Category: Arts

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Veteran heavy metal singer condemns antisemitism after man performing Nazi salute is ejected at Vancouver, BC show

Journeyman Productions, a Vancouver-based promotions company, has announced a zero tolerance policy towards racism and antisemitism at its shows, after one fan from ejected from the band Death Preacher’s show for performing a Nazi salute.

Nikki Gould, the company’s social media manager, was alerted by a friend that someone had performed the gesture at the show on December 8th and promptly had the man in question ejected from the venue.

Gould commented “I think I kind of let him off easy by kicking him out of the show and telling him to go. Had he stayed longer and got in a fight, that could have been really bad. Nazis and things like that don’t represent the metal scene. We want everyone to feel safe and included, and have fun. Nazis aren’t fun”.

The singer of Death Preacher reportedly said “no Nazis at my show” when he discovered what was happening.

Commenting on the incident, the legendary frontman of Iron Maiden, Bruce Dickinson, commented:

“Nazi salutes have no place whatsoever in any kind of music community I want to belong to”

“I think people need a little bit more of a lesson in history, rather than a lesson in ignorance, which seems to be dished out far too often”

“People in this country — across the USA, Canada, the U.K.— fathers and grandfathers, fought and died to build a world in which this kind of thing doesn’t go on”

Two years ago when Phil Anselmo, the former singer of Pantera performed a Nazi salute on stage, he faced derision from across the heavy metal community. Rob Flynn of the band Machine Head denounced him in an eleven minute video as a “big bully” and a racist, whereas Anthrax’s Scott Ian, who is Jewish, invited Anselmo to make a donation to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, calling his actions “vile”. Anselmo’s band Down were forced to cancel a tour as a result of the backlash from fans.

Last year we reported that an antisemitic band were forced to cancel a show after staff at the venue refused to provide a platform to racists, in another display of solidarity against racism and antisemitism from the heavy metal community.

We commend Journeyman Productions, Death Preacher and Bruce Dickinson for taking a stand against antisemitism in heavy metal.

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Polish “artists” display video showing a naked game of tag filmed in actual Nazi gas chamber

Several Jewish groups, including the Organisation of Holocaust Survivors in Israel and the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, have written to the Polish President to demand an explanation as to why a lewd video was allowed to be filmed inside a former Nazi gas chamber.

The video was filmed by a group of artists and displayed in 2015, drawing criticism from Jewish groups. Whilst it depicted a game of tag in a gas chamber, the shooting location was not disclosed, and many assumed it was done in a studio. After an investigation, it was discovered that the video was filmed in the actual gas chambers of Stutthof concentration camp. The gas chambers were added in 1943, and 65,000 people were killed in the camp, including 28,000 Jews.

The joint statement reads:

“At the time, no comment or word of critique was heard from Polish official sources regarding the video, neither from the Prime Minister’s office, nor from any official/ government representative- not Poland’s Ministry of Culture or Foreign Ministry, or from Krakow’s city mayor”

“Extensive research recently revealed that the site where the video was filmed is the gas chamber at the Stutthof concentration camp, and it is this discovery which prompted the demand for clarifications from the Polish leaders and the administration of the Stutthof concentration camp site (and museum)”

The letter demands information as to whether the artists were able to “obtain permission from the Stutthof administrators to make this video, what rules exist for proper conduct at the site, how these are enforced”.

In 2015, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow appeared to be dishonest when questioned by Jewish groups, removing the exhibition as they reassured the Jewish community, before immediately reinstating it. Astonishingly, the exhibition to which it belonged was originally sponsored by the Israeli embassy, who condemned it and withdrew their support once the nature of the display became apparent.

The filming of a video by a group of “artists” in gas chambers, a location that epitomises the sheer evil of the Nazi death machine, displays a manifest, brazen disregard for the victims of the Nazi Holocaust, both Jewish and non-Jewish.  The pressing questions that have been asked in this letter remain unanswered, and steps must immediately be taken to ensure that the memory of those who were murdered by the Nazis is not desecrated further.

