Report of Anti-Semitic Incidents - Jul-97

July, 1997

General

There was an increase in the number of attacks, violent incidents and threats in July in comparison to June.

In July, an attack was reported in South Africa where an incendiary bomb was thrown at the Jewish Book Center in Capetown. In the U.S., an improvised explosive charge was discovered at the entrance to an old people's home in Philadelphia.

The number of violent incidents against Jewish communities rose in July. Some of the incidents were quite serious. In Britain, two cases were reported of firing with an air rifle against a rabbi and a worshipper on their way to the synagogue and against a children's Jewish school bus. In Denmark, a group of Jews were attacked with tear gas by a group of young Arabs and in Spain, unknown persons tried to set fire to the community building in Barcelona but fled before they succeeded.

The number of threats also rose in July. Threats were reported in Italy, Switzerland, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil Uruguay and Canada.

In the sphere of propaganda, the trend continues towards the increased use of the Internet to disseminate anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist type propaganda, alongside manifestations of anti-Semitism in the 'street' and in periodicals.

Following the distribution of the 'Pig leaflet', Muslim bodies held demonstrations throughout the world (Germany, Bangladesh, South Africa, Kenya and in other countries). In most of the demonstrations anti-Jewish expressions and cries were heard, such as "Death to the Jews", etc. Anti-Jewish placards were also waved.

In the sphere of struggle in July, many governments reportedly attempted to act against various manifestations of anti-Semitism (Hungary, Slovakia Switzerland, Denmark, Germany and Serbia) and against 'veteran' war criminals (U.S. and Denmark).

Attacks and Incidents

Britain - A shot was fired from an air rifle at a worshipper on his way to the synagogue in London. The man's hand was injured by the shot. A few minutes later another shot was fired at a rabbi who was also on his way to the synagogue. The air rifle was apparently fired by young people passing by in a car.

The rabbi of Glasgow was hurt by a stone thrown at him while he was on his way to the synagogue. It is unclear from where the stone was thrown and if it was done deliberately.

In Salford a shot was fired from an air rifle at a bus bringing children from the Prestwich Jewish Day School. Twenty minutes before the back window of a car that was traveling in the same place was smashed. It appears that the window was smashed by a shot fired at it from an air rifle. The shots in both cases came from an abandoned church at the end of the street where the incidents took place. No one was injured. The police arrested suspects.

A newspaper containing dog faeces was placed at the entrance to the home of the Glasgow rabbi.

Two windows were smashed in the Finchley United synagogue in London.

Garbage cans belonging to a number of Jewish families in Stamford Hill in London were set on fire. This occurred very early on Saturday morning.

Windows were smashed in the prayer chapel of the Rainham cemetery in Essex. The small area serving the kohanim was also smashed. Vulgar graffiti were found on the premises.

A gravestone was smashed and about 12 others were damaged in the Federation cemetery in the Edmonton area in London.

Young persons spilled paint on the wall of the Walford synagogue in London. The young people tried to set the place on fire from outside.

Young people sitting in a car opposite the Holy Law and Broughton Hebrew Congregation synagogue in Manchester, cursed the worshippers coming out of the synagogue and saluted them with the Nazi salute.

South Africa - In Capetown incendiary bombs were thrown at the Jewish Book Center which is located in the home of one of the community members. The family was not injured but the building itself was damaged. The attack took place after an anti-Israel march in Capetown by Muslim groups. The demonstrators called out anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic slogans.

Denmark - A group of Jews which included children that left the Friday evening prayer service at the Copenhagen Synagogue were attacked with tear gas by a group of young Arabs. As a result of the attack, a number of people were injured from inhaling the gas.

A Jewish woman working for the Jewish community in Copenhagen was attacked by an Arab youth. The youth struck her in the arm and called her a "fucking Jew".

Spain - Unknown persons tried to set the community building in Barcelona on fire with flammable material. The attackers fled before they succeeded in lighting the fire. On the walls of the community building slogans such as "Jews Get Out of Here" as well as swastikas were found.

