Report of Anti-Semitic Incidents - Sep-97

September, 1997

General

In general, the trend characterizing the past year in anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic activity continued throughout September. Among violent incidents mention should be made of attacks against Jews in Britain, France, Poland and Belarus, attacks in Britain and anti-Semitic slogans written on Jewish facilities and institutions in Britain and Atlanta/U.S.

Threatening messages continued to be recorded in various countries in Europe and South America.

There were no new manifestations of propaganda. Accusations against Jews and Jewish facilities continued to appear in various publications, over the Internet and in the street in different places throughout the world.

In the sphere of struggle, for the first time the Danish police enforced the law against racism to stop Nazi propaganda.

There has been a recent increase in the number of anti-Semitic expressions and publications in Belgrade, due to the rise in power of the radical Right.

Incidents

Britain - Three violent incidents took place in the city of Salford:

a. An Israeli who visited the Satmar synagogue in Safford was attacked by three young white men. They came out of a car and dragged the man to a park where they beat him.

b. A 14-year-old youth was attacked by a person who dragged him to his car and beat him.

c. A group of Jewish youths were attacked by three car passengers of Arab appearance. The attackers threatened the youths and tried to run them over.

The store window of a real estate office in Regents Park in London was smashed by a man wearing traditional Arab dress. After he was caught he said he had attacked the store as it was affiliated with a Jewish organization. His family was being persecuted by Jews and that was his way of taking revenge. The man, who had converted to Islam, was not released on bail because he declared that he would attack anything Jewish if he were released.

The Selig Brodetsky Jewish elementary school in Leeds was broken into through one of its windows. Racist graffiti were found in the building such as 'We robbed your school, Yids'.

An arson attempt was made on the Ruislip and District synagogue in Middlesex by tearing out a wall fan in the kitchen and throwing burning papers through the hole in the wall. The hall filled with smoke which set off the fire alarm. No damage was done to the building.

A Jew from Manchester was attacked by a group of youths who surrounded his car while waving sticks, throwing stones and shouting curses. This incident is one of a series of similar incidents that have recently taken place in Manchester where groups of youths have harassed Jews and cursed them.

The emergency exit door of the Queens Park synagogue in Glasgow was set on fire. The emergency doors caught fire and the entire building was filled with smoke. No one was in the building at the time. No one was hurt and no damage was done to the building.

Two cases of attacks against worshippers on their way home from the Estree and Radlett synagogue took place in Herefordshire, In the first case a car tried to run over a worshipper and in the second, a car followed the worshippers and tried to run them over at one stage. The driver shouted antiSemitic remarks at the worshippers and made vulgar gestures.

In Borehamwood, north London a car also tried a number of times to run over worshippers when they came out of the synagogue, while its driver shouted abusive remarks at them.

A Jewish pupil from Essex was attacked physically and verbally by a gang of youths who rode with him on a bus. The youths cursed him and shouted antiSemitic remarks at him.

France - A Jewess from Marseilles was attacked at the St. Charles train station by two Arabs. She was badly beaten, a gold chain and a Hai medallion were ripped off her neck and in the end they spat on her and shouted 'Sale Juif (Dirty Jew) at her. A young Jew was beaten by Arabs next to the Great Synagogue in Marseilles. The attackers tore his ritual fringes and spat on him.

Germany - The old Jewish cemetery (where burials no longer take place) in the Franzlauerberg district in the east of the city (Shoenhauserallee) in Berlin was desecrated. Twenty-eight gravestones were torn out by unknown persons.

Poland - During the tour of an Israeli youth delegation in the town of Kazimierz-Dolne, two firecrackers were thrown at the group and insulting calls were shouted at them. The delegation stopped its tour of the place. Although the throwing of firecrackers by young people is a common occurrence in Poland, it appears that this time they were directed at the delegation because it was identified as Israeli and for anti-Semitic motives.

Czech Republic - The Jewish cemetery in the town of Frydek Mistek in northern Moravia was desecrated. Over 80 gravestones were smashed (which had been restored in the past summer by volunteers from the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and Hungary).

Belarus - Pupils of the Jewish school in Borisov (a small city about 20 kilometers from Minsk) were attacked by a group of youths. They forcefully prevented the pupils from entering the school, shouted anti-Semitic calls at them, waved a flag with a swastika drawn on it and burned an Israeli flag.