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Japanese Minister Taro Aso says Hitler had the “right motives”, later retracts

Japanese Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso has drawn criticism from Jewish groups for seemingly praising Hitler.

Aso said that “Hitler, who killed millions of people, was no good even if his motive was right” when addressing a faction within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center voiced its “distress and disappointment” at the comments.

Aso has previously hinted at an admiration for Nazism, saying in 2013 that proposed constitutional reform in Japan should use Nazi Germany as an example.

Aso retracted his latest comments, saying “it is clear from my overall remarks that I regard Hitler in extremely negative terms, and it’s clear that his motives were also wrong”, claiming that he only wished to highlight how it is important that politicians “get things done”. Nonetheless, the flippant use of Nazism as an example, and his history, will make such an apology look rather half-hearted.

Earlier this week Katsuya Takasu, a celebrity and plastic surgeon, appears to have praised the Nazis for advances in medicine and science, appearing to deny the Holocaust by stating “there is no doubt that the Jews were persecuted. But we only know it from hearsay and all of it is based on information from the Allies”. He also spoke of “how great” Nazism was.

The Guardian’s report also notes several Japanese cultural figures who have used Nazi imagery. This is in fact a common issue in Japanese youth culture which is visible throughout the East.

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Roger Walters again compares Israel to Nazi Germany, suggesting there may not be “harsher” regime in the world

Photo credit: Reuters

Roger Walters, former front-man of Pink Floyd compared Israel to Nazi Germany in an hour-long live interview on Facebook. In the interview, hosted by Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement leader Omar Barghouti, he stated that there were no harsher regimes in the world. The musician went on to say that there was no point in having dialogue with Israelis and Israeli artists, and that Israel was headed towards being a “Pariah state.”

Comparing Israel to Nazi Germany is antisemitic according to the Definition of Antisemitism, and such comparisons are usually invoked to give a hyperbolic account of the conflict and to deliberately upset Jews.

Waters admitted that when thinking about the situation in Israel he finds it, “hard not to go back to Goebbels,” the Nazi propaganda minister. Whilst we are not an organisation that engages in Israel advocacy, the sheer hyperbole of his comparison is such that it can scarcely be an honest mistake. Not only did the Nazi regime which Goebbels propagandise for, through a state-governed press, facilitate the mass extermination of Jews and other victimised groups, but Israel itself has a free press and a thriving democracy. As mentioned above, such comparisons often come across as being deliberately calculated to hurt and offend Jews. Waters went on to state that “[Israel’s] tactic is to tell the big lie as often as possible over and over and over again”, painting Israel as manipulative and dissembling, utilising a long-standing antisemitic canard.

Yet Walters’ comparison has yet another antisemitic undertone, as he says that this alleged propaganda had led to Americans “living in this constant state of Hasbara created by AIPAC and the Israeli lobby”. Not only is he accusing Israel of operating Nazi-like propaganda, but referring to the “Israeli lobby” leading to a “constant state of Hasbara” is unequivocally the language of contemporary antisemitic conspiracy theories, attributing to the Zionist movement an unrealistic amount of control. According to the definition of antisemitism, “using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g. claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterise Israel or Israelis” is antisemitic. Some of the most established examples of classic antisemitism are canards involving Jews controlling the media or “controlling” non-Jews.

The former Pink Floyd member has become one of the most prominent voices over the past decade in the movement to boycott Israel, and his comparisons are by no means new. In 2013 for example, Waters once again compared Israel and its Rabbinate to the Nazis, purporting that in [Israelite] eyes, non-Jews are “sub-human” and that the, “parallels with what went on in 30’s in Germany are…crushingly obvious.” Yet his antIsemitic tendencies have gone beyond words: once again in 2013 Waters dressed as a Nazi in one of his concerts; kitted with a slick leather jacket, red arm-band, and an MP40 Schmeisser– the iconic Nazi machine gun. As if the message wasn’t clear enough, the audience found itself orbited by a balloon in the shape of a pig and stamped with a Star-of-David. A clear testament to Waters’ rhetorical genius: why be covert, when you can be overt?

