Struggle
12-07-2007 / Argentina
Argentina– The Anniversary of the Attack on the AMIA Building Declared a National Day of Mourning
On 12th July 2007, the Argentine Government announced that 18th July, the anniversary of the terrorist attack on the AMIA building in Buenos Aires in 1994, would be a national day of mourning in memory of the 85 victims who lost their lives in the attack. Presidential Decree No. 886/2007, signed by Argentine President Ernesto Kirschner, stated that the attack on AMIA was "a direct attack on the country's sovereignty". It was also decided that throughout the day of 18th July "flags on all public buildings and sites would be flown at half-mast". Another clause in the decree states that the national mourning is in memory of the 85 victims of the terrorist attack and that it is a permanent symbol of the condemnation of "the attack on the Argentines' ethical and legal values and on democracy".
Source:
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/
Date: July 12, 2007
11-07-2007 / Britain
Britain - UK journalists' union calls off boycott
The union's National Executive Council has forwarded a motion, tabled by union general-secretary Jeremy Dear and seconded by its president Michelle Stainstreet,
that calls to put the row over the Israel-boycott call and for members to unite behind the union's key workplace priorities.
The executive council has committed to continuing to work with Israeli journalist unions and has stated it will take no action on the boycott motion.
The motion "strongly reaffirmed" the sovereign role of the union's annual conference in setting National Union of Journalists policy and rejected any allegations that the union was anti-Semitic or racist, reaffirming the union's commitment to fighting racism in all its forms.
The Stop the Boycott Campaign, a coalition of academics and Jewish and non-Jewish groups across the UK, welcomed the decision to calls off the boycott.
"This is an honorable decision and a victory for common sense," said campaign co-director Jeremy Newmark. "It shows that the NUJ leadership are attuned to the wishes of their membership, and should serve as an example to the leaders of other trade unions. This is a shot in the arm for the anti-boycott movement in the UK and the beginning of a backlash against the extreme positions of the pro-boycott camp."
Source: www.jpost.com
Date: Jul. 11, 2007
By Jonny Paul
Photo: Courtesy
11-07-2007 / Brazil
Brazil - a seminar to combat Hate Crimes over the Internet
The Jewish Federation of Rio de Janeiro hosted a seminar to combat Hate Crimes over the Internet. For the first time in Brazil, the main characters on the struggle from federal police, federal government, NGOs, civil society and judiciary, from many states of Brazil, met in a single place to expose what is being done in this combat to identify, arrest and suit hate speech placers and owners of websites and portals in Portuguese language aimed to Brazilian people, using foreign countries service providers to violate Brazilian laws. As result of this seminar, a law project was send to Ministry of Justice to change anti-racist Brazilian law to specifically typify as crime hate speech and racism using any means over the Internet.
Date: July 11, 2007
11-07-2007 / Russia
Russia– A Seminar on Antisemitism for Russian Police Commanders
On 11th July 2007, the Chief Rabbinate of Russia held a seminar on antisemitism especially for the commanders of the Russian Police. More than one thousand commanders and officers participated in the seminar held in the city of Ufa, which was chosen to host the first seminar of its kind in Russia because of its geographical location in the Russian heartland, which facilitated the participation of a large number of commanders.
For several hours, the commanders heard about the history of the Jewish People in general and of Russian Jewry in particular, about the Jews' special needs and the like. The best lecturers held specially seminars and, in symposia, answered all the commanders' questions.
The seminar ended with the agreement by all the police elements in Russia that they would cooperate fully with the Chief Rabbinate and would properly address the needs of any Jew wherever necessary including immediate response and action to all acts of antisemitism.
Source:
http://www.shturem.net/
Date:July 11, 2007
10-07-2007 / United States
USA - Garland Police Arrest 4 Teens for Burglary and Hate Crime
Garland police (
Texas) arrested four teenagers for the burglary and hate crime in which anti-Semitic slurs were spray-painted on a house and car.
Authorities believe the teens are responsible for the break-in and damage of property at the Oak Ridge County Club, along with the graffiti on the house and car nearby.
Source:
http://www.myfoxdfw.com
Date: 10 Jul 2007
08-07-2007 / Ukraine
Europe –The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has Taken a Number of Steps Designed to Combat
According to a resolution adopted by the OSCE, on 8th July 2007, its members, comprising all the countries in Europe as well as Canada and the United States, are required to adopt laws prohibiting antisemitic activities of any kind and to devise methods of education aimed at condemning them. In addition, these countries are to undertake to steps to protect Jewish institutions and to train their security personnel in how to deal with antisemitic organizations. "This is an unprecedented resolution of international proportions", said Israeli Member of Knesset Collette Avital, who is now in Kiyev, Ukraine, "it is binding and not merely declarative. Thus, each member state, 56 in number, must take decisive action against antisemtism, including through a program of study on the subject".
