"Remarkable" outbreak of anti-semitism in Germany and in Europe

“The new anti-Semitism is spread not just by neo-Nazis but also by mainstream left-wing members of parliament, left-wing activists, extremist Muslims and the European elites likewise.” ( Dr. Clemens Heni)

Asked whether “Jews try to take advantage of having been victims during the Nazi era.”  Almost half the Germans questioned responded in the affirmative; the country’s 48.9% result was the highest among the Western European countries. The Netherlands provided the lowest percentage, with 17.2% affirming that Jews were trying to exploit the Nazi era. The number for Poland was 72.2%, and Hungary reached 68.1%. France reached 32.3%, England 21.8%, Portugal 52.2% [there are less than 1.000 Jews left in Portugal] and Italy 40.2%.

See also : An amazing 77% of Germans are hostile to Israel 

Source: JPost ('47% of Germans think Israel exterminating Palestinians', by Benjamin Weinthal)

Study shows a strong presence of “anti-Semitism that is linked with Israel and is hidden behind criticism of Israel" in Europe.

BERLIN – A think-tank affiliated with Germany’s Social Democratic Party issued a new report last week that revealed high levels of anti-Semitism in Germany, Poland and Hungary, as well as varying manifestations of racism, homophobia and prejudice in eight European countries.

Dr. Beate Küpper, a researcher from the University of Bielefeld who co-authored the Friedrich Ebert Foundation’s study along with her colleagues Andreas Zick and Andreas Hoevermann, told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that the study showed a strong presence of “anti-Semitism that is linked with Israel and is hidden behind criticism of Israel, and is not neutral.”  She termed the outbreak of Jew-hatred in Germany “remarkable” because there were widespread Holocaust remembrance and education events in Germany.

The study – “Intolerance, Prejudice, Discrimination: A European Report” – questioned roughly 1,000 people in each of the selected EU countries.  The investigation was limited to Great Britain, Holland, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Poland and France due to financial restrictions and requisite expertise in each country to track anti-democratic attitudes, according to Küpper.

Asked to respond to the statement that “Israel is conducting a war of extermination against the Palestinians,” 47.7 percent of the study’s participants in Germany expressed agreement – the highest number in Western Europe.  The statement is a typical question used to probe attitudes about equating Israel with the Nazi campaign to exterminate European Jewry.  The US State Department defines the comparison as an expression of modern anti- Semitism, as does the European Union.

Given Poland’s lukewarm foreign policy toward Israel, the finding that 63.3% of the Poles questioned agree that Israel is seeking to obliterate Palestinians may be deeply alarming to some.

The statement “Considering Israel’s policy, I can understand why people do not like Jews” met with 35.6% affirmation in Germany, while 35.9% of British respondents were in agreement. In the Netherlands, 41.1% favored the assertion, as did 55.2% in Poland, 45.6% in Hungary and 48.8% in Portugal. France declined to participate.

For Portuguese Nobel laureate Saramago the Bible is a 'handbook of bad morals'

"It [the book] might offend Jews, but that doesn't really matter to me."

"The Bible is a manual of bad morals [which] has a powerful influence on our culture and even our way of life. Without the Bible, we would be different, and probably better people."

Despite being an unrepentant communist, José Saramago seems to have a taste for pomp, graces and honours. In this photo he is humbly bowing to the king of Sweden while (shock and horror for an anti-bourgeois) receiving the Nobel Prize for literature in 1998 from the hands of the monarch. Portuguese bloggers are having a field day poking fun at Saramago's new anti-Jewish tirade and believe that it is a publicity stunt ... communist style. (Portuguese Nobel Laureate's Remarks on Jews and the Holocaust Are "Incendiary and Offensive", ADL, 2003)

Source: AFP (extracts)

Speaking at the launch of his new book "Cain", José Saramago, who won the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature, said society would probably be better off without the Bible. Roman Catholic Church leaders accused the 86-year-old of a publicity stunt. The book is an ironic retelling of the Biblical story of Cain, Adam and Eve's son who killed his younger brother Abel.

At the launch event in the northern Portuguese town of Penafiel on Sunday, Saramago said he did not think the book would offend Catholics "because they do not read the Bible".

"The Bible is a manual of bad morals (which) has a powerful influence on our culture and even our way of life. Without the Bible, we would be different, and probably better people," he was quoted as saying by the news agency Lusa.

Saramago attacked "a cruel, jealous and unbearable God (who) exists only in our heads" and said he did not think his book would cause problems for the Catholic Church "because Catholics do not read the Bible. "It might offend Jews, but that doesn't really matter to me," he added. Father Manuel Marujão, the spokesman for the Portuguese conference of bishops, said he thought the remarks were a publicity stunt. "A writer of José Saramago's standing can criticise, (but) insults do no-one any good, particularly a Nobel Prize winner," the priest said.

Rabbi Elieze Martino, spokesman for the Jewish community in Lisbon, said the Jewish world would not be shocked by the writings of Saramago or anyone else. "Saramago does not know the Bible," the rabbi said, "he has only superficial understanding of it."

The author caused a scandal in Portugal in 1992 with "The Gospel According to Jesus Christ." The book depicted Jesus losing his virginity to Mary Magdalene and being used by God to control the world.

- Anti-Israel writer José Saramago's foundation to be housed in Casa dos Bicos in Lisbon

Only synagogue left in the Azores to be renovated

The tiny Sahar Hassamain synagogue in Ponta Delgada (São Miguel island), built c. 1820, which has been redundant for many years and has fallen into a state of disrepaired, will soon be repaired and hopefully open to the public.

"IT ALL ENDS WITH ME

" Letter from the Azores (from FORWARD January 9, 1998)

"I am the last Jew in all of the Azores," Jorge Delmar says... He is a stocky man in his early 50's who runs an import- export business in Ponta Delgada, the capital city of Sao Miguel, the largest of the nine islands that comprises the Portuguese archipelago. "Thirty years ago, there were 16 Jewish families on this island," he adds. "We were a community. We had services in the old synagogue and made all the festivities in my grandfather's house. But all the others have died or converted or moved away. I am the only one left."

Mr Delmar's wife and children are Catholic. He says his wife sometimes asks him, "Why do you say you are a Jew? What happened to the Jews?" He tells her, "As my mother is a Jew, I am always a Jew. That's all."

The truth, though, is more complex. Mr Delmar's connection to the Azores began in 1818, when the Bensaude family of Morocco came to this volcanic outcropping, mythologized in lore as the remnants of the lost continent of Atlantis. The family made their fortune trading crops with England for manufactured goods, and trading bills of exchange while transporting emigrants to Brazil. In the process, they changed the nature of the Azorean economy, says professor of economic history at the University of the Azores, Fátima Sequeria Dias."