In a stint of greater irony, when asked about other regimes, Waters noted that he was “very concerned about Ukraine,” but rushed to add that he did not want to “demonize the Russians”. One can only wonder why he expressed no similar concerns about demonizing eight and a half million citizens of Israel. He ponders that he is “not sure there are any much harsher regimes around the world, actually, if you look at it”, somehow ignoring the widespread oppression that occurs even in the rest of the Middle East, let alone in North Korea. It is hard to imagine how such a wild distortion could not be motivated by malice. According to the Definition of Antisemitism, “applying double standards by requiring of Israel a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation” is antisemitic.

 

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Jewish school’s Holocaust play interrupted by shouts of “Heil Hitler” from audience

Children from the King David Victory Park School, Johannesburg, South Africa, had their performance of a play about the Holocaust interrupt by chants of “Heil Hitler” from students from another school.

Middle School students from the School were performing a one act version of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a story about a Jewish boy who died in a concentration camp, at a festival at Waterstone College.

One student told a local news source that “they were chanting ‘Heil Hitler, Heil Hitler.’ I was shocked and disgusted. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing”.

Not only did they interrupt the performance to shout this, but reportedly they did so as the scene depicting the child being led to the gas chamber was occurring. They also chanted “Bruno Bruno”, the name of the son of the concentration camp commandant.

The students apparently shouted other antisemitic abuse at the Jewish students as they packed up early to leave the festival. The main culprits are thought to be from Edenvale High School. King David School’s head of drama Renos Spanoudes has also claimed that a member of staff from Edenvale has played down the seriousness of the incident, but apparently some students from the school have expressed their shock at their peers’ behaviour.

Wendy Kahn,from the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, says that her organisation is seeking an audience with Edenvale to discuss the incident, commenting:

“From time to time antisemitic incidents of this nature occur during interschool events, both in the cultural and sporting arenas…We have in the past been involved in addressing these incidents. We do not believe that this is an indication of an upsurge in antisemitism”

The headmaster of Edenvale High School has refused to comment.

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German “artwork” juxtaposes Star of David with Swastika

An exhibit in the German city of Cologne compares the Star of David and the Swastika.

The image shifts to display a Star of David or a Swastika, depending upon which angle it is viewed from.

According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is antisemitic.

Such an image seems to evoke a comparison between Israel, which features the Star of David on its flag, and Nazi Germany. Whilst such comparisons are inherently antisemitic and are, as mentioned above, defined as such by a widely-used and comprehensive definition of antisemitism, it is also grossly offensive to use the Star of David, a symbol used to mark out Jewish victims in Nazi Germany as less-than-human, as a shock device in comparison with the symbol of the Nazis, who systematically exterminated six million Jews.

 

The artist, Juraj Kralik, responded to the controversy, saying “Le Quattro Stagione – Stolen Geometry I installation, which juxtaposes the symbols of David’s Star and the Nazi swastika, presented at Art Cologne last month, is part of this series of works. This canvas, as is the case with the rest of the series, does not aspire to comment on an individual/isolated ideology, religion or faith.”

“It does, however, aspire to be this artist’s memento of their clash, resulting in 60 million casualties, be it on the battlefield, in the concentration camp, while escaping the war zone or perhaps hiding in one’s own cellar. My emotions were the strongest while creating this piece, and I recall my hands shaking on many occasions thinking of the suffering and atrocities caused.”

However, theatre director Gerd Buurmann who has written about antisemitism, wrote on his blog: “My reply is: no, no, no! The Jewish Star of David and the Nazi swastika don’t merely symbolize ideologies. The one ideology isn’t comparable to the other. Judaism is not Nazism. Israel is not Nazi Germany.”

“There is a clear, qualitative difference between the Jewish Star of David and the Nazi swastika. Moreover, the two symbols were not in conflict with each other! Rather, it was those who ganged up behind the swastika who wanted to annihilate without exception all the people – the men, the women, the children, the infants – who stood behind the six-pointed star.”
“The Holocaust was not a conflict between Nazis and Jews! The Holocaust was the Nazi attempt to exterminate the Jewish people. That’s not an armed conflict, that’s mass murder! To say this ‘conflict’ between Jews and Nazis led to the battlefield casualties of World War II, as if the Jews were a war party, is absolutely grotesque and trivializes the inhumanity of the Holocaust.

