ANT KATZ

2014 has been a year during which anti-Israel rallies in Europe have included ever-more open displays of anti-Semitism – from shuls being attacked, to Jewish-owned businesses being vandalised and Jewish citizens being threatened and told in no uncertain terms that they are unwelcome.

So bad has the situation become, that an organisation similar to our own SA Friends of Israel (SAFI), the brainchild of Ben Swartz that now has well over 60 000 members, has been formed to lobby the European Parliament.

SEE BELOW:

ALL REPORTS ON WZO’s
BRUSSELS CONFERENCE

“The European Friends of Israel (EFI) is a political initiative which aims to improve the overall relationship between the European Union and Israel,” says the organisation’s website. “EFI brings together every parliamentary national-Israel friendship group from the EU’s 28 member-states and a new Israel friendship group within the European Parliament.

“EFI has an initial membership of some 1 000 members of parliament from all of Europe’s mainstream political parties, making it one of the largest pan European parliamentary groups of its kind.

“The principal purpose behind the creation of EFI is political: Israel needs and deserves a better recognition of the close cultural and democratic bonds that it shares with the EU, to underpin greater EU support for the continuing challenges it faces over the coming years.”

RIGHT: The recent WZO Conference in Brussels met with senior executives of EFI as well as with a Elise (surname withheld on request), who works as a lobbyist for a political grouping favourable towards Israel. She says she can’t believe it when Parliamentarians tell her that they consider Hamas to be a political party and not a terrorist group, that the European far-left is right of centre in the EP and that the prevalent feeling in the EP (“supposedly the bastion of liberal democracy”) is that Israel should be punished for human rights abuses. PIC ANT KATZ

An Italian former MEP and philosopher, reported Haaretz earlier this year, said he would like to personally kill Israelis and that he was beginning a fundraiser to buy Hamas more bombs to help him do so.

Gianni Vattimo, told Radio 24, “I’d like to shoot those bastard Zionists.” Asked if he would like to see more Israelis killed, Vattimo said: “Of course!” Later, he told Haaretz that “unfortunately I can’t really shoot” because he was exempted from military service, Haaretz reported. In explaining why he wanted to raise money for more Hamas bombs, Vattimo said Hamas was “fighting with toy rockets that don’t really kill anyone”.

He also suggested Europeans form military units to fight alongside Hamas, like volunteers fought in the Spanish civil war. He described Israel as “a bit worse than the Nazis”.

UK Telegraph Survey report

A survey described in Britain’s Telegraph newspaper of recent gatherings held by pro-Palestinian demonstrators, included the following reported incidents:

In Berlin, police had to step in to protect an Israeli tourist couple at the weekend after protesters turned on them when they spotted the man’s yarmulke. Demonstrators reportedly charged towards the couple shouting “Jew! We’ll get you!”

In the Netherlands, the home of the chief rabbi has been attacked with stones twice in one week.

According to the Anti-Defamation League which has been tracking the incidents, a protester in Lyon, France, hit a Jewish teen in the head and yelled: “I want to kill all the Jews.” He was arrested.

In Zurich, the ADL reported, demonstrators chanted, “Jews into the sea!”

In Sarcelles, France, anti-Israel protesters threw a Molotov cocktail toward a synagogue and burned a Jewish-owned mini-market.

Berlin police spokeswoman Cosima Pauluhn told the Associated Press that an investigation was launched after Imam Abu Bilal Ismail of the Al-Nur mosque said that Jews should be killed.

WZO Conference reads on SAJR.CO.ZA

23 Dec: BATTLEGROUND BELGIUM – HOTBED OF ANTI-SEMITISM
ANT KATZ details how over a million Euro-Jews are sitting on their shpielkes, and why

17 Dec: GERMAN JEWRY IS “SITTING ON THEIR SUITCASES”
GABRIEL GOLDBERG of German Fed – on how it feels like to be a Jew in Europe in 2014

17 Dec: DANGEROUS BUT WONDERFUL THING TO BE JEWISH
BARON KLENER, Survivor& head of Belgian Jewry, tells how tough it is on European Jews