Read the whole piece here

Photo

For 1stst time since Inquisition, Portuguese cheese gets kosher seal

"Portugal is seeing a Jewish revival over the past few years."

For the first time since the Spanish Inquisition* in Portugal, a dairy product has been given an official kosher certificate. The ground-breaking product is a hard, goat's milk cheese, manufactured by the descendant of Anusim (Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity).

Last year, José Braz, owner of the Queijos Braz factory, contacted Daniel Litwak, the chief rabbi of Portugal's second-largest city, Porto, and asked him to arrange a kashrut certificate for Serra da Estrela cheese, which Braz manufactures. Braz believes that his own family were members of Portugal's Jewish community in the 14th and 15th centuries, but like many others were forced to convert to escape persecution by the Inquisition.

"When I spoke to José, he told me he wanted to reconnect to his Jewish roots - this was the reason for contacting me," says Litwak, who was born in Argentina. "I was surprised because his brand was doing rather nicely all over Europe. He did not need the certificate to increase his turnover."

New York-born Michael Freund, the chairman of Shavei Israel, a Jerusalem-based organization that helps people with Jewish roots become more involved in their Jewish community, who immigrated to Israel some 10 years ago, told Haaretz that Portugal "is seeing a Jewish revival over the past few years." "Recently, the first kosher wine in Portugal since the Inquisition has become available, then the first olive oil and now the cheese," Freund says. "I see a definite connection between how many of the Anusim are rediscovering their roots and the increased interest."

Source: article by Cnaan Liphshiz in Haaretz
Photo: Shavei Israel

* The Portuguese Inquisition was established on the Spanish model in 1547 to root out heresy. In 1774, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, Marquis of Pombal (1699-1782) abolished the legal requirement of "purity of blood" for holders of office and the distinctions between Old Christian and New Christian (Jewish converts and their descendants).
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Dominican friar slams "Madoff the Pharisee" and Israel

First came news that the Vatican issued a decree lifting excommunication of traditionalist bishop Richard Williamson who claims that gas chambers didn't exist, then came news that Portuguese Dominican friar Bento Domingues O.P. wrote an article in the Público newspaper stating that :

"For eight years we were made to believe in all the deceptions by George Bush and his clique and in the shameful Wall Street dealings. We are now being made to believe that Barack Obama is the saviour of the superpower and that he will save the world.

It is normal that each group seeks to attract the President to its own camp and there is no doubt that those who wield little power elected Obama. But it will be the most powerful who, to the benefit of the virtuality of the market economy and its dynamism, will divert Obama's attention away from the poorest peoples in the Americas, Africa and Palestine. Israel has already done enough to show that even with Madoff the Pharisee in jail, the U.S. will continue to have faith in Israel, in spite of having committed all manner of crimes against humanity."

All the obscene anti-Semitic ingredients are here: Jews (the most powerful), personified by Madoff the Pharisee and Israel, are such power grabbers and selfish cheats that they are responsible for all the ills and poverty in the world. At least Frei Bento Domingues is frank about his antipathy for Jews, and doesn't hide behind sophisticated arguments to hide the fact.

Source: Ver

Madoff scandal: anti-Semitic claims and anti-Semitic counterclaims

This gem - supposedly very funny and insightful - was found in an anti-Semitic Portuguese blog (N.N.*) :

"It has been reported that the American Jew Bernard Madoff will be awarded the Julius Streicher (photo) neo-Nazi gold medal in recognition of his Jewish swindle whereby he robbed [... list of Jews and Jewish organisations ...] and many others."

N.N. blogger then writes that they (only Jews and Jewish organisations) were swindled out of 50 billion US dollars and that this sum is not guaranteed by the American Jewish banking network.

Jews complicit in a huge fraud

So far so good: just classic anti-Semitic tropes, but much too naive and black and white for Portuguese negationist blogger H.D.C.*.

H.D.C. is a really sophisticated thinker who is able to see through layers of Jewish tricks and propaganda. In his blog he mostly uses material written by well-known Jewish useful idiots to promote his negationist views. He commented as follows :

"Don't trust what you read. In fact none of these individuals or organisations has lost a single dollar. It's all a smoke screen."

In other words, the whole thing is a complex Jewish scam. Jews pretend to have been victims of a Jew, but in reality they are complicit, and stand to gain from the fraud in terms of victimhood, money and power !

It's easy to guess who he believes are the genuine victims of the fraud.

* link withheld for obvious reasons.

Anti-Semitism floods Internet after Madoff scandal, Jewish group says

European Parliamentarians call upon the Red Cross on behalf of Gilad Shalit

Source: European Friends of Israel

"Today we simultaneously mark the 900th day since Gilad’s abduction and the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Although the latter is being internationally commemorated, rightfully so, European Friends of Israel have determined not to neglect Gilad, whose health and whereabouts have remained concealed for over 900 hundred days, in total negation of his basic Human Rights.

Thus, in almost all of the EU-27 countries, Parliamentarians friends of Israel have contacted local Red Cross representatives, the international and impartial guarantor of human rights, to request that more action is taken to secure Gilad’s human rights, such as his visitation rights and the right to proper medical treatment, which have been continuously denied.

EFI wants to keep awakening the conscience of the world, to display to Gilad’s family that Europe has not abandoned their son, and to determine what more can be done.

EFI thanks all dedication of the Parliamentarians to this cause. We see this initiative as a symbol, both of that aspiration and of the very purpose of EFI to achieve more together than we can do alone."
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João Rebelo, Chair of the Portugal-Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group, reported to the EFI on his meeting with the representative of the Portuguese Red Cross, Luís Barbosa. The meeting took place in the Assembly of the Republic, São Bento Palace, on 12 December 2008. Mr Barbosa was made:

"aware of the presence of the Portugal-Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group in the EFI Policy Conference, that took place in Paris in November 2008, in which Gilad Shalit’s father called upon the European Union and the international community to pressure the Hamas movement, in order to the ICRC be allowed to visit Gilad Shalit. Afterwards, the President of the Portuguese Red Cross submitted some elements on this matter, such as:

- The ICRC has to maintain itself very discreet on this matter, since they cannot speak too much about this matter, given the need to keep their neutral statute;

- The ICRC has made continuous attempts to approach Gilad Shalit, but so far has been unsuccessfull;

- The Carter Center informed ICRC that Gilad Shalit is alive;

- The ICRC stresses that the right to visit is a crucial element of the international humanitarian law;

- The ICRC will release an announcement, this month possibly, on the process of attempt to approach Gilad Shalit. However, there are details in this process that may not be disseminated, under penalty of affecting the ICRC neutrality;

- Reciprocity has not occurred in this process, considering that visits to Palestinian prisoners in Israel have been possible, while the same does not occur with Gilad Shalit, in Gaza Strip;

- This process involves elements, as possible terms of exchange (about 3000 Palestinian prisoners for Gilad Shalit), which can turn into a serious difficulty to solve this case;

- The ICRC regulates its conduct through the maximum prudence and unquestionable neutrality, considering that a human life is in danger, bearing in mind the fundamental role this institution played recently in Colombia, Afghanistan and Myanmar."

