Struggle against antisemitism
04-07-2008 / United States
USA - Chicago man convicted of hate crime, assault for threatening Jewish teens
A Chicago man was found guilty in Cook County Circuit Court of a hate crime and assault after he threatened three Jewish teenagers with a gun and called them anti-Semitic slurs during a confrontation in Lincolnwood last year. John Fiorentino, 20, from Chicago, was convicted of a hate crime and assault after a two-day jury trial. Fiorentino pointed a gun at the teenagers and...01-07-2008 / Russia
Russia - Court gives slap on the wrists to extremists who incited violence against Jews
Three antisemitic extremists who called for violence against Jews and other minorities were given suspended sentences in Blagoveshchensk , Russia. The three members of the local branch of the Union of the Russian People were convicted of inciting ethnic hatred and forming an extremist organization. The prosecution collected video clips, the group's literature, and eye...28-06-2008 / United States
USA - NYPD arrests 4 black teens for stoning bus full of Jewish toddlers
Police say four teenagers have been arrested on hate crime charges for throwing rocks at a school bus full of Jewish toddlers.
Police say the three girls and one boy yelled epithets last month as they broke windows on the bus in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Crown Heights. The children were not hurt.
The case is part of a string of incidents that have stirred tensions between...27-06-2008 / United States
USA - World Jewish Congress petitions UN on anti-Semitism resolution
In New York, the World Jewish Congress has delivered a petition with 200,000 signatures of concerned citizens from all over the world in support of a UN General Assembly resolution explicitly condemning anti-Semitism. Ronald S. Lauder, president of the WJC, said in a statement: "With these petitions, we are urging the UN to reaffirm the commitment made by then-secretary-general Kofi Annan...27-06-2008 / Britain
Britain - Student leaders pledge to fight campus antisemitism at Manchester University
The newly-elected student council at Manchester University contains a large number of Jewish students who have pledged to fight the university’s growing reputation for anti-Semitism.
The new team will have four Jewish representatives on the executive and another 14 on the student council. One of them, Rob Pinfold, is the new general secretary.
After the elections, Mr...27-06-2008 / Ukraine
Ukraine - antisemitic vandal sentenced in Berdichev
A vandal, who painted swastikas and neo-Nazi slogans on a small mausoleum over the grave of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak, in Berdichev, was sentenced to one and a half years in prison. The 20-year-old defendant was charged under Article 297 of the Criminal Code (desecrating graves), but not a hate crime.
Source:
http://www.fsumonitor.com/...27-06-2008 / United States
USA - Teen arrested in swastika incident
A teenager has been arrested in connection with the painting of swastikas on a Jewish family's home. A second teenager is under investigation for participating in the crime. Source: www.centennialcitizen.com26-06-2008 / France
France - French comic fined for antisemitic remarks
A Paris appeals court upheld charges against a French comedian for making antisemitic remarks.
The court fined Dieudonne M'Bala M'Bala, known as Dieudonne, nearly $11,000 for referring to Holocaust remembrance as "memorial pornography" at a news conference following a performance in Algeria in February 2005.
Source:
http://www.jta.org/...26-06-2008 / Russia
Russia - Krasnoyarsk cemetery vandals sentenced
Four teenagers were convicted of vandalizing a Jewish cemetery in
Krasnoyarsk
. The defendants faced the rarely applied charge of "damaging tombstones motivated by ethnic hatred"-most cemetery vandals are charged simply with "hooliganism."
They were found guilty of
vandalizing the cemetery on the night of October 7, 2007
. One was confined to a psychiatric institution,...25-06-2008 / United States
USA - Man sentenced to 22 years for synagogue terror plot
One of four men accused of plotting from behind bars to attack military sites, synagogues and other targets in California was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison.
Levar Haley Washington, 30, was sentenced by US District Court after pleading guilty last year to conspiring to levy war against the United States and using a firearm to further the conspiracy.
Two...20-06-2008 / United States
USA - The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning Arab censorship and officially sanctioned anti-Semitism.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning Arab censorship and officially sanctioned anti-Semitism.
The non-binding resolution passed by unanimous acclamation "strongly condemns the endemic restrictions on freedom of the press and expression in the Arab world and the concurrent and widespread presence of anti-Semitic material, Holocaust denial, and...18-06-2008 / Italy
Italy - FM: EU stance on Israel in past swayed by intolerance of Jews
Italy's newly appointed foreign minister said that the European Union has in the past taken an unbalanced stance on Israel, at times blurring the line between legitimate criticism and anti-Semitic sentiments.
Speaking before a forum on Israel-European relations in Berlin, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said: "I have to admit, if I look at the past, EU has taken on some...18-06-2008 / Germany
Germany - Germans eye ways to curb anti-Semitism
More must be done to keep anti-Semitism in check, a German parliamentary hearing concluded. Meeting at the Bundestag in Berlin, lawmakers and experts offered suggestions and described the challenges. Deidre Berger, the head of the American Jewish Committee office in Berlin, urged the German government to install a professional at the Bundestag designated to respond to the...15-06-2008 / Britain
Britain - World lawmakers to meet in London to fight anti-Semitism
A landmark conference bringing together the world's leading parliamentarians in the fight against anti-Semitism will convene at the British Parliament and Foreign Office in February 2009. The conference will be jointly hosted by the newly established Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism and the British Foreign Office. The coalition assembles...13-06-2008 / Russia
Russia – Suspect Detained in Vandalism of Jewish Cemetery
Police in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia detained a suspect in a string of antisemitic vandalism incidents. The young man and three other suspects allegedly vandalized Jewish graves in the Krasnaya Etna cemetery multiple times over the course of May and June, including a previously unreported incident on June 9. Source: http://www.fsumonitor.com/...12-06-2008 /
Europe - A new European body on tolerance to be presided by former President of Poland.
European Jewish Congress (EJC) President Moshe Kantor announced the launch of a new European body on tolerance to be presided by Aleksander Kwasniewski, former President of Poland.
The launch of “European Forum of Tolerance: The Council of Europe’s Civil Society Representatives (CECSR)” was announced after a meeting f the EJC’s Executive in Brussels.
Several...12-06-2008 / Britain
Britain - Academic union could face legal action on ‘backdoor boycott’
The University and College Union will almost certainly face legal action if its executive decides to turn into policy the “back-door boycott” motion on Israel passed at its congress last week.
Senior lawyer Anthony Julius, acting on behalf of what he called a “growing number” of Jewish and non-Jewish UCU members, has written to UCU general secretary Sally Hunt setting out...10-06-2008 / Britain
Britain - Israeli ambassador says Britain 'hotbed of anti-Israeli sentiment'
In a comment
piece for the Daily Telegraph, Ron Prosor wrote he was "concerned ... that in Britain the most extreme elements of the debate have been allowed to hijack the mainstream."
"
British academia has built its reputation on freedom of expression and the pluralistic exchange of ideas,"
he wrote.
"Alarmingly, these values are under threat in an institution...03-06-2008 / Sweden
Sweden - Former neo-Nazis become Holocaust commemorators
They used to paint swastika graffiti, get into street fights with immigrants, and distribute anti-Semitic propaganda. But after studying the cases of a few of the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II, some former Swedish neo-Nazi teenagers came to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial to underline their new attitudes.
The kids, some of whom were active members of...29-05-2008 / United States
USA - ADL: latest call for academic boycott of Israel a 'cynical and perverse violation'
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) denounced a vote by Britain's main academic union to reintroduce a call to boycott Israeli academic institutions, calling it "a cynical and perverse violation of academic freedom and anti-discrimination principles."
Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:
“This reintroduction of the call for an academic...
