Report of Anti-Semitic Incidents - Aug-97

August, 1997

General

August saw a slight decrease in the number of violent incidents in contrast to July. They included, among other things, damage to synagogues and desecration of cemeteries. No attacks were recorded.

Threatening announcements continued to be recorded in various countries in Europe, Canada and South America.

In the sphere of propaganda, manifestations of accusations and anti-Semitism against Jews and Jewish facilities continue to appear in the 'street' and in publications.

The Internet network continues to serve as a platform for anti-Semitic elements for disseminating anti-Semitic opinions and attitudes. With the increased use of electronic mail (e-mail), it has become a very common means to convey messages of anti-Semitic propaganda and even threats against Jews and Jewish institutions.

In the sphere of struggle against anti-Semitism and racism in general, in the month of August various countries in Western and Eastern Europe and in Latin America took steps against Nazi and anti-Semitic elements. In France the Supreme Court in Bordeaux imposed restrictions on Maurice Papon, the governor of the Bordeaux district under the Vichy regime, until the beginning of his trial in October. Papon is accused of assisting the arrest and deportation of 1560 Jews from Bordeaux to the camps in World War II.

Incidents

Britain - Three windows were smashed in the Willesdex and Braudesbury synagogue after three youths threw stones at the synagogue.

One of the windows was smashed in the Hull Jewish Community Car Home in Humberside. The perpetrators who threw stones at the synagogue were visitors to a pub which is nearby.

There was an attempted break-in at the Wolfson and Hillel elementary school. The background to the action is unclear.

France - Blasphemous slogans and graffiti were drawn on the walls of the great synagogue Deloye and on the walls of the small synagogue near it in the city of Nice. They included sketches of swastikas, gallows with a Star of David underneath and anti-Semitic slogans such as, "Juden Raus, Zyklon B, Heil Hitler, Hitler Was Right, sieg Heil" and others. Those suspected of the act are skinheads who were seen in the vicinity singing and making the Nazi salute and dressed in shirts with the symbol of the Third Reich and swastika tattoos on their arms. This group also drew swastikas in other places they had frequented in the city.

Austria - An apartment belonging to a Hassidic Jew in the Third Quarter in Vienna was broken into and set on fire. Swastikas were drawn on the walls of the apartment. The background to the action is unclear.

Germany - In the Jewish cemetery in Floss in Bavaria, 44 graves were desecrated.

Lithuania - The grave of the Vilna Gaon was desecrated in the Jewish cemetery in the capital of Lithuania. Swastikas and blasphemous slogans were drawn on the gravestone that was erected in 1993 in the ancient cemetery in Snipikes.

During a soccer game in the European Football Cup Competition for Cup Holders between a team from Vilna and an Israeli team, cries of "Juden Raus, Juden Raus" were heard from the stands. A huge sign was also hung on the stadium fence with the word "Hizballah" written in English.

Russia - The local Jewish cemetery in Arkhangelsk was desecrated. Swastikas were drawn on a number of graves.

Argentina - A powerful firecracker was thrown at the Jewish cemetery in Cordoba. No damage was caused but the noise was heard in the entire neighbourhood.

Threats

Austria - A threatening announcement of a bomb planted in the Vienna community center was received at the Police emergency desk. The caller was a man with a foreign accent. The announcement said a bomb was to explode 15 minutes after the end of the conversation. The community center was evacuated and searched but nothing was found.

Romania - An anonymous call which said "Death to the Jews, a bomb will explode in the hotel", was received at the Olanesti hotel in the Valea district, about 175 km north west of Bucharest. The hotel was evacuated and searched but nothing was found. Israeli tourists were also staying at the hotel at the time.

Canada - An anonymous announcement of an attack intention on a Jewish/Israeli target in Canada was received in the Jewish Community Center in Ottawa (J.C.C.). The anonymous caller had an Arab accent. No additional details were given on the target and time of the attack.

Brazil - An anonymous announcement of a bomb planted in a synagogue was received at the Union Synagogue in Porto Alegre. The synagogue was searched but nothing was found.

An anonymous call on a bomb that was to explode during a concert was received in a theater in Porto Alegre. The concert is part of a tour of performances of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in South America before a Jewish audience. In the end the concert took place peacefully.

