THE COORDINATION FORUM FOR COUNTERING ANTISEMITISM
Report on Monthly Anti-Semitic Incidents December 2000
General
The attacks and incidents characterizing the year 2000 from the radical right and Islamic elements continued in the month of December as an extension of the Al-Aqsa incidents.
Special attention should be paid to the increase of anti-Semitic propaganda in Russia. Two years ago we were witness to a strong wave of anti-Semitism preceded by much propaganda, similar to what we see today.
Attacks and Anti-Semitic Incidents
Romania
On 28 December, two Jews were beaten in the Museum of the History of Romanian Jewry in Bucharest. The attackers smashed windows, caused much damage to exhibits and fled with valuable religious artifacts from the museums collection. The Jewish community in Romania expressed concern over the recent spate of anti-Semitic incidents. President Iliescus bureau strongly denounced the incident and said it was a deep insult to the memory of Romanian Jewry and its identity.
France
On 22 December, two Arabs attacked a bus carrying Jewish pupils to the Schneior orthodox religious school. No one was hurt and nothing was damaged. The police arrived at the site and arrested the attackers.
Germany
A group of Jewish youths who were attending a seminar in Bad Sobernheim were attacked by a group of skinheads. The skinheads identified the boys who were wearing skullcaps and threatened them that they would send them to a work camp.
Spain
The El Pais newspaper reported that hooligans had attacked a synagogue in Ceuta and smashed the entrance door. A few dozen Jews were in the synagogue at the time of the attack. This is the fifth time since 20 October, 2000 that this synagogue was attacked, the previous attack being a week ago.
Belarus
On 28 December, the 8th day of Chanukah, a Molotov cocktail was thrown during the night at the eastern window of the Habad synagogue in Minsk. The synagogue guard succeeded in extinguishing the fire. No damage was done. The attack was apparently motivated by anti-Semitism.
U.S.
On 25 December, a 23-year old Arab attacked a young religious Jew in the Brooklyn, New York subway station and scratched his face. The attacker made anti-Semitic remarks against his victim while being arrested by the police.
On 23 December, unknown persons defaced a menorah in the plaza of the Jewish center in Westborough, Boston.
A large menorah situated on a traffic island in the St. James, Long Island neighbourhood in New York was destroyed and its parts scattered about.
Britain
On 10 December, several windows of the Dunstable and District synagogue in Luton were smashed and graffiti were written on one of the pillars.
On 24 December, a huge menorah located on a street in Golders Green was defaced with anti-Semitic slogans.
On 28 December, damage was done to one of the storage rooms in the Beth Jacob school in Hendon and anti-Semitic abusive slogans were written on the walls.
On 31 December, windows of the Spanish synagogue in Manchester were smashed. Several incidents of smashed windows at this synagogue have occurred recently.
On 31 December, a group of local hooligans tried to break into a Jewish youth camp three nights in a row, while shouting Heil Hitler. The police were summoned.
Desecration of Jewish Cemeteries and Monuments
U.S.
On 14 December, unknown persons desecrated a cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut. Some 45 gravestones were toppled and some were completely destroyed.
Germany
Unknown persons vandalized the Jewish cemetery in Saarbrucken in West Germany and destroyed 17 gravestones. No abusive anti-Semitic slogans were left.
Swastikas and the words Lebanon and Allah were drawn on the memorial plaque located in a school yard in the town of Moers in North Rhine Westphalia. Four students of Lebanese extraction, aged 15-17, confessed to the deed.
Threats
Brazil
On 9 December, three Palestinian flags were found in the area of a building belonging to the Habonim Dror movement in Curitiba. Threats such as We will blow up the place and anti-Semitic slogans were written on one of the flags.
On 10 December, a call was received over the phone at the Hebraica Club in Curitiba that a bomb had been planted and would explode within a few minutes. At the time community members and many non-Jews were attending a bazaar there which had been organized by the community.
Switzerland
On 9 December, a bomb scare was received over the phone in a hall in Basel where a Wizo event was being held.
Britain
On 20 December, a Jewish lawyers office in Middlesex, Edgware received a false bomb threat.
Propaganda
Russia
On 3 December, anti-Semitic statements were made in Ryazan during the gubernatorial provincial election campaign in Russia. Many pamphlets appeared on the city streets with a picture of the candidate Mikhail Malakhov alongside the photographs of Boris Nemtsov and Sergei Kirienko. The pamphlet was entitled "Again Jews". Malakhov was the only candidate who denounced the violent attack last September on a Jewish school in the city. The person most likely behind the anti-Semitic campaign is Valereii Ryumin, former Ryazan mayor and a known anti-Semite who was also running for the elections.
The former U.S. Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke toured Russia to promote the sales of the Russian version of his book The Jewish Question Through the Eyes of an American. At a press conference, Duke said the Jews control the major institutions in Russia and the U.S. and accused them of trying to put Russia into an electronic concentration camp.
