Struggle against antisemitism
17-02-2009 / Britain
Britain - UK pledges to combat antisemitism
With the opening of the London conference on combating antisemitism, the British government has reaffirmed its determination to confront antisemitism and commitment toward stamping it out as a global threat.
Speaking at the launch of the two-day conference at the Wallace Collection in central London, Sadiq Khan, Minister for Community Cohesion, spoke of the government's concerns...16-02-2009 / Yemen
Yemen - Prosecutor urges death penalty for murder of Jew
The prosecution demanded the death sentence for the Yemeni Muslim who has boasted of killing a Jewish compatriot north of the capital Sanaa late last year.
The court set March 2 as the date for its verdict against Abdul Aziz Yahya al-Abdi, 39, who admitted in December to shooting dead Masha Yaeish al-Nahari in the town of Raydah in Amran province.
Abdi, peering from the dock...
16-02-2009 / Turkey
Turkey - Turkish nationalist charged over news conference with signs “no Jews, no Armenians”.
The head of a Turkish nationalist group could face up to a year in jail after being charged over a placard he put in his office barring Jews and Armenians from entering.
“No Jews or Armenians are allowed through this door. Dogs are free to enter,” read the sign that Niyazi Capa, general manager of the Osman Gazi Culture Federation, placed in the window of his office of...14-02-2009 / Canada
Canada - Montreal bomber to serve 5 years total
A Montreal resident will serve a total of five years in prison for firebombing two local Jewish institutions.
The judge sentenced Omar Bulphred, 23, to seven years in prison, but gave him 44 months' credit for the 22 months he has already served, so the sentence amounts to another 40 months, just over five years altogether.
Bulphred pleaded guilty to lobbing a Molotov...12-02-2009 / Vatican
The Vatican - Pope says holocaust denial unacceptable
Pope Benedict XVI has told Jewish leaders that any denial of the Holocaust is intolerable and unacceptable, especially if a priest does it.
Benedict said during a meeting Thursday at the Vatican with about 60 American Jewish leaders that he is preparing to visit Israel.
The audience was scheduled after Benedict lifted the excommunication of a traditionalist bishop who denied...
11-02-2009 / Argentina
Argentina - Holocaust revisionist bishop faces legal charges
Richard Williamson, the British-born bishop whose excommunication was reversed by Pope Benedict XVI in January, is now the subject of a complaint before an Argentine federal court.
The 68-year-old bishop stands accused of denying the Holocaust, according to evidence presented before Judge Julian Ercolini.
In addition to Tuesday's complaint, he may face further...11-02-2009 / France
France - French group will charge bishop
A French human rights group says it will press charges against a Holocaust-denying British bishop.
The International League against Racism and Antisemitism (LICRA) said in a statement that it would charge Richard Williamson with "contesting crimes against humanity" and denying the Holocaust in an article published in the German der Spiegel magazine and in a television...08-02-2009 / Argentina
Argentina - Holocaust -denier removed from Argentine seminary
Roman Catholic bishop Richard Williamson relieved as head of La Reja seminary on outskirts of Buenos Aires after drawing sharp criticism from Vatican and Jewish groups for denying extent of Holocaust, Catholic Church official says.
Pope Benedict angered Jewish leaders and progressive Catholics last month when he lifted excommunications on the bishop, Richard Williamson, and three...08-02-2009 / Venezuela
Venezuela - Venezuela holds police, guard in synagogue attack
Seven Venezuelan police agents and four civilians have been arrested in connection with an attack on a synagogue that sparked international condemnation.
President Hugo Chavez, whom Jewish groups accuse of encouraging antisemitism, referred to the arrests and said the attack was led by a police officer who had worked closely with the rabbi at the synagogue.
"What a...06-02-2009 / Hungary
Hungary - PM angry over showing of antisemitic film
Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany slammed a decision by prosecutors not to press charges against the organizers of a
public showing of a Nazi propaganda film last year
.
