daughter of former Chief Minister Sir Joshua Hassan

Social media comments described as “racist and antisemitic” have been levelled at the Jewish leader of the Together Gibraltar party.

The Gibraltar Government condemned the abuse levelled at Marlene Hassan Nahon and said that it would refer the matter to the Royal Gibraltar Police.

Ms Hassan Nahon is the daughter of former Chief Minister Sir Joshua Hassan. A historian, journalist and member of the Gibraltar Parliament since 2015, she said that the latest barrage of abuse “was of particular concern” as it contained the “age-old antisemitic trope of dual loyalty.”

This was a “new and dangerous phenomenon in Gibraltar politics,” she said. “I urge the Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition to condemn this discourse immediately.”

Fabian Picardo, the Chief Minister and Leader of the House, would “refer the comments to the Royal Gibraltar Police as aggravated racism,” said a spokesperson. “Untruths” on social media, including a claim that Ms Hassan Nahon held dual nationality with Israel, which she does not, had been designed to fuel suggestions she should “somehow not be trusted,” said the spokesperson.

The Opposition leader also said: “There is no place for racism, discrimination, antisemitism, prejudice or intolerance in Gibraltar.”

Ms Hassan Nahon said that her message and her father’s legacy had been “manipulated to fire up nationalist sentiment.”

Some of those reactions, particularly on social media, had crossed the boundaries of legitimate and lawful political debate, Ms Hassan Nahon said.

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“This is not an isolated incident, this is disgusting antisemitism and we must all oppose it”: Jewish man attacked outside Hamburg synagogue

A 26-year-old Jewish man was attacked outside a synagogue in Hamburg on Sunday evening as members of the local community celebrated the Jewish festival of Sukkot.

The attack happened outside Hamburg’s Hohe Weide Synagogue. The victim was attacked with a shovel by a man dressed in military fatigues. The synagogue’s security personnel intervened and the attacker was taken into custody by police. Germany’s DPA news agency reported that the suspect, who is aged 29 and a German of Kazakh heritage, had a picture of a swastika in his pocket.

The victim, who suffered serious head injuries, was admitted to a local hospital.

A police spokesperson said that the motive for the attack was still under investigation, although German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas denounced the attack in a tweet, saying: “This is not an isolated incident, this is disgusting antisemitism and we must all oppose it”.

The suspect was “extremely confused” and investigators were unable immediately to question him. The suspect, who appeared to be acting alone, was accused of causing grievous bodily harm.

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Kosher restaurant vandalised with swastikas and antisemitic graffiti in Paris

A kosher restaurant in Paris, the Mac Queen, was ransacked and vandalised overnight by a group of unidentified individuals on 1st October.

The walls were defaced with antisemitic graffiti that included phrases such as “Hitler was right” and “Jews get out”. Several tables and windows were destroyed, and swastikas had been painted across the interior decor. Witnesses stated that they counted at least ten swastikas and up to fifty antisemitic slogans drawn on the walls. The abbreviation “FDP”, belonging to a neo-Nazi group, Front des Patriotes, was also seen scrawled around the restaurant.

Prior to leaving the premises, the perpetrators tampered with the water supply in an attempt to flood the business. The managers of Mac Queen discovered the damage the following morning.

The Chair of the French Union of Jewish Students, stated concerns were rising amongst Parisian Jews and many believe that, “In France in 2020, eating in a kosher restaurant is now a danger.”

Earlier this year, French officials announced antisemitic acts and hate crimes reportedly increased last year by 27%, with 687 acts recorded in 2019. Figures from the previous year stood at 541 incidents.

The recent vandalism of the popular kosher restaurant was denounced by the French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin following pressure from Nathalie Goulet, a representative of Paris in the French Senate, who called for a policy of zero tolerance to be stressed to the public. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has publicly condemned the “hateful act” in solidarity with the local Jewish community.

Investigations into the incident are on-going and no suspects have yet been identified.

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Mezuzah defaced with swastikas at the Tiferet Israel Synagogue, Berlin

A mezuzah has been desecrated in the outside entrance to a synagogue in Berlin.

It is believed that mezuzah capsule was opened and a swastika was graffitied on both sides of the parchment inside before the scroll was re-affixed to the door frame at the Tiferet Israel synagogue. It is thought that the incident occurred between Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and Yom Kippur. The perpetrator is yet to be identified.

The German Foreign Minister tweeted that “it simply hurt to see something so disgusting,” adding: “This crime must be quickly solved and those responsible punished!”

A recent report, from the Federal Association of Departments for Research and Information on Antisemitism (RIAS), highlighted 1,253 antisemitic incidents had been registered in 2019 across four federal states in Germany, including Berlin. Far-right and neo-Nazi perpetrators accounted for a high proportion of these reported crimes.

Following a further increase in antisemitic incidents during the COVID-19 pandemic, Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, has said that antisemitism in schools, on the streets and the internet are now “commonplace” for Jews in the country.

At a rally on 1st August, 20,000 protesters demanded an end to coronavirus prevention measures in the German capital, many of whom were seen carrying or wearing antisemitic propaganda, including swastikas and yellow stars.

On 15th September, the 70th anniversary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that it is “shameful” that antisemites are becoming increasingly bold in their expressions of hatred and racism. The Chancellor stated that if “education and enlightenment” could not address such attitudes, disciplinary action as sanctioned by criminal law would be enacted.

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EU Commission Vice-President states antisemitism is a European and global issue, not just a Jewish problem

The EU Commission Vice President tasked with leading the EU’s fight against antisemitism has declared that “antisemitism is not just a Jewish problem. It is not just a local problem. It is a European, and a global issue.”

Margaritas Schinas made the comments at an online conference on increasing hate crimes, ‘Working together to fight antisemitism in Europe: Structures and strategies for a holistic approach’.

All EU countries have been encouraged to explore a holistic approach that incorporates security, education and an active celebration of Jewish life, identity and faith. Seven EU Member States have adopted, or are in the process of incorporating, a “self-standing strategy” on antisemitism, with a further seven introducing specific measures within broader strategies against racism and extremism.

In his keynote address, Mr Schinas said that the European Commission is working with partners to issue and circulate practical guidance and effective examples on the use of the International Definition of Antisemitism. The governments of several EU Member States have adopted the Definition so far. Britain was the first country in the world to adopt the Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism and Lord Pickles worked hard over many meetings with officials at Downing Street.

Mr Schinas stated that the Commission has also launched an immediate measure to increase awareness of disinformation and online content following incidents earlier this year. However, he highlighted concerns raised in the recent EU Fundamental Rights Agency which, in an annual overview on antisemitism, claimed that most acts of hatred towards the Jewish community remain unreported.