Lithuania - the memorial plaque of the Vilna Ghetto in 1943 was desecrated. President Brazauskas publicly denounced the action and spoke of actions that harmed the 'prestige' of Lithuania.

Serbia - The Jewish cemetery in the suburb of Zamon was desecrated. Nine gravestones weighing a total of about 25 tons were damaged, some of them knocked over. From the manner in which the stones were damaged it is assessed that the act was planned ahead of time.

Argentina - In the town of Clara near the city of Parana 35 gravestones were defaced in the Jewish cemetery. Only 2-3 Jewish families remained in the town. The defacement involved the removal of names of the deceased, gravestones dirtied and graffiti written.

U.S. - An improvised explosive charge was found in the entrance to a Jewish old people's home, the David Neuman Center for the Aged, which belongs to the J.C.C. in Northeast Philadelphia. There were no injuries or damages.

Threats

Italy - Anonymous anti-Semitic phone calls were received at the secretariat of the Venice community. Anti-Semitic curses against the Jews were heard, as well as expressions such as "Hitler didn't finish his job".

Switzerland - A Jewish community leader in Zurich received anonymous phone threats to his life following a persistent struggle he had waged against Erwin Kessler who had compared Jewish ritual slaughter to Nazi methods during the Holocaust.

South Africa - Following the attack in the Jewish Book Center, attack threats were made against a Jewish old people's home and a synagogue in the Capetown area. The place was searched but nothing was found.

Argentina - In the homes of two of the rabbis of the Beth El Synagogue in Buenos Aires threats and accusing announcements were received. It is assessed that this was in reaction to statements made by heads of the Jewish the third anniversary of the Amia attack.

Brazil - An anonymous threatening call was received in the Zionist Federation branch in Porto Alegre. The anonymous caller threatened to perpetrate an attack against the Jewish community, cursed and hung up. Two days after another anonymous call was received at the Jewish Federation

(the Community building) with the words "You were there" (in Portuguese this is a death threat) and hung up. The community building was evacuated and searched but nothing was found.

Uruguay - A phone threat of a bomb was received by the guard posted at the Bnai Brith building in Montevideo. The announcement said that the car parked in front of the building entrance was about to explode immediately. An examination revealed that the announcement was a false alarm and the car belonged to one of the neighbours.

Canada - Anonymous anti-Semitic phone calls were received by the answering machine of the Habonim Dror emissary in Toronto. Among some of the things that were said was, "Those that are against the cross, you Jews, will be killed." Similar calls were received by a number of Jewish businesses in the city.

Propaganda

Britain - A swastika smeared with dog faeces was drawn on the outside wall of a Jewish doctor's clinic. The clinic is located in a Jewish area and most of the clients are Jewish.

An anti-Semitic phone call was received at the Chigwell and Hainault Synagogue in Essex, London. The caller said he was a Christian and that he hated Jews and cursed the rotten Jews.

An anti-Semitic note was left on a car window beside the Edgeware United synagogue in London. There was an Israeli flag on the car window and that might have been the reason for the anti-Semitic note being left there.

South Africa - In a large Muslim demonstration opposite the Israeli Embassy in Capetown demonstrators shouted disparaging slogans against Israel, Zionism and the Jews and carried placards in this vein which also included the comparison of Jews to Nazis and a call for a new Hitler to destroy the Jews. The demonstration was violent and during it the Israeli flag was burnt. The demonstration was denounced by President Mandela and the South African political parties.

An anti-Semitic leaflet was found in the Wynberg synagogue in the Capetown area. It read, "Hitler, King of the Jews. Free our country. Kill the Jews. Palestine for the Palestinians. Gas chambers for the Jews. Save the world. Kill a Jew."

Canada - Swastikas were drawn on the path leading to the Habonim Dror summer camp near Ottawa.

France - An abusive letter was pasted to the car window of the rabbi of the Jewish community in Paris.

Spain - A number of swastikas were drawn at the entrance to the house of the beadle of the Jewish community in Barcelona. It is assessed that the swastikas were drawn by local skinheads.