Since Israel has observer status in the organization, the proposal was made by the United States delegation. Following the intervention of Gerd Weiskirchen, a member of the Social Democratic Party in the German Parliament, another resolution was adopted preventing the member states from joining any economic or cultural boycott of Israel. Not all the representatives taking part in the discussion supported the resolution. Several of the Danish, Italian, Lithuanian and Polish representatives voted against it.
Source:
http://www.nrg.co.il/
Date: 8th July 2007
By: Arik Bender
04-07-2007 / United States
USA - Man sentenced to jail for swastikas on LA councilman's office
Adonis Irwin has been sentenced to nine months in jail for
pasting swastikas on the entrance of LA City Councilman Jack Weiss' San Fernando Valley office.
A city attorney's spokesman says Adonis Irwin also received three years probation after pleading no contest to vandalism, posting a swastika on private property and a hate crime charge.
He also was ordered to undergo psychological counseling and to stay away from Weiss and his official offices.
Source: www.ksby.com
Date: July 4, 2007
04-07-2007 / Britain
Britain - Police monitor anti-Semitism in British suburb
Police are stepping up patrols in a British suburb following a number of anti-Semitic incidents.
Jewish families in Manchester walking to and from the synagogue in the town of Hale Barns have been harassed by youths shouting racist abuse from their vehicles, according to the police.
Source:
www.jta.org
Date: July 4, 2007
03-07-2007 / Britain
Britain - London Mayor slams ‘Hitler t-shirt’ on sale in market
London Mayor Ken Livingstone has joined with Holocaust survivors to condemn t-shirts glorifying Hitler on sale in Camden Market.
The garment, being sold in Camden Market Hall, displays a picture of Hitler performing a Nazi salute above a list of countries he invaded, describing the war as a “European Tour,”.
Livingstone said the t-shirt gives a bad impression of London.
“There is no case for selling these t-shirts, which aim to make money by exploiting the horror of Nazism, under which millions were killed,” he said.
Source: www.ejpress.org
Date: July 3, 2007
Posted: July 4, 2007
01-07-2007 / Belgium
Europe - President of Council of Europe promises RCE support against anti-Semitism
President van der Linder promised his support to act not just on legislation, but also on education in order to help younger generations of Europeans learn and understand the horrors of the past that must never be repeated.
The Rabbinical Center of Europe (RCE) hosted an international conference on anti-Semitism at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. The President of the Council of Europe, Mr René van der Linden graciously received the RCE delegation and held a private audience with them, conveying his excitement at the opportunity to discuss the important topics brought to him by the Rabbis of Europe.
Date: 1 July 2007
29-06-2007 / Ukraine
Ukraine - Ukrainian Education Ministry stripped the accreditation of University that Publishes Antisemitic Literature
שResponding to a blizzard of bad publicity, Ukraine's Ministry of Education has stripped the accreditation of 14 branches of the Interregional Academy of Personnel (MAUP), Ukraine's largest private university and its biggest purveyor of antisemitic literature. The ministry reportedly cited technical violations to justify its decision rather than the country's hate speech laws, which MAUP routinely violates.
Source: www.fsumonitor.com
Date: June 29, 2007
27-06-2007 / France
France – A Racist Sentenced for Antisemitic Remarks
On 27th June 2007, Kami Seba, the Leader of the "Tribu KA", was given a suspended sentence after being convicted of making antisemitic and racist remarks. He said in a radio interview that the sentence was a personal victory and promised that he would continue running for the Sarcelles Town Council.
Date: June 27, 2007
24-06-2007 / Canada
Canada– A Court in Saskatchewan Upholds an Antisemitism Conviction
On 24th June 2007, the former Chair of the Association of Native America Tribes, David Ahenekew, appeared before a court in Regina, Saskatchewan to once again appeal a conviction from two years ago of making antisemtic comments to a journalist during an interview five years ago. He was required to pay a fine of 1,000 Canadian dollars. The Court rejected the appeal. In 2006, the Court ordered a new trial on the grounds that the previous judge had not properly considered the question of whether Ahenekew had actually intended from the outset to make antisemitic remarks. The Crown appealed that decision and a new trial was not held. This infuriated Ahenekew who insisted that this was further proof that the "White Man" one again was discriminating against Native Canadians. His colleague, Jim Sinclair, who had also served in a senior post in the Canadian Native American community, told journalists that the special schools established for Native American children, run by the Church, had taught Ahenekew to hate Jews.
Date: June 24, 2007
Posted: June 26, 2007
23-06-2007 / Belgium
Europe - Book called anti-Semitic refused by Parliament
The European Parliament has refused to distribute to MEP’s a book denouncing the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, an anti-Semitic literary forgery.
Produced by the Okhrana, the Russian Czar’s secret police, in 1905, the Protocols accuse the Jews of plotting to rule the world.
Last month, the Transatlantic Institute, a Brussels-based think-tank fostering ties among the EU, Israel and the US, sent copies of “The Plot: The Secret Story of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” written by American Will Eisner in a comic-book form, to the 785 members of the European Parliament and their staff.