He argued that it is imperative for Member States to improve both methodologies and criteria in the collection of antisemitic hate crime data, as currently the true extent of the threat is unknown. The Commission is investing almost €8 million and hosting a series of discussions amongst leading experts to ensure police statistics better match and support civil society and Jewish community data.

In December, the Commission is hoping to host the fourth Working Group meeting on antisemitism, with representatives from various Member States and Jewish communities in attendance. With fresh momentum from the German Presidency, the Vice President described this as an “ideal moment” to present how far the continent has come, and what more will need to happen for a future rid of antisemitism.

The Vice President said that the issue of antisemitism will remain a high priority in the EU’s political agenda.

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French Court returns art to heirs of Jewish art dealer murdered by Nazis

On Wednesday a Paris appeals court ordered the French state to return three significant works of art to the heirs of a Jewish collector who died in a German concentration camp in 1945.

The artworks by Andre Derain are currently housed at the Museum of Modern Art in Troyes and in the Cantini museum in Marseille.

They had initially been in the collection of Parisian gallery owner Rene Gimpel, who was denounced by a rival art-dealer after joining the Resistance which fought against the Nazi occupation and France’s collaborationist Vichy regime.

After Mr Gimpel was arrested the works – painted between 1907 and 1910 – were taken as spoils.

In Wednesday’s ruling, the court overturned the judgment of a lower court which last year rejected a bid for the restitution of the artworks to Mr Gimpel’s heirs.

“This is great,” declared Corinne Hershkovitch, a lawyer for the heirs, who are still trying to recover other works from their Mr Gimpel’s collection.

Mr Gimpel, who was of Jewish descent, was a prominent art collector in the early 20th century. He was arrested in 1944 and deported to Neuengamme concentration camp in Germany, where he died.

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Swedish columnist testifies before UNHRC on growing antisemitism in Malmö, Sweden

Swedish columnist Paulina Neuding testified before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) with concerns for the Jewish community of Malmö, Sweden.

Mälmo city officials outlined plans in 2019 to allocate around $2 million to initiatives, including educational programs, that protect the Jewish community. The Government hopes to host an international conference on combating antisemitism and plans to open a Holocaust museum in the Swedish city.

However, these events have been postponed following the outbreak of COVID-19.

In recent demonstrations against Rasmus Paludan, leader of Denmark’s far-right party, protestors in Malmö allegedly shouted: “Khaybar Khaybar, oh, Jews, Muhammad’s army will return!”

The offensive chants are a direct reference to the massacre of the Jews in Khaybar, northwestern Arabia, in 628 C.E. Several cars were set alight and at least ten people were arrested throughout the protest.

Jewish residents have expressed fear when openly wearing symbols of Judaism in public spaces and many, as Ms Paulina Neuding stated, feel as though they must actively censor their identities. The Swedish columnist highlighted how residents have taken measures in schools and the workplace to protect community members from targeted abuse and harassment, for example, the instillation of bulletproof windows in Jewish kindergartens.

At the end of 2019, it was found the population of Malmö had dropped over the past decade from 3,000 residents to approximately 1,500.

According to government statistics, antisemitic hate crimes in Sweden have reportedly rose by a record 53% over the past three years.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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“Their ancestors committed deicide, now they have total control of the world, depriving us of the truth”: Politician from Trieste, Italy blames coronavirus on Jews

Fabio Tuiach, a controversial council member in the northern city of Trieste, Italy, has posted claims on his social media pages that Jews are at “fault” for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Tuiach, who reportedly proposed theories typical of Nazi propaganda, said: “Their ancestors committed deicide, now they have total control of the world, depriving us of the truth.”

The councillor previously sparked controversy in 2019 when he abstained from a vote to grant an Auschwitz survivor, Liliana Segre, honorary citizenship in the city. Mr Tuiach, a self-proclaimed devout Catholic, stated that he was shocked and offended by Ms Segre’s comments describing Jesus as Jewish.

The Holocaust survivor has been a target for online abuse, including death threats, since she first called for the creation of a Parliamentary committee to combat racism and online hate speech in Italy.

Mr. Tuiach’s comments provoked outrage amongst his colleagues and Christian leaders, as well as online. On 19th November 2019, the motion to grant Ms Segre’s citizenship was approved and various cities across Italy named her an honorary citizen to show solidarity with her cause.

Mr. Tuiach was elected to Trieste’s City Council in 2016 with the backing of the League party, however he since left to join Forzo Nuova, an openly neofascist movement. He is now, however, reportedly an active independent.

The recent social media posts are yet to be removed, despite criticism from the public.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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Spotify called on to remove songs by French rapper facing criminal prosecution for antisemitic lyrics

Spotify has been called on to remove the music of a French rapper whose controversial songs are accused of inciting antisemitic views and hatred, particularly among young people.

The rapper, known as Freeze Corleone, is facing criminal prosecution after his debut album was criticised for antisemitic lyrics and Holocaust denial in several tracks.

The rapper’s lyrics include lines such as, “f*** the Shoah!”, “I arrived determined like Adolf in the 30s” and, “Too many Cohens, Jews in finance, politics, plots, school books.”

The opening track from the album, released on 11th September, is currently ranked 12th on Spotify’s daily Top 200 chart for France. Three of the top five spots on the weekly Top 200 Spotify chart also contain songs from the rapper’s controversial album. He has attracted 5.2 million listeners on the digital music platform.

Media commentators have expressed alarm at the rapid sale of copies in France that currently adopts a zero tolerance policy for antisemitic language.

In a recent announcement Gerald Darmanin, France’s Interior Minister, condemned the lyrics and confirmed that his Ministry would be pursuing legal action against the artist. Fifty members of the French Parliament also wrote to the Ministry of Justice with requests for a swift prosecution.

The rapper has been dropped by Universal Music France for the discriminatory lyrics. However, his music is still live on the streaming platform and competing services.

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Nordic Resistance Movement targets Jewish communities during Yom Kippur, days after Finland’s Supreme Court upheld ban on the neo-Nazi group

The Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM) launched a series of focused campaigns against Jewish communities in Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Iceland throughout the week leading up to Yom Kippur.

Images were published on the organisation’s webpage showing deliberate confrontations in front of synagogues and the affixing of antisemitic posters to public spaces. It has been reported that such incidents occurred in almost twenty cities.

Leaflets attacking religious customs were also circulated outside synagogue services. In Norrköping, Sweden, for example, one was found to highlight the long-standing trope that Jews pursue “proactive forgiveness for all the lies and injustices that they will commit until the next Yom Kippur.”