“Maybe artists shouldn’t interpret their own works of art,” he concluded. “In any case, this artist’s interpretation makes my hands shake!”

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Far Right, antisemitic and anti-Christian band to play in London

A Facebook event has appeared advertising the appearance of the band Graveland initially booked at the London venue ‘the Underworld’ on Saturday February 18th 2017.

Graveland are a Black Metal band, who have often been described as National Socialist. Though the frontman, Rob Darken, denies this, he has a plethora of antisemitic statements to his name.

He has spoken of a “Jewish lobby” and has said that “the Jews have too much power. He has also accused the “pro-Israel lobby” of manipulating the “racialist convictions” of soldiers into fighting for them in Iraq. He has blamed Jews for the promotion of “all kinds of anti-family schism (sic), supporting at the same time homosexuality, negrosemitism….the “culture” produced by these individuals take precedence over traditional national values” – accusing Jews of eroding the identity of nation states is a common theme in contemporary antisemitism. He continues to say “the depraved and plunged in a rot of moral decadence individuals (very often of Jewish descendants) hold the keys to this shady business”.

In another interview, he has said of Jews that “the enemy does not sleep”, blaming a “strong pro-Jewish lobby” for “this bad situation because Jews are afraid of new holocaust so they support all anti-right wing activities”. He has also said “Mass medias ruled by the Jewish lobby manipulate information and spread propaganda against Arabs”, continuing to say that antisemitism is caused by the “activities of international Jewish lobby”.

 

“White people are not interested in the world situation. They do not care. This is not good because the enemy does not sleep. Strong pro-Jewish lobby is also responsible for this bad situation because Jews are afraid of new holocaust so they support all anti-right wing activities.” – from another interview on Graveland’s website

He also allegedly said in another interview: “I am not Nazi and I have never been but I support nazi movement and racial ideas in Black Metal. I respect Adolf Hitler for all his great deeds against judeo-christian world”.

Many of his lyrics focus on white “pagan” pride, and involve anti-Christian themes, including slaughtering Christians. However, such attitudes are often linked to antisemitism in the music genre; one popular band in the genre titled its first release “Go F*ck Your Jewish God”. In the eyes of many neo-Nazis, Christianity is merely a Jewish influence that infiltrated a naturally pagan white European culture.

The gig was initially booked for the London Underworld in Camden. However, staff at the venue, who describe the team as “multi-racial” requested that it be cancelled when the nature of the band’s music came to light. The venue is to be applauded for having taken action so quickly and adamantly following these facts coming to light, despite considerable pressure from many of the band’s fans.

The promoter is currently seeking a new venue.

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Edinburgh Shalom festival attendees met with Nazi salutes from Palestinian protestors

Photo by Takver

Attendees at the Shalom Festival, which took part over the course of the Edinburgh Festival, were met with taunts and Nazi salutes, the Jewish Chronicle has reported.

The festival was a full day celebration of Israel, which featured Jewish, Arab and other performers and, as the name suggests, was staged in the spirit of peace and co-operation. It attracted around 800 visitors.

A crowd of 150 protesters stood outside the event, shouting things such as “racist scum” and “shame on you”.

According to the JC, most of the crowd were members of Scottish Palestine Solidarity campaign. They also shouted “your tickets are covered in Palestinian blood” and “boycott and isolate Israel”. The definition of antisemitism states that it is antisemitic to  use “the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis”. Describing the tickets to a peace event, which features Jewish and Arab performers, as “covered in Palestinian blood” borders on blood libel, as it twists even actions taken in the spirit of peace and co-operation as evidence of Jewish, or in this case Israeli, brutality

Apparently at one point the protesters crossed the line into unambiguous antisemitism, taunting the visitors with Nazi salutes.