Greenspan and Bernanke are evidence of Jewish lobby according to Portuguese economist Pedro Arroja

A well-respected Portuguese economist, Professor Pedro Arroja, has gone to great lenghts to devise a method which he believes provides incontrovertible evidence of the existence of the famous "Jewish lobby". For Professor Arroja Jews cause major problems in all societies where they live (they are supposed to be wreaking havoc at present in the United States) and should be kept permanently under the most strict and severe control.

It is worth noting that Professor Arroja is not the crackpot blogger one usual associates with this type of anti-Jewish rhetoric and that he does not hide his views behind the anti-Zionist cloak. A Google search reveals that he heads the economy and management department of the UAL university in Lisbon, owns the Pedro Arroja investment company, and is the editor, with Universidade Lusófona do Porto, of the Governancia magazine. A very well-respected academic indeed.
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He posted his findings (which I have translated) on his blog, Portugal Contemporâneo, under the title Ben Shalom Bernanke:

"The fact is that the two Chairmen of the Federal Reserve who served under the Bush administration are Jewish: Alan Greenspan, was appointed in 1986 by President Reagen, and Ben S. Bernanke, the present Chairman, who replaced Greenspan after being appointed by President Bush.

My question is: assuming that no other considerations or influences played a part, what is the probability that among candidates of equivalent merits and qualifications it is precisely two Jews that were chosen – one after the other - to become Chairmen of the Federal Reserve?

Given that the Jewish community in the USA represents 2.5% of the total population, if follows that the probability that two successive Chairmen of the Fed are Jewish is 0.06%. It is a practical impossibility, but that's what has happened.

It should be pointed out that as a result of the Jewish culture putting a high value on education it produces more men and women of merit than Christian and other non-Jewish cultures. Let’s then suppose that Jews are three times better [i.e. more competent – the choice of the term better is far from innocent] than non-Jews and that, although they only represent 2.5% of the population, the probability of a Jew being apointed Chairman of the Fed is three times greater, i.e. 7.5%. Under the circumstances, what is the probability that two successive Chairmen of the Fed are Jewish? The answer is 0.56%. Once again, this is a practical impossibility, but that's what has happened.

I’ll now put the question differently. How many times has a Jew to be better [more competent] than men and women of other cultures in America (the vast majoritiy being Christian) (…) so that there is a 50% plus probability that "two successive Chairmen of the Fed" are chosen, assuming again that the only criteria is merit, and that no other considerations or pressure play a part?

The answer is 30 times. As it is inconceivable that, on average, Jews are 30 times better [more competent] than Christians, it follows that the choice of Chairmen of the Fed is not exclusively based on merit. Other considerations or pressures play a part."
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Pedro Fontela who blogs at InBetween offers an insightful perspective of Pedro Arroja's success:

"Is Arroja the best we can come up with? Thank the gods no!

His anecdotal theories and prejudices do keep the extreme right wing busy and entertained (by the way in Portugal that sector stretches to include "liberals", meaning supporters of free trade and some sort of anarco-capitalism with corporatism written all over it) he is by no means representative of serious research into any topic – if any doubts remained about the real sympathies of the so called "liberal" sector in Portugal just go around their blogs and read what they write, you’re unlikely to find any condemnation of Arroja’s writings, or racism or anything else for that matter. He is well known and occupies a preeminent social position because sadly in this part of the world being nuts doesn’t disqualify you from polite society or form being taken seriously in academic circles. In fact you can say anything that pops into your head no matter how silly and unjustified as long as you’re politically shrewd and realize to whom you should suck up to in order to keep your position, job and social status. Any foreigner analyzing Portuguese society should understand that social preeminence and merit have nothing to do with each other.

Having said all this that does not mean that there aren’t any credible scholars in Portugal! There are quite a few published ones that are reputable and many more who just don’t get published because they have no connections or backing by an interest group – in fact most promising young scholars end up being pushed out of academia and publishing because the incompetent ones (although well connected) monopolize the resources and vacancies.

In conclusion: there are serious people in Portugal devoting time and energy to issues pertaining to social sciences but they’re unlikely to be well known outside a very restricted circle. There are even more promising scholars who would love the change to work on the same topics but are not given chances for the reasons I mentioned above. And finally, you can stop wasting your breath by coming here proclaiming the nuttiness of Arroja’s theories. These people KNOW about it. They’ve known it for years and in the end it doesn’t matter a bit! In fact most are just too ashamed to publicly admit that they partially agree with him."
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The ghetto is a myth of Jewish victimisation propaganda says Portuguese blogger Pedro Arroja

Pedro Arroja's reaction to the above post:

"What about a little argument of yours, instead of simply labeling mine? I understand that in your country (France, I presume) one is forbidden to discuss Jewish history. Not yet so in my country. P. Arroja"

Euroliberal's reaction (his alter ego or ... Arroja himself ?):

"Actually iSSrael is the most horrendous dictatorship of our time. In the only existing apartheid regime, only less of 40% of the de jure inhabitants (those who have the "good religion") are entitled to vote, so that the religious minority may become a "majority" (like in the apartheid South Africa). iSSrael is the world champion in political prisoners (12.000), most of them without judgment, and extra-judicial executions of members of the oposition to the sionist apartheid regime. A murderous, racist, teocratic, genocidical, neo-nazi dictatorship, and NOT A DEMOCRACY, that's what the little shitty iSSrael really is, GOT IT ? And anti-semitic is what this blog is, as semitic are the arabs, not the turc-kahzar originated (not semitic) askenazin jews... LONG LIVE FREE PALESTINE. DOWN with the nazi-sionist regime."

Anti-Israel writer José Saramago's foundation to be housed in Casa dos Bicos in Lisbon

The Casa dos Bicos (house of spikes), a historical 16th century building in Lisbon, will be housing the José Saramago Foundation, aimed at preserving his work. The goals of the foundation also include the promotion of (some?) human rights and environmental issues.

Readers will recall that José Saramago is the 86-year old Portuguese novelist who won the Nobel Prize in literature in 1998 and who, at least on two occasions - during a visit to Ramallah and in an article in the Spanish newspaper El Pais, made remarks inciting hatred of Israel and Judaism.