The NRM stated that the campaign was organised over Yom Kippur in an active attempt to “make the Nordic people aware of foreign customs and Zionist ruling plans throughout the Nordic region.”

The recent campaigns in the Nordic countries follow Finland’s Supreme Court’s decision to maintain a ban of the neo-Nazi group.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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Hungarian opposition parties under fire for backing politician with history of antisemitic statements

Several Jewish leaders in Hungary have criticised Laszlo Bíró, a joint candidate of the opposition parties, for his past antisemitic remarks.

Mr Bíró, a member of the Jobbik Party, has apologised after accusations were made surrounding multiple antisemitic and racist comments he is alleged to have made.

In an earlier letter sent to several parliamentary groups, Hungarian MEPs Tamas Deutsch and József Szájer highlighted the worrying decision by Hungarian opposition parties to support a candidate with such accusations.

Deutsch and Szájer wrote: “Mr Bíró has made several racist, xenophobia, antisemitic and anti-Roma comments on social media. For example, among these, he has referred to Budapest as ‘Judapest’ and on another occasion complained that there were too many foreign Jews among the guests at spa hotels in his constituency.”

Chief Rabbi Tamas Rona has argued that politicians with a great influence upon public opinion are obliged to consider their words and take responsibility for their conduct in the political sphere. The Rabbi maintains there is no place in the legislature for politicians who use offensive language and hold such prejudices.

Mr Bíró is running as an individual candidate in the 11th October Borsod County by-election as a joint candidate of several opposition parties, including the major left-wing parties.

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Russia asked to show ‘zero tolerance’ for antisemitism by community leaders after attack on Moscow Jewish community centre

Police have detained a drunken attacker who shouted antisemitic slogans and caused damage to a Jewish centre in Moscow.

After local community leaders expressed concern at the attack in the Russian capital, local police were praised for their prompt response and warned that there must be zero-tolerance for antisemitism.

According to the Moscow-based SOVA Centre which – among other activities – monitors antisemitic activity in Russia, local eyewitnesses heard the attacker shout anti-Jewish slogans while attempting to break into the Chabad-run Shamir Community Centre. When he failed to get in, he vandalised a name-plate, pushed over a decorative menorah and caused minor damage to a car.

Members of the Jewish community told SOVA monitors that on hearing the antisemitic shouting, they locked their doors and called the police.

Although community leaders observed that such attacks are frequent elsewhere in the world, they insisted that such incidents had not occurred in the community since the early 2000s. Jewish organisations in Russia will be monitoring the progress of the investigation.

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Image credit: Shamir Community Centre

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Swastikas found on walls of school in Rome, days after antisemitic poster appears in Milan

The walls of the Mamiani High School in Rome have been targeted once again with offensive vandalism, with a swastika found on the school’s property.

The message of the graffiti read “Rome is a Nazi!”, and it was surrounded by swastikas. The graffiti has been removed.

The school’s Principal, Tiziana Sallusti, reported the incident to the authorities after students discovered the inscriptions on the morning of 22nd September.

The wall was recently repainted following a similar incident. There have also been previous reports of fascist graffiti, as well as violence among young people of opposing political factions, within Rome. The Principal stated: “It has already happened in the past – this is not an offence to the Mamiani, but to Rome and Italians.” A warning has now been issued to all students.

Local police immediately opened an investigation, and there have been calls for the immediate instillation of a video system to protect the institution and its students.

The incident comes days after antisemitic posters appeared in the northern Italian city of Milan.’

The posters, which were not entirely legible, claimed that the Mossad, Israel’s intelligence service, was behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a popular and baseless antisemitic conspiracy theory.

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Image credit: Osservatorio Antisemitismo

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“You represent the two things I hate most: You’re Jewish and French,” Hyper Cacher terrorist told hostages, court hears

A Paris court last week heard how an Islamist terrorist asked hostages whether they wanted him to “finish off” another victim to silence his moans.

Eric Cohen, the father of one of the four Jews murdered at the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in eastern Paris on 9th January 2015, wept as he heard how it took more than three hours for his son to die after he was shot by the terrorist Amedy Coulibaly.

As well as the four victims at the kosher supermarket, twelve civilians were killed by Islamist terrorists two days earlier at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Describing Mr Coulibaly as “cold-blooded” and “contemptuous” toward his victims, supermarket employee Zarie Sibony said that she remembered that he interrogated all the hostages at the market, asking their religion. All but two were Jewish. He told the hostages: “You have chosen the wrong day to go shopping in a kosher store.” He also told Ms Sibony: “You represent the two things I hate most: You’re Jewish and French.”

Ms Sibony offered Mr Coulibaly a large amount of cash to leave the remaining hostages unharmed. He mocked her, she said, disclosing that he was a colleague of the Kouachi brothers, the terrorists who had carried out the massacre 12 at Charlie Hebdo two days prior, and that he intended to die as a “martyr”.

Fourteen suspects are currently on trial in Paris charged with offences relating to the two terrorist attacks in the French capital in early 2015. However, Mr Coulibaly’s wife, Hayat Boumeddienne, dubbed “France’s most-wanted woman”, is absent, having fled from France prior to the attack for ISIS-controlled Syrian territory. According to French intelligence, she remains at large. Mr Coulibaly and two others were killed by police during the attacks.

Mr Cohen now lives in Israel, while the sister of another victim recalled that her brother had expressed concern at the growing antisemitism in France prior to the attack and was also planning to leave the country for Israel.

The court also learned of the heroism of customer Yoav Hattab, who was shot after he tried to grab an automatic rifle from Coulibaly.

His father said: “I am proud of my son. He obeyed the commandment to save human life.”

A Mali-born practicing Muslim who worked at the supermarket has received French citizenship in recognition of his bravery in sheltering hostages in other rooms in the building.

The trial continues.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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Finland’s Supreme Court maintains ban on Neo-Nazi group

The Supreme Court of Finland has protected a previous decision to ban the branch of the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM).

In 2018, the appeals court in Turku stated the group must be shut down because neo-Nazi associations and antisemitic principles.

The NRM, active in five Scandinavian nations, requested a state prohibition on its activities be overturned.

The Court noted hate speech against Jews, as well as a historical use of violence, as key grounds on which to refuse this appeal. The group operates “in violation of the law and accepted principles of morality.”

Last year, the World Jewish Congress (WJC) called on the Swedish government to ban the NRM that currently functions as a political party. After NRM rallies in Kungälv and Ludvika held on the eve of Yom HaShoah, Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day, demands were made to remove the group from the political arena.

The NRM remains active in Norway, Denmark and Iceland.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded our coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us if you would like to share feedback or volunteer to assist with this project.

