Struggle against antisemitism
02-02-2008 / Canada
Canada - New trial ordered for native chief Ahenakew
Canada's Saskatchewan province has ordered a second hate crimes trial against former native chief David Ahenakew.
Ahenakew, 74, who called Jews a "disease" and justified the Holocaust during a 2002 newspaper interview, was convicted three years later of willfully promoting hatred against Jews. Last month, a higher court upheld his appeal and ordered a new trial.
The Canadian...02-02-2008 / United States
USA - Arrest in vandalism at Jewish cemetery
Mariusz Wdziekonski, a member of a neo-Nazi group has been arrested for allegedly vandalizing nearly 60 gravestones in a Jewish cemetery in Illinois this month.
Mariusz Wdziekonski, a 21-year-old Norridge, Ill., man apparently worked alone when he allegedly spray-painted anti-semitic slogans and swastikas at Westlawn Cemetery in Norwood Park Township near Chicago Jan....01-02-2008 / New Zealand
New Zealand – Israel ambassador criticizes news article
Israel’s ambassador to New Zealand has slammed as “outrageous” an article in a national newspaper which called Israel a “terrorist state” and suggested that the Israeli government could adopt the Nazis’ genocidal policy to crush the Palestinians in Gaza.
Yuval Rotem, also Israel’s envoy to Australia, said the column Herald on Sunday by Matt McCarten, a former...01-02-2008 / Germany
Germany - Germany Launches Comic Book on Holocaust
German schools will launch a comic book next week that aims to teach above all underprivileged children about the Nazi era and the Holocaust.
Although German schools already make a big effort to give pupils a thorough education about the Nazi era, racist violence remains a problem, and the revival of Germany's Jewish community has brought a rise in anti-Semitism with...01-02-2008 / Brazil
Brazil - Judge bans Holocaust Carnival float
A brazilian judge barred a samba group today from featuring a Holocaust display and a dancer dressed as Adolf Hitler in its Carnival parade after fierce complaints from Jewish groups. State judge Juliana Kalichszteim ruled the Viradouro samba group, or school, would be subject to a $US110,000 fine for the float and $US28,000 for the Hitler impersonation if it went ahead with its...30-01-2008 / Poland
Poland - Prosecutor to start investigation into priest controversial remarks
A Polish prosecutor will start an investigation into the controversial statements made last year by Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, the founder of Radio Maryja, a Catholic radio station known for its anti-Semitic broadcasts, press reports said.
The decision to start an investigation, decided by a court in Torun, is a response to a complaint by a Polish Jewish organization against the...29-01-2008 / United States
USA - MTV videos take look at Holocaust
It’s a typical rush hour and commuters are crammed into a subway car, when the train slams to a halt.
Suddenly, soldiers with dogs and machine guns order everyone off the train and into two huge lines on the platform.
“That could be the Green Line, and those people could be...29-01-2008 / United States
USA - Israel, UN release stamp to remember the Holocaust
For the first time, the United Nations and Israel have jointly issued an International Holocaust Remembrance Day stamp.
The day itself was marked on Monday following a UN decision in 2005 to launch an annual memorial. The stamp, designed by internationally known graphic artist Matias Delfino.
The stamp was a joint project of the Israel Postal Company's Philatelic Service...29-01-2008 / Ukraine
Ukraine- Kiev synagogue vandal detained
A special Ukrainian Secret Service unit reportedly detained a man who attempted to vandalize Kiev's main synagogue. The incident reportedly took place overnight Saturday, when the vandal was caught by a field investigator for the Secret Service unit on the counteraction of xenophobia and intolerance as he attempted to paint anti-Semitic graffiti on the synagogue...27-01-2008 / Britain
Britain - Muslim group to take part in U.K. Holocaust Memorial Day
For the first time ever, representatives of Great Britain's largest Muslim umbrella organization will take part Sunday in the international Holocaust Memorial Day. Two months ago, the Muslim Council of Britain (MBC) decided to put an end to their six year boycott of the Memorial Day. The international Remembrance Day was first instituted by the UN in 2001 on the day - January 27th - that...27-01-2008 / United States
USA - Bush: World must go on condemning anti-Semitism
In a statement issued by the White House for the International Holocaust Memorial Day, US President George Bush called upon the world to go on condemning anti-Semitism.
