Struggle against antisemitism
28-03-2009 / United Nations
The UN - New Web site aims to work against Holocaust denial
A new Web site launched Friday aims to stanch the spread of Holocaust denial in the Muslim world by providing Arabic and Farsi speakers an accurate account of the history of the concentration camps.
A new Web site launched Friday aims to stanch the spread of Holocaust denial in the Muslim world by providing Arabic and Farsi speakers an accurate account of the history of the...27-03-2009 / Portugal
France - Project aims to counter rise of Holocaust denial in Muslim world
Concerned that Holocaust denial is on the rise in the Muslim world, a French Jewish centre on Friday launched an initiative to offer free translations of works like "The Diary of Anne Frank".
Dubbed Project Aladdin, the programme by the French Shoah Memorial Foundation in Paris is sponsored by former president Jacques Chirac and Jordan's Prince Hassan who have championed efforts to...22-03-2009 / United States
USA - Alleged Chicago bomb threat author arrested
Police in Chicago arrested a man accused of
mailing a bomb threat to a Jewish school
.
Mohammed Alkaramla, a Jordanian national, was arrested. His fingerprints were found on the envelope of the bomb threat.
A decade-old book of stamps matching the stamp on the envelope was found in Aklaramla's apartment, and the text of the letter was found on the hard drive of...20-03-2009 / Scotland
Scotland - Muslims offer support after attack on synagogue
An alleged racist attack on a city synagogue has prompted Muslim leaders to offer help keeping the building secure. Two men have appeared in court in connection with an incident which left windows smashed in the Newington Synagogue last week. Ken Imrie, chairman of the Scottish Islamic Foundation, has reportedly written to Rabbi David Rose of the Edinburgh Hebrew...18-03-2009 / Canada
Canada - Ottawa may halt grants to antisemitic groups
As part of a "zero tolerance approach towards antisemitism," the federal government is reviewing all its public service grants to remove state support from groups that advocate hatred or express support for terrorism.
"We are just at the beginning of the process of trying to formalize and operationalize that principle. In my department, we will be engaged in a cross-government...17-03-2009 / United States
USA – Antisemitism in Venezuela concerns USCIRF commission
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has appealed to the U.S. State Department and the United Nations to protect Venezuela's 15,000-member Jewish population from violence in the wake of antisemitic rhetoric by the country's president, Hugo Chávez.
Many Jews in Venezuela have fled the country in recent years and tensions escalated when Israel launched a...15-03-2009 / Germany
Germany - Horst Mahler gets new jail term for denying Holocaust
A German court slapped another five-year prison term on Horst Mahler for denying the Holocaust,
after a separate court sentenced him to six years on the same charges
.
The two sentences would be served concurrently.
Lawyers for 73-year-old Horst Mahler, who was immediately incarcerated, said they would appeal the new five-year-two-month sentence.
Judges in...15-03-2009 / Britain
Britain - BT shuts down ‘antisemitic’ Catholic website
BT Has banned a religious website critical of extremist Jews that it has hosted for four years following a campaign from a group of MPs claimed it was antisemitic. It is understood to be the first time that a website in Britain has been shut down under such circumstances. The website, www.catholicvoice.co.uk, takes an inflammatory stance over extreme sections of Judaism...13-03-2009 / Canada
Canada - Harper: Antisemitism ‘pernicious’
Canada's prime minister denounced antisemitism as "a pernicious evil" that must be defeated.
Stephen Harper spoke at a Parliament Hill ceremony organized by Chabad-Lubavitch to honor Jewish victims of last November's terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
Harper called the killings "affronts to the values that unite all civilized people." He said antisemitism "is a pernicious evil...13-03-2009 / Netherlands
Holland - Dutch judge orders teens to visit Anne Frank House
A Dutch judge has ordered four teenagers to visit the Anne Frank House museum after finding them guilty of discrimination for insulting Jews at a rally.