Six years later, antisemitism is on the rise in Europe (notably in Spain where Saramago lives: a staggering 46% have an unfavourable opinion of Jews (including 18% of very unfavourable opinions)) where such comments have gained legitimacy in some quarters and are still being made by "educated people".
Paul Berman's devastating critique in Forward (May 2002 issue) is more pertinent than ever:

.

"Saramago was part of an international group of writers who traveled to Ramallah to observe the Israeli siege of Yasser Arafat's compound. [...] The situation at Ramallah, in Saramago's estimation, was "a crime comparable to Auschwitz." To the Israeli journalist who asked where the gas chambers were, Saramago gave his much-quoted reply, "Not yet here." But he also explained himself more seriously and at length in the April 21 issue of El Pais, a Madrid newspaper read and respected all over the Spanish-speaking world.

.

Israel, in Saramago's view, has pursued immoral and hateful policies during its entire history. And why has Israel done so? Perhaps for the same reasons that other countries have pursued hateful, immoral, expansionist policies? Not at all. Saramago traced Israel's policies to biblical Judaism. He pointed to the story of David and Goliath, which, though commonly pictured as a tale of underdog triumph, is actually the story of a blond person (David's blond hair seemed to catch Saramago's attention) employing a superior technology to kill at a distance a helpless and presumably non-blond person, the unfortunate and oppressed Goliath. Today's events, in Saramago's fanciful interpretation, follow the biblical script precisely, as if in testimony to the Jews' fidelity to tradition. He writes:

.

"The blond David of yesteryear surveys from a helicopter the occupied Palestinian lands and fires missiles at unarmed innocents; the delicate David of yore mans the most powerful tanks in the world and flattens and blows up what he finds in his tread; the lyrical David who sang praise to Bathsheba, incarnated today in the gargantuan figure of a war criminal named Ariel Sharon, hurls the 'poetic' message that first it is necessary to finish off the Palestinians in order later to negotiate with those who remain."

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Saramago must have been ablaze, writing these lines:

.

"Intoxicated mentally by the messianic dream of a Greater Israel which will finally achieve the expansionist dreams of the most radical Zionism; contaminated by the monstrous and rooted 'certitude' that in this catastrophic and absurd world there exists a people chosen by God and that, consequently, all the actions of an obsessive, psychological and pathologically exclusivist racism are justified; educated and trained in the idea that any suffering that has been inflicted, or is being inflicted, or will be inflicted on everyone else, especially the Palestinians, will always be inferior to that which they themselves suffered in the Holocaust, the Jews endlessly scratch their own wound to keep it bleeding, to make it incurable, and they show it to the world as if it were a banner. Israel seizes hold of the terrible words of God in Deuteronomy: 'Vengeance is mine, and I will be repaid.' Israel wants all of us to feel guilty, directly or indirectly, for the horrors of the Holocaust; Israel wants us to renounce the most elemental critical judgment and for us to transform ourselves into a docile echo of its will."

.

Israel, in short, is a racist state by virtue of Judaism's monstrous doctrines - racist not just against the Palestinians, but against the entire world, which it seeks to manipulate and abuse. Israel's struggles with its neighbors, seen in that light, do take on a unique and even metaphysical quality of genuine evil - the quality that distinguishes Israel's struggles from those of all other nations with disputed borders, no matter what the statistics of death and suffering might suggest.

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Saramago […] did condemn the suicide bombers. He did so in two throwaway sentences at the end of his essay, sneeringly, with his own expressive ellipsis:

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"Ah, yes, the horrendous massacres of civilians caused by the so-called suicide terrorists.... Horrendous, yes, doubtless; condemnable, yes, doubtless, but Israel still has a lot to learn if it is not capable of understanding the reasons that can bring a human being to turn himself into a bomb."

.

And so, the deliberate act of murdering random crowds turns out to be the fault of the murdered - or, rather, of the monstrous and racist doctrines of their religion, which is Judaism."

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- The Road to Tehran, Polite society helped pave the way for Iran's Holocaust conference, Brett Stephens, WSJ

- Portuguese Nobel Laureate's Remarks on Jews and the Holocaust Are "Incendiary and Offensive", ADL press release
- Writers on the Borders, film review by Ricki Hollander and Steven Stotsky, Camera
- De las piedras de David a los tanques de Goliat, José Saramago, El Pais

The ghetto is a myth of Jewish victimisation propaganda says Portuguese blogger Pedro Arroja

I have translated this extraordinary piece by a Portuguese blogger, Pedro Arroja, posted on the Portugal Contemporâneo blog.

The author believes in all sorts of Jewish plots and conspiracies and always refers to Jews as being aliens in the societies which "welcome" them, i.e. they are eternal guests, who inevitably cause trouble wherever they live (this is developed in another of Arroja's posts). For him, Jews do not qualify as true Europeans even though they have lived on European soil for many centuries. He believes he has the power to play God and decide who is a genuine European and who is not. Sounds very familiar, doesn't it ?

What is amazing is not so much that such blatantly anti-Semitic ravings are still being published, but that well respected Portuguese fellow bloggers have added Portugal Contemporâneo to their blog-rolls.

"The ghetto is probably one of the greatest myths of Jewish propaganda (...). The ghetto is commonly held to be the ultimate form of anti-Jewish discrimination devised by host societies- and an efficient but ethically reprehensible means to segregate Jews in various places and at different times in history.

This represents a considerable historical distortion. The ghetto is a Jewish creation and one willed by the Jews. It was not a segregation measure devised by host societies. In reality, the ghetto was a powerful and essential institution which enabled Jewish culture to survive for thousands of years.

Jews have always constituted a very small minority in their host societies - and, even today, they only account for 0.25% of world population. [Without the ghetto ...], throughout their long history in host societies, they would not have stood the remotest chance of retaining their culture, practising their religion, educating their children in their famous oral tradition, lending money at interest, and applying the mosaic law - because they would have been absorbed into the main population.

Contrary to what the propaganda says a host society inimical to Jews - be it Christian, Muslim or other - would not have created ghettos where to confine them. (...) a hostile society would have banned ghettoes.

Since the creation of Israel, the ghetto has become an obsolete institution - but was retained as a historical relic often used for victimisation propaganda purposes by Jews (...)."
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Israel: Reality and Perception, by Francisco Gomes

"Ruling another nation is neither an ambition nor is it a policy of Israel. Peace is at the core of Jewish tradition and is also at the centre of Israel’s goals as a state."

Francisco Gomes wrote a remarkable and exceptionally well-researched article on Israel - it is well worth reading in full. It appeared in the May edition of The Brit, a monthly newspaper published in Madeira.

