Auschwitz survivor decries rise of antisemitism, far-right in Germany

In an open letter co-signed by 34 Jewish leaders, the Brussels-based European Jewish Association (EJA) called for Maryland-based Alexander Historical Auctions to abandon its sale of a slew of Nazi objects.

The items auctioned by the broker include a gold watch and candy bowl belonging to Adolf Hitler, and items belonging to his partner, Eva Braun, including a dress and dog collar for her terrier.

Also on sale are Wehrmacht toilet paper and the cutlery and champagne glasses of senior Nazi figures.

The highest valued item — the watch belonging to Hitler — was expected to fetch between $2 million (€1.97 million) and $4 million. The sale was taking place over two days from Thursday to Friday.

EU JEWISH HEAD CHALLENGES CORBYN’S COMMITMENT TO ANTI-SEMITISM AS ONE OF HIS MEPS TO TAKE STAGE ON TUESDAY WITH FORMER IRA TERRORIST AND INFAMOUS BLAIR CITIZEN’S ARREST JOURNALIST AT ANTI-ISRAEL EVENT IN EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

EJA Head Rabbi Margolin says Corbyn must demand that MEP removes herself from event, lest all his statements on anti-Semitism are deemed “worthless, pointless, devoid of meaning, substance and fraudulent”.

Brussels 18 January 2019. Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Chairman of the European Jewish Association (EJA) this morning wrote to Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn asking him to demand that one of his MEPs stand down from speaking at an anti-Israel event in the European Parliament on the 22 January. Labour MEP Julie Ward would be sharing the stage with  convicted IRA terrorist and Sinn Fein MEP Martina Anderson, who has described Israelis as “a rash”, and a journalist David Cronin who glorifies Hamas actions in his blog on the ‘Electronic Intifada’ website and who tried unsuccessfully to make a citizen’s arrest for former Labour Leader Tony Blair for alleged war crimes.

Rabbi Margolin’s call comes as Labour seeks to distance itself from accusations of anti-Semitism masked behind criticism of Israel.

Tuesday’s event in the European Parliament is called “Nation State Law – Occupation and discrimination in Israel” and is organised by the Europal Forum, a group that advocates for Boycotts and Sanctions against Israel and incites students on campus to take action.

In his letter to Mr Corbyn, Rabbi Margolin said,

“Despite many statements from you and your party regarding your commitment to fight anti-Semitism the actions of your members continue to fly in the face of such assurances.

“If you find it appropriate that an elected representative of your Party – MEP Julia Ward – should share a stage with an avowed Israel-hater and former convicted IRA terrorist who has described Israelis as “a rash”, and a journalist who has made it his life’s work slating the world’s only Jewish state and who tried to make a citizen’s arrest on your former Party Leader Tony Blair for alleaged war crimes in in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Lebanon and Serbia, that is your prerogative.

“If you find it appropriate that a Labour Party MEP take part in such a blatantly biased event that uses divisive terms “discrimination” and “occupation” in its title, instead of engaging in a civil and rational dialogue on issues pertaining to the peace process and Israeli-Palestinian conflict, that too is your prerogative.

“If this is the case, then you can rest assured that your statements, your pronouncements and your efforts to distance you and your party from accusations of anti-Semitism will be rendered worthless, pointless, devoid of meaning, substance and fraudulent, and will be judged as such by European Jewry.

“If on the other hand, having one of your MEPs speak at such an event, with such people alarms you, then you must demand that this senior representative of the Labour Party remove herself and your party name from this event, or remove herself from the party in whose name she will be advocating with those who support Hamas and the IRA and who make repeated vile and patently false statements about Israel and its citizens.

“I look forward to your reply”,  concluded Margolin.

