Former French PM slams comments made by France’s Foreign Minister about sanctions against Israel

Research published by Gatestone Institute concludes various municipalities use money to endorse anti-Semitic groups such as Group 194, arrange school lectures by pro-Palestinian movements.
Sweden’s municipalities and government are directly and indirectly funding anti-Semitic organizations, according to a research conducted by Gatestone Institute for International Relations.
The research was published by Nima Gholam Ali Pour, a member of the board of education in the Swedish city of Malmö, as well as a participant of several Swedish Middle East teams.
In addition, he is the editor for the social conservative website “Situation Malmö,” and has published books.
The research report also concluded that Malmö’s municipality is using tax payers’ money to endorse Group 194—an organization that posts anti-Semitic content on its Facebook page, such as a caricature of a Jew drinking blood and feeding on a child.
The research argued that anti-Semitism originating in the Middle East is also funded by Swedish public money.
Therefore, when anti-Semitic scandals occur in the Scandinavian country, those tasked with addressing them are often the same officials responsible for distributing the offensive material that led to them.
Moreover, no effective action is currently being taken against the spread of anti-Semitism in Sweden.
Ali Pour concluded that the direct and indirect governmental funding of anti-Semitic organization should be scrutinized and immediately halted.
He adds that as long as the funding continues, Sweden’s Jews will continue living in a perpetual state of fear and insecurity.
Big Swedish cities such as Malmö have become known as places in which Jews feel threatened, and the country’s increasingly prevalent anti-Semitism has drawn international attention.
In December of 2017, Muslims demonstrated in front of a synagogue in Malmö and a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a prayer room in a Jewish cemetery following US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
“We want our freedom back and we’ll shoot the Jews,” the anti-Semitic demonstrators shouted in front of the synagogue.
Molotov cocktails were also hurled at a synagogue in the Swedish city of Gothenburg.
Furthermore, representatives of the Youth Against Settlements (YAS) organization based in Hebron are visiting and lecturing in Swedish high schools against Hebron’s Jewish residents.
One of the high school students who attended YAS’s lectures in February 2018 said that the anti-Semitic organization had argued that there are checkpoints all across Israel and that Arabs are routinely beaten and killed.
It was also said the Palestinians are living in concentration camps similar to those set up by the Nazis in in WWII.
“They talked a lot of nonsense and made us to take pictures with their flag,” one of the high school student said.
“The most controversial thing they said was that the Jews control the United States and the media,” another student added.
Zelika El Motsev and Anas Amro, YAS’s representatives across Sweden, were described in the media as “peace activists,” while they praised stabbing attacks, Shahids (martyrs) and Arab uprising on their Facebook pages.
Yes’s spokespersons were invited to speak before public institutions in Sweden and country’s Foreign Affairs Minister Margot Wallstrom met with them during her visit to Ramallah in December 2016.

Yesterday, on 16 January 2020, the European Jewish Association and our partners from the Action and Protection Foundation /Hungary/ and the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania have joined together to further advance the ongoing Europe-wide initiative on the European Curriculum and Textbook Project against Antisemitism. The meeting has thus taken place in the wonderful Lithuanian capital of Vilnius – once known as the Jerusalem of the North.

With the EJA having been represented by Mihails Vorobeičiks-Mellers (Political Affairs Adviser), the APF by Kálmán Szalai (Secretary) and the International Commission by Ingrida Vilkienė (Deputy Director), we have had the pleasure of meeting with Jolanta Urbanovič, Vice-Minister of Education, Science and Sport of the Republic of Lithuania, and members of her team.

During the meeting, the European dimension of the project has been described and discussed, along with the ongoing dialogues with the educational authorities in several other countries, where meetings have already taken place earlier. Then the initiative’s realization in Hungary has been touched upon – its roots, planning, development, the negotiations involved, gradual implementation and results, and the effect it has had and continues to have on the national curriculum and those undergoing as well as teaching it. 