"There is little doubt that the perception that people have of the world they live in and of the actors that shape it is influenced by media coverage as well as by the opinion-makers that are chosen by the major news channels to comment the various events that define life on the planet. In other words, the world, as we know it, is not, for the most part, the result of our direct contact with this or that reality, but the outcome of what we hear and see reported in regional, national and international media. This fact must encourage us to think critically about the news reported to us on an almost-constant basis and to question what is reported by journalist and commentators around the world.

At the present time, very few issues have been more debated, analysed, studied, discussed, revised, described, considered, reported on or commented on than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ever since the 1948 Israeli Declaration of Independence – which we celebrate this month – and the ensuing conflicts between the state of Israel and Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinians and Hezbollah, the unstable relation between Arabs and Jews has dominated international news. However, with the exception of some media channels in the United States and Europe, which have consistently thrived to provide their audience with an objective depiction of Israel, the image that is projected to the international arena of that state is a far cry from reality.

It is a well-known fact that the accuracy of any conclusion – regardless of whether it is taken at the international political level or at the local level – is intrinsically associated to the quality of the information on which it is based. So, it is only fair that we take our time to divulge some interesting facts about the history of Israel, the relation between Jews and Arabs and the impacts of the often-miscalled “Israeli occupation” of the Palestinian territories and its people. We feel such information is necessary in order for the general public to gain a more honest understanding of the human, social and political dynamics that shape that region of the world.

Concerning Israeli history, a theme that is often discussed in that of nationhood. In this regard, it is important to note that the notion of a Jewish nationhood was formed at about 1312 BCE, two thousand years before the rise of Islam. In contrast, Arab refugees in Israel only began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after the establishment of the modern state of Israel.

Likewise, since the Jewish conquest in 1272 BCE, Jews have had dominion over the land they presently occupy for one thousand years, with a continuous presence in the territory for the past three thousand years. Arabs only have had control of Israel twice, namely from 634 until the Crusader Invasion in June 1099 and from 1292 until 1517, when they were displaced by the Turkish Empire. Moreover, for over three thousand years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. It has never been the capital of any Arab entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied the city, they never sought to make it their capital.

Concerning the relation between Jews and Arabs, one of the critical issues that has opposed both identities is that of refugees. On this topic, it is worth remembering that, in 1948, Arab leaders encouraged Arab refugees to leave Israel with the promise of purging the land of Jews. About six hundred thousand left the territory, sixty percent of which never saw an Israeli soldier. In contrast, Jewish refugees were forced to flee Arab lands due to Arab brutality, persecution and pogroms.

Also, Arab refugees were intentionally not absorbed or integrated into the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast Arab territory. In fact, out of the one hundred million refugees that have been created by events that occurred since World War II, Arab refugees are the only group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own people’s lands. This fact demonstrates a lack of understanding and thoughtfulness that is uncommon among people who basically share the same historical, cultural, racial, religious and ethnic bonds. In contrast, Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel, a country no larger than the American state of New Jersey.

Moreover, in the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Arabs have been represented by eight separate nations, not including the Palestinians or Arab extremist organisations. These initiated all five wars that have been fought with the state and lost. Israel defended itself each time and won. Despite this situation, the diplomatic position of Israel has evolved and, in recent times, the Israeli government has embraced a diplomatic strategy that implies the establishment of two separate states, one Arab and one Jewish, living side-by-side. This position has not been reciprocated and, to this day, Article 15 of the Charter of the Palestine Liberation Organization still calls for the destruction of Israel, or, as it is phrased in the document, “the elimination of Zionism in Palestine.”

Furthermore, despite the much-talked international support for the Israeli cause, global response to the goals and needs of the Jewish people has been, in most cases, dismal. For example, of the one hundred and seventy five resolutions passed by the Security Council of the United Nations before 1990, ninety seven were directed against Israel. In addition, of the six hundred and ninety General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, four hundred and twenty nine were directed against Israel. What’s more, the United Nations was silent while fifty eight Jerusalem synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians during their occupation of the territory, while the Jordanians systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives and while they enforced an apartheid-like policy that prevented Jews from visiting the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.

Concerning the impacts of the “Israeli occupation” of the Palestinian territories, the deep contrast of the Palestinian living conditions before and after Israeli administration clearly suggests that it has been beneficial to the Palestinians living in the territory. For example, during twenty years of Arab rule, Palestinian male life expectancy grew from 42 to 44; during the next twenty years of Israeli administration, Palestinian male life expectancy grew from 44 to 63. Also, during twenty years of Arab rule, Palestinian female life expectancy grew from 45 to 46; during the next 20 years of Israeli administration, Palestinian female life expectancy grew from 46 to 67. Moreover, during twenty years of Arab rule, Palestinian infant mortality rate decreased from 200 per thousand to 170 per thousand; during the next twenty years of Israeli administration, Palestinian infant mortality rate decreased from 170 per thousand to 60 per thousand. In addition, during twenty years of Arab rule, Palestinian crude death rate decreased from 21 per thousand to 19 per thousand; during the next twenty years of Israeli administration, Palestinian crude death rate decreased from 19 per thousand to 6 per thousand. Finally, malaria, which existed in the Palestinian territories before 1967, was eliminated during Israeli administration.

At the infrastructural level, Israeli administration has also benefited the lives of many Palestinians. For example, before 1967, when Israel’s rule began, only 113 hospitals had been built in the territories. But, at the present time, that number has more than tripled, to about 400 hospitals. Also, before 1967, only 23 motherhood centres had been established. Today, more than six times as many can be found.

Israeli also more than tripled the number of Palestinian teachers and boosted the Palestinian educational system by establishing a number of universities. Among those universities were the College of Scientists, established in Abu Dis in 1982, the College of Social Welfare, established in El Bira in 1979, the College of Religion, established in Beit Hanina in 1978, and the Islamic College, established in Hebron in 1971. Nonetheless, this was not the only effect Israeli administration has on the Palestinian educational system and the Palestinian people. Before 1967, the percentage of illiterates on average had been 27.8% among men and 65.1% among women. At the present time, Israel has helped reduce illiteracy to less than 13% among men and to less than 35% among women.

In March 2008, in a speech before the Massachusetts state legislature, Tzipi Livni [photo], the Israeli Foreign Minister, stated, “Sometimes, there is a very big difference between Israel’s international image and its realities.” An objective consideration of the historical relation between Jews and Arabs and of the effects of Israeli administration on the Palestinian territories and its people amply confirms this assertion. Ruling another nation is neither an ambition nor is it a policy of Israel. Peace is at the core of Jewish tradition and is also at the centre of Israel’s goals as a state."