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Neo-Nazi apologist jailed by French court

A French court has jailed a neo-Nazi apologist for seventeen months over two antisemitic posts online and a third that apparently denied the Holocaust.

Hervé Lalin, also known as Hervé Ryssen, posted the comments between 2017 and 2020 on Facebook and Twitter, and also published a video on YouTube in 2018 titled “The Jews, Incest and Hysteria”.

A book-length work published by Mr Lalin in 2018 and titled “Antisemitism Without Complexity or Taboo” reportedly denied the truth of the Holocaust, which is a criminal offence in France.

Mr Lalin has also been identified by the Liberation newspaper as part of a network of propagandists who promote Holocaust denial.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has expanded coverage of antisemitism worldwide. Please contact us with any feedback or if you would like to volunteer to assist with this project.

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Serbia announces adoption of International Definition of Antisemitism

Serbia has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

The decision was made by the nation’s government several months ago but the announcement was reportedly postponed until this week so as not to be lost in coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Campaign Against Antisemitism applauds the decision, which demonstrates the Serbian Government’s solidarity with the Jewish community at this worrying time for Jews in Europe.

Britain was the first country in the world to adopt the International Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism and Lord Pickles worked hard over many meetings with officials at Downing Street. Serbia joins a growing list of national governments and public bodies to use the Definition.

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Sweden announces adoption of International Definition of Antisemitism

Sweden has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Campaign Against Antisemitism applauds this decision at a time of rising antisemitism in Europe.

The decision was announced by the Swedish Prime Minister in a newspaper article in which he wrote that “Sweden endorses the [D]efinition and the list of examples of antisemitism that serve as illustrations.” The article also outlined other steps that Sweden was taking to tackle antisemitism, which has reached worrying levels in his country.

The UK was the first country in the world to adopt the International Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism, Lord Eric Pickles and others worked hard over many meetings with officials at Downing Street. Italy joins a growing list of countries to use the Definition, including Italy, France, Greece, and Cyprus, which recently adopted it.

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Italy announces adoption of the International Definition of Antisemitism

Italy has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Campaign Against Antisemitism applauds this decision at a time of rising antisemitism in Europe.

The decision has been ratified by the Italian cabinet, which also appointed Prof. Milena Santerini as the national coordinator on combating antisemitism. Prof. Santerini serves as Professor of Pedagogy at the Catholic University in Milan, vice-president of the Shoah Memorial Foundation of Milan and a member of the National Didactic Council of the Shoah Museum in Rome and the Contemporary Jewish Documentation Center.

The UK was the first country in the world to adopt the International Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism, Lord Eric Pickles and others worked hard over many meetings with officials at Downing Street. Italy joins a growing list of countries to use the Definition, including France, Greece, and Cyprus, which recently adopted it.

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Cyprus becomes the latest country to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism

Cyprus has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Campaign Against Antisemitism applauds this decision at a time of rising antisemitism in Europe.

The proposal to adopt the International Definition was presented by the Foreign and Education Ministers and was approved by cabinet. A Foreign Ministry statement said: “It reaffirms the commitment of the Republic of Cyprus to promoting and fostering respect and diversity and to combating all forms of discrimination, racism and xenophobia, including antisemitism.” 

The UK was the first country in the world to adopt the International Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism, Lord Eric Pickles and others worked hard over many meetings with officials at Downing Street. Cyprus joins a growing list of countries to use the International Definition, including France, which recently adopted it.

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France’s leading left-wing politician, Jean-Luc Melenchon, calls Labour antisemitism claims “baseless” and suggests “Likud networks” were behind Jeremy Corbyn’s election defeat

France’s leading left-wing politician, Jean-Luc Melenchon, has weighed in on the UK’s general election, claiming that one of the reasons that Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn lost the election was “baseless accusations of antisemitism” and “the various influence networks of the Likud”, Israel’s ruling party.

Mr Melenchon published his analysis in French on Facebook, where it caused a firestorm. He wrote: “Corbyn spent his time being insulted and stabbed in the back by a handful of Blairite MPs. Instead of fighting back, he restrained himself. He had to face the crude and baseless accusation of antisemitism levelled by the Chief Rabbi of England and the various influence networks of the Likud (the far-right party of Netanyahu in Israel). Instead of fighting back, he spent his time apologising and giving assurances. In both cases he showed a weakness which worried the public.”

Mr Melenchon’s ignorant and outrageous assertions come after Campaign Against Antisemitism warned that Jews may be made a scapegoat for Mr Corbyn’s election defeat.

Campaign Against Antisemitism’s Antisemitism Barometer 2019 showed that antisemitism on the far-left of British politics has surpassed that of the far-right.

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French National Assembly adopts International Definition of Antisemitism

The French National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Campaign Against Antisemitism welcomes this decision at a time of heightened antisemitism in France.

The French Parliament’s action follows President Emmanuel Macron’s call earlier this year for France to adopt the International Definition.

The motion proposed by Sylvain Maillard, from President Macron’s La République En Marche centrist party, passed by 154-72 votes.

The resolution stated: “For some years now, France, the whole of Europe, but also almost all Western democracies are facing a rise in antisemitism.” It continued: “Anti-Zionist acts can at times hide antisemitic realities. Hate toward Israel due to its perception as a Jewish collective is akin to hatred toward the entire Jewish community.”

The UK was the first country in the world to adopt the International Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism, Lord Eric Pickles and others worked hard over many meetings with officials at Downing Street. France joins a growing list of countries to use the International Definition, including Greece, which recently announced that it would adopted it.

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Greek Prime Minister announces that Greece will adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism

Greece will officially adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism.

The Ekathimerini newspaper reported that Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, made the announcement during a meeting at his office with the President of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, David Saltiel and the head of the Greek Delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), Dr Efstathios Lianos Liantis.

Prime Minister Mitsotakis assigned the country’s vice president, Panagiotis Pikrammenos, with oversight of the project as well as coordinating and supervising the integration of the definition into domestic legislation and education.

Campaign Against Antisemitism applauds the decision, which demonstrates the Greek government’s solidarity with the Jewish community at this worrying time for Jews in Europe. Several Jewish monuments in Greece have been vandalised recently, particularly in Thessaloniki where about 50,000 Jews were murdered by the Nazis.

Britain was the first country in the world to adopt the International Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism, Lord Eric Pickles and others worked hard for over many meetings with officials at Downing Street. Greece will join a growing list of countries to use the International Definition.