10 Dec: EUROPEAN ANTI-SEMITISM HEADING BACK TO 30’S
Introduction to series on Dec conference of WZO attended & written by ANT KATZ

OTHER RELATED READS  JR Online

05 Nov: CLEESE WARNS ON ME, TERROR & MORE
Brits have “raised security level from ‘Miffed’ to ‘Peeved’,” writes joker JOHN CLEESE

24 June: WHEN DOES ANTI-ZIONIST, ANTI-ISRAEL TURN ANTI-SEMITIC?
Latest research stats: “26% of world anti-Semitic” says ADL’s Abe Foxman – by ANT KATZ

24 June: INCREASE OF ANTI-SEMITISM IN EUROPE (AND ELSEWHERE)
“Hit back against propaganda generated by these anti-Semites” – by NATHAN CHEIMAN

23 June: “RISING TIDE OF ANTI-SEMITISM, ESPECIALLY IN EUROPE” –Bibi
“We argue with G-d, for G-d’s sake!” reported from Jerusalem by ANT KATZ

18 June: EUROPE’S NEW ANTI-SEMITISM
“Belgium’s Jews are afraid. The Jews of Marseille are afraid” – by BERNARD-HENRI LÉVY

02 June: JEWISH MUSEUM ATTACK: SUSPECT ARRESTED IN FRANCE
Jewish Museum attack: Suspect arrested in France – by ANT KATZ

12 Dec 2013:  MADIBA SPOKE IN NY & ATE WITH JEWRY IN BRUSSELS
A reflection of how things were in days gone by – by HOWARD SACKSTEIN

STORY CONTINUES BELOW PICTURE

WZO Conference attendees lay wreathes at the Jewish Museum

The ADL’s list of major incidents in 2014:

ARGENTINA

• December 7, 2014 – Santiago del Estero – A Jewish cemetery was desecrated. Tombstones were destroyed, monuments were uprooted and photos were displaced.
• November 11, 2014 – Buenos Aires – “Do good to the country, kill a Jew” was found spray-painted in the Once neighborhood, an area that has a large population of Orthodox Jews.
• November 11, 2014 – Córdoba, Argentina – A swastika was painted on the front door of the rabbi’s home. 
• July 15, 2014 – Mendoza – Anti-Semitic graffiti, including swastikas, were painted on the front of the Israelite Cultural Centre building.
• June 27, 2014 – Basavilbaso – Swastikas were spray-painted on the Tefila L’Moises Central Synagogue.

AUSTRALIA

• August 25, 2014 – Sydney – Anti-Semitic flyers were placed in mailboxes of homes in two Jewish neighbourhoods. The flyers read: “Wake up Australia, Jews have been kicked out of countries 109 times through history … Could it be that having them in a European country is harmful to the host?” They also included an invitation to join Squadron 88, a local white supremacist group. 
• August 6, 2014 – Sydney – Six underage males boarded a bus transporting a group of Jewish students aged five to twelve years old, shouting “Heil Hitler” and “Kill the Jews” while threatening the young ones with violence.
• August 4, 2014 – Perth – A visibly Orthodox rabbi and his assistant were assaulted by a group of youths who pounded on their car while yelling “f*** off” and calling them “killers”.
• August 1, 2014 – Perth – The phrase “Zionist scum” was spray-painted on the outside wall of a local Jewish school.

BELGIUM

• November 15, 2014 – Antwerp – A rabbi was stabbed in the throat by an unknown assailant while walking to synagogue. 
• September 16, 2014 – Anderlecht – A synagogue was the target of an arson attack.
• September 14, 2014 – Brussels – Rocks and bottles were thrown at the Jewish Martyrs’ memorial.
• September 10, 2014 – A man on a tram shouted that Muslims were being killed in Iraq and “Belgium does nothing, it’s ruled by Jews, who should be killed.”
• August 11, 2014 – Ghent – A banner reading “Send Netanyahu and his Zionist army back to Dachau for killing over 1 800 Palestinians” was hung from a balcony.
• July 30, 2014 – Antwerp – A Belgian doctor refused to treat a Jewish woman, telling her son “send her to Gaza for a few hours, then she’ll get rid of the pain.”
• July 23, 2014 – Liege – A cafe posted signs in Turkish and French on their window which read: “Dogs are allowed in this establishment but Jews are not under any circumstances.” The French text replaces “Jews” with “Zionists.” The police removed the sign.
• May 24, 2014 – Brussels – An unknown assailant opened fire inside the Jewish Museum, killing Israeli tourists Emmanuel and Mira Riva and two others. The gunmen then fled the museum and is currently being pursued by Belgian law enforcement officials.