According to Nigel Goodrich, one of the event’s organisers, many mothers complained that their children had been called racist.

Attendee Susie Kelpie said that such a response was commonplace: “it’s vile, intimidating and quite normal for any Israeli-flavoured event in this city.”

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Venezuelan publication accuses “Rabbis” of manipulating economy

On August 12th, a Venezuelan weekly magazine called “The Truths of Miguel” published an antisemitic cover story.

The popular magazine’s cover featured an image of a Haredi Jewish man with a Star of David made from a banknote, titled “The Rabbis of Cadavi”, which references the government institution which deals with currency exchange, which implicitly accuses Jewish leaders of economic collusion. At a time of economic uncertainty for Venezuela, this amounts to using Jews as a scapegoat for economic troubles.

The editor of the magazine also writes that currencies are being manipulated by companies “that belong to citizens of Israelite origin”.

The head of the Anti-Defamation League, Jonathan Greenblatt writes:

“For several years, we have seen anti-Semitic accusations and themes appear in Venezuelan public discourse,”

“This shockingly graphic manifestation of anti-Semitic imagery on full display on Venezuelan newsstands is unacceptable and repulsive.”

“At a time when all of Venezuela feels the impact of a serious economic hardship, this magazine cover not only feeds into base, age-old anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jews and unscrupulous behavior towards money, but dangerously points the finger at Jews for taking advantage of this crisis and deepening the economic instability for their benefit”

 

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Holocaust denial ‘artist’ planning Edinburgh Fringe Festival performances

Alison Chabloz, a self-styled singer-songwriter who was exposed by Campaign Against Antisemitism last year, has been attempting to find venues to perform in during the Edinburgh Festival. She was reported to have performed a quenelle, a neo-Nazi gesture targeted exclusively at Jews, and for antisemitic content she had performed which denied the Holocaust.

In an article on her blog, Chabloz announced that she had approached several venues with a view to performing her Holocaust denial show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Her show, named “Tell Me More Lies”, claims to express “frustrations caused by smear campaigns waged against ‘Holocaust’ revisionists”, described by Chabloz to be “groundbreaking musical comedy interspersed with socio-political satire”.

However, much of Chabloz’s material simply mocks or outright denies the Holocaust. In one of her songs she describes Elie Wiesel’s books as “full of nonsense tales”, says of Irene Zissblat “I cannot speak Hungarian but oh boy can I lie”, and mocks Anne Frank. She employs antisemitic tropes singing “Bank notes, let’s print some more. We love to see you poor. Let’s start a war”, which play on baseless accusations that have been used to victimise Jews.  In another she sings “the Holohoax is plain to see” and claims there are attempts to “privilege one race” by stifling “freedom of speech” regarding the Holocaust. In such examples she seeks to persuade the public that the Holocaust was not a genocide perpetrated against Jews, but rather that it is a hoax perpetrated by greedy, conniving Jews against mankind. She preaches to all who will listen to her that the Holocaust was fabricated, that Jews were not massacred in their millions, and that it is in fact a ploy used by Jewish people to earn money.

She also sings “the shekel is his God”, referencing an antisemitic canard that Jews are preoccupied with money, and describes Auschwitz as a “holy temple” and “a theme park just for fools”.

She has tweeted a Rabbi asking him “when are Jews going to apologize for the ritual murder of Christian children?” Such statements are considered ‘blood libel’, erroneous and malicious accusation that Jews murder Christian children to bake matzo, which has been a common theme in the persecution of Jews in Europe.

https://twitter.com/AJCTmusic/status/677523316018716672

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival maintains an open-door policy and refuses to ban this brazen, Holocaust-denying antisemite from appearing.

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Belgian school “proud” of Iran Holocaust cartoon competition teacher

A Catholic high school in Belgium has  allegedly said it is “proud” of an outgoing teacher who received a cash prize at the Iranian Holocaust Cartoon competition.