Switzerland - Abusive letters continue to arrive at Jewish communities in Switzerland. They refer to the subject of Jewish gold stolen during World War II by the Nazis and the '100th Anniversary the Zionist Congress'.

Lithuania - Anti-Semitic periodicals continue to be published freely in Lithuania, although the Jewish community asked the authorities to intervene to stop the distribution of the periodicals. Among the publications, which contain classic anti-Semitic arguments, mention should be made of 'The New Way' which is disseminated with no publisher's name or person in charge and 'Voice of the Nation' of the Lithuanian National Socialist Association.

Latvia - An anti-Semitic letter appeared in the Letters to the Editor section in the English weekly "Baltic Times" published in Riga and distributed in the Baltic States and throughout the world. In the letter the writer refers to the wide publication given by the newspaper to 'Jewish propaganda' in its pursuit of Lilikus (a Nazi criminal who headed the security police in Vilna during World War 11 who was expelled from the U.S. and has not yet stood trial in Lithuania) and reference to the Jews and the Jewish state and the relations with the Arabs.

Argentina - Duhalde, who is running against Carlos Menem for the presidency, defined the speech of the representative of bereaved families in the memorial ceremony for the Amia attack as a "Jewish exaggeration" reflecting the Jewish tendency to exaggerate, which enabled the Jewish people to overcome all persecutions. All the Buenos Aires newspapers referred to his declaration as "strange".

In the office of the Surviving Few organization (a Holocaust survivors organization) in Buenos Aires, an accusing announcement was received.

Uruguay - Abusive expressions, swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans were written on a house belonging to a Jewish family in Montevideo. Among the slogans was written "Death to the Jews". These expressions were drawn in the same evening that a meeting identifying with Israel and denouncing terrorism organized by the Jewish community in the city, was taking place.

Brazil - In the book fair in Granado R.G. Do Sul, the S.E. Castan company called Editora Revisao (the publishing company of the Neo-Nazi castan who focuses on anti-Semitic and Holocaust-denial publications in Brazil and Latin America), exhibited books banned from publication and sale according to Brazilian law. Among the books exhibited were the books "The Gas Has Finished" and "S.O.S. for Germany". Castan himself was present during the fair.

Australia - Abusive conversations accusing the Jews of greed and control over the media in everything connected with the Swiss banks reached the offices of the Jewish community in Sydney.

Anti-Semitic letters and e-mail denying the Holocaust were received at Jewish organizations in Sydney and Melbourne.

Bangladesh - Throughout Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, protest demonstrations took place, organized by the Muslim organizations and opposition parties, against the 'Pig leaflet'. During the demonstrations anti-Semitic and anti-Jewish slogans were heard.

Struggle Against Anti-Semitism

U.S. - The U.S. Department of Justice announced that it instituted an action to cancel the citizenship of a person suspected of being a guard in Nazi concentration camps and forced labour camps in Poland and Austria in World War II. In the action entered in the Federal Court against Walter Brazovsky who lives in Guilford, Connecticut, it was claimed that he concealed his past (he had served in two units which participated in Nazi actions to kill Jews), in his request to receive citizenship.

The American Immigration Service is about to issue a deportation order against a Canadian citizen of Greek origin who for the past four years has been drawing swastikas and SS symbols on the walls of the city of Washington. The man was arrested a number of times and convicted in three cases of destroying public property.

Australia - The "Telegraph" newspaper in the Arabic language, which serves a reading public of 35,000 members of the Arab community, published the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" accompanied by commentary on Israel. Following vigorous action by the Jewish community, an acknowledgment of the mistake and an admission that the publication was not exact and that the "Protocols" were forged, was published on the front page of the newspaper. Another article in the newspaper called on the readers to refrain from insulting the Jewish community and from anti-Jewish propaganda.

Hungary - The district court of Budapest decreed one to three year's suspended sentence against the Neo-Nazi Albert Szabo for incitement against the Jewish community. This is the first sentence of the Hungarian court since the amendment to the criminal law on this matter. Szabo was put on trial after he gave a speech during a demonstration where he accused the Jews of being responsible for Hungary's economic difficulties and called for preventing them from serving in top positions in culture, economics and politics, since after the establishment of the State of Israel they represent a foreign interest. The judge decided that these statements were more than the expression of an opinion and were considered incitement.