Russia - The Jewish cemetery in Malikhovka was desecrated - 18 graves were desecrated and on some of them a swastika was painted.

In the provincial town of Kurgan 14 Jewish gravestones were desecrated.

U.S./Atlanta - Two anti-Semitic incidents took place in major Jewish institutions in Atlanta: On the sidewalk opposite the entrance to the Beit Yaakov synagogue at least a dozen swastikas were drawn. Anti-Semitic calls such as 'Heil Hitler' and 'Death to the Jewish Pigs' were heard. At the same time, the same slogans and swastikas were drawn on the sidewalk and on vehicles parked at the community center in another neighbourhood in the city. The slogans included references to the PLO and called for the 'Liberation of Palestine'.

Argentina - The Jewish cemetery in Rosario was desecrated. On some of the gravestones pictures of the deceased placed in a glass frame were smashed by shots of an air rifle. On others the Stars of David were defaced.

Threats

Belgium - Two telephone threats on a bomb planted reached Jewish and community facilities in Brussels - one at the Rabin Center in Brussels which is used for youth movement and kindergarten activity and the other the Jewish Agency building. In both cases the premises were searched and nothing was found. The second threatening call was received from a man with an Arab accent who connected the planting of the bomb to incidents in Palestine.

Panama - A threatening phone call on the planting of a bomb was received in the Jewish club in Panama City. A big event was taking place at the time in the club which community leaders attended. Nothing was found when the premises were searched. The event took place with no mishaps.

Mexico - An announcement about a bomb planted on the premises was received during an event of the University of Ben Gurion society in the Ramat Shalom synagogue, The premises were searched but nothing was found. The event took place peacefully.

Uruguay - The Keren Hayesod president received telephone threats - on his life and the lives of his family and the Jewish community as a whole.

Anti-Semitic Propaganda

Britain - Graffiti and the word 'Jews' were sprayed on the window of a house where Jews lived in the city of Leeds. The police arrested the sprayer who had an air rifle and paint spray. A complaint of a racist attack and possession of firearms was lodged against the youth.

The racist slogan 'Rabbis stink' was painted on a car parked next to a Jewish bakery in Leeds.

Racist calls such as 'Heil Hitler' were shouted at a rabbi on Avenue Road in London. The person making the calls was arrested and it transpired that he had been arrested in the past for his racist remarks against Jews.

A number of individuals and bodies in the London Jewish community received a letter denying the Holocaust from a man who wrote that he reads Holocaust denial newspapers and that he hopes that the authorities will pass a law against those who exaggerate descriptions of the Holocaust.

A letter which was originally written to the Israeli representation reached the Liverpool Old Hebrew synagogue. The letter included anti-Semitic and antiIsrael comments such as 'The time has come for you to return the land you occupied in 1967 to the poor people whom you caused much suffering and who are called terrorists. You are the real terrorists'. 'it is known that the God of the Jews is money'.

A street poster was found near a mosque in north London on which the graffiti, 'Jew Fuck Ofr, was sprayed. Germany - Neo-Nazi attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions have been recorded recently. An example of this is the city of Hildesheim where it was decided to rehabilitate the Jewish community which was destroyed by the Nazis on Kristallnacht. As a result of this, anti-Semitism has increased in the city and its surroundings. The community's Jews encounter cries of 'Heil Hitler' and Nazi salutes. Contemptuous letters are received such as: 'The Jewish creeps have become a nuisance. Only DDT or gas can help', or 'Hamas should be paid a cash reward for every Jew they liquidate'. Similar phenomena can also be seen in Mannheim where the community leaders received threats on their life.

Russia - On 26 September-3 October, 1997 the Moscow newspaper 'Pravda' published an anti-Semitic article on two pages of the supplement Top Secret'. The author of the article describes the Jews as having always been the looters and defilers of Russia - from the Jewish Bolsheviks in 1917 to the 'Gusinskis and Berezovskis' of today. The article includes enthusiastic praise for the radical anti-Semitic organization 'Covenant of the Russian People' which has been operating in Russia since the beginning of the century.