Uruguay - An anonymous call on a bomb in the synagogue in the Pocitos neighbourhood in Montevideo was received at the police station. A search revealed that the synagogue was closed, there were no attempts to break in nor was any suspicious object found.

A threatening letter was sent to the local Keren Hayesod director. The letter said, "Jewish pig, we know you are a Zionist agent and everything connected with your family. We will kill you and all your people. Jews, get out from our pure Artiguist homeland. Heil Hitler."

Propaganda

Britain - In the editorial offices of the "Jewish Chronicle", an anti-Semitic letter was received which originated from Seaford, Sussex. The letter said, "Gentlemen, I am taking the liberty as a German and a Nazi to tell you Shame on you, Jewish snakes, I put 5,475,000 Jews in gas chambers but not enough Jews were put into the gas chambers. For my part I would have put all the Jews into the gas chambers. Heil Hitler."

Anti-Semitic slogans were found in the washrooms of the Jewish National Fund in Middlesex. Among the slogans was written, "Gas to the Jews", "Combat-18".

France - A blasphemous letter in French was received in the Keren Hayesod offices in Paris. The letter contained Nazi invective against the Jews and quotations from the enemy Hitler's statements against the Jews. Red ink stains were sprayed on the page (a hint to blood).

Denmark - A blasphemous slogan was sprayed on a large stone which had been brought specially from Israel and marks 'Israel Square' in Copenhagen. The sprayed slogan was "Hamas Forever" and a drawing of a swastika. This occurred a few days after the Mahane Yehuda attack in Jerusalem (30 July, 1997).

Romania - Anti-Semitic letters were received in a number of government offices in Bucharest. The letters were sent from abroad and it could be understood that they had been sent by the NSDAP-AO. (NSDAP-AO is the name of a Neo-Nazi organization whose center is in the U.S. and is named after the National Socialist Party in Germany.)

Swastikas were drawn on the walls of the Giulesti stadium in Bucharest. According to the Romanian constitution, the use of racist propaganda is forbidden.

Russia - A conservative newspaper with Communist orientation "Pravda" published an anti-Zionist and anti-Israel article on the occasion of 100 years of Zionism, entitled, "One Hundred Years. It Would Have Been Better Had they Never Existed". In the article it was written, among other things, that the establishment of a Jewish state did not solve 'Jewish' questions, but rather made them worse and that Zionism caused the difficult political-military situation in the Middle East, changes in the U.S. economy and to a large extent, the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Uruguay - Swastikas were drawn on the rear gate of the Young Israel facility in the Villa Biarritz park in the Recites neighbourhood (where the Jewish population lives) in Montevideo.

Swastikas and abusive slogans were drawn on a house that belongs to a Jewish family in a neighbourhood which in the past had been populated by many Jews in Montevideo.

Argentina - A swastika and abusive slogans were drawn on the 'Kikar Israel' memorial located in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The memorial had been erected by the Keren Hakayemet two years ago.

Columbia - An anti-Semitic message was received by electronic mail at the Ibero-Israeli Institute. It said the Holocaust was a Zionist plot and that the Jews were the national enemies.

Tunisia - Abusive conversations were received by a businessman from the local Jewish community in Tunis. Among other obscene language he used, the anonymous person also called the man a "Jewish dog".

Struggle Against Anti-Semitism and Racism

Britain - Following a police raid on the homes of Nicolas Griffin and Paul Ballard, right-wing activists in Britain, the two were convicted of connections with the radical right-wing publication, "The Rune", which supports the radical right-wing BNP (British National Party) and their trial is to open this month. Two other right-wing activists, Grey and Atkinson, were found guilty of disseminating "The Stormer", a Neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic publication of the Combat-18 organization, and they will be sentenced in September.

Various Nazi memorabilia, including flags and swastikas, were removed from a public auction in Newcastle after a protest by the municipal council. The company running the auctions declared that they would also not include Nazi articles in their future auctions.

England/Switzerland - The head of the Swiss Ministry of Tourism in London expressed his regret over the fact that British Jews who wanted to take their vacation in resort apartments in Swiss tourist sites were refused accommodation because they were Jews.