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Antisemitic terrorist attack in Halle: “Those who enable or fail to act against this resurgent hatred are complicit”

Two people have been murdered today in Halle, Germany during Yom Kippur. A gunman attacked a synagogue, trying to blast his way in using explosives, but failed and then murdered a female passerby in the street. He then attacked a kebab shop, murdering a man there too, laughing as he did so. Video of the attack was broadcast live on social media. The attacker said that he was a Holocaust denier and claimed that feminism was reducing birth rates in the West necessitating mass immigration, which he said was all caused by “the Jew”.

Last week, Conservative MP Crispin Blunt suggested that Government grants for security at British synagogues was a waste of money. Campaign Against Antisemitism is making a disciplinary complaint to the Conservative Party.

Gideon Falter, Chief Executive of Campaign Against Antisemitism, said: “Once again, Jews around the world end a holy day only to discover that yet again, while we in Britain prayed, there has been an attempt to slaughter Jews for their Judaism, this time in Halle, Germany by a terrorist of the extreme right who has murdered two innocents. All over the world, far-right, far-left and Islamist fanatics are stoking the flames of Jew-hatred with too little being done to stop them. In Britain Jews are already accustomed to worshipping in fortified synagogues surrounded by blast walls and security guards. Those who enable or fail to act against this resurgent hatred are complicit in the rising toll from antisemitic terrorist attacks around the world. We mourn with the Jewish community and people of Halle. Today as Yom Kippur ends, we are brutally reminded why all decent human beings must all stand #TogetherAgainstAntisemitism, not just in word but in deed.”

Those wishing to show solidarity with the Jewish community at this time may wish to visit TogetherAgainstAntisemitism.com to add a badge to their social media profiles.

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European Court of Human Rights says Holocaust denial is not free speech when it “affects the dignity of Jews”

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Holocaust denial is not a form of speech protected under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Rulings by the ECHR do not bind English judges, but they do take them into account when interpreting statutes and their consistency with the Convention under the Human Rights Act 1998. The ECHR is not an institution of the European Union and is unaffected by Brexit.

The case involved a member of the Land Parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in Germany, Udo Pastoers, speaking in that Parliament in a ceremony on Holocaust Memorial Day in 2010. In his speech he said: “With the exception of the groups whose cooperation you have bought, hardly anyone is truly, emotionally taking part in your theatrical display of concern. And why is that? Because people can sense that the so-called Holocaust is being used for political and commercial purposes…Since the end of the Second World War, Germans have been exposed to an endless barrage of criticism and propagandistic lies — cultivated in a dishonest manner primarily by representatives of the so-called democratic parties, ladies and gentlemen. Also, the event that you organised here in the castle yesterday was nothing more than you imposing your Auschwitz projections onto the German people in a manner that is both cunning and brutal. You are hoping, ladies and gentlemen, for the triumph of lies over truth.”

The Parliament revoked his parliamentary immunity and he was prosecuted, as Holocaust denial is a crime in Germany.

He appealed his case through several courts in Germany and eventually the case came before the ECHR on the grounds that the prosecution breached his freedom of expression.

Article 10 of the Convention states that “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society…for the protection of the reputation or rights of others…”

The ECHR stated that Mr Pastoers had “intentionally stated untruths in order to defame the Jews and the persecution that they had suffered during the Second World War” and that it considered that his “impugned statements affected the dignity of the Jews to the point that they justified a criminal-law response.”

The ECHR found that “there is no appearance of a violation of Article 10 of the Convention” in the conviction of Mr Pastoers and that the appeal was “manifestly ill-founded”.

Campaign Against Antisemitism secured a similar blow for historical truth in landmark legal action against Alison Chabloz over her songs mocking Holocaust survivors and claiming that the Holocaust was a Jewish fraud, resulting in Holocaust denial being deemed by the English courts for the first time to be “grossly offensive” and therefore illegal when used as a means by which to hound Jews.

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EU Parliament President condemns “worrying rise of antisemitism” across Europe

The new President of the European Parliament, the EU’s deliberative body, has expressed concern over the “worrying rise of antisemitism in Europe”, and pledged to fight it.

David Sassoli made the comments in a meeting in Brussels with the Conference of European Rabbis, a group of 700 European religious figures.

Following the meeting, Mr Sassoli tweeted that “our Parliament is committed to fight the worrying rise of antisemitism in Europe.”

In July, an EU report showed that nearly half of young Jewish Europeans have considered emigration out of fear of antisemitism, and 80 percent of people surveyed considered antisemitism to be a problem in their countries. Almost half had experienced at least one antisemitic incident in the preceding year.

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French President Macron announces that France will adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism

French President Emmanuel Macron has told Jewish leaders that France will adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism as part of a strategy to counter antisemitism. He said that adopting the Definition will help guide police forces, magistrates and teachers in their work.

Campaign Against Antisemitism welcomes this decision to adopt a clearer and firmer approach to fighting antisemitism at this worrying time for Jews in France. The President also announced that he would ask Parliament to vote on a new law to combat online abuse.

In a speech at the annual dinner of CRIF, the representative body of French Jewish institutions, Mr Macron said: “For the first time in many years, antisemitism is killing people again in France.” He lamented that it was a “failure” that French authorities “did not know how to react effectively.” He will also urge his Education Minister to address the fact that Jewish children are “too often” forced to leave public schools for private Jewish schools due to antisemitism.

The move was announced just a day after thousands of demonstrators gathered in cities across France to condemn antisemitism. An estimated 20,000 people rallied in Paris, led by Edouard Philippe, the Prime Minister and former French Presidents and politicians. This followed several antisemitic incidents, including the desecration of nearly 100 graves with swastikas at a Jewish cemetery in eastern France.

France has been shaken by terrorist attacks targeting Jews in recent years, including the shooting of Jewish shoppers at a kosher supermarket in Paris and of schoolchildren and their teacher at a Jewish school in Toulouse.

Britain was the first country in the world to adopt the Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism, Lord Eric Pickles and others worked hard for over many meetings with officials at Downing Street. France will join a growing list of countries to use the definition, including the Czech Republic and Slovakia which recently adopted it.

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Czech Republic and Slovakia become the latest countries to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism

The Czech Republic and Slovakia have become the latest countries to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism.

The Czech Republic Parliament’s Lower House has adopted a resolution that recognises the Definition. The resolution was adopted during a session to remember the victims of the Holocaust ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The Lower House speaker, Radek Vondracek, said it could help authorities deal with hate crimes.

The National Council of Slovakia has also formally adopted the Definition. The text of the resolution, which was initiated by the Speaker of the National Council, Andrej Danko, passed with 112 votes in favour out of 150. According to Mr Danko, the absence of a clear definition of antisemitism and Holocaust denial has hindered the ability of prosecutors and law enforcement authorities to deal with serious crime. He said that: “We live in a difficult time when fundamental human rights are being denied, we also have a policy of people who deny the Holocaust.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism applauds the decisions, which demonstrate the Czech and Slovakian governments’ solidarity with the Jewish community at this worrying time for Jews in Europe.