Luc Descheemaeker, who has just retired from the Sint-Jozefs Institute high school, was awarded and accepted a “special prize” at the Second International Cartoon Contest. His submission included the words “Arbeit Macht Frei”, which were originally cast above the entrance to Auschwitz, over a wall with barbed wire, meant to resemble the Israeli West Bank Barrier and drawing a comparison between Israeli policy and the Holocaust. Such a comparison is considered antisemitic under the EUMC working definition of antisemitism.

UNESCO has condemned the competition as an attempt at “at a mockery of the genocide of the Jewish people, a tragic page of humanity’s history”.

In a (presumably sarcastic) letter from a Belgian-Jewish organisation which asked whether the school was “proud” of their teacher’s participation in such an event, a faculty member replied “We are indeed very proud to have Luc associated with our school. His talent is of great value for the artistic education of our students!”

When the school was asked more directly about the award, school director Paul Vanthournout said that the “consideration of it as anti-Semitic is exaggerated”, this despite the fact that the cartoon clearly falls foul of the EUMC definition of antisemitism. He also worryingly mentioned that Descheemaeker had been in charge of some Holocaust education in the school.

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Russian TV blames Jews for sinking of Titanic, Chernobyl and 9/11

Image credit: cursorinfo.co.il

Moscow’s REN-TV aired an antisemitic documentary last Friday at prime time hours.

The documentary was a reworking of a 2012 documentary that blamed the sinking of the Titanic on a conspiracy which one commentator said was a “reanimation” of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and one viewer described as having a “clearly expressed anti-Semitic subtext”.

The documentary suggested a “group of 300” Jews, freemasons and “illluminati” had sunk the ship to provoke an international crisis and install themselves as leaders of a world government, a central theme of antisemitism conspiracy theories.

The 2012 version of the documentary used the past tense, suggesting that the attempt was in the past and ultimately unsuccessful. However, REN-TV’s airing of the documentary was edited to use the present tense, as well as to link the conspiracy to various more recent events, including the Chernobyl disaster, 9/11, and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Federation of Jewish Communities in Russia has already expressed concern about what the rise of such ideas in Russia could mean for the Jewish community.

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Christopher Biggins apologises for Holocaust ‘joke’

Credit to RHL Images

Christopher Biggins has made an apology after having been removed from Celebrity Big Brother following a Holocaust ‘joke’ he made to a fellow housemate.

The 67-year-old actor told Katie Waissel, who is Jewish, “you better be careful or they’ll be putting you in a shower and taking you to a room”.

Channel 5 decided the comment was likely to cause “widespread offence” and removed Biggins from the Big Brother House.

Biggins’ apology was “tearful”. He said “I am mortified by what’s happened, really mortified. Most of my friends, in fact, are Jewish. I apologised to Big Brother and Katie”. Whilst his comments were not necessarily malicious, and may well have been a case of poor judgement, it is incredibly damaging for Jewish people to have the systematic extermination of 6 million Jews be treated as an appropriate topic for humour, especially when it is directed towards them.

Biggins, who is gay, has also attracted controversy having made comments deemed to be offensive to bisexuals. He said in a conversation that Bisexuals are the “worst type” and implied that they were just in denial about being homosexual, as well as linking them to the spread of HIV/AIDS

Biggins will be visiting Auschwitz in the near future, a trip that will hopefully give him some perspective on his comments. He claims to have been planning the trip since before the incident occurred,

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Canada: Government-funded event will promote antisemitic ideas

B'nai Brith screenshot

B’nai Brith has revealed that the World Social Forum (WSF), a state-backed event due to take place in Montreal, will be promoting antisemitic ideas.

The event takes up various causes, such as “workers against Neoliberalism”, “facing the Capitalist crisis” and “decolonization”. According to B’nai Brith, one talk is titled “Terrorizm, Wahabbism, Zionism” (sic.) and featured a picture of a Wahabbist terrorist emerging from from the mouth of “Uncle Sam”, with Uncle Sam emerging from the mouth of a caricature of a Charedi Jewish man. The use of such an image, which implies that Jews are responsible both for American policy and Wahabbism, is clearly antisemitic, but appears to have been removed since B’nai Brith drew attention to it. The title also seems to suggest a connection between “Zionism” and terrorism, a common trope in antisemitic conspiracy theories.