     
Corbyn letter 1

The leader of the Dutch right-wing Forum for Democracy party resigned Monday following reports that members of its youth movement had engaged in anti-Semitic behavior.
Thierry Baudet, a colorful politician who in 2018 published a nude self-portrait on Instagram, said that assuming responsibility for the anti-Semitism scandal was not the immediate reason for stepping down. Rather the trigger was demands within the party that the guilty members be kicked out before the completion of an internal disciplinary review of their actions.
The review is of members of the party’s section for young members who in a WhatsApp group shared Nazi songs. One of them called “Der Untermensch,” or “Subhuman,” a 1942 Nazi propaganda book inciting hatred of Jews and Slavs, a “masterpiece,” the Het Parool newspaper reported last week.
Some party members seek to “skip the process and throw people under the bus before we know what’s happened,” Baudet said in video he shared on social media announcing his resignation as party leader. He warned against a “trial by the media, which isn’t trustworthy.”
If the accused engaged in anti-Semitism,  he said, “they should leave the party, and my resignation will be an act of assuming responsibility for what happened.”
Forum for Democracy seeks a Dutch exit from the European Union and stricter immigration policies. It’s also consistently pro-Israel.
It won only two seats out of 150 in parliament in the 2017 elections but three of the 26 in the 2019 Dutch elections for the European Parliament.
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We shudder to think what could possibly come out of Poland next, a country that is well and truly positioning itself outside of the pale.

Poland is now beyond the pale. This expression was deliberately chosen. The Pale of Settlement was a historical region of Imperial Russia, including a large chunk of modern-day Poland, where Jews were permitted to live.
First, we had the Holocaust Law, making it illegal to critique Poland for what happened during the Holocaust, under pain of imprisonment. So I’m going to take a risk and spell out a few facts for you about Poland. As many have noted, “the few who survived Auschwitz went back and found their homes vandalized. Their jobs were taken. Their shops were confiscated. They were further welcomed by their former neighbors with slurs, curses, fists, knives, riots, broken glass, and often murder.” Just like pop singer Katie Melua’s “Nine Million Bicycles” says, “that’s a fact, that’s a thing you can’t deny.” If that appears trite, it’s because it’s meant to. The Holocaust Bill is an affront to decency, honesty and good grace. It deserves resentment, but also ridicule, for the sheer unparalleled scale of its stupidity.
And then what modicum of common sense was left in Poland’s armory of credibility also packed its bags and decided to move beyond the pale: Poland is about to make it illegal to export kosher meat and perform kosher slaughter. Oh, and for good measure, slap a four-year prison sentence on the offense.
The text of this was uncovered by us at the European Jewish Association, hidden in a 48-page general bill on animal welfare, which the lower house of the Polish Parliament is expected to vote on this week.
Back in 2013 the EJA – when a kosher ban reared its ugly head – challenged the law in Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal and won. Rabbi Menachem Margolin, our chairman and founder, has said the EJA will do so again, and also challenge the Holocaust Law.
But Poland is today a very different political beast than it was five years ago. The Law and Justice Party has brought in its own brand of ultra-conservative, good old-fashioned xenophobia and parochial politics front and center, appealing to the worst instincts of a disenfranchised demographic, a trend that is increasing in popularity across the European Union to the detriment of immigrants, Muslims, Jews and anyone else who doesn’t fit the nationalistic bill.
“Panem et circenses” is now the leitmotif in Poland. So very apt. In a political context, this old Roman phrase, meaning “bread and circuses,” means to generate public approval, not by excellence in public service or public policy but by diversion, distraction or by satisfying the most immediate or base requirements of a populace.
Mission accomplished, with both these laws.
What is most alarming though is what little recourse is left to challenge it. You see, Law and Justice quickly realized that the Constitutional Tribunal was blocking their carts laden with bread and so removed the judges, replacing them with appointed party acolytes, using the smear of former communist sympathies to oust the incumbents. That means simply that gross and demeaning legislation such as this can be steamrolled through (it won’t prevent us from trying to stop them though.) Little wonder that Israel is considering withdrawing its ambassador to Poland, and little wonder that the EU is considering Article 7 as a punishment for Poland. We shudder to think what could possibly come out of Poland next, a country that is well and truly positioning itself outside of the pale.
But we shudder more that in 2018, in a supposedly modern and enlightened Europe, we even have to write opinion pieces such as this one, on subjects that stir up the hot coals of what we all thought and hoped were dying embers: Jew hatred.
This Op-Ed was written by the director of public affairs for European Jewish Association, Alex Benjamin. It was publish on The Jerusalem Post .