The liberal SZDSZ party had filed a complaint against extreme-right groups for incitement to racial hatred when they organised a showing of the 1940 Nazi film "Jud Suess" last July in Budapest....06-02-2009 / Netherlands
Holland - Demonstrators convicted for antisemitic slogans
Two participants in a pro-Palestinian demonstration have been convicted for shouting antisemitic slogans during a demonstration in Utrecht on 15 January. One of the two was sentenced to a 400-euro fine; the other was given 30 hours of community service. Source: www.radionetherlands.nl VIDEO...05-02-2009 / Australia
Australia - Australian paper suspends columnist over slur
A London-based columnist who blamed Israel for the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks was suspended by the Australian newspaper that published his article.
Michael Backman’s Jan. 17 column in Melbourne’s The Age newspaper
triggered outrage and anger from Australian Jewish leaders who blasted it as “primitive antisemitism.”
Paul Ramadge, editor in chief of The...05-02-2009 / France
France - Sarkozy: Holocaust-denying bishop comments are 'shocking and unacceptable'
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that Holocaust-denying comments by Bishop Richard Williamson, whom the pope wants to bring back into the Catholic Church, were "shocking and unacceptable."
"It is shocking and it is unacceptable. It is unacceptable that someone in the 21st century can deny the Shoah, the martyrdom of the Jews," he said in a television interview.
Source:...04-02-2009 / Vatican
The Vatican - Holocaust denier must recant
Cardinal in charge of relations with Jews says in radio interview that Catholic Church handled rehabilitation of Holocaust denying Bishop Richard Williamson badly, adds he was not consulted by Pope Benedict .
The statement was issued by the Vatican's Secretariat of State a day after German Chacellor Angela Merkel urged the pope to make a clearer rejection of Holocaust denials,...03-02-2009 / South Africa
South Africa - Hajaig apologizes for comments
Deputy foreign minister Fatima Hajaig today apologized for any pain caused by alleged antisemitic remarks she made at a rally a few weeks ago.
"To the extent that my statement may have caused hurt and pain, I offer an unequivocal apology for the pain it may have caused to the people of our country, and the Jewish community in particular," said Hajaig in a statement.
Source:...03-02-2009 / United States
USA - U.S. Bishops blast Holocaust-Denying Bishop
The nation's top Catholic archbishop condemned the remarks of a Holocaust-denying English bishop as "deeply offensive and utterly false," and sought to reaffirm the church's bonds with the Jewish community.
"No Catholic, whether layperson, priest or bishop, can ever negate the memory of the Shoah," said Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust,...03-02-2009 / United States
USA - Cardinal O’Malley: Bishop’s ‘terrible’ Holocaust comments show need for papal oversight
In a Friday article on his blog, Archbishop of Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley commented on the controversy surrounding Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) Bishop Richard Williamson’s “terrible” statements which minimized Jewish suffering in the Holocaust. He argued the bishop’s comments prove the need to increase papal influence over the SSPX and its bishops, whose excommunications were...03-02-2009 / Germany
Germany - Merkel: Pope must clarify Holocaust stance
German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Pope Benedict XVI to make a "very clear" rejection of Holocaust denials after the Vatican's rehabilitation of a former bishop who questioned whether 6 million Jews were gassed by the Nazis.
Merkel's rare and public demand came amid increasing outrage among Germany's Roman Catholic leaders over the German-born pope's decision.
Merkel...03-02-2009 / Vatican
The Vatican - Top cardinal: Vatican botched Shoah affair
The cardinal in charge of relations with Jews has acknowledged that the Vatican handled the rehabilitation of a Holocaust-denying bishop very badly and complained that Pope Benedict did not consult him.
"There wasn't enough talking with each other in the Vatican and there are no longer checks to see where problems could arise," said Cardinal Walter Kasper in a blunt interview with...01-02-2009 / Netherlands
Holland - Philosophy professor leaves Church after Society's rehabilitation
A philosophy and ethics professor at Radboud University of Nijmegen, until 2004 formally a Catholic university, has formally renounced his membership of the Catholic Church to protest the rehabilitation of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX).
In an interview for Dutch Catholic internet magazine Katholiek Nederland, Belgian-born Jean-Pierre Wils said he refuses to associate himself...