Britain was the first country in the world to adopt the Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism, Lord Eric Pickles and others worked hard for over many meetings with officials at Downing Street.

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European Court of Human Rights confirms Holocaust denial is not protected by the right to freedom of expression

A disgraced British bishop, Richard Williamson, has failed in his attempt to persuade the European Court of Human Rights that Holocaust denial should be protected by the right to freedom of expression. He brought the case after being convicted in Germany over comments he made on Swedish television.

The court, which enforces the European Convention on Human Rights and is not related to the European Union or affected by Brexit, ruled that Mr Williamson “had sought to use his right to freedom of expression with the aim of promoting ideas contrary to the text and the spirit of the [European Convention on Human Rights].”

Mr Williamson had been convicted over a Swedish television interview in which he said that there were no gas chambers under the Nazi regime. He was fined €6,500, which was reduced to €1,800 on appeal. Though Mr Williamson gave the interview on Swedish television and was not in Germany at the time, the court convicted him on the basis that he knew that viewers in Germany may watch the programme.

The court rejected Mr Williamson’s case as “manifestly ill-founded” and reaffirmed its previous decisions that limiting the right to freedom of expression was “necessary in a democratic society” in order to protect other freedoms.

Holocaust denial is not outlawed in the UK, but in a landmark decision last year following a private prosecution by Campaign Against Antisemitism that was then continued by the Crown Prosecution Service, it was ruled that Holocaust denial could be considered “grossly offensive” under section 127 of the Communications Act. The case related to Alison Chabloz, who was convicted over her music videos mocking Holocaust survivors and claiming that the Holocaust was a hoax perpetrated by a Jewish conspiracy to defraud non-Jews.

Generally, antisemitic Holocaust deniers attempt to hide behind their right to freedom of expression when pursued by Campaign Against Antisemitism, but this ruling reaffirms the fact that human rights law recognises the need to limit freedom of expression in order to protect other freedoms.

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Conservative Party allegedly seeks to cover up its MEPs’ attempt to thwart censure of Hungarian government’s antisemitism and other racist incitement

Conservative MEPs have voted in support of Hungary’s far-right Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, and against the activation of Article 7 by the European Parliament, which enables it to take action against Hungary.

According to The Independent the nineteen Conservative MEPs were the only representatives from a governing conservative party in Western Europe to vote in Mr Orban’s defence. Mr Orban has led a deeply antisemitic campaign targeting controversial philanthropist George Soros, whilst also inciting hatred against Muslims and other minorities.

The vote, which was carried with the support of 448 MEPs, triggers Article 7 for the first time against a member state. The decision comes as a result of increasing concern about some of Mr Orban’s policies.

Leaked messages suggest that the Conservative MEPs felt that taking disciplinary action against Hungary would be counter-productive and a breach of democracy. It has also been implied in the past that the MEPs have shown support for Mr Orban in exchange for his backing in future Brexit talks. The Conservative Party has denied that this is the case.

According to WhatsApp messages obtained by Buzzfeed News and reported in The Independent, Downing Street has tried to contain the fallout from news of the vote by demanding that MEPs share a tweet that distances them from Mr Orban and any suggestion of support for his government and policies.

We are alarmed and appalled by the decision of Conservative MEPs to vote in defence of the antisemitic government of Viktor Orban in Hungary. Its campaign to vilify controversial George Soros went beyond legitimate political debate and has repeatedly strayed into antisemitism. It was therefore entirely right for the European Parliament to vote to censure the Hungarian government, and entirely wrong for Conservative MEPs to endeavour to frustrate that effort. If it is true that the Conservative Party has now tried to cover up their MEPs’ actions, that is doubly wrong.

There is a pressing need to promote tolerance and not give political credence to blatantly racist and antisemitic views and behaviour. At this time more than any other, British politicians should be setting an example by standing firm against antisemitism and racism, not defending it.

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EU survey asks how concerned Jews are about antisemitism and Islamophobia, and whether they are actively considering emigration

The European Union’s Fundamental Rights Agency has commissioned a survey to reveal what Jews across the bloc think about antisemitism. The survey also asks whether they think Islamophobia and racism in general are worse than antisemitism, or not as bad. The survey also seeks to find out whether Jews are just worried about antisemitism, or whether they have actually experienced it. Similarly it endeavours to reveal whether Jews saying that they have considered leaving the UK due to antisemitism are just thinking about it, or whether they are actually making preparations to emigrate in the coming years.

The survey will inform policy-making both in the European Union and Britain, so it is important that they hear from those who are concerned about antisemitism.

To complete the survey, please visit eurojews.eu.

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CAA calls for Free University of Brussels to abandon plan to honour Ken Loach who has tried to dismiss claims of antisemitism in Labour

This week, despite opposition from Jewish groups, the Free University of Brussels is set to honour film director Ken Loach with a doctorate honoris causa in recognition of “his militant work on social conflicts and the fight for the right of workers or illegal immigrants”.  A member of the Labour Party for many years, Mr Loach’s voice has been among the loudest of those who attempt to dismiss the antisemitism crisis currently afflicting the Party as non-existent and a right-wing smear campaign, despite the Labour leader himself having recently acknowledged the existence of the problem. This is hard to see as anything other than accusing the victims of antisemitism in the Party of acting in bad faith by fabricating or exaggerating their claims.

Last September, Mr Loach caused outrage when, during an interview with the BBC, he refused to denounce Holocaust denial. The interview took place shortly after the last Labour Party conference, where an activist at a fringe meeting attached to the event publicly stated that it should be legitimate to discuss whether the Holocaust happened.  Mr Loach told the BBC interviewer: “History is for all of us to discuss. All history is our common heritage to discuss and analyze. The founding of the State of Israel, for example, based on ethnic cleansing, is there for us to discuss.”

The International Definition of Antisemitism states that “denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust)” is a manifestation of antisemitism.

Although Mr Loach later sought to clarify his remarks, he has continued to make inflammatory and provocative statements about Labour’s antisemitism scandal. Earlier this month, while speaking at a meeting of the Kingswood Constituency Labour Party, Mr Loach advocated the removal from the Party of those Labour MPs, some of whom are Jewish, who have taken a principled stand against antisemitism. Shortly after this incident, the Labour Party announced that it would no longer use Mr Loach as a producer of their election broadcasts.