Uruguay - During preparations for opening the Israeli booth at the 'Expoprado' exhibition which took place in Montevideo, a publication that had been distributed to the public was revealed. It contained incitement against Jews and Judaism, its main claim being that the Jewish religion discriminates between those born Jews and those 'born normal'. The publication also claimed that Jesus set new norms concerning God's attitude towards humanity, thereby rejecting Judaism with all its laws. This material was distributed at the fair by young people who sold military clothing which also included Third Reich type uniforms without the swastika. The publication's distribution was stopped after the fair's administration was informed of this.

Swastikas were drawn on the door of the home of the Keren Hayesod president in the city and on his wife's car.

A drawing of a large swastika was discovered on the Holocaust memorial on the Montevideo boardwalk.

Mexico - A drawing of a swastika and beside it the slogan 'Jews Get Out' was discovered on the wall of the Jewish center in Monterrey.

Brazil - A letter to the editor was published in the Sao Paulo newspaper 'Folha' condemning Hitler's attackers and slanderers and even praising Hitler. The writer added explanatory material on Hitler, to show, according to him, the great service Hitler had done for humanity. The letter was sent from Florianopolis (Santa Catarina).

Struggle Against Anti-Semitism

Denmark - For the first time the Danish police enforced the law against racism to stop Nazi propaganda. The police accused a young Neo-Nazi of disseminating racist propaganda material in accordance with the law prohibiting racial incitement.

U.S./Lithuania - An American judge decided to expel to Lithuania the Lithuanian war criminal Juczas Naujalis, aged 77, who was accused of participating in the murder of some 10,000 Jews and others in Belarus and Lithuania in 1941.

Lithuania - The Lithuanian government approved an amendment motion to the Criminal Law dealing with individuals who committed crimes of genocide. The new amendment would enable the filing of an indictment against those accused through the mail or an advocate and to try them in absentia if their state of health did not permit them to stand trial. The passing of the law in Parliament will enable Lilikus (a Nazi war criminal) to be brought to trial.

Miscellaneous

Japan - A libel case is now in progress in Tokyo. The Holocaust denier Kimura is suing Kajimura Taichiro, a Japanese journalist living in Berlin who writes freelance for the 'Shukan Kinyobi' (Friday Magazine) magazine and Prof. Kaneko, an Austrian citizen of Japanese origin living and teaching in Japan for the past six years. These two attacked and criticized Kimura in a series of articles in the 'Shukan Kinyobi' weekly for denying the existence of the Holocaust and claiming that the gas chambers were an invention and never existed. The Japanese judge claimed that the court could not determine if there had been gas chambers and could only decide if there was a case of slander. The judge also proposed the sides reach a compromise. These remarks were criticized by the journalist Kajimura. It can generally be said that anti-Semitism in Japan is a phenomenon limited to marginal groups. The Holocaust denier Kimura belongs to such a group. He publishes an anti-Semitic publication called 'A New Examination of History' which focuses on denying the Holocaust and the existence of gas chambers.

Germany - Residents of the village of Gollwitz in the state of Brandenburg in Germany (formerly East Germany) refuse to allow some 50 Jewish families from the CIS to live in their village. In a debate which took place in the village council on the subject, strong racist statements were made such as 'Who needs Russians in the village - and Jews yet?' Hints were also heard that if the Jews nevertheless did come to the village, they would experience incidents like the burning of foreigners' hostels in Luebeck and Frankfurt. The law in Germany stipulates that every state must absorb a certain quota of immigrants from Eastern Europe.

The Woche Im Bundestag' (WIB) weekly, the official publication of the German Bundestag, published an item that in the second quarter of 1997, 216 criminal incidents of an anti-Semitic nature occurred in Germany, from attacks to desecrating cemeteries. Of these 216 incidents, two involved human injuries, 12 persons were arrested as suspects by the police during these incidents.

Serbia/Belgrade - There has recently been an increase in the number of anti-Semitic 'expressions and publications in Belgrade. Books were printed containing accusations, anti-Semitic comments by university lecturers were printed and a Serbian translation of the 'Protocols of the Elders of Zion', at the initiative of the radical right party which has recently gained strength. The leading factor in disseminating anti-Semitic material is an Orthodox Christian association which is affiliated with the church.