Report of Anti-Semitic Incidents - Sep-98

Report of Anti-Semitic Incidents - September, 1998

General

A relatively small number of anti-Semitic incidents were reported in September. The incidents under review were apparently initiated by individuals and not by organizations or through the establishment.

Incidents

Britain - The Waltham Abbey Jewish cemetery in Essex was desecrated. The background of the action is unclear.

During the past month a number of Jewish institutions were broken into in London, Berkshire, Middlesex and Manchester. The background to these incidents is unclear.

This past month traditionally dressed Jews, especially near synagogues, were abused by passengers in passing vehicles. Such incidents were recorded in Manchester, England and in the Giffnolk area in Glasgow, Scotland.

Germany - Unknown persons, apparently Neo-Nazis, desecrated and shattered the grave of Heinz Galinski, the man who organized the new Jewish community in Germany after the Holocaust and the chairman of the Jewish community in Berlin until 1993.

France - An unidentified person harassed worshippers on the Day of Atonement while they were on their way to the Berthier Center in Marseilles, where three synagogues are located. The person placed a television set in a window facing the Center and played a cassette of abusive statements and praise for Hitler at very high volume.

Bulgaria - A drawing of a swastika was pasted on the main gate of the synagogue in Sofia.

Argentina - There was a fire in the 'Tarbut' school in Buenos Aires. The school sustained much damage. It is not clear what caused the fire.

U.S. - Close to the Jewish New Year unknown persons drew swastikas and abusive slogans such as "Burn the Jews", on the synagogue in Presque Isle in Miami.

Threats

Switzerland - During the visit of MK Shimon Peres to Switzerland, a telephone threat was received at the hotel where he was participating in a number of events. The announcement said that the 'account with the Jews would be settled' and that 'something would explode in the hotel'. The place was checked and searched but nothing was found.

Propaganda, Anti-Semitism and Racism

Britain - A group of youths belonging to a soccer club shouted anti-Semitic abuse at a Jew who was standing outside the 'Maccabi' building in Glasgow, Scotland.

Graffiti of the National Front organization was drawn on street signs in Manchester where the Sale and District Jewish community building is located. The graffiti included swastikas and derogatory slogans.

The Jewish Museum in London received a letter made up of newspaper clippings along with anti-Semitic comments.

Sweden - A Jewish boy in Stockholm received a long anti-Semitic massage by e-mail which included threats and abusive slogans.

A man in Stockholm received a letter with a swastika on it.

Italy - Abusive letters containing pornographic photographs accompanied by anti-Semitic comments were sent to the offices of the Jewish community and the cultural center in Rome.

Despite the ban on the book 'Gli e La Chiesa 1933-1945' (written by Vitaliano Mattioli and published by Niurzia Editore) because of its anti-Semitic approach, it was sold recently in a number of locations in Milan.

Romania - The 'Atac La Persona' newspaper, known for its anti-Semitic content, published an article this month entitled 'Swastika'. Abusive statements and anti-Semitic accusations against the Jews appeared in the article.

Hungary - An MP from the Hungarian Justice and Life party (the radical right wing MIEP party) made statements during a debate in parliament on the subject of the state of minorities in Hungary. The vice-president of the Socialist party defined his statements as anti-Semitic and harmful to the Jews.

Lithuania - In the city of Ponar a swastika was drawn and the words 'Juden Raus' were written on a lampost at the place used today as a memorial site for the 100,000 Jews of Vilna who were slaughtered in the forests by Germans and Lithuanians between 1941-1943.

Slovakia - Swastikas and abusive slogans were drawn on a building belonging to the Klemo company in Zvolen. The Klemo company has become the target for anti-Semitic manifestations as the owner of the company initiated the renovation of the Zvolen synagogue.

Azerbaijan - Abusive slogans and drawings of a Star of David with a swastika inside them were drawn on walls in Baku.

China - In the 'China Daily' newspaper, an article was published entitled, 'Muslims and Jews, a Gap'. The article referred to the 'Islamic danger' as it is perceived by the western world. The article is written in an anti-Semitic nuance and it includes inaccuracies and slander against the Jews and the Zionists.

Uruguay - An anti-Semitic letter was received in the treasurer's office of the Keren Hayesod in Montevideo.