By defending the right to deny the Holocaust, by dismissing the antisemitism crisis in Labour as a conspiracy to attack Jeremy Corbyn, and by demanding the expulsion of Labour MPs who fight against antisemitism, Mr Loach has rendered himself worthy of sanction, not honour. Campaign Against Antisemitism has written to Yvon Englert, the Rector of the Free University of Brussels, pointing out that to proceed with this week’s ceremony would be a slap in the face to Jewish people, not just in Britain but around the globe, and urging him to reconsider making this inappropriate award.

You may wish to add your voice to ours by contacting Professor Englert at [email protected].

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Macedonia commemorates 75th anniversary of deportation of Jews by adopting International Definition of Antisemitism

The Macedonian government has formally adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the deportation of 7,144 Jews from Macedonia to the concentration camp at Treblinka.

The anniversary was marked by addresses from the President of Macedonia, Gjorgje Ivanov, and the local Jewish community. The next day, a march was held along the route where Jews were gathered and then taken to the train station. The Prime Ministers of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Bosnia and Herzegovina took park, along with the Romanian Deputy Prime Minister, and the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev said: “We must never forget what happened here 75 year ago. History is repeated only by those who are blind to the past. We will not become blind and we will continue to remember.”

The International Definition of Antisemitism is clear and detailed, leaving no doubt as to what antisemitism is. In particular, the definition tackles the full spectrum of antisemitism, from ancient slurs to conspiracy myths to antisemitism in discourse about Israel.

Britain was the first country in the world to adopt the definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism, Sir Eric Pickles and others worked hard over many meetings. Austria became the next national government to adopt the definition, followed by the Romanian government, then the German government, then the Bulgarian government and now the Macedonian government has done the same.

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Lithuanian Government adopts International Definition of Antisemitism

The Government of Lithuania has adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism.

The announcement has come on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day.

Campaign Against Antisemitism applauds this decision at a time of rising antisemitism in Europe.

The UK was the first country in the world to adopt the International Definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism and Lord Pickles worked hard over many meetings with officials at Downing Street.

Lithuania is among several national governments and public bodies now applying the Definition.

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Fake EU body allegedly demands that Jews are gassed, calls for a “final solution” for Israel and vows to “hunt down” members of British Council for Countering Antisemitism

The European Forum for Ethnic Minority Individuals, Communities and Organizations (EFEMICO) is ostensibly an EU body that claims to represent all minority “migrant settlers to the EU” but which, at its launch, explicitly excluded Jews.

An investigation by Campaign Against Antisemitism last December revealed that EFEMICO is, in fact a bedroom-based operation run by Jason Schumann, a known antisemite and convicted criminal who once told a Jewish Facebook user: “It is Jews who are the real nazis. [sic] No group of people more insidious, more evil, or more pernicious. An eternal curse upon them.”

Remarkably, ten months later, Mr Schumann continues to maintain the charade that he is at the head of an EU-wide organisation that champions anti-racism. However, it appears that Mr Schumann is finding the charade hard to maintain, especially since his personal Twitter account was suspended.

Earlier this month, we were told that the EFEMICO Twitter account had published a poll urging followers to agree that British Jews who support Israel are traitors, followed by a further tweet stating: “Any Jewish person who supports Israel more than his/her own country of birth, residence or citizenship is a traitor and should be gassed.” We were provided with screenshots by a member of the public, but the tweet cannot currently be found on Twitter. When we asked Mr Schumann to comment, he denied that he had deleted it, claiming that the tweet had never been posted at all.

A few weeks later, Mr Schumann appeared to call for a second Holocaust when he tweeted: “A given that Zionists fund & seek to support White supremacisy [sic]. All in effort to aid Greater Israel. Final solution needed.” Another tweet accused Israel of starting all wars since the 1970s, ending with the hashtag #FinalSolution. When we contacted him, Mr Schumann claimed that he had “clarified” his remarks but he did not explain why he had used the term “final solution”, nor did he apologise for doing so. He also claimed that he sought a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians and said that “The Jewish community are wonderful people”.

This week, following the launch of the British Council for Combating Antisemitism (BCCA), we were told that the EFEMICO Twitter account had tweeted: “Let us be clear. You are Stasis [referring to the infamous former East German secret police force]. You have no legitimacy, and we will hunt you down. Nazis.” This antisemitic threat was reportedly tweeted at the Jewish Police Association, one of the founding members of BCCA, but the tweet is not currently on Twitter. A screenshot was sent to us by a member of the public, but again, Mr Schumann denied that the tweet was either posted or deleted.

Though Mr Schumann claims that EFEMICO is a champion for minority rights, it still appears to be nothing more than a platform for promoting the disturbing views of its sole officer.

Campaign Against Antisemitism has now lodged a complaint with the police. Mr Schumann already has a criminal record after he was convicted of assaulting a police officer, but when we asked him, he claimed that his conviction was an injustice and that he should never have been convicted.

The EFEMICO website may look credible enough to convince some that it is an anti-racist organisation set up to help them, but nobody should be under any illusions that it is a front for Mr Schumann and his disturbing views.

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Bulgaria becomes the latest country to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism and also appoints national coordinator against antisemitism

The Bulgarian Cabinet has formally adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism. It has also appointed Deputy Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev as National Coordinator for the Fight Against Antisemitism. The definition is clear and detailed, leaving no doubt as to what antisemitism is. In particular, the definition tackles the full spectrum of antisemitism, from ancient slurs to conspiracy myths to antisemitism in discourse about Israel.

In a statement, the Bulgarian Jewish community’s Shalom Organisation said: “For the Bulgarian Jewish community, this is a serious call for an uncompromising attitude towards all actions that overwhelm common values such as tolerance, humanism and respect for human rights. We strongly support the Cabinet decision and wish Georg Georgiev success in his new mission.”

Britain was the first country in the world to adopt the definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism, Sir Eric Pickles and others worked hard over many meetings. Austria became the next national government to adopt the definition, followed by the Romanian government, then the German government, and now the Bulgarian government has done the same.

During the Second World War, Bulgaria was a member of Nazi Germany’s Axis and passed antisemitic legislation which barred Jews in territories under Bulgarian control in northern Greece and parts of Yugoslavia from holding citizenship. 11,000 Jews in those territories were handed over to Nazi Germany by the Bulgarian government, prompting a popular outcry throughout Bulgarian society, led by the Orthodox Church, opposition politicians and intellectuals. The outcry from Bulgarians was so fierce that the Bulgarian government stopped dead plans to round up and hand over Jews in Bulgaria-proper.