BRAZIL

• May 8, 2014 – Santa Catarina – Graffiti reading “death to the Jews, they are human waste,” “I want all Jews to be burned” and “They are closing the Federal University of Santa Catarina and will transform it into a concentration camp” was found in a bathroom on the campus of the Federal University of Santa Catarina.
• January 14, 2014 – São Paulo, Brazil – A swastika was found spray-painted on the external wall of the Jewish Cultural Centre.

BULGARIA

• June 4, 2014 – Sofia – The slogan “Death to Jews” and a swastika were painted on the fence of the Sofia Central Synagogue.

CANADA

• July 23, 2014 – Thornhill – “F*** Israel” and a swastika was spray-painted on a bus shelter in a Jewish neighbourhood.
• May 26, 2014 – Vancouver Island – The phrase “No Jews,” swastikas and the “n” word was spray-painted on buildings and playgrounds in the areas of Victoria and Saanich.
• April 26, 2014 – Calgary – Swastikas and other graffiti were scrawled on a synagogue and five local schools.

DENMARK

• August 21, 2014 – Copenhagen – A Jewish school had its windows broken, and was spray-painted with slogans reading “No peace in Gaza” and “No peace to you Zionist pigs”.

FRANCE

• December 1, 2014 – Paris – Three armed individuals robbed a Jewish couple – a 19-year-old woman and her 21-year-old partner- at gunpoint, and raped the woman. The assailants reportedly told the couple they shouldn’t try to pretend they didn’t have money because they knew they were Jewish.
• November 6, 2014 – Paris – A visibly Jewish male was beaten by a group of approximately 15 teens outside a school. 
• August 12, 2014 – Marseilles -A visibly Jewish male was in his car and wanted to park in his building’s garage, but another car was blocking the entrance.  He honked and a young man came out of the building and said: “Dirty Jew, you’re not in Gaza here.  I’m going to kill you and your family.”  The victim tried to flee into the building, but was followed by the young man and several members of his family who hit him in the face and head.
• August 1, 2014 – Nice -Two men insulted two Jews near a local synagogue on Friday night, then came back at 3:30am Saturday with iron bars and broke a glass door and a surveillance camera. Police were close by and arrested them on the spot.
• July 26, 2014 – Toulouse – Following an anti-Israel demonstration, a protester threw two Molotov cocktails at the security kiosk of the Jewish Community Centre. The cocktails exploded but missed their target, and the attacker was quickly arrested.
• July 24, 2014 – Bobigny – A Jewish male was attacked by a group of people after his address was published on a Facebook page. He sustained light injuries.
• July 23, 2014 – Paris -Police arrested 16 people, mostly minors, for yelling “Death to Jews!” at patrons of a restaurant on Rue de Rosier, one of the more famous streets in the old Jewish Quarter of Paris.
• July 22, 2014 – Gap – During an anti-Israel demonstration yesterday in Gap (southeastern France) with 300 participants, 10 hooded individuals broke a window where a Star of David was visible.  They threatened to kill the woman inside, but didn’t enter and fled before the police arrived. 
• July 20, 2014 – Sarcelles -A kosher store that was attacked with an improvised grenade in 2012 was attacked again, apparently with a Molotov cocktail, during an illegal anti-Israel demonstration.
• July 18, 2014 – Lyon – A young Jewish male was hit in the head as his attacker yelled: “I want to kill all the Jews”. The attacker was arrested on the spot by police.
• July 18, 2014 – Lyon – A banner with “Israel Assassin” was hung on the gate of a synagogue.
• July 13, 2014 – Paris – During a large anti-Israel demonstration two synagogues were attacked. Dozens of demonstrators broke off and tried to attack the Synagogue de la Roquette, while other demonstrators tried to enter the synagogue at Rue des Tournelles.  Anti-Semitic slogans were reported in both incidents and chants of “Death to the Jews!” were heard during the demonstration.
• July 7, 2014 – Paris  – A 17-year-old Jewish girl was attacked and pepper sprayed in her face while the assailant made anti-Semitic remarks.
• June 14, 2014 – Paris – Two men pointed what appeared to be firearms at police officers stationed outside a synagogue.
• June 14, 2014 – Garges les Gonesses – A knife and other objects were hurled into the interior yard of a synagogue.
• June 7, 2014 – Sarcelles – Two visibly Jewish teenagers were sprayed with tear gas.
• May 30, 2014 – Paris – A Jewish man was attacked by three assailants who said to him: “We know it was you who called the cops yesterday. You Jews are all the same.” They then proceeded to physically assault the individual, shouting: “You’re a dirty Jew. We know where you live, we know your wife, your kids, your car.” The man sustained a broken elbow during the incident. 
• May 24, 2014 – Paris – Two Jewish brothers, aged 19 and 22, who were on their way to a local synagogue, were beaten with brass knuckles by two assailants. One victim was hospitalised with a severe eye injury.
• May 13, 2014 – Paris – A Jewish woman and her baby were assaulted while waiting for a bus. An unidentified woman shook the baby’s stroller and shouted at the mother: “Dirty Jewess, enough with your children already, you Jews have too many children, screw you!”
• March 10, 2014 – Paris – A visibly identifiable Jewish male was attacked by two men with a stun gun near a local synagogue. He was not seriously hurt, but did require hospitalisation.
• March 2, 2014 – Paris – An Orthodox Jewish man was assaulted and beaten on a Metro train.  The four assailants, who were described as of Arab descent, reportedly shouted: “Jews” before the attack.