The district court in Budapest banned the distribution and sale of the book "Mein Kampf" to the public in any form and explained that the book is an affront to human dignity. The publisher Aron Monus said he would request an appeal. This decision completes an interim order by the public prosecutor from last year. That order followed a new publishing law that prohibits publications that harm human rights, religious feelings, public morality and private information that passed in Parliament.

Slovakia - Following domestic and foreign pressure, the Bratislava government decided that the controversial history book distributed in the schools in Slovakia will no longer be used as a text book in educational institutions. The book, "The History of Slovakia and the Slovaks", written by the Fascist historian Milan Dorize, is full of false facts. For example, it claims that the concentration and labour camps were set up for the good of the Jews and the priest Tiso was not an anti-Semite at all, nor was he a Nazi.

Serbia - The Radical Serbian Party denounced the damage done to the gravestones in the Jewish cemetery in Zemun (suburb of Belgrade) and requested an immediate inquiry to find those guilty. In its announcement to the media, the party reiterated the claim that behind the attack in the cemetery are "anti-Serbian and anti-Semitic elements". Party members also added that the "party would do all it could to prevent the recurrence of such acts which do harm to human society". The Patriarch Pavel, the head of the Orthodox Church in Serbia, also denounced the attack on the cemetery in Zemun. He expressed the hope that the perpetrators of the crime would be quickly caught and punished. The Patriarch's letter was published in all Belgrade newspapers.

Switzerland - Erwin Kessler was sentenced to two months in prison for comparing Jewish ritual slaughter to Nazi activity during the Holocaust. He said there was no difference between Nazi hangmen and the Jews who use the same methods.

Denmark - The Danish authorities decided to try Danish Nazis involved in the sale and export of extremely racist discs.

Three Danish historians published a report on war crimes committed by Danes serving in the Waffen SS in the eastern front in World War II. The Committee for Legal Affairs in the Danish Parliament expressed its intention to indict anyone whose war crimes were documented.

Germany - A legal battle is being waged in Germany to ban the distribution of a compact disc of songs which calls for the murder of Jews. This is a disc which was produced outside of Germany but was nevertheless distributed in Germany where the distribution of anti- Semitic propaganda is prohibited by law. A quotation from one of the songs appearing on the disc follows: "...Flash the long knife on the sidewalk. Stab the knife into the Jewish body..."

Brazil - A lecturer from the accounting course at the university in the city of Piracicaba made statements against the Jews and their status in the world, Following a protest by a Jewish organization, the university dismissed the lecturer for a month. Since the event was about two weeks before the new law against racism was ratified, the lecturer could not be sued according to the law.

Miscellaneous Italy - 'Hitler Wine', with Hitler's picture on the bottle, is sold in a supermarket in a town near Venice. The wine 'Produced by the Fuehrer' is distributed in two versions. Some of the bottles have 'Sie Heil' written on them and some have 'Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuehrer'

(one nation, one Reich, one leader). The marketing of the Hitler wine was already prohibited in Italy a few years ago. The police began an inquiry to expose the producer of the wine.

The trial of Erich Priebke and Karl Hass for their involvement in the massacre at Fosse Ardeatine ended. The court found the two guilty but with extenuating circumstances, namely, "carrying out orders". The court sentenced Priebke to 15 years in prison and Karl Hass to 10 years and 8 months, but the 10 years were reduced to two due to the pardons received since 1945. Karl Hass was released immediately and Priebke will serve 6 months out of the remaining 5 years (since he has already served 3.5 years in the past under house arrest and an additional time will be deducted from his term of imprisonment for good behaviour). It will be recalled that the sentence in Priebke's first trial in August 1996 aroused a public/political/legal furor which resulted in its cancellation and a new trial. This decision by a military court, at the end of the second trial, was received with mixed feelings and great resentment by the families of the victims.