Posted with the permission of the author

Israel at 60: Herzl's Altneuland

Altneuland: "Wenn Ihr wollt, Ist es kein Märchen."

Via Carlos Botelho @ O cachimbo de Magritte

Inauguration of a memorial to the Jewish victims of the 1506 massacre in Lisbon

"Among these were two Dominican friars, who went through the city of Lisbon with crucifixes on their shoulders, inciting the people...they attacked the weak and defenseless group of ill-baptized New Christians with spears and unsheathed swords. They killed four thousand of them, robbed them..they maimed them, dashed children against walls and disembered them, defiled women and girls and then killed them. They threw many pregnant women out of windows onto spearpoints awaiting them below..."

Consolation for the Tribulations of Israel, by Samuel Usque, 1553, Ferrara (translated from the Portuguese by Martin A. Cohen, Jewish Publication Society of America, 5737-1977 (Ladina))

The Massacre, from EJP:

"Historians estimate that between 2,000 and 4,000 "New Christians" - Jews who were forced by the state to convert in 1496 - were thrown into pyres set up across the city centre before authorities regained control of the Portuguese capital.

The violence erupted on April 19, 1506 after a man believed to be a "New Christian" suggested that a light emanating from a crucifix at a chapel was likely caused by natural causes instead of divine intervention as thought by many Christians.

He was dragged from the church by a group of women who beat him to death, according to several historical accounts.
A priest then made a fiery sermon against "New Christians" while two other priests, crucifix in hand, marched through the cobblestoned streets of Lisbon inciting people to kill them.

In the ensuing violence even Catholics who were thought to look like "New Chistians" were killed or saw their homes destroyed.

King Manuel, who was outside of the Portuguese capital when the massacre began, ordered the ringleaders rounded up and hung while those convicted of murder or pillage received various corporal punishments.
When the king forced the Jews to become Christians, many of them decided to leave the country, including a number of highly educated people, such as the astronomer and mathematician Abraão Zacuto, who went to Turkey, and Baruch Espinosa's (Spinoza) parents, who went to Holland.

The massacre highlights the growing unease in Portugal at the time with "New Christians." Spain had launched its Inquisition in 1492 which aimed to expel or forcibly convert to Christianity all Jews and other non-believers, prompting thousands to cross the border into Portugal where they sought shelter.

But nearly five decades later Portugal launched its own Inquisition which led hundreds of Jews to be tortured or burned at the stake in the 16th and early 17th century after being accused by church tribunals of being heretics.

The forced conversion of Jews together with the Inquisition drastically reduced the number of Jews in Portugal, leading the memory of the "Lisbon massacre" as it has come to be known to fade.
"Since Jewish culture practically disappeared from the country, there was no one to evoke the memory of the massacre," author Richard Zimmler, who has written novels set against the purge of Jews in Portugal, said in an interview published in daily newspaper Público last Sunday. Some historians estimate that 20 percent of Portugal’s population, or 200,000 people at that time, before the start of the Inquisition were Jewish.

Many were successful traders and scientists whose international visibility made the term "Portuguese" be synonymous with "Jew" at the time.

Today there are just some 3,000 Jews in Portugal, a nation of just over 10 million people. Most are concentrated in Lisbon and the majority came to the country after Portugal’s Inquisition was officially abolished in 1821."

Read more on Friends of Marranos

Portugal: "For 500 years, we were Christians outside the house and Jews inside"

From TJP Lopez marks Pessah alone, as his ancestors did for centuries by Shelly Paz

“While the Spanish still do not like to be called Marranos, the Portuguese feel differently. "In Portugal, Marrano means not just a pig's leg but is also an adjective used to describe a determined person who fights for what he believes in and doesn't give up," Prof. Filipe Ferrão, 51, a neurophysiologist from the University of Porto, the second largest city in Portugal, told the Post.

"I was raised in Porto with all these customs I didn't understand. For example, we were constantly told not to count stars while pointing to the skies. We were told that if we did so our fingers would be calloused. Years later, I learned that Jews know Shabbat is over only when they count three stars in the skies. Our parents were afraid that if we did so, we would be suspected as hidden Jews," Ferrão recalled.

"Our dining table was rectangle and whenever I placed bread on it horizontally, my mother used to come over and tell me to move it. She never said why, but it became second nature to me. When I grew up, I understood it was in her attempt to prevent me creating a cross."

It took Ferrão 20 years to complete the process of returning to Judaism. He and 15 other Marranos were converted by a Jerusalem rabbinic court in January 2007. (…)

"One needs to live in a Jewish community with an authorized rabbi for a year before starting the legal process with the rabbinate in Jerusalem, and for me it was impossible since there was no rabbi and no solid community in Porto when I started the process," he said. "But now I feel like I paved the way for others. And I've stayed in Porto to help them."

Ferrão converted with his wife and their younger child, who is 19. Their older child is 26 and married, and was not interested in going through the process.

Participants in the convention [fifth convention for Spanish and Portuguese Marranos of the Shavei Israel organization] described many strange customs that were passed down to them. Several spoke of having a special dining room table with a hidden drawer, in which a bowl with a piece of pork in it was kept in case a neighbor stopped by.

Others noted that their ancestors had chosen acceptable Christian names that constituted a secret code to signal insiders they were descendants of Jews "Before the Inquisition, the Jews were 30 percent of the population of Portugal. If you browse a Portuguese phone book today, you'll be amazed how many 'secret' Jewish family names are in it," Ferrão said.

To decrease assimilation, many Marranos married within the extended family and into families they knew shared their history.

Most of the descendants still have no idea of their origins, and many who do know nonetheless have no interest in returning to Judaism, participants said. Others are simply interested in exploring their roots or in searching for spiritual reconnection with the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Annually, a couple of hundred Marranos pursue conversion and about half of them are interested in immigration to Israel. (…)

Paulo Vitorino, 40, a father of six and a businessman from Lisbon, insisted to the Post that "I am a Portuguese Jew, not a converted Jew. For 500 years, we were Christians outside the house and Jews inside."

He said he had found out about his Judaism at the age of 24, after his mother died. "My father told us we are Jews and that we can choose between the synagogue and the church. I chose the synagogue."

But Vitorino protested that in Portugal "we are Jews without the backing of the State of Israel or the local Jewish community. They don't accept us. And this, to me, is the new Inquisition.""

Portugal, the Jews and Israel - a difficult relationship
The Marquis of Pombal and the 3 yellow hats
Campaign to rehabilitate Captain Barros Basto, the 'Portuguese Dreyfus'
Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese Consul who saved thousands of Jewish refugees during the Holocaust

Guarded at every single synagogue service or communal event

Melanie is spot on. The situation is the same in other countries in Europe. By way of illustration, this is what the Lisbon synagogue looks like from the street - there are less than 2000 Jews left in Portugal!