GERMANY

• July 29, 2014 – Wuppertal – Molotov cocktails were thrown at the doors of a local synagogue.
• July 25, 2014 – Frankfurt-am-Main – A rabbi received a phone call from a man who threatened to kill 30 Jews in the city if his family in Gaza was harmed.
• July 25, 2014 – Berlin – A visibly identifiable Jew was hit in the face while walking on the street.  The attacker fled before police arrived.

GREECE

• May 30, 2014 – Thessaloniki – Unknown vandals damaged a Jewish cemetery in the city by smashing some vases and ornaments and knocking over several headstones and plaques.

HOLLAND

• August 2 – Gorinchem – A Holocaust monument was spray-painted with the slogan “Free Gaza”.
• July 29, 2014 – Amsterdam – A firebomb was thrown at an apartment belonging to a Jewish woman who was flying an Israeli flag on her balcony.
• July 17, 2014 – Amersfoot – Stones were thrown through a window of the home of the country’s Chief Rabbi.

HUNGARY

• August 4, 2014 – Erpatak – The town mayor hung in effigy the Israeli Prime Minister and former President, and told the Associated Press that the “Jewish terror state” is trying to obliterate the Palestinians and says he opposes “the efforts of Freemason Jews to rule the world.”
• May 8, 2014 – Szikszo – Over 50 Jewish graves were smashed and knocked over in a local cemetery.
• March 14, 2014 – Tatabanya – Jewish tombstones were defaced with swastikas and anti-Semitic slurs, including the phrases “STINKING JEWS!”, “HoloLie” and “There was no Holocaust but there will be!!!”

IRELAND

• July 18-19, 2014 – Belfast – The windows of a local synagogue were smashed on consecutive days.