The former communist MP Albert Makashov, known for his radical anti-Semitic stands, called on President Valdimir Putin to destroy the oligarchs, the powerful business men who include many Jews. Last year many politicians requested the Communist Party be made illegal following a series of speeches and articles in which Makashov called for the physical destruction and methodical incarceration of the Jews.
An article in Izvestiya of 1 December referred to an entertainment program of an anti-Semitic and racist nature. The newspaper define the program as Nazi propaganda presenting the Jews as sub-humans. The actors portrayed the Jews as vulgar with exaggerated noses and told jokes about pogroms and the incidence of conversions.
A new edition of Ivan Shevtsovs anti-Semitic book Aphid was published in Moscow to mark the authors 80th birthday. The book was defined by the Moskovskie Novost newspaper as the first anti-Semitic novel in the history of Soviet literature. The leader of the Communist party in Russia, Zyuganov, sent a letter to Shevtsov congratulating him on his achievements. The main character in the book is pursued by Jews described as wicked and controlling Soviet art.
On 20 December, a demonstration was held during a rabbinical conference in Moscow. The demonstrators carried anti-semitic placards but the authorities did nothing to restore law and order.
Canada
Yves Michaud, a former senior diplomat, prominent figure in the banking system and the current ruling Parti Quebecois partys candidate to the Quebec provincial legislature, was recently interviewed on a radio program. He said the Jews think that they are the only people who have suffered through human history. Have the Armenians not suffered? Have the Palestinians not suffered? The Rwandans? Only the Jews always think that they are the only people in the world who have suffered through history. Michaud reiterated his remarks to journalists and despite the request of the Bnai Brith organization that he renounce his statements, he refused to do so. Michauds remarks stirred up a media storm and an unequivocal denunciation from the Quebec legislature.
Australia
On 8 December, an unidentified person phoned a member of the Jewish community in Perth, West Australia, and left an anti-Semitic message on the answering machine.
On 22 December, four unidentified persons travelling in a car shouted accusing remarks, such as Kill the Jews! at a rabbi and his son who were on their way to a synagogue in Perth.
U.S.
On 3 December, swastikas were found on the Binghamton University campus in New York State. Anti-Semitic and anti-Israel slogans began to appear in September 2000 and intensified especially during the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in October. The university staff and especially the students are very concerned over the phenomenon, given the fact that the university has a reputation for tolerance which attracts many Jewish students.
On 10 December, unknown persons drew swastikas on the walls of two Jewish-owned entertainment halls in the Bensonhurst neighbourhood in Brooklyn, New York.
A 32-page pamphlet containing anti-Semitic and racist messages was distributed on the paths leading to houses in North Stamford, Greenwich and Connecticut. The pamphlet was written by Matt Hale, the leader of the World Church of the Creator racist organization.
Britain
The Marks and Spencer store chain, known as a chain run by Jews, encountered a public storm stirred up by pro-Palestinian groups who organized demonstrations in front of two of the chain's stores in central London. The demonstrators called for boycotting the chains products as it supports Israel.
On 29 December, in the Saatchi synagogue in London, abusive slogans and swastikas were written on the entrance wall of the synagogue and the synagogue janitors apartment.
On 13 December, abusive anti-Semitic slogans were drawn on the sidewalk opposite the Chigwell and Hainault synagogue in Essex.
On 4 December, at the end of a Jewish public event in a hall in Euston, a passenger in a car driving by called out abusive remarks at those participating in the event.
South Africa
During a demonstration to mark Jerusalem Day, which was organized by the Muslim Qibla organization, demonstrators carried signs comparing Israel to the Nazi regime and called on the South African government to impose economic sanctions on the illegal State of Israel.
France
On 18 December, mail was received at the offices of the Jewish LArche newspaper in Paris containing Holocaust denial material.
Struggle
Russia
The Neo-Nazi leader from Oryol, Igor Semyonov, received a 3 year prison sentence for illegal possession of a weapon and a large quantity of explosives. Semyonov and his supporters are suspected of several murders and openly planning to murder Jews and foreigners in the city. Until recently, however, the local authorities had also defended Semyonov and opened a campaign to support him in the regional media where he was defined as a patriot.
Czech Republic
Michal Zitko, publisher of the Otakar II publishing company which had for the first time published the first completed edition of Mein Kampf in the Czech language, and against whom a suit was filed, was sentenced to a fine of 50,000 U.S. dollars and a 3-year suspended sentence. The sentence said that the book supports and disseminates the movements statements which are intended to suppress citizen rights and freedom, and the book clearly incites towards racial and national hatred.
Lithuania
President of Lithuania Adamkus declared Lithuanias determination to fight every incidence of anti-Semitism. Adamkus noted that he personally initiated the struggle which included searches, investigations and legal proceedings against the newspaper Lietuvos Aidas which published anti-Semitic articles and he intended to destroy it.
Germany
On 12 December, the Supreme Court of Germany ruled that the laws against Holocaust denial and the dissemination of Nazi propaganda also apply to the Internet, even if the source of the material is another country and the distributor is not German. In light of this new ruling, Germany can therefore bring the Australian Holocaust denier Toben to a retrial for refusing to remove anti-Semitic material from his Internet site. This step is contingent on the decision of the Australian federal government to extradite Toben to Germany.