One of the speakers at the event Diana Ralph, is a conspiracy theorist who, among other things, accused Israel of being behind the 9/11 attacks.

The event also features Sabine Freisinger, former President of Concordia Student Union, who was apparently involved in a riot that forced Benjamin Netanyahu to cancel a speech and in which a Rabbi and his wife were assaulted and a Holocaust survivor was kicked in the groin. Freisinger’s activities have since included targeting a local shoe shop for selling a small number of Israeli shoes.

B’nai Brith notes also that the conference features a dozen workshops devoted to a total boycott of Israel, a policy which the Canadian Parliament has committed to resisting.

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Outpouring of antisemitism in Hungary after Hungarian Holocaust drama wins Golden Globe

Following the award of the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film to Hungarian Holocaust drama Son of Saul yesterday, Hungary has witnessed an outpouring of antisemitism.

Hungary’s largest online newspaper, Index, published some of the worst examples. It includes a flood of comments denying the Holocaust and also blaming the Hungarian Prime Minister for congratulating the film’s creators, claiming that he is obeying Jewish commands.

The newspaper’s journalists also witnessed antisemitic discourse about the film in public, including people questioning the truth of Holocaust.

Source: Fórum az antiszemitizmus ellen/Index

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Serial antisemite Mel Gibson to be rehabilitated with Golden Globes presenter role

It has been announced that serial antisemite Mel Gibson will be presenting an award at the Golden Globes tomorrow night. The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has condemned the move to “rehabilitate a bigot”.

Gibson’s antisemitism became notorious in 2006 when he was stopped by police for drinking and driving. The actor launched an antisemitic tirade against an officer, shouting: “F***ing Jews…The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” At the time, Gibson apologised and blamed the incident on his alcoholism.

Gibson’s history of antisemitism goes deeper though. In the 1990s, actress Winona Ryder accused him of referring to Holocaust survivors as “oven-dodgers” at a party. As recently as 2012 the claims have been repeated, with Hollywood screenwriter Joe Eszterhas saying that the Holocaust was merely a “numbers game” and “mostly a lot of horses***”. Eszterhas also claimed that Gibson continuously referred to Jews as “Hebes” and “oven-dodgers”.

Gibson additionally came under fire for his 2004 film The Passion of the Christ, which was widely condemned for implying that Jews were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus.

Source: Algemeiner

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Iran offers $50,000 prize for ‘best’ cartoon mocking the Holocaust

A $50,000 prize will be offered to the creator of the ‘best’ cartoon mocking the Holocaust, in a competition organised by Tehran to be held next June.

Such competitions are not unusual in Iran; another was held earlier this year. Officials usually claim that the aim is to test the tolerance of the West for freedom of speech.

According to The Tower, “Iranian politicians who are often described as ‘moderates’ by the international media, including President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, have refused to condemn the Holocaust in a straightforward manner. In contrast, Iranian political and military leaders over the years have been very clear about their genocidal aims toward Israel.”

Source: The Tower

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Movie News Guide slams Adam Sandler because “he is Jewish and he likes to talk about it”

Movie News Guide has published an article with the headline: “Adam Sandler is becoming the most hated celebrity because he talks Jewish shop all the time”.

The article’s author, Meghna Subhedhar, gives her analysis of what she perceives as Sandler’s waning popularity: “He is probably becoming unpopular because he keeps playing the Jew card.”

Adding depth to her analysis, Subhedhar continued: “Who could forget the fact that Adam Sandler is a Jew. I mean, he is always playing the bumbling Jew in all of his comedies. He was recently on the Howard Stern Show where he told the listeners that he loved Israel because his parents told him to.” During the show, Sandler’s reference to Israel had been to say: “I like when you get upset about Israel, and I get nervous about Israel too. That’s from my house. My father and mother– very pro-Israel…I grew up being proud of being a Jew and that’s what I am.”

