Struggle against antisemitism
07-11-2008 / Italy
Italy - The Speaker of the Senate links antisemitism and anti-zionism
The Speaker of the Senate, Renato Schifani, has claimed that "there are still too many ambiguous voices being heard, among intellectuals and in the media, over the legitimacy of the existence of the State of Israel". Mr. Schifani grabbed the opportunity to renew support for Israel at the inauguration of a photographic exhibition named 'Israel - 60 Years' held at the Senate Library in...05-11-2008 / Germany
Germany - Two arrested for attacking Rabbi in Berlin
Berlin police have arrested two teenagers in connection with an attack on a van carrying a Rabbi and several students. The suspects, 16- and 18-year-old males, confessed to the crime, according to news reports. Both come from families that immigrated to Germany, and at least one has roots in Lebanon. Source: www.jta.org...04-11-2008 / Germany
Germany - German parliament vows to fight antisemitism
Germany's parliament pledged to fight antisemitism and to encourage the revival of Jewish life in a resolution Tuesday ahead of the 70th anniversary of the Nazis' so-called Kristallnacht pogrom.
The lower house renewed its commitment to "counter with determination every form of anti-Jewish hatred and antisemitism." It said that "strong and varied" Jewish life enriches Germany and...03-11-2008 / United States
USA - Soldier discharged in beating of Jewish trainee
The Army says it has kicked out a soldier accused of beating a Jewish trainee at Fort Benning in Georgia.
A Fort Benning spokesman said the soldier received an administrative discharge in the beating of Pvt. Michael Handman. The spokesman declined to release the discharged soldier's name.
Handman was assaulted in September days after he complained of religious harassment...30-10-2008 / United States
USA - Parkway pledges to teach tolerance
The Parkway School Board heard from dozens of parents supportive of district officials Wednesday night at its first meeting after several sixth-graders targeted Jewish students last week.
"We are not perfect," board President Dee Mogerman told more than 100 parents at Parkway Central Middle School. "We will learn from this episode, and we will move forward together, and we will...29-10-2008 / Germany
Germany - Berlin exhibition honors Germans who helped Jews
The first exhibition commemorating Germany's "silent heroes" who helped Jews escape Nazi persecution during the Holocaust opened in Berlin.
The exhibition consists of photographs, letters and other documents from some of the 20,000 non-Jews in Germany who risked their lives giving Jews food, shelter or a place to work in the period from 1938 to 1945.
"There are many memorial...
24-10-2008 / Norway
Norway - Norway denies Irving a platform
A wave of protest has resulted in an invitation to the convicted Holocaust denier David Irving to a literary festival to take place in Lillehammer next May being withdrawn.
Irving, who was jailed in Austria and banned from entering several countries because of his claims that the gas chambers in Auschwitz were fake, was to be the inaugural speaker at the 2009 festival, the theme of...19-10-2008 / Canada
Canada - Egyptian-born writer supports Israel
Nonie Darwish has come a long way from the values that surrounded her during her childhood in Egypt.
In an interview with The Canadian Jewish News, she expanded on her presentation, discussing the personal turmoil she experienced as a young girl when her father was killed. In the early 1950s, her father, Lt.-Col. Mustafa Hafaz, was stationed in Gaza, where he led the Egyptian...15-10-2008 / Italy
Italy - National team coach in anti-racism film
Italy’s 2006 World Cup-winning coach Marcelo Lippi has agreed to take part in an anti-racism and anti-fascism film aimed at schoolchildren.
Moni Ovadia, a Jewish Italy-based actor and theatre director, asked Lippi to speak about the Holocaust during the film, and revealed that the coach had been eager to participate.
"It will be a strong message and Lippi is a star not...13-10-2008 / Australia
Australia - Jewish group warns about anti-Israel blogs
Members of a Jewish group have raised concerns about blogs written by Australian academics, including one that made a reference linking the "Israeli propaganda machine" to the "Nazi apparatus under Goebbels". While the blogs are set up outside universities, "it is an indication that the classroom offering may be of a similar bias," Dr Colin Rubenstein, of the Australia/Israel and...09-10-2008 / United States
USA - Boy, 15, charged with hate crime in Newport News
A 15-year-old boy has been charged with committing a hate crime after police arrested him as the suspect in an incident of
burglary and vandalism at a Jewish community center
in
Newport News, Virginia
.