ITALY

• August 9, 2014 – Rome – Posters headlined “Boycott Israel!” cited the “massacre of the Palestinian people” and urged “not to buy from Jews.” The poster then listed shops in Rome that are alleged to be owned by Italian Jews.
• August 6, 2014 – Gorizia – A synagogue door was defaced with the words “Judey pigs. We will kill you a lot!!”
• July 26, 2014 – Rome – Anti-Semitic graffiti and flyers, including swastikas and posters reading “Anne Frank Storyteller”, were found on the shops and walls of city’s historic Jewish neighbourhood.
• January 25, 2014 – Rome – Boxes containing pigs’ heads were mailed to the city’s synagogue, the Jewish museum and the Israeli Embassy. The synagogue also received an anonymous bomb threat. In a separate incident, a swastika and anti-Semitic graffiti were found outside a municipal building in a Rome neighbourhood reading: “The Holocaust is a lie” and “Hanna https://www.sajr.co.za/images/default-source/default-album/xmas—images22b4163d47cf6007affdff0000014754.jpg” class=”sfImageWrapper”>SOUTH AFRICA
  • October 24, 2014 – Cape Town – BDS activists placed a severed pig’s head in the kosher meat section of a Woolworths store. The activists stated that the action was intending to prevent “people who will not eat pork to pretend that they are eating clean meat, when it is sold by hands dripping with the blood of Palestinian children”.
  • July-August 2014 – Numerous Jewish organisations and Jewish community members have received threats of violence through social media and phone calls relating to Israel’s actions in Gaza.
  • July 15, 2014 – Cape Town – A wall along a highway was spray-painted with a Star of David with a swastika inside it.
  • July 7, 2014 – Cape Town – A wall near a local synagogue was spray-painted with the slogan “F*** the Jews”, alongside a swastika and drawing of skullcap on top of the head and the word “kak keppie”.

  SWEDEN

  • August 2, 2014 – Malmo – Unidentified individuals attacked a rabbi, throwing a glass bottle at his car while shouting “f***ing Jew..”
  • July 31, 2014 – Malmo – The city’s main synagogue was attacked when unknown vandals hurled bottles at the building, breaking three windows.
  • March 27, 2014 – Malmo – Two teenagers were arrested after attempting to break into a Jewish community building during a demonstration that featured anti-Semitic slogans.
  • March 10, 2014 – Stockholm – A high school which holds special classes for Jewish students was spray-painted with anti-Semitic graffiti including a swastika, the phrases “Jewish swine” and “disgusting Jews”, and the number “1488”,a reference to the Nazi greeting “Heil Hitler”.

  SPAIN

  • August 22, 2014 – Azuqueca de Henares – A local imam delivered an anti-Semitic sermon where he classified the Jewish people as being traitors, assassins and aggressive, and prayed for G-d to “Destroy the looting Jews… until none of them are left”.

  SWITZERLAND

  • August 12, 2014 – Davos – A visibly identifiable Jew was attacked by an unknown assailant who was shouting “Jews out”.

  TUNISIA

  • May 22, 2014 – Djerba – A 38-year-old Jewish male was stabbed in the chest by a masked Muslim assailant in the city’s Jewish market. According to eyewitnesses, the attacker yelled “the Nation of Muhammad returns for vengeance” before charging and stabbing the individual. The attacker was arrested and then reportedly released by police after over a hundred masked men threatened to burn down the police station where he was being held.
  • April 30, 2014 – Sfax – The Beith El synagogue was vandalised by unknown assailants who tore apart the walls and littered the floor with prayer books and other items.

  TURKEY

  • November 7, 2014 – Istanbul – Unknown vandals posted a sign on the doors of the city’s main synagogue which read “To be demolished”.
  • September 11, 2014 – Istanbul – Faruk Kose, a columnist for the Yeni Akit newspaper, wrote an article calling on Turkey’s Jews to be taxed in order to pay for the reconstruction  of buildings damaged in Gaza during Israel’s conflict with Hamas. 
  • September 4, 2014 – Istanbul – A sign reading “The dog Jews cannot come in here” was posted on a store in an area with a number of Jewish businesses. 
  • July 22, 2014 – Istanbul – During an anti-Israel protest in front of the Ortaköy Synagogue, eggs were thrown at the synagogue.
  • February 6, 2014 – Babaeski – Two Turkish Jews were eating at a restaurant when they were attacked by the restaurant’s owner who shouted anti-Semitic epithets and chased them out of the establishment.