The article concludes with more blatant antisemitism: “Now there is another reason to hate the man [Sandler], he is Jewish and he likes to talk about it. Tablet magazine reports that Sandler hasn’t been in a fight since his Bar Mitzvah. Well, the internet is bringing the fight to him.”

Movie News Guide can be contacted at [email protected], and the Australian company which appears to own Movie News Guide can be contacted at [email protected].

Source: Israellycool/Movie News Guide

 

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Irish performer who smashed TV with axe as part of “Holocaust Hoax” act jailed for five months

Man smashes TV with an axe as part of “Holocaust Hoax” performance. Image source: CFCA

An Irish judge has jailed a Holocaust denier for five months for using performance art in a public square in Ennis to further his claims that the Holocaust did not take place. Dermot Mulqueen, aged 49, was jailed at Ennis District Court, for the lunchtime performance to a crowd of teenagers on 23rd January 2015, when he put an axe through a TV as part of his “Liberation of the Mind” act with which he intended to launch “International Holocaust Hoax Day”. He was convicted of breaching Section 9 of the Offensive Weapons Act and section 6 of the Public Order Act.

Mulqueen told the court: “I wasn’t breaking the law, I was breaking a taboo. There was nothing threatening about what I did.” In his statement to police, Mulqueen had said: “I found out that the Holocaust was a hoax in August 2013 after coming across a video by David Cole on Auschwitz on YouTube. I am not a racist but I have found out that the Holocaust was a hoax and I wanted to highlight this.”

In sentencing, the Judge Patrick Duncan said Mulqueen “may have a view and an interpretation of history, but it is an historical fact that the Holocaust was the greatest crime perpetrated against a section of mankind in the history of mankind”. According to the judge, by his actions Mulqueen had “behaved in the most offensive way, not merely towards a particular section of society but towards society generally”.

After sentencing, Mr Mulqueen was released on bail pending his appeal.

Source: CFCA/Irish Times

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Prominent supporter of antisemitic writers speaks at Göteborg Book Fair

The Hungarian Free Press reports that Géza Szőcs, a Romanian poet appointed Hungary’s Secretary of State for Culture in 2010, has spoken at Göteborg Book Fair. The HFP article said that a small protest was held at the book fair over Szőcs’s past promotion of antisemitic writers and a fellow panellist voiced her dismay at having to share a platform with Szőcs.

As Hungarian Secretary of State for Culture, HFP said that Szőcs made antisemitic writers part of the required public school curriculum. He reportedly visited and praised Albert Wass, a convicted Nazi war criminal whose writings included a short story in which Jews were portrayed as a plague of rats invading the home of a good farmer.

Szőcs also apparently participated in attempts to rebury Hungarian fascist ideologue József Nyirő who called for Hungary to be “cleansed of Jewish and cosmopolitan influences.” The attendance of top Hungarian politicians at a ceremony for Nyirő prompted Elie Wiesel to return an award he had been given by the Hungarian government.

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Arts Everyday Antisemitism London Ξ E-mail

BBC uses antisemitic caricature in Proms programme

The official programme for the BBC’s flagship Proms summer music festival contained an antisemitic caricature.

Leopold Auer was a famous Hungarian Jewish violinist to whom numerous pieces of music were dedicated, including a piece by Tchaikovsky. The BBC Proms programme included Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and to illustrate it, the BBC used a caricature of Auer — Tchaikovsky dedicated his Violin Concerto to Auer but changed it to Brodsky after Auer suggested revisions. The caricature featured Auer as a ghoulish figure with an enormous hooked nose.

The caricature used may well have been licensed from the Lebrecht Library, which lists the drawing as an “antisemitic caricature”. If the BBC did indeed purchase the rights to use the image from the Lebrecht collection, it is hard to imagine that they could have missed the description of the caricature.

In response to Twitter users who demanded answers, the BBC said: “We use a range of caricatures and illustrations in our concert programmes and wanted one of Leopold Auer. We’re sorry to anyone who was offended by the image choice — this was never our intention.”

Campaign Against Antisemitism has issued a call to action.