Image credit: Edward Crompton

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German federal government adopts International Definition of Antisemitism following independent review of measures against antisemitism

The German federal government, the Bundeskabinett, has today formally adopted the International Definition of Antisemitism. The definition is clear and detailed, leaving no doubt as to what antisemitism is. In particular, the definition tackles the full spectrum of antisemitism, from ancient slurs to conspiracy myths to antisemitism in discourse about Israel.

Thomas de Maizière, the German Interior Minister, told Deutsche Welle: “We Germans are particularly vigilant when our country is threatened by an increase in antisemitism. History made clear to us, in the most terrible way, the horrors to which antisemitism can lead.” The cabinet adopted the definition at it regular weekly meeting, and has recommended that public officials including law enforcement use the definition. The move came in response to an independent commission on antisemitism which recommended that the International Definition of Antisemitism be adopted. A member of the commission, parliamentarian Volker Beck, told Deutsche Welle that the adoption of the definition should be seen as a “first step” which would help formalise measures ranging from “legal prosecution to educational measures to the sensitisation of the judicial system”. Deidre Berger, the director of the Berlin Ramer Institute for German-Jewish Relations of the American Jewish Committee gave Deutsche Welle examples of antisemitism being “all too often ignored in recent years”, citing an incident in which “the courts considered an arson attack on a synagogue in Wuppertal as non-antisemitic”.

The formal adoption of the definition was also praised by officials of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance who have been urging the alliance’s 31 member states to formalise the domestic use of the definition.

Britain was the first country in the world to adopt the definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism, Sir Eric Pickles and others worked hard over many meetings. Austria became the next national government to adopt the definition, followed by the Romanian government, and now the German government has done the same.

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Romanian government resolves to incorporate the International Definition of Antisemitism into national law

The Romanian government has decided to formally adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism. The definition is clear and detailed, leaving no doubt as to what antisemitism is. In particular, the definition tackles the full spectrum of antisemitism, from ancient slurs to conspiracy myths to antisemitism in discourse about Israel.

Romania’s Ministry of Justice will now consult the Ministry of Internal Affairs and law enforcement agencies, before proposing reforms which will incorporate the definition into Romanian law. The definition will be used to train law enforcement officers and will also be incorporated into the national curriculum in schools.

The Romanian government described the move as an “expression of Romania’s resolute action against antisemitism, extremism, racism and all forms of discrimination and intolerance”, saying that the country “will gain an efficient instrument for better defining antisemitic actions and for better understanding the consequences deriving from these”.

Britain was the first country to adopt the definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism, Sir Eric Pickles and others worked hard over many meetings. Austria became the next national government to adopt the definition, and now the Romanian government has done the same.

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European Parliament calls on EU member states to adopt International Definition of Antisemitism and appoint politicians tasked with fighting antisemitism

The European Parliament has voted today to call on member states to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism and to appoint politicians in each member state who are tasked with fighting antisemitism.

MEPs spoke to condemn rising antisemitism, demanding that member states cooperate to prosecute antisemitic hate crime, gather more accurate data on hate crime and its causes, “take expeditious action to prevent and combat antisemitic hate speech online” and “promote the teaching of the Holocaust”. The MEPs voted to ask the “[European] Commission and the Member States to increase financial support for targeted activities and educational projects against discrimination and hate crimes, to build up and strengthen partnerships with European Jewish communities, institutions and civil society organisations, and to encourage exchanges between children and young people of different faiths via joint activities, launching and supporting awareness-raising campaigns in that regard.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism strongly welcomes the European Parliament’s endorsement of the definition which is clear and detailed, leaving no doubt as to what antisemitism is. In particular, the definition tackles the full spectrum of antisemitism, from ancient slurs to conspiracy myths to antisemitism in discourse about Israel.

The International Definition of Antisemitism is already used around the world, but only recently have national governments begun to formally adopt it. Britain was the first country to adopt the definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism, Sir Eric Pickles and others worked hard over many meetings. Austria became the next national government to adopt the definition, and now the Romanian government has followed.

 

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Austria becomes the latest country to adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism

The Austrian government has decided to formally adopt the International Definition of Antisemitism. The definition is clear and detailed, leaving no doubt as to what antisemitism is. In particular, the definition tackles the full spectrum of antisemitism, from ancient slurs to conspiracy myths to antisemitism in discourse about Israel.

The decision was taken by Austria’s Council of Ministers. The definition will now be used by Austria’s government and judiciary, as well as in educational establishments such as universities.

A spokesman for the Austrian People’s Party said that the decision sent a “national and international signal”.

Britain was the first country to adopt the definition, something for which Campaign Against Antisemitism, Sir Eric Pickles and others worked hard over many meetings.

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Antisemites flood social media with claims that Jews were behind the Nice attack

As the world reacted with shock to the horrific attack on families celebrating Bastille Day in Nice on Thursday night, many on social media turned to a familiar scapegoat, convinced that this atrocity, like all others, real or perceived, could be pinned on Jews.

Search on Twitter, Facebook and elsewhere and the outpouring of sadness and sympathy is overwhelming, however, it is all too easy to find oneself stumbling upon the antisemitic opportunists and Jew haters who take every opportunity to profess and publicise their hatred. A search on Twitter for hashtags “#NiceAttack”, “#Nice” or “#PrayForNice” and the words “Jew”or “Zionist” displays pages of antisemitic conspiracy myths.

One of the truly awful aspects of these posts is that they are rarely contradicted.  Mostly they are supported or discussed in blind faith and acceptance that this is the truth. By remaining unopposed, these heinous statements gain traction and credibility. Each time a few more will follow the train of thought, that possibly previously they would have not.

The latest antisemitic libel comes in the week that the Home Affairs Select Committee’s Inquiry into Antisemitism heard from the Chief Rabbi that more must be done by social networks, governments and internet service providers to stop the spread of racism and antisemitism in particular. This is another spectacular failure to do so and in the process antisemitic libels have just gained a few more believers.

https://twitter.com/WorldWarMeme/status/753761056204267520

https://twitter.com/tvdh_3/status/753926253317619713

https://twitter.com/jdavismemphis/status/753977102991396864

https://twitter.com/FUFeelinz/status/753744864311926784

https://twitter.com/altrightnation1/status/753795252549357568

https://twitter.com/LibertySlap/status/753715228194594816

https://twitter.com/OperationNation/status/753994011984076800

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Campaign Against Antisemitism is a volunteer-led charity dedicated to exposing and countering antisemitism through education and zero-tolerance enforcement of the law. Everything that we do is done by people who volunteer their time, using donations contributed by members of the public. Join the fight against antisemitism by subscribing to our updates, volunteering, or donating.