The boys, aged 14 to 17, must turn in a report to the Hague Police Judge about their visit the canal house in Amsterdam where Anne Frank and her family hid from Nazi occupiers during World War II.
The four boys were...12-03-2009 / Australia
Australia - Australia to join boycott of 'Durban II' conference
Australia has joined a growing list of nations that either have or are threatening to boycott an upcoming UN Human Rights Council conference on racism because council member nations are making the focus of the event the demonization of Israel. When it became clear that Durban II, scheduled to take place in Geneva next month, will only expand on that hostility, Canada became the...11-03-2009 / Vatican
The Vatican - We were wrong: Pope writes
The Pope has admitted mistakes over the lifting of the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop and said that the Holy See must modernise its response to future controversies.
In a strikingly humble letter to Catholic bishops, he conceded that the Vatican should have been aware of the views of Richard Williamson, the English bishop at the centre of the row. He has pledged to...10-03-2009 / Vatican
Vatican - Holocaust deniers not Catholics
Holocaust deniers cannot be considered Catholic, the Vatican's envoy to Israel said. Antonio Frank apparently was referring to Pope Benedict XVI's reinstatement of Bishop Richard Williamson, who has denied the full extent of the Holocaust and says there were no gas chambers. Frank's statement was an apparent bid to temper tensions ahead of a papal visit in May. Frank was...06-03-2009 / Poland
Poland - Poland embraces new effort to fight antsemitism
A human rights group and Poland's Education Ministry introduced new teaching materials for Poland's middle schools in an effort to combat antsemitism. Poland is the fifth in a group of 12 countries adopting such workbooks, after Germany, Ukraine, Denmark and the Netherlands. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe guided the project as part of an overall effort to...06-03-2009 / Italy
Italy - Italy to boycott Durban 2
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni that his country would not participate in the international anti-racism conference in Geneva - known as 'Durban 2' – out of fears that the event was being used as an anti-Israeli forum.
Italy was one of a number of European Union members who expressed concerns in recent weeks that the international event...03-03-2009 / United States
USA - Holocaust-denying bishop banned in LA
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles announced that he is barring the Holocaust-denying traditionalist bishop, Richard Williamson, from entering any church in the
Archdiocese of Los Angeles
. In an unusual step, Mahony and two Jewish leaders penned a joint op-ed piece that was published in both the archdiocesan newspaper,
The Tidings
, and a local Jewish newspaper, the...
...27-02-2009 / United States
USA - US won't participate in 'Durban 2'
The Obama administration has decided not to participate in a UN conference against racism dubbed 'Durban 2', which is scheduled to take place in Switzerland in April. A senior US official said the White House would announce its intention soon.
US President Barack Obama's administration sent two representatives to Geneva last week, where negotiations on a document leading the event...27-02-2009 / Germany
Germany - Germany may issue warrant for Holocaust bishop
Germany is considering issuing an arrest warrant on hate crime charges against a Holocaust-denying bishop, German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries said .
Speaking in the sidelines of EU justice ministers' talks in Brussels, Zypries said officials in her country were considering issuing an EU-wide warrant because the ultraconservative clergyman Richard Williamson denied the...27-02-2009 / Vatican
The Vatican - Vatican finds Holocaust-denying bishop's apology lacking
The Vatican said that the apology issued by an ultraconservative bishop who denied the Holocaust was not good enough to admit him into the Catholic Church as a clergyman.
Williamson issued the apology, carried by the Zenit Catholic news agency, in it, Williamson said: "To all souls that took honest scandal from what I said, before God I apologize."
Vatican spokesman Rev....27-02-2009 / Britain
Britain - Diplomat suspended for antisemitic tirade
Foreign Office Minister Gillian Merron told members of Parliament that Rowan Laxton, 47, had been suspended from his job at the Foreign Office and will face disciplinary proceedings.
He was arrested last month on suspicion of threatening to stir up religious hatred, an offense that carries a maximum jail term of seven years, but has not been charged.
He allegedly used foul...
...