Wales - In a large-scale police operation, the Welsh police succeeded in preventing a large Neo-Nazi music festival from taking place in south Wales.

France - The Supreme Court in Bordeaux imposed restrictions on Maurice Papon, the governor of the Bordeaux district during the Vichy regime until the beginning of his trial in October for crimes against humanity. Papon is accused of assisting in the arrest and deportation of 1560 Jews from the Bordeaux area to the camps in World War 11 during the Vichy regime. Papon is prohibited from leaving France and must deposit his passport for safekeeping. He must report if he wants to leave the borders of his city of residence, Paris.

Denmark - The trial of the three Danish Neo-Nazis accused of preparing and sending three letter bombs at the beginning of the year to Britain took place this month. In the sentence passed on the accused, Thomas Derry Nakaba, member of the Danish Neo-Nazi party and local liaison for the British Neo-Nazi organization Combat-18, received eight years in prison for involvement in terrorism and endangering the life of a policeman. Each of his other accomplices were sentenced to three years imprisonment.

Russia - For the second time the Russian Minis try of Justice refused to register two Russian Neo-Nazi movements, one of them the All-Russian Political Public Movement, National Russian Unity, and the second The AllRussian Public Movement Kolovrat (the Russian word for swastika), The reason for the refusal, was that the movement's platform did not meet the requirements of the law for public groupings.

Kazakhstan - A Kazakh monthly called "Zan" (Constitution) published an article against the weekly "Karavan" which belongs to a Jew, accusing the weekly of taking an anti-Kazakh line. Quotations from the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" appeared in the article. The weekly "Karavan" reacted strongly and even filed a legal suit against the writer and the monthly for "disseminating nationalism and anti-Semitism". Kazakhstan's prime minister Kazhegeldin strongly denounced the anti-Semitic statements in a television interview and noted that Kazakhstan, in contrast to other republics of the former Soviet Union, there was never any anti-Semitism. He expressed his satisfaction over the legal suit filed and stressed that the law should be enforced with respect to the author.

Brazil - The Rio de Janeiro police raided a stand in a book fair in Rio that was selling books on Holocaust Denial and other books prohibited by law for distribution in Brazil. The initiative for the raid came after a leading member of the Jewish congregation in Rio bought a book at the stand, complained to the police and passed on the information to the media which was present at the raid.

Miscellaneous

Denmark/Germany - About 150 Neo-Nazis from all over the Scandinavian countries, Germany and the Netherlands convened to mark the death of Rudolf Hess who died in Spandau prison in Germany on 17 August, 1987. The meeting place was changed at the last minute and transferred to Koege in Denmark. The liberal freedom of speech laws in Denmark have made it a preferred venue for Neo-Nazis, to the consternation of neighboring Germany, where the use of Nazi symbols and propaganda is prohibited. Many demonstrators covered their faces and carried wooden shields with Rudolf Hess's portrait and flags with swastikas. In Roskilde, where the meeting was to have taken place, a violent confrontation developed between the police and about a thousand anti-Nazi demonstrators when the Neo-Nazis did not arrive as planned. A further confrontation took place later on when radical-left activists gathered beside the headquarters of the Neo-Nazi organization in Greve, south of Copenhagen, in order to confront the demonstrators returning from the meeting, The German authorities arrested more than 170 Neo-Nazis who demonstrated to commemorate the event and in Denmark about 50 were arrested.

Australia - The Nazi war criminal Konrad Kalejs arrived in Australia after being expelled from Canada. His arrival has aroused a dispute between the Ministry of Immigration which is convinced that his arrival cannot be prevented because he has Australian citizenship and opposition representatives who claim that a way must be found to prevent such people from entering Australia or alternatively to put them on trial. Kalejs has Australian citizenship since 1957 and according to the law the citizenship of a person may not be revoked if he has it for more than ten years. Strong reactions were heard from the Jewish community, especially in Melbourne, many of whose Jews are survivors or children of Holocaust survivors. Accusations were heard in the media that the Australian government already knew five years ago of the possibility that the criminal would return to Australia, but did nothing about it.