A court in Ravensburg opened one of the last trials against a Nazi accused of crimes against humanity. Julius Viel, a former journalist aged 82, who served as an SS officer in the Second World War, was accused of murdering seven Jews of the Therezienstadt inmates in March 1945. He shot them in Leitmeritz, Czechoslovakia while they were digging trenches. The motive was described as a definite passion for murder.
Principality of Liechtenstein
Following continuous pressure by the World Zionist Congress, Liechtenstein decided to set up a special committee to examine accusations that the principality assisted the Nazis to hide money and goods stolen from Jews during the Second World War in its banks. The Committee for Evaluating History is expected to begin its work in the coming spring.
U.S.
Five skinheads, who admitted in a plea bargain to the attempted torching of a synagogue in Reno, Nevada, were sentenced to imprisonment of up to 15 years. The youths, aged 19-26, admitted that they committed the crime because of hatred towards the Jews. The five also tried to set the Emmanuel synagogue on fire last year as well by throwing Molotov cocktails at it.
Australia
A warrant was issued for the arrest of Matasim Halaby accused of calling the Jewish Hakoach Club in Sydney in November 2000 and threatening to detonate an explosive charge he reportedly hid on the premises. Halaby was summoned to appear at a hearing in the court accused of illegal use of the telephone and harassment. A warrant was issued for his arrest when he did not appear for the trial.
Following a complaint lodged by the Jewish community, the Human Rights Committee of Australia ordered the Adelaide Institute, the revisionist institute run by Fredrick Toben, to remove anti-Semitic material from his Internet site and to publicly apologize to the Jewish community for violating the state law against racial hatred.
Miscellaneous
Britain
The Sunday Express of 31 December published an article that the British Home Office, the MI5 agency and the Crown Court are being requested to break the conspiracy of silence and to expose the war files and identity of 1500 Ukrainian Nazis who were in the Waffen SS and who are living until today in peace and tranquility in Britain under the protection of the Secrets Act. According to the article, the documentary program staff of Yorkshire Television uncovered details of the Waffen SSs involvement in war atrocities after burrowing in archives which had been closed up to the present.
New Zealand
The University of Canterbury apologized to the Jewish community for granting a masters degree to the student Joel Hayward for a Holocaust denial thesis he wrote in 1993. After a thorough examination, the university came to the conclusion that the thesis distorts history. The university cannot revoke the degree, however. Neo-Nazi and Holocaust deniers make frequent use of Haywards work on which to base their claims.
France
On 24 December, the Yahoo Internet company appealed the courts decision in France to restrict the access of its citizens to auction sites selling Nazi memorabilia. They lawyers representing Yahoo claim that preventing a specific group from access to the site is not possible. A panel of experts on the Internet from France are divided on this contention. (In the meantime, new developments have occurred regarding this issue which will be reported on in the January 2001 report).
Poland
A Torah scroll found hidden in a basement in Poland since the beginning of the Second World War was given for safekeeping by the Polish Foreign Minister to the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Israel Meir Lau.
Slovakia
The president of Slovakia participated in a ceremony to dedicate a new Jewish education center in the capital Bratislava. The center will provide lessons in Judaism, singing and tradition for children and lectures for adults.
Hungary
On 22 December, the Hungarian government and leaders of the Jewish community signed a charter to promote social, economic and political stability for Hungarian Jewry. The signing ceremony was held in the House of Parliament in Budapest. Under the agreement, the Hungarian government undertook to promote the study of the Holocaust in schools and to honour the memory of the victims.
Following an extradition request from Latvia, Kalejs was arrested on 13 December by the Melbourne police. He remained in custody for 30 minutes before his release on bail and under conditions designed to limit the possibility of his escape from Australia. His passport was confiscated and he was prohibited from leaving Australia.
Japan
A memorial ceremony was held for Shiune Sughihara, a Japanese diplomat who died in 1986, who succeeded in saving thousands of Jews in Latvia during the Second World War by issuing them transit visas despite orders from the Japanese government.
Norway
The headquarters building used by Vidkun Quisling who collaborated with the Nazi regime during the Second World War, will become a center for the study of the Holocaust and minorities.
Italy/Vatican
Despite stormy demonstrations and under heavy guard, Pope John Paul II met with the radical right-wing Austrian leader Jörg Haider on 16 December. Haidar arrived at the Vatican at the head of a large 250-member Austrian delegation to give the Holy See a
Christmas gift of a hug fir tree from the Carinthia province of which Heidar is the governor. Thousands demonstrated in the streets of Rome shouting Haidar, go home! The Jewish owners of shops in the vicinity of the Vatican decided to extinguish their store lights in protest of the visit. Haidar was not upset however and even dared to provoke the Jews by saying If they want to save electricity, let them.
Italian television has begun screening a TV series on the story of a police commander by the name of Giovanni Palatucci who saved some 5000 Jewish refugees during the Holocaust. Palatucci died in the Dachau concentration camp where he was a prisoner.