The teen, whose name has not been released because of his age, is a Newport News resident. He has been charged with two felonies, burglary and hate...07-10-2008 / France
France – Kémi Séba received a suspended prison sentence of four months
Kémi Séba, the founder of the Tribu Ka organization, an organization of radical black Anti-Semites that was outlawed in July 2006 by Presidential Edict, received a suspended sentence of four months in prison for incitement to racism. In October 2006, Kémi Séba, whose real name is Stellio Capochichi, referred on his internet website, canalblog.com, to the Jewish Student Organization of...06-10-2008 / Russia
Russia - Novosibirsk court gives antisemitic suspended sentence
A court in Novosibirsk , Russia sentenced a former police officer, Alexander Budnikov, to a suspended sentence after finding him guilty of engaging in extremist activity by inciting hatred against Jews and calling for the overthrow of the government. Responding to the lax sentence, defendant Aleksandr Budnikov publicly vowed to continue his illegal incitement on local...01-10-2008 / Britain
Britain - Australian Holocaust-denier arrested at Heathrow
British police arrested
Gerald Fredrick Toben
on charges of Holocaust denial. The 64-year-old Australian citizen was taken into custody upon arrival at Heathrow Airport on charges of publishing and distributing anti-Semitic material and Holocaust denial and revisionism.
An EU warrant for Toben's arrest was issued by Germany authorities. He has served time in a...01-10-2008 / Czech
Czech Republic - Centre against violence, xenophobia and antisemitism to be built in Terezín
A European centre of studies and meetings to focus on cooperation in fighting violence, xenophobia, racism, rightist extremism and antisemitism is to be founded in Terezin . Source: http://www.praguemonitor.com/...30-09-2008 / United States
USA - Nazi prank gets city worker axed
A tasteless Nazi stunt
at a
Staten Island
parks office cost one man his job and will lead to disciplinary action against his two cohorts.
Nick Johnson, who wore a motorcycle helmet with a swastika in front of a Jewish co-worker last month, was fired after a city investigation last week.
Charlie Ekonomakos, who sported a Hitler-style mustache, and...28-09-2008 / Czech
Czech Republic - Two convicted of promoting antisemitism
Erich Sedlacek and Libor Budik were convicted for articles they published in 2003-04 on the Web site called The Last Generation where they worked as editors-in-chief. It says the articles called for the extermination of Jews and denied the Holocaust. The paper says on its Web site that the court on Thursday sentenced Sedlacek to three years and Budik to two....26-09-2008 / Germany
Germany - Three arrested on suspicion of vandalizing Jewish cemetery
Police arrested young three men, all between the ages of 16-20, in connection with the desecration of a Jewish cemetery in Westerstede , near Bremen in northern Germany. The vandals, two of whom confessed to their involvement, allegedly spray-painted antisemitic and neo-Nazi slogans on several gravestones and on a plaque commemorating the city’s former Jewish citizens....18-09-2008 / Russia
Russia - Ulyanovsk court sentences antisemitic vandals
A court in
Ulyanovsk
, Russia sentenced four local residents to prison and fines after finding them guilty of painting antisemitic death threats on the building of the Jewish Community Center. The four were convicted of illegal hate speech after an expert study found that the graffiti was "an open call to kill Jews." The defendants were sentenced to three years in prison, one year...15-09-2008 / United States
USA - Man arrested on suspicion of vandalizing Jewish preschool
Authorities say they've arrested a
Camarillo
man on suspicion of spray-painting swastikas and other hate-crime graffiti at a Jewish preschool and other sites.
The Sheriff's Department says they arrested Jonathan Samuel Latino on suspicion of felony vandalism and a hate crime.
A surveillance camera from one business captured video of a suspect, leading...