"I was deeply moved by my recent visit to Yad Vashem," said Bush. "Sixty-three years after the liberation of Auschwitz, we must continue to educate ourselves about the lessons of the Holocaust, and honor those...25-01-2008 / Germany
Germany - parliament commemorates victims of Holocaust
Germany's parliament acknowledged the country's special responsibility in the battle against anti-Semitism and racism.
“We remember an unthinkable crime against humanity and a systematic mass murder,” lower house president Norbert Lammert said during a commemorative parliamentary session. “After the bitter experiences of the last century, we do not tolerate any kind of...25-01-2008 / Germany
Germany - Merkel attacks "middle-class anti-Semitism"
Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany must tackle disguised "middle-class anti-Semitism" and attacked those who were silent about the country's painful past.
Speaking ahead of a memorial day for victims of the Nazi era nearly 75 years after Adolf Hitler's party came to power, Merkel said that while anti-Semitism was often linked to poorer communities, the middle-class was also to...25-01-2008 / United States
USA - Man who intervened in subway attack on way to D.C. to hear Bush's address
A good Samaritan who intervened in a subway fight is headed to Washington to hear the President's State of the Union address firsthand.
"It's definitely one of the biggest honors," said Hassan Askari, a Muslim who tried to stop the Christmas-vs.-Chanukah fisticuffs.
Askari jumped into the Dec. 7 brawl on the Q train, defending two couples he did not know who were pelted...
...24-01-2008 / Britain
Britain - MPs to meet Putin for antisemitism talks
British MPs plan to discuss the outcome of last year’s Westminster inquiry into antisemitism with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin in Moscow later this year. The delegation due to go in April is to be led by Tory MP Tim Boswell, vice-chair of the all-party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism (PGAA), which sponsored the inquiry whose recommendation have been taken up by...23-01-2008 / United States
USA - Community protests Anti-Semitic attacks in Crown Heights
In the latest of a number of recent attacks against residents of the Crown Heights Jewish community, five black teenagers Friday night beat and allegedly yelled anti-Semitic slurs at 16-year-old Samuel Balkany.
In related to Friday night’s attack, Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, challenged Rev. Al Sharpton on Martin Luther King Day to...23-01-2008 / Canada
Canada - Youth charged in anti-Semitic vandalism
Durham Regional Police have laid criminal charges against a youth in connection with anti-Semitic vandalism found at a trashed rental property in the town of Bowmanville, east of Toronto. The young offender, who cannot be identified, has been charged under section 441 of the Criminal Code of causing damage to a rental property, an indictable offence that carries a maximum...22-01-2008 / Israel
Europe –European Union to fund visits to Holocaust sites
The second seminar on the subject of combating racism and anti-Semitism opened today (22 January 2008) at the Foreign Ministry. In the opening ceremony, the vice-president of the European Commission, Franco Frattini, said that the Union will fund visits of students from European countries to Holocaust memorial sites.
Farantini added that Europe is not anti-Semitic, but that...22-01-2008 / United States
USA - Tensions Run High at Press Conference
State Senator Eric Adams convened a press conference at the Jewish Museum to proterst and condemn the vicious beating of the 16 year old yeshiva bochur this past Friday night.
Speakers at the press conference all agreed that this crime must be dealt with immediately and decisivly so it won't get out of hand and lead to riots similar to the ones in 1991.
Councilman Dov...22-01-2008 / United States
USA - Brooklyn resident charged with hate crime offenses
Officers went to Ivan Ivanov's apartment after he reported being shot on Sunday evening, police said. Investigators, who said the wound to his finger was self-inflicted, discovered what appeared to be a homemade bomb and several other devices and weapons.
A police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity Monday because the investigation is continuing, said Ivanov told police he...