From Melanie Phillips' blog:

"Last night I attended the annual dinner of the Community Security Trust, the organisation that provides the astounding degree of security now needed to help protect Britain’s tiny Jewish population against attack. Sitting there listening to the appeal for money to finance this organisation, and watching the video of what it does and why it is needed, I was struck afresh by the shocking nature of this situation. The video showed Jewish schools in Britain being fitted with bomb-proof windows, Jewish children in Britain being taught how to fend off attack. Jews in Britain are now attacked more frequently than any other minority group.

Although racists have always attacked each and every minority group and that situation has not changed, the fact remains that minorities such as Hindus, Sikhs or Muslims don’t need to be guarded at their communal events; it is only Britain’s Jews for whom that is considered a necessity, and they are guarded at every single synagogue service or communal event. Indeed, the street outside the London hotel where last night’s dinner was held was knee-deep in police and CST volunteers.

I was sitting with some very decent people, non-Jews, of the kind who might have been called in a different age the backbone of England. Did they not think that all this was quite extraordinary? I asked them. Shameful, they said; absolutely shameful and appalling; and they shook their heads in sorrow that such a thing should be the case in Britain in 2008, that British Jews should be at such risk that the task of guarding them was quite beyond the regular police and had to be undertaken in large measure by a standing force of Jewish volunteers.

At this dinner the guest of honour was David Cameron. He made a simply outstanding speech ripping into the moral bankruptcy of the useful idiots and worse who are appeasing Islamism in Britain - a speech of a strength, clarity and passion that I had not heard before. It marked a notable step change in Tory policy on terror and Islamism. It was basically a speech which said in effect ‘They shall not pass’ and it threw down the gauntlet to the government which has effectively been prostrating itself before the Islamists instead."

From David Cameron's speech:
"During protests against the conflict in Lebanon, we witnessed the nauseating sight of well-scrubbed, middle class English people… marching through central London holding placards that read ‘We are all Hizbollah’. That is the extremist mindset in action. These are the same people who urge a boycott of Israeli goods and academics… while saying nothing about China, Iran or Zimbabwe. Unless we challenge such attitudes and expose them for the morally-bankrupt nonsense they are… they will spread through the body politic and become the received wisdom of millions…"

Campaign to rehabilitate Captain Barros Basto, the 'Portuguese Dreyfus'

Help restore the posthumous reputation of Portuguese Jewish army officer Artur Carlos Barros Basto (1887-1961) by signing the petition created by the Oporto Jewish Congregation and written by Jorge Neves:
http://www.petitiononline.com/benrosh/

Cry justice for the 'Portuguese Dreyfus', by Michael Freund (2003)

A few months ago, in the northern Portuguese village of Amarante, I stood before the simple and unadorned grave of a largely forgotten Jewish hero of the 20th century, Captain Arthur Carlos de Barros Basto.
His name might not be familiar to you, but his story is worth recounting, nonetheless, because it is one of heartbreak and heroism, and its final chapter remains to be written.
Historians such as the late Cecil Roth labeled him the 'Portuguese Dreyfus' after French General Staff officer Alfred Dreyfus, who was convicted of treason on trumped-up charges in 1894 and drummed out of the military.
But in one important respect Barros Basto's story is even more compelling, because, unlike his French counterpart, he has yet to receive the exoneration and acclaim he so richly deserves.
This year marks six decades since the Portuguese armed forces summarily decided to expel Barros Basto from their ranks, citing unspecified reasons of "good and welfare" for its decision.
The truth of the incident is far more troubling.
Captain Barros Basto was one of the Anousim, a descendant of Jews whose ancestors had been forced to convert to Catholicism during the time of the Spanish Inquisition. According to his biographers, Dr. Elvira Mea and journalist Inacio Steinhardt, Barros Basto was a decorated soldier who commanded a Portuguese infantry company in World War I, fought in the trenches of Flanders, and took part in the allied offensive to liberate Belgium.
After returning home from the war he decided to embrace the faith of his forefathers, and underwent a formal return to Judaism before a rabbinical court in Spanish Morocco in December 1920.
Based in the northern Portuguese city of Oporto, Barros Basto launched a public campaign to convince other Anousim to emerge from centuries of hiding and rejoin their people. This dashing war hero traveled among the villages and towns of the area, bedecked in his military uniform, holding Jewish services and seeking to inspire others to follow his example.
He succeeded in building the beautiful Mekor Haim synagogue, which still stands in Oporto, and opened a yeshiva that operated for nine years, teaching young Anousim about their heritage. Singlehandedly he produced a Jewish newspaper and was responsible for the publication of numerous books on Jewish history, law and lore in Portuguese.
But his open profession of Judaism, and the thousands of people whom historians say he inspired, did not sit well with the government, or the Church authorities of the time. They sought to quell his nascent movement by bringing false charges of moral debauchery against him.
Though the local prosecutor filed charges against Barros Basto, the case was dropped after two years, in 1937, for lack of evidence. Nevertheless, in 1943, Portugal's Ministry of Defense expelled him from the army, unjustly humiliating him and bringing about an end to his efforts to reawaken Portugal's Anousim.
He died in 1961, a broken man.
And so, whereas Dreyfus was eventually pardoned in 1899 and restored to the French army in 1906 with full honors, Barros Basto went to the grave without justice ever being served.
When I first learned of his story on a visit to Portugal last fall, I was livid with rage. How could it be that so many years have passed without the injustice done to this valiant, heroic figure being rectified? And so, earlier this year I launched a public campaign under the auspices of Amishav, the organization I direct in Jerusalem, seeking to persuade the Portuguese government to clear Capt. Barros Basto's name.
In a meeting with the Portuguese ambassador to Tel Aviv I asked that his government acknowledge Barros Basto's innocence and apologize for the hurt this chapter has caused to both his family and the Jewish people. Similar appeals were sent to the Portuguese government and its representatives abroad.
American Jewish organizations such as the Conference of Presidents, the Orthodox Union and the Religious Zionists of America have all joined the campaign, writing to the Portuguese ambassador to Washington about the Barros Basto case.
And US Congressman Gary Ackerman, a member of the House International Relations Committee, has also spoken out, urging the Portuguese to resolve the matter.
Thus far, however, there has not been any progress. The stain on this noble man's name has yet to be removed.
In a time when Israel finds itself targeted by terror it may seem incongruous to be concerning ourselves with such a symbolic cause. But symbols still have meaning, and it is incumbent upon us to do whatever we can to right this historical wrong.
Barros Basto was a courageous figure who stood up for the Jewish people, defying the powers that be to help his brethren. When anti-Semitism victimizes such a person, be it in 1943 or 2003, how can we possibly remain silent?
More pressure must be brought to bear on the Portuguese government to address this matter, and so the issue may be laid to rest once and for all. Contact your local Portuguese embassy or write to Portugal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs at: inf-imprensa@mne.gov.pt and ask them why they have not yet resolved this important case.
Captain Arthur Carlos de Barros Basto risked his career and reputation on behalf of his people, the Jewish people. The least we can do in return is see that the dignity so unjustly taken away from him is restored.