U.S. - On Saturday, 1 September, 1998, Khalid Muhammad, a former senior member in the Louis Farrakhan 'Nation of Islam' movement, led the Million Youth March in New York. To the disappointment of the black leaders, only some 6000 demonstrators turned up. The demonstrators were pushed back violently by the police when they tried to continue demonstrating beyond the time allotted them by a court order. Khalid strongly attacked the Jews in his speech and called them 'bloodsuckers of the black nation who take quantities of money from the black community for themselves. Jews do not eat pork but they sell it to black people'.

Struggle

Britain - The British Minister of Internal Affairs announced that the criminal intelligence service would operate to prevent the dissemination of racist material over the Internet. The government, however, would not initiate legislation on the subject in order to protect freedom of speech.

Sweden - This month eleven Neo-Nazis received prison sentences of 1-6 months for incitement to racism. The eleven participated in a Neo-Nazi demonstration near Linkoping in November 1997. Three other youths who also participated in that demonstration were only fined.

Romania - Following a blatantly anti-Semitic article in the anti-Semitic newspaper 'Atac La Persona', the Romanian government publicly declared that it did not tolerate the kind of statements which were written in the newspaper and legal action should be taken against the publishers. The Minister of Justice sent a letter to the Attorney General and demanded that legal proceedings be begun in connection with the material written. His letter said that the material published was insulting, inherently harmful to social relations and expressed feelings of ethnic intolerance which could only be interpreted as racism or nationalism.

Belarus - The court in Brest convicted a 15 year old boy of hooliganism for drawing Nazi symbols on gravestones in the local Jewish cemetery. The boy was sent to an institute for delinquents.

Russia - The mayor of a small town in southern Russia sued Kondratenko, the governor of Krasnodar, for calling his administration the 'Zionists' line'. The governor of Krasnodar had expressed anti-Semitic and anti-West opinions in the past. The Jewish community requested that the Kremlin investigate Kondratenko on the subject.

Brazil - A student from the USP university who is responsible for a racist and anti-Semitic site in the Internet will be tried for incitement.

Miscellaneous

Italy - The Italian 'Generali' insurance company rescinded the agreement it reached last month, according to which it would pay 100 million dollars compensation for unpaid policies of clients who perished in the Holocaust. The agreement was strongly criticized for the low sum Generali was willing to pay compared to the extensive scope of its activity among East European Jews before World War II. The settlement was a compromise between the Italian insurance company and a group of New York lawyers who submitted a request for a representation suit in the name of Holocaust survivors.

Poland - The OBOP institute conducted a fascinating survey connected with the Jewish-Polish dispute over the crosses at Auschwitz in particular and the status of the camp in general. It seems that 65 percent of all those polled were interested in the cross symbol remaining in place, 49 percent of them wanted only the Pope's cross to be left. Only 30 percent want to remove all the crosses, 48 percent of those polled think that Auschwitz is a place which murdered people of many nations, 38 percent think that the nationality of the victims has no significance, 8 percent think that Auschwitz is mainly a place of suffering of the Polish people. Only 5 percent believe that it is a place where Jews suffered exclusively. As for the current dispute, most of those questioned blame the Jews for it. About 54 percent think that Poles respect the feelings of the Jews on this issue and only 35 percent think the opposite. On the other hand, 59 percent of those asked claim that Jews do not respect the feelings of the Poles at all.

Austria - Protests and denunciations by government officials and party leaders were heard this month over the media in Austria following the statements of the leader of the right-wing F.P.O. party Joerg Haider who compared the suffering of the Jewish Holocaust survivors to the suffering of the German residents of Sudetenland who were expelled from Czechoslovakia after World War II. Haider stated that compensation should be paid for crimes committed during World War II not only to Jews. Haider called for the comparison of the status of Jews, in this matter, to that of Sudeten Germans. Haider also expressed his opposition to the proposal of Chancellor Klima to set up a committee of historians to investigate Nazi crimes against Jews in Austria.

The Vatican - The Vatican decided that Pope Pius XII who served during World War II, would be ordained a saint. The decision has aroused much criticism because of Pope Pius XII's silence over the Nazi atrocities. Jewish organizations and other elements claim that if the Pope had attacked German actions, many Christians would have helped save and hide Jews.