  UKRAINE

  • November 11, 2014 – Kiev – Swastikas were painted on the Holocaust memorial monument at Babi Yar. 
  • September 24, 2014 – Kiev – A firebomb was thrown at a synagogue shortly before the start of Rosh Hashanah No damage was caused. 
  • April 21, 2014 – Dnepropetrovsk – Swastikas were spray-painted on the tomb of Dov Ber Schneerson, brother of the late Lubavicher Rebbe, Rabbi Menahem Mendel Schneerson.
  • April 19, 2014 – Nikolayev – Two Molotov cocktails were thrown at the door and window of a synagogue. The building was empty at the time, and a passer-by put out the fires with a fire extinguisher.
  • March 13, 2014 – Kiev – A rabbi was physically assaulted and taunted with anti-Semitic slurs by two unidentified individuals.
  • February 28, 2014 – Simferopol – Vandals spra- painted “Death to the Jews” and swastikas on the outside of the Ner Tamid Reform Synagogue in the capital of Ukraine’s Crimean republic.  
  • February 24, 2014 – Zaporozhye – Molotov cocktails were thrown at the Giymat Rosa synagogue and community centre.  No-one was hurt in the nighttime attack, although the building suffered exterior cosmetic damage.  
  • January 26. 2014 – Kiev – A Jewish man returning from synagogue was assaulted by an unknown attacker. The attack was the third such incident within two weeks.
  • January 17, 2014 – Kiev – A 28-year-old yeshiva student was beaten and stabbed by three youths as he was walking home from synagogue services. He managed to return to the synagogue where he collapsed. He was taken to the hospital and underwent emergency surgery on his foot.
  • January 11, 2014 – Kiev – An Israeli-born Hebrew teacher was followed home from synagogue services and beaten by four men.

  UNITED KINGDOM

  • September 12, 2014 – Hertfordshire – Visibly Jewish school students were refused entry into a sporting goods store by a security guard who told them “no Jews” were allowed in. The store later apologised and the security guard was fired. 
  • August 2, 2014 – Hove – “Free Gaza” was spray-painted on a synagogue. 
  • July 30, 2014 – Kingston – A sign reading “Child murderers” was taped to the door of a synagogue.
  • July 13, 2014 – Hendon – A swastika was spray-painted on the front door of a Jewish home.
  • July 12, 2014 – Manchester – Following a pro-Palestinian rally, occupants in a group of cars driving through the Jewish neighbourhood of Broughton Park shouted and swore at Jewish pedestrians with slogans that included “Heil Hitler”. Cans and eggs were thrown at Jewish pedestrians from at least two of the cars.
  • June 22, 2014 – Manchester – 40 gravestones were pushed over and smashed in the Blackley Jewish Cemetery.
  • June 22, 2014 – Tottenham – Neo-Nazis attacked concert-goers at a music festival, pelting them with fireworks and rocks. One of those deliberately attacked was wearing a kippa.

  URUGUAY

  • November 18, 2014 – The president of Penarol, a Uruguayan soccer club, called a Jewish radio journalist who was interviewing him a “f***ing Jew”.
  • September 15, 2014 – Montevideo – The phrase “Zieg Hitler” and a swastika were drawn on a car belonging to a Jewish student of the Yavneh Jewish Orthodox school.
  • August 3, 2014 – Montevideo – A swastika was ‘keyed’ on the doors of an apartment building known to have a number of Jewish residents. 
  • August 2, 2014 – Ciudad de la Costa – The phrase “Jews get out of my country” was spray-painted on a beach structure.

  VENEZUELA

  • August 15, 2014 – Caracas – The world “Judio” and a swastika were spray-painted on a car. 
  • January 9, 2014 – Caracas – Anti-Semitic graffiti was found on the Keter Torah Synagogue in the San Bernardino neighbourhood.

  NEW ZEALAND

  • September 2014 – Auckland – Several billboards featuring Prime Minister John Key were daubed with the words “Lying Jew c-sucker” and Key’s image were defaced with a black hat and sidelocks.