For sale: The Manual of Inquisitors by Nicholas Eymerich

A copy of The Manual of Inquisitors, written in the 14th century by Nicholas Eymerich and published in Portuguese by Edições Afrodite in 1972, recently came up for sale for Euro 40.

Interestingly, it was classified under: "Portuguese-Jewish culture, Marranism, History". As the juxtaposition of culture/persecution reveals, Jews were routinely treated with the most horrendous cruelty in Europe. And to illustrate the point, this is how the booksellers casually present the book: "This volume contains some basic texts for the study of the Inquisitorial Institution. At its base there is the text of the Manual of the Inquisitors, whose first printed publication was of 1578 (but two centuries before it was already famous and celebrated) and it is presented as an important work in all the legal literature that was in force in the Peninsula. Initially it is a result of the work of Friar Nicolau Emérico (1320-1399) of the Order of the Preachers and the grand inquisitor of Aragão, where he became famous for his great competence in the subject and where he began building his Directorium Inquisitorum". How extraordinary: "famous for his great competence in the subject"!

Biographical details from Answers.com
Nicholas Eymerich (c. 1320 - 4 January, 1399) was a Roman Catholic theologian and inquisitor general of the Inquisition of the Crown of Aragon in the later half of the 14th century. He is best known for authoring the Directorium Inquisitorum.

He entered the local monastery of the Dominican Order on 4 August, 1334.In 1357, Eymerich replaced Nicola Roselli as the Inquisitor General of Aragon, as Roselli had been raised to a cardinal. A year after obtaining the position, Eymerich was given the honorific Chaplain of the Pope as a recognition of his diligence in pursuing heretics and blasphemers. However, the zeal he displayed as inquisitor general earned him many enemies, including King Peter IV of Aragon. Peter IV sought to have Eymerich removed from office in 1360 when the inquisition interrogated the Franciscan spiritualist, Nicholas of Calabria.

A further example of Eymerich as inquisitor general is his sentence of the Jew, Astruc Dapiera in 1370. Dapiera was a native of Barcelona accused of sorcery. He was sentenced to publicly repent in a cathedral, and then to life imprisonment. Eymerich also ordered the piercing of heretics' tongues with a nail so they could not blaspheme. He was the first inquisitor to get around the Church's prohibition against torturing a subject twice by interpreting directive very liberally, permitting a separate instance of torture for a separate charge of heresy.

His epitaph describes him as praedicator veridicus, inquisitor intrepidus, doctor egregius.

Eymerich's most prominent and enduring work was the Directorium Inquisitorum, which he had composed as early as 1376. It defined witchcraft, and described means for discovering witches. In compiling the book, Eymerich used many of the magic texts he had previously confiscated from accused sorcerers. The Directorium Inquisitorum was to become the definitive handbook of procedure for the Spanish Inquisition until into the seventeenth century.

Aristides de Sousa Mendes, the Portuguese Consul who saved thousands of Jewish refugees during the Holocaust

An exhibition commemorating the memory of Portuguese Consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes, Righteous Among the Nations, whose humanitarian actions during World War II saved many Jewish lives was inaugurated at the Knesset on 17 December. (Via: Rua da Judiaria)

"I will not condone murder, therefore I disobey and continue to disobey Salazar."
"I would rather be with God against men, than with men against God."
"I could not have acted otherwise, and I therefore accept all that has befallen me with love."

From the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation (extracts).
“In May, due to the German advance, the consulate was besieged by thousands of desperate people. Austrian, Polish and Czech officers. Anti-nazis from France, Belgium and Luxembourg. Intellectuals, artists and journalists who had condemned fascism. Thousands of Jews who, if caught, would have been sent to extermination camps. Rabbi Chaim Kruger and his family, whom the Consul took to his residence, were among them.
He sent hundreds of coded telegrams requesting authorization to issue visas. In June, due to the imminence of the French-German armistice, the soldiers surrounded the consulate. The diplomat opened the doors to the refugees. The reply from Lisbon was categorical: no visas.
Elderly people. Pregnant women. Children whose parents had died in the routes because of the German bombs. Thousands of hungry people sleeping on the floor and the stairs. Sousa Mendes fell ill. In three days his hair went white.
On the fourth day, June 16, 1940, he got up and faced the crowd: "I cannot allow you to die. Most of you are Jewish and our Constitution established that neither religion nor political beliefs can be used as an excuse to reject the staying in Portugal".
The Consul created a "line of assembly" with his sons, his secretary and the Rabbi. The free visa marathon lasted three days and included the Austrian Imperial family, the Habsburg. On June 19, Germany bombed Bordeaux.
Sousa Mendes traveled together with the terrified crowd that ran way towards the south. In Toulouse he authorized the vice-consul to stamp passports. In Bayonne he signed more visas. While Salazar was sending officials to stop him, the Consul continued stamping his name in Biarritz and Hendaye, already on the border and even on the bridge. He wrote the magic signature on any document and even in pieces of newspapers. On June 23 he was caught.
The dictator received the gratitude of the refugees, he kept the borders open - through the route established by Sousa Mendes a million people escaped -, but he ordered to judge him. To the catholic convictions of the Consul, the disciplinary council opposed the violations to the rules. Sousa Mendes was removed form office and his name prohibited for decades.
There was no job for the sons. The family started eating with the refugees at the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS). Confined in Cabanas de Viriato, Sousa Mendes suffered hemiplegia. In 1948 Angelina died. One by one, the HIAS took his sons out of the country. After the diplomat's death, the house was put up for auction. All the furniture had already been sold; the doors had become firewood.
Only in 1987, President Mário Soares publicly asked for forgiveness to his relatives. The 10,000 Jews who owed him their lives had not forgotten him. The monument erected opposite to his house resume his spirit: "I would rather be with God against men, than with men against God"."

Rua da Judiaria's 4th anniversary on the net

Nuno Guerreiro has just celebrated the 4th anniversary of Rua da Judiaria with the publication of the photograph of an old fishing boat named "Deus de Israel" taken by Luis Novaes Tito in Viana do Castelo (Portugal). Many congratulations to Nuno.