The “Plot” aims to shed light on the Protocols and the damage and suffering they have caused throughout history, as well as the negative impact they are having today. The Institute added to the package an eight-page essay written by its director, Emmanuele Ottolenghi, about the Protocols, entitled “The lie that will not die.”
“It was meant to explain the importance of learning the truth about the Protocols due to their ongoing global nefarious influence, especially in the Middle East,” Ottolenghi, told EJP.
Ottolenghi said he received a letter from an official of the European Parliament’s Presidency services, saying that the EU body is not going to distribute the package “due to the nature of its content”.
Source:
www.neurope.eu
Date: June 23, 2007
22-06-2007 / United States
USA - A hate crime by kids yields lesson in the Holocaust
A hate crime turned into a teachable moment for five Staten Island teen-agers who defaced a North Shore synagogue last month.
The teens, all eighth-grade boys and girls, were not prosecuted for scrawling swastikas on the doors of Temple Israel Reform Congregation in Randall Manor. Instead, they and their parents met last week with Rabbi Jacob Jungreis of Brooklyn, a Holocaust survivor who described his life as a young boy in Hungary, where he was taunted by his neighbors for being a "dirty Jew," and as an 11-year-old headed for Auschwitz, the infamous death camp where 1 million people were murdered.
Rabbi Lester Polonsky, spiritual leader of Temple Israel, said that at the end of the two-hour meeting, "there was an understanding of the depth of the tragedy of the Holocaust."
Jeffrey Ganz, president of the congregation of Temple Israel, applauded the rabbi's decision not to punish the teens for what he and others believe was more a misguided prank than a malicious crime.
"I think they realized the hurt they caused."
Source: www.silive.com
Date: June 22, 2007
By Leslie Palma-Simoncek
21-06-2007 / Russia
Russia - Antisemitic Publisher Sentenced to Prison in Novosibirsk
The October District Court of Novosibirsk, Russia sentenced the editor and publisher of a local newspaper to two years in prison for inciting ethnic hatred. Igor Kolodzenko already had two suspended sentences on his criminal record for the same offense, including an article that openly called for violence against Jews. He continued to defy the justice system by publishing articles that incited antisemitism.
Source: www.fsumonitor.com
Date: June 21, 2007
21-06-2007 / Spain
Spain– A Forum on Anti-Semitism and Globalization
In late June 2007, the "Forum on Globalization and Unequal Development" was to the held at the Complutense University in Madrid. This year it was decided that the forum would analyze anti-Semitic movements in connection with political movements and democracy.
Source: DAIA
Date: June 21, 2007
20-06-2007 / Estonia
Estonia– Investigation of a Neo-Nazi Website
On 20th June 2007, the Estonian media reported that the Estonian Intelligence Service (the KAPO) had begun investigating a neo-Nazi Internet site which advertises and sells an Estonian-language anti-Jewish propaganda book for children. The original version of the book had been published in Germany in 1938 under the title "Der Gifplitz". According to KAPO, it has to work in cooperation with the American authorities concerning the possibility of having the site closed down, since its server sits in the United States and belongs to an American neo-Nazi called Gerhard Lauck.
Date: June 20, 2007
Posted: June 25, 2007
19-06-2007 / United States
USA - 51 Nobel Prize laureates against British boycott
Fifty-one Nobel Prize laureates from around the world signed a petition slamming Britain's University and College Union's proposal to impose an academic boycott on the State of Israel.
"We, Noble Prize laureates, condemn the UCU's shameful decision to boycott contact and exchange of information with Israeli educators and academic institutions," the petition said.
The idea of a petition was presented by Technion Professor Aaron Ciechanover, the 2004 Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry.
Ciechanover appealed to his good friend, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, who took it upon himself to seek the signatures of fellow laureates.
The petition also condemns the boycotts proposed by UNISON, the largest union in the British Trades Union Congress, and the British National Union of Journalists, calling on British companies not to buy Israeli products.
"Not only do such boycotts encourage the extremists," the petition said, "but they also praise and glorify prejudices."
Source:
www.ynetnews.co
Date: June 19, 2007
By: Zvi Zinger
18-06-2007 / United States
USA - Columbia President Backs Israel on boycott
Columbia University President Lee Bollinger challenged the British academics, making him the first American college president to speak out on the issue. In an interview he was at a loss to explain why he was the first US University president to speak up against the threatened boycott.
Bollinger said that if Britain’s University and College Union “is intent on pursuing its deeply misguided policy, then it should add Columbia to its boycott list. ... Boycott us, then, for we gladly stand together with our many colleagues ... against such intellectually shoddy and politically biased attempts to hijack the central mission of higher education.”
Although other university and college presidents have yet to speak out, David Ward, president of the American Council on Education, the coordinating body for the country’s higher education institutions, said he finds the British action “reprehensible.”
And the American Association of University Professors, which has a membership of 45,000 and is dedicated to defending academic freedom, adopted a motion at the June 1 meeting of its academic freedom and tenure committee saying that the boycott is “contrary to the association’s position condemning such boycotts.”
Date: 18/06/07
Posted: 20/06/07