Afterwards, the Lithuanian system of education has been discussed, particularly the various aspects of Jewish studies already covered within the curriculum as well as the corresponding topics where the International Commission has achieved significant progress. In case of the latter, numerous teacher seminars, symposiums and events devoted to providing extensive information on the pre-war Jewish life in Lithuania, contributions to society and country as a whole, as well as Holocaust remembrance – just to name a few.

A consensus has been reached that a much stronger emphasis has to be made not only on the Holocaust remembrance – which is undoubtedly important – but also coexistence, cooperation and long-time friendship between the Jews and their compatriots inhabiting Lithuania in the many centuries preceding the Second World War, not to mention the after-war and contemporary periods as well. 

With the above in mind, and considering the Ministry’s plans to renew the curriculum (not just in history, but also other subjects, e.g., social studies, languages etc.), it has been, in particular, agreed that a project proposal containing a number of suggestions shall be prepared, covering the various aspects of the topics mentioned above and others, which shall then be discussed and further evaluated by a prospectively set up expert group, whose composition shall be also discussed soon. Interest and willingness for further close dialogue and possible cooperation has been expressed by all sides involved in the meeting.

We are most grateful to Madam Vice-Minister Urbanovič and her colleagues at the Ministry for their much welcome interest, time and the possibility to have this discussion yesterday, not to mention for being such wonderful and gracious hosts. We very much look forward to further communication with the Ministry and our partners on the present initiative and, of course, other topics of common interest and concern.

A Terror Fighter We Don’t Know, But Should

In Europe, life is finally getting tougher for Hezbollah. For decades the group has used the continent to stage and fund its terror attacks, and last year they started to face proper scrutiny in Europe’s capitals. In 2020 alone, Austria, The Czech Republic, Germany, Lithuania, Serbia and Slovenia all designated Hezbollah as a terror organization, banning the group from using their financial institutions and from setting foot in their respective jurisdictions.
These designations and actions are totally deserved. Hezbollah has left pools of blood across Europe, and across the globe, so few outside Tehran, Pyongyang and Beirut will kick up any stink about this effort to blacklist them.
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The European Jewish Association (EJA) is drafting an injunction against a shameful auction by an Israeli auction house, “Pentagon,” that offers the highest bidder, among other things: “A postcard of a Jew with a Nazi stamp on his face. rare!!! At an opening price of $50.”
The description of Item 162 reads, “An original canvas film of an employee in the gas chambers of the Dachau concentration camp at an opening price of $500,” and, “A postcard of a Jew with a Nazi stamp on his face. rare!!! At an opening price of $50.”
EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin, addressed the Minister of Justice and The Chairman of Yad Vashem, saying, “The State of Israel must enact a law against auctions of Nazi items!”
Rabbi Margolin emphasized: “Despite the shock we all felt with the previous sale of Nazi tattoo stamps used on the arms of Auschwitz prisoners, here again, to our shame, I am forced to address you in a hurry and with a deep sense of shock to request that you act immediately to prevent another shameful auction of Nazi items by an Israeli auction house.”

He added, “At the European Jewish Association, EJA, we work resolutely and steadily both in the continental countries and with EU institutions to prohibit the trade and auction of Nazi items for profit. We are working closely with heads of state, ministers, and senior parliamentarians in EU countries to prevent the trivialization and promotion of Nazi heritage by putting such despicable items up for sale to the highest bidder. However, shamefully, it turns out that in the Jewish state, the State of Israel – again, there are those who want to tout these items and sell them to the highest bidder.”
“In response to my previous letter, it was noted that things were being taken care of, but unfortunately, your eyes see, instead of recoiling from the negative public echo, there are those who see it as a ‘sales promotion.’ It is time to act to stop such auctions by enacting legislation.”
“Of course, we are at your disposal to help formulate a legislative framework that will end this despicable phenomenon of making money in brazen contempt of the memory of the Holocaust and the memory of those who perished, not to mention the feelings of the survivors,” Rabbi Margolin wrote
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/319070